ALEX CHILTON, 1950-2010: Alex Chilton, the mega influential singer/songwriter and guitarist who was the driving force behind the early '70s power pop band Big Star, died unexpectedly of an apparent heart attack on Mar. 17 in New Orleans, La. He was 59. Born on Dec. 28, 1950, in Memphis, Tenn., Chilton formed the '60s pop group the Box Tops in 1967 and had million-selling singles with "The Letter" (#1, 1967) and "Cry Like a Baby" (#2, 1968). With infrequent touring and an unstable lineup, the Box Tops disbanded in 1970. That same year Chilton, guitarist Chris Bell, guitarist Andy Hummel, bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens then formed Big Star, whose combination of Beatles-style melody, Who-like punch and Byrds-y harmonies defined the power pop genre before the term even existed. The group acquired near mythic status with such songs as "September Gurls" and "Thirteen," and in 1998 their hit "In the Street" was used as the theme song for the '70s-themed sitcom That '70s Show. In 1972, they released their richly textured debut album, #1 Record, after which Bell left the group. Their second album, the more stripped-down Radio City, was released in 1974 and although both albums garnered critical acclaim, they were largely ignored commercially and the band split soon afterward. Their third LP, the dark and haunting Third (a.k.a. Sister Lovers), was more of a Chilton solo effort and not officially released in the US until 1978, the same year Chris Bill was killed in a car accident. After producing albums by the Cramps and Panther Burns, Chilton disappeared from the scene but reemerged in New Orleans in the mid-Eighties, playing mostly cover songs in clubs. In 1993, Chilton and Big Star drummer Jody Stephens reunited for a campus concert at the University of Missouri, and the band sporadically performed together the following year. Chilton passed away at a Memphis hospital after experiencing what appeared to be heart problems, said his longtime friend John Fry. "Alex was an amazingly talented person, not just as a musician and vocalist and a songwriter, but he was intelligent and well read and interested in a wide number of music genres," said Fry, the owner of Memphis-based Ardent Studios and the label for which Big Star recorded. Chilton, who is survived by his wife Laura, had been scheduled to perform with Big Star on Mar. 20 at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Tex. - AP/Rolling Stone, 3/18/10.

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 3/18: NBC's late-night gabfest Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will devote its entire run during the week of May 10 with a series of special shows saluting the Rolling Stones' acclaimed 1972 album Exile on Main Street, which is being reissued on May 18 via Universal with 10 previously unreleased tracks from the original sessions. During the week, a host of artists will perform covers of songs from Exile, and on the final night the premiere of a new documentary about the album's creation, Stones in Exile, will be aired. Participating bands have yet to be announced, but they are expected to include some of rock's biggest names. It is unknown if members of the Rolling Stones will participate in the celebration. - Billboard...... The estate of Michael Jackson has signed a $200 million-plus recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment for 10 MJ projects over seven years. The record-breaking contract could be worth up to $250 million if certain conditions are met, and one of the projects will be an album of never-before-released Jackson recordings that will come out in Nov. 2010. Other projects could include a DVD compilation of videos and a re-release of Jackson's 1979 album Off the Wall accompanied by some unreleased material. Jackson had wanted to re-issue the album before his untimely death last June, a source close to Jackson says. "By all objective criteria, this agreement with Sony Music demonstrates the lasting power of Michael's music by exceeding all previous industry benchmarks," said Jackson estate co-administrator John Branca. - AP...... Abba, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, the Hollies and the Stooges were formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Mar. 15 during a black-tie ceremony at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. Abba was represented by singer/songwriter Benny Andersson and vocalist Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss (known to Abba fans as Frida). "I am truly very touched by what once started as partnerships a long time ago and that this has brought us here tonight," said Prinzessin Reuss, before her ex-husband Andersson played piano on Abba's 1980 hit, "The Winner Takes All." Genesis was represented by drummer/vocalist Phil Collins and the other Genesis members, with the exception of original lead singer Peter Gabriel. Collins noted their "seems to be more variety" in the inductees this year and added that the RRHOF awards are about "accepting music generally, rather than just rock-and-roll." Original Hollies member Graham Nash observed that the Hollies' music "has resonated with millions and millions of people...around the world." Lead by frontman Iggy Pop, the Stooges performed their 1973 song "Search and Destroy, as Pop delivered one of his trademark raucous bare-chested performances. Jimmy Cliff sang "The Harder They Come" from his 1973 film of the same name that popularized reggae. Asylum Records label founder David Geffen, a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award, was introduced by former Asylum label artist Jackson Browne, who said, "He made me feel the most worthwhile thing you could do was write a song." Also receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award were songwriters Jesse Stone, Otis Blackwell, Mort Shuman, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The RRHOF inductees are chosen by 600 music industry professionals, and artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first record. - Reuters...... Appearing at the South By Southwest Music + Media Conference in Austin, Tex., on Mar. 17, Cheap Trick says they're contemplating another run of full-album shows, similar to what they did during hte late 1990s. "We're thinking about doing it again, starting with Dream Police and keep going," said Cheap Trick vocalist Robin Zander. In the '90s, Cheap Trick played its first three studio albums and Cheap Trick at Budokan during multi-night stands, and guitarist Rick Neilsen said he feels the band set something of a trend. "If you think about it, nobody did their albums in order...It was a hit, so we might do it again," Neilsen said. Cheap Trick is also taping an episode of PBS's Austin City Limits on Mar. 18 that will air during the program's 2010-2011 season. On Mar. 19, they'll headline a free public show at Austin's Auditorium Shores. In other SXSW news, Motown icon and this year's keynote speaker Smokey Robinson has announced he will perform at the Austin Music Hall on Mar. 19. - Billboard/LiveDaily...... The Eagles are teaming up with country music superstars the Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban for a run of North American shows that will kick off June 8 in Toronto. The eight dates announced so far include Toronto; East Rutherford, N.J. (6/10); Boston (6/12); Philadelphia (6/14); Washington, D.C. (6/15); Chicago (6/19); Winnipeg, M.B. (6/22) and St. Louis (6/24). It is possible that more dates may be added. - Billboard...... The director of the funeral home that handled the body of late Godfather of Soul James Brown is denying recent claims that Brown's body has been moved. "There's no truth to that," says South Carolina funeral director C.A. Reid. "It would have had to have gone through us. We would have been contacted if that happened." Brown's daughter LaRhonda Pettit has been claiming her father's had been moved, his death was suspicious and that she was being denied the opportunity to carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Pettit is one of several people to come forward after his death claiming to be his love child, and a recent DNA test confirmed there was a 99% probability that Brown is her father. She was not named as a beneficiary in his will. - NME...... The recent Jimi Hendrix release Valleys of Neptune has debuted in the Top 5 albums in the US, with sales of more than 85,000 units in a single week. The album is the first in a new deal between Experience Hendrix, the estate governing Hendrix's catalogue, and Sony Music. - Undercover...... ZZ Top will kick off their spring/summer 2010 tour on Apr. 29 in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Texas trio's 10-city tour also includes Melbourne, Fla. (4/30); Jacksonville, Fla. (5/4); Columbus, Oh. (5/5); Atlanta (5/8); Belton, Tex. (5/14); Belleville, Ont. (6/19); Milwaukee (6/25, 26); Stillwater, Okla. (7/31) and Lake Delton, Wisc. (8/7). ZZ Top has also lined up several South American shows, and will be among the headliners at London's High Voltage Festival this summer. The band is also currently working in the studio with producer Rick Rubin on a long-awaited followup to their 2003 studio album Mescalero. - LiveDaily...... Donny and Marie Osmond have announced they are canceling their mid-March shows at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel as Marie copes with the Feb. 26 death of her 18-year-old adapted son Michael Bryan. Their publicist said Donny and Marie will miss five shows before resuming performances on Mar. 23. The Osmonds returned to the stage on Mar. 9 after funeral services for Bryan. - AP...... Jazz-rockers Chicago are teaming with the American Cancer Society to offer fans a chance to sing with the band while contributing to the fight against breast cancer. The "Sing With Chicago" promotion will be part of Chicago's 2010 nationwide tour, which kicks off this spring. Fans in each city on the tour will be able to bid on a package that includes two premium tickets, backstage passes and the opportunity to sing Chicago's hit "If You Leave Me Now" on stage with the band. Chicago will tour this summer with the Doobie Brothers, featuring founding members and principal songwriters Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons. The Chicago/Doobies tour kicks off Mar. 25 in Friant, Calif. They'll also visit such cities as Irvine, Calif. (3/27); Thousand Oaks, Calif. (3/29); Las Vegas (4/2, 3); El Paso, Tex. (4/6); San Antonio, Tex. (4/9); Naples, Fla. (4/14); Orlando, Fla. (4/17); Huntsville, Ala. (5/14); Durham, N.C. (5/18); Windsor, Ont. (5/22) and Lancaster, Pa. (5/27) before wrapping with two nights in Atlantic City, N.J. on May 29 and 30. - LiveDaily...... A DVD and Blu-ray release of a concert by the Sammy Hagar-fronted supergroup Chickenfoot will drop on Apr. 20 in the US and Apr. 26 in the UK. Filmed in state-of-the-art hi-definition over three sold-out concerts, Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On "Live" also features exclusive, never-before-seen backstage footage, rare behind-the-scenes interviews, and additional performance footage by the band. - Noble PR...... A rare Led Zeppelin recording of the seminal heavy metal band performing at St. Matthew's Baths Hall in Ipswich, UK, was unearthed at a car boot sale in the British city. "I was going through a stand of CDs at the car boot at Portman Road and the guy who was selling them said, 'You might be interested in this,'" said Vic Kemp. "It must have been recorded by someone standing at the front with a microphone. You can hear [Led Zep singer] Robert Plant talking to the audience quite clearly." No official recordings of the Ipswich gig were ever made or released, and only a handful of patched-together bootlegs are in existence. Kemp's copy, which he obtained for just "two or three pounds," is a recording of the entire concert and features such classic Zep tracks as "Immigrant Song," "Whole Lotta Love," "Stairway To Heaven," "Rock & Roll" and "Black Dog." - New Musical Express...... Singer/songwriter Lesley Duncan, who collaborated with such rock acts as Pink Floyd and Elton John, died on Mar. 12 after suffering from cerebrovascular disease. He was 66. After carving out her own solo career in the mid-'60s, Duncan performed background vocals on Elton's 1971 album Madman Across the Water, Pink Floyd's 1973 set Dark Side of the Moon, and Ringo Starr's 1974 release Goodnight Vienna. She was also the composer of "Love Song," which John recorded for his 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection. Her 1970s solo albums include Everything Changes, Moonbathing and Maybe It's Lost. - NME...... Actor Peter Graves, the star of the famous 1966-73 television series Mission: Impossible as well as the 1980 spoof movie Airplane!, was found dead on Mar. 14 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 83 and appeared to have died of a heart attack. Mr. Graves' other TV credits include the 1950s show Fury, The Winds of War and more recently, a recurring part on 7th Heaven and guest spots on House" and Cold Case. His other big screen credits include Stalag 17 (1953), Night of the Hunter (1955); The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955); and The Long Gray Line (1955). He was also the dignified host of the A&E Biography series and appeared in a memorable Geico car insurance commercial. Mr. Graves won a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his performance in Mission: Impossible, and in 1997, he and Biography won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series. He is survived by his wife, Joan Endress, and three daughters. - Zap2it.com...... Charlie Gillett, a British DJ and music historian who helped bring music from around the world to wider attention, died on Mar. 17 in a London hospital. He was 68. The soft-spoken Gillett was a fixture of the BBC's domestic radio stations and its international World Service, where his show Charlie Gillett's World of Music offered a wildly eclectic mix of music from around the globe. Gillette was credited with launching the career of Dire Straits by playing the then-unknown band's song "Sultans of Swing" on his BBC London radio show in 1976, prompting a battle to sign them by record companies. He also played unreleased tracks by Elvis Costello, who remarked on Mar. 18 that "it seemed like some kind of magic trick when Charlie made the first broadcast of my home-produced demo tape on his show, in 1976." - AP

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 3/13: On Mar. 9, Marie Osmond took to the stage for the first time since the Feb. 26 death of her 18-year-old son Michael Bryan for a show that she dedicated to him. "The way Osmonds survive is we keep singing," she told the audience at the Flamingo Las Vegas, performing one day after the funeral. "That's what we want to do tonight. I know my son would want that and this show is for him." Also performing was Marie's brother Donny Osmond, who said "I think we need to give a big round of applause for my sister for even coming on stage." Despite the tragedy, the duo did have fun on stage, performing in a dance-off, with Marie joking about her brother's dancing skills.- People.com...... A 65-year-old Georgia man has been arrested for making terroristic threats after posting a video of himself on the Internet holding a sign that said "Elton John must die." Neal Horsley was arrested Mar. 10 by police in the Atlanta-area town of Carrollton and though police did not specify who he is accused of threatening, Horsley's son said he thought the arrest was connected to the video about John. Horsley was apparently upset that Elton, who is gay and owns a residence in the Atlanta area, told Parade magazine in an interview published in February that he thought Jesus was a "compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems." "What Elton John has done is desecrated the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ," Horsley said in the video. An intense opponent of abortion as well as gay rights, Horsley previously gained notoriety in the late 1990s for his role in establishing a website that published the names and addresses of doctors who performed abortions, and has declared himself a candidate in the 2010 Georgia governor's race. He is currently being held in the Fulton County jail under a $40,000 bond. - AP...... Meanwhile, Elton John has just mapped out spring solo dates with his band after playing the final coheadlining date with Billy Joel on their 2010 "Face To Face" tour in Albany, N.Y. on Mar. 11. The Rocket Man kicks off the trek Apr. 9 in Lubbuck, Tex., also visiting Austin, Tx. (4/10); Hoffman Estates, Ill. (4/15); Des Moines, Ia. (4/16); Green Bay, Wis. (4/17); Grand Rapids, Mich. (4/24); Toledo, Oh. (4/25); and Reading, Pa. (4/30) before wrapping in Youngstown, Oh. on May 1. - LiveDaily...... The 48-year-old illegitimate daughter of James Brown is claiming her late father's body has been removed from his grave. LaRhonda Pettit says she's suspicious about her dad's death and had been hoping to exhume the body for an autopsy. "My daddy's body has disappeared. I have no clue where it was taken, but I need to know where," Pettit says, adding that "I'm convinced his death was suspicious and I want the people responsible brought to justice. The only way to do that is to exhume his body and have an autopsy. I cannot understand why one was never conducted." Brown is rumoured to have buried some of his multi-million dollar fortune on a 62-acre estate in South Carolina, and Pettit says she suspects he may have been murdered by people seeking that cash. Known as the "Godfather of Soul," Brown died on Christmas Day in 2006, and his remains were being held at his daughter Deanna's house in South Carolina while a public mausoleum is being prepared. Pettit took a DNA test in 2007 which concluded James Brown is 99.9% likely to be her father, and says she would like her children to be included in a trust the singer set up to pay for the education of his grandchildren. - DigitalSpy.com...... Twenty-two pieces of furniture commissioned by Michael Jackson for his London home that he intended to use during his "This Is It" comeback concert run in the city are going on the auction block in June. According to a spokesman for Julien's Auctions, the furnishings include a gilded red velvet sofa that seats nine, a leopard-print chair trimmed with ostrich feathers and a pair of velvet armchairs embroidered with gold eagles. Fans can visit a re-creation of the home at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood casino from June 14 to June 25 before the items are sold at auction. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the charities MusiCares and and Joshua's Heart. - AP...... Lawyers for Phil Spector filed an extremely detailed 148-page brief in Los Angeles on Mar. 10 asking for a new trial in the legendary music producer's second-degree murder case on grounds of judicial error and prosecutorial misconduct. Among the issues raised was the admission of testimony from five women who claimed they were threatened by Spector with guns in years past and the prosecution's use of a videotape of the trial judge commenting on evidence in the case. Spector, 70, is currently serving a 19 years to life prison sentence for the murder of aspiring actress Lana Clarkson. Spector's defense team argued that the woman was depressed and shot herself. The state attorney general's office is expected to file a reply brief in April. - AP...... The unlikely trio of '70s pop singing star Engelbert Humperdinck, former Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash, and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics recently got together as "supergroup" Faster Disaster on the Canadian TV show The Hour. With Slash currently looking for a new singer for his group Velvet Revolver, some mused that Humperdinck might be trying out for the spot in the hard rocking band. Meanwhile, newly discovered employment records of one of Humperdinck's chief rivals in the early '70s, Welsh crooner Tom Jones, have just been discovered and will be auctioned in the UK. The records reveal that Thomas John Woodward, as Jones was then named, had a "non-enthusiasm" for finding work because "he is a member of a vocal group which is supposedly an amateur affair." "From the way he is able to dress, it would seem that Mr. Woodward's little hobby is highly lucrative and this would also account for his non-enthusiasm in securing employment," the records read. - Undercover/Wenn.com..... Gene Simmons of Kiss challenged "supergroups" the Rolling Stones and U2 to a "stadium-off" during a recent interview with a UK radio station. "I would love to play on the same stage as U2, the Stones and anybody out there who considers themself a world champion," Simmons said. "You come on up on that stage with us baby. Show me what you got, and then we'll show you what the big boys do." Meanwhile, Kiss has just finalized a production and development deal for a new children's TV series with Canadian studio E1 Entertainment. Simmons and fellow cofounding Kiss member Paul Stanley will collaborate with the company to create a comedic half-hour television series. The as-yet untitled series will be the first television show for the veteran band, however they also participated in an ill-fated 1978 TV movie, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, a live-action fantasy that the group went on to routinely disparage in interviews. - Music-News.com/Canadian Press...... Diana Ross will launch a greatest-hits-heavy, 17-city US tour this spring on May 15 in Boston. According to a press release, the Motown icon's tour will "pull out allthe stops" and feature a live string section and "breathtaking costumes." The tour will also hit such markets as Mashantucket, Conn. (5/16); New York City (5/19); Atlantic City, N.J. (5/21); Chicago (5/27); Cleveland, Oh. (5/28); Detroit (5/29); Atlanta (6/4); Memphis (6/5); St. Louis (6/6); Los Angeles (6/9) and San Diego (6/11) before wrapping in Saratoga, Calif. on June 12. Ross's most recent studio album is 2007's I Love You, a 15-track collection of remakes. - LiveDaily...... A two-hour production based on the 1977 sci-fi classic Star Wars will hit the US in May after an in-progress European leg. Star Wars: In Concert combines music from John Williams' Star Wars scores -- performed by a full symphony orchestra and choir -- with specially edited footage from the films on a massive high-definition LED "super-screen." The tour will visit US cities including Orlando, Fla.; Memphis; Tuscon, Ariz.; San Diego; Las Vegas; San Antonio, Tex.; Fresno, Calif.; and Reno, Nev. - LiveDaily...... Gregg Allman and Buddy Guy have just been added to the lineup for the forthcoming Verizon Wireless BamaJam Music & Arts Festival, which is set for June 3-5 in Enterprise, Ala. Kenny Chesney will headline the festival June 5 to close out the weekend. - LiveDaily...... The Eagles have just added shows in Denver (5/20); Ontario, Calif. (5/22); and San Diego (5/23) to their forthcoming North American "Long Road Out of Eden" tour. The tour, which gets underway with a three-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Apr. 16, 17, 20, currently has 14 North American cities on the itinerary. - LiveDaily...... Simon & Garfunkel have revealed plans for a 12-city spring North American tour that kicks off Apr. 29 in Vancouver, B.C. S&G will also play cities including Edmonton, Alberta (5/1); Winnipeg, Manitoba (5/5); St. Paul, Minn. (5/8); Detroit (5/11); Toronto (5/12); Ottawa, Ont. (5/14) and Montreal (5/15). The duo's most recent reunion came last fall, when the duo performed at a 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert in New York's Madison Square Garden. - LiveDaily...... Willie Nelson has announced details of two UK gigs for June. Nelson will headline the Manchester Apollo on June 10 then the London HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 11. The country star is also set to play the Glastonbury festival on June 25. - New Musical Express...... Guitar legend Jeff Beck has added a second leg of Eastern US dates to his ongoing headlining trek in support of Emotion and Commotion, his first new studio album in seven years. Beck hits the road Apr. 16 in San Francisco, also hitting Los Angeles (4/17); San Diego (4/19); Houston (4/24); Dallas (4/25); St. Louis, (4/29); and Memphis (4/30) in May. In June, he'll play cities including Boston (6/3); Atlantic City, N.J. (6/5); Atlanta (6/11); the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. (6/12); Detroit (6/20); Indianapolis (6/21); Cincinnati (6/23); Milwaukee (6/25) and Chicago (6/26). Emotions and Commotion, which finds the guitar virtuoso accompanied by a handpicked cast of talented musicians, as well as several songs accompanied by a 64-piece orchestra, drops via Rhino on Apr. 13. "I Put A Spell On You," the first single from the album featuring Grammy-winner Joss Stone, is currently available on iTunes. - LiveDaily/On Target Media...... The 2009 John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 10. Directed by Samuel Taylor-Wood, Nowhere Boy chronicles Lennon's teenage years and introduction to music, from his first band The Quarrymen to his early relationship with Paul McCartney and George Harrison and the formation of the Beatles. Bonus features include the directorıs audio commentary, extended interviews, deleted scenes and several exclusive featurettes. - Noble PR...... A new Broadway musical celebrating the life of late R&B legend Ray Charles will officially open Nov. 7, with preview performances beginning Oct. 8. The show, entitled "Unchain My Heart" after on of Ray's biggest hits, is being produced by Stuart Benjamin, who also produced the hit movie Ray about Charles' life starring Jamie Foxx. - AP...... Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former Little House on the Prairie star Merlin Olsen died at a Los Angeles hospital on Mar. 11 after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Olsen, along with fellow Los Angeles Rams linemen Deacon Jones, Rosey Grier and Lamar Lundy, were known as the "Fearsome Foursome" for their fierce defensive performance on the field, and the burley "gentle giant" was inducted into the NFL's Hall of Fame in 1982 after an athletic career that spanned from 1962 to 1976. After retiring from football, Olsen joined the cast of Little House on the Prairie in 1977, portraying Jonathan Garvey, a friend of the main family in the series set in 19th century rural America. In 1981, he starred in the series Father Murphy, playing a kind-hearted frontiersman in that show, which lasted until 1983. He also returned to sports as an NFL commentator. In 2009, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma and his alma mater, Utah State University, honored him by naming the football field at Romney Stadium "Merlin Olsen Field." "Merlin cared deeply about people, especially those that shared the game of football with him," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He is survived by wife Susan, and their three children. - Reuters...... The executive director of the film academy that oversees the Academy Awards said on Mar. 9 that late Charlie's Angels actress Farrah Fawcett wasn't included in the Academy Awards' "In Memoriam" segment because the actress was "better known as a TV star." "It was a difficult decision for the committee that assembles the segment to omit Fawcett," said Bruce Davis, who added that he's not surprised some fans and family members are upset. Fawcett's family issued a statement saying they were "deeply saddened" over the decision and "bereft with this exclusion of such an international icon who inspired so many for so many reasons." Davis said "an unusual number of extremely distinguished screenwriters" died this year, and the academy tried to honor many of them in the short memorial segment." - AP...... Troubled star Leif Garrett, 48, pleaded not guilty to felony drug possession on Feb. 24 in an L.A. court. (The '70s teen idol was arrested in a train station in February after allegedly confessing that he had black tar heroin in his shoe.) He is expected back in cour on Mar. 16. - Entertainment Weekly...... Former Mary Tyler Moore Show cast member Betty White will host the popular NBC late-night comedy program Saturday Night Live on May 8, according to the show's producers. Admirers of White began an Internet campaign earlier this year to have the 88-year-old actress host the show, and her appearance will come one day ahead of "Mother's Day" in the United States, on which people celebrate moms and grandmas. "I can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day weekend than with Betty White," SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels said in a statement. White also starred in the hit sitcom Golden Girls in the 1980s and early 1990s and has frequented classic TV game shows such as Match Game and Password. - Reuters

DON'T MEDDLE WITH OUR ALBUMS: On Mar. 10, Pink Floyd won a court battle in Britain with record label EMI over how their music is marketed on the Internet. The iconic prog-rock band, which first signed with EMI in 1967, had sued the label over its decision to sell individual album tracks online. EMI was ordered to pay £40,000 ($60,000) in costs as an interim payment. The judge also banned the label from selling single Pink Floyd tracks online without the band's permission, and will later rule how much more EMI should pay as a fine. Pink Floyd's latest contract with EMI was finalized before online music stores like iTunes appeared, and the band also disputed the way royalties for digital sales were calculated. The band has largely avoided releasing singles during their 43-year career, instead preferring that fans listen to albums in their entirety, such as the 35-million selling Dark Side of the Moon. Arguing in London's High Court, Pink Floyd's solicitor Robert Howe said the band's deal with EMI stipulated that their "seamless" albums should not be split up, that they "wanted to retain artistic control," and that "a free-for-all with no limitation on online distribution" would have a "very odd result." Elizabeth Jones, EMI's attorney, countered that the word "record" in the band's contract "plainly applies to the physical thing -- there is nothing to suggest it applies to online distribution." No members of Pink Floyd were present to hear the judgement. Bands also receive less money if fans pick and choose tracks instead of buying an entire album's worth of songs, which is believed to be one of the reasons why the Beatles -- whose back catalogue is also owned by EMI -- have not appeared in download stores like iTunes. - The BBC.co.uk, 3/11/10.

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 3/8: In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Keith Richards denied reports that he has given up booze. "Listen, the rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated... And we'll leave it at that," the Rolling Stones guitarist said. Richards also hinted that the Stones may be headed into the recording studio sometime in 2010. "There's no definite plans... (but) I wouldn't be surprised if we did some recording later this year," Richards said, adding that he "doesn't know how the rest of the band feel about roadwork at the moment... Maybe we'll search for a different way for the Stones to go back on the road." Richards intimated the "different way" could be smaller venues as opposed to "the football stadiums." "You can't go around there in lemon-yellow tights forever," he mused. Meanwhile, a deluxe reissue of the veteran rockers' classic 1972 double LP Exile On Main Street has been given a May 18 (US) and May 17 (UK) release date. - Rolling Stone...... In other Rolling Stones news, a new tell-all book about Hollywood mega-stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie alleges Stones frontman Mick Jagger began sleeping with Jolie after she appeared with Sir Mick in the Stones' "Anybody Seen My Baby?" video in 1997. According to a story in the UK tabloid The Sun, the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: The True Story book also claims Jagger and Jolie had a second affair in 2003 -- two years after Jolie started her relationship with Pitt, prompting their super-couple nickname "Brangelina." Jagger and Hall's agents declined to comment. - The Sun...... James Taylor and Carole King have extended their joint "Troubadour Reunion" outing through at least mid-summer, adding a second leg of dates that will include two additional nights at New York's Madison Square Garden on June 15-16 and June 30, as well as shows in Chicago (7/9), Denver (7/14) and Las Vegas (7/17), among other cities. Taylor and King kick off the tour May 7 in Portland, Ore., hitting cities including Seattle (5/9); Los Angeles (5/13-15); Kansas City, Mo. (5/21); Nashville, Tenn. (5/22); Rosemont, Ill. (5/24); Auburn Hills, Mich. (5/27) and Columbus, Oh. (5/30) in May. Meanwhile, Taylor was featured in the 82nd Annual Academy Awards gala in Los Angeles on Mar. 7, playing a rendition of the Beatles' "In My Life" during the tribute to recently departed actors. - LiveDaily...... Speaking of the Oscars, Randy Newman was nominated twice in the Original Song category for his songs from The Princess And The Frog, however he lost to Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett's "The Weary Kind" from the new Jeff Bridges film Crazy Heart. Meanwhile, Oscars co-host Steve Martin will embark on a lengthy tour this spring with his Steep Canyon Rangers behind Martin's 2009 album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo. The "King Tut" funnyman launches the tour Apr. 19 in Detroit and will also play cities that include Milwaukee, St. Louis, and New Orleans. He's also set to play the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. on June 11. - LiveDaily...... Ozzy Osbourne is among the vocal contributors to former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash's forthcoming solo debut album. Slash's self-titled debut is due Apr. 6 and will also feature such vocalists as Iggy Pop, Chris Cornell, Kid Rock and Ian Astbury. - Billboard...... '70s superstars Elton John and Leon Russell are currently recording an album together in Los Angeles with T Bone Burnett producing. According to a recent post on the site of Elton's longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin, the pair have already laid down 15 tracks on tape that range "from Stones-like rockers, country-tinged ballads, gospel and even a Sinatra-like weepy similar to something torn from the grooves of 'In the Wee Small Hours.'" Taupin also says "don't expect to hear the old EJ/BT sound; this is organic recording unlike anything you've heard from our duo before." John's last studio album was 2006's The Captain and the Kid, and the Rocket Man is currently winding down a spring tour with Billy Joel and has solo tour dates on tap all the way into September. Russell has kept a low profile in recent years, recording albums for his own Leon Russell Records label. The 67-year-old musician underwent brain surgery in January but Taupin says Leon's playing "is masterful as ever and his contribution to the project grows more exciting with the passing of everyday." - Billboard...... Mick Avory of the Kinks says the legendary British rockers already have "eight tracks" lined up for a new album that will feature older but as-yet unreleased songs and possibly new material. "We are certainly doing another album," Avory told SpinnerMusic.co.uk. "We've got old tracks which need to be baked. You have to go through this process to transfer them to digital, it's a bit of a process and you only get one shot at it." Avory added the delay in releasing a new Kinks album was due to the ongoing feud between brothers Ray and Dave Davies. "Once they've slotted together, we can go ahead. All the while they are not wanting to do what the other wants to do, it goes nowhere." Meanwhile, Ray Davies will perform a showcase gig at the upcoming South By SouthWest confab in Austin, Tex., on Mar. 18. Davies will perform at La Zona Rosa, the one time gasoline service station that is now a music venue. - NME/Undercover...... Thirty years after Pink Floyd's legendary The Wall tour, former Floyd member Roger Waters is going to restage the elaborate show -- which climaxes with the destruction of a giant wall -- on a U.S. tour this year. The original 1980-81 trek played only four cities and was infamously expensive. "Technology is much easier now," Waters says. "They were pretty heavy, those [bricks]. They would be easier to build now." Dates and fenues have yet to be announced. - Rolling Stone...... Stevie Wonder was made Commander of the Arts and Letters during a ceremony in Paris, France, on Mar. 6. The honor, first offered in 1957, is given to recognise contributions to arts and literature in France. The Motown icon received it from French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand. He had first been named a reciprocate of the award in 1981 but was not officially decorated until now due to what officials said was scheduling conflicts. "I receive this honour in memory of my mother and in memory of all of those that have made it possible for me to stand here today," Wonder said when accepting it. - The BBC/New Musical Express...... Speaking of keeping a low profile, David Bowie's recent bassist Gail Ann Dorsey says the reclusive Thin White Duke is currently "just being Dad, I think, laying low." Bowie, 63, last released a new album in 2003 and stopped touring in 2004 after suffering a heart attack during a European trek. The '70s icon hasn't even updated his official blog since Oct. 2006, when he proudly revealed he would voice a character on the kids cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants. Bowie also reportedly turned down an offer by Peter Gabriel to record one of his songs for the follow-up to Gabriel's recent Scratch My Back album. Bowie, his second wife Iman and their 9-year-old daughter are currently living in New York City. Although Bowie biographer Marc Spitz says he's slowly losing hope that the rocker will make a comeback, Dorsey says "I can't imagine he's not writing or doing something, but we'll just have to wait and see." Bowie's last studio album, Reality, came out in July 2003, spending just four weeks on Billboard's Hot 200 chart, and a live CD from the tour was released in February. Also, Universal is about to reisssue Bowie's self-titled 1967 debut album with bonus tracks. - Reuters...... Newspapers in North Dakota and Minnesota are reporting Simon & Garfunkel will perform in Fargo's Fargodome on May 7 and in the Twin Cities' Xcel Energy Centre on May 8. S&G are already confirmed to appear at this year's JazzFest in New Orleans on Apr. 24. S&G last performed together at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 25th Anniversary concerts in Madison Square Garden in 2009. - Rolling Stone...... The 2009 Neil Young concert documentary The Neil Young Trunk Show will finally be released theatrically on Mar. 19 in ten selected cities across the US, including New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Directed by Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia), the film captured Young and his band on his Chrome Dreams II Tour. - Undercover...... Jackson Browne and his longtime collaborator David Lindley will release a 2-disc live album dubbed Love Is Strange in May. The release features a show by the pair in Spain in 2006. Browne and Lindley, who appeared on several of Browne's early albums, will tour together again in Europe beginning in Bristol, UK, on June 3, and a US tour will kick off on July 20 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. - Undercover...... '70s ska/reggae icon Jimmy Cliff will kick off his most extensive North American tour in two decades on June 11 in Vienna, Va. Cliff, who will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Mar. 15 in New York, will also play dates in such cities as Toronto (7/19); Las Vegas (7/24); Hollywood (7/25); Detroit (8/5) and Del Mar, Calif. (8/14) and perform at the Bonnaroo Festival on June 12. - LiveDaily...... Aerosmith recently filmed a short video announcing a planned South American tour on their official website, putting on a united front after several months of bickering after frontman Steven Tyler announced plans to quit the band and begin a two-year hiatus late last year. "Hey, South America, guess who? It's the best of Aerosmith coming your way to rock your world," Tyler says in the short clip. Tyler then let his fellow bandmates list the 6 South American cities they'll be visiting on the tour. - Wenn.com...... Speaking of being united, Classic Rock mainstays Foreigner, Styx and Kansas have announced plans to hit the road in America together this summer for a tour they've dubbed "United We Rock." The trio of bands kick off the tour on June 3 in Kansas City, Mo., with other confirmed dates in Maryland Heights, Mo. (6/4); Chicago (6/5) and Mansfield, Mass. (6/20). Dates and venues are also expected to be announced soon in 16 additional major US markets. "With the countless great rock songs each band will be performing, this is going to be a guitars-a-blazin' good time had by all," Styx's James "JY" Young said in a press release. - LiveDaily...... Another veteran Classic Rock act, Heart, will play 13 North American dates beginning Mar. 8 in Victoria, B.C., in anticipation of their long-awaited new studio set. Heart will visit cities including Vancouver (3/9); Chattanooga, Tenn. (4/15); Phoenix (5/8); Indio, Calif. (5/29); and Thunder Bay, Ont. (7/20) before wrapping in Columbus, Oh. on Aug. 5 at the Ohio State Fair. Heart is prepping their 14th studio effort for a 2010 release, though no confirmed date has been announced. - LiveDaily...... Johnny Cash's latest and final posthumous release American VI: Ain't No Grave entered the US charts at number three in its first week of release, making it the highest debut release of the week. Ain't No Grave features songs recorded during Cash's last sessions four months before his death in 2003. - Undercover...... Lou Reed's new band Metal Machine Trio will embark on a UK and European tour on Apr. 17, when they perform what is described as "A Night of Deep Noise." Although influenced and inspired by Reedıs seminal 1975 album Metal Machine Music, the tour won't duplicate the original album, but will instead opt for entirely new unique music, noise and soundscapes. The European tour includes shows in Cambridge, UK (4/17); Oxford, UK (4/18); London (4/19); Paris (4/21); Copenhagen (4/24); and Oslo (4/26). To coincide with the tour, Reed will release a newly remastered edition of the Metal Machine Music album on 180 gram double gatefold vinyl, Audio DVD & Blu-ray. - Noble PR...... Lolly Vegas, a co-founder of the '70s band Redbone who penned their #5 1974 hit "Come and Get Your Love," died in Los Angeles on Mar. 4. He was 70. Vegas had been battling cancer for several years and is survived by his brother and fellow Redbone member Patrick Vasquez. The brothers formed Redbone in 1969, and the Latino and native American members released their self-titled debut album the following year. - Reuters...... Singer Ron Banks, a founding member of the veteran R&B group The Dramatics, died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Detroit on Mar. 4. He was 58. The Dramatics had their first national hit in 1971 with "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," which peaked at No. 3 R&B and No. 9 pop. Other hits included "In the Rain," "You're Fooling You," "Be My Girl," "Welcome Back Home" and a cover of "Me and Mrs. Jones." A native of Detroit, Banks provided the sweet falsetto which helped give the Dramatics its signature sound. - Billboard...... Services for Marie Osmond's son Michael Bryan were held in a Mormon chapel near the Provo, Utah, temple on Mar. 8. Bryan, 18, died from an apparent suicide after jumping from the eighth floor of an apartment building in Los Angeles on Feb. 26. An official cause of Bryan's death is pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology tests. Bryan was one of Osmond's five adopted children. - AP

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 3/3: Neil Young made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games on Feb. 28, singing his classic "Long May You Run" as the Olympic flame was extinguished. Young was among native Canadians, including Nickelback, Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne, who performed during the closing ceremonies. - Billboard...... David Bowie is slamming the BBC for its recent decision to close its BBC 6 Music station, its outlet for smaller-known bands. Posting on his official website, Bowie said, "6 Music keeps the spirit of broadcasters like John Peel alive and for new artists to lose this station would be a great shame." John Peel was a pioneering radio DJ from the 1960s until his death in 2004 and championed music that would struggle to be heard on more commercial channels. The BBC announced it was shuttering the station as part of a strategy to redirect about £600 million into higher quality content such as its journalism, UK drama and comedy. Organizers of the UK's venerable Glastonbury Music Festival are also urging music lovers to write to the BBC Trust in a bid to save the station, and a "Save BBC 6 Music" page has also been set up on Facebook.com. - Reuters...... Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son Michael Blasil jumped from the eighth floor of his Los Angeles apartment building to his death on Feb. 26 in an apparent suicide. Blasil was a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in downtown L.A. and left a suicide note. Authorities say just days before the suicide, Blosil mysteriously legally changed his last name to Bryan. The Osmond clan gathered in their home state of Utah in Provo after the tragedy and a private funeral was held for Blosil on Mar. 1. "My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time," Osmond, 50, said in a statement. Marie Osmond, best known for her costarring role with her teen idol brother Donny Osmond in the Donny and Marie variety show in the late 1970s, recently performed with Donny in the hit ABC series Dancing With the Stars and the siblings now have a variety show at the Flamingo Showroom in Las Vegas. A planned performance on Feb. 27 was canceled due to the tragedy. - The L.A. Times/E! Online...... According to an attorney for Michael Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson, child service authorities in Los Angeles are investigating the presence of a stun gun at the Jackson family home in the Encino neighborhood of L.A. The attorney said a mail-order stun gun delivered to the home was confiscated by security and Katherine before any harm was done, and that the device was ordered by the 13-year-old son of Jermaine Jackson, whose children also live in the home. Katherine Jackson has custody of Michael's three young children, Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket. The attorney added that Michael's three children "never saw or heard" the device. - AP...... Patti Smith and Iggy Pop were among the many participants in a 20th Annual Benefit Concert for Tibet House U.S. at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Feb. 26. Smith's Patti Smith Band closed out the event with a rendition of the punk classic "Gloria," and at the end of her set she introduced Pop, who performed his 1970's hit, "Passenger." The concert closed with a group performance of Smith's "People Have the Power." Tibet House U.S. is a non-profit organization charged with preserving Tibetan culture. A few nights later on Mar. 2, Smith payed tribute to The Who in another event at Carnegie, opening her set with a snarling punk version of "My Generation," during which she spit on the hallowed Carnegie Hall stage at least three separate times. "Carnegie Hall, I apologize for what Iım about to do," she joked before the performance. Also performing at the concert, a benefit for numerous organizations including Music Unites, were Living Colour, Robyn Hitchcock, the Smithereens, Mose Allison and Bob Mould. - AP/Rolling Stone...... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Oh., has announced it will expand its reach in a $12 million high-tech building it shares with Cuyahoga Community College's creative arts programs. The RRHOF will open its library and archives in the building later this year with such relics as Jim Morrison's first poem as well as and letters from the Grateful Dead, Whitney Houston, Patti Smith and others. There will also be old audio and video recordings, contracts, album covers, posters and scrap books. - AP...... Carly Simon is laughing off recent reports in the UK press that former Elektra/Asylum Records label boss David Geffen was the man who inspired her hit "You're So Vain." Earlier this year, Simon finally agreed to end nearly 40 years of speculation by revealing the subject of "You're So Vain" with a cryptic clue in an newly-recorded acoustic version of the song on her latest album, Never Been Gone, and reporters at the UK paper The Sun were adamant they heard her whisper "David" in the song. But Carly denies she based the track on David Geffen and insists whe hadn't even met the gay record exec when she penned "You're So Vain" in 1971. In an email to Showbiz411.com, Simone wrote, "What a riot! Nothing to do with David Geffen! What a funny mistake! Someone got a clue mistaken for another mistake! How can this guessing game stop without a lie?" - Wenn.com...... The CBS television network has announced it will continue to mine classic rock for its prime-time dramas. Several songs by The Who have already been used for CBS's hit CSI series, and now the network says it will feature only Pink Floyd songs, including "Hey You," "Comfortably Numb," "Mother," "Marooned," "Time," "The Thin Ice" and "Wish You Were Here" for the Mar. 21 episode of its Cold Case program. - Rolling Stone...... With half the bands in Brooklyn citing him as an influence, Peter Gabriel is now cooler than he's been in years. On Scratch My Back, his new set of 12 covers, he repays the indie scene by including a few tunes by comparative youngsters like Arcade Fire and Bon Iver, each one transformed into an arty dirge using only his voice as an understated orchestra. No individual rendition improves notably on its source material, but taken together they form a nicely melancholy suite. Highlights: a majestic take on Arcade Fire's "My Body Is a Cage" and a brooding version of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble." - Entertainment Weekly...... Meanwhile, Peter Gabriel's former Genesis bandmates say they're giving their ex-frontman the benefit of the doubt over his recent decision to bow out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York on Mar. 15 because it conflicts with rehearsal dates for Gabriel's upcoming European and North American tour. "(Gabriel) rang up and said, 'Look, everyone's going to say I'm trying to snub you and all the rest of it,'" Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks recently told Billboard. "I said, 'Well, just tell them we didn't want you to come, so we're snubbing you!' Genesis guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford says Gabriel was "very keen" about the induction and feels the singer's absence is "a very legitimate excuse...I know he would (come) if he could, but it's just the wrong timing." Both Banks and Rutherford added they do not expect the induction to inspire any sort of renewed Genesis activity. Genesis last toured in 2007 and has not discussed anything further, however Banks said "we never rule it out." - Billboard...... John Lennon and Yoko Ono's son Sean Lennon is defending his mom's decision to allow footage of John to be used in a car advertisement for automaker Citroen. "She did not do it for money," Sean recently posted on his page at Twitter.com after some Twitter users had criticized the ads. "(It) has to do with hoping to keep dad in public consciousness. No new LPs, so TV ad is exposure to young." Sean added that it's "just hard to find new ways to keep dad in the new world. Not many things as effective as TV." - New Musical Express...... In other Beatles-related news, there are rumours that Paul McCartney's upcoming tour could be his last. A source close to Macca recently told Britain's The Sunday Mail that Sir Paul, who is scheduled to play Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland the night before his 68th birthday, "has always loved playing in Glasgow since his early days with the Beatles" and that "he has a great affection for Scotland and his home in Mull of Kintyre in particular." "The Hampden show will spark off many emotion and memories for him. It will be one of his greatest gigs ever," the source added. Other dates announced so far on the mooted "farewell tour" include The Isle of Wight Festival on June 13, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on June 26, and Hyde Park Calling in London on June 27. - Undercover...... Janie Hendrix, the executor of Jimi Hendrix's family business Experience Hendrix LLC and who manages the Hendrix catalogue, says the company "probably has about 14 more projects to go over the next 10 years." "(Jimi) was paid well his performances and a lot of it was filmed or recorded," Janie added. "We also mix concert footage with documentary footage and we have a lot of that in the can as well." A posthumous 12-track Hendrix album also titled Valleys of Neptune featuring other unearthed Jimi songs is due out from Sony Music on Mar. 9. - Undercover...... Thin Lizzy's 1978 live set Live and Dangerous has topped a Best Live Rock Album list in a new survey conducted by Britain's Planet Rock radio station. Rounding out the top five were Deep Purple's Made in Japan, UFO's Strangers in the Night, The Who's Live at Leeds and AC/DC's If You Want Blood, You Got It. - Wenn.com...... New York City Judge John Koeltl ruled on Feb. 25 that Ozzy Osbourne's suit against his former Black Sabbath bandmate Tommi Iommi over the use of the Black Sabbath name has merit and can move forward. Osbourne filed suit against Iommi in May 2009, accusing him of falsely proclaiming himself the sole owner of the Black Sabbath title by filing an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Osbourne is demanding a 50 per cent stake in the Black Sabbath trademark, along with a portion of Iommi's profits from use of the name, claiming his "signature lead vocals" are largely responsible for the band's success. Iommi's attorney argued that Osbourne signed away his rights to the Black Sabbath trademark when he quit the band in 1979, while Osbourne's attorney called that argument a "red herring" which was "repudiated" when Ozzy rejoined in the group in 1997. In making the ruling, the judge also urged both sides to "consider mediation." Meanwhile, in other Ozzy-related news a bomb squad was called to a book signing attended by Osbourne at a Barnes and Noble store in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on Feb. 27 after a man was noticed smoking a joint and carrying fireworks. The bomb squad was called to dispose of home-made fireworks in the man's backpack. Osbourne was at the store to sign copies of his new autobiography, I Am Ozzy. In the book, Ozzy reveals he's a Yes fan who was dead serious about getting his music right, and that he despises lawyers. "They grease you down and stick their fist up your arse," he says. - Wenn.com/Rolling Stone...... REO Speedwagon has announced the itinerary for a 21-city summer co-headlining tour with '80s hitmaker Pat Benatar opening. The Benatar/REO tour kicks off June 24 in Uncasville, Conn., then visits such cities as Atlantic City, N.J. (6/26); Vienna, Va. (6/29); Atlanta (7/1); Orlando (7/3); Memphis (7/9); Kansas City, Mo. (7/11); Chicago (7/21); Morrison, Col. (7/21); Las Vegas (7/23); Phoenix (7/24); and Los Angeles (7/31) before wrapping in Gilford, N.H. on Aug. 27. REO continues to support 2007's Find Your Own Way Home, which marked the band's first collection of new material in more than a decade. - LiveDaily...... Sting has just added new summer 2010 tour dates in Portland, Ore. (6/4, 5); San Diego (6/13); Las Vegas (6/18) and Boston (7/29) to his previously announced dates, bringing the total number of cities to 13. Sting will be backed on he 45-piece Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra on the tour, which begins June 2 in Vancouver, B.C. - LiveDaily...... A summer trek by Jethro Tull has just been announced, with the veteran Brit prog-rockers playing 11 North American cities beginning June 4 in Miami, Fla. Tull will also hit Vienna, Va. (6/8); Ledyard, Conn. (6/10); Wantagh, N.Y. (6/11); Atlantic City, N.J. (6/12); Holmdel, N.J. (6/13); Boston (6/15); Canandaigua, N.Y. (6/17); Toronto (6/18); Windsor, Ont. (6/19) and Highland Park, Ill. (6/20). The group has also lined up an extensive overseas schedule of shows for 2010, and there are reports they're working on their first studio album in 11 years, the follow-up to their 1999 set J-Tull Dot Com. - LiveDaily...... The Grateful Dead spinoff group Further, fronted by former Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, has lined up 13 summer dates including June shows in Rochester, N.Y.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jim Thorpe, Pa.; and Lowell, Mass. In July they'll play six U.S. cities, including Herkimer, N.Y., Buffalo, N.Y. and Philadelphia. - LiveDaily...... Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, the longtime bassist for Hall & Oates and also recorded with Elvis Costello and Billy Joel, passed away on Feb. 27 of an apparent heart attack. A native of Yonkers, N.Y., Wolk also served as the bassist for the Saturday Night Live house band between 1986-1992 and became familiar for his omnipresent black top hat. Wolk began his relationship with Hall & Oates in 1981 on their smash Private Eyes album and continued until the present day, contributing not only his bass work but also co-producing several of their projects. He was to have performed with Hall and Oates on Mar. 1 as part of the one-year anniversary show for NBC's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. "To say that I am shocked is the ultimate understatement," Daryl Hall said in a statement. "T-Bone was my musical brother and losing him is like losing my right hand. It's not if I will go on, but how. T-Bone was one of the most sensitive and good human beings that I have ever known. And, I can truly say that I loved him." - Billboard...... Actor Burt Reynolds was released from a Florida hospital on Mar. 3 after a planned heart bypass operation. The Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance and Boogie Nights star is reportedly "feeling great" and his manager says he now has "a great motor with brand new pipes." In 2009, the 74-year-old star spent time in a Florida rehab center after treatment for painkiller abuse following back surgery. - AP

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 2/26: Jeff Beck will be among the contributors to jazz icon Herbie Hancock's new album, the Grammy-winning followup to his 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute River: The Joni Letters. The Imagine Project will hit stores June 22 through the pianist's own Hancock Records label and also feature Pink and sitarist Anoushka Shankar. Hancock, 69, will embark on an extensive world tour behind the new album and has already confirmed dates on at New York's Carnegie Hall on June 24 and L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 1. - Reuters...... Former Police frontman Sting will kick off a 2010 North American solo tour backed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and a four-piece backing band on June 2 at Vancouver's Center for the Performing Arts. The musician says it will be a "reimagination of some of my most celebrated songs" -- including "Roxanne," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," and "Every Breath You Take" -- within a symphonic context. Other dates confirmed include Morrison, Col. (6/9); Los Angeles (6/15); and Chicago (7/17, 18). Sting last toured North America in 2007 as part of the Police reunion tour. - Billboard...... Rock bard Bob Dylan and Dirty Harry actor Clint Eastwood were honored with National Medal of Arts awards by Pres. Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25. Pres. Obama called Dylan "an icon of youthful rebellion and poetic sensitivity" and said Eastwood's films and performances are "essays in individuality, hard truths and the essence of what it means to be American." Dylan and Eastwood did not attend the ceremony. - AP...... Paul McCartney has revealed the first stops on his 2010 "Up and Coming" tour, which kicks off in Glendale, Ariz., in late March with a two-night stand on the 28th and 29th. Other confirmed dates include the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (3/30, 3/31); Miami, Fla. (4/3) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (4/5). Sir Paul last played the Hollywood Bowl in 1993. The shows represent the first few dates on what a press release describes as an "extensive" 2010 road trip, further details of which will be posted at McCartney's official website "soon." In 2009, Macca spent five weeks on tour, including a run of shows at New York's Citi Field Stadium that were recorded for the gold-certified CD/DVD set Good Evening New York City. - LiveDaily...... In other Beatles-related news, London's Abbey Road Studios were officially declared a historic building on Feb. 23, a move that will help preserve the cultural landmark that is a magnet for music fans worldwide. Helen Bowman, a spokesperson for the English Heritage which oversees buildings of historic interest, says the British government's move name Abbey Road a historic building "has probably been sped up" by recent speculation over the studios' future. Abbey Road's owner, the cash-strapped EMI Group Ltd., only recently shelved plans to sell the studios and now says it's looking for money to help revitalize the studios. - AP...... Carlos Santana's 1990 Grammy-winning album Supernatural is getting a 10th anniversary makeover, as Sony releases Supernatural: Legacy Edition on Feb. 16. Bonus tracks on the 2-disc set will include outtakes that didn't make the cut on the original album, including a cover of Lighthouse's 1971 hit "One Fine Morning" and a Bob Marley & the Wailers medley. Santana's biggest album ever, Supernatural also sold more than every other Santana album the musician released in his previous 30-year career. Santana resumes his "Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits" residency at the Joint in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Apr. 21. Santana and Sony Music Entertainment chief Clive Davis are working a new collaborative, thematic album in the spirit of Supernatural that's due out later in 2010, and the musician is expected to tour in North America and Europe during the late spring and summer. - Undercover/Billboard...... Just one week after announcing a pair of European festival dates in Sweden and the UK this June, Aerosmith have mapped out a full European concert trek that will include stops in London (6/15), Paris (6/29) and Venice (7/3). "Back by popular demand with more spit and fire than ever before, we're coming across the pond and parting the waters as we go," frontman Steven Tyler said in a press release. In announcing the "Cocked, Locked and Ready To Rock" European tour on Feb. 25, Aerosmith also posted a video on its official website in which Tyler, sitting with the rest of the band, jokes: "I just auditioned and I got the gig," a jab at the band's recent well publicized troubles that included public squabbling, threats of a lineup change and a rehab stint for Tyler. - LiveDaily...... Billy Joel is denying Internet rumours that it was he who pulled the plug on a summer 2010 "Face 2 Face" coheadlining tour with Elton John. "There was never a tour booked this summer!," says Joel, adding that he "had made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn't going to work this year." Elton even perpetuated the story himsel, recently telling the Chicago Tribune that the two were backing out of a planned tour this summer because "Billy just wants to take a year off." Joel and John are currently performing together on tour, however they are make-up shows that were rescheduled from canceled 2009 dates. - Rolling Stone...... The Who singer Roger Daltrey recently told the BBC that he'd "love to do an album" with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page: "He needs a singer to drive him. I'm a great blues singer. I don't sing the blues with the Who, but that's what I used to be before (Pete) Townshend started writing. I used to be a great blues singer." In recent interviews, Page seemed eager to return to the live stage in 2010 after spending last year mostly on the sidelines. "Next year I have every intention of playing music live and manifesting it," Page said late last year. "I've got the music waiting, and that's what I'll be doing." Before Daltrey and Page begin any potential collaboration, Daltrey will embark on a joint tour with another legendary rock guitarist -- Eric Clapton -- beginning Feb. 25 in Pittsburgh. - Rolling Stone...... Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will release Mojo, their first album of new music in eight years, in April. The rock veterans have also announced a major North American 38-city summer tour behind the new set beginning May 6 in Raleigh, N.C. Other stops in May include Charlotte, N.C. (5/7); Tampa, Fla. (5/9); Dallas (5/15); Houston (5/16); Pheonix (5/18) and Los Angeles (5/22). The tour, which will have various openers including Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills & Nash, My Morning Jacket and ZZ Top, is set to wrap Aug. 27 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. - Billboard...... Speaking of ZZ Top, the Texas trio and fellow Classic Rock icon John Fogerty will be be among 10 acts performing at St. Petersburg, Fla.'s Tropicana Field this summer as part of the Tampa Bay Rays Summer Concert Series. Hall & Oates, the Go-Go's and Nelly have also been confirmed for the 10-concert series. - LiveDaily...... The Kinks frontman Ray Davies has recruited such musicians as Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi to help him re-record classic Kinks tracks for a new album due out late 2010. The genesis of the project dates back to last year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at Madison Square Garden, where Davies shared the stage with Metallica, who rocked out the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night." Davies is also in the process of working on a new solo album and says a Kinks reunion is back on the table now that his younger brother Dave Davies, who suffered a stroke in 2004, is in better health. - Rolling Stone/NJ.com...... Universal Music Group has given a May 18 release date for a reissue of the Rolling Stones' classic 1972 double-LP Exile on Main Street. The release will boast 10 never-before-heard tracks as well as alternate versions of "Soul Survivor" and "Loving Cup." A deluxe edition of the reissue will also include the "making of" documentary "Stones in Exile," along with footage from the Stones concert films Cocksucker Blues and Ladies and Gentlemen: the Rolling Stones. A super-deluxe package includes vinyl, the 30-minute documentary DVD and a 50-page collector's book with photos from the Exile era. - Rolling Stone...... In other Rolling Stones news, guitarist Ronnie Wood has just chopped more than a million pounds off the cost of his mansion in London's upmarket Chelsea area in hopes of a quicker sale. Despite having paid £7.25 million for the home just two years ago, Wood has put the house on the market for £5.8 million. The five-bedroom house, built over 300 years ago, is on the same street as Wood's fellow Stones bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Wood's real estate agent says, "We have had offers, but not close enough to the asking price." - Music-News.com...... Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon has announced a U.S. tour for another of his old bands -- Public Image Ltd -- will kick off Apr. 16 at the Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif. PIL will also play such markest as San Francisco (4/17); Seattle (4/20); Portland, Ore. (4/21); Salt Lake City, Ut. (4/23); Denver (4/24) and Kansas City, Mo. (4/26) in May. The 16-city tour wraps May 18 in New York City. - New Musical Express...... A former personal assistant of the Ramones former manager Linda Stein has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the Oct. 2007 slaying of Stein. Natavia Lowery, 28, is said to have stolen $30,000 from Stein before bludgeoning her to death with a piece of exercise equipment in an attempt to hide the theft. As well as managing the Ramones up until 1980, Stein was the ex-wife of the Sire Records president Seymour Stein, who was also once responsible for managing such artists as Madonna and Sting. Lowery is yet to be sentenced. - NME...... The Steve Miller Band has unveiled a spring and summer itinerary that will get underway on Mar. 2 in Nashville, Tenn. The veteran rockers will also visit cities including Palm Springs, Calif. (5/22); Tuscon, Ariz. (5/23); Little Rock, Ark. (5/30); Halifax, N.S. (6/5); Atlantic City, N.J. (5/12); Chicago (7/3); Pittsburgh (7/24) and Louisville, Ky. (7/25). In addition to their classic hits, shows will also include new material from an upcoming album the SMB recorded in 2008 at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. - LiveDaily...... The Eagles have added a handful of performances to their recently announced spring tour of the U.S., incluing shows in Las Vegas (4/24); Seattle (5/13) and Portland, Ore. (5/17). This brings the total number of cites to 11, including three shows scheduled for Los Angeles on Apr. 6, 17, 20, and two shows in Vancouver, B.C. on May 9 and 10. - LiveDaily...... One of rock music's longest running mysteries -- the identity of the subject of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" -- could have finally been solved thanks to a clue Simon has reportedly offered up in a newly recorded version of the hit 1972 song. Simon had previously told the UK music site Uncut.com that "vain man's name would be heard when listeners played her new version of the track backwards." The UK tabloid The Sun got their hands on the clip, and the backwards track simply reveals the name "David." The paper speculates that the "David" in question is David Geffen, the then-head of Simon's record label, Elektra. As the story goes, Simon was displeased with the way Geffen supported her musical rival Joni Mitchell after the "Big Yellow Taxi" singer signed with Geffen's Asylum Records and took out her revenge in song. The timeline seems to make sense, as Mitchell's first Asylum album For the Roses came out in Nov. 1972, just weeks before the release of Simon's "You're So Vain" in the December of that year. Simon had long claimed that the person in "You're So Vain" represented a "composite" of different men she encountered in the early 1970s, including Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stevens and the singer's ex-husband James Taylor. The newly recorded "You're So Vain" appears on the 64-year-old pop diva's album Never Been Gone. - Rolling Stone...... For the first time on DVD, Time-Life Music has just released a 9-disc set featuring one-of-a-kind performances from the best years of the Soul Train show. Time Life Presents: The Best of Soul Train features the best moments from original Soul Train episodes, including on-air interviews with artists, the illustrious Soul Train dancers, and even classic commercials from Soul Train sponsors Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen. The performances include a who's-who of classic soul artists, including Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Marvin Gaye, The Isley Brothers, Barry White and many more. - Time-Life Music...... On Johnny Cash's final posthumous release American VI: Ain't No Grave, producer Rick Rubin really did save the best for last. There are none of the folk-alt-rock karoke selections of previous American discs, just 10 wholly appropriate picks that speak to the gravity of Cash's situation and his joy in both life and death. His voice sounds more vulnerable, less "iconic," more human. Cash could be the first singer whose vocals actually got better on his veritable deathbed. The country legend also made headlines on Feb. 26 when one of his songs, "Guess Things Happen That Way," became the 10 billionth song downloaded from the iTunes music store. - Entertainment Weekly

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 2/21: In a recent interview with Parade magazine, Elton John said he believes Jesus was a "super-intelligent gay man" who understood human problems and aimed to spread peace and love in the world. "I don't know what makes people so cruel," Sir Elton said, who also revealed he fears he could be killed by a crazed fan just like his late friends John Lennon and Gianni Versace. "Try being a gay woman in the Middle East -- you're as good as dead," John added, saying he "never had a bodyguard ever until Gianni died...I don't like celebrity anymore." Elton also admitted he was so smitten with his partner David Furnish that they spent the night together after their first date: "I was attracted to David immediately. He was very well dressed, very shy. The next night we had dinner. After it, we consummated our relationship. We fell in love very quickly." - Music-News.com...... In the wake of Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh's recent announcement that he will not be seeking reelection the U.S. Senate, on online effort to draft Hoosier rocker John Mellencamp for the position is gaining momentum. Mellencamp backers have set up three separate Facebook groups, with the largest boasting over 2,000 members, and the topic is also big on the Twitter social network. A longtime advocate of Democratic candidates and cause, Mellencamp recorded a radio commercial supporting Barack Obama's presidential campaign and requested that Republican candidate John McCain stop playing his songs. But the musician has been quoted in the past as saying he felt his politics "didn't fit in with the mainstream" of Indiana voters, and on Feb. 18 a spokesperson said Mellencamp "has to statement to offer." - AP...... Elvis Presley made a figurative return to one of his most iconic performing venues -- the city of Las Vegas -- on Feb. 19 as a new Cirque du Soleil extravaganza entitled "Viva Elvis" debuted in Sin City. The show is similar in scope to the Cirque/Beatles collaboration "Love" and will be housed at the 2,000-seat theater at the new Aria Resort & Casino inside the Vegas CityCenter. As a video of Elvis' storied life rolled before a star-studded audience of 1,800, dancers cavorted on stage, a pink Cadillac rolled in, and a gigantic blue suede shoe appeared with acrobats hanging from it. "This tribute will help to tell a new generation about Elvis. The younger kids will get to know Elvis," Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla Presley said before the show began. - AP...... On Feb. 19, a Los Angeles judge ruled that Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson can receive some medical records related to his superstar son's death. Joe Jackson's attorney, Brian Oxman, requested access to the files as part of an effort to obtain a monthly stipend for Joe, as well as to help him decide whether to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against other parties implicated in the June 25, 2009, death of Michael. The judge ruled Oxman can only receive records generated on or after June 25. Oxman said he was pleased with the ruling and expects to have the records soon. - AP...... Aerosmith's members have apparently put aside their recent differences and have scheduled concerts for at least two dates in Europe this summer. The band has just been confirmed for the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg on June 10, and as one of the headliners at the Download Festival in Leicestershire, UK, on June 11-13. "Swedish audiences are like no other," frontman Steven Tyler said in a press statement. "We're all very excited." Guitarist Joe Perry added that "We can't wait to uncork our tour...in Sweden and I am sure the cork will hit the ceiling." - LiveDaily...... Music company EMI, the owner of the Abbey Road recording studios in London, now says it wants to retain ownership of the famous studios and is talking to other parties about revitalizing the building. Earlier in February, the cash-strapped company said they were seeking a buyer for the studio and was talking to a few interested firms since last November, although no deal was imminent. Well known to the legion of Beatles fans across the world and a popular tourist stop in the city, the studio recently became the subject of reports that the UK architectural preservation body English Heritage planned to include Abbey Road in its list of famous sites in Britain. EMI said it welcomed these reports as it would make it very hard for any developer to do anything radical to the site. Such a listing could potentially lower the price EMI could get for Abbey Road if it did end up selling it. Reports of a potential sale of the studio also prompted Paul McCartney to say that he hopes Abbey Road can be saved, telling the BBC's Newsnight program on Feb. 17 that he was aware of a joint "bid" from people associated with the studio. "I hope they can do something, it would be great," Macca said. "Obviously I've got so many memories there with the Beatles and it still is a great studio. So it would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to save it." Also, musical theater mainstay Andrew Lloyd Weber of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Phantom of the Opera" fame also signaled he was a potential buyer. EMI, which is owned by private equity company Terra Firma, is reportedly hoping to raise £30 million from the sale to clear huge debts. - Reuters...... The Who's Pete Townshend recently told Rolling Stone magazine that the future of the band is uncertain because of his problem with chronic tinnitus. "If my hearing is going to be a problem, we're not delaying shows," Townshend said of future Who tours. "We're finished. I can't really see any way around the issue." On the hopeful side, Neil Young recently referred Townshend to an audiologist who recommended an in-ear monitor that may prevent any further damage. Pete says he'll give the device a test drive when the Who play a Mar. 30 charity gig in London where they'll play Quadrophenia in its entirety. "It's a good test of Peteıs hearing," Who vocalist Roger Daltrey says. "We won't know until we try." Meanwhile, Daltrey says he had hoped to recruit former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher to participate in the Mar. 30 Quadrophenia concert. "I actually rung Liam to be part of tThe Who night, but he's otherwise engaged," Daltrey says. - Rolling Stone/New Musical Express...... In other Beatles-related news, Yoko Ono revived the Plastic Ono Band that was begun by herself and her late husband John Lennon on Feb. 16 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Coming two days before her 77th birthday, "We Are Plastic Ono Band" featured contributions from original POB members Eric Clapton (guitar), Klaus Voorman (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums) and was a two-set revue of Ono's musical life, with the first half focused on her new album, Between My Head and the Sky. The second part featured additional friends of Ono's, including Paul Simon and Bette Midler, performing songs from her previous records. The concert ended with Ono and her son Sean Lennon leading a full-cast singalong to the anthemic "Give Peace a Chance," then the audience launched into a spontaneous rendition, for Ono, of "Happy Birthday." - Rolling Stone...... Speaking of Eric Clapton, Slowhand and fellow iconic rock axman Jeff Beck played New York's Madison Square Garden on Feb. 18, each performing separate solo sets before joining together at the end for such numbers as Cream's "Outside Woman Blues, Sly & the Family Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads." Clapton and Beck also performed a co-headlining show in Japan in 2009, which created such a frenzy that lead to a brief international tour. - Rolling Stone...... Iggy Pop and the Stooges have announced a full plate of projects scheduled for the next three years, including plans for an expanded re-release of 1973's seminal Raw Power album, touring and likely some new recording. "We'll give it a good, sharp poke for the next three years and then step back and see where we are, see what we can do with it after that," Pop recently told Billboard. "Hopefully we can be like something that convenes for certain occasions," he added. Iggy and the Stooges are also scheduled to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Mar. 15 in New York. Pop also says he'd like to consider recording heavily bootlegged Stooges songs that were rejected by record labels between 1970's Fun House and Raw Power and also material written after the latter was released. - Billboard...... Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was recently spotted at the swanky new New York City restaurant Kenmare showing off his moves n front of a select crowd. "Mick was doing his trademark moves, clapping his hands and shaking his butt," says one spectator. "The girls were all trying to join in, but his girlfriend, L'Wren Scott, was there, towering over him." - NY Post...... The Allman Brothers Band has announced it will stream its annual New York City residency this March on Moogis.com, a subscription website that is the brainchild of ABB founding member Butch Trucks. By purchasing a year-long subscription (priced at $150 through Mar. 11), fans will be able to see both live and archived webcasts of ABB shows in addition to other exclusive content dating back to 2000. Trucks started the site, which also includes a social network, in Mar. 2009. This year's residency, which has been moved to the United Palace Theatre, is expected to feature several special guest musicians. Meanwhile, last year's ABB residency at the Beacon Theatre has just been released in a deluxe 45-CD box set that comes in a hefty wood case with a glossy booklet, souvenir backstage passes and a two-CD bonus show from Dec. 2008. The set is available through the Allmans' website Hittin' The Note and the 2009 Beacon concerts are also available separately for $27 each. - LiveDaily/Rolling Stone...... At a pre-launch party for the new free music site Guvera.com, Alice Cooper said he's a big fan of such flamboyant female acts as Lady Gaga, Kesha, Pink and Katy Perry. "I think all the girls are stealing the show at this point," Cooper says. "We need more guys to get back into the show biz part of it, you know? The guys are just going, 'Uhh.'" Alice also said he's bringing his Theatre of Death Tour to the US after he wraps tours in Europe and Australia beginning July 9 and 10 in Harris, Mich. Cooper says he's also in talks to develop a new Broadway production based on his 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare. - Rolling Stone...... Janie Hendrix, executor of her late half-brother Jimi Hendrix's estate, has announced a deal has been cut to release a Hendrix edition of the popular Rock Band game before year's end. 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of Hendrix's death. Meanwhile, a rare Hendrix cover of the Elmore James classic "Bleeding Heart" is being planned for digital release on Mar. 1 and a seven-ich vinyl release on Mar. 8. Originally cut in the studio in Apr. 1969, the never-before-released track features Hendrix, bassist Billy Cox and drummer Rocky Isaac. - NME/Wenn.com...... AC/DC fans around the world remembered original lead singer Bon Scott on Feb. 19, the thirtieth anniversary of his death in 1980. Scott died in London at age 33 in a true rock & roll fashion, choking on his own vomit after a drinking binge, in a car outside 67 Overhill Rd., East Dulwich in South London. His ashes were interred in Fremantle Cemetery in Australia, and the site has been listed by the National Trust of Australia and is reported to be the most visited grave on the continent. Soon after Scott's death, the band announced it was hiring singer Brian Johnson and headed into the studo to record Back in Black, an album that served both as a tribute to Scott and a cornerstone of their continuing success. But for many fans, AC/DC still isnıt the same without Scott. - QMI Agency/JAM! Music...... Gordon Lightfoot says he's amused by recent rumors of his own death, which include numerous "tweets" and even a bogus media report from Comcast. "I'm fine, thank you -- the whole thingıs a joke," the 71-year-old folk/rock icon said on Feb. 18. "I don't know how it came about at all. The whole thing is a hoax. I'm in great health. I'm doing fine. I'm running around right now, doing my errands," Lightfoot added. The musician, who actually had a real brush with death in 2002 when suffered a near-fatal stomach aneurysm, describes his current health is "good" and that "somehow I fought my way back" from a condition that "would kill most people." - QMI Agency/JAM! Music...... Ozzy Osbourne says one night of unprotected sex in 1980 put an end to his cheating ways after it gave him an HIV scare that saw him wrongly test positive for the deadly virus and left him contemplating suicide. "I f--king freaked!," Ozzy recently told the National Enquirer. "At the time, I believed it was only gay people who got HIV, and now the doctor tells me I have the bloody plague!" Osbourne says the false positive resulted from him doing so many drugs that his immune system was depressed. "But I can tell you, that was the end of my career as a Casanova," the shock-rocker says. "I never cheated on (wife) Sharon (Osbourne) again." - Wenn.com...... In other Heavy Metal news, Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford will be honored with top prizes at the second annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles in April. Kilmister will be the recipient of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, while fellow Brit Halford will take home the event's Golden God Award. - Wenn.com...... Crosby, Stills & Nash will kick off a tour of the western U.S. this spring in Sonoma, Calif., at the Sonoma Jazz Festival on May 21. CSN will also play the Doheny State Beach Festival in Dana Point, Calif., on May 23, then visit San Diego (5/25, 26); Rancho Mirage, Calif. (5/28); Phoenix (5/29) and Albuquerque, N.M. (5/31). June dates include Morrison, Col. (6/2); Las Vegas (6/4); Murphys, Calif. (6/6); Saratoga, Calif. (6/8); Portland, Ore. (6/11) and Seattle (6/12). The trio will then return for additional U.S. dates in late summer. CSN is also currently in the studio working on a new covers-only album with producer Rick Rubin. - LiveDaily

DOUG FIEGER, 1952-2010: Doug Fieger, the frontman of the L.A.-based power pop band the Knack which scored the smash #1 hit "My Sharona" in 1979, died of cancer at his home in Woodland Hills, Calif., on Feb. 14. He was 57. First diagnosed with cancer in 2004, Fieger was being treated for cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and recently told columnist Neal Rubin of the Detroit News that he knew he didn't have much longer to live. "Everybody knows they're going sooner or later," he said. "I don't know any better than anyone else when I'm going." Fieger added that he has had "ten great lives and I expect to have some more" and that he didn't "feel cheated in any way, shape or form." Moving to L.A. from his native Detroit with his band Sky in 1971, Fieger hooked up with guitarist Burton Averre and the two began writing songs together and -- along with future Knack members Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums) -- did backup and session work. After working abroad for a short time, Fieger moved back to L.A. and formed the Knack with Averre, Niles and Gary in May 1978. After a string of successful live shows in the the L.A. club scene, Capitol Records won a bidding war to sign the band, and their Mike Chapman-produced album Get the Knack was released in June 1979. Recorded in 11 days for a mere $18,000, Get the Knack went gold in 13 weeks and eventually sold five million copies worldwide, however the album suffered a backlash over its blatant emulation of the Beatles and what some critics saw as a contrived pop innocence combined with sexist lyrics. After "My Sharona" topped the U.S. charts for six weeks and sold ten million copies, a "Knuke the Knack" campaign developed in the same L.A. club scene where the band had begun. The group's second album, 1980's ...but the Little Girls Understand, didn't fare nearly as well as Get the Knack, and after their third album, the 1981 Jack Douglas-produced set Round Trip and an unsuccessful tour that same year, they disbanded amid constant quarreling. Fieger then started another group, Doug Fieger's Taking Chances, which went nowhere. In 1987 Fieger, Averre and Niles reformed the Knack, however a 1991 album, Serious Fun, also bombed and the three went their separate ways again. Fieger then played a small role on the hit TV series Roseanne and recorded a solo album produced by Don Was. In 1994, the Knack reformed yet again to tour on the strength of "My Sharona"'s newfound popularity by being included in the soundtrack of the hit Ben Stiller movie Reality Bites, and the band continued to release albums and tour through the mid-2000s. In 2006, Fieger underwent surgery to remove two cancerous tumors from his brain. He is survived by a sister, Beth Falkenstein, and a brother, attorney Geoffrey Fieger of Southfield, Mich., who is best known for representing assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian. - UPI/Rolling Stone, 2/15/10.

'70s SOUNDBYTES - 2/16: EMI Group Ltd., the owner of the famous Abbey Road Studios where such groups as the Beatles and Pink Floyd recorded some of their most famous songs, is seeking a buyer for the studio in London's residential St. John's Wood neighborhood. EMI, whose parent company Terra Firma Capital Partners has fallen on hard times since paying 2.4 billion pounds for the music company in 2007, originally bought the Georgian town house in 1929 and converted it into one of the world's most sophisticated recording studios. Terra Firma reportedly needs a huge cash infusion by June to avoid defaulting on its loans from Citigroup Inc. and may require more than $165 million to last through this year, otherwise Citigroup could seize EMI and cause it to be sold or broken up. The studio is most closely associated with the Beatles who recorded their final album Abbey Road as well as most of their other albums there, and such equally famous LPs as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Paul McCartney & Wings' Band on the Run also had their origins there. On a side note, the famous black-and-white crossing used by the Beatles on their Abbey Road album cover is not included in the deal. - AP...... Peter Gabriel, a founding member of the prog-rock band Genesis, has informed officials at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that he won't be attending Genesis' induction into the Cleveland, Oh.-based rock hall & museum in March due to a scheduling conflict with his upcoming solo tour that begins that month in Europe. The induction ceremony is set for Mar. 15 in New York, and Gabriel's new solo album Scratch My Back hits stores in the US on Mar. 2 and in the UK on Feb. 15. Scratch My Back will be first solo album in eight years and features 12 covers of such acts as Talking Heads, Radiohead and Regina Spektor. The album has been described as a "poignant, contemplative album that is stripped down to the essentials" and features Gabriel's voice accompanied only by chamber instruments as well as brass and keyboards. Following the European tour, Gabriel will hit the road in the US in May. - Billboard...... Carly Simon has announced a competition seeking the first official video to accompany her legendary #1 song "You're So Vain" -- either the original or the acoustic version released in 2009. "People ask me all the time why is there no video of this song," Simon said in a video announcing the competition. "I think it's that people were so busy asking me who the song was about that nobody thought to make a video of it." Simon has never publicly revealed the identity of the subject of the song, but the suspects include her first husband, James Taylor, along with ex-boyfriends Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Cat Stevens or Kris Kristofferson. Carly told potential entrants to draw on on "all sorts of magic in the air" for their submissions, and offered a few video pointers such as a yacht, a Learjet and a horse race -- all mentioned in the song. Further details can be found at her official website. Simon will screen and judge all the entries herself, and the winning video will be screened at New York's Tribeca Film Festival in April. The original "You're So Vain" was #1 in the U.S. for three weeks in Dec. 1972, and the new version was released last year on Simon's album Never Been Gone, which largely featured rerecorded versions of her best-known tunes. - Reuters...... Devo will perform live at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Feb. 22 during one of the event's Victory Ceremonies. The New Wave icons will showcase new music from their new album, which is unofficially titled Fresh, during their one-hour set. Fresh will be Devo's first studio album since 1990 and the band is using the Olympics performance to reveal a "new look," including a possibly shocking new color scheme for their iconic yellow hazmat suits and red "energy dome" hats. Devo is also set to play the Coachella Music Festival in April. - Undercover...... Stevie Wonder has been officially confirmed as one of the headliners at this year's Glastonbury Festival in the UK. The Motown legend will close the fest on June 27, and other headliners include U2 (6/25) and Muse (6/26). Wonder was also recently confirmed to play this year's Bonnaroo Music Festival in the US this June. - NME...... The saga of Ronnie Wood's tumultuous personal life continues to be big news in the UK tabloids, with the latest reports having the Rolling Stones guitarist rekindling his romance with former squeeze Ekaterina Ivanova. Wood reportedly visited the 23-year-old Ivanova at her west London flat in early February and spent the night with her. Wood, 62, has also been seeing Brazilian polo coach Ana Araujo, 30, since January and sources close to the musician say he's struggling which woman is the right one for him. - The Daily Star/NME...... A release date has been announced for Jeff Beck's first new album in seven years. Emotion & Commotion will hit stores Apr. 13 and feature contributions from musicians including Joss Stone, Olivia Safe, Imelda May and, on some tracks, backing from a 64-piece orchestra. "It turned out amazingly well, but I didn't want to commit to an entire album of classical music," Beck says. "What appealed to me instead was the idea of bringing together these seemingly contradictory sounds on different kinds of non-classical music." Beck, who played to nights at London's O2 Arena with Eric Clapton on Feb. 13 and 14, will launch a 9-city UK tour on Oct. 15 in Bournemouth. - Uncut.co.uk...... Robert Plant will team with country singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman for a charity concert to benefit Cancer Research UK in London on Feb. 25. The Led Zeppelin legend has also announced plans to head into the studio later in 2010 to record an album with Buddy Miller. - Undercover...... It's been seven years since David Bowie's most recent studio album -- his longest hiatus to date -- and he hasn't stepped onto a stage since 2006. His new ISO/Columbia released CD A Reality Tour, a document of his last major tour in 2003, is a reminder of what we've been missing. In the Dublin concert, he runs wild through his songbook with his toughest live band ever, from undeniable crowd-killers ("Rebel Rebel") to cult faves ("Fantastic Voyage"). "The Loneliest Guy," an underatted ballad from Reality, takes on a whole new resonance alongside classics like "Heroes" and "Life on Mars?" Nobody really knows if the Thin White Duke is hanging up the spacesuit for good, since the man has been periodically announcing his retirement since 1973. But if so, this is one hell of an exit. - Rolling Stone....... Plenty has been written about late Ramones frontman Joey Ramone, but Mickey Leigh's new book I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir is the first intimate look at the guy when he was still Queens youngster Jeffry Hyman. To his younger sibling Mickey, Jeffry was a sometimes oving, often abusive big brother, whose mental illness made him an ongoing physical danger to himself -- not to mention to his mother, whom he once attacked with a kitchen knife. But the Ramones' ascent is captured with contagious excitement and great detail. For all the pain and frustration here, I Slept with Joey Ramone is a powerful story of punk-rock inspiration and a great rock bio. - Rolling Stone...... Jimmy Buffett has added additional spring and summer dates to his "Under the Big Top" tour behind his latest studio album, 2009's Buffet Hotel. New dates to the tour, which gets underway on Feb. 20 in Jacksonville, Fla., include a pair of shows in Mansfield, Mass. on June 17 and 19, and Camden, N.J., on Aug. 7 and 10. The tour wraps on Sept. 4 in Bristow, Va. - LiveDaily...... Rockabilly legend Dale Hawkins, who penned the song "Susie Q" in 1957 which was later remade by Creedence Clearwater Revival for their self-titled 1968 debut album and the Rolling Stones on their 1964 LP 12 x 5, passed away on Feb. 13 in Little Rock, Ark., following a long battle with colon cancer. He was 73. Hawkins also served as producer on such pop hits as John Fred & His Playboy Band's "Judy in Disguise," and was a cousin of Ronnie Hawkins, who at one point was the frontman of the Hawks, which went on to become the Band. In 1999, Dale released a critically acclaimed album titled Wildcat Tower, and he was a member of both the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. - The Arkansas Times/Rolling Stone...... Walter Frederick Morrison, the inventor of the iconic Baby Boomer toy the Frisbee, has died at his home in Utah. He was 90. Mr. Morrison, a former POW in WW2 in the notorious Stalag 13, patented the world's first commercially produced plastic flying disc in 1948, and sold the concept to Wham-O in 1955. - Gawker.com

News items appearing in Super Seventies RockSite!'s "Favorite Seventies Artists In The News" are compiled from numerous online and printed sources, including Yahoo News/AP, Yahoo News/Reuters, USA Today - Entertainment News, E! Online, Entertainment Weekly, VH1 News, Billboard.com - News, Rolling Stone.com - Rock Daily, New Musical Express - News, Undercover.com - News, Jam! Music - News, LiveDaily.com - News, and Noble PR.