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Noteworthy Now Archives for 2018-09

Blues Man Otis Rush passes at 84

Blues Man Otis Rush died at 84 Saturday (9/29). The musician credited with crafting the Chicago West Side Blues sound and had a strong influence on the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and early Fleetwood Mac. Rush was forced to limit performing after suffering a stroke in 2003. Here he is doing a song the Stones and Zeppelin both recorded.

 

 

Jefferson Airplane & Starship vetearn Marty Balin dies

Marty Balin, a founding member of the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, passed away at 76 Thursday. Balin, born Jerel Buchenwald in Cincinnati in 1942, operated a music venue in San Francisco named the Matrix and was instrumental in the emergence of the Bay Area as a flash point for music in the late 60's. He had been through a series of health complications in recent years.

 

White Album 50th Anniversary edition

Most songs on almost any posthumous release or expanded edition reissue make it apparent why the artist never released them on an album while they were alive or that the right version or take made it onto albums. Still, hearing unreleased material or alternate takes by artists you like lots can be fun. Beatles fans get that chance again when what came to be known as The White Album is released November 9 (about two weeks shy of the original release day) as a 50th Anniversary expanded edition.

 

 

Dickey Betts on the mend

Dickey Betts has fought his share of battles. His most recent was the unlikely result of a freak accident while playing with his dog int eh backyard of his Sarasota, FLorida home.   The former Allman Brothers band guitarist fell and smacked his head hard enough on impact to cause bleeding on the brain.  We're happy to pass along news that surgery Friday (9/21) to alleviate pressure was a success.

 

MORE DICKEY BETTS INSIGHTS

Dickey Betts in critical condition after a fall

 

Dickey Betts fell while playing with his dog in the backyard of his Sarasota, Florida home Monday night (9/17).  The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported that the former Allman Brothers Band guitarist struck his head in a fall and was hospitalized for a brain bleed.  His manager described his condition Wednesday as 'Stable but critical'. A surgical procedure to relieve pressure was expected to be performed Friday.

Dickey has been through plenty of trials and tribulations in his life and career.  We hope he can rally and pull through this one. He's still one hulluva guitarist.

 

MORE DICKEY BETTS INSIGHTS

Bob Seger says next tour is his last

 

The Travelin' Man saying so long to the road.  Bob Seger has announced that his upcoming tour with the Silver Bullet Band will be his last.  A ruptured disc forced postponement of tour dates last year and the now 73 year-old veteran has made no secret of thinking his days of touring were dwindling. His Travelin' Man tour will open in Grand rapids on November 21 and is scheduled to wrap on May 2 of next year in Houston.  See all of the tour dates here.

 

MORE BOB SEGER INSIGHTS

 

 

 

9-18-1970 Jimi Hendrix dies

 

Today marks the anniversary of the passing of one of the true Titans.  He radically redefined what could be done with an electric guitar and amplifier during his brief but remarkable career, and will forever awe and inspire up-and-coming guitarists. 11/27/1942 - 9/18/1970 RIP, Jimi Hendrix.

 

 

John Mellencamp announces album and 2019tour

 

John Mellencamp will spend a good part of the late winter on the road.  His US tour opens close to home with a concert at South Bend, Indiana's Morris Performing Arts Center on February 7th and continues with stops in 8 other states before the month is out.  In March, his tour hit 7 more states.  Fans buying tickets online for the tour dates will also receive a copy of Other People's Stuff, Mellencamp's new album getting released on November 16th.  Tickets for his shows are available here.

 

9-13-1972 Close To The Edge released

 

Yes was out with its 5th album on this day in 1972. The complexities and delays involved in getting the 3 epic songs on the album recorded reportedly was why the release was titled Close To The Edge. In drummer Bill Bruford's case it proved to be. He quit the group right after the sessions concluded.album to join King Crimson.

 

MORE YES INSIGHTS

 

 

 

 

Early David Bowie recording fetches $52,000

 

A song David Bowie recorded in as a 16 year-old and in a band named the Konrads has been bought for $52,000 at an auction. The 1963 recording of the song I Never Dreamed was recently discovered by a band mate of Bowie, who was then performing under his given name David Jones.

 

MORE DAVID BOWIE INSIGHTS

 

 

9-12-1975-1980-1989

September 12 was a big date for big albums. Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here got released in the UK on this day in 1975, Ozzy unleashed Blizzard of Ozz in '80 and Aersomith cut loose one of it best late era releases in 1989. Also released on 9/12, David Bowie's Scary Monsters (1980) and Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie both announced they would leave Fleetwood Mac the the group's 1990 tour ended.

 

9-11-1973 The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle released

Conflicting release dates for Bruce and the E Street Band's second album abound. We stick with the one his own official site and his label contend it hit the street on. 
With just 7 songs and 3 that were more than 7 minutes long, radio interest lagged outside of the markets the group's January '73's debut album had established a strong foothold and places where audiences had experienced Bruce and the band's intense and powerful live shows.

 

Bowie "Alumni Tour" announced

A number of musicians that recorded and toured with David Bowie are mounting an Alumni Tour doing Bowie material. Earl Slick, Mike Garson, Gerry Leonard, Carmine Rojas and Mark Plati make up the band. Lead vocals will be handled by Bernard Fowler and Living Colour front man Corey Glover.

 

 

9-10-1950 Joe Perry born

Happy birthday to The Admiral, Anthony Joseph Perry, born on this day in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1950 and was one of the kids whose ambition in life changed the night the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show.  It's a safe bet he was watching the show on the night of his his 16th birthday when the Rolling Stones appeared.

 

 

 

Paul McCartney's does live set at Grand Central Station

Paul McCartney's concert set in the Vanderbilt Room of Grand Central Station last night was limited to around 300 insiders, but drew thousands to the mid Manhattan transit hub and millions to YouTube to catch the live stream of it.

 

 

9-7-1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd's tour bus gets loose

 

This week in 1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd was touring in support of the Nuthin' Fancy release.  The band played the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut on September 7th, but made bigger local news for what happened outside the venue.
Ed King described what happened for the excellent Showtime documentary on the band titled If I Leave Here Tomorrow.

Fleetwood Mac debuts lineup featuring Mike Campbell and Neil Finn

Fleetwood Mac's updated lineup took to national TV yesterday to open it's second post Lindsey Buckingham era.  Here's how things looked and sounded with the addition of Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and former Split Enz and Crowded House member Neil Finn.

 

 

9-5-1946 Freddie Mercury born

Freddie Mercury would have turned 72 on this day.  Born Farrokh Bulsara on Zanzibar September 5, 1948, the future front man of Queen got his musical start on piano and was in his first band at the age of 12.  
Fleeing political turmoil, his family relocated to Middlesex, UK , where he studied art and graphic design in school, Mercury also stayed active as a band member in a string of bands through his mid-late teen years. Queen formed in the spring of 1970 and Farrokh Bulsara adopted the name Freddie Mercury.  The flamboyant lead singer of the band he described as the Cecil B. DeMille of Rock went on to establish himself as one of the greatest front men in history before the ravages of AIDS forced him to retire from performing.

 

New Fleetwood Mac lineup debuts on Ellen Degeneres Show

 

Some fans are calling the Lindsey Buckingham-less band Fakewood Mac. Others are excited about the Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Crowded House vet Neil Finn joining. Whether you side with one, the other or are on the fence, Wednesday (9/5) is your chance to hear what the reconstituted Big Mac sounds like.

 

MORE FLEETWOOD MAC INSIGHTS

9-3,4&5-1982 The US Festival staged in SoCal

Hope ROCKinsights friends in the U.S. are enjoying the long weekend.  Some going's on on some past September 3's...
Born on this date, Al Jardine of the Beach Boys born (1942), Grand Funk Railroad's Don Brewer (1948) Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols.  Fleetwood Mac released Future Games in 1971 and was also in the lineup of acts appearing at the Us Festival, which opened on this date in 1982 in San Bernadino, California.The Cars, Grateful Dead, Talking Heads, Jackson Browne, the Police, Santana and Eddie Money also appeared at the event, attended by around 400,000.

 

Muscle Shoals - Small Town, Big Sound

Muscle Shoals - Small Town, Big Sound is the title of an album that features Steven Tyler and Nuno Bettencourt, Kid Rock, Chris Stapleton, Grace Potter, Michael McDonald, Alison Krauss, Delbert McClinton, Jason Isbell and a host of other musicians that went to FAME Studios to recorded covers of songs from several of the biggest records cut in the rural Alabama studios. The album gets released September 28th.

 

 

U2 scuttles Berlin concert when Bono loses voice

 

U2's was only getting started before a sold-out concert crowd in Berlin last night when Bono found himself struggling to sing Beautiful Day and then called it a night.  U2 has promised a make-good show for all ticket holders on November 13th..
According to a post on the U2 web site, the loss of voice was not caused by anything serious and a doctor expects him to regain it quickly and strongly enough that other dates on this leg of the tour should go on as scheduled.

 

MORE U2 INSIGHTS

Steven Tyler's cover of Brown Sugar

Last spring, Steven Tyler and Nuno Bettencourt recorded a cover of Brown Sugar at FAME Studios near Muscle Shoals Alabama that reportedly featured some of the singers and musicians that played on the original when the Stones recorded it there.

 

 

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