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By Jason Newman

February 7, 2014 9:50 AM ET

John Lennon

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

In 1968, Maurice Hindle, a college student at Keele University in England, wrote a letter to a Beatles fanzine requesting an interview with John Lennon. Remarkably, Hindle's letter was answered by Lennon himself, who invited the student and others to his home in Surrey, England to discuss politics, social change and a possible 1969 Beatles tour, among many other topics.

Fab Finds: Check Out Never-Before-Seen Photos of the Beatles

The hours-long audio tapes of this interview were acquired by Hard Rock in 1987 and with the 50th anniversary of the B...U.S. debut approaching, the company is releasing the tapes to the public for the first time. The full interview, alongside transcripts, analysis and a memorabilia gallery, are available on Hard Rock's website, but to give you a sample, we've got two exclusive audio clips from the interviews below.

In the first, Lennon discusses how he can affect social change and references the infamous Black Dwarf letter. That letter, written by music critic John Hoyland in 1968 in the radical newspaper Black Dwarf, lambasts Lennon and the recently released track "Revolution" as being hostile to the growing disillusionment of youth toward authoritarian figures.

Rolling Stone's John Lennon Album Guide

"I've changed a lot of people's heads," Lennon says in the clip below. "I believe in change. That's what Yoko and my scene is, to change it like that…And you're not preaching to the converted … Well, what are they doing? What can they do? [Referencing the Black Dwarf letter] All I'm saying is I think you should do it by changing people's heads and they're saying, 'Well we should smash the system.' Now, the system smashing scene's been going on forever, y'know? What's it done?"

John Lennon on Social Change

^{Quotes/excerpts provided courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe International (USA), Inc.}

The second clip finds Lennon discussing the growing weariness of The Beatles toward each other and asking the interviewer if he'd heard of Rolling Stone, which published its first issue only one year before. "I've said it all, y’know, somewhere or other," says Lennon. "It's just a bit of a hassle to say it…Just read the Rolling Stone article. There's quite a lot about it in there. Cause I went through it a bit, just about the album and different things. Have you heard of it? It's a good paper."

See Ringo Starr's Lost Beatles Photo Album

Lennon notes that contrary to other publications, Rolling Stone accepted an ad for Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1968 album Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins featuring the couple standing naked. "International Times wouldn't take the front cover photo unless we gave them an indemnity against it, y’know," says Lennon. "They're so established... Amazing. But [Rolling Stone] just took it, and this paper…was cooled by it, cause they’ve had the biggest circulation they ever had."

John Lennon on Rolling Stone

^{Quotes/excerpts provided courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe International (USA), Inc.}

In a 2009 interview with the Guardian, Hindle recalled traveling to Lennon's house for the interview. "We students crammed into the back of the Mini and John drove us up the bumpy private road that led to his house, Kenwood," said Hindle. "In a sitting room at the back of the house we sat down on thick-pile Indian carpets around a low table, cross-legged. Yoko said little, as we all knew this was primarily John's day – and he said a lot. Apart from a short break, when Yoko fed us macrobiotic bread and jam she had made, Lennon talked continuously for six hours."

On Sunday, CBS will air The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles, an event that took place last month and featured a rare performance from Paul McCartney and Starr (who also played together during th...mmy Awards). The program will also show tributes from Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Dave Grohl, Pharrell, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Gary Clark, Jr., Joe Walsh and a reunited Eurythmics.

The Beatles' momentous trip to America was the subject of a recent Rolling Stone cover story, which details everything from the band's early trepidation about the trip, the U.S. press's early criticism of the group ("They look like shaggy Peter Pans," Time initially wrote) and their generation-defining three-night stint on Sullivan.

Audio: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/listen-to-never-before-heard-john-lennon-interviews-from-1968-20140207#ixzz2slbzDQkR

Bruce Springsteen performs in Perth, Australia.

Will Russell/Getty Images

By Andy Greene

February 10, 2014 10:00 AM ET

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have announced dates for their spring 2014 U.S. tour. It kicks off April 8th at Cincinnati, Ohio's U.S. Bank Arena and wraps up May 18th with a two-night stand at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Tickets go on sale beginning February 14th at 10:00 a.m. EST.

Don't miss the 100 best Springsteen songs of all time

The tour focuses largely on markets that Springsteen skipped on his 2012 North American tour in support of Wrecking Ball. "As much as we played, we didn't get to Texas, where I love to play," Springsteen told Rolling Stone late last year. "We didn't get to Florida. There were some other places we didn't get on that entire tour. It might be fun to get back to some of those places."

Springsteen is currently in the middle of an Australian tour with the E Street Band and special guest Tom Morello. The most recent show, at Perth Arena in Perth, opened with a cover of AC...y to Hell" and mixed in new tracks from High Hopes with deep cuts like "The Promise" and "Terry's Song." The tour wraps up March 2nd with a two-night stand at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. For the first time ever, fans can officially download these shows roughly two days after they end.

E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt is on the road with the group in Australia, but it's unclear he'll be able to make this upcoming American tour due to his commitments to his TV show Lilyhammer. "I told [Bruce] I was going to miss five weeks of work to go to South Africa and Australia," he told Rolling Stone in December. "But then I'll have to go back to Norway and work through June. If there are other E Street shows, I may have to miss a few and catch up with them in July." That said, the E Street Band are getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10th (two days after the tour begins) at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and Van Zandt has pledged to be in the states for the ceremony.

Here are Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2014 U.S. tour dates:

4/8 – Cincinnati, OH – U.S. Bank Arena
4/12 – Virginia Beach, VA - Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
4/15 – Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
4/17 – Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
4/19 – Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Arena
4/22 – Pittsburgh, PA - Consol Energy Center
4/24 – Raleigh, NC - PNC Arena
4/26 – Atlanta, GA - Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood
4/29 – Sunrise, FL - BB&T Center
5/1 – Tampa, FL - MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
5/3 - New Orleans, LA - Jazz & Heritage Festival
5/6 – Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
5/13 – Albany, NY - Times Union Center
5/14 – Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Stadium
5/17 – Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun
5/18 – Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-and-the-e-street-band-announce-2014-u-s-tour-dates-20140210#ixzz2swbg94RY

Michael Jackson

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images

By Kory Grow

February 11, 2014 3:05 PM ET

A court in Orleans, France has ruled that five Michael Jackson fans were able to prove that they had suffered "emotional damage" and awarded them each €1, or approximately US $1.36, for their trauma. The five were among 34 fans who sued Dr. Conrad Murray, the man who administered a lethal dose of anesthesia to the pop star, following Jackson's death. The BBC reports that the fans, who were all members of a Michael Jackson fan club based in France and hailed from France, Switzerland and Belgium, used witness statements and medical certificates to prove their cases.

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"As far as I know, this is the first time in the world that the notion of emotional damage in connection with a pop star has been recognized," French lawyer Emmanuel Ludot, who represented the claimants, commented to the AFP news agency. "They have been subjected to ridicule and I am delighted their suffering has been taken seriously by the law."

The attorney said that the fans would not be claiming their euro, but instead hoped that people recognized the verdict's symbolism. Specifically, they hoped that it would help them gain access to Jackson's Los Angeles grave, which is closed to the public.

The pop star died in June 2009, with a U.S. court convicting Murray of involuntary manslaughter in 2011. He served two years of a four-year term and was released in October as part of an initiative to reduce prison overcrowding in California. Last month, a court rejected Murray's appeal to have his conviction overturned.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/5-michael-jackson-fans-awarded-1-36-each-over-singers-death-20140211#ixzz2t4I1ovCi

Recording a Dungeons & Dragons Audiobook Was One of the Hardest Things Ice-T Has Ever Done

By Kyle Chayka - Feb. 06, 2014

When rapper and Law and Order star Ice-T tried to expand his talents into the burgeoning field of recording audiobooks, “It took me three-and-a-half hours to read 25 pages,” he said on a recent episode of his podcast. That’s because he was trying to read a Dungeons & Dragons book.

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The experience of trying to pronounce vocabulary like Zerthimon, Vlaakith, and Krusk was exhausting. “When you read these books, you make up the pronunciation in your head. But to actually verbally say this words? Son,” he said. “I needed breaks. I needed water.”

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Recording a 40-page short story eventually took Ice-T two days. “Every word you’re saying is pretty much made up. [Characters] talk like Yoda: Outside I go, into the sun thereof, in, out….how do you read this [stuff]? Considering the way music is right now, you’re better off listening to a book, it’s more entertaining, honestly.” the Los Angeles Times transcribes.

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If fantasy writing is too much, maybe he could just rap about D&D instead? Verses like “I got my brain on hype, tonight’ll be your night, I got this long-assed knife,” are… almost appropriate. If they were about knights slaying giant monsters in caves instead of policemen.

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It’s a great marketing move: an Ice-T audiobook is pretty much the only way you could make us buy anything D&D related. Just don’t call it nerdcore.

Beck's 'Morning Phase': The Billboard Cover Story

By Jenny Eliscu | February 14, 2014 12:25 PM EST

Beck explains his first album in five years: "I'm not controlling where [the car] is going... just making sure it doesn't crash."

Turns out Beck can make heartbreaking music, even when he actually is doing fine. Dressed in all black except for the tiny white polka dots on his scarf, Beck sits in Silver Lake's popular Cafe Stella during a quiet Friday morning, holding his wide-brimmed fedora in his lap. He's wearing a lean, buttery motorcycle jacket, and his hair is close-cropped except for an asymmetrical shock of strawberry blond whose precise hue could be called - get it? - "mellow gold." The 43-year-old's sleek look is a far cry from the floppy knit cap, saggy jeans and overgrown page boy he sported when the world got its first look at him 20 years ago, bleating "soy un perdedor" to a mangled blues guitar sample. He still looks positively Beck-y - that is, whatever his style, he always is the coolest weirdo in the room.

More than a decade has passed since Beck released his most indispensable and career-defining collection of music in the wake of a devastating breakup. Now married to actress Marissa Ribisi and the father of son Cosimo, 9, and daughter Tuesday, 6, he chuckles warmly as he talks about making the decision to revisit the sound of his confessional 2002 album, "Sea Change," for his new one, "Morning Phase." He has been writing contemplative, acoustic songs like that for his entire career but was unsure about devoting another album to them. "I was reticent about doing something in that vein again," he says. "Does it kind of paint you into a certain corner? Because there's a lot of other stuff I want to do. I love going out performing and having songs where everybody's moving, letting loose. And this record, like 'Sea Change,' is a totally different, more intimate kind of thing."

"Morning Phase" started with a shared revelation of sorts, onstage, in May 2012. Beck and "Sea Change"'s four-man backing band - bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, guitarist Smokey Hormel, keyboard player Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and drummer Joey Waronker - had reunited to play a last-minute gig at the relatively intimate El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. It was a warm-up for a few bigger shows to follow, and it was a hot ticket: Beck hadn't played his hometown since shortly after his 2008 album, "Modern Guilt." And, though that stellar supporting band had been with him for a few albums in a row when they made "Sea Change," they hadn't all played together since. "In the interim, a lot of life has happened," says Beck. "It had a huge impact on all of us, to revisit those songs. I think we were all feeling them in a different, maybe deeper way."

Meldal-Johnsen later says: "It was pretty intense. I knew it would be like that. Something about the music we created together being the only thing that's permanent during that duration of time is a heavy concept, but it was also joyous and rambunctious at the same time."

"Morning Phase," Beck's 12th studio album, evolved naturally from there, picking up where "Sea Change" left off: the aftermath of the aftermath, the morning phase. Although he'd already started piecing together another new album with a series of high-profile collaborators, including Pharrell Williams - possibly due out later this year, "time willing" - Beck set those tracks aside to focus on "Morning Phase," recorded at studios in Nashville, London, Los Angeles and New York over the course of several months in 2013. "I had some old songs, and I found the ones that fit together the best, and then I worked on building it, stripping it back, rewriting it and just kept going until I felt like it was getting better and better."

Meldal-Johnsen says Beck and the band never explicitly discussed what type of sound they were going for, but it was inevitable: "It's the same room with the same guys, with the same microphones and a lot of the same equipment and the same engineer. We don't even talk when we start these songs; we just listen and respond. These are the tones and sounds and approaches that come forth from that recipe and these five guys. I think Beck responds to music in that trusting way, where he lets things unfold without judgment." As Beck puts it: "Something just happens when you're making a record, where certain things start to come out. It's just something in the air. I might have been shooting for Royal Trux, and it came out Lynyrd Skynyrd, but it's working, so..." He trails off.

"It's like I'm driving the car, but I'm not really controlling where we're going. I'm just making sure it doesn't crash."
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I suggest that he obviously has confidence in his own instincts, but Beck quickly demurs, "My instinct has definitely gone awry; I could give you many examples." He laughs and tells me about how, several years ago, he turned down repeated requests to write the theme song for a new cable TV series. "It's about ad executives in the '60s? They're going to make a show about that? Really? Um, I don't think so," he remembers saying. "Yeah, just like the best show ever made!"

"I wish I had more confidence," he adds. "I think that's probably my Achilles' heel. If I had more, I probably would have felt emboldened to make more interesting music earlier on, or really go for it in an artistic or songwriting sense. I've seen that kind of confidence serve other people really well. I really admire it. Like, I hope my kids have some of that kind of confidence that enables you to take risks."

It's strange to think that Beck, whose unabashed weirdness places him in such formidable company as Tom Waits, David Bowie, Bjork and Nick Cave, isn't sure he's unabashed enough. He seemed so confident out of the gate. But Beck says it wasn't until his 1998 album, "Mutations," recorded with producer Nigel Godrich over two intense weeks, that he felt he could let down some of his guard and make the kind of direct, emotionally vulnerable songs he'd been writing since he was a teenager. "That's what I started out doing," he says. "But the climate of the time was different. When I started out playing small clubs, you could feel the room recoil from certain kinds of songs. Anything that was too personal, that had a sentiment to it, or was laying out your feelings, was immediately booed. People would start throwing things. And anything that was really provocative or humorous or radical was embraced or cheered. So that fostered in me a sort of mode of survival."

At a certain point, he says, he realized it was pointless to predict how listeners would respond. "I mean, I guess my first album did well," he says, modestly. "I think it went platinum, but everybody else in that same period was selling 12 million to 17 million records. I'm talking Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails. All the bands that were playing on the stations I was getting played on. What does that even mean to sell 16 million records, you know?" Beck has sold about 8 million over two decades (nearly all for Geffen/Interscope), but he says he's never one to keep track. "Maybe a song will get on the radio, and I go, 'OK.' And we play a show, and people are excited to hear it, and I go, 'OK, so that worked,'" he says. "But it's really hard to qualify. It's almost impossible. Unless there's like a real kind of commercial success or the critics really liked it. Most of the time, I've sort of floated somewhere in between. I think I've had periods of time where I was like, 'Does anybody like this?'"

Although Beck hasn't had a platinum album since "Odelay," all but the last two exceeded gold. For an artist like Beck, his value can't be measured by sales alone. "Beck has an incredible history of making records that redefined what was going to work in that given moment - albums where, while the rest of the world turned right, he turned left, and it worked out and people went with him," says Capitol Records executive vp Greg Thompson, who helped sign Beck to the label in the fall.

After Beck's deal with Interscope ended in 2008, Beck says he considered starting his own label but that the prospect seemed daunting. "I have enough to do trying to make records and tour," he says. "When I went around to meet with people at labels this last time, I met with some people who really were enthusiastic and keen to work on something. I hadn't felt that in years. And at Capitol, there were some familiar faces."

Beck's most commercially successful albums have been the more beat-oriented, club-friendly ones, but "Blue Moon," the first single off "Morning Phase," is starting to find an audience on Triple A radio. And with Triple A leading sales stories for such acoustic-driven artists as Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers in recent years, perhaps "Morning Phase" arrives at the perfect moment. (He'll perform on "Saturday Night Live" on March 1.)

Regardless, the other Beck album in the works is rumored to be more like "Odelay," beloved for its integration of hip-hop sampling and rock songwriting, and that could be the bigger payoff for Capitol. "I'm really excited to hear it," says Thompson. "The prospect we'll get a great record with this signature, and then he's gonna make another one with a different signature, you have a lot to look forward to." The international market also is a big part of the equation, he adds: "He does very well in the U.K. and Australia and Canada and across Europe. Our plan is to definitely work it on a global basis and get him overseas and tour."

http://www.artistsden.com...abareilles

Keep Your Eye on Nikki Yanofsky in 2014

19-Year-Old Jazz Singer From Montreal Is Rising Fast

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Darling Nikki: Nikki Yanofsky, who grew up in Montreal’s Jewish community, is one of Quincy Jones’s protégés.

By Harold Heft

Nikki Yanofsky seems preternaturally destined for global stardom. At the age of 12, she was spotted singing with her father’s garage band at a charity event for a Jewish geriatric center and was immediately invited to perform at the opening concert of the 2006 Montreal International Jazz Festival before a crowd of 125,000. Since then, she has performed with such luminaries as Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, sang the theme song “I Believe” for the Vancouver Olympics, and has become the protégé of Quincy Jones, who is executive producer of her new album, “Little Secret,” which will be released this coming April.

All of this before her 20th birthday.

In some respects, the 19-year-old Yanofsky’s jazz career seems accidental. Growing up in the Jewish community of Montreal, she recognized the connection between her musical roots and her upbringing: “As Jews we put big emphasis on family,” she told the Forward, “and as a family, music was always around.” When first told she would be performing at a jazz festival, she says, she logged into iTunes and typed in “jazz.” “The first thing that came up was Ella Fitzgerald,” she said. “That’s when I heard her and that’s when I fell in love.”

Asked why she caught the attention of Jones when she was 14, Yanofsky said, “The reason why he took my meeting is because I sing jazz and there weren’t a lot of young people at that time who were singing jazz.” She recalled meeting at his house, where she sang “Lullaby of Birdland” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” “He flew out of his chair and we ended up talking for two hours about jazz,” she said.

Yanofsky calls “Little Secret” the strongest and most cohesive work she’s recorded to date. “Before this album I had an idea of where I wanted to be but I didn’t know how to get there,” she said.

“My biggest goal is to bring jazz back,” she said. “Not that it’s ever disappeared, but I just mean for my generation — to bring it to a new audience.”

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/190130/keep-your-eye-on-nikki-yanofsky-in-/#ixzz2tWUuJvEK

http://www.josephcahillproductions.com/

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NBC Reveals First Week of Guests on Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

by Robyn Ross

Jimmy Fallon

NBC has unveiled the first week of guests for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

As previously announced, Will Smith and musical guest U2 will be on Fallon's inaugural show. On Tuesday, Jerry Seinfeld, Kristen Wiig and musical guest Lady Gaga will take the stage, followed by Bradley Cooper and musical guest Tim McGraw on Wednesday. First Lady Michelle Obama, Will Ferrell and musical guest Arcade Fire will be on Thursday, and Friday will feature Fallon's BFF and frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake.

7 Things to Expect From Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs after the Olympics at midnight Feb. 17-20, with the Feb. 21 telecast scheduled to air in its regular slot at 11:35/10:35c.

Cee Lo Green: I'm Not Returning to 'The Voice' (Video)

10:45 PM PST 2/18/2014 by Aaron Couch

"I don't want to wear out my welcome there," the musician said in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres.

Cee Lo Green is leaving his spinning judge's chair behind. The producer and recording artist said he will not return to NBC's The Voice, telling Ellen DeGeneres in an interview airing Wednesday, "I'm not coming back, guys."

"I’m going to continue my relationship with NBC. I have a television show development deal with them as well and hopefully some other talk show opportunities for later in the year," Green said in the interview. "But yeah, I’m going to miss The Voice, too."

Green taped the interview for The Ellen DeGeneres Show alongside Lionel Richie, whom he is joining on an upcoming tour they've dubbed All the Hits All Night Long.

"I just want to … I don’t want to wear out my welcome there," Green continued. "You know what I’m saying? I have so many other things that I want to do. I haven't released an album in four years. I’m almost done with my album."

Watch the clip below.

Green served as a judge on the first three seasons of The Voice, as well as season five. The music competition show returns for a sixth season starting Feb. 24 with a judging panel that includes Shakira, Usher, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine.

In January, Green hedged when asked if he would return for another season, telling reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour that he would love to come back "if they'll have me," but adding "I’m human and I have other ambitions that I want to see through that will require my undivided attention."

In 2012, Green signed a first-look deal with NBC to develop, produce and potentially star in new projects.

Green's rep did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reps for NBC and Warner Bros. Television, which produces The Voice, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Video: http://www.hollywoodrepor...not-681487

'Sting: The Last Ship': Television review

90-minute concert version of Sting's upcoming Broadway musical about his childhood home is smart and moving, with the best lyrics of his career

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, February 20, 2014, 2:00 AM

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Sting performs “The Last Ship” at the Public Theater.

IT’S A BIG year for Sting. He’s touring with Paul Simon and his first Broadway musical, "The Last Ship," opens Oct. 26 at the Neil Simon Theatre.

But the strongest draw for this “Last Ship” tease on “Great Performances” turns out to be its small scale and confessional tone.

Shot last October at the Public Theater, the concert mirrors the personal touch of the album version of “Ship.” While this will likely bear only a glancing relation to what ends up on Broadway, that just makes it more precious.

The 90-minute concert features cameos from some of the play’s stars (including the ruddy Jimmy Nail), plus a 14-piece band, but it has the inside feel of an author’s note to the reader.

The show deals smartly and movingly with the dying shipbuilding industry of Sting’s childhood in dreary Wallsend, England. It’s a place he longed to escape, but one he now embraces for its fortitude and fatalism.

Sting inhabits the hard characters easily, and brings them to life with his jaunty and eloquent verse. It’s the best lyric-writing of his career. Yet, in his revealing between-songs patter, Sting says that, as instructed by the show’s director, “Some of my finest couplets (got) tossed in the bin.”

Some live here in “Practical Arrangement.” It boasts the conversational form, and cynical view of romance, of vintage Sondheim. True to its setting, the music stresses Celtic sea chanteys, theatricalized by European waltzes and slicked by pop flourishes that recall vintage Sting.

Besides the high quality of the music, the show charms through the ease and candor of Sting’s performance. You feel like you’re seeing a 62-year-old man integrating his conflicted childhood, coming to terms with something deep.

jfarber@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/sting-ship-television-review-article-1.1619932#ixzz2ttVLPR7R

The Jacksons Ready First Album Since '89, With Collaborators and 'New Flavors'

By Gary Graff, Detroit | February 13, 2014 Billboard

Jackie Jackson is hoping that having the four active Jacksons in one place for the group's upcoming Las Vegas residency will help the troupe finish its long-in-the-making next album.

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"I'm so happy all the brothers will be together in Las Vegas. During the day time they can finish recording and then do the shows during the evening time," Jackson, who resides in Sin City, tells Billboard. He reports that he, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon have "quite a bit" of the album finished -- at least half of it, he estimates -- with a hoped-for early summer completion. And the group is happy with the results so far.

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"It sounds like Jacksons music, with today's sounds," Jackie explains. "People still want to hear that Jackson 5 harmony; we can't get away from where we came from. That's what they want to hear. But there's a lot of new flavors we can combine that with. Something like Bruno Mars' 'Treasure,' that's like on old Jacksons song. When I first heard that song I said, 'That could have been on one of ours!' "

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The Jacksons are working with a number of contemporary artists and producers, though none are being identified yet. The set will be the first new Jacksons release since 1989's "2300 Jackson Street."

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The upcoming stand at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino kicks off Feb. 20, with 40 shows currently on the schedule. Dubbed RockTellz & CockTails, it's an outgrowth of the 2012-2013 Unity Tour, which found the Jacksons on the road together first time since 1984's Victory Tour -- and, obviously, for the first time without Michael Jackson in the lead position and the other brothers covering his parts in the group's songs as well as some of his solo hits.

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"We love singing them," Jackie says. "That's our brother, and people want to hear those songs and it's very emotional as well because we try to do the best we can with them. It's kind of a like a tear-jerker moment, but we manage to do OK with it and really enjoy it and people have a great time when we're singing those songs."

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The shows -- which come 45 years after the Jackson 5's first hits for Motown -- will be similar to the Unity Tour, Jackie says, except with "lots of glitz and production, because it's Vegas" and also will include a bit more verbiage from the brothers.

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"There's going to be a lot of storytelling in this how was well, telling stories that you've never heard before," Jackie promises. Like what? "Ah, I can't let the cat out of the bag," he says with a laugh. "There'll be some significant stories about the Jacksons -- what Michael used to do, what we all did. That's all I can say. But it's gonna be a lot of fun."

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He adds that the Jacksons film "everything we do," but no concrete plans have been made yet for a DVD or television broadcast of the show.

Fishbone Owe $1.4 Million for Stage-Diving on Fan

Lead singer Angelo Moore says people "want to be on edge" at their gigs

Fishbone have to fork over $1.4 million to a fan who sued them over injuries she sustained at 2010 concert. As the Associated Press reports, Kimberly Myers — a 46-year-old mother of three from New Jersey — broke her skull and collarbone after Fishbone's lead singer, Angelo "Dr. Madd Vibe" Moore, dived from a Philadelphia stage and landed on top of her. Now, a federal judge has awarded Myers a hefty payday, finding that Moore hasn't shown any real remorse for the incident.

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U.S. District Judge Jan DuBois wrote in a Wednesday ruling that despite the fact that Myers lost consciousness at the show, Fishbone "continued to perform as if nothing had happened." DuBois has ordered Moore and his business partner, bassist John Norwood Fisher, to pay $1.1 million in compensatory damages. Moore also has to hand over an additional $250,000 in punitive damages.

According to the judge, Moore seemed to make light of the situation, testifying "that every couple of months an ambulance is called to the concert venue." In a 2011 deposition, Moore said he doesn't give any kind of warning before he stage-dives because it would ruin the "theatrics" of the performance. "People want to be on the edge when they go to a Fishbone show," Moore reportedly said.

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Unfortunately, Myers didn't realize she was going to a Fishbone show on the night in question. Her lawsuit claims that she did not know the punk/funk/ska band, which has been sued at least once over a similar sort of injury, was on the bill when she went to Philly's World Cafe Live. Myers also insists, per the judge's ruling, that she now suffers from shoulder pain, memory problems, and autoimmune issues that led to lupus.

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DuBois' ruling comes shortly after news that Skrillex has been slapped...r lawsuit. A fan alleges that Sonny Moore jumped from the stage at a February 2012 show and landed on her, causing her to suffer a stroke. Lamb of God were also involved in a long manslaughter case over the death of a fan who suffered fatal injuries at one of their shows. Lead singer Randy Blythe was acquitted, and is writing a memoir about the ordeal.

Prince to Appear, Perform on 'Arsenio Hall Show' tonight.

By Kevin Rutherford | March 5, 2014

Prince and 3rd Eye Girl onstage at The BRIT Awards 2014 at The O2 Arena on February 19, 2014 in London, England.

Da

Shakira Returns With New Album, Steamy Rihanna Video, Country Duet: Cover Story

Full Article: http://www.billboard.com/...lbum-voice

Ledisi on Letterman tonight!

Howard Hewett Interviewed by Calden Moye

MickyDolenz said:

Recording a Dungeons & Dragons Audiobook Was One of the Hardest Things Ice-T Has Ever Done

By Kyle Chayka - Feb. 06, 2014

When rapper and Law and Order star Ice-T tried to expand his talents into the burgeoning field of recording audiobooks, “It took me three-and-a-half hours to read 25 pages,” he said on a recent episode of his podcast. That’s because he was trying to read a Dungeons & Dragons book.

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The experience of trying to pronounce vocabulary like Zerthimon, Vlaakith, and Krusk was exhausting. “When you read these books, you make up the pronunciation in your head. But to actually verbally say this words? Son,” he said. “I needed breaks. I needed water.”

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Recording a 40-page short story eventually took Ice-T two days. “Every word you’re saying is pretty much made up. [Characters] talk like Yoda: Outside I go, into the sun thereof, in, out….how do you read this [stuff]? Considering the way music is right now, you’re better off listening to a book, it’s more entertaining, honestly.” the Los Angeles Times transcribes.

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If fantasy writing is too much, maybe he could just rap about D&D instead? Verses like “I got my brain on hype, tonight’ll be your night, I got this long-assed knife,” are… almost appropriate. If they were about knights slaying giant monsters in caves instead of policemen.

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It’s a great marketing move: an Ice-T audiobook is pretty much the only way you could make us buy anything D&D related. Just don’t call it nerdcore.

WTF?