Guns N’ Roses love being on the road so much, they just extended their top-grossing Not in This Lifetime tour into 2018 with a series of summer dates. The group reformed last year for the first time since 1993 and, 100 shows later, have reinstated themselves as one of the world’s top live acts. Who would have thought this even 2 years ago?
Guns N’ Roses Summer 2018 Tour Dates
6/03 – Berlin, Germany – Olympiastadion
6/06 – Odense, Denmark – Dyreskuepladsen
6/09 – Donnington, UK – Download Festival
6/12 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany – Veltins Arena
6/15 – Firenze, Italy – Firenze Rocks
6/18 – Paris, France – Download Festival
6/21 – Dessel, Belgium – Graspop Metal Meeting
6/24 – Mannheim, Germany – Maimarktgelände
6/26 – Bordeaux, France – Matmut Stadium
6/29 – Madrid, Spain – Download Festival
7/01 – Barcelona, Spain – Estadio Olympico
7/04 – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Goffertpark
7/07 – Leipzig, Germany – Festwiese
7/09 – Chorzow, Poland – Stadion Slaski
7/13 – Moscow, Russia – Otkritie Arena
7/16 – Tallinn, Estonia – Tallinn Song Festival Ground
7/19 – Oslo, Norway – Valle Hovin
7/21 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Ullevi Stadium
Travel — and experiencing other cultures — opens your mind. Nobody knows this better than Bryan Cranston, who spent two consecutive years (at 19 and 20) on a motorcycle with his brother, exploring America and figuring out what it was that he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Needless to say he became a major figure in American acting. With pivotal roles in Breaking Bad and Trumbo that—no exaggeration here—have helped reshape not only American television but American masculinity, it shows just how meaningful being purposefully lost can be. That way, you can truly find yourself.
Funko, the pop culture collectibles company, has revealed the latest new musician figures to join their Pop! Rocks series. The new dolls include Kurt Cobain, Elton John and Jerry Garcia.
This series features Jerry Garcia, shown with his signature glasses and guitar!
Known for his fashionable taste and larger than life outfits Elton John is shown in two versions – a classic white suit, and patriotic red, white, and blue suit! Complete with his iconic glasses.
Rounding out the series comes front man, Kurt Cobain! Featured in his recognizable brown and green sweater.
You can find Kurt Cobain shown in tan sweater with guitar, and glitter version of Elton John – only at FYE!
Kurt Cobain featured in his black sweater, available only at Hot Topic!
VETS Canada’s Guitars for Vets program is based on a simple concept: veterans and currently serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP who suffer with PTSD or other service-related injuries or disabilities will be provided with a new or gently used guitar. They will also be connected with free online lessons and – when and where available – students will have the option of working with a guitar instructor for 10 weeks of free lessons. These instructor-led lessons may be one-on-one or in small group settings. Our goal with Guitars for Vets is to get as many guitars as possible in the hands of wounded veterans to help the healing process.
If you are a veteran, soldier, or RCMP member with a service-related injury or disability and you want to learn to play the guitar, please fill out our application form.
Music is an essential part of most of our lives and for artists we like, watching the music videos that accompany our favorite songs can be doubly thrilling. Especially when the videos tell a story to go along with the music itself. Over the years, we’ve seen many actors and actresses star in music videos, as well as fellow musicians making cameos in videos of tracks they’re not associated with – for instance, on Duck Sauce’s Barbara Streisand. However, there seems to be a growing trend for sports personalities to appear in music videos too. This is no surprise given how influential both artists and athletes are in today’s society. Here are a few examples:
Michael Jackson and Magic Johnson
“Remember the Time” was a popular recording by the late American pop legend Michael Jackson. It was released in 1992 and featured on the Dangerous album reaching Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts and number 1 on the Billboard R & B singles charts. The hit single “Remember the Time” features guest appearances by Iman, Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson. Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr., born August 14, 1959, was at this time an American retired professional basketball player. The song was written by Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle and Michael Jackson, produced by Jackson and Riley. The nine-minute music video was set in ancient Egypt. Eddie Murphy plays the pharaoh, Iman Abdulmajid plays his wife, with whom Jackson flirts with in the video. Magic Johnson played the part of the Herald. The video used a sophisticated trick technique that dissolved the spinning Michael Jackson into grains of sand – CGI that was quite innovative for its time.
Beyoncé and Serena Williams
Two months after the release of Beyoncé’s album “Lemonade”, the music video for the song “Sorry” was released and available exclusively on Vevo. The creative black-and-white clip was created by director Dikayl Rimmasch. Serena is seen dancing and twerking as Beyoncé lounges in a throne, while various dancers in artsy body paint dance in the background. The fact that the two women made a collaboration is not a big surprise since they have been friends for years, which is fitting for two of the brightest stars in their industries. In fact, Lottoland Canada chose to include Serena Williams in their list of the top ten most inspirational athletes, pointing out that she has over 9 million followers on Twitter and won her first Grand Slam at age 17.
P. Diddy and Mike Tyson
American rapper P. Diddy, Mark Curry and Black Rob created a song “Bad Boy for Life”. It was produced by Megahertz and has been released as a single. The music video for “Bad Boy for Life” was staged by Chris Robinson, shot in June 2001 and released in early July. There are a number of guest appearances including drummer Travis Barker, guitarist Dave Navarro, boxer Mike Tyson, actor Ben Stiller, rapper Xzibit, actor Richard Dunn, Snoop Dogg, basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, television presenter Pat O’Brien, rap rock band Crazy Town and Baron Davis. The video was nominated for Best Rap Video and MTV Video Music Awards in 2002. Although Mike Tyson retired in 2005, he still holds quite a few records, including being the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title, at age 20 and a few months.
Energetic music and athletics go hand in hand. Both things just take over the body and can lift up our spirits. Whether we are watching sports or even participating or working out, music is the perfect accompaniment.
A beautiful and moving performance of Gene MacLellan’s classic “Snowbird”, sung here by his daughter Catherine MacLellan with Chris Gautier and the Blue Engine String Quartet on The East Coast Music Hour with Bill Roach.
In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of one of the most significant soundtracks in film history, a special collector’s edition of the remastered original motion picture soundtrack for Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: A New Hope is set to release on December 1.
Available for pre-order now, the new 3-LP set features the original motion picture score, conducted and composed by five-time Academy Award®-winning composer John Williams, in addition to a 48-page hard cover book with 180-gram vinyl. This one-of-a-kind vinyl set is hand etched by Tristan Duke (Jack White’s Lazaretto) of Infinity Light Science, and offers a 3D hologram experience featuring the Death Star on Disc 3, Side A. For optimal viewing, use a direct light source or simply hold a mobile phone flashlight above the vinyl to view the hologram. Side B features the Star Wars 40th Anniversary logo etched into the vinyl.
The Star Wars: A New Hope box set is the first release from Disney Music Group since acquiring the Star Wars music catalogue earlier this year. Subsequent releases are planned for 2018.
In addition to the rare photos of the film’s production and scoring sessions included in the set, there are two essays featured in the hardcover book. “Tuning Up a Galaxy”, written by author Jeff Bond (“Danse Macabre: 25 years of Danny Elfman and Tim Burton,” “The Music of Star Trek”) focuses on the phenomenon of Star Wars and how Williams’ score changed film music forever. “John Williams’ Journey to Star Wars”, by Jeff Eldridge discusses Williams’ early career – from his musical heritage to his continuing legacy.
John Williams is well known for scoring all eight of the Star Wars saga films, beginning with 1977’s Star Wars (A New Hope) for which he earned an Academy Award® for Best Original Score. His score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was nominated for an Oscar®.
Williams returns to score Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past. Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in theatres on December 15.
Today, several of punk rock icon Billy Idol’s best-loved works are celebrated with the release of newly remastered vinyl reissues of Idol’s first two solo LPs, Billy Idol and Rebel Yell, plus the expansive double-LP greatest-hits collection Idolize Yourself: The Very Best of Billy Idol. Each release is available online now on high-quality vinyl with faithfully reproduced iconic original album art.
Billy Idol’s series of successes in the early 1980s brought punk attitude into the pop mainstream. With a career that stretched back to the original British punk scene as the front-man of trailblazers Generation X, the swaggering, charismatic Idol relocated to New York City at the dawn of the ’80s and reinvented himself as one of the era’s most consistently popular performers.
Initially released on July 16, 1982, Billy Idol first introduced Idol to mainstream American audiences and succeeded in launching his solo career. Teaming Idol with producer Keith Forsey and longtime guitarist/collaborator Steve Stevens, Billy Idol displayed a sleek, streamlined sound and includes hits such as “White Wedding”, and “Hot in the City”.
The following year, the multi-platinum smash Rebel Yell – originally released on November 10, 1983 – built on the foundation created by its predecessor, featuring Idol advancing and evolving his dance infused rock/pop sound. Once again working with Stevens and Forsey, with recording done at New York’s Electric Lady Studios, Rebel Yell was a commercial smash featuring songs including the legendary title track, “Eyes Without a Face”, and “Flesh for Fantasy”. Each of these hits are represented by iconic music videos that kept Idol in the public eye during the initial heyday of MTV.
While Billy Idol and Rebel Yell flash back to Idol’s formative days as a solo performer, Idolize Yourself: The Very Best of Billy Idol offers a widescreen overview of his entire storied recording career. First issued on CD in 2008, the 18-song Idolize Yourself features all of Idol’s vintage hits including his early club smashes “Dancing with Myself” and “Mony Mony,” plus “Cradle of Love”, “Rebel Yell”, “White Wedding”, “Eyes Without A Face”, “Flesh For Fantasy”, “Sweet Sixteen”, “To Be A Lover”, and more. The record concludes with two songs newly recorded just for this collection’s initial release: “John Wayne” and “New Future Weapon”.
Each of Billy Idol’s recordings retain their original power, despite many of them having been released over thirty years ago. There is no better way to hear them than on these classic albums, newly released on high-quality vinyl.
Following the massive success of his 37th studio album Roll With the Punches (which charted at No 4 in the UK this September), Van Morrison prepares the release of his 38th.
Versatile is positive proof that Van Morrison is built differently to other artists. One of very few British recording artists to warrant the description ‘living legend’, Van is currently working at a rate to put musicians a third of his age to shame; an ethic that harks back to his early days as a recording artist who’d easily release multiple brilliant long players within the space of a year.
While Roll With The Punches saw Van revisit many of the definitive rhythm and blues records that have stayed with him all his life, Van’s latest album sees him delve further back into recorded music’s archives to interpret some of the 20th century’s greatest vocal jazz standards.
Across Versatile’s sixteen tracks, Van Morrison interprets some of the very building blocks of modern music in his own utterly unique style. As well as songs originally made famous by the likes of Chet Baker, Sinatra, the Righteous Brothers, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole, Versatile features six stunning new Van compositions, including Broken Record – a timeless piece of late-night swing.
A joy from start to finish, Versatile is a completely different record to Roll With the Punches yet it’s incontrovertibly Van and proof, if ever it were needed, that at 72 years of age, he’s not going to slow down any time soon.
Versatile features:
1. ‘Broken Record’ (Van Morrison)
2. ‘A Foggy Day’ (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin)
3. ‘Let’s Get Lost’ (Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh)
4. ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ (Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon)
5. ‘Skye Boat Song’ (Traditional. Arranged by Van Morrison)
6. ‘Take It Easy Baby’ (Van Morrison)
7. ‘Makin’ Whoopee’ (Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn)
8. I Get a Kick Out of You (Cole Porter)
9. ‘I Forgot That Love Existed’ (Van Morrison)
10. ‘Unchained Melody’ (Alex North and Hy Zaret)
11. ‘Start All Over Again’ (Van Morrison)
12. ‘Only A Dream’ (Van Morrison)
13. ‘Affirmation’ featuring Sir James Galway (Van Morrison)
14. ‘The Party’s Over’ (Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne)
15. ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’ (George Cory and Douglass Cross)
16. ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’ (George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin)
