Sunday, May 12, 2024
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Aerosmith Cancels the Rest of Its Farewell Tour as Steven Tyler Continues to Suffer from Vocal Condition

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Dream on if you think Aerosmith is coming back any time soon.

The group has cancelled its entire Peace Out farewell tour because lead singer Steven Tyler, they say, is suffering from a severe vocal condition.

It’s a sad way to end things but Tyler, who’s had any number of medical challenges, must concentrate on living well and comfortably than putting himself through this misery.

If this is the end for Aerosmith, they have nothing to prove. Their place in rock history is secure.

“To our fans: Unfortunately, Steven’s vocal injury is more serious than initially thought. His doctor has confirmed that in addition to the damage to his vocal cords, he fractured his larynx which requires ongoing care.

He is receiving the best medical treatment available to ensure his recovery is swift, but given the nature of a fracture, he is being told patience is essential.

As a result, all the currently scheduled PEACE OUT shows must be postponed to sometime in 2024, with new dates to be announced as soon as we know more.”

Tyler himself, added, “I am heartbroken to not be out there with Aerosmith, my brothers and the incredible Black Crowes, rocking with the best fans in the world. I promise we will be back as soon as we can!”

U2 Releases a Great New Single (Who Knew?) Tying in With Big Vegas Residency: Listen to “Atomic City”

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With the title “Atomic City,” U2’s new single could have been the music to “Oppenheimer.”

But the new song, the first in a while for U2, has been kind of a stealth release to coincide with the group’s big Las Vegas residency at the Sphere, which was built for them.

The Rolling Stones have so much hoopla and PR about their new songs and album. But this launch is a mystery to me.

“ET Canada” Cancelled After 18 Seasons, Production Cites “Challenging Advertising Environment”

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“ET Canada” — the equivalent of “Entertainment Tonight” in Canada — has been cancelled after 18 seasons.

The show is produced by Corus Entertainment, which is throwing in the towel in light of shrinking ads, the toll of the strikes for the last four months, the downturn at the box office, and so on. Corus runs 39 radio stations and over 40 TV stations in Canada.

Is Canada no longer interested in celebrity? Perhaps. They have a lot of moose, after all, and plenty of beer. All kidding aside this will severely limit PR opportunities for studios and other content sources trying to promote their offerings in the northern regions.

Corus statement:

“After more than 18 incredible seasons, we are ending production of Entertainment Tonight Canada. The costs of producing a daily entertainment newsmagazine show in a challenging advertising environment have led to this decision. We recognize the impact this decision has on the dedicated team who have worked on the show and we thank them for their meaningful contributions over the years.”

Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa NEW SONG from the Movie “She Came to Me” Called “Addicted to Romance”

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Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa wrote and sang this new song for Rebecca Miller’s film, “She Came to Me.” It’s a beautifully mournful ballad with a sharp, catchy hook. Bruce already has an Oscar for “Streets of Philadelphia.” This could be his second one. And anything with Patti on it is gold!

Yorn Shorn: With His First Haircut in Years, Rocker Pete Yorn Surprises in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Now Eyes “Yellowstone” Spin Off

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EXCLUSIVE Rocker Pete Yorn is as well known for his long locks as he is for his catchy songs. The latter include his hit, “Life on a Chain” in 2001, and a long list of songs recognizable to a loyal following.

But early screening audiences who’ve seen Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” are very impressed with an actor they think they know, only he looks different. For “Killers,” I’m told, Pete let the hairstyling department give him his first hair cut in what might be decades.

In other words Yorn is Shorn.

Yorn’s distinctive good looks had everyone at Wednesday night’s premiere of “Killers” asking who that guy is? Yorn unfortunately plays a baddish kind of guy in Oklahoma in the 1920s who works for the characters played by Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.

But his turn in the film has already caught the eye of Taylor Sheridan. Sources say Yorn is high on Sheridan’s list for a role in the “Yellowstone” spin off with Matthew McConaughey which will follow the end of the Kevin Costner era. Will he get to grow his hair back? If it’s a period piece, his character may have trouble finding conditioner!

Kanye West Working on A New Album that No One Wants and No One Will Buy

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TMZ says Kanye West is working on a new album to get himself back to the “old Kanye.”

He should just stop now. No regular record company will work with him. If Universal in any way dared to, they’d have a huge problem on their hands.

Kanye lost his career over the last couple of years for making raging antisemitic statements, then defending them and refusing to apologize for them. If he thinks some sort of apology will pave the way for album sales, he is dead wrong.

West — that’s his name, forget this Ye stuff — has no contrition. I no longer care if he’s bipolar or on a spectrum. He has joined the Mel Gibson club of pariahs. There’s a reason Adidas ate millions of dollars in inventory. He is simply not coming back.

It’s not like prior to the implosion of his career West was selling many CDs either. His “Donda” album has sold a mere 215,000 copies over the last two years. That’s sales. With streaming, the number is 1.8 million. That’s not enough to pay for his way of life. West hasn’t had a real hit in more than a decade. His “hits,” such as they were, were samples of other people’s music. He doesn’t write music. He buys beats. He got away with it for a long time. But the party is over.

Bob Dylan Wins $8,000 from Lawyers of Woman Whose Sex Abuse Case Against Him Was Dismissed

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The crazy lawsuit against Bob Dylan for sexual harassment in the 1960s has had a plot twist ending.

I told you when this case was filed that it was bogus, and I produced evidence that Dylan was not even in New York City when the event supposedly took place at the Chelsea Hotel.

It was all made up by a disturbed woman who convinced two lawyers to take the case.

Now a judge has ordered those lawyers to pay Dylan $5,000 and $3,000 each as a punishment for not complying with any orders of discovery. They couldn’t produce any backup to the insane claims. The judge wasn’t happy. She was kind, though. Dylan wanted $50,000.

US District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla’s order can be read here.

Robert Kennedy Jr. Earned an Annual Six Figure Salary from A Clean Water Charity for Years, Now “ER” Actress Gloria Reuben is In Charge

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EXCLUSIVE

Before he became the proponent of conspiracy theories, an anti-vaccine nut, a fake Democrat, and wanna be president of the United States Robert Kennedy Jr. had an actual job.

Kennedy was a president for years of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a 501 c3 that grew out of another organization called the Riverkeeper that still exists in upstate New York. The idea was to keep the Hudson River clean.

As recently as 2015-16, Kennedy was still making around $76,000 a year at the Riverkeeper, according to their Form 990 filing. The same year he appears to have overlapped as president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, making $200,000. (Waterkeeper, located in downtown Manhattan, is sort of the sexier version of Riverkeeper.)

That went on for four years. In 2020, his salary dropped to $95,000 plus another $16,000. (This is all from their tax filings.)

Starting in 2021, Kennedy’s name dropped off Waterkeeper’s tax filings. Kennedy’s replacement in 2021 as president of Waterkeeper is a little surprising: former “ER” actress Gloria Reuben. She had never before appeared on a list of directors or officers for Waterkeeper. Apart from “ER,” Reuben is famous for singing back up for Tina Turner on her last tour. She is also considered a long time close friend of Kennedy.

No salary is listed for Reuben, who is listed as working three hours a week as president according to the filing. But overall salaries at Waterkeeper jumped from $546,666 in 2021 to over $3.5 million in 2022. CEO Marc Yaggi was the top salary earner, with over $300,000. Five more executives earned six figure salaries. The rest of the $3.5 million in salaries isn’t specified, but keeping the water clean is expensive, you know!

All their other numbers increased in 2022 except Revenue Less Expenses, listed as MINUS $1.6 million. Net assets dropped from over $4 million to $2.6 million. This was despite a jump of $3.5 million in total revenue.

Waterkeeper says it doled out over $10 million in 2022 in grants and scholarships but almost all of that went to Latin America and the Caribbean — $9.7 million. None of that is delineated. Where did it go? The only specifics are given for 21 small donations to groups in the US that came to $586,707 — considerably less than total salaries paid to their execs, which came to $743,559.

Waterkeeper listed around $650,000 in 2022 for rent and office expenses. (They also list the usual miscellaneous, unspecified expenses bringing their 2022 total to $16.8 million.)

Curiously, Kennedy’s website makes no mention of Riverkeeper, just Waterkeeper (in passing). But he doesn’t include a way to donate to these causes which he says are so close to his heart.

(I called and emailed their CEO Marc Yaggi but he has not responded.)

By the way, after all that effort, can you swim in the Hudson River?

Waterfront Alliance (not Waterkeeper) says yes, but it doesn’t sound like much fun. Two of their warnings: not to swallow the water; and make sure to keep your head and face above water.

Amazon Labels Jann Wenner’s “Masters” Book a Best Seller, But it’s Number 9,441 on Their Charts

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Well, this is a learning moment.

Amazon has labelled Jann Wenner’s new book, “The Masters,” a best seller. That would imply maybe top 20 or 30 on their list, right?

But two days after publication, “The Masters” in hardcover is number 9,411. The Kindle version is well over 79,000.

It’s pretty clear this book is NOT a best seller. It’s not selling at all from the looks of those numbers.

Wenner killed the book’s sales two weeks ago when he belittled Black and female music artists, saying they weren’t articulate enough to be interviewed by him. “The Masters” has interviews with John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, etc.

Wenner was summarily cancelled by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and by Rolling Stone. Today it was announced that HBO would not be broadcasting the Rock Hall show, as they’ve done for years. The show has moved to Disney Plus, where it will be watched live with a subscription. There will be a delayed one hour special on January 1st on ABC, guaranteeing no one will watch it.

But how could that book be a best seller? And if that’s a best seller, what about the book at number 9,440?

Listen to the Rolling Stones New Single Featuring Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder from Rocking New Album

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The new Rolling Stones single is “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” featuring Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder. It’s the second single after “Angry” took off two weeks ago.

The tremendous record is from the Stones album “Hackney Diamonds” coming October 20th. I’ve heard it and it’s rocking amazing. You can’t believe the ferocity of some of these tracks, the gorgeous vocals, or the hot production. When I can say more, I will.

The Stones keep rolling! And for all of us, we are very lucky someone wants to make real music!