LUY-Development

Category: Entertainment

  • Brad Paisley on drive-in concerts: ‘It’s a return to life’

    Brad Paisley on drive-in concerts: ‘It’s a return to life’

    NEW YORK (AP) — For country star Brad Paisley, who has spent the last two decades performing live concerts for feverish fans, the thought of touring being taken away never crossed his mind.

    “Even as recorded music went through transitions where it was less lucrative and people were (dealing with) illegal piracy, or streaming was taking revenue away from record companies, I’m like, ‘Well at least we’ve got the live music. They can’t ever take that away.’”

    And then the coronavirus pandemic hit — or as Paisley puts in: “COVID-19 was like, ‘Watch me.’”

    That’s why the three-time Grammy-winner is so excited to be part of Live Nation’s first-ever “Live from the Drive-In” concert series, debuting next month, where fans can watch live performances from inside or around their cars with enough space in between groups.

    Paisley, who will headline three of the nine shows, said he’s eager to perform “No I In Beer,” a song he wrote in 2018 about “having a beer in spite of everything” but released during the pandemic to help fans cope.

    “(It) is perfect for these times,” he said.

    Speaking of beer, Paisley is encouraging that concertgoers assign a designated driver before getting to the concerts, which also includes performers like Nelly, Darius Rucker and Jon Pardi.

    “(It’s) literally a better situation than at my concerts,” Paisley said of the drive-in format, where ticket holders can bring their own food and drinks. “I look at that blasted lawn, they are so hammered. I’m like, ‘I don’t know who drove the 10,000 of you in the back that I see, but I hope they’re not back there because there’s nobody that needs to be driving.’ In some ways this is a safer setup in that sense, too. It’s like you can be sure they came in a vehicle and they didn’t leave their vehicle. They’re beside it.”

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Paisley discusses the upcoming live shows and more.

    _____

    AP: How have you dealt with not being able to perform live shows like usual?

    Paisley: You start to realize though that this (touring) thing that’s been a part of my identity as a performer since 1999, which is summers spent seeing faces and playing live music, is gone. This is such a blessing to be able to sort of get one past the goalie here, or three past the goalie, I guess, and play these. To get these shows and say, ‘All right, we can do a few shows like this and reach some people’ — I think it’s going to be really important for me, for my band, for the fans themselves. It’s a way of sort of letting each other know — we’re still here. We still care. Someday this will be over. There’s a glimpse of life again.

    It’s going to be nuts. It’s going to be like a total return to life in some weird way and we’re all going to have a really good time. For me, also, I’ve got this band that’s been sitting around and … they’ve been with me since 1999.

    _____

    AP: You’ve had the same band since releasing your first album?

    Paisley: Yeah, it’s nuts. Our newest member is the steel player, who came along right at the beginning of the second album in 2000.

    AP: What was it like getting the call from Live Nation to participate in its first-ever drive-in series?

    Paisley: I’m just glad they didn’t just throw in the towel and say, ‘This year’s a wash.’ It’s really not about making money with any of these at all. This is more about, ‘Look, we’ve got music to play, there are fans that want to be there in some form, in some fashion. We need to figure out how to do that.’ I think that’s the best way to kind of stay sane right now — to sort of have some things like this that are safe and a release from everything. It’s mind-numbing.

    _____

    AP: What do you say to fans who are hesitant about the drive-in format?

    Paisley: Well, this is the trick, there’s a lot of variation to this that people are doing. In this case, one thing that’s really key is that … you don’t have to stay in the car, you can be in your parking space. You can be in your little parking area. You can tailgate, do what you would do.

    Most of the people that go to my concerts, I’ve been out there in the parking lots prior and gone out there and seen — this is like what happens before the show, but it’s happening during.

    AP: Are you tackling your set list differently in this type of situation?

    Paisley: I think I will. I’ve got so many songs about vehicles. I was realizing that. “Mud on the Tires” is one of my biggest hits. I’ve got a song called “Moonshine in the Truck” … that kind of makes sense right now. That’d be fun to throw that in. It’s like, ‘How many car themes can I throw in this concert?’ It might just be one car medley after another.

    _____

    AP: Do you see drive-in concerts being the norm for live shows for the rest of the year?

    Paisley: I think it’s one of the best ways to do it. …This reminds me so much of high school of what we would do. We would drive out into a field, literally in high school. Our way of entertaining ourselves was to drive out into a field, a bunch of high school kids, in their vehicles, in the middle of nowhere, out this creek where we lived, blast music and light a little bonfire and just crank up songs. This feels … so organic in some way that I do think it’s a great way to do it.

  • Music Memorabilia from Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Prince and others sells for big bucks at Julien’s Auctions

    Music Memorabilia from Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Prince and others sells for big bucks at Julien’s Auctions

    Elvis’ macrame belt sold for nearly $300,000

    It was a big weekend at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California.  The “record setting” auction house

    specializes in sales of iconic artifacts and notable collections including Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Lady Gaga, Banksy, Cher, Michael Jackson, U2, Barbra Streisand, Les Paul, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix and many more.

    Julien’s hosted a “Music Icons” auction over the weekend, and some high-ticket items went on the auction block.  The 1959 D-18E Martin guitar Kurt Cobain played sold for $6,010,000 to the founder of Rode microphones.  A macrame belt worn on stage by Elvis Presley sold for just under $300,000.  The dress Madonna wore in the “Vogue” music video sold for $179,000.  Check out their Facebook page to see what else sold at Julien’s over the weekend.

    Kurt Cobain’s guitar set five new records:

         World’s Most Expensive Guitar
         World’s Most Expensive Acoustic Guitar
         World’s Most Expensive Martin Guitar
         World’s Most Expensive Piece of Memorabilia
         World’s Most Expensive Nirvana Memorabilia

     

     

  • New Solo Version Of Aretha Song About Race, Faith Released

    New Solo Version Of Aretha Song About Race, Faith Released

    “Never Gonna Break My Faith” won best gospel performance at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008

    NEW YORK (AP) — A never-before-heard solo version of the late Aretha Franklin’s riveting and powerful collaboration with Mary J. Blige about faith and race, 2006’s “Never Gonna Break My Faith,” has arrived on Juneteenth.

    Sony’s RCA Records, RCA Inspiration and Legacy Recordings released the song Friday, aligning with the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage

    “Never Gonna Break My Faith” resonates today, featuring lyrics like: “You can lie to a child with a smiling face/Tell me that color ain’t about a race.”

    “The world is very different now. Change is everywhere and each of us, hopefully, is doing the best he or she can to move forward and make change as positive as possible,” Clive Davis, Sony Music’s chief creative officer and Franklin’s close friend and collaborator, said in a statement.

    Dozens of artists have released new songs detailing the black experience amid the global protests sparked by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many others. Some performers have released covers of protest anthems or re-released older songs that resonate with the times, like “Never Gonna Break My Faith.”

    Lyrics from the song include: “My Lord, won’t you help them to understand/That when someone takes the life of an innocent man/Well they’ve never really won, and all they’ve really done/Is set the soul free, where it’s supposed to be.”

    Calling Franklin’s performance “chilling,” Davis said the song’s lyrics and relevance “will shake every fiber in your body.”

    “Everyone should hear this record,” Davis said. “It deserves to be an anthem.”

    “Never Gonna Break My Faith” won best gospel performance at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, marking Franklin’s 18th and final Grammy win. She died in 2018 at age 76.

    The song was originally featured in the film “Bobby,” about U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination, and features background vocals from The Boys Choir of Harlem.

    “This solo version has been sitting on my computer for years, and when I heard Clive was making a film on Aretha’s life, I sent this version to him. The world hasn’t heard her full performance and it really needed to be heard,” Grammy-winning singer Bryan Adams, who co-wrote the song, said in a statement. “I’m so glad it’s being released, the world needs this right now.”

  • Billie Eilish Gets 3-Year Restraining Order For Trespasser

    Billie Eilish Gets 3-Year Restraining Order For Trespasser

    The order can be amended and extended if necessary

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has extended to three years a restraining order taken out by Billie Eilish against a man who repeatedly appeared at her Los Angeles home.

    In a hearing, Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman agreed to the extension of the May 11 order preventing 24-year-old Prenell Rousseau of Farmingville, New York from attempting to contact or coming within 100 yards (91 meters) of the 18-year-old pop star or her parents.

    Eilish, her attorney and her parents phoned in to the hearing, held in a courtroom that was empty except for a reporter from The Associated Press and court staff because of tight coronavirus restrictions. All including the judge wore face masks.

    The order also prohibits Rousseau from assaulting or harassing the family, or from coming near Eilish’s workplaces.

    Neither Rousseau nor an attorney for him appeared at the hearing. Messages left with possible relatives seeking comment from him were not immediately returned.

    Eilish listened by phone but did not speak. Both of her parents answered yes when the judge asked them if they would like to be included in the order.

    Eilish said in court documents that Rousseau showed “erratic behavior” as he appeared at the home she shares with her parents seven times on May 4 and 5 until he was finally arrested for trespassing.

    Her attorney Mark D. Passin asked the judge for a five-year restraining order, but Gould-Saltman settled on three years after hearing that Rousseau had made no attempt to contact Eilish or her family outside of those two days.

    The judge said she was not trying to minimize the threat, and emphasized that the order can be amended and extended if necessary.

    In his first appearance at the home, Rousseau rang the doorbell and asked Eilish’s father through the a surveillance camera whether she lived there, and persisted after he was told he had the wrong house.

    The family called their private security service when he returned later the same evening.

    “While we waited for security, Mr. Rousseau remained on our porch, sat down and began to read a book, while also continuing to engage in a periodic monologue,” Eilish said in court documents. “My father repeatedly asked him to leave, but he refused.”

    The documents say Eilish and her family were frightened by Rousseau, in part because he did not wear a face mask in five of his appearances at the home, and repeatedly touched the doorbell and doorknob without gloves.

  • Denying Marriage Claim, Justices OK James Brown’s Dying Wish

    Denying Marriage Claim, Justices OK James Brown’s Dying Wish

    The Godfather of Soul’s dying wish to help educate needy children is a big step closer to being fulfilled

    South Carolina’s Supreme Court has ruled that James Brown’s last partner was not legally married to him.

    In an unanimous ruling on Wednesday, the state’s justices wrote that Tomi Rae Hynie, a former partner of Brown’s who claimed to be his wife, failed to annul a previous marriage, and therefore did not have a right to his multimillion-dollar estate.

    Brown’s union with Hynie has long been the center of the evolving legal troubles following his death at the age of 73 on Christmas Day 2006. The performer’s death touched off years of bizarre headlines, beginning with Hynie being locked out of his 60-acre estate, while photographers captured her sobbing and shaking its iron gates, begging to be let in.

    Brown was renowned for hundreds of iconic musical works including hits like “I Feel Good” and “A Man’s World,” and was known around the world for his flashy performances and dynamic stage presence. But years of drug problems and financial mismanagement caused his estate to dwindle.

    More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed over the years by people trying to lay claim to what’s left, which courts have estimated to be worth anything from $5 million to more than $100 million.

    Wednesday’s ruling dealt another blow to a deal brokered by Gov. Henry McMaster who, as South Carolina’s attorney general, stepped in to facilitate a 2009 settlement after Brown’s estate had been floundering in court for years. In 2013, the state’s high court overturned McMaster’s settlement, which would have given nearly half the estate to a charitable trust, a quarter to Hynie, and the rest to be split among his adult children.

    At the time of that settlement, the exact value of Brown’s assets was not made public, and attorneys said his accounts had little money in them. In 2008, some of his possessions were auctioned for $850,000, in part to pay down debt, and all agreed that future income from music and movie royalties and the use of Brown’s highly marketable likeness was what remained at stake.

    In that 2013 ruling, justices wrote McMaster hadn’t followed Brown’s expressed wishes for most of his money to go to charity, having instead selected a professional manager who took control of Brown’s assets from the estate’s trustees to settle Brown’s debts. Writing that McMaster’s deal “destroys the estate plan Brown had established in favor of an arrangement overseen virtually exclusively by the AG,” the court also ruled then that the Godfather of Soul was of sound mind when he made his will before his death.

    The justices ruled again in the case two years later, ordering all estate proceedings halted pending further evaluation by a lower court.

    Finally on Wednesday, the justices ruled that Hynie has no claims on the money, and ordered a circuit court to “promptly proceed with the probate of Brown’s estate in accordance with his estate plan.”

    That plan, outlined in Brown’s will, was to create an “I Feel Good” trust that would use his music royalties to fund educational expenses for children in South Carolina and Georgia.

    “The ongoing litigation since Brown’s passing has thwarted his expressed wish that his estate be used for educational purposes … a point we find both extraordinary and lamentable,” the court wrote.

  • Carrie Underwood’s Husband Recovers His Stolen Classic Pickup Truck

    Carrie Underwood’s Husband Recovers His Stolen Classic Pickup Truck

    1975 Ford Recovered After Turning To The Internet To Help

    Last Wednesday night, Mike Fisher (Carrie’s husband) reported that his rare, 1975 Ford 250 Crew Cab had been stolen in Edmonton, Alberta.  It didn’t take the Internet long to track down Mike’s pilfered pickup.  Just two days later, Mike announced on Instagram that his truck had been recovered.

    Mike Fisher is from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and his NHL career started out with the Ottawa Senators.  He met Carrie Underwood after getting traded to the Nashville Predators in 2011.

  • “Harry Potter” Author J.K. Rowling Publishes A New Children’s Book

    “Harry Potter” Author J.K. Rowling Publishes A New Children’s Book

    This is not a Harry Potter spin-off

    “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling announced on Twitter that she is publishing a new book for children titled “The Ickabog.”  A new chapter will be published online every day, and the first two chapters are already up.  Rowling wrote the book in between writing the “Harry Potter” series books, and had intended to release it after the final book in that series.

    However, she put the mostly handwritten manuscript in her attic for a few years to take a break from children’s books.

    Kids can read the book themselves (she says it’s age appropriate for kids seven and up) or have someone read it to them. The author is also asking her legion of young readers to illustrate the book.

    Rowling also added that she’s going to donate all her author royalties from the book to COVID-19 relief efforts.

    You can read the first two chapters, and subsequent chapters of “The Ickabog” at this link.

  • Daniel Radcliffe And Other “Harry Potter” Stars Read First Book In Series For Fans

    Daniel Radcliffe And Other “Harry Potter” Stars Read First Book In Series For Fans

    The actor who played “Harry Potter” in all eight films reads Chapter One.

    As announced on the Wizarding World Twitter account, the official account of the Harry Potter World:

    Daniel Radcliffe reads the first chapter, and it’s just SO GOOD!

    Other actors from the film series including David Redmayne, Dakota Fanning, David Beckham, Stephen Fry, Claudia Kim and Noma Dumezweni will be reading chapters from the iconic book too!