James Taylor postpones tour until 2021, including Pittsburgh show
James Taylor has postponed his 2020 United States tour dates until 2021, including a performance at PPG Paints Arena. Taylor, with His All-Star Band and special guest Jackson Browne, originally were scheduled to play Pittsburgh on June 16. The concert has been moved to June 17, 2021. Fans should hold...
Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Weezer postpone Pittsburgh show, Hella Mega tour dates
One of the big U.S. rock tours of the summer will now happen in 2021. Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer were set to head out on the Hella Mega tour this summer, but the bands have postponed the North American dates of the summer trek until next year....
Neon Swing X-perience offers fans free online-only album
Neon Swing X-perience is offering fans a free album-length compilation of never-before-released songs titled “Guess You Had To Be There: Unreleased, Rare, and Live Tracks.” The online-only 15-track album is available exclusively through the Pittsburgh-based band whose music encompasses swing, hot jazz, blues, rockabilly and horn rock rooted in the...
Rosanne Cash wins prestigious MacDowell arts medalVideo
Rosanne Cash’s latest honor is a medal previously awarded to Toni Morrison, Stephen Sondheim and Georgia O’Keeffe, among others. The singer-songwriter is this year’s winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal, presented by the MacDowell artist colony, which announced the prize Sunday. In a statement issued through MacDowell, Cash said she...
Married music teachers use old-school rendition to show they miss studentsVideo
Time away from the classroom isn’t just affecting students. Teachers are feeling the impact as well. Two music teachers, who are a married couple, have found a creative way to cope with withdrawal from their pupils. Joe Wilson is music department chair and marching band moderator at Central Catholic High...
R. Kelly again denied release from federal jail after raising COVID-19 concerns
CHICAGO — A federal judge in New York has once again rejected R. Kelly’s request for release pending trial, stating that his diagnosis of prediabetes is not enough to put him at high risk of contracting COVID-19 behind bars. The embattled singer has been seeing medical professionals in the downtown...
Kenny Chesney postpones Heinz Field concert, 2020 tour
Kenny Chesney’s May 30 concert at Heinz Field will have to wait. The popular country music star officially announced Thursday that his 2020 “Chillaxification Tour” is postponed until next year because of the coronavirus pandemic. “With so many tours needing to move and wanting to make sure we are in...
PSO cancels remaining concerts of 2019-20 season
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has canceled the remaining concerts for the 2019-20 season. In a release, PSO cited continued restrictions on public gatherings, evolving government guidance and an effort to “protect its audiences, musicians, employees and community from the spread of covid-19” for the cancellation. “It is painful to need...
U2’s Bono marks 60th birthday with ’60 Songs That Saved My Life’Video
U2 front man Bono celebrated his 60th birthday by releasing a playlist of “60 Songs That Saved My Life.” On the band’s website, Bono calls the songs “(the) ones I couldn’t have lived without … the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60 … through all...
Pittsburgh-area music, event promoters bide time during covid-19 pandemic
As most southwestern Pennsylvania counties prepare to begin loosening covid-19 restrictions and reopening their economies, event producers suspect it will be a while before they can resume staging events for large groups. “I think that the numbers of infected have to go down and the curve stays flattened and people...
Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, like fans, looks forward to return of live musicVideo
David Grohl misses the shows, too. With concerts still on hold across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, Grohl, of the Foo Fighters (and Nirvana), penned an essay about looking forward to the return of live music. In a piece titled “The Day the Live Concert Returns,” published Monday to...
Jonas Brothers to thank health care workers with SiriusXM sessionVideo
The Jonas Brothers will interact with an audience of frontline health care workers and their families at noon Friday on SiriusXM Hits 1’s Celebrity Session on SiriusXM radio channel 2 and on the SiriusXM app. The brothers will answer questions about their music, including their upcoming single “X,” featuring Karol...
Little Richard, flamboyant rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, dead at 87
NASHVILLE — Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, has died Saturday. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that...
Taylor Swift ‘Lover’ concert coming to ABC, Hulu, Disney+Video
A concert event is coming soon that should make Swifties happy. Taylor Swift announced Friday that her concert from Paris in September will be shown on ABC. The event, dubbed the “City of Lover Concert,” will make it’s way to TV at 10 p.m. May 17. Excited to announce the...
Queen’s Brian May hurts buttocks in freak gardening accidentVideo
Talk about a pain in the … Let’s just say that Queen guitarist Brian May hasn’t just been lounging about during his time sequestered during the coronavirus pandemic. Nope, he’s been active. Almost too active, he says. He recently landed himself in the hospital after a gardening accident. May shared...
Buju Banton calls new single with John Legend ‘special’Video
It’s been over a decade since reggae king Buju Banton and R&B star John Legend collaborated on a song, and the Grammy winners have reunited for a new track. Banton and Legend released the easygoing love song “Memories” on Friday. It is the first single from Banton’s upcoming album “Upside...
Billie Eilish and her cool dad to host Apple Music radio show
If you’re quarantined at home with your parents right now, count your blessings if you can have as nice a time as Billie Eilish and her dad seem to be enjoying. Eilish announced a new Apple Music program, “me & dad radio,” featuring her and her father, Patrick O’Connell, an...
Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk co-founder, dies at 73Video
Florian Schneider, who co-founded the seminal German electronic band Kraftwerk in 1970 and went on to become a godfather of genres including synth-pop, hip-hop, electronic dance music and post-rock, has died. Schneider was 73. One of the most important musicians of the computer age, the artist died after what his...
Lady Gaga sets ‘Chromatica’ release date after album was delayed by coronavirus
After being delayed by coronavirus, Lady Gaga’s new album has a new release date. Her sixth studio album “Chromatica” will be released May 29 via Interscope Records. The journey continues. You can officially join me on #Chromatica on May 29. ⚔️? pic.twitter.com/VFIcMw2JE4— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) May 6, 2020 “Chromatica”...
Hello there: Adele stuns with Instagram picVideo
Well, what’s Adele been up to these past few months? Looks like she’s been, uh … sveltering in place. On Wednesday, the singer returned to social media for the first time since December 2019 — a day after her 32nd birthday with … well, let’s just say a new look....
Court overturns Quincy Jones’ win in Michael Jackson lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court on Tuesday overturned most of a 2017 jury verdict awarding Quincy Jones $9.4 million in royalties and fees from the Michael Jackson estate over the use of Jones-produced Jackson hits in the concert film “This Is It” and two Cirque du Soleil shows....
Welcome X Æ A-12 Musk, Grimes and Elon Musk’s baby
Elon Musk and Grimes are now proud parents. The Tesla CEO and electronic artist welcomed a baby boy into the world Monday. If being the son of those two wasn’t enough to set you apart, his name alone is one that’s hard to forget. Musk, in responding to someone on...
Tenor Andrea Bocelli schedules holiday season Pittsburgh dateVideo
Renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will return to the United States for a series of holiday season concerts, including a Dec. 5 date at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Billed as “a prayer of hope,” the concerts will include Bocelli’s first career performance in St. Louis, Mo., and his annual...
Rage Against The Machine postpone Pittsburgh show, 2020 tour
Rage Against The Machine won’t play Pittsburgh this year. The band announced Friday that they are postponing their 2020 “Public Service Announcement Tour,” which included a July 31 stop at PPG Paints Arena, because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Rage Against The Machine will commence our tour at such a time...
Producer’s memoir talks life of hits, magic of Eddie Van Halen
In a life full of magical musical moments, few compare for Ted Templeman to the night he first saw Van Halen in a mostly empty Hollywood club. The elite record-maker and Warner Bros. record executive who had spent the decade producing albums for The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, Carly Simon...
