Benedict Cumberbatch, not only a cool actor, but a high tide for his spot-on impressions of the late Alan Rickman, did so again in a fitting tribute through an animated spot on The Simpsons. And even better, the scene was set to the David Bowie classic All the Young Dudes.
https://youtu.be/ZPrYtb6diu8
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off “The River” North American tour Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center, and started the show not with The Ties That Bind, but “We want to take a moment to note the passing of our good friend David Bowie,” before ripping into Rebel Rebel.
One one level, the history of my love for music really began with watching Sha Na Na, introducing me to many 50s and 60s artists and their songs, as well as making my first impressions of rock and roll being fun. Having not realized they preceding Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, I loved the entire band, and they’re still on the road, even though a few members have gone on to careers outside music, and a few more have passed away.
In the late seventies Sha Na Na landed a TV deal,.airing from 1977 to 1982 and consisted mainly of silly sketch comedy and musical numbers featuring guest stars. The video below shows the greasers dressed as a family, playing Greaser’s Fued, a Family Feud-type parody against The Ramones.
https://youtu.be/yup347UhNRY
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” by The Beatles was written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song closes side one on the group’s 1969 album Abbey Road, and it quite unusual song, even for them. It’s nearly eight minutes long, few lyrics (the title makes up most of the lyrics, aside from two more phrases; only 14 different words are sung), a three-minute descent through repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in another Lennon contribution to the album, “Because”), and abrupt ending. Its’s so heavy (pun intended), that Classic Rock magazine commented that “the song pre-dated Black Sabbath’s creation of doom rock by several months”.
ORGAN: Billy Preston, BASS: Paul McCartney, DRUMS: Ringo Starr
Damn. On this week’s episode of The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon performed an bang-on impression of Bob Dylan performing “Hotline Bling” by Drake. Not only does he sound like him, the band is errie. They didn’t even compromise on the look and feel of the film used, too, turned things on its head making it sound and look like it’s from 1966.
https://youtu.be/gc40zIaCw6U
Jimmy Fallon joins Sesame Street characters Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster and more to photobomb unsuspecting parents and their children taking pictures at 30 Rockefeller.
This year has started off badly, with the deaths of Lemmy from Motorhead and David Bowie, both of cancer. In “Ace of Space“, Los Angeles musician and composer Andy Rehfeldt has created a striking tribute to two late music legends by mashing together the Motörhead anthem “Ace of Spades” with the iconic “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.
https://youtu.be/qkfSWt09qi4
After three and a half years, award-winning Seattle-based Hip Hop duo, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have confirmed a February 26th release for their new album ‘This Unruly Mess I’ve Made.’ The thirteen track LP includes PLATINUM selling single “Downtown” (featuring Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, and Eric Nally), as well as previously unavailable “Growing Up” (featuring Ed Sheeran) and “Kevin” (featuring Leon Bridges).
The long awaited follow-up to the acclaimed debut LP ‘The Heist,’ ‘This Unruly Mess I’ve Made,’ was largely recorded over the course of a year in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. “What I couldn’t find in a hotel room, on the road or in Seattle, I found in the middle of nowhere,” says Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis kicked off a month of intimate theatre shows in the US last week with a “triumphant” (Arizona Republic) SOLD OUT show in Phoenix, AZ. They launch their European Arena tour in Belgium on March 1 and will include stops at London’s O2 Arena and the AccorHotels Arena in Paris – their biggest European headlining shows to date. Click HERE for tour dates.
I love how he calls out to Bill Gates. I wonder if Bill responded.
This film of Alan Rickman is from the project, Portraits in Dramatic Time by David Michalek. The project featured an array of glacially paced performances of theater artists and actors all genres and nationalities. With artists featured both singly and in groups, the piece offered a unique and secret glimpse into some of the world’s greatest performing artists.
Rest in peace, Alan.
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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