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Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Turns 30 With Roger Daltrey, Stewart Copeland, and Tommy Lee

Eric Alper
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Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Turns 30 With Roger Daltrey, Stewart Copeland, and Tommy Lee

Thirty years in, Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp is still doing something the music industry never quite figured out how to replicate. Founded by David Fishof, Rock Camp has spent three decades putting everyday musicians in the same rooms as rock legends, and the 2026 anniversary lineup makes the strongest case yet for why this thing works.

This year’s headliners are Roger Daltrey of The Who, Stewart Copeland of The Police, and Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe. Three artists. Three of the most influential bands in rock history. It’s the kind of roster that needs no further explanation. Full dates and details are at rockcamp.com.

The camp has never been a narrow operation. Past participants include Coach John Benton of the Seattle Seahawks, a former Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, and Ed Oates, co-founder of Oracle. Over 40% of today’s Rock Camp participants are women, many of them accomplished musicians who’ve made the camp a genuine creative home. Women’s Only and Songwriting camps are also part of the program.

The artists keep coming back because it means something to them too. The late Jeff Beck called it “the best way to give back.” Roger Daltrey has said it reconnects him to what music felt like at the very beginning. Gene Simmons has said he wishes Rock Camp existed when he was young. “For 30 years, Rock Camp has been about one thing, changing lives through music,” says founder David Fishof. “We’ve watched people rediscover their passion, gain confidence, and fulfill dreams they never thought possible.”

Rock Camp’s cultural footprint runs deep, with appearances on The Simpsons, Billions, Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, and Pawn Stars. The documentary ROCK CAMP is streaming free on Amazon and YouTube now. The Rock Camp podcast is ongoing. Thirty years of this, and the mission hasn’t shifted an inch.

London Singer-Songwriter FREE/MAN Puts His Soul Into Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”

Eric Alper
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London Singer-Songwriter FREE/MAN Puts His Soul Into Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”

Charlie Freeman has been doing something quietly remarkable under the FREE/MAN name. His reinterpretation of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” is out now, and it doesn’t arrive as a novelty or a stunt. It arrives as a genuine artistic statement, one that treats the source material with reverence while making it entirely his own.

Freeman’s version pulls from ’70s rock, Britpop soul, and Americana intimacy, stripping the track back to its emotional core. It’s warm, unhurried, and deeply felt. The alt-soul lens he brings to it doesn’t diminish the original’s weight. It adds another layer of human texture to a song that’s already carried generations.

“Redemption Song” appears on Freeman’s EP ‘Reconnection,’ a four-track, 14-minute project that also includes “Not Tomorrow,” “Bluebird,” and “Two Witches.” The EP is out now, and it makes a strong case for Freeman as one of London’s most emotionally honest songwriters working today. Indie Buddie calls him “instantly swayable and charming with an infectious buoyancy,” and that reads true across every track.

Freeman’s full-length album ‘Gift In The Shadows,’ described as his most personal work to date, is also out now, continuing his exploration of inner freedom, resilience, and finding light through adversity. The world tour supporting that chapter, spanning Europe, the USA, Mexico, and Argentina, is underway.

‘Reconnection’ Tracklisting:

  1. Redemption Song
  2. Not Tomorrow
  3. Bluebird
  4. Two Witches

Cowboy Hunters Unleash Their Ferocious New EP ‘EPeepee’ With a Round on Them

Eric Alper
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Cowboy Hunters Unleash Their Ferocious New EP ‘EPeepee’ With a Round on Them

Glasgow’s Cowboy Hunters don’t ease you in. The duo’s new EP ‘EPeepee’ is out now, and it arrives with all the force and chaos that’s made them one of the UK’s most talked-about live acts. Drums, bass, and vocals. That’s the whole setup. That’s all they need. Listen here.

Lead single “Have A Pint” captures exactly what Cowboy Hunters do best. It sounds like a demonic fairground ride set loose in a pub, equal parts confrontational and communal, blunt and immediate. Three minutes of catharsis that doesn’t waste a second. It’s the kind of track that makes you want to shout, shove, and grin all at once.

The duo’s reputation has been building fast. They’ve shared stages with Franz Ferdinand, English Teacher, and Bob Vylan, with Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos calling them “the coolest band in Glasgow right now.” That’s not a throwaway compliment. Kapranos knows a thing or two about what Glasgow sounds like when it’s firing.

‘EPeepee’ also includes “Money For Drugs,” a cover of Princess Superstar and Mason’s cult club hit “Perfect (Exceeder),” and three more tracks that push the duo’s unfiltered, high-impact sound further than before. No cowboys are safe.

‘EPeepee’ Tracklisting:

  1. Shag Slags Not Flags
  2. Have A Pint
  3. Dustcaps
  4. Money For Drugs
  5. Cuntry Girl

20 Songs to Celebrate New Beginnings

Eric Alper
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20 Songs to Celebrate New Beginnings

There’s a moment in every new beginning – right before the nervousness fades and the excitement kicks in – where you need the right song. Not just background noise. The song. The one that makes you feel like the opening credits of your own life are rolling.

Here are 20 of them. Crank it up.

“Dog Days Are Over” – Florence + The Machine

If this song doesn’t make you want to run barefoot through a field and completely reinvent yourself, check your pulse. Florence Welch built a cathedral out of pure release here, and it still hits just as hard sixteen years later. The dog days are over. Act accordingly.

“Unwritten” – Natasha Bedingfield

Yes, everyone knows it. Yes, it was on The Hills. And yes, it is still completely, unapologetically perfect for this list. “The rest is still unwritten” is one of pop music’s great lines and no amount of overplay has dulled it.

“This Is the Day” – The The

The most underrated entry on this entire list. Matt Johnson wrote something quietly extraordinary here – a song about waking up and deciding, simply, that today is the day everything changes. No fanfare. Just certainty. Stunning.

“Press Restart” – WALK THE MOON

Exactly what it says on the tin. Hit the button. Begin again. WALK THE MOON have always been underappreciated and this track is a perfect example of why that needs to change.

“Put Your Records On” – Corinne Bailey Rae

Warm, unhurried, and completely reassuring. Bailey Rae’s debut single is essentially a musical hug telling you that everything is going to be fine. She was right then. She’s still right now.

“I Can See Clearly Now” – Johnny Nash

One of the most purely joyful recordings in the history of popular music. The moment that opening guitar figure kicks in, your shoulders drop and your mood lifts. Fifty-plus years old and still utterly undefeated.

“I’m Coming Out” – Diana Ross

Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards wrote this for Diana Ross and in doing so accidentally created one of the greatest empowerment anthems ever recorded. Whatever you’re stepping out of, step out of it to this.

“New Beginning” – Tracy Chapman

Less celebrated than Fast Car but no less powerful. Chapman asks some hard questions here about the world we want to build and the people we want to be. A new beginning isn’t just personal – sometimes it’s a whole philosophy.

“Starting Over” – Chris Stapleton

Country music at its most honest. Stapleton strips everything back to the essential truth of two people deciding to leave everything behind and build something new together. Simple, devastating, beautiful.

“Anything Could Happen” – Ellie Goulding

That electric, terrifying, wonderful feeling that a blank page gives you – Goulding bottled it here. Propulsive, wide open, and completely alive with possibility. Put this one on when you’re about to do something that scares you.

“My Way” – Frank Sinatra

Say what you want about the song being overplayed at every retirement dinner since 1969 – when Sinatra delivers that final note, it still means something. A life lived on your own terms is worth celebrating. Loudly.

“New Attitude” – Patti LaBelle

From the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack and still one of the most infectious declarations of reinvention ever committed to tape. LaBelle doesn’t suggest a new attitude. She demands one. Comply immediately.

“Start of Something Good” – Daughtry

Undersung and underrated. Daughtry has always been better than his mainstream reputation suggests, and this track – patient, hopeful, quietly confident – is a perfect example of why.

“Ain’t No Man” – The Avett Brothers

Folk-rock energy meeting pure defiant optimism. The Avett Brothers have spent their entire career writing songs about getting back up, and this one is among their very best.

“Everything Has Changed” – Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran

Two of the biggest artists of their generation, both at their most unguarded. Strip away the fame and this is just a song about the specific wonder of meeting someone who changes everything. It works every single time.

“The Only Way Is Up” – Otis Clay

Before it became a pop hit, this was a soul record with real grit underneath it. Clay understood that optimism isn’t naive – sometimes it’s the only rational response to difficulty. The only way is up. He meant it.

“Happy” – Pharrell Williams

Resistance is futile. You know the song. You know what it does to a room. Just let it happen.

“Walking on Sunshine” – Katrina and the Waves

Few recordings in history are as committed to pure, uncut joy as this one. Katrina and the Waves were not interested in subtlety and we are all better for it. An absolute masterpiece of feeling good.

“Brand New” – Ben Rector

The most quietly beautiful entry on this list. Rector writes about new beginnings not as a grand gesture but as a private, personal exhale – the moment you realize something in your life has genuinely shifted for the better. Gorgeous.

“It’s a New Day” – will.i.am

The most unapologetically celebratory finish we could think of. Big, bold, and completely in love with the idea that tomorrow can be better than today. On that, we agree completely.

Dee Freeman, Character Actor Who Brought Quiet Power to Every Role, Dead at 66

Eric Alper
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Dee Freeman, Character Actor Who Brought Quiet Power to Every Role, Dead at 66

Dolores “Dee” Freeman, a Louisiana-born actress whose career spanned three decades and whose presence on screen always carried more weight than her screen time suggested, died April 2, 2026, following a battle with stage 4 lung cancer. She was 66.

Freeman came to acting by an unlikely route. Before she ever stepped in front of a camera, she served six years in the United States Marine Corps – a chapter of her life that seemed to inform everything that came after. There was a discipline to her work, a groundedness, that you don’t pick up in acting class.

Her screen debut came in 1995 with a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Coach, and from there she built the kind of career that sustains a working actor for a lifetime – rarely the lead, always memorable. She turned up in the rooms of some of television’s most defining shows: Seinfeld, The X-Files, ER, Six Feet Under, Dexter, Shameless, NCIS: Los Angeles. Small parts, mostly. But she made them land.

On The Young and the Restless, she appeared first in 1997 as a nurse, then returned in 2009 to play a judge – the kind of versatility that casting directors remember. She spent five years as the lead of the satirical web series Pretty, and most recently found a new generation of fans playing Valerie Barnes in Tyler Perry’s Sistas, a role she had been invited to reprise for the show’s 11th season before illness intervened.

Away from the screen, Freeman performed in more than 80 stage productions and was, at the time of her death, adapting her one-woman show Poison Gun – drawn from her own family history – into a novel.

Her publicist, Desirae L. Benson, described her as carrying “a quiet power that commanded respect without ever needing to demand it.” That sounds exactly right for someone who spent a career doing so much with so little fuss.

Why Most Artists Misunderstand Playlists

Eric Alper
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Why Most Artists Misunderstand Playlists

Let’s talk about something that comes up constantly in conversations with artists, and it’s a conversation worth having honestly.

You got a playlist placement on Spotify. Good. That’s not nothing – that’s actually something significant. A curator, a real human being who listens to more music in a week than most people hear in a year, went through their queue and decided your track belonged. Do you have any idea how many tracks they passed on to get to yours? Getting past that filter is the first victory, and a lot of artists don’t give it the credit it deserves.

But then the stream numbers come in and suddenly the placement feels like a disappointment. And this is where I think artists are fundamentally misreading what a playlist placement actually is.

A playlist placement is not a vending machine. You don’t insert your song and collect streams. What it is, is an introduction. It’s someone at a party tapping their friend on the shoulder and saying, hey, you need to hear this. What happens after that introduction depends on a hundred factors that nobody controls – the mood of the listener, what else is competing for their attention, whether the song hits them on the right day at the right moment.

Streams are one data point. Just one. The artists who build real, lasting careers are not the ones who chase stream counts – they’re the ones who focus on consistency, on genuine listener engagement, on slowly and steadily building an audience that actually cares. The streams are a byproduct of that work, not the measure of it. Get that backwards and you’ll be frustrated forever.

Here’s where I want to be direct with you, because I think artists deserve straight talk on this.

There is a whole ecosystem of third-party submission and playlisting services that have built a business out of charging artists for the chance to be heard. The pitch sounds reasonable on the surface – pay a fee, get your music in front of curators, maybe land a placement. Convenient, accessible, democratic even. Except it isn’t any of those things, not really.

Spotify’s own guidelines are unambiguous: playlist placement is supposed to be organic. It’s supposed to reflect genuine curatorial interest in the music, not a financial transaction. When money changes hands in exchange for consideration or placement, that’s not curation anymore – that’s payola with a modern interface. And payola, whatever it looks like, corrupts the entire system. It means the artists who get heard aren’t necessarily the best artists – they’re the ones who can afford to pay the most. That’s bad for music, bad for listeners, and ultimately bad for the artists who play along, because the audiences built on artificial placements are not real audiences. They don’t stick around. They don’t come to shows. They don’t tell their friends.

I won’t work that way. I’ve never worked that way. It’s not a business decision – it’s a values decision.

Instead of routing artists through paid submission pipelines, I’ve spent 10 years building my own curated lists from scratch – real relationships with real listeners, developed slowly and maintained carefully. No shortcuts. The results have been real and measurable across a wide range of artists and releases, and more importantly, they’ve been honest.

Does every placement perform the same way? No. Of course not. Timing matters enormously. Industry cycles shift. Algorithms change without warning. There are variables in this business that nobody – not me, not a major label, not anyone – can fully predict or control. What I can control is the integrity of how I work and the commitment to keep learning from every release and adjusting accordingly.

If your placement didn’t deliver the numbers you were imagining, here’s what I’d ask you to consider. Your music got in front of people who didn’t know you existed before. Some of those people are now aware of you. A few of them are going to come back. Some of them are going to follow you, share your music, become the kind of fan who actually matters to a career – the kind who’s still there in three years.

That doesn’t always show up in a week’s worth of stream data. But it’s real, and it compounds over time in ways that bought placements and artificial streams never will.

Keep making great music. Be consistent. Stay patient. The audience will find you – and when they do, they’ll stick.

Bush Strip It All Back for a Stunning and Revelatory Tiny Desk Concert

Eric Alper
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Bush Strip It All Back for a Stunning and Revelatory Tiny Desk Concert

Bush just delivered one of the more quietly powerful Tiny Desk sets in recent memory. Gavin Rossdale and the band ran through four tracks spanning their catalog, from “Machinehead” and “Glycerine” through the deep cut “Out of This World” and their 2025 album closer “I Beat Loneliness,” stripping each one down to its essential weight. The slowed, piano-and-guitar-fuzz arrangement of “Glycerine” left the room stunned, and the a capella vocal moment at its center is worth the watch alone. Thirty-plus years into a catalog that helped define ’90s rock, Bush sound like a band that’s earned every note.

Buffalo Rapper Tyshawn Steps Up With Sharp New EP ‘Man In The Mir’ Featuring Benny the Butcher

Eric Alper
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Buffalo Rapper Tyshawn Steps Up With Sharp New EP ‘Man In The Mir’ Featuring Benny the Butcher

Tyshawn is making his move. The Buffalo rapper has released his new EP ‘Man In The Mir’, out now across all streaming platforms, and it’s a confident statement from one of the city’s most versatile emerging voices. Known for his sharp songwriting and ability to move fluidly between street-rooted records, melodic collaborations, and introspective storytelling, Tyshawn has been building real credibility in Buffalo’s hip-hop scene, and ‘Man In The Mir’ makes the case for why that reputation is earned. Listen here.

The EP’s lead single “Too Sweet” features Benny the Butcher, a co-sign that carries serious weight in this corner of hip-hop. Tyshawn has also worked alongside 7xvethegenius and Sterling Gittens Jr., who appears on “Greenlight Special.” The six-track project highlights his range and his evolving production instincts, moving through different textures and tempos without ever losing the thread of his authentic voice.

‘Man In The Mir’ is a focused, well-constructed EP that showcases an artist who knows exactly what he’s doing and where he’s headed. Buffalo keeps producing, and Tyshawn’s firmly in the conversation.

Tracklist:

The BigCLUB

Too Sweet (feat. Benny the Butcher)

Know Your Role and Shut Your Mouth

Greenlight Special (feat. Sterling Gittens Jr.)

Spin H.E.R. In

I’ll Always Luv H.E.R.

Shinedown Keeps the Momentum Rolling With Gritty New Single “Outlaw”

Eric Alper
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Shinedown Keeps the Momentum Rolling With Gritty New Single “Outlaw”

Shinedown don’t slow down. The band has released “Outlaw,” the latest track from their eighth studio album ‘Ei8ht’, arriving May 29 via Atlantic Records. Built on a gritty, roots-driven foundation with a raw open-road energy, the track expands the sonic world of ‘Ei8ht’ while keeping the band’s signature intensity fully intact. It follows a remarkable string of chart-toppers including “Dance, Kid, Dance,” “Killing Fields,” “Three Six Five,” “Searchlight,” and “Safe and Sound.”

The release comes right off the back of another career milestone. Shinedown took home Rock Artist of the Year at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 26, their second consecutive win in the category. Their latest number one, “Searchlight,” topped both the Mediabase Active Rock and Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay charts, marking their 24th and 22nd number one hits on those platforms respectively. They continue to extend their own records on both.

With ‘Ei8ht’ on the horizon and “Outlaw” now in the mix, Shinedown head out on the Dance Kid Dance Act II World Tour, a 60-date global run spanning North America, the UK, Europe, and Australia across 12 countries, including some of the largest venues of their career.

Zedd, Nelly, Marshmello, DJ Diesel, and Kane Brown Set to Ignite the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix

Eric Alper
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Zedd, Nelly, Marshmello, DJ Diesel, and Kane Brown Set to Ignite the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix

South Florida Motorsports and Hard Rock International have announced a stacked entertainment lineup for the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix’s fifth year, running May 1 to 3 in Miami Gardens. Hard Rock, founding partner and curator of live music at the event, is bringing a full weekend of heavy-hitting performances to the Hard Rock Beach Club at the Miami International Autodrome, perched trackside at Turns 11-13 with sweeping views of the racing action.

Zedd and Nelly open the weekend on Friday, May 1, followed by Marshmello and NBA legend-turned-DJ Shaquille O’Neal, aka DJ Diesel, on Saturday, May 2. Sunday, May 3 closes out with rising house duo Loud Luxury and country star Kane Brown. All Hard Rock Beach Club performances are exclusive to ticket holders, with cabana-style seating, bars, all-day cuisine, and giant trackside displays rounding out the experience.

The festivities actually kick off a day early at the nearby Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, where Guns N’ Roses headline the 7,000-capacity Hard Rock Live on Thursday, April 30. Kane Brown, Marshmello, and Nelly then take over Hard Rock Live on Friday, May 1, with “Miles On It” collaborators Marshmello and Kane Brown extending the night at DAER Nightclub afterward.

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That Eric Alper

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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