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The 52nd American Music Awards Head To The MGM Grand Garden Arena For A Memorial Day Celebration On CBS

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The 52nd American Music Awards are heading to Las Vegas, and tickets are moving fast. The world’s largest fan-voted music awards show returns on Memorial Day, Monday May 25th, broadcasting live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on CBS and Paramount+ at 8:00 PM ET. It marks the largest venue in the show’s history, and the lineup of performers, presenters, and honorees will be announced in the coming weeks.

Pre-sale tickets are available starting Wednesday, March 25th at 10:00 AM PT via TheAMAs.com/Presale. General public on-sale follows Friday, March 27th at 10:00 AM PT on AXS.com. Nominations drop Tuesday, April 14th, when fan voting also opens, running through May 8th.

Last year’s 51st AMAs drew over 10 million unique viewers across its CBS and Paramount+ Memorial Day premiere, marking the show’s largest audience since 2019 and a 38% increase over its last live airing in 2022. Host Jennifer Lopez opened with a 23-song medley, with performances from Janet Jackson, Benson Boone, Blake Shelton, Gloria Estefan, Gwen Stefani, Lainey Wilson, Reneé Rapp, Rod Stewart, and others rounding out the night.

Created by Dick Clark in 1974 and produced by Dick Clark Productions, the AMAs has spent more than 50 years delivering defining pop culture moments and breaking new artists to massive audiences. This year’s show brings all of that history into the biggest room the franchise has ever used.

Bob Moog Foundation Premieres “Celebrating The Legacy Of Keith Emerson” Panel With Steve Porcaro And More

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Ten years after Keith Emerson’s passing, the Bob Moog Foundation is bringing an extraordinary panel discussion to a worldwide audience. Recorded live at the 2026 NAMM Show in Anaheim on January 23rd, the “Celebrating the Legacy of Keith Emerson” TEC Tracks panel premieres on the Foundation’s YouTube channel at 5:00 PM ET on Saturday, April 11th, with several panelists joining the live chat during the broadcast.

The panel is stacked with people who knew Emerson personally and professionally. TOTO keyboardist Steve Porcaro, synthesizer historian Brian Kehew, former Moog Music engineer Rich Walborn, virtuoso musician and composer Rachel Flowers, and Emerson’s fiancée Mari Kawaguchi all participate, moderated by Bob Moog Foundation Executive Director Michelle Moog-Koussa. Personal memories, professional reflections, archival images, and a live Q&A from the NAMM audience round out the discussion.

Emerson’s fingerprints are all over modern keyboard music. From his early commercial success with the Nice between 1967 and 1970 through his foundational work as a member of progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer, he pushed the synthesizer into territory no one had mapped before. His relationship with Bob Moog’s instruments was central to that legacy, making the Foundation a fitting home for this tribute.

“Keith was an extraordinarily talented musician and composer, and his legacy is inextricably intertwined with Bob Moog’s pioneering legacy,” says Moog-Koussa. The premiere is free and open to all on the Bob Moog Foundation’s YouTube channel.

Punk Favorites PET NEEDS Drop “Tour Worn” Ahead Of Fourth Album ‘Elbows Out! This Is Capitalism’

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PET NEEDS have one more card to play before their fourth album lands. The Colchester punk four-piece share “Tour Worn,” the final single from ‘Elbows Out! This Is Capitalism’, out March 27th via Xtra Mile Recordings. The track arrives with an animated video and a band quote that cuts right to the bone: “The hardest way to make an easy living.”

“Tour Worn” is exactly what it sounds like. It captures the specific exhaustion of life on the road, the creaking bodies, the depleted serotonin, the five people in a two-person hotel room for the thirtieth consecutive night. Vocalist Johnny Marriott frames it with a double meaning: the song also traces a version of himself who “mistakenly bought a second-hand punk rock career at auction and is desperately trying to make things work.” It is funny, raw, and painfully honest all at once.

That premise runs through the entire album. ‘Elbows Out! This Is Capitalism’ is a 12-track satirical concept record about buying a used punk career and watching it fall apart, featuring guest appearances from CJ Ramone, legendary auctioneer Erik Olson, The Whops, and Jess Guise. Recorded by George Perks, whose credits include Enter Shikari, You Me At Six, and Mogwai, it follows their Top 20 UK album ‘Intermittent Fast Living’ from 2024 and is their most ambitious record to date.

The band has also announced that their upcoming UK tour and in-store appearances are postponed due to a family matter. Refunds are available at the original point of purchase. Fans who hold album bundle orders connected to in-store shows will still receive their orders ahead of release. New tour dates will be confirmed when circumstances allow.

‘Elbows Out! This Is Capitalism’ arrives March 27th via Xtra Mile Recordings. The Decade Series, a 12-CD collection celebrating ten years of PET NEEDS, is available now.

Rolling Stone UK’s Group Of The Year Wunderhorse Bring Their Headline Tour To North America This Summer

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Wunderhorse are coming to North America, and the timing could not be better. Fresh off winning Rolling Stone UK’s Group of the Year award, the UK indie rock outfit has confirmed a run of North American headline dates this July and August, alongside festival appearances at Osheaga, Lollapalooza, and Outside Lands. Tickets are on sale now.

The headlining run kicks off July 23rd in Washington, DC and moves through Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklyn, and Toronto before hitting the festival circuit. Been Stellar, the New York indie rock quartet, supports the headline dates through the northeastern leg, with alt indie rockers Fat, Evil Children joining for the western run. It is a well-matched lineup across the board.

Wunderhorse have built their reputation the right way, through relentless touring and records that connect. The Rolling Stone UK recognition confirms what fans already knew: this band operates at a level above the pack. Their live show is the kind that turns casual listeners into devoted ones, and these North American dates give a lot of new rooms the chance to find that out firsthand.

After wrapping North America, the tour extends through Europe with stops at Lowlands in the Netherlands, Pukkelpop in Belgium, Custom House Square in Belfast, a sold-out Cork City Hall, Electric Picnic, Rock N Roll Circus in Sheffield, and All Points East in London.

Wunderhorse 2026 Tour Dates:

July 23 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (with Been Stellar)

July 24 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer (with Been Stellar)

July 25 — Boston, MA @ Royale (with Been Stellar)

July 27 — Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw Concerts (with Been Stellar)

July 30 — Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre (with Been Stellar)

July 31 — Montréal, QC @ Osheaga 2026

August 2 — Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza

August 4 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater (with Fat, Evil Children)

August 6 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre (with Fat, Evil Children)

August 7-9 — San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands 2026

August 21 — Biddinghuizen, Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival 2026

August 22 — Hasselt, Belgium @ Pukkelpop Festival 2026

August 25 — Belfast, United Kingdom @ Custom House Square

August 26 — Cork, Ireland @ Cork City Hall (SOLD OUT)

August 28-30 — Co. Laois, Ireland @ Electric Picnic 2026

August 29 — Sheffield, United Kingdom @ Rock N Roll Circus 2026

August 30 — London, United Kingdom @ All Points East 2026

Barry Manilow Returns With ‘What A Time,’ His First Album of New Material in Nearly 15 Years

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Fifty-plus years into one of the most decorated careers in popular music, Barry Manilow has a new album on the way. ‘What A Time’, his 33rd studio album and first collection of nearly all-original material since 2011’s ‘Fifteen Minutes’, arrives June 5th via Barney Property Trust. Produced by Manilow and longtime collaborator Michael Lloyd, the record brings together an exceptional group of co-writers and collaborators across a range of sounds.

The collaborator list alone signals ambition. Nine-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb, R&B titan Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, longtime co-writers Bruce Sussman and Adrienne Anderson, and Gary Barlow all contribute, producing a collection that moves between string-swept torch songs, groove-driven R&B, heartland rock, and gospel-inspired crescendos. This is not a record content to stay in one lane.

The first single, “Sun Shine,” co-written with Gary Barlow and produced by Manilow, David Benson, and Greg Bartheld, is already out and doing exactly what a lead single should. The album’s opener, “Once Before I Go,” an epic love song executive-produced by Clive Davis and co-written by Dean Pitchford and the late Peter Allen, features a sweeping string arrangement by William Ross and has already reached the top 10 on Mediabase’s Adult Contemporary chart.

Manilow returns to the road April 13th following a postponement due to recent cancer-related surgery, and in April receives the American Advertising Federation’s President’s Award at the Advertising Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and BMI Icon Award recipient, he has also invested millions through the Manilow Music Project to rebuild music education programs in public schools nationwide.

‘What A Time’ Track Listing:

Once Before I Go

What A Time

Sun Shine

Another Life (2026)

Touched By An Angel

The Chosen One

One More Chance

Nobody Knows My Song

When Somebody Says Goodbye with Sharon “Muffy” Hendrix

Don’t Trouble The Water

Look At Me Now featuring Dave Koz

Nobody Told Me

Coming of Age

Southern Rock Guitar Slinger Andy Thomas and Dori Freeman Unite on Heartfelt New Duet “Nothing I Wouldn’t Do (For You)”

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Andy Thomas did not set out to write a love song. The accomplished guitarist and songwriter admits he has not written many of them, but this one arrived differently. “It kind of wrote itself,” Thomas says of “Nothing I Wouldn’t Do (For You),” his new duet with singer-songwriter Dori Freeman, out now ahead of his solo debut album ‘Highway Junkie’, arriving March 27th.

The song’s origin is as warm as the track itself. Thomas wrote it shortly after meeting his girlfriend, though it took time to find the right musical home. His producer Dave Schools, the Widespread Panic bassist and fellow Richmond native, eventually brought Dori Freeman into the sessions. Freeman, from Galax, Virginia, stepped into the studio and elevated the track immediately. “She brought the female counterpart to life and completely blew this vision out of the water,” Thomas says.

The result sits a little further into country territory than Thomas’s usual rock and roll attack, built on a bouncing rhythm section and his deft fingerpicking. The two voices blend with genuine warmth, trading lines on a song about the kind of love that makes the answer feel obvious. “This one’s very special to me, and is for that person you’d do anything for,” Thomas says. That sincerity comes through in every note.

‘Highway Junkie’ is a twelve-song debut that moves between southern rock, alt-country, and Buffett-tinged sing-alongs, all connected by Thomas’s run-through-a-wall energy on electric guitar. It is the work of someone who has earned his stories and is ready to tell them.

Valerie Perrine, 1943–2026: The Accidental Movie Star Who Did It All on Instinct

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Let’s talk about Valerie Perrine for a minute. Because she deserves more than a footnote.

She died Monday at 82, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease that had steadily taken her mobility, her ability to eat, her ability to speak. She was cared for in her final years by her friend and soulmate Stacey Souther, who by all accounts was nothing short of a saint. Perrine never married. She leaves behind her brother Kenneth, and a filmography that is genuinely, wonderfully strange.

Here’s the thing about Valerie Perrine: she never planned any of it.

She was a Las Vegas showgirl. A headliner at the Stardust, making $800 a week dancing in the Lido de Paris show, which by any measure is a pretty good life. Then her fiancé died in a freak gun accident. Then the man she started dating — Hollywood hairdresser Jay Sebring — was murdered by the Manson family at Sharon Tate’s house on a night Perrine had been invited but couldn’t attend because she had to work. The universe, apparently, had other plans for her.

A casting agent spotted her at a dinner party, eavesdropped on a phone call, liked what he heard, and asked if she’d ever acted. She said no. He asked if she could. She said yes. The only headshot she had was a topless showgirl photo from Vegas. She sent it anyway.

She got the part in Slaughterhouse-Five. Just like that.

From there, her career moved in directions nobody could have mapped. Bob Fosse cast her as Honey Bruce — Lenny Bruce’s drug-addicted stripper wife — in Lenny (1974), opposite Dustin Hoffman. She won Best Actress at Cannes. She got a BAFTA. She got an Oscar nomination. She lost to Ellen Burstyn, which is not a disgrace.

Her method, if you could call it that, was pure instinct. No acting classes. No technique. Just learn the lines, get on set, find a real memory that hurts, and let it happen. For that crying scene with Hoffman, she thought about an old boyfriend who had broken her heart. That’s it. That’s the whole system. And it worked.

Then came Eve Teschmacher in Superman (1978) — Lex Luthor’s secretary, soft-hearted enough to save the Man of Steel when it counted. She played her again in the sequel. And for the rest of her life, strangers would bellow “MISS TESCHMACHER!” at her in the street, Gene Hackman-style, and she apparently took it in stride.

Then came Can’t Stop the Music (1980), with the Village People and Caitlyn Jenner, which was so catastrophically bad it helped inspire the creation of the Razzie Awards. Perrine was mortified enough to move to Europe. “It ruined my career,” she said flatly. She was not wrong, exactly, but she kept working anyway — Jack Nicholson in The Border, Robert Redford in The Electric Horseman, Michael Caine in Water, whom she called the nicest human being she’d ever worked with.

She never became the mega-star the early 1970s suggested she might. But she was singular. Funny, uninhibited, completely herself, with a life story that reads like something a novelist would reject for being too on-the-nose. The accidental showgirl. The accidental actress. The woman who missed the Manson murders because she had to work a shift.

Cannes Best Actress. Oscar nominee. Eve Teschmacher. The whole improbable thing.

Rest easy, Valerie.

Ted Nichols, 1928–2026: The Music Composer Who Gave Scooby-Doo Its Heartbeat

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Here’s one for the ages. Literally.

Ted Nichols died on January 9th at 97 years old, in Auburn, Washington, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. And if that name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, I promise you his music does. You heard it every Saturday morning. You heard it when the gang split up to search the haunted house. You heard it when Shaggy and Scooby ran — again — from whatever rubber-masked villain was chasing them down a corridor.

That propulsive, perfectly calibrated underscore that made Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! feel like an actual adventure? That was Ted Nichols.

Born Theodore Nicholas Sflotsos in Missoula, Montana, in 1928 — a name he’d legally simplify to Ted Nichols by 1948 — his path to cartoon immortality was anything but straight. Navy swing band in Corpus Christi. Air Force Bandsmen Training School commander, recruiting musicians from Juilliard. Youth symphony director. Barbershop singer at Disneyland, occasionally having coffee with Walt Disney himself on Main Street. Minister of music at a 4,000-seat church in California.

And then, through a chance introduction via a choir member, he met William Hanna. And everything changed.

From 1963 to 1972, Nichols was the musical engine of Hanna-Barbera — composing, conducting, arranging for The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Birdman, Wacky Races, Josie and the Pussycats, and dozens more. His Scooby-Doo cues were so well constructed, so modular and intelligent, that music editors were still cutting them into new Scooby episodes as late as 1985. Sixteen years of continuous use. That’s not filler music. That’s craft.

He was 97. He lived a full, extraordinary, genuinely remarkable life. He got to hear his music come out of televisions in living rooms across the world for decades. Not many composers get that.

Doo-be-doo-be-doo, Ted. Rest well.

How The Gemini 3.1 Pro API Can Help Music Teams Create Smarter Content Workflows

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By Mitch Rice

Music teams are under constant pressure to publish more content across more channels, often on tighter timelines than ever before. A single release can require artist bios, campaign briefs, press materials, social copy, audience messaging, and internal planning documents. For labels, managers, media teams, and music marketing departments, the real challenge is not just creating content. It is creating repeatable systems that make content production faster and easier to manage.

That is why the Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview API is worth attention. Not because music teams will use it like a consumer-facing app, but because it can be integrated into internal tools, editorial workflows, and content operations systems that support campaign execution at scale.

Why Music Teams Need Smarter Content Workflows Today

The Growing Pressure To Publish Across More Channels

Modern campaigns no longer live in one place. Teams need coordinated messaging for streaming platforms, social media, newsletters, press outreach, and artist-owned channels. That creates a content workload that quickly becomes difficult to manage through manual drafting alone.

Why Manual Content Operations Slow Campaigns Down

Many music organizations still rely on fragmented processes: notes in one place, release information in another, approvals over email, and copy revisions spread across multiple documents. That approach works for small volumes, but it becomes inefficient when teams are handling frequent releases or managing multiple artists at once.

Where AI Fits Into Modern Music Marketing Workflows

In this context, AI is most useful when it supports the workflow behind the scenes. Instead of replacing creative direction, a model API can help transform structured inputs into draft materials, summaries, outlines, and internal content assets that move campaigns forward more efficiently.

How The Gemini 3.1 Pro API Supports Content Planning And Execution

Generating Draft Ideas For Artist Campaigns

When integrated into a planning system, the API can help turn release details, genre positioning, target audience notes, and campaign objectives into usable draft angles. That could include early press themes, rollout concepts, or structured briefing materials for marketing teams.

Summarizing Research, Interviews, And Release Notes

Music teams often work with scattered source material, including artist interviews, release documents, historical notes, and market research. The Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview API can be integrated into internal workflows that summarize these materials into shorter, usable formats for campaigns, media planning, or editorial preparation.

Turning Raw Inputs Into Usable Marketing Copy

This is where API integration becomes practical. A team can build a workflow that takes approved source inputs and converts them into first-draft captions, promo copy, internal summaries, or content frameworks. For teams exploring integration paths, resources like the Gemini 3.1 Pro API page are useful when evaluating model access and workflow fit.

Practical Use Cases For The Gemini 3.1 Pro API In Music Organizations

Social Captions, Press Angles, And Promo Copy

The API is well suited for language-heavy support tasks that begin with existing information. It can help systems generate campaign variations, rewrite messaging for different channels, or create consistent first drafts that humans later review and refine.

Audience Research And Content Personalization

Music marketing increasingly depends on understanding segments, scenes, and audience behavior. Integrated into internal research tools, the model can help interpret notes, summarize fan feedback, or organize campaign observations into more actionable formats.

Internal Workflow Support For Labels, Managers, And Media Teams

The strongest use cases are usually operational rather than public-facing. Labels and media teams may integrate the API into dashboards, planning systems, or editorial tools that help staff move from raw information to organized campaign materials more efficiently.

What Teams Should Know About Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview API Access

How The Preview Model Fits Early Workflow Testing

Preview access can be useful when teams want to test workflow concepts before committing to a broader implementation. This is especially relevant for internal use cases such as summarization, draft generation, and campaign planning support.

What To Consider Before Wider Team Adoption

Adoption should start with workflow design, not with hype. Teams need to decide where model output is genuinely useful, which steps require review, and how the system should handle sensitive information or inconsistent source material.

Why Output Review Still Matters In Creative Environments

Even strong model output should not move directly into publication without editorial oversight. In music marketing and PR, tone, accuracy, artist positioning, and timing all matter. The API can improve speed, but final judgment should remain with human teams.

How To Think About Gemini 3.1 Pro API Pricing And Cost

Comparing AI Workflow Costs With Manual Content Production

For most organizations, the useful comparison is not whether AI is free or expensive. It is whether integrated workflow support can reduce repetitive drafting and organizational overhead. In that sense, Gemini 3.1 Pro API pricing should be viewed as part of a broader content operations budget.

When Gemini 3.1 Pro API Pricing Makes Sense For Growing Teams

The model becomes more practical when a team manages frequent campaigns, recurring content tasks, or multiple contributors. If internal systems repeatedly generate drafts, summaries, or planning outputs, then Gemini 3.1 Pro API cost may be justified by time savings and faster coordination.

How To Estimate Gemini 3.1 Pro API Cost Across Recurring Campaigns

A useful approach is to estimate how often the API will be called inside a workflow: campaign planning, briefing summaries, copy drafts, and internal revisions. Teams evaluating access and implementation details often review documentation around pricing, usage, and setup through sources such as the Gemini 3.1 Pro API page before building production workflows.

Best Practices For Using The Gemini 3.1 Pro API In Music Content Workflows

Use Clear Inputs And Structured Prompts

Integrated systems perform better when the source material is organized. Release metadata, approved artist descriptions, campaign goals, and audience notes should be structured clearly before being passed into the model.

Build Repeatable Workflows Instead Of One-Off Experiments

The real value comes from consistency. A label or media team gets more from the API when it is built into recurring editorial or planning processes rather than treated as an occasional experiment.

Keep Human Review In The Final Approval Stage

No content workflow in music should be fully automated from input to publication. The API can support faster drafting and better organization, but human review is still necessary for nuance, tone, and campaign alignment.

Why The Gemini 3.1 Pro API Deserves Attention From Music Teams

The Gemini 3.1 Pro API matters because it gives music organizations a way to strengthen internal content operations without pretending that creative strategy can be fully automated. Its value comes from integration: supporting the systems that help teams summarize information, prepare drafts, organize campaign materials, and move faster across repeated content tasks.

For labels, managers, media teams, and music marketers, that makes it less of a novelty and more of an infrastructure decision. When integrated thoughtfully, supported by editorial review, and evaluated against real workflow needs, it can become a useful part of a smarter content production process.

Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.

Simple Plan and Smash Mouth Are Headlining the 2026 Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival

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The 2026 Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival has its headliners, and they hit hard. Running September 2nd through 6th in Gatineau, QC, the five-night event brings together Simple Plan, Smash Mouth, Matt Lang, and DJ Mike Demero for a lineup that covers pop-punk, rock, country, and club energy under open skies.

Simple Plan takes the stage Friday, September 4th. The Montreal-bred pop-punk institution has spent over 20 years building a catalog that has moved more than 10 million records worldwide and crossed 1 billion streams. Hits like “I’m Just a Kid,” “Welcome to My Life,” and “Summer Paradise” featuring Sean Paul have made them one of the most enduring acts in the genre, and their live show delivers every time.

Smash Mouth headlines Thursday, September 3rd. The GRAMMY-nominated, multi-platinum Californian rock band brings “All Star,” “Walkin’ on the Sun,” and “I’m a Believer” to the festival stage, along with material from their forthcoming album ‘Mercury Comet’, due in 2026. Quebec country artist Matt Lang opens the festival Wednesday, September 2nd, carrying over 70 million streams and 150,000 tickets sold across sold-out tours. DJ Mike Demero, with 1.7 million social media followers and festival credits alongside Loud Luxury and Alan Walker, sets the stage for Simple Plan on Friday night.

Beyond the concerts, festival pass holders can catch evening hot air balloon launches at approximately 6:30 pm Wednesday through Sunday, free morning launches Thursday through Sunday at around 6:30 am, the Michel Quesnel Pharmacist Fireworks display nightly, and the Beauce Carnaval Amusement Park on site throughout.

Five-day passes start at $69.99 plus taxes and fees at fmg2026.ca, presented by Loto-Québec in collaboration with Desjardins. Additional artists will be announced in the coming weeks.