Whew! That Game of Thrones episode last night was so OFF THE HOOK awesome, I even dreamt about it! To swipe a line from London’s The Telegraph, “Oh how we’ve missed your cruel, manipulative ways, Game of Thrones.”
Prince from “Purple Rain”
Coming off of a weekend of Prince tributes, specials (thanks SNL for devoting your entire show on His Purpleness) and updates, rock stars contine to pay respect during their shows.
Watch Prince on THE VIEW from 2012 comment on Bruce Springsteen
Here in NYC, Bruce Springsteen performed “Purple Rain” at the intro of his show on Saturday night in Brooklyn at Barclays Ctr. (Find on Periscope.) Pearl Jam paid tribute to the late 57-year-old artist during their concert in Columbia, South Carolina on Thursday night (April 21st). Eddie Vedder told the crowd, “All of us on this stage can tell you: That guy loved music so damn much. He never stopped playing, never stopped writing, never stopped recording, never stopped creating.” Vedder added, “All of us up here were incredibly fortunate to see him a number of times over the years. Some of us got to meet him a bit. He was an intense cat. If there was anyone I thought would be playing when he was 80 or 85, it was gonna be Prince. So today was a real shock.”
Pearl Jam pay tribute to Prince
Vedder also said Prince was “probably the greatest guitar player we’ve ever seen.” Pearl Jam then played a snippet of “Purple Rain” at the beginning of their first encore and then again during their final number, “Yellow Ledbetter.”
As reported last week, Slipknot and Stone Sour vocalist Corey Taylor paid tribute to Prince on Thursday night by performing a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain” as the opening song of Taylor’s solo concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis — Prince’s home city. He also played “Little Red Corvette.”
Taylor told the audience: “In a world where so many people treat music like a commodity, it was always refreshing to know that there was always Prince. There was always Prince. And he may be gone, but we have a lifetime of music.”
Even comedian Dave Chappelle performed a stand-up set for four hours in San Francisco on Friday (April 22nd) where he referred to Prince’s death as “Black 9/11.”
He told the crowd, “This is black 9/11. I almost thought about not coming tonight, but my band was like, ‘Yo, Prince would definitely not condone that.’ And now there is no place I’d rather be.” Dave also paid tribute to the late singer throughout the night including revealing how his sister first introduced him to Prince’s music.
A fan takes a photo at the memorial fence in memory of pop star Prince at Paisley Park Studios Friday, Apr 22, 2016 in Chanhassen, MN. Prince died Thursday at Paisley Park at the age of 57. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Prince was discovered unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate on Thursday and emergency workers on hand were unable to revive him. Results of an autopsy conducted on Friday (Apr 22nd) are pending. He was cremated and his funeral was over the weekend. Rumors are swirling that he was in ill health of late and had been hiding his pain from hip surgery with prescription painkillers. He lived a healthy lifestyle, was a vegan and followed the Jehovah’s Witness practices. Profoundly impacted by the Trayvon Martin case, Prince was also a major silent sponsor to the causes of youth, including silently funding We Code, a foundation to help young African-Americans to get into the field of high-tech, in order to find the first “black Mark Zuckerberg.”
His home state of Minnesota is planning to change their state color to purple. It is still hard to believe he is gone.
Linkin Park in their studio: L to R: Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, Mike Shinoda, Chester Bennington, Brad Delson. Not seen: Joe Hahn
Linkin Park sent out this email to their fans on Friday.
Hey!First of all, thanks for letting us send you emails. I don’t think we’ve said that before, and it’s worth saying outright. I hope our notes to you are fun to read, and give you a peek into our process. As things move forward, you might be the first ones to learn about certain parts of the album. Not sure what that means yet—could be a song title, a lyric, who knows.We just started narrowing down to some of our favorite songs, and we’re starting to put our first “final” vocals on them. As I listen through them, I feel like these songs are really personal and revealing. We have really poured our hearts into the words and melodies, and it’s starting to show as we approach recording the “keeper” vocals.
With that said, we’ve got a lot of material to choose from, and decided to get votes from all six of the guys in the band, to see which songs are rising to the top. We clearly have an album in there. We’re looking forward to getting the vocals right, and starting to put sounds on them. Keyboards/samples and drums are high on the list…but first, we’re going to get some of these vocals nailed down. More to come… Volbeat posted a video containing behind the scenes and live footage of their new single “The Devil’s Bleeding Crown.” (Thanks The PRP via The Pulse of Radio) On Friday night, Bring Me The Horizon performed with an orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The prestigious event was filmed and recorded for a future CD/DVD release. And finally, as a great perspective on the whole AXL/DC debacle, Roger Daltrey has lent credence to many AC/DC fans’ opinion that Brian Johnson was fired from the band, rather than selflessly stepping down from his frontman role due to hearing loss. Daltrey spoke candidly about the situation, telling IFpress.com: “I mean I really feel badly for Brian. It must be heartbreaking for him after all the service he’s given that band over the years. I thought their farewell statement to the press and to Brian was fairly curt to say the least. I felt for him. That must have hurt. I’ve spoken to Brian. He’s got loads of other things he wants to do in his life. I think AC/DC will miss Brian much more than Brian will miss AC/DC. There you go. What do you expect from Australians? (laughs) . . . And he’s such a lovely guy, Brian. I’ve known him for 40 odd years, more. . . I mean, go and see karaoke with Axl Rose? Give me a break. (Laughs).” Daltrey, who along with Pete Townshend, has dealt with hearing issues for decades, was asked about the state of his ears today: “My hearing’s dreadful. We’re all going deaf. We’re all wearing hearing aids. No it’s true. I suggest to everybody over the age of 50 that have been going to loud concerts for years and years and years, go and have your hearing tested. You’d be surprised what you’re missing. It’s unbelievable. Most people over the age of 60 are lip-reading. (Laughs) And it’s all our fault!” (Thanks Pulse Of Radio.) Say Happy 76th Birthday to my little friend, Al Pacino! |