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New David Bowie biopic, “Stardust,” to begin filming this June

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Gijsbert Hanekroot/RedfernsA new David Bowie biopic titled Stardust -- focusing on a 1971 trip the rock legend took to the U.S. that inspired him to created his Ziggy Stardust persona -- will begin shooting this June, ScreenDaily.com reports.

Portraying Bowie in the film will be Johnny Flynn, an actor and singer-songwriter who appeared in the Netflix series Lovesick. He also played a young Albert Einstein in the National Geographic channel series Genius.

Stardust's cast also includes Jena Malone as David's first wife, Angie Bowie, and Marc Maron as a publicist for the singer's record label.

The movie's soundtrack will include Bowie performances, and a variety of other songs.

Stardust will be directed by British filmmaker Gabriel Range, whose credits include the award-winning 2006 docudrama Death of a President, and will feature a script by Christopher Bell.

Flynn currently is starring alongside Game of Thrones' Kit Harington in a London production of the 1980 Sam Shepard play True West.

"Johnny Flynn is one of the U.K.'s most talented emerging actors, and a musician in his own right," says Salon Pictures executive Van Carter.

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The Magic In Music on WQXO

Mick Jagger posts video teasing possible new Rolling Stones song

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Credit: Claude GassianMick Jagger has posted a video on his social media accounts showing him working on what appears to be a new Rolling Stones song.

In the clip, Jagger strums an electric guitar while singing the lyrics "I really want to tell the truth," along to a funky, upbeat backing track.

Accompanying the video is a note that reads, "2019 - all about writing, recording....and a tour!"

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards recently told Rolling Stone magazine that the band was planning to spend about a week in the studio working on material for a new album before the launch of its 2019 U.S. No Filter Tour, which kicks off April 20 in Miami Gardens, Florida.

It's not clear if the footage of Jagger comes from those sessions.

The Rolling Stones' most recent studio album was the blues covers collection Blue & Lonesome, which was released in December 2016. The band's last album of original tunes was 2005's A Bigger Bang.

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Record Player

Diana Ross to perform at the 2019 Grammys ahead of “75th Diamond” birthday

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Gisela Schober/Getty ImagesThe star-studded lineup of performers tapped for the 2019 Grammys just got a whole lot more iconic: Diana Ross has been added to the bill.

On Thursday, the Recording Academy announced that Ross is slated to take the stage for a "75th Diamond Diana" birthday performance during the annual awards ceremony. She turns 75 on March 26.

Pegged as an "unforgettable Grammy moment," Ross's set will commemorate her rich musical history, longstanding contributions and legacy.

"One of the most influential artists and greatest entertainers of all time, Ms. Ross has without a doubt made a profound impact in the world of music," the Academy says in a statement.

The former leader of The Supremes has racked up 42 number-one hits, 91 singles and 59 albums in her career, and has received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Alicia Keys hosts the 61st annual Grammy Awards, which airs live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on CBS on Sunday, February 10, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

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Rick Springfield, Pablo Cruise among artists playing benefit for Borderline shooting survivors & victims’...

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Courtesy of Music Strong Productions

Rick Springfield and '70s soft rockers Pablo Cruise are among the acts that will play a benefit concert on February 10 in Thousand Oaks, California, in the wake of the November 7 shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in in the city that left 12 dead and many injured.

Proceeds from the show, dubbed the Music Strong: Borderline Victims Benefit Concert, will go to local charities to help victims' families and survivors. Other acts on the bill include Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat and Rita Wilson, wife of actor Tom Hanks. The concert will be held at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

On January 13, REO Speedwagon, Richard Marx, Five for Fighting and Eddie Money took part in a benefit at the Fred Kavli Theater in Thousand Oaks for those affected by the Borderline shooting, as well as by the deadly Woolsey and Hill fires. That concert raised more than $360,000, according to Billboard.

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Beginning of the End: KISS launches End of the Road farewell tour tonight

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Credit: Jen Rosenstein

KISS kicks off the first leg of their massive End of the Road farewell tour tonight in Vancouver, Canada.

Singer/guitarist Paul Stanley tells ABC Radio that the trek likely will last about three years, while promising that his group will go out with a big bang.

"KISS isn't about fading away," he declares. "KISS is about a supernova. KISS is about an explosion heard 'round the world, and that's what we'll do."

Stanley also is expecting the shows to be poignant for KISS fans, both old and new.

"We're gonna…really show everybody why we've been around this long and have that emotional connection to the audience," he maintains. "It's more than just music. When people realize that this is the last time, you get to share something very intimate…We have parents who bring their children, and bring their fathers and mothers. So, with three generations there and a lot of time that we've spent doing this, it's a great time to acknowledge what we've done."

KISS singer/bassist Gene Simmons, meanwhile, says the band chose now to mount the farewell tour because they want to go out at the height of their powers.

"We are the hardest-working band on the planet," Simmons maintains. "Take anybody from another band and stick 'em in our outfits, they'd pass out in a half hour…We're the best on earth, and you want to go out when you're at the top of your game."

The first leg of KISS' End of the Road tour winds down on April 13. A second North American leg runs from August 6 through September 16. The band also will visit Europe from late May to mid-July, and will head Down Under in November and December.

Here are all of KISS' confirmed North American dates:

1/31 -- Vancouver, BC, Canada, Rogers Arena
2/1 -- Portland, OR, Moda Center
2/2 -- Tacoma, WA, Tacoma Dome
2/4 -- Spokane, WA, Spokane Arena
2/7 -- San Diego, CA, Viejas Arena
2/8 -- Fresno, CA, Save Mart Center
2/9 -- Sacramento, CA, Golden 1 Center
2/12 -- Anaheim, CA, Honda Center
2/13 -- Glendale, AZ, Gila River Arena
2/15 -- Las Vegas, NV, T-Mobile Arena
2/16 -- Inglewood, CA, The Forum
2/19 -- Corpus Christi, TX, American Bank Center
2/20 -- Dallas, TX, American Airlines Center
2/22 -- New Orleans, LA, Smoothie King Center
2/23 -- Memphis, TN, FedEx Forum
2/26 -- Oklahoma City, Chesapeake Energy Arena
2/27 -- Kansas City, MO, Sprint Center
3/1 -- Milwaukee, WI, Fiserv Forum
3/2 -- Chicago, IL, United Center
3/4 -- Minneapolis, MN, Target Center
3/6 -- Sioux Falls, SD, Denny Sanford Premier Center
3/7 -- Omaha, NE, CenturyLink Center
3/9 -- Grand Rapids, MI, Van Andel Arena
3/10 -- Moline, IL, TaxSlayer Center
3/12 -- Louisville, KY, KFC Yum! Center
3/13 -- Detroit, MI, Little Caesars Arena
3/16 -- Columbus, OH, Nationwide Arena
3/17 -- Cleveland, OH, Quicken Loans Arena
3/19 -- Montreal, QC, Canada, Bell Centre
3/20 -- Toronto, ON, Canada, Scotiabank Arena
3/22 -- Uniondale, NY, NYCB LIVE - Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
3/23 -- Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun Arena
3/26 -- Boston, MA, TD Garden
3/27 -- New York, NY, Madison Square Garden
3/29 -- Philadelphia, PA, Wells Fargo Center
3/30 -- Pittsburgh, PA, PPG Paints Arena
4/2 -- Quebec City, QC, Canada, Videotron Centre
4/3 -- Ottawa, ON, Canada, Canadian Tire Centre
4/6 -- Raleigh, NC, PNC Arena
4/7 -- Atlanta, GA, State Farm Arena
4/9 -- Nashville, TN, Bridgestone Arena
4/11 -- Tampa, FL, Amalie Arena
4/12 -- Jacksonville, FL, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
4/13 -- Birmingham, AL, Legacy Arena at the BJCC
8/6 -- Sunrise, FL, BB&T Center
8/8 -- North Charleston, NC, North Charleston Coliseum
8/10 -- Charlotte, NC, PNC Music Pavilion
8/11 -- Bristow, VA, Jiffy Lube Live
8/13 -- Virginia Beach, VA, Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
8/14 -- Newark, NJ, Prudential Center
8/16 -- Montreal, QC, Canada, Bell Centre
8/17 -- Toronto, ON, Canada, Scotiabank Arena
8/20 -- Brooklyn, NY, Barclays Center
8/21 -- Hershey, PA, HersheyPark Stadium
8/23 -- Darien Center, NY, Darien Lake Amphitheater
8/24 -- Saratoga Springs, NY, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
8/27 -- Syracuse, NY, St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater at Lakeview
8/29 -- Cincinnati, OH, Riverbend Music Center
8/31 -- Noblesville, IN, Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
9/1 -- Maryland Heights, MO, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
9/3 -- Des Moines, IA, Wells Fargo Arena
9/5 -- Little Rock, AR, Verizon Arena
9/7 -- Bossier City, LA, CenturyLink Center
9/8 -- San Antonio, TX, AT&T Center
9/9 -- Houston, TX, Toyota Center
9/11 -- Albuquerque, NM, Isleta Amphitheater
9/12 -- Denver, CO, Pepsi Center
9/14 -- West Valley City, UT, USANA Amphitheatre
9/16 -- Oakland, CA, Oracle Arena

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On and on and on: Stephen Bishop’s 2019 plans include a new album, documentary...

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Credit: Alan MercerStephen Bishop has a very busy 2019 planned -- in fact, his list of major projects goes "On and On." The veteran singer-songwriter will be releasing a new studio album, a documentary and an autobiography this year, and also will play a variety of concerts.

Bishop's forthcoming album, titled We'll Talk About It Later in the Car, features what he says are "songs that should have been hits 40 years ago." He initially planned for the album to be a collection of demos of tunes he penned early in his career, but eventually decided to make it a full-fledged studio record.

"There's a little bit of country, pop, and a few tracks that are more brokenhearted love songs," he explains.

Bishop says the album's title comes from something he overheard Carrie Fisher say to someone on the phone while he was dating the late Star Wars actress.

"[S]he said to the other person, 'Anyway, we'll talk about it later in the car,'" he recalls. "I thought it was something to do with me, but as it turned out, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, would say that when she was mad and wanted to get out of the house."

The phrase is repeated in the title of Bishop's upcoming documentary We'll Talk About It Later in the Car: The Untold Story of Stephen Bishop.

The doc features film clips and TV appearances, and examines Stephen's songs and the impact he's had on fans and the stars he's worked with, including Dionne Warwick, songwriter Jimmy Webb, Richard Marx and Toto's Steve Lukather. The movie also focuses on Bishop's recent 11th tour of The Philippines, where he's hugely popular.

Bishop's upcoming autobiography, meanwhile, is called On and Off, which he maintains will be "wild and crazy, like the life I've led."

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Rolling Stones backing singer Bernard Fowler pays tribute to band on new solo album,...

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Rhyme & Reason Records

For the past 30 years, Bernard Fowler has toured with The Rolling Stones as a backing vocalist, and the singer is now tipping his hat to the rock legends with a new solo album that features reinterpretations of the band's songs.

Titled Inside Out, the record will be released on April 19, one day before The Stones launch their 2019 U.S. tour in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The first single from the album is a cover of the 1968 Stones classic "Sympathy for the Devil," but most of the other tracks are versions of lesser-known tunes, including "Tie You Up," "Dancing with Mr. D" and "Sister Morphine."

Vocally, Fowler's renditions of the songs were inspired by politically minded spoken-word artists such as Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets.

Fowler says he was inspired to make Inside Out after Mick Jagger complimented him on his funky conga playing and spoken vocals during an impromptu jam session at a Stones sound check.

"[Mick said], 'Bernard, I've heard Rolling Stones songs played in many different ways but I've never heard it like this before," Fowler recalls.

Discussing the project in the album's liner notes, the singer writes, "I had an amazing time rediscovering these songs. Even though making this recording wasn't easy to do, I'd gladly do it all over again even if I knew the bumps in the road ahead."

Among the musicians who contributed to Inside Out were longtime Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones, frequent Keith Richards collaborator Steve Jordan, and Ray Parker Jr. of "Ghostbusters" fame.

Prior to hitting the road with The Stones, Fowler will be a featured singer on the latest North American leg of the A Bowie Celebration David Bowie tribute tour, kicking off February 6 in Mesa, Arizona.

Here's the Inside Out track list:

"Tie You Up"
"Dancing with Mr. D"
"Undercover of the Night"
"Time Waits for No One"
"Sister Morphine"
"All the Way Down"
"Must Be Hell"
"Sympathy for the Devil"
"Dancing with Mr. D" (bonus track)

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Elton John inspires a challenge on the new season of “Project Runway”

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Matt Baron/ShutterstockFew rock stars have taken the kind of fashion risks that Elton John has during his career, so it makes sense that the music legend's life would provide the inspiration for a challenge on the new season of Project Runway.

The show will return to its original home on Bravo starting March 14, with host Karlie Kloss, mentor Christian Siriano and judges Nina Garcia, designer Brandon Maxwell and journalist Elaine Welteroth as judges. Sixteeen contestants will compete for a chance to win $250,000 and mount a runway show of their designs for fashion insiders.

As with many reality shows, there will be a number of themed challenges and special guests on Project Runway this season, and one of those challenges, according to Bravo, will be inspired by Elton's upcoming biopic, Rocketman.

Considering that we've already seen actor Taron Egerton, who's playing Elton in the movie, decked out in an array of outrageous outfits in the movie's trailer, the challenge sounds like it'll be quite entertaining.

There's no word on whether Elton himself will be on the show, but since other celebrities, including actress Danielle Brooks and rapper Cardi B, will be making guest appearances this season, it's not out of the question.

Rocketman, starring Egerton, Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden and Jamie Bell, arrives in theaters this May 31.

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David Bowie vinyl singles box set “Spying Through a Keyhole” to be released in...

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ParlophoneFull details have been revealed about the recently announced David Bowie vinyl singles box set Spying Through a Keyhole (Demos and Unreleased Songs).

The collection, which consists of four seven-inch vinyl discs of mostly rare demo recordings that Bowie made during the late 1960s, will be released on April 5.

The box set features a total of nine tracks that are being released on a physical format for the first time, although they were briefly made available via streaming services in December 2018.

Most of the recordings feature just Bowie accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Among the tracks are two demo versions of David's classic tune "Space Oddity," one of which is an excerpt believed to be the first-ever recording of the song. The other version features Bowie performing the song as a duo with his early musical partner John "Hutch" Hutchinson.

Other songs featured on Spying Through a Keyhole are demo versions of such early Bowie songs as "In the Heat of the Morning" and "London Bye, Ta-Ta." The box set's title comes from the lyrics of a previously unknown song that appears on the collection, "Love All Around."

Each disc features a label that reflects the way Bowie would send his demos to record companies and music publishers, with handwritten song titles. All tracks are in mono, and the singles play at 45 RPM.

The box set also comes packaged with a print of a 1968 photo of David taken by veteran rock photographer Ray Stevenson. The collection's cover features a pic of Bowie snapped by Stevenson at the same time.

You can pre-order Spying Through a Keyhole at DavidBowie.com.

Here is the box set's full track list:

Single 1
Side 1: "Mother Grey" (demo)
Side 2: "In the Heat of the Morning" (demo)

Single 2
Side 1: "Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe" (demo)
Side 2: "Love All Around" (demo)

Single 3
Side 1: "London Bye, Ta-Ta" (demo)
Side 2: "Angel, Angel, Grubby Face" (demo version 1)

Single 4
Side 1: "Angel, Angel, Grubby Face" (demo version 2), "Space Oddity" (demo excerpt)
Side 2: "Space Oddity" (demo - alternative lyrics) -- with John "Hutch" Hutchinson

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Daryl Hall & John Oates to tour South America for the first time in...

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Credit: Stuart M. BergAfter nearly 50 years together, Daryl Hall & John Oates are still discovering that there are some things in the music business they've never done. Case in point: In June, they'll be touring South America for the first time ever.

Hall & Oates will perform in Argentina, Chile and Brazil on June 6, 8 and 11, respectively. John, who was last in Argentina as a tourist in the late '80s, says he's "really looking forward to returning there."

He's never been to either Chile or Brazil, but adds, "I am really excited to see these two great cities [Santiago and Sao Paulo] and play for our fans there."

The South American shows will take place after the duo's three March performances at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, a brief April tour of England, and some May dates in Germany that will mark the first time they've played there since the '80s.

Last year, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers toured arenas with Train.

Here are Hall & Oates' confirmed 2019 dates:

3/20 -- Las Vegas, NV, The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
3/22 -- Las Vegas, NV, The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
3/23 -- Las Vegas, NV, The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
4/24 -- Birmingham, U.K., Resorts World Arena
4/26 -- London, U.K., Wembley SSE Arena
4/28 -- Manchester, U.K., Manchester Arena
5/1 -- Glasgow, U.K., SSE Hydro Arena
5/3 -- Dortmund, Germany, Westfalenhalle
5/6 -- Hamburg, Germany, Barclaycard Arena
6/6 -- Buenos Aires, Argentina, Luna Park Stadium
6/8 -- Santiago, Chile, Movistar Arena
6/11 -- Sao Paulo, Brazil, Espaco das Americas

On a sad note, Daryl recently mourned the passing of his former wife, Amanda Aspinall, to whom he was married from 2009 to 2015. Earlier this month, he tweeted that he was "heartbroken."

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