Tag Archives: pop music

On Thursday night Bruce Springsteen played Detroit, where he warned his audience that anti-LGBT laws are also in the works in Michigan: Just days after he scrapped a show in North Carolina as a protest against a new anti-LGBT state law, which restricts the public bathrooms transgenders can use, The Boss showed he was still upset about the controversy onstage …

From Duran Duran’s website: With respect to the current storm which is howling through this State, we considered cancelling our show on Saturday, but decided to go ahead, both for the sake of our fans and to support those in North Carolina who feel as strongly as we do about this issue. We see this as an opportunity to make …

JamBase reports: Tonight, Mumford & Sons will perform before a capacity crowd at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. The band recently announced they will donate all of their profits from the show to a new charitable fund “to support those who have made it their mission to pursue love and justice.” A donation from the fund …

Bears and drag queens take center stage in the new Bob Mould video. Rolling Stone reviews: With Bob Mould embarking on a tour in support of his recently released LP Patch the Sky starting April 20th, the former Hüsker Dü rocker has unveiled the new video for his latest single “Hold On.” The video finds a downhearted Mould wandering around …

Vintage Vinyl reports: ABC have recorded a sequel to their classic The Lexicon of Love after 34 years. For the new album Fry brought back composer Anne Dudley, who arranged the strings on the original Lexicon. Dudley has co-written two new songs, The Love Inside The Love and Brighter Than The Sun. Also contributing to the 10 new songs are …

“Sadly, once again, the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have been trampled on with the recent passage of HB2 in North Carolina. Me and my team at the True Colors Fund have been closely monitoring the situation in North Carolina and support the efforts of the Human Rights Campaign, Equality North Carolina, and others to repeal …

Citing the Beatles classic All You Need Is Love, Ringo Starr today cancelled his June 18th concert in Cary, North Carolina, joining with fellow artists in “fighting against the bigotry of HB2.” Ringo further declares that HB2 “opens the door to discrimination everywhere.” See his message below.

The BBC reports: Music producer and reality television star David Gest has died in a London hotel aged 62, a statement from his friend says. Gest, who was 62 years old, passed away at the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf. His friend and former bodyguard Imad Handi confirmed the news in a statement. “It is with great sadness that …

Variety reports: It’s hard to imagine a more simpatico creative pairing than Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein. Lauper, the award-winning (Grammy, Emmy and Tony) pop icon whose rainbow-colored hair and anthemic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” single made her a hero among fiery female teens in the 1980s, has long established herself as a staunch humanitarian and leading advocate for …

Billboard Magazine reports: Bryan Adams has canceled a show in Mississippi in a protest to the state’s passing of what has been described as the most aggressive anti-LGBT law in America. The Canadian rocker has scrapped his April 14 date at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi following the signing into law of the “Religious Liberty” bill 1523, a first-of-its-kind …

From the Hollywood Reporter: A U.S. congressman who represents portions of Greensboro, N.C., is accusing Bruce Springsteen of being a “bully,” after the rock star canceled a concert there to protest a new law that’s being described as anti-gay. “It’s disappointing he’s not following through on his commitments,” said Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican freshman congressman. “We’ve got other artists …

Watch Van Zandt’s thoughtful interview below. Rolling Stone reports: Hours after Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band canceled their Greensboro, North Carolina concert Sunday to protest the state’s controversial, discriminatory “bathroom bill,” guitarist Steven “Little Stevie” Van Zandt defended Springsteen’s decision while backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday. “We just felt the issue …

Glee star and budding dance diva Alex Newell is out with a scorching disco throwback track today. Kill The Lights features legendary producer Nile Rodgers on guitar and will debut on this weekend’s episode of HBO’s Vinyl as the show’s timeline moves into the disco era. This WILL get your weekend pumping. And yeah, shades of Sylvester here.

WHOA. Bruce Springsteen tweeted out this statement this afternoon: As you, my fans, know I’m scheduled to play in Greensboro, North Carolina this Sunday. As we also know, North Carolina has just passed HB2, which the media are referring to as the “bathroom” law. HB2 — known officially as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act — dictates which bathrooms …

The new single from Canada’s best identical twin lesbian pop duo was released last night and it’s pretty great. Billboard reviews: The track’s a stadium-shaking hand-clapper from the twin duo’s forthcoming album, Love You to Death. Sara Quin spoke to DJ Matt Wilkinson about the song, explaining the story behind the song: Quin was stuck in a love triangle with …

American Idol ended its 15-season run last night and the finale began with a message from the president. Via Deadline: Acknowledging “not all of us can sing like Kelly Clarkson,” Obama told viewers of the very last episode of the Fox series “all of our voices matter.” Opening up the jam packed 2-hour end to Idol’s fifteen season run, the …

Via Radio Times: Eighties legend Rick Astley has a new single out. The Never Gonna Give You Up singer has written a comeback album after 10 years, with first track Keep Singing released today. It’s a heartfelt tune which actually sounds a lot like an Adele song with its soaring notes and lyrics about The Past. Before you roll your …

Two real life Mormon missionaries are going viral on YouTube with parody of Adele’s Hello than has hit 200,000 views in its first day. Marcus Joseph and Korey Smith (Joseph Smith, get it?) are Brigham Young students and you might not glom onto the fact that they’re actually pitching Mormonism until the final credit appears for LDS Smile, a group …

Via Yahoo News: Country legend Merle Haggard, often called “the Poet of the Common Man,” whose music reflected his hardscrabble roots and hard-living ways as well as a tenderness that made him a revered songwriter, has died at his home near Redding, Calif. He was 79. The Associated Press confirmed his death. Haggard along with fellow Bakersfield, Calif., superstar Buck …

Yesterday PWR BTTM, who I first mentioned here back in September, performed for NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. I like these guys. Clip recap: It took only a few power chords, a sprinkle of glitter and the occasional jokey line — “We can do our makeup in the parking lot / We can get so famous that I might get …