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NBC continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with the new documentary, “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music.” Following the recent four-episode docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” amid the 50th season, which airs Sundays, and ahead of the star-studded, three-hour primetime event “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” the feature-length music doc promises a deep dive into the musical performances that have become as much of a cultural hallmark as the comedy show’s sketches.

The doc is directed by Grammy and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez, and features a roster of more than 50 interviews with musicians and “SNL” staffers, including Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Lorne Michaels, Fred Armisen, Conan O’Brien, Bill Hader, Eddie Murphy, Maya Rudolph, Bowen Yang and many, many more.

Here is when and where...

NBC is celebrating 50 years of Saturday Night Live by honoring all of the musical guests in a new three-hour special.

Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music is airing on NBC on Monday night (January 27) and will feature untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking and news-making musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years.

The special will showcase interviews with musical artists, cast, writers, producers and more who have been part of SNL’s legacy.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Questlove, who leads the band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, directed the special with Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez.

“Everyone knows the most famous SNL appearances, whether it’s Elvis Costello, Prince or the Beastie Boys, but they’re the tip of a huge iceberg,” Questlove said. “The process of going back through the incredible archival footage was like being in a time machine, DeLorean or other. I’m so happy...

Iconic filmmaker David Lynch died on January 16th at the age of 78. Artists, creatives, and members of the film community at large took to social media to express their gratitude for Lynch’s visionary, distinct work.

Longtime collaborator and friend Kyle MacLachlan wrote a lengthy tribute on Instagram, saying he owed “my entire career, and life really” to Lynch’s vision. “I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear,” he said. “My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he’s gone.”

Naomi Watts, who starred in Mulholland Drive, said her “heart is broken.” She added, “The world will not be the same without him. His creative mentorship was truly powerful. He put me on the map.”

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Spielberg opened up about his own relationship with Lynch.

Live from New York, it’s the music of Saturday Night Live!

The documentary Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music, directed by Academy Award winner Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez, will premiere Monday, Jan. 27 at 8/7c on NBC (and stream next day on Peacock).

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The program will feature “untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking and newsmaking musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years,...

To help launch the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live (officially next October), the feature-length documentary Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music from Oscar- and Grammy-winning director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul) and produced by Oz Rodriguez will premiere Jan. 27, 2025, on NBC.

Thompson is also among the doc’s bevy of executive producers along with SNL creator Lorne Michaels.

The three-hour special promises to feature the untold stories behind the musical performances, sketches, and cameos of the past half-century. Fifty musical artists, cast members, writers, and producers from throughout SNL’s colorful history dating back to the mid-1970s were interviewed for the film — including Bad Bunny, DJ Breakout, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl Dmc McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, Mc Sha-Rock, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Lee Ving, and Jack White.

Next October, Saturday Night Live will officially reach the 50th anniversary of its very first episode. But celebrations of the milestone started months ago with the premiere of season 50 and the release of Saturday Night in September. They’ll continue into the new year with the four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night and the newly-announced feature-length documentary Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music.

The musical history of Saturday Night Live is nearly as storied as its sketches. Questlove will direct the three-hour-long feature, scheduled to premiere on Jan. 27. It marks...

A documentary about the music performances on “Saturday Night Live” is coming to NBC, directed by Oscar winner Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy winner Oz Rodriguez.

Titled “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music,” the three-hour special will premiere on the network on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. and stream the following day on Peacock.

The latest project celebrating five decades of “SNL,” the film will “feature untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking and newsmaking musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years,” per the logline.

The doc will also feature more than 50 interviews, including Bad Bunny, DJ Breakout, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish and Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl Dmc McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, Mc Sha-Rack, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Lee Ving and Jack White.

Also interviewed are “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels and cast and creatives of present and past,...

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” NBC is sharing the untold stories behind the late night staple’s culture-defining, groundbreaking and newsmaking musical performances, sketches and cameos over the years in a new documentary.

“Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music,” which is set to premiere Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt on NBC and stream the next day on Peacock, will be directed by Grammy and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez.

“Everyone knows the most famous ‘SNL’ appearances, whether it’s Elvis Costello, Prince or the Beastie Boys, but they’re the tip of a huge iceberg,” Questlove said in a Thursday statement. “The process of going back through the incredible archival footage was like being in a time machine, DeLorean or other. I’m so happy I went on the trip and now get to share it with everyone.

Saturday Night Live is a legendary gig for musicians and bands.

From Lee Ving’s Fear encouraging kids to slam dance to “Beef Bologna” to Nirvana playing “Rape Me” alongside Charles Barkley and RuPaul and Sinéad O’Connor ripping up a photograph of the Pope during a cover of Bob Marley’s “War,” the show has seen its fair share of incredible performances.

These are to be explored in a documentary for NBC that will premiere on January 27, ahead of its 50th extravaganza.

Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson and Oz Rodriguez, who was a segment director on SNL, will direct Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.

The special is produced by Questlove’s Two One Five Entertainment, RadicalMedia and Broadway Video.

It will feature untold stories behind the musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years. The three-hour special will also feature interviews with musical artists, cast, writers, and producers.

These include Bad Bunny,...

NBC has unveiled an upcoming documentary, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, to celebrate a half-century of live rock music performances featured on the long-running sketch comedy show.

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Oz Rodriguez will direct the feature film about memorable musical acts by artists like Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Bad Bunny, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Jack White, Mick Jagger and Dua Lipa, among others.

“Everyone knows the most famous SNL appearances, whether it’s Elvis Costello, Prince or the Beastie Boys, but they’re the tip of a huge iceberg,” Thompson said in a statement. “The process of going back through the incredible archival footage was like being in a time machine, DeLorean or other. I’m so happy I went on the trip and now get to share it with everyone.”

The film will be part of NBC’s primetime celebration...

In case you need a reason to look forward to 2025, Blondie have continued to tease their upcoming album.

Over on Bluesky, Blondie co-founder and guitarist Chris Stein shared the latest update on the new album. “With John Congleton. New Blondie record next year,” he wrote in the caption of a black-and-white photo of lead singer Debbie Harry and the Grammy-winning producer in the studio.

Congleton was the primary producer on Blondie’s most recent album, Pollinator, which was released in 2017.

This past October, Stein hinted at the project’s impending release when he posted an Instagram photo of Harry in the studio. “New Blondie album next year,” he wrote.

Several months before, Stein confirmed in a BBC Radio 6 appearance that they were mixing a new record.

No further details have been revealed at this time, but Pollinator featured appearances from Joan Jett, Laurie Anderson, and John Roberts. Co-writers included Johnny Marr,...

John Mulaney’s wildly chaotic six-episode run of Everybody’s In LA featured old punks, phone-ins and just about every top comedian in the states.

But the show, which ran for six episodes around the Netflix Is A Joke Festival between May 3 and May 10, was originally designed as a variety show. “I wanted everyone to go make what they wanted and I will put it on. We can’t get renewed. We should actually be a variety show,” he said.

Mulaney was asked why he wanted to make a show that was largely difficult? He said that Netflix approached him as they wanted to do something live across the comedy festival but weren’t entirely sure what. “One idea they had was stand-up at the Geffen Theater. Only with only David doing stand-up, just Laura Nyro stories. He had a tight hour,” Mulaney joked. “I liked that it was an...

Exclusive: Previously unseen photos and video footage from a career that took in studio sessions with Blondie, The Knack, The Sweet and Suzi Quatro will illustrate Simply The Best: The Mike Chapman Story, a documentary about the eponymous songwriter and producer.

As well as co-writing The Best, the Tina Turner anthem that informs the doc’s title, Chapman has worked with a plethora of star names. He produced several Blondie albums including Parallel Lines. The band’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein will appear in the film and serve as executive producers.

Jason Bick will direct and produce. Mark Myers’ LA-based Citizen Skull and Michael Murphy’s Rockabill Media are also attached as producers.

“After several years of putting this together I am looking forward to getting it out there,” Chapman said. “It’s a story of how music changed and shaped me as I fought my way through decades of ups and downs.

R.E.M., Steely Dan, Timbaland, and songwriters Dean Pitchford (“Footloose”) and Hillary Lindsey (“Jesus Take the Wheel”) are this year’s inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the organization announced today.

The 2024 induction ceremony and Awards Gala is set for Thursday, June 13, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Additional special award honorees will be announced soon.

“I’ve said it before, but the music industry does not exist without songwriters delivering great songs first,” Shof Chairman Nile Rodgers said in a statement that this year’s inductees represent “not just iconic songs but also diversity and unity across genres, ethnicity and gender.” He added that this year’s songwriters “have enriched our lives and literally enriched music and the lives of billions of listeners all over the world.”

In today’s announcement, the Hall of Fame listed key songs in the inductees’ catalogs:

Hillary Lindsey:

Jesus Take...

Tom Verlaine, frontman and guitarist for seminal NYC punk band Television, has died at 73.

The New York Times reported that the punk pioneer died Saturday in Manhattan. Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of Verlaine’s ex and frequent collaborator Patti Smith, told the outlet that Verlaine died “following a brief illness.”

Born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey, he met Richard Meyers at a boarding school in Delaware, with the two moving to New York City and changing their names to Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, respectively, to form the band Neon Boys along with drummer Billy Ficca.

Read More: David Crosby, Legendary Musician Of The Byrds And Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Dead At 81

That band didn’t last, but then reformed as Television, adding guitarist Richard Lloyd. Television quickly became the darlings of the budding NYC punk scene, gaining a following with performances at legendary clubs CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City.

Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Chris Stein, and many more artists have paid tribute to Tom Verlaine, the influential singer and guitarist for punk legends Television, who died following a “brief illness” at the age of 73.

Smith — Verlaine’s former partner and regular collaborator — posted a photograph of them together on Instagram. “This is a time when all seemed possible,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”

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A post shared by This is Patti Smith (@thisispattismith)

“I have lost a hero,” Michael Stipe wrote,...

Wilko Johnson, the influential guitarist for the British pub rock band Dr. Feelgood who was credited with laying the groundwork for the punk movement, has died at the age of 75.

“This is the announcement we never wanted to make, & we do so with a very heavy heart: Wilko Johnson has died,” Johnson’s Twitter announced Tuesday. “He passed away at home on Monday 21st November. Thank you for respecting the family’s privacy at this very sad time. Rip Wilko Johnson.”

A cause of death was not provided. A decade ago,...

Click here to read the full article.

Bryan Adams, R.E.M., Blondie, Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Heart and The Doobie Brothers are among the nominees for the 2023 Songwriters Hall of Fame, part of a dazzling list of talented acts who left their mark on country, pop, rap, Broadway, post-punk, Latin and New Jack Swing.

The ballot includes the musical theater duo of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who wrote Ragtime and Anastasia, as well as soul-jazz vocalist Sade, whose 1980s soft rock hits include “Smooth Operator” and “The Sweetest Taboo.”

Two veteran rock stars are also nominees: Patti Smith — whose songs include “Because the Night” and “Dancing Barefoot” — and Steve Winwood, whose hits include “Higher Love” and “Roll With It.” Vince Gill is once again a nominee, having first made the ballot in 2018.

Eligible voting members have until Dec. 28 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees...

YouTube Originals will launch on Nov. 18 “Behind the Beats,” a novel animated pop music anthology series produced by France’s TeamTO and 22D Music Group in partnership with France Télévisions, the French public broadcaster.

Episodes 1-4 of the novel history of pop will also debut on the YouTube Kids app, YouTube Originals Kids & Family announced on Wednesday.

YouTube and TeamTO have shared first-look images from the series in exclusivity with Variety.

The deal sees YouTube launching the series worldwide but with a one-year holdback in the French language, where France Télévisions has first-window exclusivity.

“This new animated musical series from TeamTO hits a sweet spot for family co-viewing, filling a gap for parents who want to watch something together with their kids that they actually will enjoy,” said Craig Hunter, global head of kids & family originals for YouTube.

Currently packing a first season of 26 five-minute episodes, “Behind the Beats” tells...

In the late Seventies, Blondie were the most widely mocked band of Cbgb’s first punk wave — too pop, not rigorous enough. But after they hit Number One in early 1979 with “Heart of Glass,” their pasticheurs-and-proud stance not only made their string of hits a rare shot of excitement on early-Eighties radio, they foretold the way hits of the future would be stitched together from different genres. Blondie look increasingly visionary in the rearview.

It helped that Blondie’s songwriting was, early on, a fairly open door: In its first incarnation,...

Blondie have excavated a work-in-progress demo of the song that became Autoamerican’s “Go Through It” for their upcoming Against the Odds box set. The track, whose scratch title was “I Love You Honey, Give Me a Beer,” features Debbie Harry singing different lyrics and lacks the mariachi horns the band later added — but otherwise, it sounds as polished as the studio version. The group possibly wrote “I Love You Honey” to be included on the soundtrack for the 1980 movie Roadie.

Against the Odds: 1974 – 1982 will contain 124 tracks, including Blondie’s...

A new book, Giger: Debbie Harry Species – Creating the Visual Concept for KooKoo, will document the early Eighties collaboration between the Blondie frontwoman and artist H.R. Giger. Harry commissioned Giger a couple of years after he achieved international fame for designing the phantasmagoric “xenomorph” in the movie Alien for the cover art of her 1981 solo debut, KooKoo. The album will be reissued on October 7, and the book will come out on November 11.

Blondie guitarist Chris Stein, who is also a photographer, captured the process and has been holding onto his behind-the-scenes photos for decades.

Blondie are set to release the first definitive collection of their work in the 124-track archival box set Against the Odds 1974 – 1982. The curated collection, remastered from original analog tapes and cut at Abbey Road Studios, features three-dozen previously unreleased recordings. It arrives on Aug. 26.

“It really is a treat to see how far we have come when I listen to these early attempts to capture our ideas on relatively primitive equipment,” Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry said in a statement. “Fortunately the essence of being in a band in the early...

The new exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, located along Manhattan’s “Museum Mile,” features Madonna, MTV, Run-dmc, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, John Zorn, Liquid Liquid, Max Roach, Fort Apache Band, and much more.

“During the Eighties, there was a community-driven musical renaissance in New York City. It was an era of creativity and genre-defying performance that, in my mind, stands as one of the most influential in musical and cultural history,” says Sean Corcoran, the museum’s curator of prints and photography. “That wide range...

The Tribeca Festival’s lineup of talks and reunion screenings will blend in-person and virtual events, with Amy Schumer, Guillermo del Toro and Bradley Cooper among those on the bill.

Reunion screenings, an increasingly popular draw at the fest in recent years, will celebrate Fargo, Raging Bull, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Five Heartbeats and Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid.

Tribeca’s 20th edition is set for June 9 to June 20 and will be the first major film festival to host in-person events since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in early 2020. The Berlin Film Festival just confirmed a special summer event to be held outdoors during the same June dates in the latest sign of the industry’s recovery from Covid-19.

The “storytellers” section will include Cooper in conversation with del Toro and Schumer in conversation with Emily Ratajkowski. Other tandems will include Mike Jackson and John Legend of Get Lifted Film Company...

The Tribeca Film Festival is adding some splashy talks to its upcoming New York City lineup, which promises to be the first major film festival in the U.S. to return to business as normal after the pandemic.

Director Joel Coen will be joined in conversation with stars Frances McDormand and Steve Buscemi to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Academy Award-winning film “Fargo.” Meanwhile, the 20th anniversary of “The Royal Tenenbaums” will be celebrated with a reunion of director Wes Anderson with stars Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, and Danny Glover. The 30th anniversary of “The Five Heartbeats” will also be marked with stars Robert Townsend, John Terrell, Tico Wells, Leon Robinson, Harry Lennix, Michael Wright, and Hawthorne James.

Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro will also team up with director Martin Scorsese to discuss creating “Raging Bull.”

The Tribeca Talks: Storytellers slate celebrates groundbreaking creators working across multiple mediums.

The casts of “Fargo,” “Raging Bull,” “The Five Heartbeats,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” will reunite at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

In addition, the festival, which is returning to in-person events after Covid scrambled plans for the 2020 edition, will host talks with the likes of Bradley Cooper, Amy Schumer, Gina Prince-Bythewood, M. Night Shyamalan, and members of the punk group Blondie.

The festival will take place largely in outdoor venues around each of the city’s five boroughs. It unfolds between June 9 to June 20, and comes nearly 20 years after the festival was founded in the wake of 9/11.

Just as that festival was formed to inspire people to return to lower Manhattan, which had been devastated by the terrorist attack, this iteration comes as New York City is struggling to reemerge from a pandemic that upended cultural and economic life.

Past Tribeca reunions have featured the filmmaking teams behind such classics as “Goodfellas,...

Blondie have teamed up with Z2 comics for Against the Odds, a new graphic novel out this fall.

The novel is co-written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti — who previously relaunched the Harley Quinn series for DC Comics — and illustrated by John McCree. It chronicles the New Wave band’s rise from the downtown Manhattan clubs to stardom in the late Seventies, which Palmiotti was there to witness.

“I spent many a late night checking out the music scene when punk and New Wave were becoming a thing in the...

Update: Following publication, sources with intimate knowledge of the situation claim to Rolling Stone that while reps for Dylan did have early conversations with Mercuriadis, Umpg was the only company in which a potential deal was discussed in detail.

****

Prior to taking his deal with Universal Music Publishing Group, Bob Dylan turned down a $400 million bid from Merck Mercuriadis’s Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a source familiar to the situation tells Rolling Stone.

Mercuriadis declined to comment for the story beyond commending Umpg for its acquisition. “I congratulate them on making the deal,...

Merck Mercuriadis’s big year doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet. The manager-turned-music investor’s IP acquisition group Hipgnosis Songs Fund bought two more notable catalogs, it announced Wednesday — this time from Blondie co-founders Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, securing both their writers’ shares and neighboring rights for their entire catalogs. This comes just days after Hipgnosis also announced the acquisition of the recording royalties for Barry Manilow’s 917-song catalog.

With the Blondie and Manilow acquisitions, Hipgnosis gains access to hits like Blondie’s “Rip Her to Shreds,...

We’re proud to announce that our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast is nominated for a Webby Award — and we’d like to ask you to please cast your vote for it right now at this link.

But if you need to be convinced, here’s a round-up of some of the best episodes from 2019, the year covered by the nomination. To see a full list of episodes, which range from interviews with legendary artists to debates and discussions among Rolling Stone staff, go to iTunes or Spotify, where you...

Jimmy Webb, the iconic manager and buyer from famed New York clothing store Trash and Vaudeville, who later opened his own shop, named I Need More, died Tuesday morning at the age of 62. Webb’s friend Heart Montalbano confirmed his death to Rolling Stone, adding that the cause of death was cancer.

While not a musician himself, Webb counted rock royalty like Iggy Pop, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, Joan Jett, and Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein as customers and friends. Following his death, numerous musicians paid tribute...

Hal Willner — the respected producer who worked with Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull, was a long-time Saturday Night Live staffer and compiled a series of eccentric all-star tribute albums — died Monday at the age of 64. A rep for Willner confirmed the producer’s death to Rolling Stone. While a cause of death has yet to be announced, a source close to Willner tells Rolling Stone he was suffering from symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.

“Absolutely devastated to get this news about my weird and lovely pal, Hal,” tweeted Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

By the time Debbie Harry started Blondie, she’d already seen a great deal of the world — or at least become plenty worldly. By 29, she’d played housewife to (though never married) a blue-collar worker in New Jersey, escaped to New York and stumbled upon the Velvet Underground playing a hole-in-the-wall show on St. Marks Place, sang in girl-group backup bands, worked as a Playboy Bunny, and served steak to Miles Davis at Max’s Kansas City. In the years since, she’s acted for John Cassavetes, sat for Andy Warhol,...

Blondie’s Debbie Harry — who recently published the memoir Face It — and Chris Stein stopped by our SiriusXM studio for a loose, fun chat on a recent episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, where they looked back on their early days and more. To hear the entire interview, press play below or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify; some highlights follow.

Harry is slightly embarrassed by “Djini Judy” a song she sang with her early folk-rock group, Wind in the Willows, which survives via YouTube.

“I didn’t write the song!

Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein recently dropped by SiriusXM’s studio for a freewheeling, career-spanning interview on our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, with host Brian Hiatt. They touched on their early days (Harry briefly sang in a wispy folk-rock band), New York in the Seventies, the band’s key influences (including the Shangri-Las), the making of their hits (“Heart of Glass” was more influenced by Kraftwerk than disco, they say), and the revelations in Harry’s memoir, Face It, among many other topics. They also discussed what...

When Debbie Harry first told Rolling Stone about her memoir, Face It, earlier this year, she promised it would contain “an overview of the way [Blondie] carried on through all that time, from my sort of warped little perspective.” But when it came out, it turned out to be even more eye-opening than she had suggested.

In the book, she revealed that she had always viewed “Blondie” as a character she played. Adopted when she was only six months old, Harry questioned who she really was as she drifted from her hippie-ish first band,...

He’s been gone a long time, but one of television’s most original talents is having a renaissance month. Ernie Kovacs is celebrating his 100th birthday year with the release today of The Ernie Kovacs Album: Centennial Edition by Omnivore Recordings, a prelude to the grand opening of the Ernie Kovacs Centennial Exhibit at the National Comedy Center on August 7.

The Ernie Kovacs Album Centennial Edition, Grammy nominated in 1977, was long-out-of-print. It’s now been remastered from the original sources and will be reissued on CD and digital formats for the first time. The new collection has been expanded to feature six never-heard-since-broadcast bonus tracks, liner notes, new photos and the original album artwork. One is previewed below:

The National Comedy Center will celebrate the centennial year of Kovacs with the acquisition and display of never-before-seen material and rare artifacts courtesy of the comedian’s estate.

Laura Laplaca, director...

Blondie’s Debbie Harry will release her previously announced memoir, Face It, on October 1st via Harper Collins. The book, which blends first-person essays with interviews conducted by journalist Sylvie Simmons, documents her band’s ascent to New Wave fame.

In a statement about the autobiography, which includes previously unseen photos and fan art, Harry admits that the book might wind up as the first installment of a series. “There are many more stories for me to tell; some funny, some scary, some warm, some chill to the bone,” she said.

Sneak Peek "Punk", the new 4-episode documentary TV series, executive produced by Iggy Pop of 'The Stooges' fame, premiering March 11, 2019 on Epix:

"...'Punk' explores the music, the fashion, the art and the attitude of a subculture of self-described misfits and outcasts..."

Interviews include Iggy Pop, Johnny Rotten, Marky Ramone, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Duff McKagan, Wayne Kramer, Jello Biafra, Flea, Dave Grohl, Danny Fields, Legs McNeil, Penelope Spheeris and a whole lot more...

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Punk"...

When the Ramones first performed “Blitzkrieg Bop” at Cbgb some 44 years ago, no one could have imagined the song would be heard in virtually every stadium and in multiple TV spots for mainstream products like Coppertone, GoPro, Peloton, At&T and Taco Bell.

And punk rock, the genre of music that the Ramones and so many others ushered in, seemed destined for an equally short shelf life. Yet despite its built-to-self-destruct ethos, punk rock has not only endured, it continues to attract fans both old and young — anyone who’s read this far has probably already heard about the dust-up between Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (aka Rotten) and former Ramones drummer Marc Bell at an onstage Q&A last week to promote the film, which is at turns hilarious, pathetic and ridiculous, and often all three at once.

Two current documentaries illustrate the genre’s remarkable durability and continued relevance:...

Debbie Harry has finally finished her long-in-the-works memoir, Face It, which she expects will come out in the second half of 2020. “I talk a bit about my internal functions — not biological but mental,” the Blondie frontwoman, 73, tells Rolling Stone. “It’s more personal.”

The book will “weave through” her life story, she says, and will trace the ups and downs of her band, including her marriage to guitarist Chris Stein and his struggle with the disease pemphigus, as well as how they carried on. “It’s such a long period of time,...

“If you look at the first five years of CBGBs and Cuba, there might be an analogy to be drawn,” Blondie guitarist Chris Stein tells Rolling Stone. “Both were very isolated. One of the strong points of the Cbgb scene and the New York rock scene was that it was so isolated.”

“I feel the same way,” says singer Deborah Harry. “I like to draw my own conclusions about things. Chris and I both came up through the hippie era, and Che Guevara and Fidel Castro are fascinating, enigmatic political...

Epix is ready to rock. This week, the network announced they've ordered a new TV show called Punk.

The docuseries "explores the music, the fashion, the art and the Diy attitude of a subculture of self-described misfits and outcasts." Featured artists include Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Johnny Rotten, Chris Stein, Marky Ramone, Duff McKagan, Flea, and Dave Grohl.

Read More…...

Iggy Pop will serve as executive producer on the upcoming four-part docuseries Punk, with fashion designer John Varvatos also on board to tell Epix’s “quintessential story of punk.”

The Stooges legend is also among the artists to provide exclusive interviews to the series. Sex Pistols’ John Lydon, Dave Grohl, Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, Marky Ramone, MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan and The Decline of Western Civilization director Penelope Spheeris and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea contributing to Punk.

Spike your mohawk and safety pin your ripped shirts because award-winning fashion designer John Varvatos and music legend Iggy Pop are teaming to bring a bit of rebellion to TV. The pair will serve as executive producers of Punk, a four-part docuseries that has been greenlit by Epix.

Varvatos will partner with filmmaker Derik Murray’s Network Entertainment to produce the quintessential story of punk which is currently in production and is set to premiere on Epix on March 11, 2019. Murray will also produce the docuseries which will be directed by Jesse James Miller.

The docuseries will feature original, exclusive interviews with America’s punk pioneers and the UK’s most notorious bands. In addition to being Ep, Iggy Pop will lend his voice to the Punk narrative alongside Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols/Public Image Ltd./PiL), Marky Ramone (Ramones), Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (Blondie), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses...

Blondie had a lot of hits during their initial burst of fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but none of them were as enormous or impactful as “Heart of Glass.” The song shot to Number One all over the world when it came out in January 1979, instantly lifting the group out of the Cbgb punk scene and into the pop mainstream. Nearly four decades later, they’re celebrating their breakthrough song with a six-song Ep entitled Blondie: Heart of Glass chroniclingthe many incarnations the song took as they...

On any other day, on any other block, it might be absurd to hear this random complain from a passerby: “I cannot meditate the sun away.” But in front of the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, on the warm opening day of David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption, it somehow fit.

It wasn’t immediately clear what to expect from this two-day event, which raised funds for The David Lynch Foundation; the nonprofit organization aims to bring transcendental meditation to those struggling with Ptsd and other ailments.”The Individual is Cosmic” said prominent signs outside as well as the event program. “Unity in the Midst of Diversity” was another.

What was known going into last weekend was Lynch curated an eclectic collection of creators for talks, exhibits, screenings, and performances. Attendees could experience demos by virtual reality company Within, or explore artwork by Lynch and others.

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Next year the “Twin Peaks” revival from David Lynch and Mark Frost will debut on Showtime. The series, which includes over 200 cast members, has fans pumped up for its return. Now, fans can get excited about a new event that could feature more exciting “Twin Peaks” news.

Lynch announced the Festival of Disruption, a two-day event that will take place October 8-9 at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. The celebration will have Angelo Badalamenti performing the music from the hit series along with Xiu Xiu and Sky Ferreira, “Twin Peaks” actors Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern will give special talks during the festival, as well as Mel Brooks, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. The festival will also feature screenings of rarely seen Lynch short films and classics such as “Blue Velvet ” and “The Elephant Man,” Transcendental Meditation sessions and performances by Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, St. Vincent,...

Director David Lynch enlisted rockers, techno producers, DJs, film composers, dance choreographers, and others to participate in the first Festival of Disruption. The full-blown Lynchian event takes place October 8th and 9th at the Ace Hotel and Theater in Los Angeles.

Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters, Angelo Badalamenti (performing the music of Twin Peaks), Xiu Xiu, St. Vincent, Sky Ferreira, Jon Hopkins, Questlove (DJ set), and more will perform. Experimental architect Frank Gehry, actor Mel Brooks and Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein will give talks. Lynch also...