The Guardian : Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? reissued as all-star mashup – including three generations of Bono →

For 40 years, Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? has been praised by some as a triumph of charitable fundraising and festive songwriting – and condemned by others as the most high-profile example of white saviourhood in pop. Now, to mark its latest anniversary, the song is coming back around for a fourth time, in the form of an all-star splicing of the three previous official versions. Announcing the new version, Bob Geldof, who masterminded the 1984 original, says Do They Know It’s Christmas? “tells the story not just of unbelievably great generational British talent, but still stands as a rebuke to that period in which it was first heard. The 80s proclaimed that ‘greed is good’. This song says it isn’t. It says it’s stupid.” Proceeds will benefit the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which supports health and anti-poverty initiatives across Africa.

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Blues Rock Review : Warren Haynes revisits his ‘first love’ on “Million Voices Whisper” (by Meghan Roos) →

Warren Haynes is emerging from one of the most prolific times of his life—and he is making the most of that reality. On Nov. 1, Fantasy Records is releasing the Allman Brothers Band alum’s fourth solo album Million Voices Whisper, a project that features guest performances by Derek Trucks, Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson. Though the album is Haynes’ first solo project since 2015’s Ashes & Dust, its arrival comes on the heels of two recent albums he released with Gov’t Mule—2021’s Heavy Load Blues and 2023’s Peace… Like a River—which he and his bandmates recorded simultaneously during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.

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Portland Press Herald : "Africa's premier diva’ Angelique Kidjo brings her international blend of music to Portland (by Ray Routhier) →

Angelique Kidjo has embraced the moniker “Africa’s premier diva,” bestowed up on her a few years ago by a journalist.But she defines the term diva a little differently than some people would. “I was doing something at a museum in Paris, and this journalist saw me interacting with all these people, hugging and talking to them, taking pictures with them, and he said to me, ‘You really are Africa’s premier diva,’ ” Kidjo said in a phone interview. “But I’m somebody who grew up knowing the value of hard work, who was taught that kindness is bulletproof. To me, being a diva means being available to people all over Africa and all over the world.”

She also fits one of the dictionary descriptions of a diva, which is simply “a famous female singer.” After 40 years of performing and recording all over the world and winning five Grammy awards, she’s certainly that. On Nov. 13, she’ll be accessible to people in Maine when she performs at the State Theatre in Portland. The show is presented by Portland Ovations.

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Warren Haynes, Dave Matthews Band to Host Hurricane Relief Concert (by Garret K. Woodward) →

No stranger to charitable causes in his native Asheville, North Carolina, with his annual Christmas Jam concert, Warren Haynes will once again lend a musical hand to help out his hometown following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene last month. Haynes will host a Nov. 24 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City to raise funds for disaster relief in both North Carolina and Florida. “I’ve been talking to everybody and it’s just crazy. It’s heartbreaking. Who could ever imagine that Western North Carolina could be affected like this?” Haynes tells Rolling Stone.

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Arts Hub : Music review: Esperanza Spalding, Hamer Hall (by Joshua So) →

Five-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist Esperanza Spalding lived up to every meaning of the word ‘artist’. From ‘12 Little Spells’ from the album of the same name to ‘I Know You Know’, Spalding cruised through her songs with the personality and character that only the writer of the songs could deliver.

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Far Out Magazine : The lyric Patti Smith thinks about every day (by Lauren Bulla) →

Patti Smith continues to make waves in myriad pop culture and musical landscapes. Known for her iconic contributions as a singer, lyricist, artist and poet, Smith has collaborated with many creatives. Long after her explosion into the rock industry, she has continued to inspire forthcoming generations, leading her to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her memoir, Just Kids, documents the triumphs and difficulties of moving to New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s on her own. She carved out a substantial path for herself but that is not without suffering in its many relentless forms. It was there that she met Robert Mapplethorpe. The two of them together, experienced a connection that could be described as nothing less than a soul-tie. From difficult beginnings, the creative destined her own path – one that began with paper and pen.

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The American Songwriter : The Story Behind the Lengthy Evolution of “Vertigo” by U2 (by Al Melchior) →

Some bands may be comfortable with putting out music that is less than perfect, but those bands aren’t U2. The Irish superstars have built a reputation for second-guessing their own work and spending months—or even years—tweaking their compositions. Perfectionism hasn’t always translated into perfect songs, but in the case of their 2004 hit “Vertigo,” it resulted in one of their biggest chart successes. One could plausibly argue that “Vertigo” was U2’s last truly big hit.

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New York Latin Culture : Angélique Kidjo Celebrates 40 Years of Musical Joy at Carnegie Hall →

Angélique Kidjo is a Beninese French singer-songwriter, actress, and activist with such a long and influential career that she is now considered “The Queen of African Music.” Kidjo is a true force of nature. Angélique Kidjo, with the Color of Noize Orchestra conducted by Derrick Hodge, celebrates 40 years of music and JOY; on the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in Midtown, Manhattan; on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 8pm. Kidjo is a multi-Grammy winning, Beninese singer, UNICEF and OXFAM goodwill Ambassador who launched her music career in France. She is an African woman of the world who speaks fluent Fon, Yoruba, Gen, French, and English.

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Rolling Stone : Hear U2 Get (Kinda) Funky on Long-Lost Song ‘Happiness’ (by Brian Hiatt) →

It has somehow been 20 years since U2 released How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb— the one with “Vertigo” — and the band is rolling out a “shadow album” of ten outtakes from it, dubbed How to Reassemble an Atomic Bomb, on Nov. 22. The band already dropped one of the songs, the chiming mid-tempo anthem “Country Mile” and now they’ve released a second track, “Happiness,” which is a bigger sonic surprise. In the wake of mixed reactions to their underrated 1997 album Pop, which incorporated some electronic dance beats into their sound, U2 shied away from their funkier instincts for a while. But “For this anniversary edition I went into my personal archive to see if there were any unreleased gems and I hit the jackpot,” the Edge recently wrote. “We chose ten that really spoke to us."

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The New York Times : Review: The Miraculous Simplicity of Patti Smith’s Childhood (by Brian Seibert) →

At the Baryshnikov Arts Center, an adaptation of Smith’s poem-memoir “Woolgathering” features Smith reciting, others dancing and a surprise guest. “Woolgathering” is a slim collection of prose poems that Patti Smith, the singer-songwriter and punk pioneer, published in 1992. It’s mostly a memoir of childhood — of a poet’s childhood, or of the way that all children have a poet’s imagination. “The mind of a child,” she writes, “is like a kiss on the forehead — open and disinterested.” It is “mystified by the commonplace” and “moves effortlessly into the strange,” glimpsing and gleaning, “piecing together a crazy quilt of truths.”

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Forbes : Kris Kristofferson Posthumously Earns His First No. 1 Hit On One Chart (by Hugh McIntyre) →

Kris Kristofferson passed away late last month, and fans are still mourning the loss of the beloved musician and actor. [..] Several of Kristofferson’s titles, including albums and songs, find their way to various Billboard charts this week. The singer-songwriter appears on at least three different tallies, and he rises higher than ever on one of them. Kristofferson’s single “Why Me” returns to the Christian Digital Song Sales chart this frame. The tune blasts in at No. 1, reaching the summit for the first time.

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Counter punch : Kris Kristofferson: the Anti-War Veteran (by Chris Houston) →

American country musician Kris Kristofferson was a military veteran and anti-war activist. He continued his advocacy against the Gulf Wars and benefit concerts for Palestinian children despite the negative impacts that both had on his career. Kristofferson died on September 28 at his home in Hawaii, aged 88.

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npr : Tune in to a mini-concert with esperanza spalding and Milton Nascimento (by Raina Douris) →

Grammy-winning jazz artist esperanza spalding says she gets chills when she thinks about the first time she heard the voice of Milton Nascimento, played over the stereo at a dinner party. She was a student at Berklee College of Music, and Nascimento, a Brazilian singer-songwriter many decades her senior, became an inspiration to her. The two eventually became friends, performing with each other on one of spalding’s albums, on stage and at Nascimento’s home in Brazil. [...] In today's session, you'll hear spalding and Nascimento perform songs from that album in an exclusive mini-concert recorded live in Brazil for World Cafe.

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Toronto Star : Bob Geldof hopes Live Aid musical inspires younger generation to take action →

“Just For One Day” draws on a fictionalized version of the story behind Live Aid, a cultural moment that unfolded on July 13, 1985, when Madonna, Queen, Elton John and other major acts performed to help raise funds and fight famine in Ethiopia. [...] Bob Geldof doesn’t think Live Aid — or a global benefit concert of its size — could have the same impact today that it once did, but he hopes a new musical attached to his name might inspire younger people to take his lead in making a difference.

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Clutch Points : Bono pays homage to late Kris Kristofferson with A cappella cover (by Andrew Korpan) →

The music world, including U2's Bono, was shaken when Kris Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024. Many have paid tribute to the late singer. Bono took to U2's Instagram to post an A cappella cover of his song “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”

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New Jersey Stage : Newark Arts Festival to Screen "Following Harry" - Documentary on Life of Harry Belafonte →

Newark Arts Festival 2024 is excited to announce a special screening of the documentary Following Harry, celebrating the extraordinary life and legacy of Harry Belafonte. This event will take place on Saturday, October 12, 2024 at Express Newark, located in the historic Hahnes & Co. Building, as part of the festival's Reimagining Legacy Day. The screening takes place at 4:00pm. Following Harry, which recently premiered at the Tribeca Festival, chronicles the final twelve years of Harry Belafonte’s life. The film captures the legendary artist and civil rights leader on a deeply personal journey, inspiring a new generation of entertainers and activists to confront injustice worldwide. Belafonte’s vision illustrates how love can transform oppression into empowerment.

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Rolling Stone : Rosanne Cash Remembers Kris Kristofferson: ‘A Piece of My Heart and Family History’ (by Jon Blistein) →

Rosanne Cash remembered the late Kris Kristofferson as “a piece of my heart and family history” in a moving tribute shared on Instagram. [...] In her tribute, Rosanne said she expected that Kristofferson would “leave the planet fairly soon,” but said that “doesn’t change the magnitude of the loss.” She continued: “And yet we will always have him — his enormous legacy, his resonant spirit, the lasting power of his authenticity, his staggering gifts as a poet — in word, on screen, in his being.”

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New York Times : Kris Kristofferson, Country Singer, Songwriter and Actor, Dies at 88 (by Bill Friskics-Warren) →

Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died on Saturday at his home on Maui, Hawaii. He was 88. [...] Steeped in a neo-Romantic sensibility that owed as much to John Keats as to the Beat Generation and Bob Dylan, Mr. Kristofferson’s work explored themes of freedom and commitment, alienation and desire, darkness and light. [...] Over four decades Mr. Kristofferson acted in more than 50 movies, including the 1980 box-office failure “Heaven’s Gate” and John Sayles’s Oscar-nominated 1996 neo-western “Lone Star.” Singer-songwriters may not be the likeliest of movie stars, but Mr. Kristofferson consistently revealed an onscreen magnetism and command that made him an exception to the rule.

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Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter and actor, dead at 88 →

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Kris Kristofferson, an esteemed supporter of Toast to Freedom. Without him, our song would have never been the same. Thank you, Kris, rest in peace

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Broadway World : RIVERDANCE 30 - THE NEW GENERATION Coming To The North Charleston PAC This February →

Since Riverdance first emerged onto the world stage, its fusion of Irish and international dance and music has captured the hearts of millions worldwide. The Grammy award-winning music and the infectious energy of its mesmerising choreography and breath taking performances has left audiences in awe and established Riverdance as a global cultural sensation. To celebrate this incredible 30th year milestone, Riverdance will embark on a special anniversary tour, bringing its magic to audiences around the world. This spectacular production rejuvenates the much-loved original show with new innovative choreography, costumes and state of the art lighting, projection and motion graphics. And for the first time Riverdance welcomes “The New Generation” of performers, all of whom were not born when show began 30 years ago.

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