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Music News: Prince walks purple carpet to glory at Oakland arena show

by Staff

March 07, 2016

On Friday night, Prince played the second arena show in his solo "Piano & a Microphone" concert series, enthralling the Oracle Arena in Oakland. As Zack Ruskin reports in Consequence of Sound, Prince walked a purple carpet to get to his circular platform in the center of the arena — and then rode a lighted bicycle to leave. "I said I wouldn't do this," said Prince before playing "When Doves Cry," "but y'all are making me feel too good." (Consequence of Sound)

Bill Wyman fighting cancer

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, 79, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the BBC reports. "He is undergoing treatment and is expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in the early stages," says a spokesperson for Wyman.

Lazers make hiztory

Major Lazer, a dance music group led by the producer Diplo, played a free show on Sunday night in Cuba. An estimated half-million fans attended the concert, the first show by a major American pop group since diplomatic relations were re-established with the island nation. (New York Times)

AC/DC postpone tour amid hearing concerns

AC/DC have postponed all ten of their remaining U.S. tour dates, citing a doctor's warning that vocalist Brian Johnson risks "total hearing loss" if he keeps up with the tour. (Ultimate Classic Rock) Minnesota fans were lucky enough to catch the tour at an Xcel Energy Center date last month.

The true Besterberg is yet to come

Paul Westerberg gave a long interview to SPIN, sitting in his Minneapolis house and talking about his new project the I Don't Cares. "I don't think I've written my best song yet," he says.

Ty Segall mugs for morning TV

Ty Segall and the Muggers went on a Chicago TV station for a morning-show performance, and left the anchor dumbfounded. Watch the performance on Pitchfork.

Ty Segall

A sad and sudden death in the Eagles family

Lana Rae Meisner, the wife of Eagles co-founder Randy Meisner, was shot and killed in an apparent accident at her home on Sunday. Meisner, a bassist, left the Eagles in 1977 and has struggled with mental health issues in recent years. It seems the gun that killed Lana Rae Meisner discharged accidentally while being moved; an investigation of the death is ongoing. (Rolling Stone)

Bob loves Babs

When Barbra Streisand saw that a letter from her was included in the Bob Dylan archive that's been acquired for study and exhibition in Oklahoma, she shared a fan letter Dylan wrote to her in about 1983. He sent a copy of his latest album (that likely would have been Infidels) and said that "There are some songs on this album which I’m sure you would love to do." He said he was looking forward to seeing Yentl and thought maybe Streisand could direct him in a movie some day. "You are my favorite star," Dylan wrote. "Your self-determination, wit and temperament and sense of justice have always appealed to me." (New York Times)

Bowie reissues for RSD

Record Store Day — April 16 — will see a slew of reissues, including two David Bowie picture discs. One will be a single of the 1976 song "TVC15," with a 2010 single edit of "Wild is the Wind" on the b-side. The other will be Bowie's 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World, with the original German artwork. (Pitchfork)

Bowie picture discs

Buzz is bummed

The new Melvins album will come out June 3, and it will feature a contribution from Krist Novoselic. The Melvins' Buzz Osbourne said that Dave Grohl was also supposed to show up for a session with Novoselic to play some Nirvana songs with the Melvins, but Grohl "blew it off," Osbourne says. The frontman is miffed: "I'm a lot of things," says Osbourne, "but one thing I'm not doing is sitting next to the phone in curlers, waiting for Dave Grohl to call me." (Pitchfork)

Björk is back (or soon will be)

Björk says she's in the studio working on a follow-up to Vulnicura with producer Arca, who also collaborated on that album. "The last album, we sort of call it 'hell,'" she says. "It was like divorce! So we are doing paradise now. Utopia." (Pitchfork)

CDs are dead (says Kanye)

Kanye West is done releasing CDs, he says: he'll now release music only via streaming services, he declared on Twitter. "The Yeezus packaging was an open casket to CDs." (NME)

Kanye West Yeezus

Four decades on "Thunder Road"

In a new supercut, you can watch 41 years of Bruce Springsteen singing "Thunder Road."

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