Music News: Prince 'Sign O' the Times' boots sell for $75K
by Jay Gabler
September 28, 2017
Prince’s backstage pass from his early tour supporting Rick James sold for $60,366, and an advance pressing of the unreleased album Camille went for $58,786, but the item fetching the highest bid at a recent auction of Prince memorabilia was a pair of boots from his Sign O' the Times Tour. The yellow high-heel boots went for $75,147 in the online sale run by RR Auction. (Rolling Stone)
Cher musical heading to Broadway
A jukebox musical based on the life and songs of Cher is Broadway-bound. Three actors will play the iconic star at three different phases of her long career in The Cher Show, which will open for a limited run in Chicago next summer before moving to the Great White Way.
The musical "is not linear, and it is entirely psychological," says playwright Rick Elice. "It takes place in her psychological closet, and in that closet is everything she's ever been in her life — everything she has ever played, every song she's sung, everyone she's been married to, every pair of shoes she's worn, every success and every failure."
As the New York Times notes, it's one of several jukebox musicals currently being developed. There are also shows based on the musical catalogs of Tina Turner, Donna Summer, and the Temptations.
George Martin's orchestral music set for release
A forthcoming album will be dedicated to the film scores and orchestral music of "the fifth Beatle," George Martin. George Martin: The Film Scores and Original Orchestral Compositions will be out Nov. 10, with a vinyl release to follow in January. "The LP will feature the music Martin penned for films like Yellow Submarine and Live and Let Die," reports Rolling Stone, "as well as his previously unrecorded choral and orchestral score for The Mission."
Lorde takes Phil at Face Value
Lorde shared her take on Phil Collins’s 1981 hit "In the Air Tonight" when she visited the BBC's Live Lounge. That legendary fill, though, just isn't the same on drum pads. Check it out at 2:58 in the video below. (Billboard)
Mountain Goats tribute album planned
Craig Finn, Laura Jane Grace, Andrew Bird, and Laura Palmer are among the artists who will cover Mountain Goats songs on a new podcast that will be followed by a 2018 tribute album collecting all the covers. John Darnielle joins host Joseph Fink (Welcome to Night Vale) for the podcast, which is called I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats. The first season will focus on the band's 2000 album All Hail West Texas, with an episode, and cover song, dedicated to each song on that LP. (Pitchfork)
Josie and the Pussycats reunite
Fans of Josie and the Pussycats — specifically, of the 2001 movie based on the comic book series — call them "the best fake band ever." The film's stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson reunited on Tuesday night at a Los Angeles screening that doubled as a release party for a new vinyl reissue of the movie's soundtrack. Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo), one of the soundtrack's contributors, wore a pair of cat ears and played a set of songs from the album, with a guest appearance from Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), who wrote "Pretend to Be Nice." (Billboard)