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Metalcore band Ice Nine Kills has stepped up to offer relief for some of the people who’ve been impacted by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. The Boston-bred group announced over the weekend the launch of a fundraiser they’ve dubbed “Heed the Call For California,” with 100% of the proceeds going to the California Fire Foundation […]

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith is the latest musician to share that they’ve lost a home in the Los Angeles wildfires. The longtime heavy metal veteran’s wife, Natalie Dufresne-Smith, announced the news in an Instagram post over the weekend, writing, “We are safe. We have each other. We will start again. #malibustrong.”
She added a thank you to everyone supporting the family during these difficult times.

Last week, Dufresne-Smith posted footage of smoke billowing over the hills in an update telling her followers that the their family was safe at that point, though at the time she was not sure if their neighborhood would make it. She also posted a clip of the Smiths packing up their house as she narrated the harried flight from the smoke a fire. “Here we are, it’s pretty nasty, the closest we’ve been [to the fires],” she narrated as the longtime Iron Maiden guitarist did a final look around at the property and checked on a neighbor.

According to CNN, at least 24 people have died to date, with many more missing and nearly 200,000 Angelenos under evacuation orders as experts expect the deadly Santa Anna winds to whip up again this week, threatening further fire spread. Two of the larger fires, the Eaton and Palisades blazes, are already the second and fourth-most destructive fires in California history, burning a combined 38,000-plus acres to date; the Eaton fire is currently only 27% contained, with the Palisades Fire around 13% containment.

Smith’s post came around the same time that Primus bassist/singer Les Claypool revealed that his band’s guitarist, Larry “Ler” LaLonde and his family had lost their home in Pacific Palisades, a historic L.A. neighborhood that has been all-but-destroyed by the Palisades fire. Among the thousands of Angelenos whose homes have been burned to the ground by the fires are a number of musicians and entertainment industry veterans, including Mandy Moore (and her husband, Dawes leader Taylor Goldsmith), Paris Hilton, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, Jhené Aiko, Paris Hilton, songwriter Diane Warren and The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag and many more.

In addition, Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan said his family had to flee the home they were staying in in Los Angeles.

On Monday (Jan. 13), Beyonce’s Beygood foundation pledged a $2.5 million donation to the L.A. Fire Relief Fund to assist families in need. In addition, Regional Mexican stars Fuerza Regida are renting out hotel rooms for displaced families and Hilton — whose Malibu home burned down live on TV — launched an emergency fund through her 11:11 Media Impact nonprofit to support families who’ve lost homes.

MusiCares and the Recording Academy launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to kick off the effort. Anyone who has worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.

For health alerts, evacuation updates and additional shelter information as the wildfire battle continues, go to L.A. County’s emergency website here. A number of organizations, listed here, are also offering help to those impacted by the wildfires, which began last Tuesday. Musicians and music industry professionals who are affected can get more details about assistance here.

See Dufresne-Smith’s post below.

Jackie Farry, a music industry veteran who served as tour manager for Elliot Smith and the Lemonheads in the 1990s and who was Frances Bean Cobain’s first nanny, died on Sunday (Jan. 12) of complications from lung disease. Farry’s death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by longtime friend manager/producer Janet Billig Rich.

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Farry’s career began in the 1980s when she served as a receptionist at Homestead Records, a beloved New York indie label whose roster included such beloved acts as Antietam, Babe the Blue Ox, The Meatmen, Tsunami, Volcano Suns and others. She moved on to gigs at Atlantic Records (1988-1989), Epic Records (1991-1992), where she worked in radio promotion, often with hard rock and metal bands.

She pivoted to working with Nirvana during the band’s heyday, serving as nanny to singer Kurt Cobain and wife Courtney Love’s daughter, Frances Bean, until Cobain’s death in 1994. After working with a number of metal bands early in her career, she also hosted the short-lived MTV series Superock, which launched in 1995 as a replacement for the former video music channel’s beloved Headbangers Ball series.

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Later in the decade, Farry was a tour manager for a number of indie rock acts, including Stereolab, the Lemonheads, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Quasi and others.

According to THR, Farry was born Jacquelyn Beth Farry in New York and raised in the controversial Synanon community, which was initially established as drug rehab program before growing into a cult in which leaders allegedly controlled members using confrontational “attack therapy.”

“Jackie carried with her an incredible trove of memories and songs from those formative years,” Billig told THR. “Jackie’s love for music was matched only by her sharp wit, humor, and magnetic personality. She was a beacon for friends and strangers alike, drawing people in with her infectious energy. Jackie Farry’s legacy is one of love, laughter and an indomitable spirit. She will be deeply missed — her unforgettable stories, her humor and her impact on those who knew her will live on forever.”

Farry was diagnosed with cancer in 2003, with her many friends standing by her and organizing a series of “f–k cancer” benefit shows featuring bands including the Breeders, TV on the Radio and Guided By Voices. In honor of her longtime support of pit bull rescue, donations in Farry’s honor can be made to her charity of choice, LovePaws.

As the devastating California wildfires continue to rage across the Los Angeles area, Primus singer/bassist Les Claypool took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal that the band’s guitarist, Ler LaLonde, had lost his home.
“All that is left of our good friend Larry ‘Ler’ LaLonde’s home,” Claypool wrote of the band’s longtime guitarist alongside a photo of a house reduced to ash, with just the remnants of a brick fireplace still standing. “When Mother Nature gets up on her hind legs, it can be brutal,” Claypool added. “My heart hurts for him and his family.”

The post included supportive responses from a number of fellow musicians, including former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, who wrote, “Dang. Ler did not deserve this,” with singer Carina Round adding, “Oh my. So much love to them.”

LaLonde’s wife, Shane Stirling LaLonde, posted a series of pictures and videos of the fires that ravaged the family’s home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which has been almost completely destroyed by the Palisades fire, which is still raging. “Our home is gone, and so are the homes of every one of our friends and neighbors. I am still in shock, not quite sure what just happened. The first photo is the video confirmation we received that our home was lost. Ours is the second property with the tree still with oranges in the front yard but nothing else,” she wrote alongside a video of the destruction.

“We lost everything. It doesn’t sink in easily that you have nothing…. It’s still sinking in minute by minute. I know we are safe and yes I am grateful, but I can’t even begin to be close to grace yet as I can’t even comprehend this yet,” she added. “Not just the things, but our town, our community. We all no longer have a home, a neighborhood, a school,a community. I am gutted to the core.”

LaLonde is among the thousands of Angelenos who’ve lost everything during weeklong spate of out-of-control fires that have been fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, burning more than 38,000 acres so far (roughly 60 square miles) and destroying more than 12,000 homes and buildings. In addition, 24 people are confirmed dead and nearly 200,00 have been displaced to date, according to CNN.

A number of musicians and entertainment industry folks have spoken about the loss of their homes — including Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, Jhené Aiko, Paris Hilton, songwriter Diane Warren, Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag and many more — while others are stepping up to offer help.

On Monday (Jan. 13), Beyonce’s BeyGOOD foundation announced a $2.5 million donation to the L.A. Fire Relief Fund to assist families in need, while Regional Mexican stars Fuerza Regida are renting out hotel rooms for displaced families. Hilton — whose Malibu home burned down live on TV — launched an emergency fund through her 11:11 Media Impact nonprofit to support families who’ve lost homes.

In addition, MusiCares and the Recording Academy launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to launch the effort. Anyone who has worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.

For health alerts, evacuation updates and additional shelter information as the wildfire battle continues, go to L.A. County’s emergency website here. A number of organizations, listed here, are also offering help to those impacted by the wildfires, which began last Tuesday. Musicians and music industry professionals who are affected can get more details about assistance here.

01/13/2025

There’s plenty of prospects to get excited about this year.

01/13/2025

Bruce Springsteen is honoring Sam Moore following the soul icon’s passing at 89 on Friday (Jan. 10).
Taking to social media on Saturday, Springsteen shared a heartfelt message: “Over on E Street, we are heartbroken to hear of the death of Sam Moore, one of America’s greatest soul voices,” the Boss wrote on Instagram. “There simply isn’t another sound like Sam’s soulful tenor in American music.”

The two friends shared both the stage and studio over the years. Moore contributed backing vocals to several tracks on Springsteen’s 1992 album, Human Touch, while Springsteen reciprocated on Moore’s 2006 song “Better to Have and Not Need.”

One of Springsteen and Moore’s most memorable live performances took place at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary concert in New York in October 2009, where they joined the E Street Band to perform “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin’.”

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“Having had the honor to work with Sam on several occasions, he was a sweet and funny man,” Springsteen continued in his post. “He was filled with stores of the halcyon days of soul music, and to the end had the edge of deep authenticity in his voice I could only wonder at.”

Moore, half of the seminal duo Sam & Dave, passed away in Coral Gables, Fla. The cause of death was complications from surgery.

In addition to Springsteen, Moore was revered by artists like Phil Collins, Garth Brooks and Jon Bon Jovi. His instantly recognizable tenor first gained attention on iconic call-and-response classics such as Sam & Dave’s 1960s hits “Hold On, I’m Coming” and the Grammy-winning “Soul Man,” both of which topped Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart. Moore also made his mark with other timeless tracks like “I Thank You” and “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby.”

Following Moore’s death on Friday, Springsteen’s E Street bandmate Steven Van Zandt also paid tribute on social media.

“RIP Sam Moore. One of the last of the great Soul Men, he wrote on X. “Him and Dave Prater were the inspiration for me and Johnny to start Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. An important righteous wonderful man.

See Springsteen’s tribute to Moore on Instagram below.

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan said he is among the nearly 200,000 people in Los Angeles who’ve been forced to evacuate due to the historic wildfires burning around the city. The singer/guitarist posted a video on Thursday night (Jan. 9) of airtankers flying over the hills dropping water on a giant plume of white smoke in the distance.
“Footage I shot the other night of a fire near where we’d been temporarily staying,” wrote Corgan. “High praise for how the LAFD put this out; as the fire had spread from what you see here to the right and down the ridge. Please pray for everyone who has been hurt or displaced or lost homes and properties in this unprecedented situation.”

In an earlier selfie video, Corgan shifted the camera over his shoulder and noted that the white puffs behind him were not clouds, but smoke from the fires that have killed 10 people to date while destroying more than 10,000 homes and businesses and causing an estimated $57 billion in damage.

“I wanted to kind of give everyone a little message today, I’m feeling better. Thank you for all your well wishes,” Corgan said. “I’m out here in LA right now, and it’s kind of the apocalypse. I think about 1,000 structures built burned last night. People I know I’ve had to evacuate and it’s a pretty intense situation.”

Corgan noted that he and his family were safe where they were staying, seemingly out of the “zone of concern” in the midst of a number of raging fires (Hollywood Hills, Pasadena, Altadena, Sylmar, Calabasas) that are barely contained and which have been whipped up by near-hurricane strength Santa Ana winds in the city that has seen a fraction of an inch of rain over the past six months.

“We lost power last night and that was pretty intense because obviously, with the power out, it’s hard to get information and you know, you’re kind of almost fearful of going to bed, lest you miss an alert or something,” the Chicago-bred Corgan continued. “With this dry brush, the fires can move very quickly. So lots of love, of course, to all our friends and family that have been affected. The air quality where I’m at is not too bad. It hasn’t helped the recovering cough, but this at very minor against all this incredible and fearful devastation. So just wanted to give everyone an update, as I get tired of texting or writing things out, just seemed easier to put this in a video. So lots of love. Check in with you later.”

In the accompanying caption, Corgan also noted that he and his family had to evacuate the night before amid a situation he said was “at times chaotic,” revealing that one fire came within 250 yards of where they were staying. He also sent his thanks and love to the first responders who are tirelessly working to save homes and citizens in what has been described by many as an apocalyptic situation.

“Praying for everyone today as hopefully this can come under control for the entire area, which is vast in scope and so full of nature. The loss overall is awful and unspeakable and that is what I wish to highlight; as the fires touch every strata of society,” Corgan wrote.

The fast-spreading fires obliterated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, with a growing list of celebrities sharing that their homes have been completely destroyed, including Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton, Tina Knowles, Diane Warren, Eugene Levy, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, Jhené Aiko, Milo Ventimiglia, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Billy Crystal, Brad Paisley and Anna Faris joining tens of thousands of others who’ve been displaced or lost their homes.

The Recording Academy and MusiCares have launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support music professionals impacted by the crisis, making a combined pledge of $1 million to launch the effort.

See Corgan’s posts below.

Cast recordings are a crucial part of supporting a musical’s life, during its initial run on or off-Broadway, as well as far beyond that. While a show is running, a recording available on streaming platforms can reach a wide ticket-buying audience and thus potentially help increase its performing lifespan; the recording is also often the way that regional theaters first discover shows they might produce — which proves especially important to shows that have shorter lives on Broadway.

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But while shows have ample platforms for releasing their original cast recordings — from boutique labels specializing in theater to major labels getting in on the next big hit — a trio of journeyman theater musicians noticed a gaping hole in the market for a new kind of label: one that would support a show from its earliest writing stages all the way through is fully realized production.

That new label — aimed at amplifying new voices in musical theater as well as individual solo performers — is Joy Machine Records, co-founded and run by Ian Kagey, Sonny Paladino, Brian Usifer and Will Van Dyke.

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The quartet have musical theater bonafides in spades. Kagey is a Grammy-winning engineer and mixer who has engineered numerous Broadway cast recordings in addition to working in TV, film, and with artists including Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney; Paladino is a seasoned arranger and producer who most recently was music supervisor, arranger, orchestrator and conductor for Neil Diamond bio-musical A Beautiful Noise; Usifer is an orchestrator, arranger, music director, pianist, producer and composer who recently worked on the acclaimed (but short-lived) Swept Away and Huey Lewis’ The Heart of Rock and Roll musical; and Van Dyke is a Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, music supervisor, orchestrator and arranger who was music director of Swept Away and is music supervisor/orchestrator/arranger for the long-running off-Broadway hit Little Shop of Horrors.

“Our approach comes from our experience being on many sides of the table in that process, and understanding what it takes to see a show from inception through opening night and beyond,” says Usifer. “We approach every project with not only a high bar musically but an emphasis on kindness and transparency throughout the process.”

Joy Machine, which will be distributed by The Orchard, is launched as a full-service record label which will offer what it calls “three tiers of support for musical development.” As Van Dyke explains, “from the first piano/vocal demos through fully produced tracks,” Joy Machine’s team will “help producers think about budgeting for these recordings from the jump. That kind of awareness will also help teams build a cast recording into their budget to be able to fully preserve their final product.”

The label’s current and upcoming client roster includes The Avett Brothers’ original Broadway cast recording of Swept Away; Huey Lewis’ OBCR of The Heart of Rock and Roll; and solo projects with Joy Woods (currently starring as Louise in Gypsy on Broadway), composer Joe Iconis (Be More Chill), Corey Cott (a star of The Heart of Rock and Roll) and more.

Thus far, the team has recorded at Kagey’s own Renaissance Recording in New York for demos and smaller concept albums, and at the storied Power Station studios for original Broadway cast albums. (“They really know how to make a cast album and make it a seamless and un-chaotic experience,” says Usifer of the latter). Joy Machine is currently working on a concept album for the new musical Joy, meant to give audiences an insight into the show’s music before it ventures to Broadway.

01/10/2025

From international superstars to that Oasis reunion, it’s set to be a busy year for music lovers.

01/10/2025

There are a raft of unknowns about the upcoming Oasis reunion tour. We know that the battling Gallagher brothers have buried the hatchet and will be hitting the road around the world starting on July 4 for their first shows since 2009. But at this point we still have no idea who else will be joining singer Liam Gallagher and guitarist/songwriter and occasional vocalist Noel Gallagher, whether there will be new music from the siblings or what songs the duo will play when they hit the stage for one of the most anticipated get-backs of the decade.

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Well, now we (sort of) have a sense of which of their most iconic tracks might make the cut. Eschewing his typically snarky reaction to unsolicited speculation about the tour from fans, on Tuesday Liam gave a dream setlist posted on X a half thumbs-up.

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“It’s not far off,” Gallagher said of the question asking “is this setlist official?” The unsolicited rundown was filled with the roster of hits and fan favorites you’d expect, including such live staples as: “Acquiesce,” “Some Might Say,” “Lyla,” “Shakermaker,” “The Hindu Times,” “Cast No Shadow,” “Slide Away,” “Supersonic,” “Morning Glory,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Live Forever” and “Champagne Supernova.”

Of course, there were some biggies missing from the rundown, including one of the band’s most beloved tracks, “Wonderwall,” as well as “D’You Know What I Mean,” “Roll With It” and “Go Let It Out.” In a follow, the same fan asked, “Liam Which solo song of yours would you include in the oasis live setlist if you could?”

Hopping right back into character, Liam gave a terse, one-word response: “None.”

In December, equally stoic older brother Noel tapped the brakes on suggestions that the tour might devolve into the type of haymaker-throwing, petulant chaos of the past, which at one point found a purportedly sick Liam sitting in the audience and heckling his brother after declining to participate in the band’s MTV Unplugged recording in London in 1996.

“No, it won’t be as raucous as back in the day, because we’re on the wrong side of 50 now, so we’re too old,” Noel said. “We’re too old to give a s–t now, so there won’t be any fallouts, there won’t be any fighting. It’s a lap of honour for the band.”

To date, Oasis have announced 41 dates on their reunion Live ’25 outing, which will launch with a run of stadium dates in the U.K., followed by a North American run in August and September and dates in Asia in October, before moving on to Australia and South America; the tour is currently slated to wrap-up with a Nov. 23 date at Estadio MorumBIS in São Paulo, Brazil.

See the dream setlist below.