Rock
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Dream Theater‘s Mike Portnoy recently ventured into unexpected territory by reimagining the drumming on Taylor Swift’s chart-topping pop anthem “Shake It Off.”
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As part of Drumeo’s popular First Time series, the legendary prog-metal drummer approached Swift’s infectiously upbeat track with his technical brilliance, creating a fascinating hybrid of pop and prog.
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After hearing a snippet of the song—stripped of its original drum tracks—Portnoy immediately immersed himself in crafting his own interpretation, quipping, “My daughter is going to get a kick out of this … It sounds like something out of Disneyland Japan or something.”
While figuring out how to approach the song, Portnoy commented on its unconventional structure: “It’s like Bob Dylan. It’s all verses, it doesn’t change keys. I don’t even know what to write. I’m just going to jam to it, I guess.” Despite the challenges, he powered through, delivering an impressive interpretation filled with his rhythmic flair.
Despite the playful mismatch of styles, Portnoy maintained his admiration for Swift, adding, “Taylor, I’m really sorry. I still would play with you in a heartbeat, but I wouldn’t do that [drum pattern].”
The unexpected crossover comes as Portnoy gears up for a major moment in his own career. Dream Theater—the iconic prog-metal band he co-founded in 1985 with John Petrucci and John Myung—is preparing to release their highly anticipated album Parasomnia on Feb. 7.
It marks the first record featuring Portnoy since his 2009 departure following Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and subsequent return in late 2023.
“There is so much shared history between us all… so many memories, so much music… to think we’re coming up on 40 years since this journey began!” Portnoy said. “The idea of creating new music together is so exciting and I absolutely cannot wait to hit the road and get to play live for a whole new generation of fans that weren’t ever able to see this lineup before…There’s no place like home!!”
Taylor Swift, meanwhile, continues to shatter records in her own right. Her Eras Tour concluded in December 2024 as the highest-grossing tour of all time, earning $2.2 billion.
Swift also made waves with The Tortured Poets Department, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, spent a career-best 17 weeks at the top, sold 2.61 million equivalent album units in its first week.
You can watch Portnoy tackle Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” here.
Ringo Starr is heading down South while simultaneously giving a little help to his friends in the West. As announced Tuesday (Jan. 14), the former Beatle’s upcoming concert special at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium will air this spring on CBS and Paramount+, with some of the proceeds benefiting wildfire relief amid the ongoing crisis in the Los Angeles area.
Titled Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, the two-hour special will find Starr performing songs from his new country album, Look Up, which arrived Jan. 10. He’ll be joined by a star-studded list of friends on stage, including Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle — both of whom collaborated on the drummer’s new LP — as well as Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Mickey Guyton, Emmylou Harris, Sarah Jarosz, Jamey Johnson, Brenda Lee, Larkin Poe, The War and Treaty, and Jack White.
Beyond the selections from Look Up, Starr and his cohorts will also reimagine tracks such as “Boys,” “Act Naturally,” “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Don’t Pass Me By” and “It Don’t Come Easy” with a country twist. Plus, the rock icon will delve into his life and career as his guest stars reflect on their own personal memories of his influence in the special.
Proceeds from the show will go toward the American Red Cross supporting people affected by the fires devastating L.A. County. In the past week, numerous blazes have broken out in the area — starting in Pacific Palisades followed by Eaton and Hurst — displacing tens of thousands of residents from their homes and burning countless structures. At least 24 people have been reported dead, according to CNN.
Starr’s taping is set for Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan. 15), marking just the latest of six total times the musician has performed at the famed Nashville venue. While speaking to Billboard about his new album and the special earlier this month, he said, “The Ryman means a lot to my soul, because most of the acts that I was following [growing up] were at the Ryman.”
“It is always a thrill to play the Ryman and this time we are going country!” Starr added in a release. “I’m excited to hear my songs done in a country vein and to play with this incredible group of musicians. It will be two nights of peace, love and country music.”
When you love the place you live, you keep it in your heart, even if that place isn’t there anymore. That was the monumental task for Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith and brother drummer Griffin Goldsmith when they performed “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” a 2011 homage to their hometown, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night (Jan. 13).
The emotional, stripped-down take on the song from the band’s Nothing Is Wrong album came less than a week after Taylor lost his home studio and most of the band’s musical gear and equipment and Griffin’s home in Altadena burned to the ground in one of the biggest wildfires still burning in Los Angeles.
Sitting on a chair and strumming an acoustic guitar, Taylor sang the tune’s melancholy opening lines, “These days my friends don’t seem to know me/ Without my suitcase in my hand/ Where I am standing still/ I seem to disappear,” as an image of a “Welcome to Altadena” postcard flashed behind them.
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As they played, images of firefighters battling the blazes, displaced Angelenos assessing the damage and the unimaginable destruction caused by the Santa Ana wind-fueled conflagrations rolled behind them, with Taylor, his eyes shut tight, singing, “But you got that special kind of sadness/ You got that tragic set of charms/ That only comes from times spent in Los Angeles/ Makes me wanna wrap you in my arms.”
The performance was in support of MusiCares, which, in coordination with the Recording Academy has launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support musicians impacted by the crisis. In an Instagram post before the appearance, they wrote, “In an incredibly dark time, @jimmykimmellive has asked us to come sing a song about the city we love tonight. It’s not a joyous occasion for music, but hopefully a cathartic one amidst all this chaos.”
In an earlier post featuring images of the ashen remnants of their homes and properties, Griffin wrote, “It’s impossible to express how much we’re feeling right now. We’ve lost everything. 8 years of memories made in our house. 20 years of gear. My wife @quintessentiallykit was applying the finishing touches to the nursery for our baby boy who’s due in a few weeks. She had, throughout the years, poured her heart and soul into making the property a literal piece of paradise.”
He continued, “Anyone who had the chance the visit can attest. We often would say to each other ‘I want to live together in this house for the rest of our lives’. We had convinced our whole family and closest friends to join us in Altadena. Our parents were around the corner. They lost their house as well. Taylor and [wife] Mandy [Moore] are just down the street. Kit’s best childhood best friend Chelsey and her husband Michael live about six blocks away. Wylie and his wife Clara are two blocks from us. Our first crew member and very old friend, Jake, and his wife Andy are just down the street. All of these houses are gone. The thing we mourn the most is the loss of the community.”
Last week, Moore posted about fleeing the fires that have raged across the L.A. region for the past week, grateful that she and her family were able to make it out safely, while mourning the destruction of her children’s school, friends and family who lost everything and the unimaginable toll on their beloved city of Altadena, which has been decimated by the Eaton Fire. To date, that blaze has burned more than 14,000 acres and killed 16 people while only being 33% contained at press time, even as officials warn of another round of fierce windstorms in the days ahead; to date the fires have killed at least 24, with officials saying the death toll could rise once they are able to assess the damage.
A number of resources are available for those who have lost their homes or need assistance in other ways. The MusiCares and the Recording Academy Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort will help music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to kick off the efforts. People who have 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.
Monday night’s Kimmel! was the show’s first after a week off in the midst of the fires that have become the most destructive in the state’s history. Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the show with an emotional monologue about the impact of the fires on his staff and fellow Angelenos, verging on tears as he praised the brave firefighters who have been working around the clock to save lives and property. Kimmel has opened an L.A. fire resource donation center on the backlot of his shot to gather essential items for those displaced by the fires.
Watch Dawes on Kimmel below.
Metallica is using their platform to give back to communities within Los Angeles that have been affected by the catastrophic fires across the city. The band’s philanthropic foundation, All Within My Hands, is granting $500,000 to relief efforts carried out by the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Recovery Fund and the Pasadena Community Foundation’s Eaton Canyon […]
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.