ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: See the highlights, hear the music Saturday night
Last month's 33rd annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air Saturday night at 8 ET/PT on HBO. (7pm Central)
Held on April 14th in Cleveland, the Class of 2018 is made up of The Moody Blues, Dire Straits, The Cars, Nina Simone, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Bon Jovi. Clocking in at four-and-a-half hours, the ceremony has been edited down to a digestible two-hours-and-53-minutes for the telecast.
The entire Bon Jovi segment alone was more than an hour, so that's been cut way down with Jon's 20-minute speech thankfully trimmed to less than 10 minutes. Also cut was a song each from the Moodies, Cars and Bon Jovi.
There is no performance from Dire Straits. Nina Simone was represented in performance by Andra Day and Lauryn Hill, while Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes paid tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Killers performed “American Girl” in tribute to Tom Petty, and Ann Wilson and Jerry Cantrell honored Chris Cornell with "Black Hole Sun." And lastly, unlike every other ceremony, there was no end of the night jam session.
Spoiler alert: If you want to know what songs you'll see performed, here they are, in order:
- The Killers: "American Girl"
- The Cars: "Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “You Might Think”
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Brittany Howard performs “That’s All”
- Nina Simone: Andra Day performs “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” and “I Put a Spell on You. Lauryn Hill does “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” “I Ain’t Got No, I Got Life” and “Feeling Good.”
- Ann Wilson and Chris Cornell: "Black Hole Sun"
- The Moody Blues: “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band),” “Nights in White Satin” and “Ride My See-Saw”
- Bon Jovi: “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “When We Were Us” and “Living on a Prayer”
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame president Joel Peresman on why there was no end of night jam session at this year's induction ceremony: "This year when people got together for rehearsals we didn't have the time where a lot of the bands were there for rehearsals at the same time and they can all chat together and say, 'Hey, let's try to pull this off at the end.'"
MORE BIG 95 MUSIC NEWS: Friday, May 4th
THE BEACH BOYS: Brian Wilson thanks fans, friends and his doctors
Brian Wilson says he's "totally blown away by all of the well wishes" he's received.
Brian, who canceled all shows through the end of June due to back surgery, writes on Facebook, "It was overwhelming and I so appreciate it. The surgery went very well, and my doctor says there were no surprises and they were able to take care of what they needed to."
He adds that he and his wife Melinda "are very grateful for all the doctors and nurses who have taken such good care of me."
Brian looks "forward to singing and playing with my band soon, and getting back in the studio." His next live show is scheduled for July 15th in Colwood, British Columbia.
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN: Had doubts about taking her role in Grease
Even though playing Sandy in Grease made Olivia Newton-John a movie star, she had her doubts about taking the role.
She tells Forbes magazine it was because of a clunker she appeared in. "I was the only one who was very nervous about making the movie. My musical career was doing well...and I had made a movie a few years before, a science-fiction musical called Toomorrow."
It had "all the bells and whistles...[and] was produced by Don Kirshner, who put The Monkees together, and Harry Saltzman, who co-produced the James Bond movies... A lot of money was spent on it and it was a total flop."
The experience left Livvy hesitant -- even though Grease had been a huge Broadway hit. Happily, she reconsidered. "It's really kind of funny when I look back at it. I almost talked my way out of one of the best things to happen to me."
Grease marks its 40th anniversary in June.