FOREIGNER: Ian McDonald opens up about reunion shows
Ian McDonald says he's only committed to doing one reunion show with Foreigner. But there's a chance he'll join Mick Jones's band Friday at Long Island's Jones Beach Theater -- not far from his home in New York.
He says, "There's one show that's booked in August, which in Stugess, in South Dakota, I believe it's the motorcyle convention there. They're playing Jones Beach this Friday and I'm just... we just now just got an invitation to go on stage. Al and I, Lou won't be there. So, we're just talking about whether we're going to be able to do that."
Things went well last August when the multi-instrumentalist McDonald rejoined Foreigner in Saginaw, Michigan. And despite some online buzz, McDonald says he's on cordial terms with Jones.
Ian says, "When we did do a couple of shows, everything was very cordial and everyone was on their best behavior, you know? in that sense, we got along fine. It was a fun thing to do, actually. I'm not in constant contact with Mick, but whenever we do these shows, it works out pretty well."
Though the Foreigner reunions will be, at most, occasional, McDonald's main focus remains his current band, Honey West. They'll release a video next month for their song "Bad Old World" and are remixing their debut album for a vinyl release later this year.
Foreigner will appear with Whitesnake and Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening at Toyota Music Factory on July 21st.
MARVIN GAYE: New attempt at a bio-pic on the soul music legend
Plans have again sprung up for a Marvin Gaye bio-pic.
Jamie Foxx, Cameron Crowe, James Gandolfini, Jesse L. Martin and Lenny Kravitz all tried to bring the Motown legend's life to the big screen over the past two decades. Now it's Dr. Dre's turn.
Variety reports that hip-hop superstar, producer and Beats by Dre audio company co-founder, who produced the 2015 movie Straight Outta Compton about his old group, N.W.A, is "in the early stages of getting the project off the ground." One factor in its favor is that the rights to use Marvin's music -- including the songs he wrote -- have already been secured.
THE MOODY BLUES: More albums coming on vinyl
The Moody Blues will follow up last year's re-release of Days of Future Passed by reissuing seven more albums on 180-gram vinyl.
They are:
- On the Threshold of a Dream
- To Our Children’s Children’s Children
- A Question of Balance
- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
- Seventh Sojourn
- Octave
- Long Distance Voyager
The Moody Blues are known for their elaborate cover art, but you may notice something else if you purchase these reissues -- very few contain photos of the band, which was something they took away from touring England with The Beatles in the mid-'60s.
Graeme Edge and Justin Hayward talked about why you will find very few photos of The Moody Blues on their album sleeves.
GE: "We saw what that mega-fame did to your life. And they literally took their lives in their own hands if they walked out on the street. And you get 12 little girls hysterical on you and they can kill you."
JH: "It wasn't something that we resisted, but I think the music was more important than the personalities and we weren't looking for celebrity."
These seven albums will be released on July 27th.