September 2020 News

Miley Cyrus Shares Throwback Photo With Rock Queens JOAN JETT And Debbie Harry
from: thethings.com
by MARIANNE PENN



Miley treated her Instagram followers with a candid and epic photo of her with two rock goddesses JOAN JETT and Blondie's Debbie Harry.

Haters might disagree, but Miley Cyrus is a rockstar in her own way. Once she was Hannah Montana tied to a family-friendly image, but she shackled away from those chains and became her true self by being eccentric and creative with a few risque situations. Other than collaborating with Dolly Parton, her father, and many others, the former Disney Channel princess has a contact list you wouldn't believe. To show how connected Miley is to her fellow music stars, she has been in countless photos and has expressed nothing but praise to them. Miley treated her Instagram followers with a candid and epic photo of her with two rock goddesses JOAN JETT and Blondie's Debbie Harry.

With the caption "You can't sit with us. Blackheart," it gives a cool kids vibe and what teenagers aspired to be in high school, popular and loved. Fans and celebrities alike are just in love with this photo. Miley's mother Tish joined in the comments, posting, "ICONS ONLY...... blackheart." Former Disney Channel starlet Vanessa Hudgens also liked and commented on the stunning photo, simply replying, "Iconic." Comments from the fans range from "Legends only," to the usual "I love you's."
[more]

---

JOAN JETT Says HerLook Was Inspired By Marc Bolan
from: noise11.com
by MUSIC-NEWS.COM | Photo by Karen Freedman

Tommy Bolan, who was the lead singer of T. Rex and one of the pioneers of the glam rock movement of the 1970s, inspired her music and image.

Joan - who appears on Hal Willner's final project, a collection of Marc Bolan/ T. Rex covers called 'Angelheaded Hipster', where she performs 'Jeepster' - told Variety: "Hal and I were both big T. Rex fans and Marc Bolan was my first crush.

"That's his scream I'm letting flow through me [in 'Jeepster'], but it's also intrinsic to what I do. I don't even think about it - it's part of me. Marc Bolan had a major impact on every aspect of my musician self, especially the look - the androgyny.

"The lyrics are surreal, and the words just sound beautiful together. They probably make sense to him, but if you're looking for a message, you have to create your own. I enjoy the sound, the music and the melody for its own sake. It doesn't even have to get any deeper than that."

Meanwhile, Joan - who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 - previously slammed the music industry as "nasty" and said it was extremely tough to break into as a young woman in the 1970s.

She said: "Extremely tough. Just the level of ... [people] not giving you a chance right away. Looking at you as a joke, as 'it's kinda cute'.

"And then people would get very nasty. It is like what the Internet is today, [but] people saying it to your face. You're a this, you're a that, you suck, your music's bad. It could get really nasty."

---

JOAN JETT and Hal Willner's Friends Talk About His 'Masterpiece,' the T. Rex Tribute Album 'Angelheaded Hipster'
from: variety.com
by Roy Trakin



When veteran music producer Hal Willner passed away due to complications believed to be associated with Covid-19 on April 7, a day after his 64th birthday, the music community in New York and beyond was devastated. Willner had been the sketch music producer for "Saturday Night Live" for decades - the show paid homage with a moving four-minute video - and he'd produced albums for Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Williams, Laurie Anderson and many more.

But his gifts as a producer are perhaps best evidenced in the series of mind-blowing tribute albums he oversaw (although, as we see below, he hated that term), which found artists ranging from Tom Waits - who wrote a heartfelt tribute to Willner - and Ringo Starr to Keith Richards and Wynton Marsalis paying musical homage to Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Kurt Weill and even music from Disney films.

His final project turned out to be just such an album: a collection of Marc Bolan/ T. Rex covers called "Angelheaded Hipster," out today (Sept. 4) on BMG, that he'd working on since 2016. The album features perhaps his most genre-defying variety of artists to date - from U2 with Elton John on piano (on "Get It On" (Bang a Gong)") to Nick Cave, Lucinda Williams, Kesha, JOAN JETT, Father John Misty, Perry Farrell, David Johansen, Peaches, Metric's Emily Haines and even both Sean and Julian Lennon.

Supervising producer Rachel Fox, who left her music law practice in the mid-'90s to become Willner's right-hand legal rep for 25 years, tells Variety that he considered the album his "masterpiece."

"Hal hated the word 'tribute' in connection with these albums," Fox says. "He wanted to spotlight Bolan's abilities as a songwriter, lyricist and composer."

Gary Lucas, a renowned guitarist who first met Willner in 1977 and worked with him often over the years, says, "Casting was always Hal's strength. With his experience at 'SNL,' he could put together all sorts of quirky aggregations very quickly. He'd be like a beatific Buddha or rabbi, standing off to the side, beaming. You wanted to play your best for him."

The Bolan album was the brainchild of The Who's longstanding manager Bill Curbishley and Ethan Silverman, who conceived the project as an album and a "making of" documentary to get Bolan the recognition many fans feel he has long deserved - although he had just one U.S. pop hit with "Get It On (Bang a Gong)," Bolan was an early '70s superstar in England, rising to fame before his longtime friend and rival David Bowie. Bolan even had his own TV show, on which he performed with Bowie just days before his death in a car accident on September 16, 1977, two weeks short of his 30th birthday.

When BMG A&R veteran Kate Hyman got oversight, she turned to her old friend Willner, whose first move was to have Nick Cave record a chilly version of "Cosmic Dancer" from T. Rex's 1971's "Electric Warrior," the album many consider Bolan's best.
[more]