Features
Odds & Ends: Tony Iommi, Ringo, Sonny Rollins & Scouts Canada
Ringo Starr is getting his very own exhibit at the Grammy Museum, Scouts Canada wants to book Train and Carly Rae Jepsen, Armenia snags a tune from Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi for the Eurovision Song Contest, and Sonny Rollins dates are canceled through June.
This is a big moment for drummers everywhere. As an announcement from the Grammy Museum points out, “Ringo: Peace & Love” is the not only the first major exhibit to celebrate Ringo Starr’s life, but it’s also the first ever dedicated to a drummer.
The exhibit premiers June 12 at the downtown Los Angeles museum located within L.A. Live. After November 2013 “Ringo: Peace & Love” will make its way to select cities, touring through 2014.
Photo: John Davisson
St. Augustine Amphitheatre, Saint Augustine, Fla.
In addition to Ringo’s time with the Beatles, the exhibit will cover his early life in Liverpool, his solo career and the All Starrs. The collection features rare and never before seen photographs, personal letters and artifacts including the drum kits Ringo played at Shea Stadium and on the Ed Sullivan show, his Sgt. Pepper suit, and the cape he wore in “Help!”
Sonny Rollins is suffering from a respiratory problem, which has forced him to call off a handful of shows. The saxophonist says in a statement on his website, “My doctor has given me the green light for June. … Meanwhile, I’m busy working on my next CD, Road Shows, vol. 3.”
Photo: AP Photo / Polfoto
Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Royal Danish Theatre, Cophenhagen, Denmark
That means the following gigs are scratched off his schedule: Chicago (March 29); Iowa City, Iowa (April 2); Portland, Ore. (April 16); Northridge, Calif. (April 20) and East Lansing, Mich. (May 1). His next show is June 22 in St. Louis at the Blanche M. Touhill PAC.
Maybe this will be the year Armenia wins its first Eurovision Song Contest. If so, the country will, once again, have Tony Iommi to thank. The Black Sabbath guitarist helped produce an album to raise funds after a 1988 earthquake in Spitak, returned a few years ago with Queen’s Brian May, and recently worked on a campaign to rebuild a school in the area, according to BBC News.
Representatives for the Armenian Eurovision got in contact with Iommi and asked if he could write a song for the contest.
Photo: Duff Press
High Voltage Festival, Victoria Park, London. UK
“The thing is, I’ve always thought, ‘Oh no, not the Eurovision,’ and here I am in it now,” the guitarist said.
Iommi sent in “Lonely Planet,” which he describes as “a rock ballad.” The song will be performed at the contest in Sweden in May by Armenian band Dorians.
Earlier this week Carly Rae Jepsen and Train made headlines for calling off appearances at the Boy Scouts of America’s 2013 Jamboree to protest the organization’s policy banning gays.
Well, Scouts Canada wants to remind the acts that it doesn’t discriminate – and it also has a Jamboree on the calendar.
“We accept boys and girls, we accept LGBT members, we accept people of all faiths,” said Kaylee Galipeau, national youth commissioner and chair of the national youth network for Scouts Canada, according to the Canadian Press.
Photo: Scott Legato / RockStarProPhotography.com
The Palace Of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Mich.
The Canadian Scout Jamboree is scheduled July 6-13 in Sylvan Lake, Alberta.
“We’re proud to be hosting it here in Alberta and as a manager of special events for the jamboree, I’d just like to throw in there that we’d be totally welcome to having Train and Carly Rae come and play at our jamboree if they would so like to,” Galipeau said.