REBEAT News Roundup (November 16 – November 22)
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Breaking news
It seems that a long-awaited Freddie Mercury biopic is, once again, in the works. According to Deadline, GK Films has hired Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten, who wrote and produced 2014’s The Theory of Everything. Sources also say that Ben Whishaw, who has played “Q” in the last two James Bond films, is a frontrunner to play Mercury.
Albums, singles, and tours
- The video for David Bowie’s new song “Blackstar” (written “★”) was released this week, with the full album set for release on January 8. Watch the video here.
- Bob Seger has plans to release another album and support it with a tour in 2016. According to his recent conversation with Billboard, the new album will consist of “unreleased songs that he has updated.”
- According to various sources, Bruce Springsteen may be gearing up for a possible mini-tour after his Saturday Night Live performance on December 19. Stan Goldstein, who writes the “Bruce Blog” of NJ.com, said to “[l]ook for Bruce to announce dates for a two- to three-month E Street Band tour that will start sometime in December.”
Happy birthday!
- November 17 – Gordon Lightfoot, singer-songwriter (born in 1938), Gene Clark of the Byrds (1944)
- November 18 – Brenda Vaccaro, actress (born in 1939)
- November 20 – Richard “Dick” Smothers, comedian (born in 1939), Joe Walsh of the Eagles (1947)
- November 21 – Marlo Thomas, actress (born in 1937), Goldie Hawn, actress (born in 1945)
- November 22 – Jesse Colin Young of the Youngbloods (born in 1941), Floyd Sneed of Three Dog Night (1942)
Rest in peace
- P.F. Sloan, singer-songwriter best known for songs such as “Secret Agent Man” and “Eve of Destruction,” passed away on November 15 after a battle with cancer. He was 70.
Danielle Zabielski (aka “that girl who loves the Bee Gees more than anything else in the whole wide world”) is an artist, freelancer, and radio producer based in Philadelphia. Art and music are the two loves of her life, particularly the art and music of the 1960s through ‘70s.