2021: The Year in Entertainment - July & August

JULY

• Sting marked the 35th anniversary of his live album “Bring On The Night,” by releasing a new video for the title track on YouTube.
• Jim Morrison was honored with a ceremony at Paris’ Pere-Lachaise cemetery. Fans from around the world gathered for the 50th anniversary of The Doors frontman’s death.
• Ringo Starr’s annual “peace and love” birthday celebration took place, with the Beatles drummer, who turned 81, making an appearance in front of his peace-sign statue in the park at the corner of Santa Monica and Canon in Beverly Hills.
• A previously unreleased George Harrison demo, “Cosmic Empire,” dropped ahead of the 50th anniversary reissue of his album “All Things Must Pass.”
• A new Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers video for the song “Angel Dream: No 2,” from the album “Angel Dream” was released. It was from a re-imagined record of songs from the soundtrack to the 1996 Ed Burns-directed movie “She’s The One.”
• The Sex Pistols’ John Lydon was sued by his former Sex Pistols bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook for refusing to license the band’s music for FX series about the band, “Pistol”
• After an online debate, Bruce Springsteen’s longtime manager John Landau settled an age-old debate about the lyrics of the song “Thunder Road, confirming that Mary’s dress “sways,” not “waves.
• Journey’s album “Escape” was certified Diamond, their second to be certified Diamond by the RIAA.
• Kansas vocalist and violinist Robby Steinhardt died from complications from acute pancreatitis. He was 71.
• The Who’s longtime roadie Dave “Cy” Langston passed away after a short illness.
• Bob Dylan returned to the stage for the first time since the pandemic when he performed his virtual concert on the platform Veeps.
• In honor of her husband Carl Dean’s birthday, Dolly Parton shared on Instagram that she had a photoshoot where she recreated her 1978 "Playboy" cover, bunny suit and all, for his gift.
• Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell and Motown founder Berry Gordy were announced as the latest artists to receive Kennedy Center Honors.
• Eric Clapton announced that he would no longer play any venue that required proof of vaccination to attend.
• After a year delay due to the pandemic, Chris and Rich Robinson finally launched their Black Crowes reunion tour in Nashville.
• Mick Jagger’s son Gabriel, whose mom is model Jerry Hall, married Swiss socialite Anouk Winzenried in London
• Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington underwent emergency heart surgery.
• John “Hutch” Hutchinson, early David Bowie collaborator who played guitar on “Space Oddity,” died at 73 after a long illness.
• ZZ Top’s longtime bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill passed away at the age of 72. No cause of death was given. About a week later the band returned to the stage with their longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis filling Dusty’s role, and, Billy Gibbons paying tribute to Dusty on stage.

AUGUST

• The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dropped out of the band’s “No Filter” tour after undergoing an unspecified medical procedure.
• Kurt Cobain’s childhood home in Aberdeen, Washington was declared a landmark and was added to the state’s Heritage Register by Washington’s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
• Van Morrison dropped his legal challenge against the Northern Irish government over the local ban on live music due to COVID.
• Bob Dylan won a lawsuit brought by the estate of his former collaborator, Jacques Levy. Levy’s wife claimed he was owed money from the sale of Dylan’s catalog, but a judge agreed with Dylan and UMG’s lawyers’ argument that Levy didn’t own the material, and he would only get a share of songwriting royalties.
• The 2021 New Orleans Jazzfest was cancelled for a second year in a row due to COVID concerns. It was supposed to happen in October.
• KISS’ Gene Simmons revealed KISS was returning to Las Vegas for a residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood running into 2022. The residency was eventually canceled.
• Bruce Springsteen’s daughter Jessica Springsteen won a silver medal at the Olympics as part of the U.S. Equestrian team.
• Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie sold her15 song-catalog to the music company Hipgnosis, which acquired copyright, ownership and financial interest to the songs, and more.
• The Bonnaroo Music Festival and Milwaukee Summerfest both announced they would require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to attend. Other festivals followed including Music Midtown, Louder Than Life and more.
• Stevie Nicks announced on social media that she was canceling her scheduled concerts due to the ongoing COVID crisis.
• Concert promoters AEG & Live Nation announced they would be requiring proof of vaccination to attend their venues. Those who weren’t vaccinated would need a negative COVID tests in order to attend a show.
• Bob Dylan was sued for allegedly grooming and sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl back in 1965. Court documents identified the accuser as only as “J.C." and claimed she was sexually abused by the now-80-year-old Dylan over a six-week period in New York City. A spokesperson for Dylan denied the claims, insisting, “the 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended."
• George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison and his mom Olivia teamed with floral artist Ruth Davis of All for Love London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 1971's “All Things Must Pass,” with a very special re-do of the album’s cover as a living floral art installation
• The 50th anniversary reissue of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” debuted at number one on the “Billboard” Top Rock Albums chart making it the late Beatles first-ever solo number one on the Rock Albums chart.
• Neil Young pulled out of Farm Aid due to the rise in COVID cases. He said he didn’t want to play an event like that until it feels “safe for everyone.”
• Blues Traveler's tour bus crashed in Minnesota. Luckily, the band members and their crew were okay.
• The big “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert” in Central Park was called early due to severe thunderstorms in the area. Performers including Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, The Killers, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello did not get to play, although Journey, Santana and Rob Thomas, Jennifer Hudson, Earth Wind & Fire did.
• A 46-year-old man died at Dead & Company’s Citifield concert in New York after trying to do a flip off a balcony from the fifth floor of the stadium. The man dropped between 30 and 50 feet during an intermission and landed on concrete, and was pronounced dead after being taken to New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital.
• Aerosmith signed a new global partnership with Universal Music Group, which included their entire discography, merchandise and audio-video projects. UMG will also be Aerosmith’s home for any future projects, including new film, television and audio-visual content celebrating the band’s upcoming 50th anniversary.
• John Lydon – AKA Johnny Rotten –lost his legal battle with his former Sex Pistols bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook. John was sued after refusing to license their music for FX’s upcoming series about the band, “Pistol.”
• Legendary Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed away at the age of 80. Charlie had bowed out of the Stones' No Filter tour to have a procedure. No cause of death was revealed. The band said in a statement that he "passed away peacefully in a London hospital...surrounded by his family." The band later shared a tribute video Charlie soundtracked by their song “If You Can’t Rock Me.” The video featured archival footage of Watts onstage, in the studio, and on the set of music video shoots with the Stones.
• Spencer Elden, the baby from Nirvana’s infamous “Nevermind” album cover sued the band, claiming the record's artwork was child pornography, alleging it was, "child sexual exploitation." He argued that since he was four months old at the time, he couldn’t consent to the photo being used for the album art back in the day and claimed his legal guardians didn’t give the band permission, either.
• Joni Mitchell was named the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year.
• Through their All Within My Hands charity Metallica donated $50,000 to relief efforts to help those affected by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier in the month.
• KISS fans in Pennsylvania were left disappointed when the band’s concert in at The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown had to be canceled after Paul Stanley tested positive for COVID. The band did note that everyone in KISS and their crew are vaccinated.

photo: Getty Images