Rolling Stone Magazine

Everyone may have at one time or another seen or read an issue of this magazine. This magazine is a US-based magazine devoted to all things music and music culture, and politics. Almost every musician since the beginning of time has at one time or more then once gotten their image on the cover of this magazine. Thia magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wellner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. In the 1990s, this magazine changed it's format slightly to appeal to a younger audience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone

When this magazine first started, it mainly reported on the hippie counterculture world of Haight-Ashbury, and they came in newspaper format. Rolling Stone had come under fire for discussing musicians that ahd previously been ignored, such as OutKast, Queen, Radiohead, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Nirvana, Weezer, 2Pac.

For many years, they have maintained a main site where you can listen to some songs by some of the artists that have been on the cover, download songs onto your MP3s, read articles, read blogs, read reviews of albums and artists, and even read biographies about different artists. And if social media is your thing, they also have a page on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Some people have appeared on the cover many times. Here are just some of those people:

1. Issue 1: John Lennon
2. Issue 2: Tina Turner
3. Issue 3: the Beatles
4. Issue 4: Jimi Hendrix, Donovan and Otis Redding
5. Issue 5: Jim Morrison
6. Issue 6: Janis Joplin
7. Issue 7: Jimi Hendrix
8. Issue 8: Monterey Pop Festival
9. Issue 9: John Lennon and Paul McCartney
10. Issue 10: Eric Clapton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_celebrities_who_have_appeared_on_the_cover_of_Rolling_Stone_magazine
Here are all of the people who have recieved the honor of appearing on the magazine:

A
Adele
Paula Abdul
Jessica Alba
Clay Aiken
Sade Adu
Fiona Apple
Bille Joe Armstrong

B
Drew Barrymore
David Bowie

Pat Benatar
John Belushi
Mary J. Blige
Orlando Bloom
Jon Bon Jovi

C
Belinda Carlisle
Karen Carpenter
Dana Carvey
Johnny Carson
Ray Charles
Eric Clapton
Alice Cooper

D
John Denver
Robert De Niro
Johnny Depp

Bo Diddley
Mike Dirnt
Bob Dylan
DMX

E
Clint Eastwood
Zac Efron
John Entwistle
Phil and Don Everly
Missy Elliot

F
Edie Falco
Peter Falk
Mick Fleetwood
John and Tom Fogerty
Michael J. Fox
Ace Frehley
Aretha Franklin
Nelly Furtado

G
Peter Gabriel
Marvin Gaye
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Richard Gere
Heather Graham
Macy Gray
Buddy Guy

H
Sammy Hagar
George Harrison

Arsenio Hall
Geri Halliwell
James Hetfield
Abbie Hoffman
Whitney Houston
Kate Hudson
William Hurtt

I
Ice-T
Billy Idol
James Iha
Michael Imperioli

J
Michael Jackson

Mick Jagger(he's been on the cover several times!)

Wyclef Jean
Jewel
Billy Joel
Elton John
Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas

K
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Alicia Keys
Martin Luther King
B.B. King
Johnny Knoxville
Beyonce
Ashton Kutcher

L
Patti LaBelle
Teva Ladd(victim of the 1979 Who trampling incident)
Lady Gaga

Avril Lavigne
Heath Ledger
Tommy Lee
John Lennon

Julian Lennon

Sean Lennon
LL Cool J
Jane Lynch


M
Andie MacDowell
Benji and Joel Madden
Madonna
Malcolm X
Charles Manson
Marilyn Manson
Nick Mason
Linda and Paul McCartney

Duff McKagan
Cory Monteith
Keith Moon

Dudley Moore
Larry Mullen Jr

Eddie Murphy
Mike Myers

N
Graham Nash
Dave Navarro
Chuck Negron
Vince Neil

Stevie Nicks
Jack Nicholson
Don Novello

O
John Oates
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen
Yoko Ono
Jack, Kelly, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne

Donny Osmond

P
Al Pacino
Jimmy Page
Joe Perry
Robert Plant

Amy Poehler
Natalie Portman
Prince
Richard Pryor
Freddie Prinze

R
Gilda Radner
Bonnie Raitt
Robert Redford
Christopher Reeve
Keanu Reeves
Alexandra Richards(daughter of Keith Richards)
Theodora Richards(daughter of Keith Richards)

Keith Richards

Chris Rock
Axl Rose

S
Claudia Schiffer
Boz Scaggs
Shakira
Gene Simmons
Carly Simon
Nikki Sixx
Slash
Sylvester Stallone

Bruce Springsteen
Ringo Starr

Sting
Donna Summer

T
Ben Taylor
Mick Thompson
Lily Tomlin
Pete Townshend
Aida Turturro
Shania Twain
Steven Tyler

U
Usher
Brendon Urie
Lars Ulrich

V
Sid Vicious
Eddie Van Halen
Alex Van Halen
Vince Vaughn
Eddie Vedder

W
Rufus Wainwright
Andy Warhol
Denzel Washington

Charlie Watts
Roger Waters
Brad Whitford
Kate Winslet

Ronnie Wood
Bill Wyman

Y
Neil Young
Angus Young
Thom Yorke

Z
Rob Zombie
Frank Zappa

L is for Lady Gaga

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born on March 28, 1986 in New York City. She is best known by her stage name, Lady Gaga.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Gaga
What got her noticed is her track Poker Face, off her The Fame album, which premiered in 2008. It had a follow up called the Fame Monster in 2009, with tracks like Bad Romance, Alejandro, Telephone. In 2011, she ahd another album come out, called Born This Way. Her inspiration comes from glam rockers like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, and pop singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson. Her trademark is her strange and unusual outfits, her dancing in the music videos and her style of music.

She also recieved an award at the 53rd Grammy Awards on Feb. 11, 2011. She played the song Born This Way.

How she got her name Lady Gaga is she was inspired by Queen's song Radio Gaga. She also has a creative production team called Haus of Gaga, which handles and designs all of her outfits, stage props and hairdos. She considers John Lennon her personal hero and that's why she has a peace sign tattoo in remembrance of him, she is also a humanitarian, she did a concert from her Monster Ball tour to help raise money for Haiti, she did a concert to help raise money for Japan after the earthquake, she contributes in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and also is a huge supporter of gay rights. And she also tries wants bullying to stop.

From the Poker Face video

She is actually very beautiful

K is for Ke$ha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ke$ha

Kesha Rose Sebert was born on March 1, 1987. She is a well known American song writer. She was born and raised in the Los Angeles area of California. In January 2010, her debut album Animal debuted, and was #1 in the US. And in November of the same year, the album Cannibal was released, with the #1 hit single We R Who We R

The kind of music she does is a mix of country, pop rock, hard electro. Most of her music has a talky rap style to it, like the track Tik Tok. But she never set out to be a rap singer. Her musical inspirations consist of 1980s pop and dance music, hip hop and punk. Her country influences are Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton.

E is for Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler was born on May 8, 1975 in Madrid, Spain. He is one of the better known Spanish pop singer/songwriters of the Latin music world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Iglesias
On July 12, 1995, his first album, self titled Enrique Iglesias, debuted. Most of the stuff on it is light rock and mainly stuff in Spanish. In 1999, he had made a huge crossover in to English language music. One of his songs, Bailamos, became a #1 hit in the US. And thanks to Latino musicians like Selena, Ricky Martin, he wa able to break into the English language music. In 2007-2008, he went on the Insomniac tour, named after the album he had recently released. On this album, it includes songs like Push, Ring My Bells, Tired of Being Sorry. A solo version of the song Push made it onto the soundtrack for the movie Step Up 2: The Streets.

On July 5, 2010, he released the album Euphoria, which I think is probably his best one. I have it at home and I love listening to it! This album has 6 songs in Spanish and 7 songs in English. The first English single on the album is called I Like It, and in the video, it features the cast from the new reality show Jersey Shore. The song went to #1 on Billboard's Hot/Dance Club play.

He's also done a little acting, mainly along side Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp in the Robert Rodriguez movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He played a foul mouthed gun-wielding man named Lorenzo. He also has had a small cosmetic surgery to remove a large mole that was on his cheek near his right eye. For a long time, this was his trademark, but he had surgery to remove it.

I have this album at home, it rules!!

I also have this one too!

C is for Cher

Cherilyn Sarkisian was born on May 20, 1946 in El Centro, California. She is a well known recording artist, TV personality, actress and director. She is also known for her marriage to Sonny Bono.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher

In 1965, she and Sonny appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, and they sang. They also appeared on Ready, Steady, Go!, which for all who are from England would know this show. This was the English equivalent to the Ed Sullivan Show. A lot of English bands and artists may have performed on this show during the 1960s. She ws known for her dark, exotic looks, and then became a fashion designer, starting the trend of bellbottoms and unique gowns and hippie attire.

In 1974, she had a show called called The Cher Show, which had famous people on in, such as David Bowie,Ray Charles, Pat Boone, Cheryl Ladd, Linda Ronstadt, Lily Tomlin. Alot of the suggestive outfits she wore then were made by fashion design legend Bob Mackie. This show ran for 2 and a half seasons before Cher, who was pregnant at the time, decided to cancel it. 3 days after her divore from Sonny Bono was finalized, she married rock musician Gregg Allman  on June 30, 1975. They had 1 son named Elijah and divorced after 2 years.

She has also done acting. She appeared in the 1985 movie Mask, in which Eric Stoltz plays a teen with a disfigured face and she plays his loving mother. She also has appeared in movies like Witches of Eastwick, where she played a witch, Suspect where she played a lawyer, Moonstruck in 1987, where she played a frumpy Italian bookeeper.

In 1989, she wrote the song If I Could Turn Back Time, in the video it shows her wearing black leather and a fishnet suit, performing on a Navy battle cruiser. This video caused a lot of controversy because it showed her in a see-through outfit and you could see a butterfly tattoo on her lower back

In 1990, she starred in the movie Mermaids, and in 1998, she was in London when then daughter Chastity Bono called and informed her of Sonny Bono's death from a skiing accident. He was a popular California congressman married to 4th wife Mary Bono, he was 62. She chose to give the eulogy at his funeral and she teared up while giving it. Later that year, Sonny and Cher got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, she starred in the movie Burlesque along side Christina Aguilera.

She is also a supporter of gay rights, because her now son Chaz Bono was born a female and came out as a lesbian at 17, and that's when she noticed that not everyone gets the same rights because of sexuality.

Back To Black: Reflections On The Exit Of Amy Winehouse From Center Stage

Back to Black is a very nearly perfect piece of pop. It is the very last album that I bought in CD format & the very last album that I listened to as an album, songs in the order chosen by the artists & producer. This album was on continual repeat on the stereo system at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia for most of 2006, one of the best years of my considerable life. Rehab was my anthem that summer.

"They tried to make me go to rehab," wails Amy Winehouse on the opening track & first single from her 2nd & final album Back to Black. It's not typical pop song pablum, but Winehouse was not a typical pop singer. Winehouse held a reluctance to embrace the monotonous realities of overproduced, hip-hop inspired 21st century pop music. I thought of Winehouse as the new Dinah Washington. She sang about her problems, but she won't give a shit what you think of them. I appreciate that.

Winehouse, was soul, jazz, & blues with a bottle of booze. She gave tribute to their influences, with Winehouse's lyrics featuring shout-outs to Ray Charles, Donny Hathaway, & her producer, Mark Ronson.

Winehouse's sound was soul, girl group, jazz music & grownup, she imbued her music with a surprisingly genuine soulfulness.

Ronson's production provides a lot of Back In Black's wit: The old school sound of Me & Mr. Jones  juxtapositioned with the lyric:"What kind of fuckery is this?", another of my mantras from summer 2006. How could I ever resist her perfect pop sound coupled with profane interjections like: "He left no time to regret/ Kept his dick wet" are only an occasional thing as she travels a well-worn lyrical path to both clinical & romantic rehabilitation.

Songs like Love Is a Losing Game are full of regret, even if Winehouse won't wallow in self-pity. In Wake Up Alone, she lets a former boyfriend know delicately that her the night sweats:"make me drip for him tonight".

Winehouse was blessed a brassy voice that transformed mundane sentiments into powerful statements. She was heartbroken, but she used the ache like the ruthless recipient of resentful hurt.

Her talent stopped me dead in my listening tracks. I wasn't surprised by her passing, but I was sad. I would have wished for another Winehouse opus... just one more.

 

He left no time to regret

Kept his dick wet

With his same old safe bet

Me & my head high

& my tears dry

Get on without my guy

You went back to what you knew

So far removed from all that we went through

& I tread a troubled track

My odds are stacked

I'll go back to black

We only said good-bye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

& I go back to...

I go back to us

I love you much

It's not enough

You love blow & I love puff
& life is like a pipe

& I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside

We only said goodbye with words 

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

& I go back to

Black, black, black, black, black, black, black,

I go back to

I go back to

We only said good-bye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

& I go back to

& I go back to black

Winehouse

2006

Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou Turns 48 Today... Wake Me Up Before You Go Go

He won me over big with Wham! & Careless Whisper in 1984 (my favorite year of my life, so far), & I never let him go. The hits kept coming & I was right there for the next 25+ years. I am just a sucker for a hot ass in a tight pair of jeans, a leather jacket, & some stubble. Add in those phenomenal pipes & the killer hooks & it is a love affair for Stephen. The love has never wavered.

George Michael was the 1st white male to top the Black Music charts & the 1st white male to duet with Aretha Franklin with the infectious single- I Knew You Were Waiting. His breakout solo album Faith (1987) had 5 #1 hit singles & spent 51 weeks in the Billboard Top 10, including 12 weeks at #1.


Faith left Michael struggling to deal with his secret homosexuality. The feelings of loneliness, disaffection were themes in his next album- Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1. (1990) The album had a more soulful & stripped-down sound, producing 5 U.S. Top 40 hits: Waiting For That Day, Cowboys & Angels, Heal the Pain, Praying for Time & the personal confessional song Freedom! 90. It sold 7 million copies & spent 42 weeks in the Billboard Top 100 charts.



George Michael's album- Older is my personal favorite, an album that speaks to me in a deep personal way. Older was the soundtrack of my life in the late 1990s & I was moved by the title track & the mournful Like Jesus To A Child in a way the was profound & very moving. Like Jesus to a Child is a salutation to Michael’s secret partner- Brazilian fashion designer Anselmo Feleppa. Feleppa had died 3 years earlier of an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage, leaving Michael feeling alone & despondent. Michael was not openly gay & no one knew who the song was about. Older went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide & spent more than 96 weeks on the charts.


After grappling with the death of Feleppa, he met his future husband, American Kenny Goss. In 2005, Goss opened the Goss Gallery in Dallas, which shows contemporary art, including those collected by the couple. They have homes in London and Dallas. While the joy of his new relationship started to ease his pain, he soon lost his mother to skin cancer, a loss that tormented George for several years. He did not write or record during that period, except Songs From The Last Century (2000), an album of standards & covers.


In 1998, Michael was arrested in Beverly Hills, California, on a charge of lewd conduct in a park bathroom. The arrest made worldwide headlines & led him to come out of the closet. He poked fun at the arrest in the hit single- Outside.

In 2004 Michael released Patience, which sold more than 200,000 copies in the first week. It spun several Top 10 hits including Freeek!, Amazing & Flawless (Go to the City), all dedicated to Kenny Goss. In 2006, George Michael announced his 1st tour in 15 years. The 25 Live tour was a massive & worldwide, & spanned 3 individual tours over the course of 3 years. He still looks & sounds terrific.

He Made It Through The Rain To Sing The Songs The Whole World Sings

Today is the 68th birthday of Barry Alan Pincus of Brooklyn NY. He wrote a whole bunch of songs & along the way sold over 360 millions records as writer, producer, arranger or conductor. Up there with Sinatra, Michael Jackson or Bruce Springsteen.



Maybe Barry Manilow will never be ready to take a chance again. During a 2004 concert in NYC, just as he started to sing a duet with Brian d’Arcy James, Mailow joked to the audience: “Of course, we're not going to sing it to each other—that would be creepy.”

His own website diminishes the fact that he began his career in a gay bathhouse, despite the fact that he’s admitted ripping off his tuxedo & jumping into the bathhouse’s pool with lots of gay nude men. He blamed losing his inhibitions on the drinks & joints that had been passed to him. Manilow: “That’s such a bit of misinformation. There was just 1 bathhouse called the Continental Bathhouse & I worked there for 2 weekends with Bette Midler & that was it. I accompanied her for two weekends there & then we went on to a lot of nightclubs around NYC, Chicago & L.A. & she exploded like a year later. So it really wasn’t ‘gay bathhouses.’ I don't know where that came from.”

On the plus side, he canceled an appearance on The View because of Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s ultra-conservative stance. Manilow: “I strongly disagree with her views, I think she's dangerous & offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her.” When Manilow was being honored in Palm Springs for his AIDS awareness efforts, he stated: “I've had 4 personal assistants in my career since the ’70s, & 3 out of the 4 have died of AIDS. My personal assistants have always become my best friends. They are my brothers.”

Manilow complained that when the Reagans became his neighbors in Bel-Air: "I thought it was pretty hot, but the secret service were all over the place. I always know when they are coming home because of all the helicopters. If I am out there sunbathing in the nude, I go, shit, the Reagans are coming home.

When Elizabeth Taylor asked him the early 1980s for help raising money to fight the disease he was there. Manilow: “Her friend, Rock Hudson, had died. She was the first one to try to make the public aware of this disease that was infecting everybody, & she was throwing a big dinner party. She called her entertainer friends, & they all turned her down. I don't know why. But I got the call & said, ‘Of course.’ But my band wasn't around. I just went there & played piano & sang for a good hour. It was the first one she had, & it was the first time I had ever done anything like that.”

I have never been, nor do I suspect that I will ever be, a Fanalow. Even with my egalitarian & encompassing musical tastes, I never did find myself on the Manilow journey. The closest to an exception was when I was working for ASCAP in NYC, circa mid-1970s. I was engaged in listening to 6 hours of commercial radio play & entrusted to identify all the music played: commercials, bridges, lead-ins, cues & songs. I would not listen to songs all the way through. I was paid a bonus for finishing more than the 6 hour tape. Yet, I was very taken with an AM radio hit. I knew the song in the first 3 notes, but I would listen all the way through. I began to think it would be an effective ballad in my own act. The song was Weekend In New England sung by Barry Manilow.



I think it is unfortunate that Manilow suffers from the same fear of fan rejection that Liberace did. It would have been fun to have him be an out & proud gay man. For 25 years, Manilow has lived with his "manager" Garry Kief in homes they share in NYC, Bel Air & Palm Springs. Could It Be Magic?