Allbutforgottenoldies.net Music News Digest: Week Of June 3, 2018

June 11, 2018 by Amy Gold

During the week of June 3, 2018, it was announced that the City of San Francisco renamed a street after Tony Bennett. This tribute to the music legend was made official at a ceremony that took place in front of the city's Fairmont Hotel where Bennett gave his first public performance of "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" in December 1961. The block of Mason Street in front of the hotel is now called Tony Bennett Way.

Also that week, a new album titled "The Beach Boys With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" was released featuring symphonic reworks of such classics as "California Girls," "Sloop John B," and "Fun, Fun, Fun." Famed R&B session musician Dennis Coffey (who had a hit in 1971 with "Scorpio") also released an archival album titled "One Night At Morey's: 1968," a follow-up to his 2017 archival release, "Hot Coffey In The D: Burnin' At Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge," which capture his shows at the famous Detroit venue. Other new releases that week included vinyl reissues of five Paul Simon albums: "The Paul Simon Songbook" (1965), "One-Trick Pony" (1980), "Hearts And Bones" (1983), "The Rhythm Of The Saints" (1990), and Simon & Garfunkel's 1967 soundtrack to "The Graduate."

Two original members of The Rascals, Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish, announced a North American tour starting July 18, 2018 in Stamford, CT and ending November 4 in Louisville, KY, with 14 shows confirmed so far covering California and several states on the East Coast. Two founding members of The Byrds, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, will reunite for a U.S. tour to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the band's country-rock album, "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo," which was released on August 30, 1968. Five show dates have been confirmed so far beginning July 27 in Los Angeles, with additional stops in California, as well as in New York, Ohio, and Virginia. Also, Lynyrd Skynyrd announced an extension of its farewell tour into December. To date, 20 new show dates have been added beginning September 28 in Rogers, AR and ending December 8 in Biloxi, MI, also covering many other states across the country.

The 8th annual edition of The Grateful Dead's "Meet-Up At The Movies" screening will take place at theaters across the country on August 1, 2018 for one night only. This year's featured showing will be a concert film that captures a show from July 7, 1989 that took place at Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium.

Also that week, ex-Beatle and avid photographer Ringo Starr announced a new coffee-table book titled "Another Day In The Life" to be published sometime this fall.

Finally, June 6, 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Cars' critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. "The Cars" reached #18 on the Billboard 200, spending an impressive 139 weeks on that chart, and soon after went gold. Included in this album's tracks are the hits, "Just What I Needed," "My Best Friend's Girl," and "Good Times Roll."

(For more information about the above news items, please see below for a list of sources with links.)

Graham Nash performs a 1969 demo version of "Our House" from his upcoming solo album, "Over The Years."