Folk on Revival Weekend includes performances by Roger Waters, Mavis Staples,Tom Morello, among others.This year’s Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals may becanceled due to COVID-19, but a virtual event will take place from July 31st throughAugust 2nd.

Folk on Revival Weekend will kick off on Friday, July 31st, with Mavis 80, a birthdaycelebration for Mavis Staples. The event was filmed live in May 2019 at the Theatreat Ace Hotel in Los Angeles and features Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Phoebe Bridgers,Ben Harper, M. Ward, Lucius, Trombone Shorty and more.

The Saturday lineup includes Deer Tick and Friends, which features the band withLeon Bridges, Sharon Van Etten, Robert Ellis and others. On Sunday, Our Voices Together will screen on YouTube, a film by Josh Goleman that exhibits previouslyunseen footage at Newport. Roger Waters with Lucius, Tom Morello, Jim James,Carlile, Isbell and others will perform.

Throughout the weekend, Newport Folk will broadcast sets from their archives thatspan 60 years. You can listen online at Newport Folk Radio — or via radio on WFUV,WMVY or WEXT. Both the virtual events and the radio broadcast encourage attendees to donate to the Newport Festivals Foundation.

“In the history of this festival, there has never been a time like we’re in now,”Executive Producer Jay Sweet said in a statement. “A global pandemic shuttering ourplans to congregate before quickly shifting into the biggest civil rights movement inover 50 years. Many of our lives have drastically changed, financially, emotionallyand/or irrevocably. It has been painful for many of us, on the front lines fighting thepandemic, on the front lines fighting social injustice and especially for those losing loved ones along the way.”

“While it was an emotional gut punch to cancel the festival in a year where it is soclearly needed, we felt it was imperative to our community to do something,” he continued. “Music has always brought our family together, even when we’re divided. The Newport stage has always been a sanctuary for artists to speak their minds onthe times in front of us, not with merely one voice alone, but many in unison.

This year’s Newport is no exception, collectively representing what it feels like to behuman in today’s world by amplifying our convictions. For 2020 these voices will beour megaphone, these events our stage.

CREDITS: Rolling Stone Magazine - Angie Martoccio

Ringo Starr is turning 80 on July 7th and he plans on celebrating with a virtual charity concert featuring Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr., Sheila E, and Ben Harper. “Ilove birthdays,” Starr recently told Rolling Stone. “This year is going to be a little different.There’s no big get-together; there’s no brunch for 100. But we’re putting this showtogether — an hour of music and chat. It’s quite a big birthday.”

Starr originally planned on celebrating his landmark birthday by touring all across America,but the pandemic obviously made that impossible. He hopes to return to the road next yearwith his current incarnation of the All Starr Band, which includes Toto’s Steve Lukather,Men at Work’s Colin Hay, Santana’s Gregg Rolie, the Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart,drummer Gregg Bissonette, and muti-instrumentalist Warren Ham.

He’s been touring with various incarnation of the All Starr Band since 1989, and picking outthe best one is a difficult task, but the 1997 one was very special. It featured PeterFrampton, Jack Bruce, Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, Simon Kirke of Bad Company, andmuti-instrumentalist Mark Rivera. That lineup gave them an arsenal of classic-rock hits toplay every night, including “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” “White Room,” “Show Me the Way,”“Shooting Star,” Ringo standards like “Photograph,” “Yellow Submarine,” “It Don’t ComeEasy,” and the inevitable finale of “With a Little Help From My Friends.”

A big highlight of the set was Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” with Frampton handling Eric Clapton’s guitar and vocal parts and Bruce, of course, on bass and vocals, just like on the original recording. It’s the perfect song for everyone in the band to show off their chopsand was surely a moment of pure classic-rock bliss for the audience. Here’s video of thesong from a stop at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, on May 30th, 1997.Ginger Baker guested during a few nights on the tour, turning the show into a two-thirds Cream reunion, but this wasn’t one of them.

All Starr Band lineups used to change with every tour, but Lukather and Rolie have nowbeen in the mix for the past eight years. Not only do they both bring three huge hits theycan sing every night (“Hold the Line,” “Africa,” “Rosanna,” “Black Magic Woman,” “EvilWays,” and “”Oye Como Va”), but they’re incredibly versatile musicians who can play justabout anything. If Ringo is still out on the road when he turns 90 or even 100, they’llprobably be by his side.

CREDITS: Rolling Stone Magazine - Andy Greene

In a bid to fill the void left by live music amid the current social distancing measures, we’re revisiting rareaudio tapes of Bob Dylan and Bette Midler working together in the studio back in 1975. Here, we’veunearthed an outtake featuring the duo jamming on ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’.

The initial plan for their time in the studio was for Midler and Dylan to record their rendition of ‘Buckets ofRain’, a duet which would ultimately feature on Midler’ third studio album Songs for the New Depression.

As pointed out during the larger recording, Midler seemed a little hesitant at first, telling Dylan: “I can’tsing ‘I ain’t no monkey,” before he manages to gently persuade her to take part. However, with Moogy Klingman backing them up on the piano, the duo soon settles into their rhythm.

‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’, originally written by Smokey Robinson and became a major hit in 1962,remains today as one of Robinson and The Miracles’ most well-known songs. While The Beatles put theirown spin on the song in the years that followed its release, we have decided to focus on this raw clip ofDylan and Midler.

The audio of their take on ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’ opens up with Dylan saying: “We’ll do that one, Ilike that song. Yeah, I’ll sing with you.” Midler, clearly excited about Dylan’s forthcoming approach, replied:“Oh you will?! How does it go again?” After a little stumbling over the words initially, they role straight intotheir unique cover. Enjoy the audio, below.

CREDITS: Far Out Magazine

Clip pairs footage from newly released performance film with musician’s accordion-assistedmedley “Weird Al” Yankovic marked the arrival of the filmed performance of Hamilton onDisney+ by piecing together a new video for his “Hamilton Polka.”

Weird Al released his polka medley of Hamilton tracks back in 2018 as part of Lin-ManuelMiranda’s monthly “Hamildrops” series. With his trusty accordion in hand, Yankoviccondensed the three-hour musical into a five-minute medley featuring jaunty renditions of“Alexander Hamilton,” “My Shot,” “You’ll Be Back,” “Wait for It,” “The Room Where ItHappens” and the “The Schuyler Sisters.”

The new video for Weird Al’s “Hamilton Polka” pairs the song with footage from the newly released performance film. To make it work, though, the footage is frequently — andhilariously — sped up to fit Weird Al’s breakneck polka pace. There’s also an undeniable delight in watching the likes of Miranda, Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr. and more movetheir lips and hear Weird Al’s nasally croon come out.Back in 2018, Weird Al and Miranda spoke with Rolling Stone about their friendship and how the “Hamilton Polka” came about.

Polka medleys have, of course, been a key tenet of Weird Al’s career, and as a result, Miranda said he was rather nervous when he askedYankovic to craft one for his musical.

“Listen, as a long-time Weird Al fan, that’s a scary ask to make,” Miranda said. “I also know there’s only been two other cases where he’s devoted an entire polka medley to aparticular artist. There’s ‘Hot Rocks Polka’ on the UHF soundtrack and the Queen polka[‘Bohemian Polka’]. I cannot presume to be in that rarified air as the Rolling fuckin’ Stones! But I asked.”

Rolling Stone Magazine - Jon Blistein