Stunning Lou Reed Exhibit — With Guitars, Record Collection, Letters and More — Opens in New York

Melissa Rivers has someone new in her life.

Jamie Dornan and Niall Horan are playing golf together again!

The person of interest identified by authorities in the Fourth of July parade shooting is a Chicago-area rapper. Deadline will not identify him.

Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker sure are pretty cozy for two people who supposedly broke up in the middle of last month!

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe music industry’s return to whatever passes for normal these days has been hit and miss, to put it mildly: Grammy Week, Coachella, and the first publishers’ week in three years have seen an uneven balance of caution and carelessness — some events have a relatively high percentage of masks and distancing, some have hardly any at all, and at each one you hear tales of how severe someone’s bout with Covid was or wasn’t, and that someone else couldn’t make it because they suddenly tested positive.The “publishers week” we’re referring to is the usual combination of A2IM’s Indie Week conference, the National Music Publishers Association’s annual meeting, and the closer, the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is one of the most unique and memorable awards shows in the business — which is a parallel event to the Clive Davis pre-Grammy Gala in that it’s invite-only and features a number of once-in-a-lifetime performances. Not only is it the annual family reunion for the songwriting an publishing industry, over the years we’ve seen performances from  Neil Diamond, Drake, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande, Van Morrison, Cyndi Lauper, John Prine, Leon Russell, Elvis Costello and dozens of others, along with several completely unique homages: Lady Gaga singing Four Non-Blondes’ hit “What’s Up” to Linda Perry; Stevie Nicks belting “The Rose” to Bette Midler; Emmylou Harris performing Eric Clapton’s heartbreaking hit “Tears in Heaven” for the song’s co-writer Will Jennings; and one year, the evening ended with Billy Joel and Garth Brooks duetting at the piano in matching Stetson hats.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy Awards are one thing, but being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame is another matter — the inductees are decided by a relatively small group of songwriting and music-publishing peers and celebrated at an invite-only event, and it’s a tough crowd.It’s a sadly common assumption that female pop stars don’t write their own songs — even Taylor Swift, one of the greatest and most distinctive songwriters of the past 25 years, is often greeted with skepticism. So for Mariah Carey — who was mocked in a widely shared meme when she made a statement beginning with the words “As a songwriter” — to be inducted is a big deal.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJapanese Breakfast, Wet Leg and Madlib were among the top winners at the Libera Awards on Thursday night, the American Association of Independent Music’s annual awards ceremony.The event returned in a hybrid setting, with people from the indie community gathering at New York’s Webster Hall to receive awards, catch a DJ set from Madlib (featuring a freestyle from Talib Kweli) and live sets from Sammy Rae & the Friends and others, while concurrently a livestream of performances from Japanese Breakfast, Brittany Howard, Jason Isbell, Helado Negro and Cautious Clay was played in a separate room at the venue. Also performing live at the event were Tré Burt, Canadian Brass and Adrian Daniel.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThere’s little question that David Bowie’s rise to superstardom in 1972 was a carefully calculated campaign, involving an unforgettable, otherworldly image, a strategically timed public announcement of his bisexuality, a rapid-fire series of tour dates and television appearances, no small amount of business and P.R. savvy — and most importantly, one of the greatest albums in rock history.“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” released in the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Grammys might be the most well-known music awards show in the world, but the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s ceremony is arguably the most unique. The invite-only event, being held June 16 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, and its awards honor the most important and yet most frequently overlooked people in the music business — the songwriter, duh — and it resembles a cross between the Grammys and an annual family reunion for the tight-knit songwriting and music-publishing community.At each ceremony, superstars receiving honors frequently tell the room that the accolade means more to them than any other award they’ve received, because it’s an endorsement and a validation from their peers.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFoo Fighters and Taylor Hawkins’ family have announced the first round of performers for the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert scheduled to take place in London in September.Performers include a mix of the late drummer’s friends and influences: Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, Supergrass and Mark Ronson are on the bill, with comedian Dave Chappelle billed as a special guest.Also on the bill are Jane’s Addiction’s Chris Chaney, the Police’s Stewart Copeland, Omar Hakim, Rufus Taylor (a Queen touring member), Wolfgang Van Halen, and Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal. The shows will benefit charities to be announced later, according to the band.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter a three-year hiatus, the Brooklyn edition of the Afropunk festival will return this fall, taking place over the weekend of September 10-11 at its traditional location of Commodore Barry Park in the New York City borough’s Fort Greene neighborhood.The lineup, announced Tuesday, (June 14th) includes  the Roots, Lucky Daye,m= Tierra Whack, Burna Boy, Freddie Gibbs, Isaiah Rashad, Earl Sweatshirt, Bartees Strange, Adekunle Gold, Fana Hues, Pink Siifu, Butcher Brown, Alex Mali, Mick Jenkins, and others.The festival is divided into two stages: the “Brooklyn Baby” stage and the “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” stage.See the full lineup below.The Afropunk franchise continues to expand, holding its first-ever Midwestern event this weekend at Minneapolis’ Sheridan Memorial Park. Titled Planet Afropunk Live: Minneapolis, the lineup will include Ari Lennox, Noname, and Mereba just to name a few performers who will make an appearance on both days.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEven as reports from Wall Street grow dark amid worries of a recession, Goldman Sachs predicts a booming decade for the music industry, with total music revenue to double to about $131 billion by 2030. The company’s annual “Music in the Air” forecast predicts that a combination of global streaming growth, emerging platforms like TikTok, the revival of the live music market and the ongoing strength of vinyl sales will drive the recorded music industry revenues to $52.3 billion by 2030, a $7.5 billion boost over last year’s prediction and more than double last year’s IFPI revenues of just under $26 billion.It is bullish on publishing as well, predicting that revenues will rise to $11.6 billion in 2030, up a cool billion from last year’s prediction for the year.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor those who don’t know, the late, legendary, longtime BBC Radio DJ John Peel was one of the most influential and important people in British music from the 1960s through his death in 2004.He arose in the mid-1960s as the BBC was forced to modernize its programming, and for the next four decades, he played a vital and arguably peerless role in just about every wave of contemporary music, from psychedelia through punk and Britpop and electronic music. His incredible taste is reflected in the list of artists whose careers he supercharged with his many radio shows and “Peel Sessions,” from Pink Floyd through Rod Stewart, T.

Laurie Anderson has shared why the Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars exhibition was nearly held in Texas but ended up in New York City instead.The archive, which chronicles the life and work of Reed through images, voices, and music from the star and his collaborators, will be hosted at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts starting today (June 9).Anderson, Reed’s widow, recently told The New York Times that she’d first selected the Harry Ransom Center in Austin for the exhibit, but decided against that plan after Texas Governor Greg Abbot, signed the campus-carry bill in 2015. The bill allowed people licensed to carry a handgun in Texas to carry a concealed handgun on university campuses.I called them up,” Anderson said, adding: “‘This thing we’ve been talking about for a couple years? It’s off.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThursday morning’s announcement of several new Grammy Awards, particularly the long-overdue Songwriter of the Year honor, has already gotten a strong response from the music community. It also reflects an Academy that has been increasingly and more immediately responsive to calls from the community — while the Songwriter of the Year has been a glaring and baffling omission in the half-century-plus since the Grammys began, calls for it have increased in recent years.

Lou Reed was the H&R Block of classic rockers: The man kept his receipts.In fact, “Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars” — an exhaustive exhibit that opens at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on Thursday — displays just how diligent the “Walk on the Wild Side” icon was about retaining proof of his purchases. One of the showcased receipts is even for the studded dog collar he wears on the cover of his 1974 live album “Rock ’n’ Roll Animal,” which Reed — in true New Yorker fashion — bought from the West Village sex shop the Pleasure Chest.“His father was an accountant and taught Lou to keep receipts, keep records and all that sort of thing,” said curator Jason Stern, who was Reed’s assistant in his final years and now works with his widow, Laurie Anderson.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile he hasn’t been active in the music world for a couple of decades, Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, is indisputably one of the greatest record executives in history. The list of artists that the company spawned under his watch is astonishing and arguably without peer for a company of its size: U2, Bob Marley, Nick Drake, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Traffic, Free, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Brian Eno, Steve Winwood, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Toots & the Maytalls, the Cranberries, Marianne Faithfull, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, King Sunny Ade, Eric B.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVeteran Chicago rapper and drill pioneer Chief Keef has launched a new label, 43B (“Forget Everybody”) in partnership with RBC Records and BMG, and his first signing is Atlanta-based rapper Lil Gnar (pictured above, right, with Keef).Since 2014, Chief Keef has released several albums through RBC — including “Sorry 4 the Weight,” “Thot Breaker” and “Mansion Musick” — which was acquired by BMG four years ago.According to the announcement, 43B is a multi-tiered label, offering distribution and marketing services for artists and producers. It also notes that the name (“Forget Everybody”) is intended to emphasize the importance of individuality and autonomy.The label will be helmed by Chief Keef’s longtime manager, Idris Dykes, who will be acting as co-CEO, as well as Sophie Kautz who has been appointed as the head of A&R and marketing.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs part of the celebration around the late Lou Reed’s 80 th birthday, an album of his earliest demos — comprising a number of Velvet Underground classics recorded in 1965, along with several songs dating back to his college and teen years — will be released August 26 on Light in the Attic Records in partnership with Reed’s longtime partner Laurie Anderson.The album, titled “Words & Music, May 1965,” is the inaugural release from the Lou Reed Archive Series, and dovetails with the opening Thursday of an extensive Reed exhibit at the New York Public Library, titled “Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars.” The album includes the earliest known recordings of such classics as “Heroin,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” “Iʼm Waiting for the Man” and several unreleased tracks. See the full tracklist below; listen to Reed’s 1965 demo of “I’m Waiting for the Man”:The bulk of the album is comprised of the 1965 tracks, which were recorded with the assistance of Reed’s future bandmate John Cale.

Lou Reed album will share never-before-heard material and early versions of some of the star’s most iconic songs.‘Words & Music, May 1965’ is set to be released on August 26 via Light In The Attic in partnership with Reed’s partner Laurie Anderson, in tandem with celebrations for what would be the musician’s 80th birthday.The songs on the album were written by Reed and recorded to tape by his future Velvet Underground bandmate John Cale. Reed posted the tape to himself as a “poor man’s copyright” and it remained sealed in its original envelope for nearly 50 years.The record will include the earliest known recordings of iconic tracks including ‘Heroin’, ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ and ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKendrick Lamar’s “We Cry Together,” a harrowing enactment of an ugly argument between lovers, is not a song most people will want to hear more than once. And even though it is expected to be the next video from Lamar’s brilliant and challenging new album “Mr.