ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

STAMPING OUT MICHAEL

The Virgin Islands—a colony of Great Britain— have prepared and printed a series of eight postage stamps honoring Michael Jackson...only to discover that there's a long-standing policy that the only living persons to appear on British colony stamps are members of the British monarchy. But these are the Virgin Islands—couldn't an exception be made?

Not to worry, crossover philatelists—the stamps will be issued by St. Vincent (who recently released stamps honoring the reliably-deceased Elvis Presley) and possibly other Caribbean airstrips as well. The complete set of Mikey stamps are running $8.06 in the U.S.; the Elvis collection is deservedly lower-priced at $6.52.

Michael was further honored by Larry Harmon—the original Bozo the Clown—by being named "Bozo Of The Year" for 1985. Harmon gave lovable "Webster'"s pal a lifetime achievement award for "single-handedly reviving the glove industry." We get it.

R.I.P.: Big Joe Turner, the 300-pound rock �n� roll pioneer who performed such classics as �Shake, Rattle And Roll,�� �Honey Hush,� and �Chains Of Love,� died at the age of 74 in Inglewood, California.

Biz Info: the Moody Blues have signed a worldwide deal with PolyGram...no word on which world yet. A new album is, as is obligatory in these cases, threatened. Paul McCartney, the original Yoko Ono, has signed a long term recording agreement with EMI/Capitol, returning the ex-Beatle to his original North American label after a stunning stint with CBS. And, after �an intense period of composition and rehearsal,� ex-Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and poet/singer Jim Carroll have announced plans to record an album together.

Having slumbered for, lo, these many months, the Billy Desk reports—with a hint of outrage—that their prime basis for existing, Billy Idol, is suing an Aussie bunch named the Heebeegeebies, who�ve dared imitate El Fisto on a record called �Song Without A Tune,� credited to �Billy Idiot.� Mean band!

Dad o� the month is ZZ Top�s Frank Beard—his wife Debbie delivered twins recently.

Capitol Idea?: Those familiar with their Beatles collection can look forward to Capitol Records reissuing the whole set as the original seven Parlophone Records released in the U.K. �That�s the original way the Beatles intended their records to be released,� said Don Zimmerman, president of Capitol. The prexy went on to add that Capitol is negotiating with Yoko and the three other guys over the release of the Beatles� records on compact disc.

Thus far, the only fab product available on CD is ToshibaEMI�s Abbey Road, a collector�s item that has since been pulled from the market.

DO IT AGAIN

Much to the astonishment of the English-speaking world and suburbs, Steely Dan are reportedly reforming. The duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (along with erstwhile producer Gary Katz) never managed to deliver on their contract with Warner Bros., which was signed after the guys split from MCA. In subsequent Dan doings, Fagen released a solo LP, Nightfly, and more recently coproduced the original score of The Gospel OfColonus, while Becker produced the last China Crisis album. Word is that the new Steely Dan will be a full-fledged band—with actual members!—and will even undertake the first Steely Dan tour (the very idea) in over a decade.

FLEETWOOD MAC WAXES SLOWLY ON

Having been absent from the charts since 1982�s Mirage, the once-mighty Fleetwood Mac will be releasing an album �sometime� in 1986, probably having read our Steely Dan item.

The new disc will be co-produced by Richard Dashut, longtime Mac producer/engineer and Lindsey Buckingham, famed guitarist, singer and songwriter. Buckingham has, in fact, been involved with the production of all of Fleetwood Mac�s albums since joining the group in 1975, but was only officially credited on Mirage. In addition to the comeback project, Buckingham has also begun work on his third solo album.

ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS

DEPARTMENTS

This in from the Lawsuits '86 Desk: Tom Scholz has filed a $100 million suit against CBS, claiming "malicious prosecution.� Prior to this, of course, CBS sued Scholz�s group...uh...Boston, that�s it...for $20 million, charging breach of contract. And Boston sued CBS for a mere $5 million over unpaid royalties.

In case you�re interested, rumor has it that there will be a new Boston LP out early in �86. Sales of a few trillion ought to cover all this.

The Romantics almost missed a concert date in Washington, D.C., when one of their equipment trucks was a no-show for their sound check. As usual, the driver of the semi left it on the road to flee the U.S. and seek asylum injsrael because "he was being pursued by members of a U.S. government agency.� The band also learned that their former driver was a parttime mercenary (hey, this was a Romantics show, after all) and had also worked security for the Jewish Defense League."He was always reading Soldier Of Fortune, ^

THE BAND THAT ATE THE WORLD!

Now that they�ve completed their "World Slavery Tour�— alternately termed "Herculean,� "Kryptonian,� and "money-making�—tour manager Tony Wigens has revealed the mind-boggling figures of what it took to keep Iron Maiden on the road for 11 months through more than 250 concerts in 24 countries:

•50,000 cans of beer. •30,000 soft drinks. •6,000 pints of milk. •2,500 pints of orange juice. I •7,778 hotel rooms, some of which still exist. I •6,392 guitar strings. •3,670 drum sticks. •3,008 guitar picks; Not to mention one person who actually counted guitar picks.

but we didn�t think anything about it until he disappeared,� noted guitarist/singer Wally Palmar. Here�s hopin� their next driver reads CREEM.

AC/DC are said to be scoring thenext Stephen King movie. Well, at least it stands a chance of being scary.

In what has become a zesty way of life, we understand that the Clash have evidently broken up again. Troubles apparently arouse when Joe Strummer refused to tour in support of their new LP, Cut The£>rap, resulting in "serious disagreements� between manager Bernie Rhodes

and principled Joe. According to Strumbo: "Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of the Clash regret to announce the departure of Nick Sheppard (guitarist), Vince White (guitarist) and Pete Howard (drummer). The decision was mutual and we have parted as friends. Me and Paul (sic) would like to thank them for their dedication and enthusiasm.� In other cut the crap doings, Joe & Paul will be recording a song called "Shouting Street.� �

You�ll be interested to know that the 116th General Assembly of Ohio has recognized "Hang On Sloopy�—by the McCoys— as their official state rock song. Some excerpts from the strictly-legal resolution: �...WHEREAS, adoption of this resolution will not take too long, cost the state anything, or affect quality of life in this state to an appreciable degree, and if we in the Legislature just go ahead and pass the darn thing, we can get on with more important stuff, and WHEREAS, Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town, and everybody, yeah, tries to put my Sloopy down...�.

WE BUILT THIS FARM ON ROCK 'N' ROLL?

Remaining true to the principles of Farm Aid, John Cougar Mellencamp has been running some interesting newspaper ads in cities he�s played on his current tour. In the first place, they ran the day after the concert, which means there was no concert to hype. The ads also thanked those who attended and continued: �Tor those of you who wish to continue the fight for the small family farmer, you can write to,� and included the name and address of a U.S. senator. For more info, Mellencamp suggested interested parties calr(202) 224-3121.