Springsteen bashes ‘conman’ Trump

Another turn for Prince’s Revolution ‘Feel grateful that I’m still working’

NEW YORK, April 20, (Agencies): Rock legend Bruce Springsteen has denounced US President Donald Trump as a “conman” as he collaborated on a new protest song released Wednesday.

Joe Grushecky, a Pittsburgh-based heartland rocker who has worked in the past with Springsteen but has had much less commercial success, titled his song “That’s What Makes Us Great” — a play on Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

An energetic rock tune that sounds like it could have come from Springsteen’s E Street Band, the song halfway through features The Boss singing verses on his own.

“Don’t you brag to me that you never read a book / I never put my faith in a conman and his crooks,” Springsteen sings in clear reference to Trump.

Springsteen and Grushecky come together for a chorus that urges mobilization against Trump.

“It’s up to me and you / Love can conquer hate / I know this to be true / That’s what makes us great,” they sing.

While the song is not his own, it marks some of the most overtly political lyricism of Springsteen’s career alongside “American Skin (41 Shots”) about New York police officers’ 1999 killing of unarmed immigrant Amadou Diallo.

Springsteen — whose songs have often told the plight of working-class Americans of the type who provided crucial support to Trump — largely stayed out of direct politics until 2004 when he campaigned for John Kerry in his failed bid to defeat president George W. Bush.

In November, Springsteen joined Hillary Clinton in a major electioneve rally in Philadelphia, where he denounced Trump for his “profound lack of decency,” and later played a somber, private show for Barack Obama’s staff as they left the White House.

Grushecky told the Pittsburgh PostGazette that he wrote the song around the time that Trump took office and that he sent it to Springsteen, who liked it and agreed to give it “the Bruce treatment.”

Grushecky said he had been outraged by Trump since the time the tycoon mocked a journalist with disabilities.

“That to me is appalling. I have special needs people in my family and in my neighborhood. I worked with special needs people my whole life, and I was really offended by it,” he told the newspaper.

For members of Prince’s 1980s backing band The Revolution, reuniting and hitting the road for a spring US tour is how they are coping with the “Purple Rain” pop superstar’s unexpected death a year ago.

“We’re taking it to the people who are grieving like we are, and letting them have a little bit of relief,” guitar- LONDON, April 20, (RTRS): Singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia kicks off her “Acoustic Tour” this week, performing 26 dates across Europe.

The 42-year-old, who found fame in the early 1990s as an actress in Australian television soap opera “Neighbours” and later as a singer with 1997 hit “Torn”, will first play Moscow on Saturday and then travel to more than a dozen countries before wrapping up in Kolding, Denmark at the end of May.

In an interview with Reuters, Imbruglia spoke about the tour, her plans for a new album, and why she’s drawn to songs originally performed by men. Here are excerpts:

Question: Why choose to tour now, is this like a comeback tour?

Answer: “The fabulous word ‘comeback’. I’ve already had about four comebacks. Any opportunity to get on the road and tour, it’s my favourite thing to do. I was just really excited to have the opportunity to do a more intimate show for the fans.”

Q: How do you prepare yourself for a tour?

A: “Well you know how artists have their rider of all the things they want, mine is so basic. It’s like lemon, honey and...avocado, some carrots - I’m quite healthy when I’m on tour, so it’s not very fancy.”

ist Wendy Melvoin, sitting on a couch with other members of the band during a break at their Minneapolis rehearsal space, said Wednesday.

When Prince died of an accidental painkiller overdose, members of The Revolution were mourning at a Minneapolis hotel and made an impromptu video, promising to reunite for shows honoring their one-time flamboyant front man. After three sold-out shows at the fabled First Avenue nightclub (the setting of Prince’s hit 1984 movie “Purple Rain”) in September, The Revolution is back, preparing to kick off a tour Friday at Paisley Park in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen on the anniversary of Prince’s death.

The tour includes stops in Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco before ending in Seattle on July 15.

Melvoin is joined by bassist BrownMark, keyboardists Matt Fink and Lisa Coleman, and drummer Bobby Z. The reunited Revolution plans to play Prince’s synthesizer-heavy 1980s music through his lauded 1987 double album “Sign o’ the Times.”

“We have the ability now to give

Q: How hard is it to keep fresh in the music industry and how do you feel you have changed?

A: “It’s a very different industry now to when I started, I just feel really grateful that I’m still working and still touring and writing...I think if you love what you do then you keep doing it.”

Q: Where did the idea come from to cover male-led tracks for “Male”?

A: “I was in Connecticut working with (producer) Billy Mann. We were making a covers album...and I just got the idea to do all-male artists. There’s something about when you flip the gender, it’s a completely different interpretation of the songs. I just found it more interesting and more fun and all the songs I was drawn to were by male artists anyway.”

Q: Do you have fans asking for original material?

A: “I don’t have a problem doing covers from other people but it’s actually really hard to find enough covers for a whole album that actually express who you are and that make sense to you...I’ve always ended up writing again anyway just because part of the experience for me is storytelling...I’m definitely writing new material and there will definitely be an album coming, hopefully next year.”

people a glimpse of what we experienced with him,” BrownMark said. “And I think that’s a powerful thing. I know it helped me heal.”

While Prince had a reputation as a perfectionist, members of The Revolution remember the good times goofing in the studio.

NEW YORK:

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Prince’s estate moved Wednesday to block the release of several decade-old tracks, casting a cloud over commemorations of the pop legend’s passing.

An independent label had announced plans to release a six-track EP of Prince songs, entitled “Deliverance,” on Friday which marks one year since The Purple One’s sudden death.

But Prince’s estate, which is led by his siblings, quickly intervened and accused Ian Boxill, a sound engineer who recorded the tracks with the pop legend between 2006 and 2008, of violating an agreement.

“Boxill is now trying to exploit the Prince recordings unlawfully in his possession,” said a lawsuit filed in a Minnesota court.