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He says he had no idea it would reach the top spot. “That’s the great glory of the business I’m in. Everything is wonderfully unpredictable.” We’ll find out tomorrow how well “Time” sold in its first week in the U.S. and where it debuts on the “Billboard” chart.

Rod Stewart, with special guest Steve Winwood, performs at the Palace of Auburn Hills October 26th.

Although the Doors effectively ended in 1971 after the death of Jim Morrison, Manzarek spent a good amount of his life maintaining the band’s legacy. Other than his tours with Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, he also worked on keeping the band’s recorded work in the marketplace through a series of reissues, best-ofs and box sets.  The most recent release was the live concert film, Live At The Bowl ’68, which shows the band at the peak of their powers.

Manzarek was beaming through the phone as he told Radio.com about the show in a late 2012 interview. He said that some of his, and the band’s, favorite artists had played that stage, so it meant a lot for  to be booked at the Hollywood Bowl. “It was momentous. That was the granddaddy of all venues in Southern California. Igor Stravinsky conducted there! The Beatles played there! And we were playing at the same place. But up to that point, very few rock bands played there. We were very honored.”

With their second No. 1 single under their belt (“Hello, I Love You”; the first was “Light My Fire”) the band was on top of the world, having realized all their dreams of becoming rock stars in just a few short years.

“The best laid plans of mice and men had not gone astray yet,” Manzarek mused. “We dreamed of putting a rock and roll band together on Venice Beach in the summer of 1965. This is now the summer of 1968 and we had attained the goal. We wanted to be as big as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and we had arrived at that place.”

Indeed, at that time, The Doors — Manzarek, Krieger, drummer John Densmore and  Jim Morrison — had a powerful grip on their audience; Manzarek himself exclaimed that, in that moment in 1968, “Those four guys were the four horsemen of the apocalypse!” After the Hollywood Bowl gig, the Doors became even more popular and eventually headlined Madison Square Garden. Had Morrison lived a longer life, would they, like the Stones and Paul McCartney, have upgraded to football stadiums? “I’m not sure if you are still a rock and roll band or if you turn into a circus at that point,” Manzarek said.

However, Manzarek noted that if the Doors had been popular enough, they most likely would have tried to play the largest venues possible: “It would have been a theatrical challenge to do something like that. The Rolling Stones do it on a grand scale. So what would The Doors have done on a grand scale? All things would have been possible, unfortunately Jim didn’t make it.”

Referencing the massive popularity the band still enjoys decades after Morrison’s passing, he said, “The Doors were an underground band, out of the mainstream. That’s where Jim and I always wanted to be.”

Read more at Radio.com. 

– Brian Ives, Radio.com 

Eminem’s record company is currently suing Facebook for copyright infringement for using part of Under The Influence in an on-line commercial, and they have already successful settled with Apple and Audi for their misuse  of Lose Yourself in ads.  I hope Barry Williams got permission for his parody, or that he’s recently come into a lot of money.

Hear Greg’s parody here.

The clerk called the cops as the suspect continued to load up on the sweet treats and cops arrived just a minute or so later to catch the guy powder-sugar handedly. Not only did one officer respond but two patrol officers and a supervising sergeant.

34 year old Dexter Johnson was handcuffed and hauled away in the back seat of a police cruiser. He faces charges of criminal possession of stolen property and petty larceny.

Had this happened at a Dunkin Donuts store cops would have probably even arrived faster. In fact there’s a good chance they would have already been in the parking lot!

The keyboardist succumbed this afternoon (Monday) at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, where he was being treated for bile duct cancer. He was surrounded by his wife of 46 years,Dorothy Manzarek, and his brothers Rick and James Manzarek.

Getty Images/ Kevin Winter

Just last week, Doors guitarist Robby Krieger told us Ray was sick, but was hoping to play a show they had scheduled in Los Angeles in August. He has issued a statement saying, “I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today. I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life, and I will always miss him.”

In addition to his wife and brothers, Manzarek is survived by his son Pablo, his daughter-in-law Sharmin and their three children. Funeral arrangements are pending. The family asks that its privacy be respected at this time. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Ray’s name to Stand Up 2 Cancer at StandUp2Cancer.org.

JUST IN: Keyboardist Ray Manzarek, a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74, his business manager confirms to @cbsnews

— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 20, 2013

According to the Doors’ Facebook post, at the time of his passing, he was surrounded by his wife Dorothy Manzarek, and his brothers Rick and James Manzarek.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” said Krieger in the post. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.” Krieger and Manzarek performed together under a variety of names over the past few years.

Manzarek is survived by his wife Dorothy, brothers Rick and James Manczarek, son Pablo Manzarek, Pablo’s wife Sharmin and their three children Noah, Apollo and Camille. Funeral arrangements are pending. The post says “The family asks that their privacy be respected at this difficult time. In lieu of flowers, please make a memoriam donation in Ray Manzarek’s name at www.standup2cancer.org.”

– Brian Ives, Radio.com 

Jeffrey Nugent wrote a May 17 op-ed about firearms for The Washington Post, where he stresses the need for stronger background checks, a sore spot for the NRA.

He wrote, “I agree with Ted that our constitutional right to bear arms should not be undermined. I want all those who are qualified to purchase a gun to be able to do so. But — and here is where I part ways with my brother — not everyone is qualified to own a gun, so expanded background checks should be a legislative priority.”

The rocker’s brother points out that today, anyone (even a convicted felon) can purchase guns at gun shows or through private sellers without a background check. He asks, “Why would responsible gun owners want to protect people who threaten not only our safety but our gun rights?”

He goes on to say: “The NRA has it wrong: Irresponsible gun owners are bad for everyone. If you shouldn’t have access to a gun, then there should be no way for you to access a gun!”

Ted responded two days later with a post at Newsmax, titled “My Dear Misinformed Brother.”

The crux of his argument is: “Passing expanded background checks would do nothing to curtail or suppress thugs or psychos from accessing weapons and committing mass murder, carjacking, the nightly shootouts in Chicago or a gangsta shooting at the Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans. Paroled thugs or bug-eyed psychotics could not care less about any gun laws.The bold and ugly reality is that they will always gain access to a weapon.”

Read more at Radio.com

Host Charlie Rose asked, “Can you imagine a revival of Creedence?” Fogerty responded that, on occasion, he’ll say something in the press referencing a reunion, and he’d immediately get negative feedback from his surviving former bandmates, bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford (the other member was Fogerty’s late brother, guitarist Tom Fogerty, who passed away in 1990).

Still, Fogerty said, “I think it’s a possibility in the future. It’s not something I’m actively seeking. But I’m not totally against the idea either. It just seems like I always hear that’s not going to happen.”

Fogerty is revisiting his past on his upcoming album, Wrote A Song For Everyone (out May 28), which sees him collaborating with a wide array of artists, including Foo Fighters, Jennifer Hudson and Alan Jackson, re-recording songs from his solo and CCR catalog. And Fogerty recently told Radio.com that he’s planning on doing full CCR album performances on his upcoming tour.

Related: 5 Things We Learned From John Fogerty’s Album Premiere Event

Read more at Radio.com

After opening with The Beatles’ “Eight Days A Week” (one of the songs being performed live for the first time on the Out There tour), McCartney told the audience, “I’m getting that old feeling like we’re gonna have a good party here tonight!” And he was right. The sold-out crowd was there to party, sing along, and be taken on a magical musical tour of the past 50 years.

McCartney’s seemingly simple stage set up evolved into a masterful display of video screens, specialty lighting, and during a bravura performance of “Live and Let Die” toward the end of the evening, arena warming pyrotechnics.

The present and past were both given equal attention by McCartney. In a set which found Paul putting down the guitar in favor of the piano, he performed both “My Valentine,” released last year and written for current wife Nancy, along with “Maybe I’m Amazed,” which was written for his deceased wife Linda after helping him get through the break-up of The Beatles.

His deceased Beatles bandmates found fitting tributes in the show as well. While raised approximately 20 feet above the stage on a lighted platform, McCartney launched into “Here Today,” the song he wrote for John Lennon after Lennon’s assassination, letting the song’s lyrics offer a heartfelt tribute.

“George was a great ukelele player,” McCartney later said as he pulled out a ukelele to begin George Harrison’s classic “Something,” accompanied by a photographic tribute to Harrison on the video monitors. “Let’s hear it for George!” He also shared an anecdote regarding Frank Sinatra, who had been said to have proclaimed that “Something” was his favorite Lennon/McCartney tune. Of course it was written by Harrison.

PHOTO GALLERY: Check out Sunny-FM’s photo gallery of Paul McCartney’s opening night. 

While fewer people seem to carry lighters these days, those who had them made sure to pull them out for both “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude,” the latter of which also had concertgoers finding themselves broadcast on the video monitors when caught by the roving Jude cam.

Although they go pretty much unsung throughout the show, McCartney’s band, consisting of Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Abe Laboriel Jr., and Paul Wickens, are truly incredible.

It’s a rare opportunity to be able to see this much modern musical history packed into three hours of stage time by a consumate musician who is still at the top of his game. This is one concert of the year not to be missed.

“Out There” Tour Opening Night Set List

-Brad Haynes, 1059 SUNNY FM/Orlando

Director Des MacAnuff, who brought “Tommy” to Broadway 20 years ago, is also behind this production.

Townshend says “Tommy” still means the same to him now as it did then. “Not a lot has changed. There’s still a sense that the family is in trouble, that the way religion operates is still in trouble, that the celebrity system is still in trouble and that all of these things…well, they’re all the same. There’s a poignancy to that. I think about my generation and think that it’s sad that things were as they were.”

“Tommy” premieres at the “Stratford Festival” on May 30th.  Stratford Ontario is only 150 miles from Detroit and makes a great weekend getaway.

You can review the performance dates and make reservations here.