#WhatsHappening for April 20, 2017

Hey kids- what's shaking?

I was pretty excited yesterday after reading that new music was coming from Prince- though I was also confused since I hadn't heard anything about a release through "official" channels.

Turns out that excitement was a tad premature. Just hours after the tracks were announced, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order requested by the late singer's estate and his recording studio Paisley Park.

George Ian Boxill, who had worked as an engineer at Paisley Park Studios, was set to release a six-song EP of previously unreleased Prince material, but the singer's estate filed suit to stop the release as soon as it was announced and seeks to have the masters turned over to them.

In addition granting the order to block the music, the judge in the case also ordered Boxill to "deliver all of the recordings acquired through his work with Paisley Park Enterprises, including original recordings, analog and digital copies and any derivative works."

Prince's estate says that Boxill signed a confidentiality agreement that Prince retained ownership of all work the two and further stipulated that Boxill "would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever."

Billboard reports that- in the year since his death- the Purple One's albums and songs have sold a combined 7.7 million copies in the U.S.- 2.3 million in traditional album sales, and 5.4 million from digital song downloads, and the bulk of the sales came between April 21 and May 19 of last year. 

For the full year, Prince was the top selling artist of the year- besting even the inexplicably popular Adele.

And, in a final bit of Prince news, the Revolution is reuniting and hitting the road for a tour that will double as a memorial for the late singer.

"We're taking it to the people who are grieving like we are, and letting them have a little bit of relief," guitarist Wendy Melvoin said yesterday. The group played three shows at First Avenue back in September and will kick of their spring dates with a show at Paisley Park tomorrow night. 

Tour stops include Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and wraps up in Seattle on July 15.

"We have the ability now to give 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."

"That intense run we had, all those years, it was starting to come apart at the seams, with personalities and under that kind of pressure, just like human beings do, and he just kind of made a decision," Bobby Z said. "And he wanted to move on as basically a solo artist with a backing band, no disrespect. But this was a band he was a very critical member of."

Sadly, the tour (so far) isn't coming to Atlanta.

The New York Times reports that Bill Murray is working a project called New Worlds that will feature the start singing and performing literary readings over chamber music.

Selections will include songs from Gershwin, West Side Story, and Stephen Foster- with readings from Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway, and Mark Twain.

A live show of the work will premiere at Festival Napa Valley on July 20, with a North American tour and album coming in August.

Guy Ritchie may have found his Genie. The Hollywood Reporter says Will Smith is in talks for the role in the live-action remake of Disney's 1992 animated film.

Smith had been in talks with Tim Burton about the live-action Dumbo movie, but a deal couldn't be reached because of scheduling. 

Ritchie is currently in a worldwide casting search for the film's two leads.

Birthdays today include: Carmen Electra; Stephen Marley of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers; Mikey Welsh of Weezer; Craig Frost of Grand Funk Railroad; Jimmy Winston of Small Faces; and Johnny Tillotson. #MusicalBirthdays