#WhatsHappening for October 18, 2017

Happy hump day, dudes and dudettes. I can't be the only one who's pretty damned happy we're on the downhill side of the week, right?

You know what always make me go "what the fuck"? "Best of" lists. Like this one from udiscovermusic that purports to list The 50 Greatest Guitarists Ever.

No Prince. No Lindsey Buckingham, Les Paul, Jerry Reed, Jimmy Nolen, Garry Shider, Michael Hampton, Vince Gill, Larry Carlton, Peter Green, Steve Lukather, Steve Miller. Hell, I could probably come up with 50 guitarists that should be listed before some of the people listed in the top 10.  And they could come up with a single female guitarist? Nancy Wilson is a flat-out badass, and what about Orianthi? Or Bonnie Raitt, Big Mama Thornton, Mary Ford, Joni Mitchell?

Give me a break.

The judge in the lawsuit against Frank Ocean filed by his estranged father, Calvin Cooksey,  has ruled that Cooksey failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove defamation.

The evidence offered was a Tumblr post from Ocean where he recalled a childhood memory of being at a New Orleans restaurant with Cooksey when the latter called their transgender waitress an anti-gay slur, before dragging Ocean out of the restaurant because the waitress was "dirty."

Judge Steven Wilson ruled that Cooksey could not produce anyone who saw the post or believed it was about him, and that any claim for damages were "speculative."

You'd be smiling, too.

Sixty-eight year old Billy Joel and his wife Alexis are expecting the birth of their second child next month. The couple have a two year old, Della Rose, who was born shortly after their marriage ceremony.

It will be Joel's third child.

Gord Downie, front man of Canada's The Tragically Hip, died yesterday, 10 days ahead of the release of his solo album-  Introduce Yourself. Downie had been battling brain cancer. More here. 

Queens of the Stone Age have added more US dates to their Villains tour after selling out all of their North American shows. 
The additional shows begin in January in Victoria, BC and run through and February date in Los Angeles.

Birthdays today include: Ne-Yo (35); Baby Bash (42); Peter Svensson of Cardigans (43); Wynton Marsalis (56); Keith Knudsen of Doobie Brothers (65); Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon (68); Ronnie Bright of The Coasters (79). #MusicalBirthdays