#WhatsHappening for April 8, 2020

Ya know, even though my day job's production schedule is crawling, I sure am tired.

How's it goin' with you?

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Add John Prine's name to the ever-expanding list of COVID-19 victims. The Grammy-winning legend succumbed to complications yesterday.

He was 73.

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A Brooklyn judge has denied R. Kelly’s request for release from the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center due to the coronavirus pandemic, finding that he is not among the inmates most endangered by the disease.

Kelly is awaiting trial on acketeering, sexual misconduct and other charges in three jurisdictions. His attorneys sought his release citing his age, 53, and a recent surgery they claimed made him susceptible to the illness.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly denied the motion, saying Kelly was "in custody because of the risks that he will flee or attempt to obstruct, threaten or intimidate prospective witnesses. The defendant has not explained how those risks have changed."

My only comment? Good.

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Radiohead has announced they'll be sharing their concerts on YouTube on a weekly basis "until either the restrictions resulting from (the) current situation are eased, or we run out of shows."

In an Instagram post, the band said, since fans "have no choice whether or not you fancy a quiet night in, we hereby present the first of several LIVE SHOWS from the Radiohead Public Library now coming to Radiohead’s YouTube channel."

The first show will be the band's Live from a Tent in Dublin performance in 2000. It premieres tomorrow at 9PM. 

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BST Hyde Park has announced it will be cancelling its 2020 edition, due to be held this July with Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, ‎Pearl Jam, ‎and Duran Duran performing.

Organizers posted to Twitter today that "It is with great sadness that we have made the difficult decision to cancel BST Hyde Park 2020."

"This would have been the 8th year of this event and we were looking forward to putting on amazing, unique shows for hundreds of thousands of fans in the world’s greatest outdoor venue. But safety always comes first."

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While many festivals are being cancelled, Farm Aid will go on. AXS TV will bring the annual fundraising performance to fans this Saturday at 8 with Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews performing from their homes.

At Home with Farm Aid will air on the cable network, its social media platforms, and on farmaid.org. It will be hosted by Nelson along with his sons Lukas and Micah.

The show, of course, is a benefit for family farmers, and will feature a special emphasis on how the coronavirus crisis is affecting independent growers during the pandemic.

"The coronavirus has disrupted our entire country and is a grave threat to all of us," Nelson said in a statement released by the organization. "One of its many impacts is that it has helped us to better see the value of essential people like healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, delivery truck drivers, and farmers and ranchers. Farm Aid has worked for 35 years to build a family farm centered agricultural system, and we are here now to support farmers and ranchers in this crisis, without whom we could not eat. The time to build a resilient family farm food system is now."

AXS will also have The Best of Farm Aid 2019 Sunday night, with a two-and-a-half-hour special including performances by Yola, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Tanya Tucker, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, and Bonnie Raitt.

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A federal judge has thrown out the suit claiming that Josh Groban's 2003 song You Raise Me Up was based on an the 1977 Icelandic Soknudur. Johann Helgason filed the suit and hired Judith Finell- the expert musicologist who testified for Marvin Gaye's family in the Blurred Lines copyright case against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke.

The ruling, from U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte, found Finell’s findings unreliable, writing they failed "to describe reliable principles and methodology, fail to apply such principles and methodology to the facts, and fail to properly apply the extrinsic test, rendering the Reports unreliable, unhelpful, and inadmissible."

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Birthdays today include: J.J. Jackson (79); Roger "Chappo" Chapman (78); Steve Howe of Yes (73); Brenda Russel (71); Mel Schacher of Grand Funk Railroad (69); John Schneider (60); Izzy Stradlin (58); Julian Lennon (57); Donita Sparks of L7 (57); Biz Markie (56); and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend (36). #MusicalBirthdays