Denny Laine, former member of the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney’s Wings, is apparently very ill.

His wife, Elizabeth, has set up a Go Fund Me page to raise $100,000.

Elizabeth says:

:For the past two months, he’s been in and out of the hospital concerning an illness in his lungs that developed after his short bout with COVID last year. He’s had multiple tests, X-rays and scans that are ongoing, along with three surgeries, most recently for a collapsed lung, which includes an inserted chest tube that is temporarily needed until his lung heals. He recently contracted a bacterial infection in his blood, which he is still battling, but seems to be under control.”

Denny Laine started with the Moody Blues in the 60s and had a massive hit with them called “Go Now.” In 1972 he joined Paul and Linda McCartney in Wings. He was an essential part of the group all through the 70s, especially on “Band on the Run.” He co-wrote several songs with McCartney including the monster hit, “Mull of Kintyre.”

It’s unclear why Denny doesn’t have enough money from royalties or isn’t on Medicare. But apparently he doesn’t. I would hope MusiCares would step in from the Recording Academy. But no one puts up a GoFundMe page unless they are desperate.

Elizabeth adds:

“The doctors have explained once he’s medically well, he will need several weeks of physical and occupational rehabilitation. Denny does not have medical insurance. The hospital has been working with us regarding this problem, but a rehabilitation center, along with the multiple lab work and specialists, will not. I’m asking for financial help to get Denny the medical care and recovery time he requires. It’s important he concentrates on healing during this time. Our goal is to have Gypsy Den home in time for his birthday, October 29. He wants to be able to play his guitar again, presently, he’s too weak.”

Rock guitars are back! So are melody, rhythm, and hooks. I also like actual singers.

If you’re listening to contemporary pop now — all the stuff thrown at us by the star making machinery — you’re missing out.

Here are a bunch of songs from new great albums. I like having the CDs, if only for my car. Yes, I’m a dinosaur, but one who likes to keep the phone and the music separated from each other.

Maybe you’ve never heard any of this before. The artists’ names sound familiar but they’re not on TikTok. These are new songs, old songs, great songs for a rainy weekend! (The Carly Simon comes from her new box set from Rhino.)

The numbers are in for this past week and they’re not good for Diddy.

Sean Combs’s first album since 2006 is a sales dud in a major way. “The Love Album: Off the Grid” sold just 30,000 copies in its debut week. It finished at number 16.

This is especially disappointing because the album has singles featuring Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Mary J Blige and many other stars. The Weeknd track, called “Another One of Me,” has failed to hit the top 20 on iTunes. The Bieber single has had no interest whatsoever, neither has Mary J.

The album is distributed by Universal Music through Motown but seems to have no marketing aside from Diddy posting on social media day and night.

Almost all the sales generated from the album were from streaming, which is interesting since the album has not made a dent on the streaming charts.

What makes this frustrating is that the tracks are all pretty good, If they’d been presented differently the album might have worked. But delivering it as a Diddy album with its crazy red cover and using Combs as the central attraction seems to have been off putting to the music loving public.

Here’s one of the tracks I really like: