Quick quips: Ian Anderson, New Order, Nikolas Ashford, David Bowie, Sonny & Cher, Barbra Streisand, John Mellencamp

Ian Anderson will be playing Thick As a Brick in its entirety during a 2012 tour to celebrate the album's 40th anniversary. Anderson said that the tour would be "a more theatrical production with video, additional musicians and a troupe of dancing elephants. (Just kidding about the dancing elephants: they don't dance…)"
Look for the shows to start in mid-April in the U.K., move to Europe for the late-spring and summer and end in the U.S. in the fall.


Peter Hook told the site Slicing Up Eyeballs that New Order will be releasing seven songs left over from the sessions for their 2005 album Waiting For the Sirens' Call. The former band members are currently discussing the format for the release.


The memorial service was held on Monday for Nikolas Ashford at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. Among those paying tribute in song were Roberta Flack (Fields of Gold/The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face), Ryan Shaw (I Am Your Man), Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and Valerie Simpson, and Freddie Jackson and Alyson Williams (Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Reach Out and Touch).


David Bowie's Space Oddity has been turned into a children's book by Andrew Kolb. You can see the book at http://kolbisneat.com/.


Chaz Bono (born Chastity Bono), the son of Cher and Sonny Bono, will be one of the contestants on this season's Dancing With the Stars.


Projections from the site Hits Daily Double shows Barbara Streisand opening at number 4 this week with her album What Matters Most selling about 71,000 copies.


Songwriter George Green, who composed such tunes as Hurt's So Good, Human Wheels, Crumblin' Down and Key West Intermezzo with John Mellencamp, has passed away from cancer at the age of 59.