Odds & Ends: Missy Elliott, Blue Öyster Cult, Matt Pryor

Elliott will perform Aug. 25 at KCON when she is featured in the first U.S. taping of the K-Pop countdown show “M Countdown.”  

KCON, which is scheduled Aug. 24-25 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, is described as “the first ever large-scale convention dedicated to ‘All Things Hallya.’” For those of us who haven’t caught the K-Pop bug yet, Hallyu is otherwise known as the flow and spread of South Korean culture.

EXO, f(x), 2AM, Teen Top, Dynamic Duo and G-Dragon will also take part in the “M Countdown” taping, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The newspaper points out that Elliott announced earlier this year that she will be a special guest on G-Dragon’s new album. The singer/rapper/producer is the frontman for the popular K-Pop act Big Bang.  

More than 10,000 fans attended last year’s debut of KCON.

For more information visit KConUSA.com.

With a statement referencing the band’s 1976 hit song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” Blue Öyster Cult announced Wednesday that keyboardist and guitarist Allen Lanier had died.

The musician helped found the rock band in 1967, at which time the group was originally known as Soft White Underbelly.

Blue Öyster Cult says that Lanier “succumbed to complications from C.O.P.D.” According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the leading cause of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is cigarette smoking.  

After retiring from touring in 2006, Lanier reunited with his bandmates in November 2012 for the 40th anniversary show in New York. The band notes this was his final appearance.

Blue Öyster Cult’s statement ended with a note to Lanier: “DFTR sweet man. We love you and miss you.”

Lanier is survived by his wife, sister, and mother.

The Get Up Kids’ Matt Pryor will help remember a “huge fan” on Saturday with a performance in the band’s hometown of Kansas City.

The Chad Rogers Memorial benefit concert will take place at The Midland By AMC. In addition to Pryor’s solo acoustic set, the lineup features Jake Turner, the Old Crows, Atlas, We Are Voices, Six Percent and Beautiful Bodies.

All proceeds go to the Chad Rogers Memorial Fund for his 13-month-old son, according to the Kansas City Star. 

Rogers’ body was found inside a portable toilet at a construction site in Liberty, Mo., July 26 after he vanished July 22. The paper reports that “authorities said there were no external signs that foul play was involved in the death of the 30-year-old avid jogger and former church youth director.”