Talk about the odd couple. Elton John, the flamboyant English singer and pianist who reworked his ode to Marilyn Monroe “Candle In The Wind” after Princess Diana died, has recorded an album with Leon Russell entitled “The Union.”

Leon Russell is best known for being a session guy and sideman for some of the most iconic musicians in the world (The Rolling Stones, Glen Campbell, Bob Dylan, The Band, Frank Sinatra, Tijuana Brass, Badfinger, Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Doris Day, Ringo Starr, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison, Jerry Lee Lewis and more). The legendary, Grammy award winning producer T Bone Burnett produced the album.

Cameron Crowe, a confirmed music nerd and director of “Almost Famous” was there, following the duo while they were recording the set and made a documentary that also is named “The Union.” The documentary has been snagged by HBO and will premiere in January 2012. The documentary also premiered at Tribeca Film Festival this year on opening night.

Elton John was very psyched. He said, I’m a big HBO fan due to their extraordinary programming. I’m very excited they will be broadcasting “The Union.”

Sir Elton John and his new show called the Million Dollar Piano are returning for a residency of three years at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

In September John will return to the Colosseum inside Caesars Palace, which follows his run of five years with his Red Piano show at the hotel that wrapped up in April 2009.

The venue was described by John as being an idyllic, perfect place for playing music and promised fans a gargantuan music feast.

On April 25 tickets will be going on sale for John’s first sixteen concerts.

The show will launch on September 28. John says it was named after a fantastic piano that he will be using. For four years instrument designers have been working on the piano.

Currently Elton John is touring North America. European dates will start on May 24. On June 5 a series of UK dates will kick off from Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

Sir Elton John will be taking his flamboyant performance to television on April 2 as he hosts and performs as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. It is interesting to note that Elton John will be lumped together with the likes of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake as one of a select group of people who have both hosted and been the musical guest on the same episode.

John probably won’t be singing his famous song, “Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting” since he is going to be sharing the SNL stage with his current musical partner, Leon Russell. They are working together to promote The Union, a project they are currently working on together. John has only performed on SNL two times since 1982. His upcoming performance as host could be terrible, but it might also be incredible. Think about when John McCain was the host of the show and he was simply side-splitting funny. John could turn out to be the same way. However, McCain has never performed crazy songs with Muppets. Nor has he ever been bedecked with rhinestones in quantities that would shock even Lady Gaga. No matter what happens, though, this is one SNL you don’t want to miss.

Elton John has dished some tough love out for Billy Joel, his longtime friend.

In an interview appearing in the latest Rolling Stone issue, John blasts Joel, his former touring partner. He cites Joel’s penchant for alcohol as the reason for the duo’s many canceled shows.

The 63 year old John told Contributing Editor of Rolling Stone Austin Scaggs, the bottom line is he’s coasting. I’m always saying, Billy can you write some new songs? It’s either laziness or fear. It’s upsetting to me.

John added, Billy is a conundrum. So many of our tours have been canceled due to illness and other various things like alcoholism.

The history of Joel’s struggle with alcohol is well known. In 2002 Joel entered a Connecticut psychiatric and substance abuse center to help him kick the habit. Then just three years later Joel spent thirty days at the Betty Ford Center to treat alcohol related problems.

Elton John has done rehab time as well. He criticized the previous attempts of the Piano Man’s to get sober.

John added, he will hate me for saying this, but each time Billy has gone into rehab they have been light. When I went they made me clean the floors. Billy goes to rehab at places where there are TVs. Billy, I love you. This is my tough love.

In spite of the blatant honesty from John, it doesn’t appear that any love has been lost between these two longtime friends.

Joel said Elton and I have worked together for a very long time. I enjoy our relationship far too much to allow something like this comments change how I feel about him. It’s just Elton being Elton.

Since late of last year, Elton John has been laying down the details of his upcoming 2011 North American tour. And up until this month, the pop icon continues to stretch the slate till early May.

Among the new additions to the itinerary are Billings, MT; Bismarck, ND; and Spokane, WA. Venues in these cities are more intimate compared to larger sized arenas that have been initially announced as part of the leg which opens on Valentine’s Day with a two-nighter in Victoria, BC. The leg also features another two-nighter in Kahului, HI on February 24 and 25. The leg will close on May 6 with a show in Duluth, MN.

John will also be digging deep trough the European market in the summer beginning on May 24 in Lievin, France. The European leg will also feature a two-night stand in Cardiff, Wales on June 8 and 9, a solo show at the Isle of Man on June 16, and multiple stops in Germany from June 14 to 23, which make up the bulk of the tour. The leg will close on July 5 in Budva, Montenegro when the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer performs for the City Theater Festival.

John’s North American and European tours back up his new release, “The Union”, produced by T Bone Burnett and co-recorded with pianist and close friend, Leon Russell.

Elton John had added a few shows to his itinerary for North America.  Five additional stops have been added to his February and March outing.

Newly added shows include dates for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Uncasville, CT; Maui, HI; and Reno, NV.  In total, John is now scheduled to perform concerts in nine cities in North America.

John will be opening his 2011 touring schedule with several European concerts in January and February with Ray Cooper, the percussionist.  All of John’s shows in North America will feature his full band.

John’s schedule in June will include dates in Germany, Ireland and the U.K.  They will all include his full band.  John will also stop at the Isle of Man for a solo appearance.

The last album from Elton John is “The Union.”  The set was produced by T. Bone Burnett and recorded with Leon Russell fellow iconic pianist and old friend.

It is a very happy Christmas for iconic hit maker Elton John and his life partner David Furnish as they welcome their first son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John on Christmas Day.

The baby, who was born thanks to a surrogate in California, weighs over 7 lbs and is 22 inches in length.  The couple has been trying to adopt a Ukranian child last year but was hampered because of certain provisions in the Ukranian law about adoptions.  Furnish and John are recognized as civil partners by the British law since December 2005.

Meanwhile, John would have to dabble between his parental duties and his performing duties come late January next year when he goes back on the road with famous percussionist Ray Cooper beginning with a show in Lievin, France on January 26 followed by a show at the Royal Opera House in England on January 28.  More European stops are set for February and June 2011.  The singer will also be performing in the US on March including a two-nighter in NYC’s Madison Square Garden on March 16 and 20, 2011.

Elton John’s tour for 2011, at least for the first half of the year, initially had European stops written all over it, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has added a few North American stops to his itinerary with dates scattered between February and March.

For his US and Canadian leg, John will first perform a Valentine show in Victoria, BC for two nights on February 14 and 15, which also marks the singer’s lone Canadian stop.  The two-nighter will be followed by the singer’s lone west coast stop in the US in Eugene, OR on February 17.  John will be finishing up his short North American jaunt with a show in Worcester, MA on March 12, and two nights at the Madison Square Garden in NYC on March 16 and 20.

The singer’s initially announced tour across Europe and his native UK, including a stop at the Isle of Man, will push through as planned.  In late January, John will be hitting France and England while early February will have him perform in Geneva and again in France for two dates, February 4 in Dijon and February 5 in Strasbourg.  All these shows will feature percussionist Ray Cooper as special guest.

June will have the singer crisscross between the UK, Isle of Man, Germany and Ireland.  The leg, along with the aforementioned dates, still serves to support the performer’s current release, “The Union”, produced by T Bone Burnett and co-recorded with pianist and long-time friend, Leon Russell.

Elton John is scheduled to be a newspaper editor.  He will guest edit The Independent’s December 1 issue.

The singer will be in charge of the UK publication’s special issue on World Aids Day.  Circulation revenue profits will go to Elton John Aids Foundation.

John said, being invited to be the guest editor for The Independent was thrilling for me.  I really look forward to my days spent in the editor chair.  I’ve very happy to get this opportunity to put this topic of AIDS on the top of The Independent’s editorial agenda.

After appearing on stage together for more than a couple of times and having garnered mutual respect for each other’s musical perspective, not to mention that both are openly gay, Lady Gaga and Elton John will finally team up on a single that is set to be included in the OST of the upcoming Disney film, “Gnomeo & Juliet”.

The track, entitled “Hello, Hello”, will be played in the movie when the two leads – “Gnomeo” and “Juliet” – voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, respectively, make their first contact.

The Disney side project is not the first for the award winning British pop icon.  John has laid out songs for previous Disney releases such as “The Road to El Dorado”  and “The Lion King”, where the song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” was featured.  John also produced the new Disney film feature alongside life partner David Furnish.  As for the pop-dance diva, “Hello, Hello” is her very first film soundtrack gig.  The movie is currently scheduled for a February 11, 2011 release.

Meanwhile, Elton John has nothing but praises for Gaga’s third and newest release “Born This Way”, even calling the album’s title track as the “new gay anthem” which can put Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” finally to rest as the longstanding gay theme for decades according to him.  “Actually, it’s not a gay anthem – it can apply to anybody”, the British icon adds.