Remember those flying pigs from old Pink Floyd concerts? The first time Roger Waters used one was for a photo shoot for the Floyd's Animals album in 1976. They had a marksman on hand to shoot down the 40 foot inflatable pig just in case it broke free.
Nobody told the guy to come back the next day when the flying pig actually did break free due to a strong gust of wind. Airplane flights at Heathrow airport were cancelled when the pig was spotted at 40,000 feet.
Well, it just happened again.
During Roger Waters' performance at last weekend's Coachella Music Festival one of his giant inflatable pigs became untethered and floated away into the California desert. Waters wants it back. A $10,000 cash reward and four lifetime passes to Coachella will be given to whoever tracks down the wayward porcine dirigible.
Little known fact - After Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, he retained the copyright of the original design of the pig and he demanded $800 for every time the remaining members of Pink Floyd appeared with the pig. Not wanting to pay that, they changed the pig's sex, adding testicles.
4/28/08 CUTTING EDGE AUCTION
U2 guitarist the Edge is hosting the 2008 Icons of Music Sale coming up on May 31 in New York to benefit Music Rising, the Hurricane Katrina-relief charity he co-founded.
The auction will feature rare memorabilia from U2, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Metallica, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and many other acts.
Said the Edge, "There's something powerful about musicians giving instruments they own to an auction to aid musicians who are going through a particularly difficult time."
Some of the goodies up for grabs include a leather jacket worn by the Edge on the Zoo TV Tour in 1992 (est. $6,000), a Jimmy Page 2008 Gibson Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue in a "lemon burst" finish personalized to the winning bidder (est. $4,000), Bono's Bullet leather jacket worn on the Vertigo Tour 2005 (est. $6,000) and Pete Townshend's 1967 Monterey Pop Festival concert used Maestro fuzz pedal (est. $2,000).
Meanwhile, the Edge says U2 finally are "starting to get serious" about recording their next album.
4/24/08 TAKE YOUR PICK
4/22/08 LOL!!
Guns N' Roses report in an online post that they are "in negotiations for the release of Chinese Democracy and things are going well."
4/21/08 WANNA BE A ROCK STAR?
Velvet Revolver says they dumped Scott Weiland as their lead singer - he says he quit. Either way, VR needs a new frontman and they're headed to the internets to find one.
Guitarist Slash says Velvet Revolver are in the process of creating a website to help in the search and that it should be up "in the next month or so."
In addition, he says that Revolver have an upcoming gig in Las Vegas - booked prior to Scott Weiland's departure - that will feature guest vocals from various friends of the band.
"I'm not gonna name any names, but a bunch of well-known people will get up and sing some songs, and then also bring up a couple people that we think are pretty good and might sing a couple songs," he says. "So it'd just be for fun."
Hey guys - don't forget YouTube - it worked for Journey.
4/16/08 CRÜE FEST - CRÜE FEAST
Hey, remember that L.A. press conference where we were going to send one of you Boneheads to cover the announcement of "one of the biggest rock tours of the summer"?
Josh Watts of Vallejo was our designated Bonehead winner and he was there yesterday for the big announcement that Motley Crüe, the world's most notorious rock band, will bring a bunch of cool new bands out on the road with them for Crue Fest '08, promising "the loudest show on Earth."
Those bands are: Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Sixx:A.M. and the Bay Area's own Trapt. Meanwhile, the Crüe will release their next album, Saints of Los Angeles, on June 17.
The date we really care about though, is August 6th - that's when Crue Fest '08 arrives in the Bay Area for a humongous Bone show at Shoreline in Mountain View.
Click on the pic below to see a video excerpt of Josh's interview and click on the video link below that to see highlights of the press event!
4/15/08 DAVE SAYS
22 years ago, Dave Navarro became the lead guitarist of Jane's Addiction. Seven years later, he found himself playing guitar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Woodstock '94, where he and the rest of the band wore giant fake lightbulbs on their heads and one-piece silver suits.
Since then, Jane's Addiction have reunited three times, and they might just do it again.
With three-quarters of Jane's getting together on April 23 to accept what is known as a "Godlike Genius" honor at the first U.S. New Musical Express Awards, Dave Navarro now apparently is suggesting that a reunion is brewing.
"We have been getting along great and are moving forward with our personal and musical relationships," Navarro writes online. "We are all very happy with how things are evolving!"
Apparently a lightbulb somewhere in Southern California has been turned back on.
4/14/08 IT'S A LONG WAY TO THE STUDIO (IF YOU WANNA ROCK 'N' ROLL)
Once again deeply placed moles in the music biz have informed The Seaweed Page that our Australian friends, AC/DC, are indeed in the recording studio at this very moment working on their first album in eight years.
Exactly where they are recording we cannot tell you, but with whom, we can. One of the hottest producers of the 90's and beyond, Brendan O'Brien, is in charge of the new DC record.
This guy has credentials a mile long - Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, The Offspring, Papa Roach, Audioslave, Velvet Revolver. You get the idea.
Wherever AC/DC are, they have convened from the fartherest corners of the globe. Nowadays Malcolm and Angus Young split their time between England and Australia (with Angus also spending time in the Netherlands because he has a Dutch wife). Singer Brian Johnson and bassist Cliff Williams are based in the U.S., while drummer Phil Rudd lives in New Zealand.
4/10,11,12 LIVE FROM CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OAKLAND!
4/9/08 PILOTING A REUNION CRUISE
As we've been hinting here on The Seaweed Page for months now, Stone Temple Pilots have now officially announced their return from the dead. The announcement came Monday in Los Angeles where they played a seven-song gig.
"We're back together and we're going on tour this summer," Weiland said. You can look for the group to arrive on our shores Friday night, July 25th for a big Bone show at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. After the tour, STP plans to hit the recording studio to record a new album.
The always eloquent Scott Weiland told the crowd on Monday, "It's just a hand job tonight," before giving them one final song, Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart.
One more trip and I'll be gone - Scott Weiland, 1996
4/7/08 STONES TO GATHER MOSS
With Keith Richards' recent announcement that the Rolling Stones may take "a year or so" off after they finish promoting their new Shine a Light concert film, comes a very intriguing proposition - Stones' guitarist Ronnie Wood reunites with his old mate Rod Stewart to reform their old band, The Faces.
In the first half of the 1970s, these guys were huge. The Faces released four studio albums and they were among the top-grossing live acts of the day. You've heard Stay With Me with Rod Stewart on vocals - that's the Faces.
Actually, they used to be called the Small Faces, but they dropped the "small" when Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined the group - apparently those two were way taller than the other three, and wouldn't somebody look stupid if they left the "small" in there.
Ron Wood said it just the other day: "Yeah, I have heard rumours about us reuniting. There just aren't enough hours in the day are there? We'd love to do it if we could, yeah. It could happen."
Might as well face it......
4/5/08 INITIATION RITES
It was my first time ever, And I'll never forget. I'd do it again Without a single regret.
The sky was dark, The moon was high, We were all alone: Just she and I.
Her hair was soft, Her eyes were blue, I knew just what She wanted to do.
Her skin so soft, Her legs so fine, I ran my fingers Down her spine.
I didn't know how But I tried my best, I started by placing My hands on her breast.
I remember my fear, My fast beating heart, But slowly she spread Her legs apart.
And when I did it, I felt no shame; All at once The white stuff came.
At last it's finished, It's all over now. My first time ever At milking a cow...
4/4/08 NEW ARROWS IN THE QUIVER
As our Canadian friends Rush begin the second leg of their wildly popular Snakes & Arrows tour a week from today in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we have just received word that the lads hope to begin work on a new record next year.
According to our careful calculations, that would be their 19th studio album, although after a little post-tour va-ca, Rush probably won’t be ready to work on any new material until the spring of next year.
Also, you might want to take a small portion of that tax rebate check and purchase Snakes & Arrows Live which comes out on tax day, April 15. The new CD will feature some special treats like live performances of Circumstances and Entre Nous which had not been performed live previous to last year.
Later on in the year, a DVD will be available from the same show in Rotterdam where the material for the CD was recorded. The video footage was shot in HD, which is good news for HD fanatics who need those extreme close-ups of Geddy Lee's handsome face.
4/3/08 NEW PILOT NEEDED FOR VELVETS
With Velvet Revolver's acknowledgement that singer Scott Weiland is no longer in the group due to, "among other things, his increasingly erratic onstage behavior and personal problems," Mr. Weiland responded, "I find it humorous that the so-called four 'founding members' of Velvet Revolver would decide to move on without me after I had already claimed the group dead in the water on March 20 in Glasgow."
Apparently the reunion of Weiland's former group, Stone Temple Pilots, is on for this summer. "I choose to look forward to the future and performing with a group of friends I have known my entire life. This also speaks to my commitment to the fans who I feel would much rather watch a group of musicians who enjoy being together as opposed to a handful of discontents who at one time used to call themselves a gang," says the disgruntled former VR frontman.
Who will the new Velvet Revolver singer be? We hear Axl Rose is available.
4/1/08 SMOKIN' HAPPY
At least Keith Richards remembered to show up for the world premiere of the new Stones flick, Shine A Light, Sunday night.
Nowadays, the man doesn't seem to remember much. "I can't even remember yesterday," admits Richards. "I'm trying to put together an autobiography and it's (barely) coming along."
How could that possibly be?
"I smoke my head off," Keith told Britain's Daily Mail. "I smoke weed all the damn time."
107-7 TheBone presents the San Francisco premier of Shine A Light tonight at the IMAX Theatre at the Metreon here in S.F.
