2/28/08
GLAD IT'S OVER?
Unfortunately another obituary today.
Mike Smith, lead singer of the mid-60's British Invasion group, The Dave Clark Five, died today at his home in London.
Glad All Over was the DC5's biggest hit, and they made a record-setting 18 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Mike had been having a rough go of late. In 2003, his son was killed in a pool diving accident, then a couple of months later he was involved in a fall at his home in Spain, which caused severe injury to his spinal cord, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Following four years of treatment, Mike Smith was released from the hospital on his 64th birthday, December 6, 2007. He passed away today in a London hospital from a chest infection due to pneumonia.
Sadly, The Dave Clark Five will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ten days.
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2/27/08
JIMI'S BEST BUDDY JOINS HIM
Sorry to report that legendary drummer Buddy Miles has passed away at the age of 61, probably from congestive heart failure. I'll always remember Buddy with that giant afro and sequined outfits, always wearing a big smile.
Buddy Miles is perhaps best known for his work with Jimi Hendrix in A Band of Gypsys, but he also played on the hugely influential Electric Ladyland album. Thats Buddy on Rainy Day, Dream Away and Still Raining, Still Dreaming, which are actually one song.
And how can you forget the California Raisins claymation ad campaign? Buddy did the vocals on I Heard It Through the Grapevine.
Buddy Miles passed away yesterday.
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2/26/08
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony will take place at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel on March 10, to be broadcast live on VH1 Classic. We know who's getting inducted - now we know who's presenting the inductees.
Among them - John Fogerty, Lou Reed, and Billy Joel. Fogerty will intro legendary surf-rockers, The Ventures, Lou Reed will do folkie Leonard Cohen, and Billy Joel does the John Mellencamp presentation.
If anybody is interested, Justin Timberlake will induct Madonna into the Rock Hall. There's definetly something going on with these two. He's all over her upcoming album, and she sang Happy Birthday and presented him with a cupcake and champagne for his 27th b'day last month.
Just sayin'.
Other presenters include Tom Hanks for the the Dave Clark Five (Glad All Over). Tom's credentials, by the way, are that he played the manager of a 60's group in the film That Thing You Do. Ben Harper will pay tribute to blues harmonica player Little Walter.
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2/25/08
JOURNEY JOURNEYS TO CHILE
Journey rocked out their first-ever concert with new singer Arnel Pineda last Thursday at Chile's Viqa del Mar International Song Festival. One of my Bonehead listeners, Humberto "El Chileno" saw the show and e-mailed me that "they were awsome men, Arnel Pineda have a similar voice like Steve perry.. they kick ass."
Journey will return to the US for a private event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 6, another concert in Vegas is scheduled for March 8, and will be recorded for DVD. Journey will tour Europe from May 24 through June 15, and the official US tour begins on July 4 and continues through the end of September. In the closing months of 2008, Journey plans to tour Japan, Australia, and the Philippines.
Journey and renowned producer Kevin Shirley recently finished mixing a new studio album due out in July, to coincide with the beginning of the US tour. In his online diary, Shirley described the recording sessions as "wonderful, successful, stupidly creative" and said that "Sometimes you just know when there's history in the making," adding, "I was stunned at Arnel, who is a monster vocalist. He is the real deal. Just phenomenal."
Mejores Mementos!
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2/19/08
AC/DC READY TO PLUG IN AGAIN
AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams says they start work on the follow-up to 2000's Stiff Upper Lip on March 1. "God I'm ready," says Cliff, who also indicated that he "fully expects" the boys to go out on tour in support of what will be their fifteenth album.
More deets here.
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2/20/08
THREE REASONS TO HANG OUT AT THE AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA BIKE RACE |
1.) YOU GET A GREETING LIKE THIS EVERYDAY
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2.) YOU MIGHT JUST GET A VISIT FROM THE QUEEN OF ALL THAT IS ROSE PETALS
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3.) WHEN THE GREAT ITALIAN SPRINTER MARIO CIPPOLINI COMES OUT OF RETIREMENT TO RACE IN THE GOLDEN STATE, YOU CAN MAKE HIM AN OFFER
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1/19/08
STOP IN THE NAME OF BARACK
Tom Scholz of Boston is a supporter of Democrat Barack Obama and he's pissed that Republican Mike Huckabee has been playing his song More Than a Feeling at campaign rallies and has even sent a letter telling him to stop, damnit!
"By using my song, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I’ve been ripped off, dude!" writes the embattled Scholz.
Throwing a little salt in the wound is ex-Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau who has performed the tune with Huckabee, who Tom Scholz calls "a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for."
I lost myself in a familiar song
-Tom Scholz, 1976
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2/18/08
WEEDMAN ROCKS AT AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA TIME TRIAL CHALLENGE |
2/15/08
AND THE TIGER WILL ROCK......
According to Van-Halen.com, the VH lads will perform at Tiger Woods' Tiger Jam XI benefit event, which will take place April 19 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The bash will raise money for the Tiger Woods Foundation which provides scholarships for kids.
The #1 golfer in the world revealed that "Van Halen is one of my favorite bands, and I can't wait to see them perform on the Tiger Jam stage."
Tickets will go on sale tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. at Mandalaybay.com or Ticketmaster.com, starting at $125.
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2/14/08
TRIFECTA OF FAME
Scarlett Johansson, Tom Waits, and David Bowie - what do these three names have in common?
Actress Scarlett Johansson, the leading lady in Bob Dylan's music video for When the Deal Goes Down, and the leading lady in a Justin Timberlake's video, and the leading lady in a Barack Obama campaign video, has recorded an album of Tom Waits covers.
Tom Waits is a big favorite of mine. The man has a very distinctive voice, described as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car." His 70's albums are legendary.
And David Bowie? Scarlett Johansson found herself sitting next to him at a party. There was an invite for Bowie to come and be on her album. He never made it, but while Scarlett was filming a movie in Spain, she got a call saying that David Bowie had just dropped by during mixing and cut vocals for a couple of tracks. "It was the best phone call I ever got," Johansson says.
The album arrives in May.
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2/13/08
HIT ME WITH A SOAP ALERT
Pat Benatar and her guitar-playing/producer husband, Neil Giraldo, will appear on two episodes of CBS' The Young and the Restless this week.
The lovely rock couple are set to play themselves on the shows, which will air tomorrow and Friday. Benatar and Giraldo will be performing their song Every Time I Fall Back, from 1993.
When asked if they actually watched The Young and the Restless, he said, " Not that much," she said no, "Because we're always working, but we're happy to be on the No. 1-rated daytime show."
Fire away.
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2/12/08
THE FREEWHEELIN' 60'S
In his memoirs Bob Dylan described the woman clutching his arm on the cover of his 1963 album as "the most erotic thing I’d ever seen". He wrote: "Meeting her was like stepping into the tales of 1001 Arabian Nights. She had a smile that could light up a street, a particular kind of voluptuousness, a Rodin sculpture come to life."
That woman's name is Suze Rotolo and she might just be Dylan's first real girlfriend.
They met in the summer of 1961, in Greenwich Village in New York City. She was 17, he was 20. Her politics influenced much of Dylan's early songwriting.
Suze was also the subject of one of the most painful breakup songs ever written, Don't Think Twice, It's Allright, wherein Bob Dylan spitefully declares, "You just kinda wasted my precious time. But don't think twice, it's all right." Ouch.
Apparently we'll get her take on their relationship 45 years later. Suze Rotolo's memoirs, A Freewheelin’ Time, comes out in May and will attend to "the immensely creative and fertile years of the 1960s, just before the circus was in full swing and Bob Dylan became the anointed ringmaster."
He had an uncanny ability to complicate the obvious and sanctify the banal - just like a poet.
-Suze Rotolo, 2008
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2/11/08
ABRACADABRA
Bruce Springsteen's latest album is called Magic, and the man definetly had the magic touch last night at the 50th annual Grammy Awards, going three for four on the night. The Boss won for Best Rock Song and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for Radio Nowhere, and was also honored in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category, besting Satriani, Rush, Metallica, and Steve Vai.
Happy to report that the Beatles' Love album - the soundtrack to Cirque du Soleil's Fab Four-themed Vegas show - received two Grammy's (with Ringo in attendance), while other victorious classic-rock artists included the Eagles (with a country win!), Robert Plant (in the pop category), Eric Clapton and the Band's Levon Helm.
Also, the Foo Fighters beat out Ozzy for Best Hard Rock Performance (they also won Best Rock Album), Slayer took the Best Metal Performance Grammy, and Barack Obama beat out Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for Best Spoken Word Album......seriously.
You'll find the complete list of Grammy winners here.
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2/8/08
NOBODY LISTENS TO US
If they would have read The Seaweed Blog from three days ago, we wouldn't have had this problem. Several media outlets - including the Associated Press - reported this morning that the mighty Led Zeppelin would finally be playing here in the good old U.S. of A. at the Bonaroo Music and Arts Festival, held on a 700 acre farm south of Nashville, Tennessee.
Thing is, it's not happening.
The actual band booked for the festival is Lez Zeppelin, an all female Led Zeppelin tribute band.
John Paul Jones, Zeppelin bass player said right here on this page (scroll down) and we quote, "We have absolutely no idea of what we are going to be doing."
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2/7/08
SLOW DANCE
David L. Weatherford
1991
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.
Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask "How are you?", do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.
Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
'cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
it's like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life isn't a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over. |
2/6/08
BAD GIRL GONE BAD
Katie Rees is a former Miss Nevada. She was to compete in the Miss USA 2007 pageant but was dethroned following the release of pictures of her, semi-naked, intimately kissing another woman, and doing other dirty, filthy things at a Florida nightclub.
They won't leave the poor girl alone.
The disgraced beauty queen was arrested yesterday in Vegas for allegedly assaulting a police officer after a 3 AM traffic stop where "she became physically aggressive towards the officer."
Follow her downward photographic spiral to the booking room of the LVPD. |
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2/5/08
A REVOLUTIONARY QUOTE
Monday, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones was a guest performer at the 2008 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, held in London. Jones made a trophy presentation and played mandolin alongside the evening's Lifetime Achievement Award winner, renowned guitarist John Martyn. When asked about the possibility of a Zeppelin reunion tour, John Paul Jones replied, "We have absolutely no idea of what we are going to be doing."
We'll take that as a yes.
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2/4/08
I WON'T BACK DOWN
I Won't Back Down was one of the songs that Tom Petty played yesterday at the Super Bowl. It was also used as a campaign song in George W. Bush's 2000 presidential race. Petty found out and threatened to sue. Bush backed down immediately.
Tom Petty sang "I was born a rebel" back in the day. This was a guy you knew would stand up to the man. Petty's The Last DJ was a scathing attack on corporate greed inherent in the biz.
And now he's lip synching at the Superbowl??? Giving in to a giant corporation?
I got an e-mail from a guy named Mike that says it all - I wish there was something you could say that would make me feel better about Tom Petty lip syncing at the super bowl. I noticed right from the moment he opened his mouth. You know rock n roll is one of the few things I hold dear in life.. But to see one of my hero's, one of the few musicians left with integrity in this dreadful music industry is sick.......This a man who took on record companies who refused to give in and now this. And ya it is that big of a deal. For me and all his fans. 30 years of great music and on a stage like last night he became for a moment no better than any teen pop flavor to come along in the last decade. No better than Britney. Yes I will always love Petty but to me integrity and most importantly music has hit f-ing rock bottom.
Well I know, what's right; I got, just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground, and I won't, back down
Tom Petty, 1989
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2/2/08
DON'T TAZE THE STATION, BRO!
Austin, TX - (AS) - A 24-year-old volunteer at community radio station 91.7 FM KOOP took his music so seriously that he set fire to the station when it didn't play the songs on his playlist, Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Greg Nye said.
Paul Webster Feinstein has been charged with second-degree felony arson. If convicted, he could be sentenced to two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Feinstein told investigators during a six-hour interview Friday that he was "very unhappy" that the music he had picked for the Internet program overnight — when the station is off the air — had been changed, Nye said.
Andrew Dickens, the president of KOOP, said the dispute that Feinstein had with another volunteer was over what kind of music should be put into a digital library for the Internet program.
Feinstein liked jazz, and his program for the Internet was called "Mellow Down Easy," Dickens said.
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2/1/08
DR. MAY WILL ROCK YOU AGAIN
Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May, Ph.D, CBE announced that the band is working on a sequel to the wildly popular We Will Rock You stage musical which by the way, we saw twice in Vegas and loved.
Brian, who is almost finished recording a new Queen album with Paul Rodgers says that they're working really hard on the sequel. "Ben (Elton) has now finished the first draft of his script called We Will Rock You 2 and so will be the continuing adventures of Scaramouche and Galileo and that's a great challenge, you know. To achieve this once is incredible and we feel lucky, but if we could do it twice, then, you know, and with some new surprises, good fun."
The original version of We Will Rock You is still playing on stages in Great Britain, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan. A North American tour and a UK tour are currently in the works.
We Will Rock You was once performed by Queen with guest singer Axl Rose at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Nickelback did a version of the song as a bonus track through Wal-Mart, for their 2005 album All the Right Reasons.
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1/31/08
LISTENING TO THE BONE AGAIN, EH? |
1/30/08
SWEET DEAL
It's been a tough go lately for the Hershey Chocolate folks. The American Icon For All That Is Chocolate just announced a lousy 4th quarter, were down 30% on Wall Street, raised prices by 13%, and now people think their wildly popular Ice Breakers Pacs look too much like little bags of cocaine!
The candy is really a dissolvable pouch with a powdered sweetener inside, but the cops, who say "It glorifies the drug trade," are worried that somebody will mistake the packet for an illegal street drug.
Apparently not thinking this one through, Hershey CEO David J. West said the mints were not intended to resemble anything, and by the way, we're not going to sell them anymore.
Collectors take note - Ice Breakers Pacs remain on store shelves but are expected to be sold out early this year.
We're speculating that the Ice Breakers are on the right and the cocaine is on the left.
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1/29/08
WHEN THE LEAVES ARE FALLING ALL AROUND......
Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page said yesterday he was ready to take the band on a world tour after absolutely smoking last month's reunion concert in London. But it probably won't be before September.
"The amount of work we put into O2 was what you would normally put into a world tour anyway," Page said of the intense rehearsals.
Jimmy Page, who was in Japan to promote the new Zeppelin collection, Mothership, said the London concert was proof that Led Zeppelin can still kick ass. "It was instant in terms of chemistry."
Ok, lets go then.
Well, not so fast. Not until their singer gets off his side project with bluegrass musician, Allison Krauss. "Robert Plant has a parallel project and he is busy with that until September," Page said.
Ok, lets go in September then.
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1/28/08
THE AMERICAN STONEHENGE
Maybe you thought it was the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, where all those old Cadillacs are buried nose-first in the ground. No, nowadays The American Stonhenge is the Airstream Ranch, just west of Plant City, Florida, where a bunch of old Airstream trailers are also half-buried nose-first in the ground.
While the Cadillac Ranch is a statement about the paradoxical simultaneous American fascinations with both a sense of place and the mobility and freedom of the automobile, the guy who created the Airstream Ranch just wants to sell some RV's.
He's the same guy who painted advertising signs on the sides of cows and turned them loose in a pasture near his dealership. "It's art," said Frank Bates, the owner of Bates RV. "It's a fun thing," he said of his display. "I think it's cool."
"It's pretty hideous," said Michael O'Connor, 40, who lives on a narrow street that meanders through a rural neighborhood south of the trailers. "You can only dress up a pig so much."
Crazy talk.
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