How can you resist? The thesis that earned Queen guitarist Brian May his Ph.D. in astronomy from London's Imperial College last year will be published on July 1st!
That's next Tuesday!!!
A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud details May's 30-year study of the phenomenon known as the (drum roll).......Zodiacal Light.
Luckily, The Seaweed Page has acquired a more detailed explanation as to what might be awaiting the reader as she or he opens the first of 224 pages....
"This thesis documents the building of a pressure-scanned Fabry-Perot Spectrometer, equipped with a photomultiplier and pulse-counting electronics, and its deployment at the Observatorio del Teide at Izaña in Tenerife, at an altitude of 7,700 feet (2,567 m), to record high-resolution spectra of the Zodiacal Light."
"I don't promise that this is light reading," May blogs on his site, obviously delighted to be holding a finished copy of the book, "It felt so good to see it, feel it, smell it ..... I had to kiss it !! ha ha! So my copy is a bit messy."
Yeah all that black hole-zodiac light stuff can make you giddy sometimes.
9-25-08
STOKING THE GN'R FIRES......AGAIN!
Former Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum says he's confident that most of his former group will get back together eventually, although he's not expecting to be one of them.
"For all I know, they are already having meetings about [reuniting]," the author of the Drum Licks and Tricks from the Rock n Roll Jungle DVD said, adding, "They could be in a bomb shelter, with Axl and Slash and Duff. And Izzy! Maybe Steven Adler - I don't know. I'd probably be the very, very, very last guy to get the call."
Hot Sorum gossip - After Zak Starkey left Oasis, Matt Sorum's name appeared on fan forums as a possible replacement.
6-24-08
ALBERT EINSTEIN, NO?
Now get up and walk away from your computer. Look....it's Jack Kennedy's girlfriend!
6-23-08
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE STAGE
Ted Nugent is set to play his landmark 6,000th live show in his hometown of Detroit on July 4th, as part of his ongoing Rolling Thunder '08 tour. "It is guaranteed to be the most emotional, sensual, grind fest so far," the always understated Gonzo God promises of the historic blowout gig.
And you thought his show at the Fillmore last week was historic? Sorry, that was only his 5,996th - Konocti on Saturday his 5,998th.
Finland will be the recipients of the 6,001st Ted Nugent extravaganza on July 7th, and just like the landmark Detroit show, the feeling in Helsinki "will be indescribable."
Stormtroopin' maybe even.
6-19-08
UP IN SMOKE
Lenny Kravitz said it was "A sign of respect," that he kept a joint that he shared with Mick Jagger for almost a year. Lenny, who, when he was recording Are You Gonna Go My Way, actually hired somebody just to roll joints for him, said he kept it as a tribute to Mick.
Apparently the celebrity reefer went up in smoke a year later after he ran out of dope. Kravitz told Croatian magazine Gloria: "We were performing on the same stage once, and he invited me to go to his place afterwards. We talked the entire night, and smoked marijuana. We shared a joint, and I kept the rest of it for almost a year. It was a sign of respect."
But he added: "At one point I had no grass at home, so I smoked the rest of the joint I shared with Jagger." Good choice. It was either that or get it bronzed.
Well now we're respected in society
-Jagger/Richards, 1978
6-18-08
PATIO PARTY ON THE INTERNETS
This coming Monday night, June 23rd, that little old band from Houston, Texas, ZZ Top, will stop by their hometown Hard Rock Cafe for a little internet party celebrating the world premiere of their Live From Texas DVD on Blu-ray.
The evening will be loaded with red carpet coverage, celebrity interviews, and back stage antics - and it's being webcasted live on the internet at 5 pm (our time) on Monday. Watch it here.
In other ZZ news, Uber-producer Rick Rubin has signed on to produce the next ZZ Top album, their first new record in five years.
Could be interesting. Rick Rubin has made some big records - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slayer, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, the new Metallica.
6-17-08
THE WHIZ QUIZ
The Whiz Quiz is a rite of passage for millions of workers, with over 40 million tests conducted every year. Just pee in the cup.
It even comes in 5 colors; white, tan, latino, brown and black. While many people actually prefer the old fashioned method of passing their drug test by actually not doing drugs, Judge Seaweed reminds you that, actually, drug testing is unconstitutional.
He's got the Constitution sitting in front of him and the 4th Amendment it says right here, prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. It's all about probable cause.
Furthermore, the fact that you have to agree to drug testing as a hiring condition doesn't make it any less wrong. Constitutional freedoms cannot be given away even with permission.
Ruling: If each before his own door swept, the village would be clean.
We were big fans of Tim Russert. Sunday morning?.....must be Meet the Press. I would always put off a bike ride until the show was over.
Tim was one of the few good men left on television, a medium dominated by misinformed freaks, lying politicians, and shovellers of s**t. Nobody was more fair or more objective or more hard-working than Tim Russert.
Yesterday's edition of Meet The Press opened with a shot of Mr. Russert’s empty chair, a chair from which he became the longest-sitting moderator of the longest-running show on television.
It was a truly moving tribute that ended with a montage of Russert’s favorite rocker, Bruce Springsteen, doing Thunder Road.
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
-Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen, 1975
6-13-08
USELESS ROCK TRIVIA
Despite all of the hits that they've had, The Who have never had a number one record in the UK or the US.
Alice Cooper was once elected Homecoming Queen for the University Of Houston.
While playing in front of a large lake at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London in 1970, Pink Floyd played so loud, a number of fish were killed.
Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses married Erin Everly, Don Everly's daughter. The marriage lasted 27 days.
Eric Clapton was born to an unwed mother and to shield him from the shame, Eric grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister.
Grand Funk Railroad took their name from a Michigan landmark, "The Grand Trunk Railroad".
Jimi Hendrix was thrown out of high school for holding the hand of a white girl in class.
Gene Simmons of KISS is a former elementary school teacher.
The Electric Light Orchestra has had twenty Top 40 Hits, but have never had a number one record.
Sonny and Cher were initially known as Caesar and Cleo.
Throughout their career, Ringo received far more fan mail than any of the other Beatles.
Fleetwood Mac's former guitarist, Lindsay Buckingham has a brother named Greg who won a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2003, once had a tryout with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 1958, the Esso Research Center reported that "tuning in rock & roll music on a car radio can cost a motorist money, because the rhythm can cause a driver to unconsciously jiggle the gas pedal, thus wasting fuel."
6-11-08
CYBER, BABY
As can happen in life, little Johnny will wonder, "Daddy, where did I come from?" Dad will say, "Ah, my son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!
Well, you see your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on AOL. Then I set up a date via e-mail with her, and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.
As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a blessed little popup appeared and said, ..... 'You've Got Male!'"
When you meet someone and you're attracted to them, it just means that your subconscious is attracted to their subconscious, subconsciously. So what we think of as chemistry is just two neuroses knowing that they are a perfect match.
-David Hyde Pierce to his movie wife, Meg Ryan in Sleepless In Seattle, 1993
6-10-08
AND THE BANK ACCOUNT WILL ROCK
The world wide Van Halen Reunion tour wrapped up in Grand Rapids, Michigan a week ago, and the group would like to thank you for spending your hard-earned cash on them.
"We send our thanks to the countless new and longtime fans that helped make this tour our most successful," said the three Van Halen's and one Lee Roth (Eddie, Alex, Wolfie & Diamond Dave)
The tour actually smashed the band's personal moneymaking record after grossing more than $93 million over 74 shows with more than a million people in attendance.
So naturally, they're not really stopping. The Seaweed Page has just gotten word that VH will perform at the legendary Québec City Summer Festival, said to be the largest outdoor arts festival in Canada.
With 400 shows and 1000 artists over 11 days (July 3-13), it has just gotten a little bigger with the Van Halen lads appearing on opening night.
6-9-08
NOBODY'S FOO BUT MINE
When Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters walked on stage at Wembley Stadium in London Saturday night, he announced to the assembled 86,000 Foo Fanatics (their biggest concert ever) that "Tonight this will be the show we are talking about for the next 20 years."
After rocking their way through 18 Foo Fighters classics, the band returned for an encore of Led Zeppelin's Rock & Roll and Ramble on with freakin' JIMMY PAGE AND JOHN PAUL JONES JOINING THEM ONSTAGE!
Introducing the pair, Grohl said: "Tonight playing here at Wembley Stadium is an honour and if we didn't take advantage of this opportunity we'd be crazy."
Foo's drummer Taylor Hawkins sang vocals on Rock And Roll while Dave Grohl did the same for Ramble On. As the band wrapped up the show with Best Of You Grohl was visibly overcome with emotion as he told the crowd: "Welcome to the greatest day of my whole entire life."
