Tuesday Rock Roundup 905

Aerosmith and Motley Crue begin their Route of All Evil Tour tonight in Columbus. Ohio. This is Aerosmith's first outing since earlier this year, when they ended a tour with Cheap Trick after Steven Tyler was ordered to undergo throat surgery. However, they'll do the first month of the tour without bassist Tom Hamilton, who was recently treated for throat cancer. He is being replaced by David Hull, who used to play in The Joe Perry Project. Crue Bassist Nikki Sixx calls this tour "a dream come true" on his blog.

Freddie Mercury, the flamboyant singer of Queen, would have celebrated his 60th birthday today. He was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar. His parents were Persian, although his father worked for the government of Britain, where the family moved in 1964, when Freddie was 18. One of rock's greatest voices and showmen, Mercury died of complications from AIDS on November 24th, 1991. He will be remembered tonight in London at a special production of the Queen musical, We Will Rock You.

Gene Simmons died last week, but it was the rockabilly singer, not the KISS bassist who adopted the same name. He says, "I am alive and well, thank you. In fact, they have to drag me kicking and screaming. I ain't going anywhere."

New CDs Today:

Nothing really, except the new Iron Maiden called A Matter Of Life And Death, which as a fan I hope is better than the last one. The band is showing it's age, but they're still fun.

The new Elton John comes out in one week.

New DVDs Today:

The docudrama United 93

Lost Season II

Fraggle Rock Season II

Oz Season VI

The Office Season II

And new versions of the first Star Wars Trilogy that lets you switch between the original and the remastered versions of each flick.