twitstamp.com

follow Tommie on twitter

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tuesday Rock Roundup

Jimmy Page said yesterday that he'd love to take Zep out on the road. (Clickity) If Led Zeppelin does tour this year, it won't be until the fall at the earliest. Jimmy Page, in Tokyo yesterday to promote Zeppelin's latest best-of, Mothership, says, "Robert Plant has a parallel project and he is busy with that until September." He is on tour this year with Alison Krauss. As for their reunion last month, which featured Jason Bonham on drums, Page says, "The amount of work we put into it was what you would normally put into a world tour anyway... We wanted people who might not have even been alive in 1980 when we finished to understand what we were... The show was great. It was instant in terms of chemistry." Jason Bonham had this to say: (audio)

Is this the year Neil Young finally releases his long-awaited Archives series? He tells Billboard that the hold-up has been over which format to release it on. "I know it's in technical production now," says Young, who adds that "it's only coming out on Blu-ray and D-V-D. There won't be C-Ds. Technology has caught up to what the concept was in the first place [and] how we're able to actually present it. But there's no doubt it will come out this year."

Former Styx singer and keyboard player Dennis DeYoung has a new record deal for his latest album, 100 Years From Now. He writes on his website that it will be out on Rounder Records. "The record business is in such a state of flux that quite frankly I'm gratified that [the label] has belief in me..."

Jefferson Starship has embarked on what the band calls "a new Jefferson era." A website message says the band Paul Kantner "created 16 years ago today, is new again." Diana Mangano, lead vocalist for the past 11 years, will be leaving the band after their February shows in Sonoma, California as will drummer Prairie Prince. Donny Baldwin, who has worked with the band the last couple of years, becomes the new lead percussionist. The new Starship singer, Cathy Richardson, will make her debut March 20th in St. Louis.

Joe Perry says Aerosmith will resume work on their next album in the spring. He tells the Boston Herald, "We owe Columbia one more record and we're going to probably finish that this year. After that, I don't know how we'll release music. I like the I-Tunes and Internet releases. I may just want to release Aerosmith's songs or E-Ps online after this. There's so many ways to do things now." Aerosmith's last studio album was 2004's Honkin' on Bobo.

The creative team that put together the Beatles-inspired musical film Across the Universe is about to begin work on a project that will use the songs of The Rolling Stones. The animated flick, Ruby Tuesday, will tell the story of a single mother named "Ruby" who seeks happiness in New York City. Co-producer Ian Le Frenais tells Variety, "We're going to use a lot of computer-generated images... It will be some pretty hip animation."

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Junior will hit the road again for another round of dates on their Rowdy Frynds Tour. They first launched the tour last year, which primarily plays on Friday and Saturday nights. This year's tour starts up April 4th in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Our closest date so far is two weeks later in Chicago at the Sears Center.

The Eagles have FINALLY made up their minds about the road and, predictably, will tour North America this summer. They have announced the first date, May 14th at the brand new Verizon Wireless Amphitheater nearAtlanta, Georgia.

Journey will reinvent themselves as a virtual band on February 1st when they launch a "Virtual Island" on the popular Second Life website. They're throwing a virtual grand opening party at the "Journey Rock Band" sim and will feature a meet-and-greet with virtual band members. Live D-Js will be spinning many of Journey's classic hits, both live and recorded. The festivities get under way at 10:00 am on Friday. Journey will also re-launch their band website this week. They're also working on a new album with new singer Arnel Pineda, which they hope to release either this spring or summer.
They start a world tour in Santiago, Chile on February 24th, and a full schedule will be announced soon.

Alice Cooper, Richard Simmons and an albino snake will appear together in a Bridgestone tire commercial that will air during Super Bowl 42 on Sunday on FOX.

Van Halen have added two songs to their concert set list -- "I'm the One" from their first album and a cover of The Who's "Magic Bus." These are the first changes they've made since they hit the road last September. Van Halen are in Houston tonight.

The next Genesis box set, containing material recorded between 1970 and '75, will now be released in September instead of May.

Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder will finally have his book, Heaven and Hell: My Life as an Eagle, 1974-2001, published in the U-S in May.

NEW IN STORES TODAY:

The Invasion DVD with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, a body-snatcher-type thriller.
The Comebacks DVD spoofing every sports movie they could think of.
The horribly unneccesary sequel
Daddy Day Camp DVD with Cuba Gooding Jr as Eddie Murphy as Charlie, and Paul Rae as Jeff Garlin as Phil.
Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Sixth Season
Groundhog Day - Anniversary Edition. I read a quote recently from Bill Murray saying it's the greatest work he'll ever do, and the greatest work writer/director Harold Ramis will ever do either.
Monty Python's Life Of Brian - The Immaculate Edition
Joe Jackson -
Rain CD