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Monday, March 31, 2008

Opening Night Last Night...

New Season, New Ballpark...New Nationals???

Atlanta 2, Washington 3 at Nationals Park
Atlanta Record: (0-1) Washington Record: (1-0)
Winning pitcher - Jon Rauch (1-0) (despite blowing the save and getting rescued by ZIm in the bottom of the 9th)
Losing pitcher - Peter Moylan (0-1)

Probably not.

Opening day today: Go Sox! And the Cubs will unveil the Ernie Banks statue...FINALLY...

SIDE NOTE - This is the 953rd post on this website. Just happened to notice that while getting things ready for the Tuesday Rock Roundup.

Cool.




Saturday, March 29, 2008

Next Time On Vinyl Monday

It's high time we heard a legendary live album.
What better way to start than with Cheap Trick At Budokan?
Side 2:
Ain't That A Shame
I Want You To Want Me
Surrender
Good Night Now
Clock Strikes Ten

Friday, March 28, 2008

Phriday Photo Phinish



Welcome to Mishawaka, Senator...

Shot Of The Week

Amanda had "The Bob Marley" for us this morning:

In order, the shot is made of Midori, Jagermeister, and goldschlager in equal parts.

Good luck.

Heatherless Headlines

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Radio Legend Dies

Hillary Clinton Visit Friday!


Senator Hillary Clinton is in South Bend tomorrow, kicking off a two-day tour of Indiana (her second in as many weeks) for the Hoosier Economy Tour.
Or at least, she WOULD HAVE BEEN.
The South Bend Community School Corporation Board voted against letting her speak at Washington High School.
Umm. Ok.
Mishawaka HS, however, has stepped up, and will host her visit tomorrow.
Follow our conversation with you guys about it on the usPod over there on that side of the website ---->

I-Zoom

Get the new I-Zoom Pass to fight the rate increase that's coming on Tuesday.

Call 1-888-iZoom-90 (1-888-406-6690) or visit the IN-DOT Customer Care Center at 52551 Ash Road in Granger.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Dyngus Day

Dyngus Day 2008: Sausage, Free Stickers, and Mr. Bill!
Woo-hoo!
The day where the pillars of the community start drinking at 9am with us slobs!
Picturey goodness here at our Flickr Page. Including President Clinton.

Tuesday Rock Roundup

Neil Aspinall, the former head of The Beatles' company, Apple Corps, has died in New York, from lung cancer. He was 66. In a statement on behalf of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Apple Corps said yesterday, "The Beatles and the entire Apple Corps family, both past and present, wish to extend their greatest sympathy to the family of Neil Aspinall. As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to come. All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man." Aspinall, who was arguably closer than anyone to all of The Beatles, was a childhood friend of McCartney and George Harrison. He became their roadie, and in 1968 he became head of Apple, a job he held until last year when he retired. McCartney reportedly paid a visit to say goodbye Aspinall in the hospital in New York last Friday. Aspinall is the fifth member of the Beatles family to succumb to cancer. The others were George Harrison, Linda McCartney, Maureen Starkey and publicist Derek Taylor.

Experience Hendrix, the family company that owns and administers the legacy of Jimi Hendrix recordings and songs, has, together with The Last Experience Inc., obtained summary judgment against the London Times. Experience Hendrix will recoup its legal costs and the court will consider the amount of a damage award in a future proceeding. On September 10th, 2006, the paper released a CD recording of the Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London on February 24, 1969 as a "cover mount" with its Sunday edition. That was the last time the band ever performed in London. Despite warnings from Experience Hendrix prior to the CD's release, the London Times proceeded, citing a purported license of the material from an affiliate of Charly Records whose claims to this material have long been disputed by Experience Hendrix.


Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony will hit the high seas as part of Sammy Hagar's annual Cabo Wabo cruise, April 6th through the 10th. Anthony and his Mad Anthony X-Press will provide the entertainment aboard the ship on April 9th, and perform with Hagar and the Waboritas during a port call concert at his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Hagar will not be performing on the ship.

B-B King owns clubs in such nightlife capitals as Las Vegas and New York City -- and now he's expanded his empire to the town of Indianola, Mississippi. The blues legend has closed a deal to take over Club Ebony, a longtime fixture in the Delta town where he spent much of his early life. Although King's name is emblazoned on his other clubs, he has no plans to change the name of the 60-year-old juke joint.

Billy Joel will release a 30th-anniversary edition of his breakthrough album, The Stranger, on July 8th. (It's actually coming out 31 years after the original release.) The Stranger was Joel's first Top 10 album and spun off four Top 30 singles, including his first Top 10 hit, "Just the Way You Are." He discussed the album yesterday in his first-ever appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Rush have moved the release date of Snakes and Arrows Live from April 8th to the 15th. They start the next leg of their tour on April 11th in Puerto Rico.


Did Sheryl Crow speak too soon when, during an interview earlier this month, she said she would be joining Fleetwood Mac? Now she's telling Canada's Sun Media, "We don't even know...all that stuff is rumors. We are just in the middle of figuring out if we want to collaborate, and what we're going to be doing, and what that's going to look like... It would be so much fun. And I'm a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac...the band and the people, obviously the music. And also I just love Stevie. I grew up really idolizing her."

The Black Crowes have given their recently released Warpaint album a touch-up, issuing it on picture-disc vinyl in a deluxe gatefold sleeve. They've also added a pair of songs -- "Here Comes Daylight" and "Hole in Your Soul" -- which appear on a bonus seven-inch single. The Crowes are in Byron Bay, Australia tonight. Lotsa bands seem to be rockin the vinyl lately...nice...

Last week on Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Simmons underwent a battery of tests at a Long Island, New York hospital, and learned he had an irregular heartbeat. The cameras were turned off as doctors tried to regulate his heart. Simmons writes on his website, "I'm fine... I'm on tour with my favorite band, KISS, and if any of you have seen us, we do this two hours a night, on eight-inch platform heels and another 20 or 30 pounds of guitars and armor. Yes. I'm fine."

John Mellencamp will be on hand for Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night, April 4th and 5th at the J-W Marriott Desert Resort in Phoenix. The show will benefit the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, as well as many other charities.

NEW IN STORES THIS WEEK:

The Mist DVD
Party of Five - The Complete Third Season
Sliders - The Fourth Season
Wings - The Sixth Season
Counting Crows -
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings CD

Friday, March 21, 2008

Next Up On Vinyl Monday

Side one from one of the greatest albums of all time...

The list you need for a chance to win, in order:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

With A Little Help From My Friends

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Getting Better

Fixing A Hole

She's Leaving Home

Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite!

Shot Of The Week

In honor of Easter...The Drunken Bunny:

1 oz Bacardi
1 oz Blue Curacao
1 oz Midori
Top it off with 1 oz Whipped Cream

And the bonus shot (not for air)...The Bunny F****r:

1 oz Tequila
1 oz Grenadine
1 oz 7up
1 splash of OJ

The audio can be found off to the right hand side of the website on the usPod-->

Heatherless Headlines

Phriday Photo Phinish

(snapped this Tuesday afternoon with my Crackberry)

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Friday Morning on the Tommie & The Bartender Show...



...Hillary Clinton's campaign will be giving us a few minutes with one of her most ardent supporters, actor Sean Astin.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

New Georgi Butt Girl?


The owner of Georgi vodka said he is in talks to put the derriere of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's call girl on the backside of every bus in New York. Read. (AdAge.com)

Master Wordsmith Reaches The End

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, one of the greatest Sci-Fi authors and most forward-sighted minds of any generation, died yesterday at the age of 90.

I remember a really iffy Halloween Made-For-TV-Movie from a decade or so ago called Without Warning. It had the Mom from Malcolm In The Middle (Jane Kaz-something) and venerable retired news floater Sander Vanokur as anchorpeople at a fictional news outlet describing meteor strikes that ended up being an interplanetary invasion. Neat little story in the War Of The Worlds and Special Bulletin vein.

Anyway...one of the experts they cut away to in the story...live from his home in Sri Lanka...was Arthur C. Clarke. And he was fun to watch in the show. I remember being impressed that they'd gotten Vanokur in the beginning, but even more so that Clarke had been contracted to appear. Anything he stamped his approval on was going to be fun.

His books speak for themselves, and who among us didn't watch the movie 2001 and wonder how much deeper it was going to get?

Second star to the right, Arthur, and straight on 'til morning...


Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Today's Featured Audio on the usPod ---->


You can hear Jacq from The Center For The Homeless talk about the Dance For The Homeless event coming next month, and hear other recent bits from the show.

Check the usPod often: anything remotely interesting usually goes on there, in case you missed it.
You can find the usPod on the right side toolbar of this page.

Tuesday Rock Roundup

Van Halen have rescheduled all of the previously postponed dates on their North American tour. They will start up again on April 19th at Tiger Woods' charity event, Tiger Jam, in Las Vegas, and will be out through June 2nd in Grand Rapids Michigan. Tickets for the previously scheduled dates will be honored. Refunds are also available at the point of purchase. Van Halen postponed the 17 shows so Eddie Van Halen could "continue medical tests to define a course of treatment." The Chicago show has been moved to May 30th.

May Pang captured the two years that she was John Lennon's personal assistant and companion in pictures. More than 150 of her "off-the-cuff" photographs - taken during what's often been tabbed Lennon's "lost weekend" period - are collected in the book Instamatic Karma, which goes on sale today. There are scenes of him swimming with his son Julian, visiting a ghost town between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, at a beach house with pals Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney, and while recording Nilsson's Pussy Cats album. And, in a hauntingly dramatic shot, taken without flash in a dimly lit hotel room at Disney World, we witness Lennon signing the legal papers dissolving the Beatles partnership.

John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album will be examined as part of Eagle Rock Entertainment's "Classic Albums" D-V-D series. Interviews with Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr and bassist Klaus Voorman, as well as archival footage of Lennon, will tell the stories behind such songs as "Mother," "Isolation," "God," My Mummy's Dead" and nine others. It will be released on April 29th.

If Led Zeppelin were to ever tour again, look for Velvet Revolver to open for them, or at least that's what Velvet bassist Duff McKagan says. In an interview with Hot Press-dot-com, McKagan says, "I understand that we have [the opening slot], although I imagine there will be plenty of bands prepared to kick and punch us out of the way for the privilege." One of those bands is The Cult, whose singer, Ian Astbury, announced last year that they would be opening for Zeppelin.

To say that Nikki Sixx is a little excited about the next Motley Crue album would be an understatement. The Crue bassist posted a message on his website raving about the band's new album, The Dirt, which is tentatively due out on July 8th. He says each member of the band is playing great and "it feels so good to be excited about something you've worked on so hard... I'm so excited for you all to hear it." The Dirt will be the Crue's first album since 2002's New Tattoo and the first to feature all the band's original members since 1997's Generation Swine. In other news, Motley Crue is planning to make a huge announcement on April 15th. A spokesperson for the band says, "This will by far be one of the biggest music announcements of the year." Either the band wants to announce that they got their taxes in by the deadline, or this will be a tour announcement.

Boston have taken a page out of Journey's playbook and also found their new singer via the Internet. Tommy DeCarlo, a fan who posted his Boston covers on his MySpace page, will replace Brad Delp -- who committed suicide last March -- and join the band on the road this summer. Also joining the line-up is Stryper frontman Michael Sweet. Both DeCarlo and Sweet sang with Boston at last summer's Delp tribute show in Boston. The tour starts June 6th in Canada and runs through mid-August in Georgia. The tour is scheduled to stop in Chicago July 20th (Charter One Pavilion) and Indy (Verizon Wireless) July 25th.

REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" is featured in the new film Horton Hears a Who, which was cute and worth seeing. Jim Carrey's best work in a while.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, Rolling Stone has come up with their list of the Best Drinking Songs. They are Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," The Outfield's "Your Love," The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town" and Run-D-M-C's "It's Tricky."

Heather Mills bled Paul McCartney for 48 point 6 million dollars. Moving on.

Sheryl Crow will be the latest artist to join Fleetwood Mac. She tells Spinner dot com, "I don't want to make any official announcements, but I will say that we definitely have plans for collaborating in the future, and we'll see what happens." Crow is friends with Stevie Nicks, who says Fleetwood Mac is too male-dominated without Christine McVie and won't work with them unless the balance is restored.

Bon Scott - The Early Years, a CD of songs the late singer recorded before he joined AC/DC, will be released on July 8th.

NEW RELEASES TODAY:

Atonement DVD
Enchanted DVD
I Am Legend DVD
Battlestar Galactica - Season Three DVD
Bionic Woman - Volume One DVD
Meat Loaf -
In Search Of Paradise CD


Monday, March 17, 2008

Gunga La Gunga 3 Winner

Amy Cronin (so cool she was already signing autographs...) was the winner of Gunga La Gunga 3 Friday Night at Club Landing! She wins the fantastic trip to Palm Springs CA for her entire foursome, including tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Anaheim!

A big thanks to Pepsi, the CW25, JR Aquatic, and Blackthorn Golf Club for making it all come together! And...of course...Club Landing, our favorite place to give stuff away! We'll see you back there tonight for St. Pat's.

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St. Patty's Vinyl Monday


U2 (natch..)
Side One of War
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Seconds
New Year's Day
Like A Song...
Drowning Man

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Westway To The World Of Frustration

It's happened before, but a specific incident reference evades me. However, I'm sure I'm not the only one. It usually involves the History Channel or Discovery. Or the Military Channel, when I had it.

Can someone please explain how THIS happens:

Channel surfing yesterday, because the teams I give a tug about in the NCAA Conference Games are already out. I see a listing for a history of The Clash on The Documentary Channel. Excellent. Bring it on. I start watching it, and start scanning ahead to DVR it the next time it's on.

I go out five days, and although THEY ARE REPEATING EVERY OTHER GODDAMN DOCUMENTARY that's on the schedule in those five days...there is NO other listing for this piece on The Clash.

SO: bite me, TV schedulers. I'm sorry that I don't like the same pap as everyone else, that I don't get moist at the thought of another season of American Idle, or reality shows with kids being tortured a'la Lord Of The Flies, or this stupid game show designed to bust up marriages.

Thank God for my DVD collection...

BTW: the Horton Hears A Who movie is good. Take your kids.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Shot Of The Week

Amanda broke down the Green Jolly Rancher shot this morning:
Midori Melon Liqueur
Southern Comfort Peach Liqueur
1 splash of Sweet & Sour Mix

Rock News For This Morning

Paul McCartney should learn on Monday the price tag of divorcing Heather Mills. The Judge is expected to inform the couple of the terms, but it's unclear whether those numbers will be made public. The couple, who announced their breakup in May 2006, have a daughter Beatrice, who is now four and no doubt already bitter. Initially, some reports said Mills would seek a quarter of Sir Paul's estimated $1.6 billion dollar fortune, though figures now are closer to 100 million. And, there's still a chance that Monday might not be the final chapter in what could be Britain's most expensive divorce ever: either party retains the right to appeal the decision.
Ozzy Osbourne says he's not concerned if another Black Sabbath reunion ever happens. He told Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, "If it happens, it happens. If it don't, it don't. They're like, 'I'll be able to do it', then a week after, you get a phone call and it's off, then it's back on again." Osbourne adds that he's not upset that Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have been playing shows with his first replacement, Ronnie James Dio, in Heaven and Hell. Osbourne says, "I'm glad at the end of the day we all made friends again. I'm too old to have a fly up my ass any more about it. I just hope they're all having fun." Ozzy starts an Australian tour Saturday night in Melbourne.

Phriday Photo Phinish


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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Eddie Van Halen Not In Rehab


Actress Valerie Bertinelli has said her ex-husband Eddie Van Halen is not in rehab, but she declined to say exactly what is ailing the rock guitarist, People.com reported on Wednesday.
(Reuters)

Labels:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Heatherless Headlines

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Screw Winter

This morning I left the house in 22 degree weather...
...in shorts

Winter's on notice. I've had it.

Tuesday Rock Roundup

John Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night by fellow Hall of Fame member Billy Joel -- probably not the first choice that would come to most people's minds, since Mellencamp is more closely associated with artists such as Willie Nelson or Neil Young because of their work with Farm Aid. But it was Joel who first reached out to Mellencamp when he had his first hit in the early '80s. Mellencamp tells the Indianapolis Star, "He called me up and said, 'Man, this song "Hurts So Good" is rocking.' The drum sound is fantastic. I had to pull my car over when I heard it on the radio.' That was the very first call I ever got from somebody really famous to say congratulations on your success." "Hurts So Good" was Mellencamp's first Top 10 single.

Yesterday afternoon, Van Halen postponed their next 17 shows so Eddie Van Halen "can continue medical tests to define a course of treatment." The band has not said what he is being treated for. The shows that will be rescheduled include Rosemont, Grand Rapids, and Milwaukee. Rescheduled dates will be announced shortly. This is the second time the tour has been postponed in Charlottesville, St. Louis, Raleigh and Baltimore.

According to London's Daily Mail, The Beatles are in negotiations to make their catalog available on I-Tunes reportedly because Paul McCartney is looking to defer the costs of his divorce from Heather Mills. Justice Bennett is expected to hand down his decision in the divorce proceedings next Monday.

Def Leppard tip their caps to the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the cover of their new album, Songs From the Sparkle Lounge. Photos of the band's
members throughout the years show up alongside those of family members, friends and celebrities, including Ian Hunter, Abe Lincoln, the Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty. Songs From the Sparkle Lounge will hit stores on April 29th.

Metallica fans with turntables will be able to use them again starting April 15th when the band's first two albums, Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning, are reissued on vinyl. Two different versions of each will be released...one a single disc spinning at 33-and-a-third, the other a two-disc, 45-rpm package. The band's next two albums, Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All will be released on vinyl in June.


Metallica are tentatively planning a September release for their follow-up to 2003's St. Anger. The band has been working on the as-yet-untitled album with producer Rick Rubin for most of the past year. Yes, Rick Rubin...not Bob Rock...so the suckage on the album should be a lot lower than it was on St. Anger. Ulrich recently told the BBC that they're about six weeks away from finishing the album, and expect to have it out in September.

Keith Richards continues to work on his autobiography, which is scheduled to be published in 2010. He tells Sun Media of Canada, "They've paid me a [expletive] fortune, so, of course, I'm writing it..."

Psychologists at the University of Leeds in England are conducting a study in which they are asking people to recall moments in their lives that are linked to the music of The Beatles. They are compiling the information for a database of "autobiographical" memories. Professor Martin Conway says, "We're very interested in how different age groups associate with different aspects of the Beatles. The reason why we're interested in this is we're interested in a thing called generation identity. So we're quite interested in how your memory of your own personal experiences is linked into public events. And the Beatles are a fantastic way to look at that." You can participate by logging onto
MagicalMemoryTour-dot-com.

Jimmy Buffett will be back out again this spring and summer. He'll be in Chicago/Bridgeview at Toyota Park (on the South Side) July 24th and 26th...and in Indy/Noblesville on the 28th. Bring your livers...

Joe Perry will have knee surgery a week from today. He has known for the past two years that he needed the operation, but kept putting it off. It finally gave out after doing two shows earlier this month with a band that features two of his sons. As a result, he has canceled his show next month in New York State, and Aerosmith is no longer on the bill for a Harley Davidson event August 28th in Milwaukee.


Burton Cummings says having a MySpace page is like having "a cyber club-house, with members from all over the world." Yeah? Wait until he gets hacked... Anyway, the voice of The Guess Who's hits is sampling new and previously unreleased material -- showing the direction of his upcoming solo CD Above the Ground, set for a Canadian release in May.

Gene Simmons will be featured on the incredibly loud and irritating Nickelodeon cartoon show Fairly Odd Parents. He says, "Once I got there...I realized it was for a KISS cartoon appearance within the show." Simmons has his own animated show, My Dad the Rock Star. The new season of Family Jewels premiered last night, and Gene is on the Rachel Ray show today.

Alice Cooper will release his next album, tentatively titled Along Came a Spider, in the fall.
Later this month he'll tour Australia, New Zealand, Japan and, for the first time, South Korea. Cooper will tour the U-S, Canada and Europe later in the year.

Rush drummer Neil Peart will reportedly take part in the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York on October 18th. Peart put together two Rich tribute albums -- Burning for Buddy and Burning for Buddy Two.

"Nine Lives," the first single from Def Leppard's new album, Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, is being used in a video airing at the beginning of N-B-A games on A-B-C.

NEW RELEASES THIS WEEK:

Bee Movie DVD with Jerry Seinfeld
Dan in Real Life DVD with Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche
No Country for Old Men DVD, winner of Best Picture
The Mod Squad Season One - Volume Two DVD

Monday, March 10, 2008

Vinyl Monday

In honor of his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame tonight, we present Side One of John Mellencamp's Scarecrow:
Rain On The Scarecrow
Grandma's Theme
Small Town
Minutes To Memories
Lonely Ol' Night
The Face Of The Nation

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Phriday Photo Phinish A Day Late


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Friday, March 07, 2008

Shot Of The Week

Amanda has come up with "Sex With An Alligator"
It's a complex shot that Craig has tried and says is delicious:
Malibu and Pineapple
Float Jager on the top (use a spoon to put it up there)
then pour Chambord down the side of the glass so it sinks.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Heatherless Headlines

Not Even Bruce WIllis Can Save Us Now

Tommie's Science Corner Presents: Earth Faces Destruction

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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Brett Favre

His last pass in the NFL was an interception. Here's his former coach at Atlanta with the story of his first:

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Mighty Pete Returns!

The Colorado Avalanche...Tommie's other favorite Hockey Team...welcomed back Mighty Pete Forsberg last night in a game with the hated Vancouver Canucks (the official team of Hell).
The old man can still mix it up!

Gary Gygax Fails Saving Throw

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

20th Annual Great Logan Nose On

Click below to hear our interview this morning with Matt from Logan and Brian from Wal-Mart

Riley HS

Last night, Riley HS won their first sectional title since '03 (for a total of 13) with a win over Washington...they play Warsaw next in the Regional Saturday @ 11a in Michigan City...Cody Henson hit the game winner.

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Tuesday Rock Roundup

So here's the deal with Van Halen. They've postponed their shows for this week in Dallas; Cincinnati; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Baltimore and will start up again on March 11th in Charlottesville, Virginia. According to Eddie Van Halen's physician, he is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures. Eddie had a bout with oral cancer a few years back. They've rescheduled Raleigh on April 13th, Baltimore on April 15th, Cincinnati on April 22nd and Dallas for April 24th. They've also added West Valley City, Utah on April 21st.

Singer Robert Plant reportedly turned down a 198-million-dollar offer to do a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. Britain's Sunday Mirror quotes a source as saying, "Despite the enormous offer, the decision did not come down to money. They always said they would do the one-off show and then see how they felt. Jimmy Page had enjoyed the concert in December enough to want to tour. He argued they still had something to offer. He likes the idea of another chapter in the band -- the grown-up tour. John Paul Jones sided with Jimmy. He loved making music with the others again. But Robert wanted to leave last year's concert as their legacy.

The Rolling Stones will be in the house when their Martin Scorsese-directed concert movie, Shine a Light, premieres in London on April 2nd. It will also be beamed to 100 other theaters across the U-K that night. Shine a Light was filmed at New York's Beacon Theater in October 2006 and features guest performers Buddy Guy, Jack White from The White Stripes, and Christina Aguilera. It opens in North American theaters on April 4th, with the soundtrack album out on April 1st. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Jack White will be on the cover of the Rolling Stone when it hits newsstands on April 4th, the day Shine a Light opens.

Crosby, Stills and Nash will hit the road this spring and summer. The early itinerary takes them to Rosemont July 14th...and The Morris Performing Arts Center right here in South Bend on the 16th!


Yoko Ono says work has begun to re-master The Beatles catalog. In an interview with Florida's Treasure Coast newspaper, she says, "I saw what George and Giles Martin did with the Beatles songs in Love -- that's rather powerful, and revolutionary too, in a very quiet way. There'll be some things that will be done that will make it much more current, I think." As for the Let It Be film ever being released on DVD, she said, "You know, life is a long time. And I hope you have a very long one." And finally, perhaps Neil Aspinall, who ran Apple for the Beatles, did retire after all. "Neil was a part of the whole history, and he was doing a brilliant job. It's just that sometimes it's good to go through some changes, and we decided to do that."

Steve Miller will tour this summer with special guest Joe Cocker. They'll get things started on May 24th in Florida with dates through August 17th in California. Miller will do a three-night stand at the Fillmore in San Francisco from March 24th to the 26th. Cocker just wrapped up a tour Sunday night in South Africa. The tour will bring them to Noblesville June 28th, and Tinley Park July 5th.

Z-Z Top guitarist Billy Gibbons is mourning the loss of his friend, custom car designer and builder Boyd Coddington. The star of the T-L-C reality series American Hot Rod died last week. Coddington built the CadZZilla car -- a re-stylized 1948 Cadillac coupe -- for Gibbons. He tells the L-A Times, "It was Boyd Coddington's masterful execution, along with his team members, that created perhaps one of the most memorable customized cars in recent history... Boyd's contributions were on a par with George Barris and all the other American car customizers combined. He will be missed." Coddington was 63.

Heaven and Hell, which is Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals instead of Ozzy Osbourne, will start to write songs for a new album this month in the U-K, followed by sessions in Los Angeles in April and May. Dio tells us when he and Tony Iommi wrote the three new songs for last year's retrospective collection, Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, it was "pretty easy... I think we think alike." This will be the Dio-led version of the band's first studio album since 1992's Dehumanizer, which of course really, really sucked. After these sessions, Ronnie will tour Europe with his other band, Dio, in late May and June.

Tracks from David Bowie and Bob Dylan are among the highlights on the soundtrack to the NBC series Heroes. The album will be available on CD at Best Buy locations or through most digital retailers on March 18th. Bowie's "Heroes" and Dylan's "The Man in the Long Black Coat" are among the previously released tracks on the disc.

A painting by the late Pink Floyd singer Syd Barrett will be auctioned this week in Cambridge, England.

Gene Simmons recently granted a wish to a young boy named Barrett through the Kids Wish Network. Barrett got to hang out with Simmons and his family at his L-A mansion. He also left with a number of collectibles, including gold records.

Happy 45th Birthday today to Jason Newsted. The former Ozzy & Metallica Bassist used to live in Niles, and currently plays with punk outfit VoiVod as well as Rock Star Supernova.



NEW RELEASES TODAY:

Awake DVD with Hayden Christiensen (Darth Vader) and Jessica Alba. Boy, with two incredible performers like that...it's hard to believe it was overlooked at the Oscars...
Into the Wild DVD based on the incredible book by Jon Krakauer.
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium DVD which looks like a cool movie with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman.
The Hogfather DVD a British made-for-TV movie based on the novel by Terry Pratchett, one of my favorites.
Magnum P.I. - The Complete Eighth Season DVD
NFL Super Bowl XLII Champions - New York Giants DVD
The Black Crowes -
Warpaint CD
Bauhaus -
Go Away White CD great old Punk band
Michael McDonald - Soul Speak CD featuring several covers including Van Morrison, Bob Marley, and Stevie Wonder.

Monday, March 03, 2008

J-Lo Names Her Broodlings

Jennifer Lopez and her wife Marc Anthony have revealed the names they've chosen for their babies, who are now 10 days old. The twins are to be called Max and Emme. (As TMZ notes, "Max" and "Emmy" are characters in the PBS animated show Dragon Tales. So are "Quetzal" and "Wheezie," so if the cartoon did provide the couple's inspiration, they deserve some credit for sense and restraint.).

I still say Carburetor and Avacado would have been better suited for the Celebrity Weird Baby Name tradition...

Jeff Healey Dead of Cancer

Blind guitar wizard Jeff Healey of Toronto died Sunday of cancer. He was 41.

Norman Jeffrey Healey was one of Canada's premier blues and jazz musicians who is perhaps best known for his 1988 album See The Light, which included the hit single Angel Eyes. He was also nominated for a Grammy for the song Hideaway and in 1990, was awarded a Juno in the Entertainer of the Year category.
Healey lost his vision as a baby to a rare form of retinal cancer and he battled the disease throughout this life. His website said Sunday that he died with his wife, Cristie, at his bedside in Toronto's St. Joseph's Hospital.
As a toddler, Healey picked up a guitar and, setting it on his knees, developed a distinct sound and playing style.
At the time of his death, Healey was about to unveil his first blues-rock CD in eight years. Mess of Blues is scheduled to be released in Europe in March and in North America in April.
Healey had a long fight with cancer. In 2007, he underwent surgery to remove cancerous growths from his lungs. He had earlier had two sarcomas removed from his legs.
Healey is survived by his wife and two children, 13-year-old Rachel and three-year-old Derek. Other survivors include his father Bud and stepmother Rose, and two sisters, Laura and Linda.

Mick Jagger Assassination Plot After Altamont?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger only survived an assassination attempt by Hells Angels members nearly 40 years ago because a boat carrying his would-be killers was swamped in a storm, according to a new BBC documentary.

The details of a plot to kill the British rocker were revealed by an FBI agent as part of a series, "The FBI at 100," which is to be aired on BBC Radio 4 on Monday.

Tom Mangold, who presents the series, told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Jagger fell out with the Hells Angels after a member of the notorious gang killed a fan during the band's infamous free concert at Altamont in 1969.

The Stones had hired the local chapter to provide security for the poorly planned concert near San Francisco. The bikers terrorized the crowd, and were offended by Jagger's effeminate dancing. One of them stabbed 18-year-old Meredith Hunter to death in front of the stage. The chaos was immortalized in the documentary "Gimme Shelter."

The Hells Angels felt they had been duped by Jagger as fingers were pointed in the aftermath of the concert. Former special agent Mark Young, who was interviewed for the BBC series, said a boatload of Hells Angels set out to take revenge on Jagger at his holiday home in the Hamptons, near New York City.


"The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger's treatment of them that they decided to kill him," Mangold told the newspaper.


"They planned the attack from the sea so they could enter his property from the garden and avoid security at the front. The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard. All survived and there was not said to have been any further attempt on Jagger's life."

Alan Passaro was arrested and tried for Hunter's murder in 1972 but was acquitted after a jury concluded that he had acted in self-defense because Hunter was carrying a handgun. Passaro later drowned in an accident.

Reuters/Nielsen

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Today on Vinyl Monday

Yeah, we knew it was too good to be true. Van Halen are imploding, rapidly. If the tour makes it back to Chicago, look for a star in the east because it will be a bonefide miracle. So...this morning...we revisit much happier days, before the egos got the better of them:
Side Two of Van Halen I:
Jamie's Cryin
Atomic Punk
Feel Your Love Tonight
Little Dreamer
Ice Cream Man
On Fire

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Friday's March For Babies Radiothon at Hacienda

Ragz with March Of Dimes District Director Carol Swope