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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

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