Tuesday Rock Roundup

Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer will be the first member of the band to write an autobiography. Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top will be published by Harper One in June. Kramer writes about such topics as his bout with and recovery from drug abuse, his fight against depression, and his having endured physical and emotional abuse as a kid. Aerosmith's autobiography, Walk This Way, was published in 1997.

Joey's band, meanwhile, have hired Brendan O'Brien to produce their next album. The plan is to start recording in the spring and be done in time for the band to launch a North American tour on June 1st. Aerosmith has never worked with O'Brien before, he's the man who produced Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream and AC/DC's Black Ice. He's also worked the board for Bob Dylan, Stone Temple Pilots and Rage Against the Machine...and he's doing the new Pearl Jam album soon. This will be Aerosmith's first album of original material since Just Push Play in 2001.

Lynyrd Skynyrd will continue on despite the death last month of piano player Billy Powell. Though the band hasn't named a replacement, concert promoter Live Nation confirms that the band's European tour, scheduled for May, will go ahead as planned. A spokesman for the band was unavailable for comment. Powell died on January 28th at his home in suburban Jacksonville, Florida, from what appears to have been a heart attack. He was 56.

The Recording Academy failed, by the way, to acknowledge the recent deaths of both Powell and Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin during the "in memoriam" segment of the Grammy Awards Sunday night in Los Angeles. But Kid Rock did mention Powell before doing a snippet of "All Summer Long," which samples Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama."

A group of Beatles fans plan to connect via social networking website Twitter on Thursday. Fab Four fans will converge on 170 sites around the world for the first-ever Twestival. There they'll network online with fans in the other cities all while raising money for clean water programs in third-world countries. One of the 170 sites will be the Beatles Revolution Lounge in the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. Event organizer William Crozer tells the Las Vegas Sun, "Social tweet-ups like this are a great way to meet the faces behind the avatars while raising money for a good cause."

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder surprised his fellow Cubs fantasy campers recently when he joined them for the camp's karaoke night at the Best Western Dobson Ranch Inn in Mesa, Arizona. Vedder sang U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," a duet with a fellow camper on "I Got You Babe" and a take on The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" he dubbed "Yellow Cubmarine." Videos of all three songs popped up on YouTube. Vedder knew he was being filmed, as he turned to the bank of camera phones at one point, smiled and gave them the finger.

NEW RELEASES:

Van Morrison Astral Weeks Live CD
Motorhead is releasing four remastered classic albums: Ace Of Spades, Bomber, Iron Fist, and Overkill
Paul's Boutique (20th Anniversary Edition) by Beastie Boys CD
Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (remastered) by Johnny Winter CD
Stems and Seeds by Ben Folds CD
Nights in Rodanthe ~ Richard Gere, et al. (DVD - 2009)
The Inauguration of Barack Obama on CNN (DVD - 2009)
60 Minutes Presents: Obama: All Access - Barack Obama's Road to the White House ~ Steve Kroft, et al. (DVD - 2009)
W. (Widescreen) ~ Josh Brolin DVD
Miracle at St Anna (Widescreen Edition) ~ Miracle at St. Anna (DVD - 2009)
Tales from the Darkside: The First Season DVD
Amadeus (Blu-ray Book) [Blu-ray]