Home
       News
    Archives
  New Music
    Reviews
     Videos
   Feedback
  Site Search
 Marketplace
       Links

 

 
 Live Updates
 

 
 

 

 


Recommended Releases





Feature
Pages

ACDC
Aerosmith
Allman Brothers Band
Awards
Bad Company
The Band
Beatles
Jeff Beck
Black Crowes
Black Sabbath
Bon Jovi
Joe Bonamassa
Boston
David Bowie
Jackson Browne
Jimmy Buffett
Eric Clapton
Cheap Trick
Alice Cooper
Cream
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Deep Purple
Def Leppard
Dire Straits
Doobie Brothers
Doors
Bob Dylan
Eagles
Faces
Festivals
Fleetwood Mac
John Fogerty
Foreigner
Peter Frampton
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
Grateful Dead
Guns N' Roses
Sammy Hagar
Heart
J Geils Band
Jimi Hendrix
Jefferson Airplane
Jethro Tull
Billy Joel
Elton John
Janis Joplin
Journey
Kinks
Led Zeppelin
John Lennon
Little Feat
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Paul McCartney
John Mellencamp
Metallica
Steve Miller Band
Eddie Money
Moody Blues
Van Morrison
Museums
Ozzy Osbourne
Pearl Jam
Tom Petty
Pink Floyd
Police
Queen
REM
REO Speedwagon
Rolling Stones
Rush
Santana
Bob Seger
Soundgarden
Bruce Springsteen
Steely Dan
Rod Stewart
Sting
Styx
Them Crooked Vultures
U2
Van Halen
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Joe Walsh
Who
Yes
Neil Young
ZZ Top


Complete Artist Index
 

 



Departments

Archives
Marketplace
New Music
Reviews
Videos


 


 

 
       
       NOTEWORTHY  THEN   May 19

          

1945 Who's Pete Townshend born    1949 ZZ Top's Dusty Hill born     1952 Joey Ramone born     1954 AC/DC's Phillip Rudd born     1978 Kinks release Misfits     1997 Billy Joel delivers commencement address at Hofstra, gets honorary degree     2001 Eddie Van Halen reveals he is undergoing cancer treatment     2007 U2 does unannounced red carpet performance at Cannes Film Festival     2009 Drummer Liberty DeVito sues Billy Joel over royalties claim     2009 Mike McCready of Pearl Jam does National Anthem Hendrix style before Angels-Mariners game at SafeCo Field  2012 Mick Jagger hosts and is musical guest on Saturday Night Live
 
 
 
NOTEWORTHY  NOW

Joe Bonamassa On Letterman
Six string master to team with Paul Schaffer.
Fresh off a smokin' concert at the Landmark Theatre for Central New York fans that knew what a great player he was before the rest of the world caught on, Joe Bonamassa will sit in with Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra on the Monday (5/21) edition of the Late Show With David Letterman.  The appearance takes place just hours before Joe's latest studio album, Driving Towards The Daylight, drops.  Bonamassa, who was impressing legends like BB King when he was a schoolboy, says the chance to guest with the CBS late night show's director and band leader is something he is really looking forward to, adding,  'I am huge Letterman fan since I was 6 years old and I can't wait to sit in with Paul Schaffer and his band.'


 

Mystery Drummer Announced By Sabbath
Fill-In for Bill Ward not identified by band.
The latest wrinkle in the wrinkled reunion of Black Sabbath comes in the form of and announcement that the group has recruited a drummer to replace Bill Ward but is not revealing who he is.  Responding to Ward's official statement that he would not be joining the band under the terms offered him, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tommy Iommi declined to address their apparently former drummer's comments directly but said, 'There are two sides to every story.  We have been working hard at rehearsals and making excellent progress after Tony's (cancer) treatments and we have engaged a substitute drummer for the forthcoming shows.'  We will find out who the mystery drummer is Saturday (5/19) when the group stages its first reunion tour show in Birmingham, UK.
HenneMusic.com


 

Van Halen Tour Hits The Wall
Band pulls 30 dates from their schedule.
Within days of announcing a series of new dates, Van Halen suddenly announced that 30 of the concerts that had been on the schedule were being postponed.  Attempts to learn why all of the dates after  dates  after June 26 were being yanked were met with refusals to comment from tour promoter Live Nation and a representative of the group.  Rolling Stone magazine quoted an unidentified source as saying VH members '...hate each other', and are '...arguing like mad'.  The tour, which had been doing decent numbers, was out performing the band's comeback album, A Different Kind Of Truth' which has seen plummeting sales since selling close to 200,000 copies the week it was released.  The announcement of the postponements seems to have blindsided venue operators, who were also left in the dark about whether to offer ticket holders refunds.  Somewhere tonight, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony are exchanging high fives.

MORE VAN HALEN INSIGHTS


 

Stones Could Open Tour In Fall
Ron Wood drops another hint about live plans.

Guitarist Ron Wood has a suggestion for Rolling Stones fans; keep October and November free.  The hint comes as reports have emerged that he and the other members of the Stones have been holding rehearsals in the New York City area.  The stories fueled speculation that the rest of the band could perform with Mick Jagger when he hosts and is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live (5/17).  That was refuted with an announcement that Jagger will be backed by Arcade Fire, Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and guitarist Jeff Beck (story). But it does leave open the possibility that the band will use the appearance as a platform for announcing tour plans.
NME.com

MORE ROLLING STONES INSIGHTS



 

Eagles Earn Degree Honors
Berklee School of Music hands out awards.

Don Henley, Timothy B Schmit, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh picked up honorary music degrees during a ceremony Saturday (5/12) in Boston.  The Berklee School Of Music doctorates recognizing outstanding achievement in popular culture that have had a positive influence on its students were given out at Agganis Arena.  The ceremony came a day after a student recital attended by the honor recipients. In accepting his award, Don Henley said, 'Sometimes I worry about the future of music and culture. But, after what we all witnessed here last night, I have renewed hope and faith in the future of music. It was truly inspiring'.  Alison Krauss and Malatu Astatke were also honored with degrees.
Noise11.com

MORE EAGLES INSIGHTS



 

 

 

 

 


Hendrix Estate Not Backing Movie
Movie not endorsed or approved by guitarist's estate.

If the recently announced Jimi Hendrix biopic, All By My Side (story), makes it to the silver screen it may have to get there without the cooperation of or rights to Hendrix material that the late guitarist's estate has control over.  A release from Experience Hendrix, LLC addressing the film says, '...the family owned company entrusted with safeguarding the legacy of Jimi Hendrix and administrator of the Jimi Hendrix music and publishing catalog, has made it known many times in the past that no such film, were it to include original music or copyrights created by Jimi Hendrix, can be undertaken without its full participation.'  The production company involved in the film casting rapper Andre 3000 in the title role has declined to respond directly to the verbal warning shot, other than to remark that the issue of whether Hendrix music will be featured in the movie is a, '...valid question, but we're not getting into specifics of what we've shared so far.'
PressHerald.com

MORE JIMI HENDRIX INSIGHTS



 

Donald 'Duck' Dunn Dies In Tokyo
Bass player passes away in sleep after performance.

Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bass player in the great Memphis R&B band Booker T & The MGs and a man whose signature style added oomph to hundreds of sessions for other stars, passed away in his sleep following a concert in Tokyo Sunday (5/13) at the age of 70, according to the Associated Press.  Inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame with Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper and Alan Jackson in 2007, the MGs were the driving force behind a lot of the hits emerging from the Stax Studios in Memphis back in the day, including songs by Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.  In later years, Dunn was part of the band that backed John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd as the Blues Borthers. He also recorded with Bob Dylan (Shot Of Love), Eric Clapton (Behind The Sun), John Fogerty (Blue Moon Swamp), Neil Young (Silver & Gold), Rod Stewart (Atlantic Crossing), Tom Petty (Damn The Torpedoes/Hard Promises) and dozens of others.
AllMusic.com

 

 


Foo Fighter Backing Jagger On SNL
Dave Grohl and Arcade Fire slated to back Stone.

Anticipation that other members of the Rolling Stones were likely to appear with Mick Jagger on the May 19 season ending episode of Saturday Night Live got dialed down by an Inside TV report that claims the Stones front man will actually be backed by Arcade Fire and joined by Foo Fighters & Them Crooked Vultures drummer Dave Grohl.  Earlier reports claim that Jagger, Ron Wood, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts have been rehearsing in the NYC area (story) triggered immediate speculation that the Stones would all perform together, would make a 2013 tour announcement, or do both.  While anything is still possible, prospects that the Stones will perform on the intimate SNL stage with Mick seem as slim as the man himself.  Grohl has the distinction of having been a musical guest on the show 4x more frequently than Jagger.   He has appeared with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers as well as his own groups, Nirvana, Foo Fighters and the Vultures. The May 19 appearance will be Grohl's 12th on the late night NBC comedy show and just Jagger's 3rd.
InsideTV.ew.com

MORE MICK JAGGER INSIGHTS


 

Grateful Dead Drummer Plans Book
Bill Kreutzmann to chronicle long, strange trip.

One of the drummers of the Grateful Dead is working on an autobiography that will also chronicle the decades he spent traveling the world and recording with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, fellow stick man Mickey Hart and the other former members of the seminal San Francisco band.  Bill Kreutzmann says the aims to have the book ready for publication in 2015 and tells AP it will include accounts of behind the scenes encounters he and the band had with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers Band.
A book marking the 50th anniversary book about the Dead is also being authored by David Browne.
JamBands.com

MORE GRATEFUL DEAD INSIGHTS



 

 

 

 

Aerosmith Doing New Song On Idol
Band will premier album track during final episode.

Guitarist Joe Perry has gotten the word out that he and his band mates will debut a song from the as yet untitled Aerosmith album on the season finale of American Idol.  We think the appearance on the May 23 telecast of the show the Boston band's Steven Tyler is a judge on should be open to viewer ratings on the quality of the song and performance... but then we'd actually have to watch the show instead of just calling the track up on YouTube.

MORE AEROSMITH INSIGHTS


 

ZZ Top Premiers Song In Beer Ad
Song from new release backs Texas brew.

ZZ Top fans can get a look at the band and a listen to a new song titled I've Got To Get Paid via a video of an ad produced for Jeremiah Weed Beer.  The tune gets played by the band inside a  cooler at Bubba's Country Store as unsuspecting customers pop open the door to help themselves to cold beverages.  The surprised reactions are reportedly genuine - the commercial was shot live with regular customers at the Austin, Texas store.
The as yet untitled release is still getting the final mixes done by Rick Rubin.  If this song is any indication, it sounds like Rubin and the band will deliver on the promise of an album that will capture the less polished sound early fans of the Texas trio loved. (video).
VintageVinylNews.com

MORE ZZ TOP INSIGHTS



 

Crew Member Now Drummer for Little Feat
Gabe Ford fills Richie Hayward's Role.

The loss of Richie Hayward in 2010 (story) left Little Feat without a drummer.  The search for a stick man to fill the role Hayward had been so rock solid in for decades began and ended close to home.  The veteran group has welcomed Hayward's drum tech as a full time member of the band.  Speaking with Sam Davis of JamBands.com, Feat's Paul Barrere says Gabe, who is a nephew of guitar great Robben Ford, convinced group members quickly that he had what it took to keep the beat for the band, "...we gave him 18 songs to work on. On the second day we said, 'Pack your shit and go home. You're no longer a tech, you're our drummer.' "
Little Feat is finishing up work on the group's first studio album of new, original material in nearly a decade.  Featuring some songs LF keyboard player Billy Payne co-wrote with Jerry Garcia song writing partner Robert Hunter, Rooster Rag is slated for a summer release. Barrere and fellow Feat guitarist Fred Tackett also have a side recording project in progress and Barrere himself has his sights set on doing a new solo album.


 

Cooper & Aerosmith Rock Depp's Party
Dark Shadows premier after party star studded.

The after party for the premier of the latest Johnny Depp party could prove to be a lot more memorable than the movie itself.  The la screening of Dark Shadows at Grauman's Chinese Theatre was followed-up by a blow-out in a temporary venue set up in the parking lot behind the El Capitan Theater that was hosted by Depp and headlined by Alice CooperDepp joined Cooper during the first set and Cooper's band was later joined by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on versions of School's Out, Come Together, the Abbey Road song Aerosmith covered in 1978, Pink Floyd's Another Brick in The Wall and Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love (video).
AcesShowBiz.com

MORE ALICE COOPER INSIGHTS   MORE AEROSMITH INSIGHTS

 

Will Other Stones Be On SNL?
Reports emerge that the band is rehearsing.

Word that Saturday Night Live has secured Mick Jagger to host and perform on the NBC comedy shows final episode of the season (story) has been followed by reports that the other members of the Rolling Stones are in the city and rehearsing with the front man in preparation for the musical segments of the May 17 live telecast.  Of course, rumors always swirl around the band and this one could prove to be as empty as most, but iorr.org added grist to the claim by supplying details that included that Allman Brothers Band frequent Stones keyboard accompanist Chuck Leavell and bass player/producer Don Was were also on the scene and that the songs they worked on during the session were Fool To Cry, Jumping Jack Flash and Miss You. Don't expect NBC to do anything but sit back and let the reports grow legs.
VintageVinylNews.com

MORE ROLLING STONES INSIGHTS




 

Nugent Loses It During CBS Interview (video)
Defends himself, then gets obscene.

Ted Nugent appeared on CBS This Morning to talk about his recent run-in with the Secret Service over remarks he made about President Obama at a National Rifle Association meeting (story).
After making the case for being a compassionate guy, Ted went off the deep end, telling CBS interviewer Jeff Glor that if he could find a better character screening process than his voluntary work with families with sick terminally ill children he would orally gratify him.  Not content to leave it at that, Nugent then told the female producer of the segment that he would '?...f#*k you. How's that sound?'.  We're not sure how it sounded to her, but it sure didn't sound good to Nugent's wife, who forced her husband to apologize to the producer, according to Glor, who also said that Nugent phoned him the following day to say that he had gone to the hospital right after the interview to have a kidney stone removed.  They must have extracted some bile too.
(video)
HenneMusic.com

 

Hendrix Movie Starting Production
Rapper Andre Benjamin to portray Jimi.

Talk of a Jimi Hendrix biopic has been off-and-on for years, but it finally appears that a firm plan is in place to begin making the biopic late this month in Ireland.  Andre Benjamin, better known as Andree 3000 of the Rap duo Outkast, will have the lead role in a movie being co-produced by three film companies.  The film is said to be concentrating on the early period of the meteoric career of the Seattle guitarist that Chas Chandler, bass player with the Animals convinced to return to England with him so he could have Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and others hear him play.  That jaw dropping club appearance led immediately to the studio sessions that produced the ground breaking debut album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
IFTN.ie 

MORE JIMI HENDRIX INSIGHTS

 

 

 

SNL Lands Jagger For Finale
Stones front man closes out Saturday Night Live season.

Lorne Michaels has managed to do what London Olympics organizers have come up empty on - getting a member of the Rolling Stones to commit to an appearance.  Mick Jagger will both host and perform on the May 19 season ending episode of Saturday Night Live on NBC.  The appearance will be the third time the Rolling Stones front man has performed on SNL, but his first time hosting the iconic late night comedy show. He turned in one of the best non-musical performances in the show's storied history when he appeared as band mate Keith Richards in a skit with Mike Myers in Jagger's role. (video)
NBC.com

MORE MICK JAGGER INSIGHTS

 
  HBO Previews Rock Hall Induction Highlights
 

 


Bruce Pays Tribute To Levon Helm
Performs The Weight during NJ concert.

More than 20,000 Springsteen fans joined in singing The Weight (video) in tribute to Levon Helm during the Boss' Wednesday (5/2) concert at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.  The heartfelt tribute to the late Band drummer was the first of six song encore capping off a 26 song evening.  Calling Helm, 'One of the greatest voices in Country, Rockabilly and Rock' Bruce introduced the fan request by adding that both his singing and style of drumming were 'incredibly personal' and came'...out of a certain place in the past' and could 'never be replicated.'
The Weight was one of several special moments during the marathon home-turf concert.  The set also a scorching version of It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City - marking the first time the song has been done during the current tour.  Rarer still, the E Street Band (minus Patti Scialfa for the night, who Bruce quipped was '...home keeping the kids out of the drug stash') also broke out the hardly ever performed Bishop Danced.
NJ.com

MORE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN INSIGHTS





 

Guinness Guitar Record Broken
More than 7,000 play Hey Joe in Poland.

Organizers of the Thanks Jimi Festival have submitted documentation to the Guinness World Record folks claiming that 7,273 guitarists played the Jimi Hendrix classic Hey Joe Tuesday (5/1) at the annual event in Wroclaw, Poland.  If the official count stands, it will top the same event's 2009 record for the world's Largest Guitar Ensemble by nearly 1,000. (video)
MusicRadar.com



 


 
New Album, Tour & Bass Player For Skynyrd
Southern Rockers add former Black Crowes member.

Southern Rock institution Lynyrd Skynyrd will release a new studio album titled Last Of A Dying Breed on August 21.  The new album arrives as the band hits the road for dates in the US and Europe and announces the addition of founding Black Crowes bass player Johnny Colt
Gary Rossington says the new album is the first effort in some time that the group took a real live approach to as opposed to having members lay down separate tracks during different studio sessions. Going old school resulted in the process being '...a lot of fun and the music really flowed for us', according to Rossington, who adds, 'We can't wait to let the fans hear these songs and play 'em live.'
Colt is charged up about the opportunity to join the legendary outfit.  He says that when the band's Rickey Medlocke phoned him to see if he was interested, his only question was 'when and where!'
PRNewswire

MORE LYNYRD SKYNYRD INSIGHTS




 

Dave Grohl Producing Studio Film
Rockumentary on SoCal Studio in the works.

Sound City, the San Fernando Valley, CA studio where albums from Nirvana, Neil Young, Metallica, Elton John and Guns N' Roses came to life, is getting the Rockumentary treatment with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl directing and producing.  The drummer calls Sound City, which is the home studio for Grohl's Foo Fighters, 'Rock n Roll hallowed ground' and the '...best kept secret' of musicians lucky enough to record at the off the beaten path analog studio.  It was there that Nirvana recorded its groundbreaking Nevermind album.  Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, and Lindsay Buckingham will join the ranks of musicians sharing insights into wht made the place so special.
HollywoodReporter.com

 

 


Deep Purple Prepares To Record
Veteran producer Bob Ezrin will oversee project.

Guitarist Steve Morse says members of Deep Purple are getting ready to start work on the legendary band's first new studio record in seven years and will do it with one of Rock's best producers.  Morse says they have secured the services of Bob Ezrin, who has produced projects for Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel and Kansas, a band Morse was in at the time.  He says getting Ezrin to head-up the recording makes him confident that the album, which he calls a '...really important one' for the band, will meet the expectations of group members and fans.
HenneMusic.com

MORE DEEP PURPLE INSIGHTS



 
Get all updates from the last 30 days here

Photos from
PR Photos

Dig Deeper. Visit the ROCKinsights Archives

  Song Previews, Reviews & Special Savings on ROCKinsights Recommended Recent Releases

See More ROCKinsights Recommended Recent Releases


 

 

 

 

 

 

 




©
Copyright 2012 Sound Insights, Inc.

Terms of Use Agreement

PR Photos