My 14:42 Seconds With Yoko Ono: Part One

She's gotten in more trouble for being positive. A passionate Social Networker. Her biggest dream? If I told you where the interview took place you wouldn't believe me. If I told you how the connection was made. Nothing changes. She's been accused but I wouldn't talk about it. She's the wife of...but it wasn't my reasons for wanting to converse. She's been endlessly open with her art and loves sharing a willingness to create with the entire world. I want to know the real Yoko. The Unplugged totally Uncut interview will be available later this week. The interview Part One

Beth By KISS Redesigned To Make You Laugh

It's Monday. It's been raining for three days in the South. You need a laugh. You might find it inside this this parody of Beth from KISS. You know the song...but do you know the real Beth? What truly took place that night when Peter Criss let his inner child develop the lyrics to the bands most successful song to date? Wait! Before you leap into it. Let me properly set it up. The parody is done in a 70s-style dramedy in a hilarious video complete with actors playing the role of Peter Criss and a nagging wife imploring him to leave a recording session — because dinner is getting cold and the kids are driving her crazy. The video, which was produced by a group called Anonymous Content and posted to Vimeo, begins with the disclaimer, “This is the historically inaccurate tale of the song’s inspiration.” The clip begins as Criss is called to a control room telephone, while the remaining members of Kiss mill about behind him in the studio. “It’s Beth,” the woman says, “and I’m just wondering when you are going to be home — because I’m making meatloaf.” The Criss character then repeats the song’s familiar lyrics about being unable to come home right now because they just can’t find the sound for this particular track. “Well, do you think you can look a little bit harder for your sound?” the Beth character queries, checking on the meatloaf in a ’70s-era kitchen. “Just kidding. What do you think then, 6:30?” Naturally, Criss replies, “Just a few more hours, and I’ll be right home to you,” as his band mates begin to grow restless. Next, of course, the boys start calling him. “Who was that?” Beth demands. “Ace? That’s typical Ace.” Criss then insists that he understands how she feels, but that he and the boys — no surprise — will be playing all night. “Beth, what can I do?” he asks finally. “Well,” she replies — in an answer that will ring true for anyone who’s stayed out too late with his friends — “you could finish the damn song and come home.” The video

Pawn Stars Won't Hawk Lynyrd Skynyrd

This is one piece of Classic Rock merchandise Chumley or the old man can't sell. The hit TV show Pawn Stars rips into a brand new season hoisting a southern flag over their theme song. Legendary classic rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd stepped into the studio and dropped the tracks to the tune ‘Winning Isn’t Everything,’ I Heart Radio picks it up April 26th. Four days before Pawn Stars their new season. Oh crap! Before I forget! ‘Pawn Stars’ is moving to Thursdays for the new season. Skynyrd will also be on hand this Friday (April 26) at the Pawn Stars’ Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas for the ‘Party Like the Pawn Stars’ event, which History is staging to kick off the show’s upcoming season. The band will perform the new song, as well as more than an hour of their classic hits, at the free concert.

Is KISS A Band? Duo? Or Tribute Act?

Bands that aren't bands. There should be labels! Boston isn't a band. Its a duo! Tom Sholtz and long live Brad Delp. ELO. The Electric Light Orchestra. Totally Jeff Lynn and Bev Bevan. Some would say Aerosmith is a mirrored reflection of the toxic twins Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. Not a duo. A band! Never take your eye off Tom Hamilton on bass. I thought Bon Jovi was a band until the most recent scandal busted Richie Sambora free from the stage. Jon's decision pretty much said, "This is my band." KISS was never a band. Staking the claim. Record producer Richie Wise. He worked with Simmons and company on their first two albums. 40 chapters later...he says Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were nothing more than hired guns. They won the audition. The story busted loose after Criss suggested that KISS today is nothing more than a tribute band. Wise doesn’t entirely discount Frehley and Criss’ contributions to Kiss. “Could those characters have been created with another drummer and guitar player? Yes, if you got another guitarist and drummer that bought into what Kiss was selling — the makeup, the stage show, the whole thing,” he states. “But those guys were perfect for it.” Although Gene and Paul are the major members in the band, Eric and Tommy, to them, it’s a job,” he told Eddie Trunk (quote via Classic Rock magazine). “He’s playing Ace Frehley licks to a tee; Eric’s playing my drum licks to a tee. They’re still playing the same songs that we made famous.”

Classic Rock Isn't One Foot In The Grave

Inside a book of top ten best ever guitar riffs...Slash has successfully helped keep Classic Rock fresh and moving forward. Classic Rock...always gets hit with a bum rap...labeled old people's music. Really? The guitar riff you're about to check out on video...is a 7 year old girl. The latest crazy on YouTube is the growing collection of really talented little people playing Classic Rock’ videos. Two weeks ago the hottest mini flick was a six-year-old drumming along to Van Halen‘s ‘Hot for Teacher.’ Slash tweetedm "I’m speechless,” Who is the girl? Her name is Zoe Thomson, and the clip was recorded three years ago, when she was only seven, but only posted on April 11. She is currently serving as the lead guitarist in a group called the Mini Band, which is comprised of similarly aged prodigies. see the video

Julian Lennon And Steven Tyler

In martial arts every student is taught from day one: Let your art be available to be stolen. Every move forward. From blocks to kicks is the act of fine tuning a method of movement dating two thousand years. Music is no different. The masters of lyrics, guitar riffs and harmony walk a path based on choosing to or not to...share their art. Steven Tyler and Julian Lennon? Aerosmith's front man just wrapped up a recording project with John Lennon's youngest. Julian has always been accused of sounding too much like his father. Wait until here his first release in 15 years. I've attached the song Someday to wrfx.com The rest of the Julian Lennon collection drops onto I Heart Radio on June 15. Even without the direct melodic and lyrical lift of the Beatles‘ ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’ in the opening line, the track is a relatively solid pop song. While Lennon will never achieve the level of success that his father John Lennon found with the Beatles, Julian has nonetheless had some degree of success over the last 30 years. His 1984 debut record ‘Valotte’ had two Top 10 singles, the title track and ‘Too Late For Goodbyes’. Since 1998, Lennon has devoted himself to non-musical pursuits, namely charitable and humanitarian causes. In 2007, he produced a documentary called ‘Whaledreamers’ and founded the White Feather Foundation. He is also an accomplished photographer. See the video

Is Steven Tyloer Coming Back To American Idol?

Thank you God for the DVR! That's the only way I've been able to make it through this year's edition of American Idol. Three ticks into a vocal release and I'm hitting fast forward. I wish I could say I love the show. Turns out it was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith that I was tuning in for. Anyone who has the guts to run their mouth is a hero. They say it because they feel it. The live it because anything less is just getting by and that just ain't America. Do we know the real reason why he left American Idol? Was it the producers or Joe Perry wanting to bang out a new album and tour? I got this feeling Steven is missing himself on the show. In a recent interview he reflected fondly on his time as an ‘AI’ judge. “I miss it,” he admitted wistfully. “I miss J-Lo and Randy. It was a hoot.” When the interviewer pointed out that Tyler had engaged in a public war of words with Minaj not too long ago, Tyler reminded us, first and foremost, he’s a savvy showman. “I like Mariah, and I’m a big fan of Keith, but if you really think about it, you want some drama,” he pointed out. “Put me in a room with Nicki. Put me in a room with Nicki!”

Could Jimmy Fallon Be Jim Morrison

While producers and directors snap back together the legacy of Jim Morrison from the Doors. A new book and the newest of Rock U Mentary's are rumored to be spinning a born again relationship between the band and the fans that made them. Drummer John Densmore would love to see the Doors back on stage. But who but Val Kilmer could pull off a what Morrison once set free? Not so fast. Check out the video... That's not Val Kilmer. That's Late Night Host Jimmy Fallon John's new book ‘The Doors: Unhinged’is out. The Rock U Mentary is on the way. If you feel the need to be blessed again by Morrison's lyrics and poetry...never forget I Heart Radio is the free Ap to get. The prospects of a full tour seem dim, as Densmore all but said he’s not going to do it. OK — he did say that. “I’m not going to go on tour with them and find a ‘Jimitator,’” he stated. “If we played a couple of gigs like Pink Floyd, who’ve had their struggles, benefits or something, Live Aid or whatever, with some great singer, that would make sense.” Densmore was mostly talking about his new book ‘The Doors: Unhinged’ and his lawsuit against Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger over using the band’s name when they wanted to perform as the Doors of the 21st Century. He says the book was cathartic, and an olive branch to the two men.

John Fogerty Kicks Music Into A Brand New Summer

The best part about a Carolina summer isn't the 98 degree nights with humidity washing the sweat from your armpits. Summer starts in May and wraps up near November. Inside those seven months a few million wild minded, take life as it is cuz I'm gonna do it my way people forget man put walls on their house. We live outside beyond the sun setting on the eastern side of our new living room. BBQ, backyard pool parties, scantily dressed girls fresh from the pages of 50 Shades and an I Heart Radio AP on the smartphone emphatically resistant to ending the journey to collect music. Where there's summer. There has to be loud, in your face, call the cops all you want music. Don't let Black Sabbath collect all the new music headlines. In May CCR's former front man John Fogerty goes all out I own this market. He's spent the past year recording with Foo Fighters, Kid Rock and Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Bob Seger. The best looking hair in Rock n Roll Rod Stewart puts out new tunes for I Heart Radio. It's his first album of new rock material in years, which he has described as “just a good, old-fashioned Rod Stewart album with a lot of mandolin and acoustic guitar and fiddles. Plus some seriously out of control fun by way of good storytelling. I said seven months of summer right? Then we can't let the new music addiction end there. Checking in will be Bob Dylan, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Paul McCartney in May. The mystical poets of the Moody Blues have a pair of live DVDs that document two very different eras of their career. And! And the critically acclaimed Rolling Stones documentary ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ can finally make it into your life and style.

Steven Tyler Will Take A Cut In Pay To Play With AC/DC

Being out on the road forty six out of the fifty two weeks a year has always come across as the ultimate dream job. Playing festivals! Looking out over a crowd of thirty five to fifty thousand. Loud music. Fresh guitar strings. Roadies with flashlights guiding members onto a darkened stage. Is there anything sweeter than being the maker of what moves people to jumping, shouting and letting go of life's every day pressures? Never once have I thought about: What if you don't like the band you're touring with? Do Rocker's sit on their buses dreaming about one day sharing the stage with ___________? The Toxic Twins of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry will achieve a long-awaited ambition when they co-headline with Van Halen in Australia this summer. Sounds like an incredible night of Rock until Steven says, "I'll take a pay cut to hit the road with AC/DC." Perry explains: “There’s been talk about us co-headlining for years. But they’re one of those bands that do a cycle then split, so it’s been really hard.” The Aerosmith duo are to be honored with the Founder’s Award for songwriting at this week’s ASCAP Expo in Los Angeles. It’s been a long time coming for a team who recall the pain of being constantly compared to the Rolling Stones when they started out in Boston. Tyler reflects: “We come from an era when Sweet Emotion and Back In The Saddle were considered dark. We weren’t accepted – we were just a B-side album band. We were never a singles band. “Then the 80s came along with Dude (Looks Like A Lady). I listen to that now and I think, ‘What?’ It’s fun to hear, kind of like Wooly Bully, but were we trying too hard to be a singles band? “It doesn’t matter. We’ve been strung out and sober. We’ve sold in and we’ve sold out. Some days we didn’t even sell at all. What matters is we’re still together as a band.”

Paul McCartney's Front Door Sells For $77 Hundred

I love Classic Rock. Collecting it beyond 45's, albums and 8-tracks began at a KISS concert when Ace Frehley tossed his guitar pick straight into my teenage ambition. The hunt was on. I needed more Rock junk! Thanks to the brilliance of television... owning a Pawn shop has turned one man's junk into a music lover's treasure. Collecting weird Classic Rock memorabilia is on the increase. Over the weekend...the front door of Paul McCartney‘s childhood home sold for $77 hundred Wait...let's think like the guys on Pawn Stars. No proof in writing or photographs of Paul standing near the door were presented during the auction. Would you have out bid the 77 hundred? But!!!!! The official word is....according to the Scotsman, the McCartneys moved into the Liverpool home in 1955 and moved out in 1964, when it was sold to a woman “who acted as an unofficial ambassador for Beatles fans who came from around the world to visit the house.” She refurbished the house in the ’70s, replacing the door and selling it to a singer named Glen South, who turned around and sold it — but then bought it back and kept it behind his sofa for years. Reports haven’t identified the door’s new owner, referring to the winner simply as a “phone bidder.” But the auction house is understandably pleased with the purchase price, which matches its high estimate. “It came down to three people bidding against each other,” an auctioneer was quoted as saying. “We’re very happy with the result.”

The New People's Music Champion Is Kid Rock

Kid Rock is touring with ZZ Top. That's hot. Kid Rock is printing his own tickets. That's illegal right? No! Detroit's biggest rocker since Seger has cleared a path for fans of Classic Rock to see the show for 20 bucks. Every seat. Front, lawn, to the left or perfectly in the center. Hey..he gets it. People stopped going to concerts because they can't afford them. I feel old as hell when I tell people that I saw KISS for 6 bucks. Songs were 89 cents. And local stores sold me concert beer at the age of 16 without having to do time. Kid Rock pulls into Charlotte at verizon wireless amphitheater on September 10th. Is there a political agenda behind Kid Rocks approach to getting the 20 buck tickets? Hmmmmm RollingStone Magazine lays out the digits: After much back-and-forth, Rapino and Rock came to a deal that allowed for $20 tickets for every seat in the house. "I said to them, 'Look, I'll go in as your partner. Don't guarantee me a dime; if nobody shows up, I'll lose money.' It costs us $125,000 to show up with our crew and whatnot," he explains. "I also said, 'But I want to share beer, parking, hot dogs. Let's put the money in a pot at the end of the night and figure out, based on the numbers, what I'll get paid.' Even if it sells out, I'll take a pay cut. Fortunately, I'm able to do that." However, the first two rows of each venue will not be sold to anybody. "I'm going to send my roadies to find people in the back of the place to sit there," Rock says. "I have big-time buddies that can get front-row seats for anything. They know the right people. Not my show, though. We don't care who you are, you can't get those seats unless we select you." In places where it's legal, rows two through 18 will be only available via paperless ticketing. Unfortunately, many states have outlawed the practice, which infuriates Rock. "That's one of the times I'm embarrassed to be a Republican," he seethes. "It's Republican lawmakers passing those laws, you dumbasses. They already did it in New York and they're trying to do it in Michigan. I've even called some of those guys to try and stop it." He's also livid with Ticketmaster. "They're taking a five-dollar service charge," he says. "It's 25 percent of the ticket! That's messed up, but I've beaten them up as much as I can. Then Walmart stepped in and agreed to charge just $20, and it includes parking." Many artists secretly place their own best seats on scalping sites, but Kid Rock is being transparent about the process, too. "We're doing that with 1,000 tickets to each show," he says. "The money is going into our pocket. We're going to try and combat scalpers." Rock realized his $20 plan could work a few years ago, when he lowered the prices of his t-shirts. "I realized it was highway robbery selling t-shirts for $40," he says. "I know what it cost to make those things. I said, 'This is ridiculous. Put up a banner that says 'Fuck the Economy! T-Shirts are $20.' My manager refused to do it until I threatened to fire him. We did it, and we made the same per cap by selling twice as many t-shirts." On the upcoming tour, Uncle Kracker will open each show with a brief set of his hits, followed by ZZ Top and then Kid Rock. "In the summertime, I try to play the hits to make sure everyone has fun," Rock says. "From there, I do fun stuff. I might do 'Born on the Bayou' since I recently cut that with John Fogerty, or maybe 'Rock & Roll Never Forgets' since I just did some shows with Bob Seger. I also hope to play with ZZ Top. We're old friends and I'm always down for that." Hits or not, Rock admits he has no idea whether his cut-rate plan will actually work. "I don't get nervous much in life anymore," he says, "but this one is a little nerve-racking. It could be a really rough summer if it doesn't work out. If it doesn't work out, I may have to go hide in a hole for a couple of years." If it does work, Rock hopes other artists will copy the business model. "Who doesn't want to play to a packed house?" he asks. "We all have huge fucking egos; I don't care what anybody says. Playing to a place that's half-full sucks. I'd rather take a pay cut and play to a packed house and hopefully be able to do this for many, many more years. Then after, I have a big nest egg and I can walk away with my middle finger up." On that note, many of Kid Rock's musical peers have been basically pointing their middle fingers at him since he campaigned for Mitt Romney last year. "People in this country just hate each other for voicing an opinion, especially in my business," he says now. "I'm like the fucking lone wolf. Look, I tend to vote Republican, but I don't like the hardcore views on either side and I'm not in bed with anybody. I'd probably be more Libertarian, but I'm a firm believer you have to pick a side. I can't be playing the middle. If you think differently, that's fine. I'd love to grab a beer and hear why you think that way." Unlike most Republicans, Rock supports gay marriage and abortion rights. Might he endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016 if she ran against someone as socially conservative as, say, Rick Santorum? "That's a tough one," he says with a big laugh. "Jesus. I'm not letting you snake me into that. Nice try, though."

Bernie Leadon Is Back To Being An Eagle

Getting hooked up with The Eagles. One day it'll be looked at as being just as American as packing up your mule and heading out west to Oregon. Searching for gold outside of San Fran. Hitting Yellowstone Nat'l Park and thinking, "This needs to be labeled a national treasure." Musically Glenn Frey and Don Henley are Lewis and Clark. No matter where you leaped onto their trail...pre-Greatest Hits, Hotel California or while You Tubing. One of the core chords attached to the feeding tubes of personal everyday Joe Average lives is and has always been connected to the writing and musical instruments these two men have touched. I hate to say this but I can't help but believe The Eagles are the last great American band where more than 75% of us know who is and has been a member of the playing field on display. Bernie Leadon is back to being an Eagle. Joe Walsh let it slip during an interview. According to the guitarist...the History of the Eagles Tour has been designed to take Eagles fans through multiple changes. Walsh also described the intriguing possibility of the band presenting its songs, and its lineup, more or less chronologically. “There’ll be part of the show that doesn’t involve me, but I may come out and play some James Gang stuff as part of the show just to show what I was doing when ‘Witchy Woman’ came out,” he suggested. “We don’t have that down yet.” As Rolling Stone notes, Leadon was with the Eagles for their productive four-year stretch between 1971-75, leaving because, as he put it in 2008, “I just wanted some time to regroup. I suggested we take some time off. They weren’t excited about that idea.” Whatever happens, we’ll see who’s in the lineup on July 6, when the History of the Eagles Tour is scheduled to kick off in Louisville, Ky

Metallica Rips The Volume Knob Off Pinball

Pinball once made wizards out of gamers. I didn't spend fifteen or twenty minutes popping coins into the slot at Sunset Bowl in Billings, Montana. If the parental figures wanted me they called the alley. I was born to flip. Inside a Classic Rock Nation overtaken by video...Pinball is the way Metallica thinks. Lead vocalist James Hetfield is rocked about the new game plan. Every song shattering the sound a Pinball machine makes will be new Metallica and gamer exclusive. Wait! This isn't a new way to Rock. KISS introduced their box on stilts in the 70's. I've seen TV show, movie themes and everything close to naked firmly promoting on the outside of the music maker turned mind blasting hip thumper. Fifteen months ago the company began to reveal a series of videos showing the making of the AC/DC pinball machine. In this 60-second video fans see a list of heavy hitting tracks included in the game before getting blink-and-you’ll-miss-them shots of some of the video and technology used to create the game. Some of the tracks included are ‘Fuel,’ ‘Master of Puppets,’ ‘The Unforgiven’ and ‘Enter Sandman.’ There are 12 tracks in all, many of which the band is sure to play as they headline the Orion Music + More Festival in Detroit this summer. The band is also working on new music, and has a 3D film scheduled for 2013. A book called ‘Metallica: The Complete Illustrated History’ will be released in November.

New Music From Fleetwood Mac Just In Time For Summer

How can you tell Summer's almost here! By the number of Fleetwood Mac songs on the radio. It's been that way since Say You Love Me, Rhiannon and the entire Rumors album blew up FM radio in the mid-70's. Fleetwood Mac goes great with spring rain. Fleetwood Mac floats through the air when its 97 degrees. Fleetwood Mac turns a 4 hour weekend trip down a long ass highway into a miniature concert staring you. I pop on an old episode of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert featuring Stevie Nicks on YouTube and without a doubt my imagination is basking in the rays of a summertime high. Which is why I wasn't shocked with Lindsey Buckingham announced that Fleetwood Mac will release an EP of brand new material "in a few days," Lindsey Buckingham said onstage during a show this past Saturday in Philadelphia. "It's the best stuff we've done in a long time," Buckingham said as he introduced one such new cut, "Sad Angel," that you can check out thanks to a rather impressive fan-shot video: The track opens with the guitarist picking muted notes over steady hi-hat clicks before the song opens up into driving, harmony-laden barnburner. There's no word on the exact release date for the EP, but Stevie Nicks mentioned last year that the band had been working on new material. "We actually have two new Fleetwood Mac songs that I cut with Lindsey two weeks ago we might play," Nicks told Rolling Stone in an interview about the band's current world tour. "I had a really good time working with him for four days at his house. I got to hang out with his family and his kids, his grown up kids, and really connect with him again. We’re pretty proud of what we have done, and we’re looking at it through the eyes of wisdom now, instead of through the eyes of jealousy and resentment and anger." The video

Black Sabbath Stays True To Fans On New Tour

Last month Jon Bon Jovi apologized to fans of the band for having to play new material at the Time Warner Cable Arena. He knows. We know. Music is a business and no band can afford to fork out the bucks to tour on their own time and dime. I walked out of a Tom Petty concert because the new music and I just weren't buzzing. I laughed the entire way out. I had finally felt what radio listeners experience when the jock on the air cuts into a list of favorites and shouts, "Hey I got this new song from ________." I was there when U2 and Def Leopard busted onto the 1980's music scene. Hearing new music from them came with a benefit. Then something happened to music. Albums featured more misses than hits. The invention of the compact disc gave permission to music buffs to purchase the tunes then quickly sell it back to the record store. I'm guilty of doing it with albums. A new group on the scene was Loverboy. Maybe being from Montana got in the way. I mean we were caked constantly with Canadian acts wanting to make it big. Loverboy was just another one of those bands. The song Turn Me Loose was April Wine meeting Chillawack taking on Gino Vannelli. The greatest Classic Rock come backs of all time has a new member. Black Sabbath. Not just a new collection of Tony Iommi inspired guitar riffs but a world tour. For fans that can be scary. Musicians tend to put too much focus on the new material. Not Black Sabbath. Catch em live and you're gonna get the tracks that made em your favorite. Bassist Geezer Butler says Ozzy and company are well focused of what the band is and as supposed to be about. It was great for experimenting, but we wasted a lot of time – and money – just pissing about in the studio on the later albums.” That followed Butler’s early struggle to buy an instrument, after Cream inspired him to focus on bass. “I’d never seen anyone play bass like Jack Bruce before,” he says. “Everyone would be staring at Clapton while I’d be staring at Jack. “The main obstacle was I couldn’t afford a bass. I had a Fender Telecaster guitar at the time. I was paying it off at 50 pence a week over four years, so I couldn’t sell it until it was paid for. When I got together with Sabbath, I tuned the guitar strings down to simulate a bass. “On our first gig I borrowed a friend’s Hofner bass. It only had three strings – and that gig was the first time I’d ever played a bass. I swapped my Telecaster for a Fender Precision bass, and that was that.” While Sabbath will mainly live in the past when it comes to setlists, Butler says they’ll also squeeze in a couple of tracks from the new album. And he reflects on how recording 13 was a completely different experience from those that took place 40 years ago. “These days it’s great – you can have the equivalent of a major studio on your laptop, so you can save a lot of time and heartache by recording your ideas at home and then playing them to whoever you are working with, to get instant feedback. There is nothing to replace jamming live together, but it is great to have a reference point, to give direction.” The bassist admits writing the album was a challenge: “You have to feel extremely comfortable with each other to write and record. We have seen each other almost every day for the last two years – but we persisted, and we have done the almost impossible.”

No Cheap Trick. Live From Budokan Changed Buying Habits

Depending on who you met along the record collecting path...there was never a true art to buying unless you physically hooked up with a record geek behind the counter. Before computers. Nerds loved hard to locate vinyl. Most of which was being spun into sound in faraway places like Budokan. Imports. They were expensive but exclusive. To own an import made you king for the day. Nobody else. Just you. Sporting the makings of the inside sleeve. That rare hunk of something special that pleased the innocence right out of a music fan. Whatever it took to turn a bootleg cassette banged out during weekend listening party into "Thee" must hear no matter what place you elected to party. 1978. At the time. The greatest "Import" on earth belonged to an act out of Rockford, Illinois that had been banging around for five years. It almost looks like it. But far from being it. Cheap Trick took on the role of overnight sensation. FM radio turned them into the poster child for hottest product to own no matter what the asking price. Cheap Trick are planning a pair of shows to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their concerts in Tokyo that spawned the classic live album At Budokan. The rockers will replicate history, playing the same songs in the same order they did in 1978. They'll start on April 28th at the John Varvatos boutique on the Bowery in New York (the former home of CBGB), where they'll re-create the show they performed on the same day in 1978. They'll follow up on April 30th at El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles by playing the same set from 35 years ago. Fans will be able to watch the shows through live streams. The April 28th New York show will be broadcast on Livestream.com, while the April 30th Los Angeles show will air on AXS TV. For more information, visit the band's website. Cheap Trick also marked the 20th anniversary of their Budokan shows in 1998 with a string of concerts.

Van-Hager Could There Be A Reunion?

Last week's Bon Jovi/Sambora tour separation shocked a lot of fans. Within ten minutes they recovered. Why? Because hearing the news fed what we expect from everyone associated with sound. The land of musical breakups. It's nothing new. It never has been. It was alive and well before The Beatles and will continue decades after our passion for music is gone. I've stood on many stages lecturing to hundreds of potential artists and to everyone of them I firmly plant a single seed, "Where there is creativity. There will be war. Figure out the afterlife before settling in on celebrating the best of times." One of the biggest baddest Classic Rock breakups is the Eddie Van Halen/ Sammy Hagar divorce. As strained as its been. Fans of the band have given up on a possible reunion. Not so fast says Sammy Hagar... He's seeing a different Eddie on the horizon Hagar was asked by Vegas Rocks! (via Blabbermouth), what he would say to the guitar legend if he had the opportunity. Without much hesitation, Hagar spoke of his willingness to reconnect. The video is embedded below. “Well, right now I’d say, ‘Wow. Great. I’ve seen some pictures of you recently. You look like you’re healthy and doing great,” he told Sally Steele. I’m really proud of you and I’d like to see you continue doing that. Here’s my phone number. Call me up if you wanna hang and just have some fun and goof off.’” However, Hagar acknowledged that he learned his lesson from his previous attempt at reuniting with Van Halen. He said that he would be more cautious about any further projects with the band, while also practically demanding that his old buddy be brought back into the fold. “And whatever that led to,” he continued. “I wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, let’s get together and do it again,’ because you would have to do that slow, because I would never do it again under the last circumstances. But I would do it again under different circumstances. So it’d be like that. And then I would also say, ‘And also here’s Mikey’s [Anthony] phone numbers with mine.’” Of course, Hagar doesn’t need to be in Van Halen. In addition to his work with Chickenfoot, he’s currently working on a new solo album to be released this year. Last month he reunited in the studio with his former Montrose bandmates Bill Church and Denny Carmassi. The interview

Black Sabbath Leaks New Riff

Outside of comeback tours and digitally re-issued albums...the world of Classic Rock has had a difficult time mastering a new waves of excitement. Until Ozzy and Tony Iommi ripped into a few guitar chords and decided Black Sabbath needed to a new album. The long-awaited ‘13‘ will hit I Heart Radio on June 11. Late last night...the first Iommi tainted guitar riff in decades became part of this generation Consequence of Sound has gotten the artwork, which is comprised of what appears to be branches engineered to form the number 13, on fire in the middle of a cloudy night, with bare trees visible in the distance. OK, so it’s not as thought-provoking as, say, ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,’ but then again it’s not ‘Master of Reality,’ either. The video that accompanies the announcement is a time-lapse camera trained on the wood as it is set ablaze. It’s hard to judge an entire album based on less than 30 seconds, but the song on the video has got us excited. It opens with a typically slammin’ Tony Iommi riff. Then, the unmistakable voice of Ozzy Osbourne sings, “Nowhere to run / Nowhere to hide,” before it fades out. ’13′ is the first studio album by Black Sabbath with Ozzy on lead vocals since 1978. Drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine has taken over. Listen to the riff

Jim Morrison: What's Wrong With Being Fat?

Anyone born after the mid-70's knows of Jim Morrison only through pictures and the occasional video. Living vicariously through him via the media became a life and style fans of music penetrated during an age of music when Poet's with pens still had the ability to convince record labels that a great song isn't about how you sing it but what you sing. Jim Morrison of the Doors. Creative. Highly spirited. Loves being fat. A never before heard interview with the Classic Rock Legend has resurfaced: Exposing a side of Jim many didn't know. Rolling Stone shared the news of the four-minute clip, which is being broadcast as part of the new PBS series ‘Blank on Blank.’ Produced in conjunction with the broadcasting company’s digital studio division, it sets the audio of Morrison’s words against newly-created animation (a similar effect was used for the first installment of ‘Blank on Blank,’ which finds wizened talk show host Larry King discussing seduction.) As for the substance of Morrison’s interview, it’s a little odd, but at least you can’t say he and Smith were talking about the same old stuff. This segment finds them discussing Morrison’s fondness for his college meal plan. “I felt like a large mammal. A big beast,” he recalls, looking back on his days as a 185-pound student. “When I’d move through the corridors or across the lawn, I just felt like I could knock anybody out of my way, you know. I was solid, man. It’s terrible to be thin and wispy because, you know, you could get knocked over by a strong wind or something. Fat is beautiful.” The interview

Eddie Van Halen Hip Rocks With LL Cool J

It's not what I believe. It's those who have convinced me. The world of music couldn't and wouldn't be without the physical act of a working team. Behind every solo artist gone Idol... is a collaboration that rarely if ever gets credit. Insert your own Justin Bieber joke. Lennon without McCartney wouldn't have worked. Jagger not hooking up with Richards would've kept this nation locked up in a world of Big Band Standards with a twist of Nashville spilled milk. I'm not knockin Country Music! That shape of sound along with Hip Hop has done more for its self image than any other style presented. Writers, producers, record labels and managers have agreed to leave their egos at the door. There's more collaborating taking place than any other time in music history. Brooks and Dunn, Montgomery Gentry. How many people still think it's the name of a band? Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan pumping out the tune The Only Way I Know. The Band Perry will only be a family act until it's time for one of them to go solo. Being a club and private party DJ for twenty plus years I've seen dance floors explode when mixing the combination of Classic Rock and Hip Hop. Why more masters of the craft aren't crossing the line shocks me! Rock guitar God Eddie Van Halen and Rap Artist LL Cool Jay. Whose best known as Sam Hanna on the CBS drama NCIS Los Angeles are about to change the entire layout. Eddie says his collaboration with the rap artist was exactly what he needed as a musician. The guitar icon appears on two tracks of Authentic, due out on April 30 – and on one of those, We’re The Greatest, he managed to persuade Cool J to sing. Hear a clip from the work below. Van Halen tells GuitarWorld: “The thought of me playing guitar to hip hop was definitely left of centre – but I was intrigued and I agreed to meet and listen to what he had. “I was not only inspired by the songs I heard, but LL’s enthusiasm, his down-to-earth personality, the freedom he gave me to co-create and his willingness to, for the very first time, sing the chorus on We’re the Greatest. “It was like a breath of fresh air that I needed as an artist and an individual.” After working on We’re The Greatest, which also features Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, Van Halen hopes he’s been involved in the start of something new. He says: “The diversity of the songs on this album and the other artists he has collaborated with is outstanding, appealing to multiple genres of music and maybe even creating a few of our own.” Cool J feels the collaborators struck the right note. “I approached this song with the upmost respect for Eddie and his fans, and became friends with him through the process,” he says. “I was humbled to watch a genius at work and collaborate with such a legendary and visionary artist as Eddie Van Halen, and to bring our two worlds together, was an exciting opportunity. I am thrilled he was up for the ride.” See the video

Richie Sambora Pulls Himself Off The Bon Jovi Tour

Here we go again! Last year David Lee Roth and the Van Halen family pulled into Charlotte. A few clicks down the Rock n Roll path and the tour was done. Last month Bon Jovi bangs out a four hour Charlotte performance and now Richie Sambora has leaped from the runaway train. Jon's right wing. The super guitarist Sambora! He'll miss the next leg of the tour due to what's being described “personal issues.” The group broke the news on their website, “All shows will go on as scheduled.” The post didn’t specify what the band is defining as the “upcoming leg” of the tour, but it seems safe to assume they’re referring to their current run of North American shows, set to conclude April 25 in San Jose before Bon Jovi picks up again May 7 in South Africa. As the Newark Star-Ledger observed, the reaction from fans was swift, with more than 100 comments piling up on the band’s website during the hours immediately following the announcement — most from people concerned with Sambora’s well-being, but also joined by a number of ticket buyers who feel entitled to refunds due to Sambora’s absence. Although the band declined to respond to any of those comments, the Star-Ledger reports that “dozens of comments were deleted throughout the early morning hours,” further angering a number of fans. Sambora’s absence comes after a turbulent period during his tenure in the band, including a 2008 DUI arrest and several stints in rehab. He’s seemed to be handling his sobriety well since checking out of a treatment facility in 2011 — here’s hoping those “personal issues” aren’t substance-related.

Motley Crue Headed Back To Vegas

Ripping the roof off the house Vegas style is the new norm. Motley Crue. Def Leopard and The I Heart Music Festival. The world's biggest live entertainers taking up long term residence in Vegas...not so out of the norm. Elvis and Sinatra covered it fifty chapters ago. New norm is in. Vegas loves it loud. Vegas loves it raw. Vegas is getting Motley again. The cities first ever hard rock residency is taking another gamble on Sin City. As Vince Neil hinted last summer, the band’s new slate of shows will bring them back to the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where they played out their 12-date residency last year. As he put it during that interview, “Every night sold out. We’d have 4,000 people every night … There’s just so much to do here if you’re a rock fan.” “We are proud to have pioneered the Las Vegas rock residency last year and can’t wait to come back this year to take it over the top with a brand new show that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen Mötley Crüe do before,” bassist Nikki Sixx said via press release. News of the new residency was broken, somewhat bizarrely, by former ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous’ host Robin Leach, whose Twitter account made the announcement Monday (April 1). “Motley Crue returns for Hard Rock residency Sept 18 Oct 6 Look for trashed hotel room theme and a dangerous set. whole new show production,” Leach tweeted, adding, “#MotleyCrue show will be confirmed tomorrow with tickets going on sale this Friday. Not April 1 joke but still exclusive.” (Those were followed by a re-tweet of something Englebert Humperdinck said. Viva Las Vegas!) Attendees can presumably expect a fresh twist on the visual dazzle that the Crue applied to its first Vegas run, which Blabbermouth notes included Neil wearing an “illuminated poker-hand belt buckle” as well as “rogue carnival-styled seat ushers — and showgirl dancers, female aerialists, little people, macabre clowns and stilt walkers.” Tickets for the residency will go on sale Friday, April 5.

Rock n Rolls Missing Soul: ZZ Top's Billy Gibson Back In The Garage

I tend to study the aging process of musicians through my Rock Star neighbor Herb. A vibrant little guy filled with heaping piles of dreams and not enough people or years left in the book to fill them. Herb suffers from pre-Beatles disease. He and his "life's been rough" cohorts in stage presentation were doing a fine job denting the hardcore shells of a growing Rock n Roll nation when without prior preparation...the band was taken down and out by The British Invasion. Rock Star Herb has spent years trying to fit the puzzle pieces back together. The biggest chunks being hidden away moments felt right before being busted free from the spit shine and glamour of Regional success... I'm proud of them for not letting the band fade. To watch him talk about being up on stage is like watching lightning ignite before thunder rolls. While Jagger, McCartney, The Beach Boys, Dylan and Neil Young continue to prove that age is only a number. Missing from the true history of American music are the gut driven talents that made it beyond garage doors and smoke filled bar rooms. The electrified umbilical cords that fed starving imaginations that whispered, "If they can do it so can I." Rock Star Herb still packs 40,000 into his festivals but young buck promoters caught up in digital fixes can't seem to dial up the bowels of what makes music from America what the world listens to. Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones... seriously couldn't have been without sucking on the breast of Rhythm and Blues, Soul and raw direct from the street this is gonna piss off your parents Rock n Roll. Someone that might be able to relate with Rock Star Herb is a very hairy Texan. Saturday Night Billy Gibbon performed with the Moving Sidewalks, the band he was in prior to forming ZZ Top, for the first time since their 1969 breakup. In a new interview, Gibbons described what it was like to return to his garage-rock roots. “We’re taking things in reverse,” he told the Village Voice. “The enticement of unlearning is certainly working its magic with the band and being able to tag the energy that was flying around in 1967 is rewarding.” The Moving Sidewalks are playing at B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill in New York as part of the Cavestomp! series of garage-rock concerts. What was originally expected to be a one-off show to celebrate the release of ‘The Complete Moving Sidewalks‘ has resulted in a second date — in Austin, Texas on April 28 — and some new material that will be recorded in the near future. “What’s been fascinating is what it has stimulated in the way of writing,” he continued. “Not only have we gotten together and polished up existing songs, but we’ve started writing in that style.” The project has the full blessing of his ZZ Top bandmates, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. “They’re kind of excited, asked me if I can get them tickets,” Gibbons said.

Lennon And McCartney Breakup Letter Up For Auction

Since the very beginning. Classic Rock's biggest names have left more than greasy thumb prints on a newly opened black vinyl album. The famous love to write stuff down in the quirkiest of places. On napkins, match book covers beat up old notebooks and handkerchiefs. Show me a decade in which someone hasn't uncovered a sheet of awareness connected to a famous writer or performer that just so happened to burp up a puddle of creative flow onto a strange and unusual place. While in Seattle I was glued to Jimi Hendrix daily journal where he wrote about being excited about hanging out with Joni Mitchell and other creative wordsmiths. I couldn't unwrap my imagination from Kurt Cobain's pen scratchings. Inside my radio station studio is a specially crafted book from John Lennon that puts into play his personalized handwritten notes. An musician in the midst of thought has always been my favorite place hear music. Bent sentences. Pitch volume and tone not yet set. Scratches on top of scratches eventually becoming total blackouts. It leaves the reader in a state of assumption. Which is healthy in a musical world of payoffs and confessions. Outside of song lyrics John Lennon was notoriously known for writing letters. John's most famous letter will hit the auction block May 30th. The Break Up letter to Paul and Linda McCartney is expected to pull in $61,000 There's no word on the actual contents of the letter. This is the second famous Lennon letter to be auctioned off. The first was a handwritten request to Eric Clapton. John Lennon wrote: Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music. "I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together." Not all Lennon letters have sold at auction: Last year, another note to Paul and Linda – a six-page rant about the end of the Beatles and how he and Yoko Ono were treated – failed to sell at Christie's in London after bids didn't reach the £63,000 reserve price.