Even knowing David Lee Roth is capable of saying almost anything, news that Roth claimed while speaking with the Huffingtom Post that he once inusred his penis before embarking on a tour surprised even us.  The claim was made in response to a question as to whether he once had his body insured gefore going on tour.  DLR  reportedly told HP, 'It wasn't my body, it was Little Elvis', apparently the singer's nick name for his member.
NME.com

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Phil Ramone, a producer with credits that included some of the top releases from several Rock artists, has died at 79.  Ramone produced recordings that earned Album Of The Year Grammy award recognition include Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years, Billy Joel's 52nd Street and Genius Loves Company, the 2005 album that paired Ray Charles with a number of artists. His most recent work included production of Rod Stewart's American Songbook series of recordings.  Ramone had the range of knowledge and the production and engineering chops to get great results for a wide range of artists and styles.  He  was as at home working on a Broadway soundtrack as he was engineering an Alice Cooper record, producing a session for BB King or making a Woody Herman recording sound top shelf.
BBC.co.uk

The differences that came between Lou Gramm and Mick Jones will be set aside for one night at least when the two perform together to enjoy the recognition of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  The lead vocalist says that news of the honor prompted him to call to talk with Jones for the first time in more than a decade.  Gramm says, 'It wasn't so difficult, considering we were both being honored as a songwriting team', and adds, 'We both knew they were expecting us to perform a couple of songs and we got right down to talking about it. It's going to be a lot of fun.'  The induction will take place in New York City June 13.

ClassicRockMagazine.com

 

The Rock Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 18 will include performances by inductees Rush & Heart.  Heart will be joined by fellow Seattle musicians Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains Jerry Cantrell.  Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer will perform in honor of Albert King and John Fogerty and Jackson Browne will join Randy Newman.  Highlights from the event will broadcast May 18 by HBO.
CelebrityCafe.com

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In a move bound to add to fuel hopes that Led Zeppelin members will stage a tour next year, Robert Plant opened his Australian tour with his Shape Shifters band with a set loaded with Zeppelin classics. The six date Aussie excursion's first show opened with Heartbreaker and included Friends, Black Dog, Going To California, Four Sticks, Ramble On, Bon Y Aur Stomp, Whole Lotta Love and Rock N Roll.  While rearranged to suit the lineup he's in now, the strong representation of material associated with his legendary band could mean there's a legit chance he's really open to a 2014 tour with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham.
Noise11.com

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After a couple of decades in virtual seclusion, David Bowie burst back on the scene with a top selling album and a record setting exhibit at the V&A in London.  The Bowie exhibit shattered advance sale records for the venue.  In addition to instruments, original artwork and fashions, the London show includes a number of things the show's curator hopes would surprise even David.
The release of the album, which Bowie managaed to keep under wraps by getting the musicians involved to stay mum about the project, has earned an enthusiastic welcome from critics and fans alike, propelling it to sales that put the Thin White Duke's return at the top of the charts in several countries.
Telegraph.co.uk

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Billy Gibbons took time out from ZZ Top's Aussie tour with Guns 'N Roses to attend the Leadfoot FestivaL, a New Zealand event honoring the Down Under racing legend Rod 'Leadfoot' Millen on his 62d birthday.  The ZZ Top guitarist packed more than his instruments for this tour - he also had one of his favorite cars transported so he could drive the '58 Ford Thunderbird up the steep, hair pinned driveway to Millen's ranch along with former race car drivers.  Gibbons stomped on it, smoking the tires of his Mexican Blackbird as he flew through the corners leading to the festival site.  See the video.
Stuff.co.nz

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The National Recording Registry of the US Library of Congress has announced its 2013 additions. Among the 25 recordings earning the honor this year is Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.  Also getting recognition as culturally or historically significant in the ears of the institution are soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, The Twist by Chubby Checker and Sounds Of Silence, the haunting song Simon & Garfunkel wrote and recorded after President John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas.
Dark Side had the strongest showing among public nominations.  The LOC called it a, '...brilliant, innovative production in the service of the music.' Amen to that.
BBC.co.uk

Neal Schon is reportedly filing a lawsuit against his ex mother-in-law claiming that she is behind online posts that are intended to damage his reputation.  The suit against Judy Kozan, the mother of Amber Kozan, who the Journey guitarist split with in 2007, contends that she has been spreading false information about him to the public and the media ever since the divorce ending his marriage to her daughter.  A TMZ report earlier this year said that the elder Kozan posted a story claiming that her daughter was unable to buy basic necessities for herself and the couple's daughters because Schon was a 'deadbeat'.  Schon contends that he has forked over $1.3 million - and is seeking $75,000 as compensation for the damage to his reputation caused by her accusations.
NoiseCreep.com

MORE NEAL SCHON INSIGHTS

Heart has announced plans to pay tribute to Led Zeppelin during thier tour with Jason Bonham.  The Wilson sisters first met the son of the Zeppelin drummer when he joined Heart in paying tribute to his late father's band by performing Stairway To Heaven at the Kennedy Center Honors last year.  Bonham says, 'I am really looking forward to taking my Led Zep Experience show out this summer with Heart and to join them in a Zep-a-thon closing the show as well. Just fantastic!'.  Heart has included versions of Rock & Roll, Trampled Underfoot and other Zeppelin classics in concert sets in the past.
HenneMusic.com

MORE HEART INSIGHTS   MORE LED ZEPPELIN INSIGHTS

Joe Bonamassa has exited Black Country Communion, the group that includes Deep Purple, Black Sabbath veteran Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham and Dream Theater keyboard player Derek Sherinian.  Bonamassa said he enjoyed working with the band on the first two albums when everyone was focused because it gave him a chance to branch out musically, but added that distractions and tensions associated with touring with the group made him decide to make an exit. 'Everybody seemed to be very tense and it made my crew very tense. I like to tour. I run a family - I have 21 people who go on the road with me all the time and if you ask them who was the cause of the least of their problems, the would say me.  Unless there was no Diet Coke - then it's a huge *#$@ problem, and either I'm going to the supermarket or somebody else is.'
HenneMusic.com

A Guns N' Roses fan attending the opening night of the group's Down Under with ZZ Top tour in Perth, Australia is claiming that a microphone was tossed into the audience and smacked him in the mouth, damaging two teeth.  The 39 year-old fan was apparently offered a signed microphone and an apology by the promoter, but says he thinks Axl ought to cover the expense of repairing his teeth and will file a claim against Rose if necessary.
HenneMusic.com

Steven Tyler's passion for motorcycles and hot cars is legend.  This week, the Aerosmith front man and former American Idol judge roared to a benefit bash band mate Joe Perry was doing in LA at the wheel of a jet black Venon GT Spider.  With only five reportedly having been turned loose to buyers, Tyler is sure to be easy bait for photographers - and plenty were on the scene as he whelled his way to the benefit with an entourage of bikers flanking the $1.1 million dollar car.  Yahoo says a few modifications were made to suit Tyler, including making the top removeable and bumping the horsepower to 1244 bhp, whichcan help get Steven away from photographers faster than any celebrity on the planet.  The car is capable of a top speed  of 200 mph - and can reach it in about 15 seconds.
AutoWorldNews.com

 

Joe Walsh, his brother-in-law, Ringo Starr and Mick Jagger are apparently working on some material together. The Eagles guitarist, who has toured as a member of Ringo's All Starr Band, posted a photo of the three together with producer Don Was taken at the Capitol Records Studios captioned with 'Cooking up something... I think you'll like it.'  Also in the shot were Tal Wilkenfeld, a bass player that has played with Jeff Beck, drummer, Jim Keltner, Keb Mo and Robert Randolph.
SomethingElseReviews.com

Vince Neil was taken to a hospital in Sydney, Australia Saturday (3/9) for tests after experiencing 'internal pain'. The discomfort was acute enough to force him to cut short a live performance by Motley Crue Down Under.
Nikki Sixx said this past week that the Crue will disband after wrapping up work on a movie based on the book The Dirt: Confessions Of The World's Most Notorious Rock Band, an accompanying soundtrack album and a farewell tour. The bass player wants to "...honorably say, 'We did it our way and we're never coming back'."  He calls the prospect of the group never performing again tough emotionally but put the plan to break-up in pretty certain terms, saying, 'It's important that when you do a farewell tour that people understand that when you put a bullet in the back of a horse's head and it goes down, it's not a plastic bullet... That's it. So when we take our final bow, it's it.'
TheMusic.com.au  ClassicRockMagazine.com

Alvin Lee, the incendiary guitarist that fronted Ten Years After, a band that delivered one of the most memorable performances at the original Woodstock festival, died Wednesday (3/6).  Lee was a six string prodigy and formed the core of the band that would become known world wide at the age of 15 in Nottingham, UK.  The Jaybirds achieved regional notoriety before landing a residency at the Marquee Club, giving the band a chance to impress a very influential circle of other musicians and people in the music industry.  That led to a recording contract which, in turn, drove demand to see the band that would ultimately do more concerts in the US than any other UK band of it's era, logging nearly 30 tours in 7 years.  His last CD, Still On The Road To Freedom, was released just months ago. 

A family post on his web site letting fans know, '...Alvin passed away early this morning after unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure.  We have lost a wonderful, much loved father and companion. The world has lost a truly great and gifted musician.'
AlvinLee.com

We love a good argument over who's a better guitarist, drummer, whatever... but maybe not as much as a couple staying in a Motel 6 outside of Cleveland recently.  Motel management had to call the cops after a discussion escalated to a debate and then shifted into a full-blown argument over whether Slash or Eddie Van Halen was the better musician.  The man was yelling for the Guns 'N Roses, Velvet Revolver veteran, while the woman was all about Eddie.  Police were able to quell the couple, but a background check revealed each was wanted on separate charges in other places, and they were arrested on the spot - and, if the cops were smart, transported to jail in separate cars.
ClassicRockMagazine.com

 

The Allman Brothers Band's annual run of shows at New York City's Beacon Theatre is on.  In addition to songs from the group's vast catalog, fans are getting to hear some recently penned material and some Allmanized cover songs that have not been regularly performed. On the opening night (2/28), a new Warren Haynes track titled Disk Til Dawn made its debut.  Spots In Time, a Haynes co-creation with Grateful Dead & Furthur veteran Phil Lesh, is expected to be included in some Beacon Set lists.  Gregg Allman has also been doing some writing, but his songs may not get performed during the current series of shows.  A version of the Beatles song Rain has been added to the repetoire, as has 1983, a deep gem by Jimi Hendrix.  The group is also adding new segments to the already epic Mountain Jam, the song that occupied entire sides of a disc on the legendary band's 1972 album Eat A Peach.
JamBands.com

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Pete Townshend has been known to react without thinking first during concerts. He once punched-out a plain clothes policeman sent on stage to alert the band and audience at the Fillmore East to a fire in an adjacent building. At a recent concert by the Who in Hamilton, Canada (2/19), Pete reacted with derision to a sign a young fan was holding up imploring him to smash his guitar.  Townsend said, 'Go away with that sign please, just go away with it'... adding 'Don't bring your children.' and then, looking at the seven year-old's father, added, 'I want to tell you two words but I can't because you've got a child here.' With that, Townshend clearly appeared to mouthed out the words 'F#&k off', leading to an early exit by the embarrassed father and daughter. The frequently prickly guitarist has since expressed his apologies to the girl and her father in a letter and plans to do so again in person.

MORE PETE TOWNSHEND INSIGHTS

Eric Clapton has let fans know they only have three more years to catch him in concert.  Talking with Rolling Stone, Clapton said that he still loves being on stage, but called travel a 'struggle', claiming that he spends so much money trying to make his time on the road more comfortable that he sometimes loses money touring.  Saying he plans to stop touring when he turns 70, the now 67 year-old guitar great said he will still do an occasional one-off concert.  His top peeve is one a lot of road warriors hate - dealing with TSA screenings, telling RS, 'I never get it right. I forget to take off my belt, or I have change in my pocket. Next thing I know, 'Can you come over here please?'  I just don't want to do that anymore.'
RollingStone.com

MORE ERIC CLAPTON INSIGHTS

The Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland opens a massive year-long special exhibit honoring the Rolling Stones May 24th. Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction promises a half century of Stones artifacts and memorabilia, including items never publicly displayed before.  The exhibit will occupy a considerable amount of the museum's display space.  The Hall also plans to screen rare footage documenting behind the scenes events in band history and present lectures about the group's storied past.  Hall CEO Greg Harris said 'The Rolling Stones are the epitome of Rock 'N Roll. This first-ever exhibit gives us an opportunity to tell the story of one of the definitive Rock 'N Roll bands.'
RockHall.com

MORE ROLLING STONES INSIGHTS