Metallica paid tribute to their southern California hard Rockin' brethren during their Rose Bowl set on Saturday (7/29)

Paul McCartney's next album will likely include a song the former Beatle has written about Donald Trump.  During a recent appearance at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Paul reportedly confirmed plans to include the song on his album when he was said to have remarked to students at the academy he founded more than 20 years ago, 'sometimes the situation in the world is so crazy that you've got to address it.'  That could be taken as a general observation, but McCartney recently commented more pointedly about the US President directly, telling the Daily Telegraph that Trump has, '...unleashed the ugly side of America.'
NME.com  The Liverpool Echo

MORE PAUL McCARTNEY INSIGHTS

AC/DC veteran Brian Johnson has plenty of experience behind the wheel of high end race cars and knows how to get the most out of them in competition. Trying to get too much out of a lower end car during a qualifying run for the Silverstone Classic in the UK this weekend sent the Austin A35 he was driving into a roll.  Other than a bruised ego, Johnson emerged largely unscathed.

This is AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and he got more than he bargained for when he drove a vintage Austin A35 at Silverstone... 🙈 pic.twitter.com/Txccejqo8O

— Nick DeGroot (@ndegroot89) July 29, 2017

On July 29 50 years ago, Light My Fire broke into the Billboard singles chart. The fact AM radio first short-changed fans by playing the 2:53 single version of the song did a lot to spur the emergence and eager adoption of FM radio, where the full 7+ minute of the song became an instant staple. Here's guitarist Robbie Krieger talking about the song that shook things up so much.

Joe Walsh and Paul McCartney join Ringo Starr on this one from the forthcoming album from the former Beatles drummer. Give More Love gets released September 15.

We’re On The Road Again (Audio Only) by Ringo Starr on VEVO.

A one-off debut of a hologram of the late Ronnie James Dio 'performing' his songs during a 2016 festival in Germany went over well enough that a full tour has been put together.  Dio Returns is being staged in Europe in the fall of 2017 and will migrate to the US in the spring of 2018.  The backing band, Dio's Disciples, will do the full sets, with the Eyellusion created Dio hologram 'on stage' during several songs, including Rainbow In The Dark, Neon Nights, Man On The Silver Mountain and Holy Diver. The hi-tech reincarnation tour has the blessing of Wendy Dio, the late singer's widow, who says, 'Working with Eyellusion over the past year and a half to turn our dream of this tour into a reality has been absolutely incredible', adding, '...we like to think of Ronnie smiling down as we continue to find ways to share his music with all generations of fans.'

HenneMusic.com

Southern Blood, the album featuring final songs and recordings of Gregg Allman, gets released September 8.   While most of the Classic Rockers we have lost to date died unexpectedly, Gregg made this album knowing his time in this life was growing short.  That perspective clearly inspired this song.

The new group Heart veteran Nancy Wilson has formed with a couple of Prince band veterans will launch a US tour on September 10 and release its debut album, First Things First,  on September 22. Roadcase Royale's tour opens at the Gramercy Theatre in New York and include a handful of headline dates between dates it is opening for Bob Seger on his Runaway Train tour.  Nancy's band lineup includes Prince veterans Ryan Waters (guitar) and vocalist Liv Warfield.  Also on board are Chris Joyner (keyboards) and Ben Smith (drums).  If she misses the prospect of touring with her sister Ann, there is little hint of it.  In a statement to publicize the tour and release Nancy wrote, "Roadcase Royale is the band I've always wanted to be in.  We all write and create songs as a unti.  It's an inspired democracy. Liv and Ryan both bring a whole new level of magic to our new sound."

Gibson.com

MORE NANCY WILSON INSIGHTS

Peter Frampton interrupted his set during the Minneapolis stop on his tour with Steve Miller after cameras projecting the concert onto screens in the venue focused on fans holding up Frampton album covers instead of him during a guitar solo.  His anger over the misdirected attention began when one fan held up a copy of Frampton Comes Alive. When the camera zoomed in on that during his solo, fans erupted in cheers.  When another fan held a cover up and the camera was again diverted from the stage to the album cover, Frampton reportedly gave a "&*%$ you" to the camera operator and stormed off the stage.  He returned to complete his set after the cameras were shut down.  A number of fans expressed disappointment and disapproval of his tantrum online.

HypeBot.com  Minneapolis Star Tribune

MORE PETER FRAMPTON INSIGHTS

Fans at the Sunday night (7/23) Roger Waters concert at the United Center in Chicago got the added benefit of seeing Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder join Waters on Comfortably Numb and Us + Them.  It was Vedder's first appearance with Waters since the pair teamed-up during the Hurricane Sandy benefit at Madison Square Garden 12-12-2012.

The Eagles have agreed to a Classic Northwest Fest date in Seattle's Safeco Field on the final day of September. The date will include the lineup of the group that headlined the July 15 Dodger Stadium Classic WestFest concert, including Deacon Frey, son of the late Glenn Frey, filling his father's role, and country star Vince Gill. the Doobie Brothers will open the Safeco Field date.

HenneMusic.com

MORE EAGLES INSIGHTS

The Apollo Theater in New York City was the setting for an intimate concert by arena/stadium Guns N' Roses Thursday (7/20).  The invitation only event featured most of the veteran lineup tearing through almost 30 songs.  The group resumes its Not In This Lifetime tour this week in St. Louis.

Don Henley's 70th birthday fell on the weekend he had scheduled a concert in his adopted home base of Dallas.  Joining him on stage during the 22 song set that featured solo material, Eagles songs and a smattering of covers were fellow Eagles Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, and Stevie Nicks (on Leather & Lace and Boys Of Summer) and Patty Smyth on Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough.  The evening ended with all of the guests joining in on Birthday, the Beatles song on the Double White album.

VintageVinyl.com

MORE DON HENLEY INSIGHTS

One of the rarest and more macabre Rock collectibles is being offered for sale. The copy of Double Fantasy, the album John Lennon autographed for the man that later the same night gunned him down, is being sold by Moments In Time. The album was discovered stashed in a flower planter not long after Mark David Chapman was taken into custody after murdering Lennon outside his New York City apartment building.  The man who found it turned it over to police and the album was one of the items presented by prosecutors making the case against Chapman.  Following the trial, the album was returned to the mane who found it.  He sole it for $150,000 in 1999. Eleven years later it was sold again for $850,000. The saking price this time around is $1.5 million.

Radio.com  MomentsInTime.com

MORE JOHN LENNON INSIGHTS

Photo: Moments in Time

Reuniting Slash & Duff McKagan with Axl Rose has paid off big. The current Guns N' Roses tour has sold 1.4 million tickets, eclipsing the $150 milllion mark.   The U2 Joshua Tree tour is gaining ground is a distant second at $118 million earned on close to a million sold, but that tour generated more than $61 million in sales for US dates between June 11 and July 1, so the gap is narrowing. Other Rockers in the top 20 include Metallica (4th), followed by Red Hot Chili Peppers (6), Bon Jovi (17), Bruce Springsteen (18), Green Day (19).

Pollstar.com

The family of a film crew member that died when a freight train plowed into a make-shift movie set on a railroad bridge in Georgia where a scene in a Gregg Allman biopic was being shot in 2014 (story) has been awarded $3.9 million dollars.  The accident and legal wrangling that resulted from it derailed the biopic that had actor William Hurt cast to play Gregg.  The parents of the crew member maintained that the railroad bore some legal responsibility for their daughter's death even though the film crew had not secured all of the authorizations needed to be filming on the bridge when the accident happened. 

SavannahNow.com

MORE GREGG ALLMAN INSIGHTS

John Mellencamp has said that his hard headed son Speck reminds him of himself.  John's 22 year-old son seems like he got the stubborn, confrontational disposition of his father but added a willingness to take things beyond words.  Some years back, Speck and his brother had a run-in with the law after getting in a brawl at a party that came across as being a retaliatory beating (story).  After midnight on Sunday (7/16) in Bloomington, Indiana, Speck was arrested and charged with public intoxication and resisting orders of law enforcement after he and his brother reportedly got into a row after a group of guys started taunting them. After Speck got mouthy with officers on the scene and first responders attempting to treat him for injuries evidently sustained during the the altercation with the group of other men, police elected to take him into custody and charge him with the two misdemeanors.

IndyStar.com

MORE JOHN MELLENCAMP INSIGHTS

   PHOTO: MONRE COUNTY JAIL

Queen members say Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic centering on Freddie Mercury featuring Mr. Robot actor Rami Malek in the role of the front man, will be ready for release in 2018. News that Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men) is directing the project is raising expectations that this could be one of the better Rock docs ever.  Commenting on Malek's on-screen portrayal of Mercury, Queen members Roger Taylor and Brian May said, 'Rami has great presence and he is utterly dedicated to the project.  He's completely living and breathing Freddie already, which is wonderful.'
Queenonline.com  Radio.com

MORE QUEEN INSIGHTS 

Cheap Trick's bassist has revealed that his band will release a Christmas album at the end of October.  Talking with Orange Amps, Tom Petersson said the album will include one standard, a few originals and their takes on some songs previously written and recorded by other Rockers.  The only one he referenced was a Roy Wood song, which would be I Wish It Coul Be Christmas Every Day - a song we think would be a great one for them to do.
HenneMusic.com

MORE CHEAP TRICK INSIGHTS

A film featuring highlights of David Gilmour's 2016 concerts at the site of the ancient Roman amphitheater at Pompeii where Pink Floyd performed in 1972 will be screened in theaters on September 13. It looks and sounds amazing.

Kid Rock claims he's not kidding about running for Congress.  Robert James Ritchie has the sign at the left causing quite a stir.  The Michigan Rocker says it has triggered "a ton of emails and texts aking me if this web site is real" and says the answer is "an absolute YES".  In addition to the pictured sign, the site rotates through a series of slogans, including, "Pimp the Nation", "You Never Met A Politician Quite Like Me", "In Rock We Trust", and "Party For The People".

AntiMusic.com

Fans attending Tom Petty's Hyde Park concert in London on Sunday got the added treat of seeing Stevie Nicks reprise her album duet with him on Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.

A motion to get a case a former drummer filed against Eddie Money dismissed has been rejected by a California judge.  Glenn Symmonds initiated the wrongful termination suit against Money more than a year ago (story).  Symmonds maintains that Money mocked his disability on stage and made unwanted advances toward his girlfriend. Money's lawyers say Symmonds was dismissed because he "...is a vindictive, ungrateful and awful person" and contend that "Everything in his lawsuit is a pack of lies."  Barring a dismissal on the appeal that Money lawyers plan to file on the ruling or a pre-trial settlement, a trial will commence in November.

Billboard.com

The setting was a church fundraising function in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton.  The entertainment at the fair on that Saturday included the skiffle group The Quarrymen.  16 year-old John Lennon did most of the vocals as the group played on the back of a flatbed truck being used as the makeshift stage for the event.  After Lennon's band played outside, they went indoors to set-up for an evening performance.  It was while setting up that a fellow student known by both John and 15 year-old Paul McCartney introduced the two.  

Remarkably, two songs of that day's performance by The Quarrymen were recorded by a member of the church's youth club. Bob Molyneux offered the tape to Lennon via Ringo Starr in 1963, but John never reached out to get it.  After keeping it under wraps for three decades, Molyneux sold the tape through Sotheby's auction house.
 

The Foo Fighters gave Paris a preview of a new track on the band's September album Concrete & Gold during its July 3 concert in The City of Lights.  Here is that night's rendition of Dirty Water.