One of Rock's most entertaining people on or off the stage celebrates a birthday today. Vincent Damon Furnier was born in Detroit on February 4th in 1948. His family relocated to Phoenix when the soon-to-become Alice Cooper was in his late teens. He first performed in a high school talent show in a band he put together with other members of the cross country running team to do spoof covers of Beatles songs. Winning top prize inspired them to get real instruments and learn to play. Formed in his Junior year, The Spiders developed a solid regional following and released a couple of singles. After graduating, they began touring more widely, changed the group's name to Nazz and moved to LA. Learning that Todd Rundgren was using that name for his own band, Furnier's group came up with Alice Cooper as their new name. Their manager, Shep Gordon, himself one of the most creative and entertaining people in the business, decided one of the band members needed to be Alice Cooper, and picked Vincent. Determined to make a greater impact and be more memorable than the large pack of bands vying for attention in SoCal at the time, Alice and Gordon decided that adding theatrical elements to the band's performances and developing Cooper's character into one parents would find objectionable would make the group irresistible to young Rock fans was the way to go. Was it ever! Happy birthday Alice!

Other Rockers of note born on Feb. 4 include Animals drummer John Steel (1941), Muscle Shoals session greats keyboard player Barry Beckett and guitarist Jimmy Johnson (1943), Atlanta Rhythm Section's Roy Yeager (1949), Phil Ehart of Kansas (1950), and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley (1952).

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on February 4 include...

1966 Bob Dylan opens his first electric tour in Louisville, KY.

South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond wrote Attorney General John Mitchell urging John Lennon get deported. 

1973 Genesis open first UK headline tour.

1974 John Lennon and Yoko Ono split-up but later reconcile.

1977 Fleetwood Mac releases Rumours.

1984 Police open Synchronicity tour in Syracuse, NY.

1984 Stevie Ray Vaughan opens his Couldn't Stand The Weather tour in Nashville.

1992 Alice In Chains releases SAP.

1998 Hand written lyrics to Jim Morrison’s Celebration of the Lizard bring $40,250 at auction, a pair of Jani Joplin’s bell bottoms go for $10,350.

2001 Jimmy Buffett ejected from a New York Knicks game for mouthing off at a referee.

2009 Robert Plant says there can be no Led Zeppelin without John Bonham in announcing that he, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones won't tour using the name.

2016 Van Morrison knighted in ceremony at Buckingham Palace. 

2016 Maurice White of Earth Wind & Fire dies at 74.

2017 Black Sabbath close reunion tour with concert in Birmingham, UK...
 

nugs boosts the number of Doors concerts subscribers can listen to with the recent addition of concerts from London in 1966, the Hollywood Bowl in 1968, Detroit in 1969, Isle of Wight and New York city in 1970 and the group's homecoming concerts at LA's Aquarius Theatre.   Get in on hearing them here.

Few bands managed to merge hard rock, blues rock and prog rock as commandingly as Wishbone Ash. Argus, the group's third and most successful album has been remastered and expanded on in this new edition. Listening to it loud on a good system will dispel all doubts.

The CBGB, New York based punk rock scene was the launch pad for several high energy, incendiary bands, but it was also a scene some much more nuanced groups emerged from. One that never attained a high level of commercial success but became very influential for lots of bands and artists was Television. We were sad to learn that the group's front man and guitarist, Tom Verlaine, passed away today at 73.

Prepare to be blown away when Billy Strings and his band live stream three concerts from Colorado on nugs.net February 2, 3, & 4. Click to get in on this and to discover all the great

archived concert material available on nugs!

Ian Hunter's career has earned him a multitude of high profile fans, so it was less surprising to us than to him that when he invited a number of his avid fans in the ranks of well known and highly regarded players to play on his new album, loads of them opted in right away. Defiance Part 1 gets released on April 23 an will feature Hunter collaborating with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Ringo Starr, Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Def Leppard's Joe Elliot, Todd Rundgren, Slash, Metallica's Robert Trujillo, Brad Whitford of Areosmith and will include some of the final recorded performances by Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins.

R.I.P. David Crosby. The 81 year old Byrd's, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and CSN veteran passed away today. A cause of death has not been disclosed, but the irrepressible singer, songwriter and guitarist had been actively engaged on social media within hours of his passing.

Last April, Bob Weir performed a pair of Radio City Music Hall concerts performing songs from his 1972 album Ace. A double CD that includes one of those concerts has now been released, along with a remastered 50th anniversary version of the original album from the Grateful Dead veteran.

Order it here

John Fogerty's decades long quest to regain ownership of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs he'd written has finally met with success. Fogerty had conceded his royalties to Fantasy Records president Saul Zaentz in exchange for getting released from his contract. After attempts to regain the rights to the dozens of songs he'd written failed, Fogerty went through a long stretch during which he refused to perform Creedence songs live in order to prevent the label exec from profiting more from them. Those rights were eventually transferred to Concord when that label bought Fantasy in 2004. Concord apparently restored and increased artist royalties for Fogerty, but held on to the rights to the songs. While his rights stood to be restored relatively soon due to a provision of US copyright law that holds that rights can revert to the original owner after 56 years, Fogerty, with help from his agent, Irving Azoff, won't have to wait any longer. Concord has agreed to a deal that will turn them over to John.

Bacterial meningitis has robbed us of one of the greatest guitarists the world has or ever will hear. Jeff Beck passed away yesterday (1/10/2023) in a hospital. A representative issued a release today that read, in part, “On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”

The guitar titan was 78.  Considered to be the GOAT guitarist by plenty of other guitar greats, the avalanche of accolades in response to the unexpected news from fellow musicians came as no surprise.

Warren Haynes posted, "I’m devastated. People ask me a lot “who’s your favorite living guitarist?” and the answer would always have to be Jeff Beck. So much so that I’ve always made a point of being careful not to listen to him too much for fear of wanting to imitate him. I was lucky, thanks to my older brothers, to have discovered Beck at a very early age, even before I started playing guitar. He was ferocious — not just inventive but totally unique. Nobody played like that. I loved everything he did."

Billy Gibbons commented on the loss, "met Jeff Beck when I was 17 and I was glad to know a guy like that, a guy who was able to show me how this guitar playing thing should be approached and that’s still very much the case. Jeff was a wondrous soul and we already miss him tremendously. We are comforted in the fact that he’ll be with us forever. Hi Ho Silver Lining!"

Sammy Hagar wrote, "Absolutely one of my favorite guitarists of all time! The "Truth" album changed my life. As a singer and guitarist, I wanted to be Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart rolled into one— we all did. What a loss. We will all miss Jeff. My love and condolences to his family and loved ones."

Nancy Wilson proclaimed, "

Jeff Beck inspired so much of my life as a musician. Heart opened for him back in the day and standing side stage every night was like taking dictation from the ultimate rock muse.

We saw him playing various shows along the way and never walked away less than mind blown.

There will never be another rock musician who will come even close to his genius.

Rest in rock power.

Long live the king!"

David Gilmour wrote, "I am devastated to hear the news of the death of my friend and hero Jeff Beck, whose music has thrilled and inspired me and countless others for so many years."

Ozzy Osbourne posted, "I can’t express how saddened I am to hear of Jeff Beck's passing. What a terrible loss for his family, friends & his many fans. It was such an honor to have known Jeff & an incredible honor to have had him play on my most recent album."

Photo Matt Gibbons CC 2.0

David Bowie's 1973 Aladdin Sane ablum is cued-up for an April 2023 reissue as a double LP edition. A black vinyl 1/2 speed mastered version of the album will be accompanied by a picture disc one.

Iggy Pop gets 2023 off to a roaring start today with his new album Every Loser.  The former Stooges front man recruited the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Guns N' Roses veteran Duff McKagan along with Dave Navaro and Red Hot Chili Pepper's Chad Smith to help him put the charge his fans count on him for into the album.

Get details on other upcoming releases here.

Congratulations to trail blazing musicians Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. The sisters have been honored with Special Merits Awards and bestowed Lifetime Achievement and Trustees Awards recognition by the Grammy Recording Academy. Also being honored at the February 4th ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in LA will be The Supremes, Nile Rodgers and Nirvana

2022 ended on a good note for Brian May. The Queen guitarist who already has earned numerous honors including a doctorate in astrophysics, a 2005 appointment to the CBE ranks (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and induction into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2001, yesterday was awarded knighthood in recognition of his musicianship and his dedication to charitable causes. Congratulations Sir Brian!

Nugs.net will provide multiple night live streams of Dead and Company concerts from the group's Playing In The Sand series of destination concerts in Cancun, Mexico.  Given the hassles of travel these days, there are plenty of reasons to consider the next best option to being there in person.  Get in on enjoying the concerts at the Riviera Maya here.

We may recieve a small commission from the sponsor for linked subscriptions to live streamed concerts.

Pete Townshend and wife Rachel Fuller are in the process of creating a ballet based on the Who's 1973 double album Quadrophenia. The planned timeline targets a spring, 2024 London stage premiere. Fuller previously developed the staging of the group's 2015 tour that revolved around the 1973 rock opera. Auditions open in London in mid February.

Photo: Miho CC 3.0

Sting. Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Eric Church, Dave Matthews and a number of other musicians are cued-up for Homeward Bound: A Grammy Tribute to the Songs of Paul Simon that will air on CBS at 9pm (eastern) on Wednesday (12/21). As is typical of things put together by the Grammys, the rest of the lineup is a mash-up of artists from multiple genres, including some it's a stretch to imagine will pull off versions of Paul's songs that will impress fans.

Conspicuously absent is Art Garfunkel. As important as he was from an arranging and harmonizing standpoint in Simon and Garfunkel, it was Simon that penned just about all of the duo's songs and went on to have quite a prolific solo career after the duo parted ways.

 

A Viral infection has forced Billy Joel to postpone his final Madison Square Garden concert of 2022 that had been scheduled to take place tonight. In apologizing for the inconvenience on social media, The Paino Man wrote to fans saying he was, "...hoping to be closer to full recovery by now. Sadly that hasn't happened." The December 2022 make-good date has been slotted for June 2, 2023.

The Rolling Stones have announced an immersive streaming concert event featuring multi-angle cameras that will give fans a sense of what it's like to be on stage with the group when it performed it's December 15, 2012 concert at the Newark, New Jersey Prudential Center. Best of all, the February 2 online production utilizing Kiswe global streaming technology is priced at just $9.99. The 24 song set the group performed that night included guest appearances by former member Mick Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr.
Advance tickets are available now at RollingStonesNewark.com

The world lost a drummer admired by many drumming greats of greater renown with the passing of Dino Danelli on Thursday (12/15). Danelli was both a wonderfully talented drummer and a terrific showman during his time with the Young Rascals and the Rascals.

Born in Jersey City, NJ on July 23, 1944, Danelli started out as a jazz and R&B drummer, getting playing stints with jazz and blues greats Lionel Hampton and Little Willie John. Dino and and Eddie Brigati, who loved singing R&B, hooked up with guitarist and harp player Gene Cornish and Felix Cavaliere, a keyboard player who had been in some bands while attending Syracuse University and was with Joey Dee and the Starliters when Eddie Brigati's brother David sang on that group's big 1962 hit The Peppermint Twist.

Early on in the Young Rascals, Danelli and Brigati suggested that the Young Rascals record rockin' versions of R&B and soul classics like Mustang Sally and Good Lovin' and In The Midnight Hour before Cavaliere and Cornish started writing originals for the group to record.

After Brigati and Cornish left the band in 1971 and 1972, Danelli and Cornish reunited in the band Bulldog. The pair would eventually get back together to tour as the New Rascals. E Street Band and Disciples Of Soul's Steven Van Zandt, a huge fan of the group, was instrumental in reuniting the original lineup in 2012 for what was billed as The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream production of live performance combined with archived footage that was staged at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY and Richard Rodgers Theatre in Ne York City.

For a band that wasn't not around long emerged just as the British Invasion was garnering all of the attention, the Young Rascals and Rascals still managed to have a big impact - and their concerts were as and in some cases better than the ones being performed by some of the early arrivals from the UK. Dino Danelli had a lot to do with that.

Health issues in recent years robbed him of his ability to play - and playing was what he lived for.

Photo: chascar CC 2.0

R.I.P. Kim Simmonds. The founding guitarist of Savoy Brown and the only member of the group to have played on every album the band released passed away Tuesday at an upstate New York hospital. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2019.

Simmonds formed The Savoy Brown Blues band with harmonica player John O'Leary in 1965. The pair added Brice Portius (vocals), Ray Chappell (bass), Trevor Jeavons (keyboards) and Leo Manning (drums). Most of the original lineup moved on within the next few years.

The group's popularity grew with addition of 'Lonesome' Dave Preverett as a second guitarist in 1969. Just wen it seeme that Savoy Brown was on the brink of breaking big, lead singer Chris Youlden left the group, followed by Peverett, drummer Roger Earl and bass player Tony Stevens who parted ways with Simmonds to form Foghat in 1971. Simmonds wasted no time re-stocking the Savoy Brown lineup with three members of the group Chicken Shack; keyboard player Paul Raymond, drummer Dave Bidwell and bassist Andy Silvester.

Over the decades, more than 60 musicians have been in Savoy Brown. The one constant was Simmonds, a musician and songwriter many fans and critics feel deserved more recognition for his writing and playing than he received.

Roger Waters released The Lockdown Sessions today. The songs were recorded and filmed at home during the Covid lockdown between 2020 and 2021. Also included with the release is “Comfortably Numb 2022” which was recorded during Waters This Is Not A Drill North American tour. 5 seminal tracks from Waters time with Pink Floyd/ his solo career: “Mother” and “Vera” from Pink Floyd The Wall; “Two Suns In The Sunset” and “The Gunner’s Dream” from Waters final Pink Floyd album, The Final Cut; and “The Bravery of Being Out Of Range” from his solo lp Amused To Death are on it as well as Waters new version of the Comfortably Numb”.

Photo cc 4.0 credit Michael Dinger

U2's Larry Mullen Jr. is facing surgeries to address issues that if not taken care of could end his career behind the kit. As a consequence, U2 will be Mullen-less for its upcoming Las Vegas stint and could be without him for a chunk if not all of the group's planned 2023 tour while he recovers.

This news comes as the Irish band reportedly finishes up work on a couple of upcoming albums, Songs of Ascent and a compilation of raw, rerecorded versions of the 40 songs Bono reflects on in his recent book Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.

David Gilmour lends his guitar skills to Donovan on his new album titled Gaelia. The Pink Floyd veteran plays on two tracks on the release due on December 15. Here's a preview.

R.I.P. Christine McVie.  Her family announced the passing of the 79 year old keyboardist, singer and songwriter of Fleetwood mac today in an announcement that read in part. " we would like everyone to kee Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredicle human being, and revered musician who was loved universally."  Founding drummer and band namesake Mick Fleetwood posted, "This is a day where my dear sweet Friend Christine McVie has taken to flight.. and left us earthbound folks to listen with bated breath to the sounds of that “song bird”….. reminding one and all that love is all around us to reach for and touch in this precious life that is gifted to us.

Part of my heart has flown away today..

I will miss everything about you

Christine McVie

Memories abound.. they fly to me.

Born Christine Perfect on July 14, 1943, she took the last name of her husband and Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie. She joined the group in 1971 and reunited with them in 2024 following a long hiatus. Rock In Peace, Christine.

Comments and much of the feedback we got from our post wishing former Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre a happy birthday a few days ago made it evident that a lot of fans of the band feel Jethro Tull was a better group when Martin and some of the other members Ian Anderson shed from the group were still in it. Anderson has been the undisputed leader of Tull throughout its multiple lineups, but Barre is measured by many fans to have been as vital to the group's sound instrumentally as Anderson.

The current line-up does have capable players, but it seems most fans consider the classic lineup's better. The next chance win them over comes next spring, when Anderson and company release the follow-up to The Zealot Gene, the 22nd album put out under the name Jethro Tull. That album was five years in the making before finally coming out in January, 2022. The next has come together much faster and could well have been out before the new year were it not for pressing delays. The title and release date are still pending, but we'll be interested to hear it.
 

Hardcore Stones fans and vinyl junkies might want to grab this up. The 16 LP collection includes all of the Rolling Stones 1960's albums pressed on 180 gram colored vinyl. The 186 song boxed collection gets released January 20, 2023.

Master recordings and demos of songs planned for inclusion on the second album by Todd Rungren's early band Nazz have been collected in a new boxed release titled Nazz: Lost Masters & Demos. Most of the more than two dozen songs never got released, but some ended up on Nazz III, an album released after the group's demise. The 4 LP / 3 CD configurations each include a booklet including liner notes and an interview with engineer James Lowe, who worked with Nazz and continued with Todd on Rundgren's first three solo albums. The boxed sets will be released December 2.

Peter Gabriel recently posted a photo of his studio and, even though it wasn't accompanied by any comments regarding a new album being close to ready, his posting it raised hopes and expectations. Gabriel has since confirmed not only the upcoming release of i/o, an album he's been working on for quite some time, but an international tour that will feature him with Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katche. European dates open with a May 18th concert in Krakow, Poland. Gabriel brings the tour to North America for his fist US concerts since 2016. North American tour dates and the album's release date are expected to be announced soon.