Angus Young roared to life on this day in 1955. The younger AC/DC brother to Malcolm was just 18 when AC/DC got its start and 20 when the group's debut album dropped.

Other Noteworthy Classic rock events on March 31 include...

1942 Guitarist Hugh McCracken who played on recordings by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Steely Dan, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and more is born.

1944 Mick Ralphs of Mott th Hoople and Bad Company born.

1948 Thijs Van Leer of Focus born.

1967 Jimi Hendrix torched his first guitar on the opening night of his British tour.

1969 Led Zeppelin's debut album released in the UK.

1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono end their bed-in for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton.
1972 The Beatles fan club is closed.
1974 Tom Petty marries Jane Benyo.
1976 Led Zeppelin releases Presence.

1978 Paul McCartney releases London Town.

1980 Scorpions release Animal Magnetism.

1992 Def Leppard releases Adrenalize.

1992 Bruce Springsteen releases Lucky Town and Human Touch as separate albums.

1995 Jimmy Page narrowly escapes getting knifed when a deranged fan rushes the stage during a Page and Plant concert in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  Two security guards are injured.

2004 Ozzy Osbourne announces Blac Sabbath reunion tour.

2011 Billy Joel scraps plans to publish his autobiography

2015 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler reveals he is working on a country solo album.

2016 Ann Wilson of Heart, R,E,M.'s Michael Stipe, Cyndi Lauper, Perry Ferrell perform a tribut to David Bowie at Carnegie Hall in New York.

In an alliance that almost guarantees that a new milestone will be established for money raised by a benefit concert, the Rolling Stones and U2 will apparently share the stage at Wembley Stadium in a concert to raise money for Ukraine. According to The Sun newspaper, other already guests expected to perform include Paul McCartney Noel Gallagher, Pink and Adele. Even though the date means the benefit till fall during the Glastonbury Festival, expect more big artists to want to get involved with the Wembley concert.

R.I.P. Gary Rossington. The lone remaining long-term member in Lynyrd Skynyrd for years, the guitarist battled heart issues the last 20+ years of his life, but steadfastly managed to keep a lineup playing as Lynyrd Skynyrd on the road just about every year. Rossington had a triple bypass heart surgery 23 years ago, survived a heart attack 7 years ago and underwent another operation to address a faulty heart valve in 2020. Farewell to this musician of remarkable determination and endurance who passed away Sunday (3/5).

Photo: CC 4.0 Helge Overas

Sad to note the passing of guitarist David Lindley at 78. Jackson Browne is among the many artists who considered Lindley's contributions to his recordings extraordinarily important to his songs. His exceptional playing on Browne's great 1977 album Running On Empty, Lindley also is featured on Jackson's For Everyman and Late for the Sky and Hold Out albums and frequently toured with Browne. Linda Ronstadt enlisted him for her Heart Like a Wheel album. Other credits include Warren Zevon's self-titled 1976 album, Rod Stewart's Atlantic Crossing and A Night On The Town albums, Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners, Nash's albums with David Crosby Wind on the Water, and Whistling Down the Wind, Joe Walsh's There Goes the Neighborhood, and was featured on several dozen other artist's albums and tours. Early in his career he teamed with Chris Darrow in the band Kaleidoscope on four albums and released his first solo album El Rayo-X in 1981.

No cause of death was provided, but Lindly had reportedly been facing health complications in recent months.

Rod Stewart has little hesitation when it comes to diving in on solving something. Some months back, the 78 year old rocker took it upon himself to repair potholes on the street near his some. This past week, he did another good deed. After learning of delays at a nearby hospital for MRI procedures due to advance payment paperwork processing, Stewart went to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex, UK Friday to let them know he would cover the costs of the procedure for 20 patients to speed up access to them for others. He has also indicated a willingness to foot the bill to reduce wait times at other hospitals.

London's Victoria & Albert Museum will inherit what we expect will be the largest collection of instruments, letters, set designs, stage worn outfits, awards, album artwork and other artifacts ever assembled with 80,000 items owned, created or used by David Bowie. The collection is so vast that the museum is currently constructing an entire new facility to display it in. Slated to open in 2025, the David Bowie Centre for the study of Performing Arts at the V&A Storehouse aspires to be a place where visitors can get an up-close and personal look at "...the creative process of one of the most pioneering and influential figures in the history of live and recorded music, film, fashion and beyond". Fortunately, fans that can't venture to London to take it all in in person, the V&A has an outstanding website and will hopefully include Bowie exhibit space virtual tours on it.

Graham Nash will release his first album of new original songs in seven years on May 19. Fans of the Hollies, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and CSN singer songwriter can expect another introspective album from Graham, who says of it, “I believe that my new album Now is the most personal one I have ever made. At this point in my life, that’s something to say.”  Accompanying Nash on the release are odd Caldwell (Hammond organ), Jay Bellerose (drums, percussion), Jennifer Condos (bass), Patrick Warren (piano), Shane Fontayne (guitars).

Very little in the way of details has emerged since the Rolling Stones acknowledged that they were working on a new album, the group's first since the passing of drummer Charlie Watts. Variety broke the news that Paul McCartney accepted an invitation to play bass on the album and also brought up the possibility that Ringo Starr would play drums on it. Ringo's involvement has now been walked back by the publication, and Rolling Stone seems to have sussed out that McCartney may only appear on one song on the release.

Billy Joel's 1975 concert at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall will be one of the offerings available at indie record stores on April 22, the day designated as this spring's Record Store Day. The set recorded during the Piano Man's Streetlife Serenade Tour was only previously available to fans as one of multiple LPS in his 2021 box set released as Billy Joel - The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 1.

Photo: CC 2.0 Ralph_PH

It was a good week for Sting. The Police veteran has already racked up 7 Novello Awards for excellence in British and Irish songwriting. He has now earned a rare recognition from the Ivors Academy by being named a Fellow - one of the just 22 musicians the nearly 80 year old organization currently relies on to decide who to honor each year. In addition to Sting, the elite group currently includes Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Kate Bush, members of the Bee Gees and Annie Lenox. This year's recipients will be announced May 18th.

Photo: 2.0 Tony Hisgett  

Bonhams will auction the vast guitar collection of trailblazing guitarist Peter Green in June. All told, 150 instruments and a considerable amount of musical equipment and personal items that belonged to the late Fleetwood Mac guitar great be included in the sale being authorized by his estate. The online only sale will be conducted from June 16 - June 28.  Click here for details.
 

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.