Who fans can add reading a new biography of John Entwistle to their options of things to do while avoiding others during the pandemic. The Ox: The Authorized Biography of John Entwistle gets published on Tuesday.
Deep Purple is holding back the group's next album. Whoosh! had been slated for a June 12 release, but now won't drop until August 7th. We like the way Ian Gillan explained the decision to delay; "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... well, not exactly in this case, more cause and effect, where the latter is often greater than the former."
Larry Campbell, the guitarist that has impressed so many with his work with Bob Dylan, Levon Helm and his wife, Teresa Williams, has been fighting for his life since being diagnosed with the corona virus. Campbell told Rolling Stone that the first symptoms developed a few days after the Love Rocks New York benefit concert on March 12th at the Beacon Theatre. He thought the coughing attacks he was experiencing were triggered by allergies, but then a fever developed. He got tested in his doctor's parking lot on March 16th and got the positive results five days later.
Like many others, Campbell experienced a dramatic loss in his sense of taste and smell, noting that even a bunch of sauteed broccoli and garlic was undetectable to his nose and taste buds. His fever topped out at 102, he suffered frequent headaches and began to fear pneumonia would set in, but things took a turn for the better and he is now gaining ground toward recovery. He sums up his experience with the virus by saying, "This thing has been a beast".
We hope that Larry comes back strong and healthy, and wish the best for all musicians and fans confronting this illness.
Ozzy Osbourne's plans for getting immune therapy treatment for his Parkinson's Disease have been disrupted by travel restrictions imposed because of the pandemic. Ozzy canceled his 2020 tour before the COVID-19 outbreak began to spread beyond China in order schedule treatments in Switzerland, His wife revealed on The Talk that she and Ozzy had booked their flights to fly there on April 8, but now are "...just hanging in, like everybody else. Just trying to stay away and be quiet".
I have recovered from Covid-19. We are humbled by the outpouring of love for me and John and our precious family. He is stabile. Please continue to send your amazing Love and prayers. Sing his songs. Stay home and wash hands. John loves you. I love you
Add Tom Rush and John Prine to the list of musicians up against a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. News that Rush had contracted the virus broke last night. Prine, who was hospitalized in critical condition, has now stabilized thanks to good care and the a ventilator, according to his wife, who has recovered from her own case of the disease.
R.I.P. Alan Merrill, the co-writer of I Love Rock 'n' Roll, who died of COVID-19 yesterday at the age of 69. Merrill, born Allan Preston Sachs in The Bronx in 1951, wrote what would become the biggest song Joan Jett ever recorded when he was in a band named the Arrows in 1975. It was the #1 song in the country for Jett for nearly two months in 1982. Merrill also worked with Rick Derringer on three albums in the 1980's and put out a self-titled solo album in 1983 that Steve Winwood and Mick Taylor played on.
Joan issued a statement yesterday that read in part, "I can still remember watching the ARROWS on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me. With deep gratitude and sadness, wishing him a safe journey to the other side."?
Sammy Hagar's band The Circle has digitally cobbled together a song from different locations using smart phones. Funky Feng Shui started with Jason Bonham laying down the beat, Vic Johnson recording a guitar part, Michael Anothony contributing bass and Sammy Hagar finishing it off with vocals. Stay safe and ROCK on, firends... Here's the end result...?
The 5th Invictus Games, the international adaptive athletic competition in the UK involving wounded or ailing armed services members and veterans, won't go on as scheduled in May due to the pandemic, but Unbroken, a song Jon Bon Jovi recently recorded at Abbey Road Studios of the Invictus Choir, is out and all proceeds from it will go to assist the recovery of international wounded, injured or sick troops and veterans.?
A double disc deluxe edition of material form the late, great Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey will get released on May 22. Heal My Soul, the 2016 posthumous album with a dozen previously unreleased tracks, was going to include a second album titled Holding On, but that did not happen. Now, both discs will be available together. Holding On features 5 studio tracks and live songs recorded at a Jeff Healey Band concert in Oslo, Norway.
Rush fans are in for one with the May 29 release of a 40th Anniversary box set of Permanent Waves, the trio's 7th studio album that dropped at the start of 1980. Sets include a Super Deluxe Edition with 2 CDs and three 180 gram vinyl LPs. It will also be available on just CDs, just viny and in digital form, In addition to remastered tracks on the original album, the collection will include live material recorded at 1980 tour stops in Manchester and London in the UK and at a Kiel Auditorium concert in St. Louis.
Season 5 of Sammy Hagar's Rock & Roll Road Trip episodes hits AXS TV on April 19 (8:30p eastern) with a jam session the Red Rocker did with Def Leppard at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and a chat with Shaquille ONeal. The following 5 episodes in the first of two 6 show sets in 2020 will include appearances with Rob Thomas (4/26), Ted Nugent (5/3), Big & Rich (5/10), Brian May and Joe Walsh (5/17) and Extreme and, briefly, Van Halen front man Gary Cherone.
Metallica is rewarding their isolating fans with free weekly full concert streams. Their Metallica Mondays series concerts will be available on the group's Facebook page and YouTube channel.
The Rock Hall Of Fame is betting that this pandemic is over by the fall. The museum has rescheduled its annual induction ceremony for Saturday, November 7th. The 35th edition inductees include the Doobie Brothers, T-Rex, Nine Inch Nails, manager and label exec Irving Azoff and Bruce Springsteen manager and close associate John Landau. The ceremony, which had been filmed and rebroadcast several weeks later by HBO will be televised live this year from the Cleveland Public Auditorium starting at 8pm, eastern.
Stressing the importance of being forthcoming about the virus, Jackson Browne announced through social media that he has tested positive for COVID-19. Browne's advanced age puts him in a higher risk category. We wish him well as he confronts this frightening diagnosis.
Alice Cooper debuts his Vintage Vault podcast today 3/24) at 6pm (Eastern). Each weekly episode will highlight an interview he's done over the 16 year span of his syndicated Nights With Alice Cooper radio show. Joining Alice on the inaugural session his guest is Slash.
Whitesnakes planned tour with Sammy Hagar & The Circle and Nightranger had already been scuttled scuttled by Covid-19, but David Coverdale now needs to address a personal medical issue, needed surgery to fix a bilateral inguinal hernia. David shared the news in a post that read, "Once again it breaks my heart to be the bearer of even more sad news affecting Whitesnake's touring schedule for this increasingly challenging year, 2020. All tours, Europe, UK & US, are being cancelled owing to health issues".
We wish him well in getting this tended to under these difficult circumstances.
With so many people looking for entertaining ways to pass the time in self- quarantine, it's great that the pipeline of previously unseen and improved previously available footage is getting made available. One that's been out but can now be enjoyed in enhanced sound and visuals is Robert Plant's 1990 performance of Tie Dye On The Highway from the 1990 Knebworth Festival. Enjoy!
Bon Jovi keyboard's player has become one of the first high profile musicians to have tested positive for COVID-19. David Bryan says he was notified of the test results Saturday (3/21). In a statement about the diagnosis, Bryan wrote, "I've been sick for a week and feeling better each day", and added that once he's feeling better, "I'll get tested again to make sure I'm free of this nasty virus. Please help out each other. This will be over soon... with the help of every American!!"
We wish David a rapid recovery, and echo his hope that each of us does everything we can to minimize the risk of contracting or spreading this virus.
