Sweetwater Music Hall being close to the Marin County homes of many Bay Area musicians often brings the area's musical guest artists to its stage. Thursday night (3/30), Sweetwater co-owner Bob Weir took the stage with Chris Robinson on a few songs, performing for the occasion as Bobby & The Rustlers.

E Street Band member Nils Lofgren had multiple guitars stolen from an equipment trailer parked outside a Dallas Holiday Inn on Thursday. High resolution security camera images may help solve the crime. Our recommended sentence: 10 years of earbuds looping Conway Twitty's worst song!

Happy birthday to the only 3x member of the Rock Hall Of Fame, Eric Clapton! Of the titans,
EC has definitely earned a place on the Mount Rushmore of guitarists.

Julien's often lands remarkable items for its auctions, but the May 19 sale being hosted at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City will include one extraordinarily rare instrument - the 1965 Fender Telecaster that Bob Dylan shocked the folk world with when he went electric in 1966.  The guitar,  played by Robbie Robertson on the Band's Music From Big Pink and used by him at Woodstock, the Isle of Wight and Watkins Glen, was black when Robertson first got it.  He had it stripped down to the original wood in 1970.  One of Dylan's few recorded electric guitar solos was done with this instrument on Blonde On Blonde's Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat.  Adding to its projected value, George Harrison and Eric Clapton also played it.  Estimates are that it will bring as much as $600,000.  Don't be surprised if it goes goes for even more.
JuliensAuctions.com

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The "A" and the "M" in A&M Records represented Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, musical presences that made the label quite different from the other big ones in the '70's. They were a big part of why A&M believed in nurturing bands. That patience paid off big when Supertramp delivered the album the label released on this date in 1979. Breakfast In America was the band's sixth album. The title track and 3 others were among the most heavily played songs on Rock radio and the album was logged 6 weeks in the top spot of the Billboard album chart and # 1 status in 5 other countries, as well. The send-up of the waitress as Lady Liberty as imagined through an airliner's window made the album an instant sensation in the country that gifted the Statue of Liberty to the US. It remains the top selling Rock album in France to this day.

Within hours of its unveiling (story), the crowd-source funded statue of David Bowie in Aylesbury, UK, the city where he introduced fans to Ziggy Stardust, was vandalized by someone who painted Feed The Homeless First at its base. Now, a Bowie fan has stepped up with the offer to donate nearly $10,000 dollars to charity that does just that if the defacer owns-up to having done it.

MORE DAVID BOWIE INSIGHTS

Led Zeppelin's 5th stuudio album came out on this date in '73.  It would be their final album on Atlantic before launch of the group's Swan Song label.

March 27 & 28 1970, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Carl Radle, Chris Stainton, Bobby Keys, Jim Gordon & Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys & Jim Horn, Jim Price, Don Preston, Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear and a half dozen other backing vocalists were playing the Fillmore East. The recordings of those sets would get released in August on this double album. 
Much of the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour was also filmed. Additional footage, much of it providing behind the scenes views of one of the most exhilarating and exhausting tours ever staged, is available in the DVD documenting the tour.

The UK city of Aylesbury became AylesBowie on Sunday (3/26) when a statue was unveiled honoring David.  The reveal was the culmination of a two year crowd funding campaign to raise the money needed to get the statue made and installed.

Steven Victor Tallarico, who beat the odds by surviving his band's legendarily decadent 70's and early 80's lifestyle, is still going strong.

Red Rocker Sammy Hagar earned a spot on San Francisco's Bay Area Music Awards Walk of Fame on Friday (3/23). The Montrose and Van Halen veteran joins Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, the Jefferson Starship, Journey, John Lee Hooker and Fillmore East/West and Avalon Ballroom concert promoter Bill Graham on the walk.

Reginald Kenneth Dwight entered this world on this day in 1947. Of the 300 million albums he's sold, we consider the ones he mad pre-1976 to be the best. Also born on this day, late-great Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey. And on March 25, 1967 The Who and Cream made their US concert debuts in New York City.

Negatives of 413 photos of the Beatles, 367 of them previously previously unpublished, sold Saturday (3/24) for $358,000 at a sale conducted by Omega Auctions. The high quality, candid photos were taken by Mike Mitchell, who was 18 at the time the Beatles made their first visits to the US.

Paul McCartney and his wife joined hundreds of thousand students in New York City's March For Our Lives rally Saturday (3/24) calling for better enforcement of existing gun regulations and restrictions on the assault type weapons used in several of the recent attacks on schools. The path of the march took the sea of protesters past the Dakota, where John Lennon was gunned down.

MORE PAUL McCARTNEY INSIGHTS

A contentious row over plans Robbie Williams has to expand his home and install a swimming pool continues.  Next door neighbor Jimmy Page has sought to prohibit the work on the grounds that the construction involved will damage the former Led Zeppelin member's 19th century Tower House.  Williams is countering the claim, contending there will be "no damages whatsoever' to the Page home related to the work being done on his property.
fashion.ie

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Credit to Gary Rossington for keeping the band going, and doing it with some fine musicians. But nothing can eclipse the lineup with him, Ronnnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Ed King, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle and Leon Wilkeson. Skynyrd served up their third on this day in 1975. 
Ronnie 1977), Allen (1990) Billy (2009) and Leon (2001) all passed on.

Bruce Springsteen will soon be joined on Broadway by Robin Zander.  The Cheap Trick member will appear on stage in the musical production Rocktopia, a primarily 80's based extravaganza that features a 20 piece orchestra and 40 voice choir baking-up a 5 piece Rock band belting out renditions of songs from the catalogs of Aerosmith, Queen, the Who, Zeppelin and others, infused with works from Beethoven, Motzart and other Classical titans.  Rocktopia opens on Boradway Tuesday (3/27).  Zander will perform with the Rock band during the week of April 23-29.

HenneMusic.com

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In its first year out, ZZ Top's 8th studio album probably outsold the combined total the Texas trio's other 7 had sold. Eliminator dropped on this day in '83.

Slash is using some down time between Guns N' Roses reunion tour dates to make progress on his next album with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators.  He says working on what will be the group's third album exciting and says the release will have a 'great live feel'.  Guitarist Frank Sidoris shaed this via his Twitter account.

The word is finally out. Can’t wait for you all to hear what we’ve been working so hard on. #smkc3 #slash #brentfitz #toddkerns #franksidoris #myleskennedy #elvisbaskette pic.twitter.com/W839FjhsxC

— Frank Sidoris (@franksidoris) March 22, 2018

The Eagles switched producers in the middle of making their third album to get the band in more of a Rock mode. On The Border also marked the recording debut of guitarist Don Felder as a member of the group.

Sustaining a musical career in two different genres can be like trying to get a dog into a boat; its front paws are in the boat, its back paws are on the dock, and the distance between the boat and the dock expands until the dog falls into the lake.  If any Rocker can manage to be the dog and not end up in the drink, it could be Steven Tyler.  The Aerosmith frontman wants to Rock with his band of decades and to prove himself as a Country act.  A lot of his contemporaries seem to think he can pull both off.

Roger Daltrey has had plenty of good pay days since the Who rose into the ranks of the world's biggest Classic Rock Bands, but few can rival the money he reportedly received for performing at a private party to honor a physician near LA. The Who frontman is said to have pocketed $1 million dollars for doing the one-off set at the 60th birthday party last weekend for Dr. Craig Flashner.

DailyMail.co.uk  TMZ.com

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David Bowie & Iggy Pop got popped on this date in 1976 at the Americana Hotel in Rochester, NY following David's concert at the War Memorial there. Bowie faced a felony charge for marijuana, but never went to trial because a grand jury would not indict him Oddly, his mug shots were not taken until a few days following the arrest. Not surprisingly, he never did another concert in Rochester.

MORE DAVID BOWIE INSIGHTS

It took 21 years, but Ringo Starr finally joined his former bandmate Paul McCartney as a knighted Beatle.  The honor was bestowed on the drummer in a cerempny at Buckingham Palace.  Ringo reacted to receiving the recognition by flasing his customary peace sign for photographers.

Driving force behind The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster and later ELP and Asia.

$12.50 was the ticket price for this festival.

Grace Slick and Janis Joplin blazed the trial Nancy and her sister Ann opened wider for female Rockers like Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jet and Lita Ford.

Tom Petty's home town is open to ideas for the best way for Gainesville, FL to honor him. Petty fans can vote for the best of the ones selected from ones submitted so far or add another until April 16.  They can be submitted through this link

The New York Rocks concert Thursday night (3/15) had plenty of highlights. One of them came when Keith Richards hooked up with Gary Clark Jr. on this Stones classic.

We  get tips about all kinds of collectibles becoming available. One of the more unique ones came our way recently.  On April 12 in New York, Guernsey's Auction House will make available 50 doors to 50 rooms at the fabled Chelsea Hotel it has traced to having been lived in by a number of iconic figures, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, Humphrey Bogart, Jackson Pollack, Andy Warhol and Mark Twain.  The residential hotel has been closed since 2011 and is now under renovation with a planned reopening slated for 2019.
The doors will be on display at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery at 529 West 20th St. from April 5-11. The auction takes place on April 12.  Opening bids are 5k for each.

The recording of what is widely considered one of the best live albums ever went down at Bill Graham's musical mecca on the lower east side of Manhattan on this and tomorrow's dates in 1971.

Mike Mitchell's previously unpublished early Beatles photos have impressed appraisers so much they anticipate the 413 negatives will fetch a top bid of close to $350,000 during a March 24 auction being conducted by Omega Auctions. The valuation is based on the rarity of high quality, candid photos of the Beatles during their first US visits. Only 46 have been shown before. The collection includes pics of the four at pre-concert press sessions and on stage at their Washington, DC and Baltimore shows. One factor that makes them more unique is that the then 18 year old photographer took all of his shots without a flash.

Alice already had 7 albums out by 1974.  His first released as a solo came out on March 11, 1975.  The concept album revolving around a boy named Steven would lead to one of the most extensive tours to that point in rock history and featured Cooper backed by some members of Lou Reed's band.

The name Gary Burden might not be familiar, but chances are good you know and have albums he designed the covers of. They include these 4 and dozens more. He did plenty for Neil Young who, in remembering his friendship with Gary, wrote, "We probably made 40 covers. I lost count In the last twenty or so years, Gary worked alongside his talented wife, Jenice, at R. Twerk and Co, as we have continued on a life-time of making album covers, laughing, loving acoustic music and so many other things. My heart is heavy." Burden passed away at 84.

U2 released the album that broke them wide open iternationally on this date.  It became the fastest selling album in UK history.

A former girlfriend of James Gang and Eagles veteran Joe Walsh is releasing a book of stories about him when he was living the lifestyle that Life In The Fast Lane, the song on his fist album as a member of the Eagles, depicted.   Rock Monster comes out on Tuesday (3/13).  Kristin Casey dated the guitarist for 6 years.  Her accounts include stories during the wild and crazy years the couple was together than include actors Jack Nicholson and Gary Busey as well as other musicians.

MORE JOE WALSH INSIGHTS

The group comprised of 3 Brits and 3 Americans dropped it's debut album on this date in 1977. Across the Pond members Mick Jones (Spooky Tooth), Ian McDonald (King Crimson) and Dennis Elliott were united with US musicians Lou Gramm (Black Sheep), Ed Gagliardi and Al Greenwood in Foreigner.

The crop of things springing up for Record Store Day on April 21 is impressive.  Here are some of the highlights, and

a link to the complete list.

AC/DC - Back In Black - Casette

Andrew Oldham Orchestra -Rolling Stones Songbook - LP
Jeff Beck - Truth - LP
Dickey Bets - Live At The Lone Star Roadhouse - 2LP
Blue Oyster Cult - Rarities - LP
David Bowie - Let's Dance Demo - 12" Vinyl
Def Leppard - Live at Abbey Road - 12" Vinyl

Doors - Live at the Matrix - LP
Jerry Garcia - Run For The Roses - LP

Gov't Mule - Girl With No Self Esteem - 12" Vinyl

Led Zeppelin - Friends/Rock And Roll - 7" Vinyl
Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn - LP
Police - Roxanne - 7" Picture Disc

Iggy Pop - Live at the Ritz - 2LP
Small Faces - Lazy Sunday/Ogdens Nut Gone Flake - 7" Vinyl

Smithereens - Smithereens Play Tommy - LP
George Thorogood - Shot Down/Ain't Coming Home - 7" Vinyl

Full List
 

A plaster fused to brick figure of Bon Scott now greets people at Melbourne's AC/DC Lane.  The statue was unveiled Wednesday. See it and ge the story here.

MORE BON SCOTT INSIGHTS

Who frontman Roger Daltrey will release a new solo album in June. As Long as I Have You is an album Daltrey began work on nearly five years ago and covers some different ground style wisE than Who fans might expect from him, including  gospel and country influenced songs.  Talking with ABC Radio, Roger revealed that the release consists of cover songs with the exception of a pair of new originals.  His work on the project got sidetracked by the decision to do a Who 50th anniversary tour.  He recently went back to work on it at the urging of Pete Townshend who, Daltrey says, told him 'This is fabulous, Roger. You've got to do this.'

MORE ROGER DALTREY INSIGHTS

Billy Gibbons and John Fogerty cooked up to promote the joint tour ZZ Top is doing with John and his band.

Blues & Bayous Tour – John Fogerty & ZZ Top from adam rothlein on Vimeo.

The Brooklyn Museum will be drawing David Bowie fans in for an exhibit featuing a number of rarely seen items related to the Rocker.  The multi-media laden exhibit is not cheap, but the $20 admission ($25 weekends) pays off quickly when attendees are greeted with a pair of Sennheiser headphones to make sure the audio elements of the David Bowie Is exhibit are experienced in high quality.  More than 500 items are included in the exhibit... eveything from stage outfits, to several editions of his favorite books (packed into a touring case), original lyrics, drawings - and even his coke spoon.  The exhibition runs through July 15.

Timeout.com

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