Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford Working on Joe Bonamassa’s New Album
Joe Bonamassa has posted the first of 10 behind-the-scenes videos from session for his new album.
The first episode in the series, called Countdown to Daylight, features clips from the forthcoming album – Driving Towards the Daylight – and interviews with Joe, producer Kevin Shirley and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, who plays on the record.
In addition to Whitford, the album includes guest spots from Blondie Chaplan (guitar), Anton Fig (drums and percussion), Arlan Schierbaum (keyboard), Michael Rhodes (bass), Carmine Rojas (bass), Jeff Bova and The Bovaland Brass, Pat Thrall (guitar) and Brad’s son Harrison Whitford (guitar).
Whitford, speaking from the studio in Vegas, recently said, “This is definitely more influenced by the stuff that the guys and musicians in this room love, early ’60s English and American rock and blues. I guess we’ll never get that out of our system and it’s fun to come in here and find our own path down that highway.”
An official music video and free download for title track “Driving Towards the Daylight” will be unveiled on May 1.
Producer Kevin Shirley says: “We’ve taken some really traditional old blues songs – the Howlin’ Wolf song ‘Who’s Been Talkin’?’ and the Robert Johnson song ‘Stones in My Passway,’ and we’ve tried to imagine how they would do them in a rock context. It’s a very exciting return to the blues in a very visceral way. It’s vibrant and it’s gutsy and it’s really, really rugged.”
The album also features four Bonamassa-penned originals, including “Dislocated Boy,” the title track, “Heavenly Soul” and “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go.”
Bonamassa plays a double-neck Gibson, like Jimmy Page, in video, which you can see here.
Live Wire: Music on Television April 9-15
Just because MTV doesn’t play music anymore doesn’t mean there’s not tons of live music on television these days. Consider our weekly feature “Live Wire,” your guide to performances, concerts and rock star appearances on the tube. All times are ET.
Live Wire Spotlight – Slash on Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. Tuesday, ABC)
Slash will debut his new single, “You’re a Lie,” on Tuesday night’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live. To promote his forthcoming album, Apocalyptic Love, the guitar god will be joined by singer Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – the same group that played on the record. The boys also will perform a mini concert for those who show up to see the band play in Hollywood. Fingers crossed that the footage of all the performances will appear Kimmel show’s website for everyone to see.
Monday, April 9
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (check local listings, syndicated): Cee-Lo Green
The Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS): Tennis
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC): Esperanza Spalding
Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m., ABC): LL Cool J
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m., NBC): Pulp, Seun Kuti
Tuesday, April 10
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (check local listings, syndicated): Bonnie Raitt
Conan (11 p.m., TBS): M. Ward
The Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS): Shooter Jennings
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC): Eric Turner with Lupe Fiasco and Tinie Tempah
Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m., ABC): Slash
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m., NBC): White Rabbits
Wednesday, April 11
The View (11 a.m., ABC): Trisha Yearwood
The Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS): Kaiser Chiefs
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC): Neon Trees
Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m., ABC): The Civil Wars
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m., NBC): The Ting Tings
Thursday, April 12
The View (11 a.m., ABC): Shooter Jennings
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (check local listings, syndicated): Karmin
Conan (11 p.m., TBS): Arctic Monkeys
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC): Blake Shelton, Feist
Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m., ABC): The Shins
Friday, April 13
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC): Far East Movement
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m., NBC): The Fray
Saturday, April 14
That Metal Show (11 p.m., VH1 Classic): George Lynch, Jeff Pilson, Mick Brown, Brian Tichy
Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m., NBC): Gotye
Austin City Limits (check local listings, PBS): John Legend and The Roots
Wham, Bam, Thank You Man! Gibson & Floyd Rose®
Few gadgets have divided guitarists quite like the Floyd Rose® bridge. Call it a tremolo, call it a whammy bar, call it a wiggle-stick – under whatever name you choose to use for it, that little bar and the hefty bridge it attaches to has created some brilliantly tender – and some woefully overwrought – performances. And although Gibson guitars might not be the first instruments that come to mind when you think of the Floyd Rose® (that honor probably goes to Kramer, who secured the first Floyd Rose® distribution deal back in the early ’80s), there have been several Gibson models throughout the years that have paid tribute to this most whale-sound-inviting of guitar gadgets.
Perhaps the ultimate in a Floyd-equipped Gibson is the Gibson Custom Les Paul Axcess Standard. On the surface this instrument appears to be a regular Les Paul with a Floyd in place of its traditional bridge/tailpiece combination, but it features several crucial player-friendly accoutrements: a reshaped neck joint created to provide a “heelless” feel with unimpeded access to the 22nd fret, and an improved “belly scarf” (ribcage contour), and exposed-coil super hot 496R and 498T humbuckers with dedicated series/parallel coil splitting. Actually, these “other” upgrades are revolutionary enough on their own that the model is available in a fixed bridge version as well, which is championed by players such as Joe Bonamassa and Styx’s Tommy Shaw.
The Axcess serves as the springboard for Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson's Gibson Custom model, which incorporates GraphTech™ Ghost® piezo bridge saddles to select or mix between electric and acoustic sounds.
Zakk Wylde is not averse to the occasional Floyd Rose® freakout. In addition to a succession of Epiphone Graveyard Disciple models with custom finishes, the Black Label Society frontman also regularly hoists a mighty, bullseye-adorned V beast. The guitar features Zakk’s choice of EMG-81 humbucker in the bridge position and an EMG-85 at the neck. With black speed knobs in the classic Les Paul layout, this guitar is a true hybrid.
If bullseye graphics and active pickups aren’t quite your style, check out the Gibson Flying V Tremolo, which takes a somewhat straightforward Flying V – mahogany body and neck, 496R and 500T ceramic humbuckers – and adds a Floyd Rose® tailpiece and locking nut. If the Explorer is more your speed, the Explorer Tremolo offers similar features but in the legendary Explorer shape and neck profile.
Launched at NAMM this year, the SG Diablo Tremolo adds a Floyd Rose® and two more frets to the classic SG configuration while stripping the controls down to single master volume and tone pots. Combined with the lack of a pickguard, the look is a little more sleek and aggressive than the traditional SG layout. It’s joined by a Les Paul cousin, the Gibson Shred Les Paul Studio, which includes a 22-fret fingerboard crafted from Richlite®, a fabricated material composed of cellulose fiber and phenolic resin, which offers the constructional and resonant properties of fine hardwood, but with improved durability.
There are a few collectible discontinued models with Floyd Rose® tremolos too, including the M-III. While most Floyd Rose®-equipped Gibsons have been based on established classic models like the Les Paul and Flying V, the M-III was a bold attempt at a double-cutaway, 24-fret shred-oriented instrument with humbucker-single-humbucker pickup configuration. Unfortunately its release coincided with the end of the golden era of shred, and while the model stuck around for a while before finally being discontinued, the early ’90s just wasn’t its time.
Are You the Next Joe Bonamassa? Enter the Battle of the Blues Now!
Sign up now for Guitar Center’s Battle of the Blues, the search for the top undiscovered blues guitar player! The grand prize package, worth more than $50,000, includes $25k cash, plus gear from Gibson and Epiphone – including the winner’s choice of a custom ’59 Les Paul or ES-335 reissue and an Epiphone ’65 Elitist Casino. Plus, the six finalists will perform live at the grand finals featuring Gibson star Joe Bonamassa.
Visit GuitarCenter.com/BattleoftheBlues for more details, and check out the videos below.
Joe Bonamassa talks about the contest, and gives a few tips on playing the blues:
An overview of the Battle of the Blues contest:
This Day in Music: April 4th
Brought to you by ThisDayinMusic.com
Born on this day:
1915, Muddy Waters, U.S. blues singer, guitarist
1952, Dave Hill, guitarist (Slade)
1952, Gary Moore, guitarist (Skid Row, Thin Lizzy, solo)
1980, Johnny Borrell, guitarist, singer (Razorlight)
1964, The Beatles held the top five places on the Billboard U.S. singles chart: #1 “Can’t Buy Me Love,” #2 “Love Me Do,” #3 “Roll Over Beethoven,” #4 “I Want to Hold You Hand” and #5 “Please Please Me.” The group also had another nine singles on the chart, bringing their total to 14 singles on the Hot 100.
1968, after hearing the news of Martin Luther King’s assassination, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Al Kooper and Ted Nugent congregated for an all night blues, folk and rock session at The New Generation Club in New York.
1976, the Sex Pistols played the first night of a residency at the El Paradiso club in Soho, London.
1987, U2 entered the U.S. album chart at #7 with The Joshua Tree, making it the highest new chart entry in America in seven years.
1992, Bruce Springsteen scored his third #1 album in the U.K. with Human Touch.
1999, The Corrs album Talk On Corners reached #1 on the U.K. album chart for the 10th time. The Irish group also had the #2 position with Forgiven, Not Forgotten. Both albums had spent over a year on the chart.
2008, at London’s Court of Appeal, Procol Harum singer/pianist Gary Brooker won a royalty battle over the band’s worldwide hit, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” brought by original organist Matthew Fisher. The decision overturned a 2006 ruling that Fisher was entitled to a 40% portion of royalties after he argued he had written the song’s organ melody. The court ruled there was an “excessive delay” in the claim being made – the claim was made nearly 40 years after the song was recorded.
Never Mind the Bollocks: How Les Pauls Powered the Punk Movement
Lest anyone forget what rock and roll is all about, punk rock is always there to reaffirm the music’s primal essence. Especially in the mid-to-late ’70s, when progressive music and other “inflated” rock forms were putting cracks in rock and roll’s rebellious foundation, a new generation of determined guitarists came along to put 
buzzsaw teeth back into the music. Not surprisingly, during that era and others, it’s been Gibson players who’ve led the charge. Simply put, nothing stokes punk rock’s ferocious energy like a Les Paul or one of its close Gibson kin.
Mid-’70s punk rock rose from the ashes of glam, with many of the genre’s guitarists citing Bowie sideman Mick Ronson and T.Rex’s Marc Bolan – both devoted Les Paul players – as prime inspirations. That was never more evident than with the New York Dolls. Formed in the early ’70s, the band’s trashy, Stones-y sound was powered by the dual-guitar interplay of Sylvain Sylvain and the late Johnny Thunders.
“Me and Johnny Thunders basically put the Les Paul Junior on the map,” Sylvain told Gibson.com, in a 2009 interview. “We called them ‘automatic guitars,’ like a car with an automatic transmission – easy to use. The Les Paul Junior had two knobs and one pickup. You didn’t need to control two volumes at the same time. It was the perfect guitar for the New York Dolls because it was stripped down – like the band was and like our songs were.”
As evidenced by the cover shot on the Dolls’ second album, Too Much Too Soon, Thunders played a 1955 Les Paul Special during the band’s early years. Later, his choice guitar became a ’59 Les Paul TV Junior, which, as Sylvain points out, had the simpler features of a single pickup, one volume control and one tone knob. The TV designation, incidentally, denoted the guitar’s color – a beautiful honey-yellow that was dazzling even when viewed on black and white television sets.
As Sylvain explained to Gibson.com’s Ted Drozdowski, it was he who first owned the TV model, which he swapped with Thunders for a Black Beauty. Sylvain later became closely associated with his trademark white Les Paul Custom.
Ironically, that very same white Les Paul Custom eventually fell into the hands of the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, another of the premier architects of punk guitar. Citing Ronson, Ron Wood, Free’s Paul Kossoff and the Dolls as influences, Jones used the previously Sylvain-owned guitar on the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, one of the most ferociously sustained slabs of music ever committed to vinyl.
“Punk was extremely selective [with regard to influence],” Jones told Guitar World, in a 1995 interview. “Much value was placed on sifting through past musical styles in order to pick out the oft-overlooked cool stuff. Some artists, particularly The Cramps and The Clash, looked back to rockabilly – the original dangerous, anti-social music of the ’50s. Also very important were the ‘one-hit wonder’ garage bands of the mid-’60s: The Shadows of Knight, Blues Magoos, Electric Prunes, Count Five and similar bands.”
Punk is often thought to be a near-exclusively male phenomenon, but through the years, such female artists as Patti Smith, X’s Exene Cervenka and Joan Jett have proved that women can roar as loudly as men. Jett, in particular, has relied on a Gibson Melody Maker to create snarling, incendiary rock and roll throughout her career. In a 2010 interview, she told Gibson.com how she obtained her first beloved Melody Maker.
“My first real guitar was a Gibson Les Paul,” she said. “Once I was in The Runaways, I saved up some money and I got this beautiful blond Les Paul Deluxe and its pickups were reversed; the treble pickup was the bottom one which made the toggle switch in the right place for my hand.”
“It’s a heavy guitar, the Les Paul, and so I was actually looking for a lighter guitar as a number two,” she continued. “One of my roadies, at the time, had worked with Eric Carmen from The Raspberries and knew Carmen had a guitar he wanted to sell. It was a Gibson Melody Maker double-cutaway, California-style, and so I bought this guitar second hand. It turns out it was the guitar that played on ‘Go All the Way,’ The Raspberries hit; that’s my white guitar.”
Jett continued: “It had lots of coats of white paint and, as I would take it to the clubs, the paint would crack. So my guitar has the most incredible cracked finish. It’s all discolored from the smoke in the clubs, so it’s like a yellowed white and it’s got cracks in the shellac … and it’s just beautiful. And now, it’s off the road and it’s in a cedar closet being kept safe.”
Many people regard punk as one-dimensional, but by the early ’80s punk bands were adding sophisticated components to the sound. This evolution was especially evident in The Clash, who incorporated reggae, dub and even ratcheted-down tempos into their music. Still, no matter the stylistic detour, Clash guitarist Mick Jones relied on an array of Gibsons to craft his distinctive licks. “My first proper guitar was a Les Paul Junior,” Jones told Gibson.com, in 2006. “[On the first Clash album], I played it through a big 4x12 cabinet … kind of raw. I also had a great Les Paul Standard, a sunburst one. And then I had a black Custom, and a white Custom. And then the big white hollow-body for London Calling. But I still play the Juniors today.”
For those whose primary music pipeline was MTV, it probably seemed that punk rock was a spent force by the mid-’80s. Dominated by skinny-tie “New Romantics” and hair-metal bands, MTV’s first generation had little appetite for punk’s raw and unfettered visual countenance. Like a simmering volcano, however, punk lived on, its cinders kept aglow by the likes of The Replacements and Social Distortion. Riding shotgun to the ’90s grunge movement, Green Day propelled punk rock back into prime-time with such albums as 1994’s Dookie and 1995’s Insomniac.
In countless interviews, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has hailed Les Paul Juniors as an indispensable component of the band’s sound. “For me, I think that Les Paul Juniors have more of a rock and roll sound, because it’s the true sound of a guitar,” he told Gibson.com, in 2006. “The sound I go for is that really punchy, midrange kind of sound. The first time I ever picked up a Les Paul Junior – the one I call ‘Floyd’ – I plugged it in and [it captured] the sound that was in my head.”
More generally, Armstrong affirms an opinion widely held by the current generation of punk rockers; namely, that there’s nothing like a Gibson when it comes to creating classic, no-holds-barred rock and roll. “I love Les Paul Juniors,” he says, “and dog-ear ’50s P-90s are the punchiest pickup ever made. It is perfect for my style of playing. They’re dirty but have great string definition. Solid-body Gibsons are the perfect rock guitars.”
Slash Announces NYC Album Release Show
Slash, along with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, will celebrate the release of their new album, Apocalyptic Love, with a May 22 concert in New York City. The Tuesday night show falls on the same day the record becomes available in the U.S., according to Blabbermouth.
The May 22 gig will take place at Irving Plaza. A fan pre-sale begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday (April 4) and the standard sale begins 10 a.m. on Friday (April 6) at SlashOnline.com.
In other Slash news, the guitar great and his band will stop by Jimmy Kimmel Live next week. On the April 10 show, the boys will perform Apocalyptic Love’s lead single, “You’re a Lie,” for the first time on TV. Fans who show up to the live taping in Hollywood will also get to see a mini-concert from Slash and the gang.
The day after (April 11), the band will perform at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards presented by Epiphone, and broadcast live via XboxLive.com from Los Angeles.
Megadeth’s Chris Broderick on Learning Guitar, Loving Eddie Van Halen
Like many great guitarists, Megadeth’s Chris Broderick clearly remembers the first time he picked up his choice instrument. At the time, Broderick was just a little tyke and shelved out a whopping (not really) $40 for his first guitar.
“[My friends] all played in a band together, and I was like, ‘Oh, that is interesting [laughs],’” Broderick told Glide Magazine. “I’d always go over to my friend’s house and constantly nag him to play his guitar all the time. And he’d be like, ‘No, no, let’s go ride motocross’ or something else.
“But I’d be constantly nagging him, so finally I bought a guitar from one of his friends, spray-painted it red, threw some black electrical tape on it and tried to become Eddie Van Halen [laughs].”
Van Halen, Broderick says, is the first band that really turned him on to heavy music. “It was not only [Eddie Van Halen’s] tapping, but also he knew a little finger style as well on the guitar with like ‘Spanish Fly’ and stuff like that. I thought that was really cool. I mean, it was everything about his playing; it was very unique and had a lot of fire behind it.”
Broderick joined Megadeth in 2008, and he says that past four years have gone by fast. “You know what, in a way it feels like an eternity, because it’s almost like a different life since I’ve joined Megadeth,” he said, laughing. “I do remember what I was doing before them but it is so different. It’s almost like the difference between when you’re touring and when you’re not touring. It feels like two different lives that you have.”
Neil Young Trademarks MP3-Replacement Audio Format
Legendary guitarist Neil Young appears to working on new audio formats. Young is a vocal critic of MP3 quality – he doesn’t even like CD audio, particularly – and has designs on something better.
Rolling Stone reports that Young applied for six trademarks in June 2011: “Ivanhoe,” “21st Century Record Player,” “Earth Storage,” “Storage Shed,” “Thanks for Listening” and “SQS (Studio Quality Sound).” Included in the filing is a description of the trademarks: “Online and retail store services featuring music and artistic performances; high resolution music downloadable from the Internet; high resolutions discs featuring music and video; audio and video recording storage and playback.”
The trademark process could take a year, providing that there are no challenges to Young’s application.
What will it mean? Well, tech experts have variously suggested this could pave the way for high quality audio to be provided to users via a “cloud”-based system. And that the quality of the audio will be closer to the original studio recordings, rather than the hugely compressed files that are sold on sites such as iTunes or Amazon.
Neil Young: digital guru? We never saw that coming.
Journey to Tour with Pat Benatar and Loverboy
Arena rockers Journey have started to plot out their summer tour schedule, and they’re taking fellow ’80s rockers Pat Benatar and Loverboy with them. Journey have scheduled six U.S. dates at this point, kicking off with a July 22 show in Stateline, California, and running 
through August 18 in Des Moines, Iowa. Loverboy will appear on all of the shows, while Benatar will perform at five of the six stops. Find a list of current tour dates, below.
In other Journey news, Neal Schon and Steve Smith will appear at the upcoming tribute show for Ronnie Montrose, “A Concert for Ronnie Montrose – A Celebration of His Life in Music,” which is scheduled for April 27 at the Regency in San Francisco. The concert also will feature the surviving members of Montrose – Sammy Hagar, Denny Carmassi and Bill Church – with special guest Joe Satriani. Schon and Smith will perform as members of the Ronnie Montrose All-Star Band, along with Styx’s Ricky Phillps, KISS’s Eric Singer and members of Y&T, Tesla and Mr. Big.
Check out Gibson.com‘s recent feature in honor of Schon’s 58th birthday, here.
Initial Journey 2012 Tour Dates with Pat Benatar and Loverboy:
July 22 - Stateline, CA, Harvey’s Outdoor Arena
July 24 - Paso Robles, CA, Main Grandstand, California Mid-State Fair
July 26 - Cheyenne, WY, Frontier Days
August 6 - Sturgis, SD, Buffalo Chip Campground Amphitheatre (without Benatar)
August 17 - Louisville, KY, Freedom Hall
August 18 - Des Moines, IA, Grandstand Iowa State Fair
Rare Randy Rhoads/Ozzy Release: ‘Live’ Album
Loudwire reports that Ozzy Osbourne is paying tribute to the late Randy Rhoads with a newly available live recording album, only on vinyl. Ozzy plans to release Live – a 180-gram audiophile vinyl two-LP set – which is a 
limited, numbered collector’s edition recorded live on the 1981 Blizzard of Ozz tour. “Believer,” a live seven-inch single, also will be issued. It is a limited and numbered collector’s edition on polka-dot vinyl featuring “Believer” (live) and “Goodbye to Romance.”
For Record Store Day, Iggy and the Stooges’ album Raw Power will again be available on 12-inch vinyl – as will Paul Simon’s Graceland, Lou Reed’s Rock N Roll Animal and Transformer and Janis Joplin’s Pearl.
Record Store Day takes place on April 21 in independent record stores around the world.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Top 10 Stories of the Week in Music News
It’s been another wild and crazy week in the world of rock and roll. Slash announced a release show for his new album, Lindsey Buckingham set some solo tour dates – as did Joe Walsh – while ZZ Top said they’ll be touring this year with 3 Doors Down. Gibson released a roaring Paul Landers (of Rammstein fame) signature Les Paul and some of Mr. Paul’s own rare guitars were prepared to hit the auction block. Sadly, the music world lost banjo genius and bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs. R.I.P. Earl. Finally, in a moment of inspired craziness, the Flaming Lips promised an album smeared with Ke$ha’s blood. Now that’s definitely rock and roll!
1. Slash Announces NYC Album Release Show
2. Rammstein’s Paul Landers Signature Les Paul Released
3. Joe Walsh of the Eagles Announces 2012 Solo Tour Dates
4. Paul Weller and Roger Daltrey to Collaborate?
5. Carlos Santana Preparing Guitar-Centric Album
6. Les Paul’s Guitars and Gear Hit the Auction Block
7. Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs Dead at 88
8. New Flaming Lips Album to be Smeared with Ke$ha’s Blood?
9. Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham Plans Solo Tour
10. ZZ Top to Tour with 3 Doors Down
John Fogerty Works with Foo Fighters, Miranda Lambert on New Album
Rock legend John Fogerty is prepping a new album on which he’ll perform some of his best-known Creedence Clearwater Revival songs with an array of special guests. According to Billboard, Wrote a Song for Everyone (due 
this fall) will include collaborations with Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Bob Seger and country stars such as Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban.
No tracklist is available yet, although some of the album’s selections have been revealed: “Fortunate Son” will feature the Foos and “Who’ll Stop the Rain” will be a duet with Bob Seger.
Earlier this year, he spoke about his experience recording with Lambert, whom he called “a great voice and a great, soulful presence in music, and really a delightful person.”
This Day in Music: April 5th
Brought to you by ThisDayinMusic.com.
Born on this day:
1928, Tony Williams, vocals, The Platters
1942, Allan Clarke, vocals, The Hollies
1948, Dave Holland, drums, Judas Priest
1950, Agnetha Faltskog, vocals, ABBA
1964, Christopher “Kid” Reid, rapper, Kid ’n Play
1966, Mike McCready, guitar, Pearl Jam
1968, Paula Cole, singer-songwriter
1970, Miho Hatori, vocals, keyboards, Cibo Matto
1973, Pharrell Williams, singer, producer, N.E.R.D., The Neptunes
1978, Duran Duran made their live debut at The Lecture Theatre, Birmingham Polytechnic.
1980, R.E.M. played their first ever gig when they appeared at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1981, Canned Heat singer Bob “The Bear” Hite died of a heart attack at age 36. The band played at both the 1967 Montery Pop Festival and the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
1984, Marvin Gaye’s funeral took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles. Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and other Motown singers, writers and producers attended the service.
1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Seattle. Cobain’s body wasn’t discovered until April 8, by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system, who initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing ... for too many years now.”
1998, British drummer Cozy Powell was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on a motorway in Bristol, England. Powell had worked with Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Black Sabbath, Rainbow and the ELP spin-off Emerson, Lake & Powell. Plus he did session work with Donovan, Roger Daltrey, Jack Bruce, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore and Brian May.
2006, Gene Pitney was found dead at age 65 in his bed in a Cardiff hotel. The American singer was on a U.K. tour and had shown no signs of illness. Pitney helped The Rolling Stones break the American market with his endorsement of the band. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote his hit “That Girl Belongs to Yesterday,” which became the Stones duo’s first composition to reach the American charts. He scored the 1962 U.S. #4 single “Only Love Can Break a Heart,” plus more than 15 other U.S. and U.K. Top 40 hits.
2007, Former KISS guitarist Mark St. John died from an apparent brain hemorrhage at the age of 51. St. John was KISS’s third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent in 1984 and appeared on the album Animalize.
2008, Apple’s iTunes overtook Wal-Mart to become the largest music retailer in the U.S. Market research firm NPD said iTunes surpassed Wal-Mart in January and February if 12 downloads are considered equal to the sale of one CD album. At that point, iTunes had sold more than four billion songs since its launch in 2003.
Eric Clapton’s $4.6m Bespoke Ferrari
Eric Clapton has famously sold his most famous guitars, with proceeds going to his Crossroads charity. But the U.K. rock-blues legend obviously still has money to burn. He recently ordered a bespoke Ferrari sports car that reportedly cost $4.6 million. Clapton worked with the car company’s Special Projects division to re-body a Ferrari 458 Italia – itself worth $275,000 in standard issue.
Prototype drawings of Clapton’s own model have now been posted – see them here.
And there is also footage of the wonder-car being driven to delivery from London to Clapton. Note the “EPC” plates – “Eric Patrick Clapton.” Clapton, like Billy F. Gibbons and others, is a renowned car-head. But he will have to be careful with this ridiculously expensive beast.
They called E.C. “Slowhand” in the 1970s. Let’s hope he doesn’t get caught for speeding in this 4.5 liter V8 machine.
Paul McCartney’s Tribute to Late Wife Linda Destroyed by Tree Disease
Following the passing of Paul McCartney‘s first wife and fellow Wings band member Linda in 1998, Sir Paul had hundreds of larch trees planted to pay homage to her life and legacy near a spot coined Linda’s Wood.
While the foliage has stayed alive and healthy for years, unfortunately, many of the memorial trees have now caught a deadly tree disease and are being cut down to stop the spread of a sickness, reports U.K. newspaper the Telegraph.
According to the Telegraph, the trees are being floored to prevent the takeover of a tree disease called “sudden oak death,” which is quickly spreading among a variety of species of trees and infecting the larch and other foliage in the vicinity. “Some of them were diseased and it was decided that the larch would be chopped down as a preventative measure,” explained Joe Duckworth of the League Against Cruel Sports, a charity supported by McCartney.
Linda’s Wood edges the 100-acre nature sanctuary St. John’s Wood, which the two purchased in Somerset in 1990.
Check out a video of McCartney offering his thoughts on the historic Gibson Les Paul, here.
Joe Walsh of the Eagles Announces 2012 Solo Tour Dates
Although the Eagles are scheduled to rock dates in North America and overseas over the next month, Joe Walsh isn’t letting that jam-packed tour itinerary get in the way of his solo career. After the Eagles’ current trek wraps, Walsh has announced a run of U.S. tour dates in support of his new full-length, Analog Man, which will arrive on June 6. Walsh has booked 11 solo shows at the moment, setting off in late May and then sporadically running 
through the end of August.
Walsh’s solo roster begins May 17 in Catoosa, Oklahoma, and runs through August 30 in Tulalip, Washington. The rocker hits several festivals on the run, including Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Ribfest in Naperville, Illinois. Only time will tell if Walsh’s solo shows will include any random Eagles tunes. Find a complete list of his solo, North American tour dates, below.
For the scoop on the title track off Walsh’s “Analog Man,” plus details on how to hear it before the album drops, go here.
Joe Walsh’s 2012 Solo Tour Dates:
May 17 - Catoosa, OK, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
May 18 - Winnie, TX, Nutty Jerry's, Winnie Arena
May 19 - Richardson, TX, Wildflower Festival
June 30 - Naperville, IL, Ribfest
July 3 - Milwaukee, WI, Summerfest
July 14 - Riverside, IA, Riverside Casino and Golf Resort
August 1 - Hyannis, MA, Cape Cod Melody Tent
August 3 - Cohasset, MA, South Shore Music Circus
August 10 - Hampton, NH, Hampton Beach Casino
August 19 - Littleton, CO, The Hudson Gardens Events Center
August 30 - Tulalip, WA, Tulalip Resort Casino Amphitheatre