Bret Michaels has been released from Christus
Santa
Rosa Hospital-Westover Hills in San Antonio, Texas after undergoing an
emergency appendectomy at 1 a.m. on Monday. The private
facility specializes in the rehabilitation of diabetic
patients. The singer was scheduled to perform at Sea World
San Antonio as part of their Bands, Brew & BBQ concert line-up
but was suffering from severe stomach pains all day Sunday.
Michaels' representatives say he's "doing well and beginning the
recovery process" and plans to make up the missed show on Oct. 1st.
6 of Willie Nelson's band members will face misdemeanor allegations of
possessing untaxed alcohol stemming from a late-January tour-bus raid
before a scheduled concert. Although none were arrested, they
were issued citations after North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement
officers found a partially full quart jar of untaxed alcohol (a.k.a.
moonshine) and marijuana on the bus, which was parked near the Duplin
County Events Center. Nelson announced a cancellation of that
concert in Kenansville due to a flare up from his hand that had
recently undergone surgery. On Friday, District Attorney
Dewey Hudson said that he can not look the other way just because the
defendants work for someone famous.
Billy Joe Shaver, 70, was found not guilty on charges of aggravated
assault for the 2007 shooting of a man in the face outside Papa Joe's
Saloon outside Waco, Texas. Shaver had claimed in court that
the shooting of Billy Bryant Coker was in self-defense.
Outside the courtroom, Shaver told reporters, "I am very sorry about
the incident." He also said, "Hopefully things will work out
where we become friends enough so that he gives me back my
bullet." Several of the singer's friends attended to support
him including Willie Nelson and Robert Duvall.
The 8th Annual TV Land Awards will bestow their Icon Award on Blondie
on Apr. 17th for their "contributions to music and pop culture through
their long and successful career in the music industry." They
are expected to perform one song during the show which will premiere on
Apr. 25th.
Lillian Axe will be the first hard rock act enshrined in the Louisiana
Music Hall of Fame on May 16th. Meanwhile, they have signed a
new recording contract with Love & War Records/MRI Associated
for the release of their new album, Deep Red Shadows, on July 20th.
Slash's self-titled solo album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200
albums chart. Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour debuted
at #10. Alan Jackson's Freight Train fell 7 places to
#14. Sade's Soldier Of Love dropped 4 spots to #19.
The Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel soundtrack fell 14 places
to #28. Gorillaz' Plastic Beach retained the #29 spot.
George Strait's "I Gotta Get To You" climbed 6 places to #90 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. With Strait's latest single
climbing to #9 on the Billboard Country Music Charts, he has reportedly
done what no artist in the history of the chart has ever done...
notched 30 years worth of top 10 hits. "I Gotta Get To You"
is his 82nd single to make it into the top 10.
Glee Cast's Glee: The Music: Season One Vol. 2 dropped 2 spots to #6 on
the U.K. Albums chart. Glee Cast's Glee: The Music: Season
One Vol. 1 fell a place to #8. Free & Bad Company's
The Very Best Of Free & Bad Company retained the #10
spot. Doves' The Best Of Doves: The Places Between debuted at
#12. Gorillaz' Plastic Beach fell a place to #15.
Slash's Slash debuted at #30. The Alvin And The Chipmunks:
The Squeakquel soundtrack dropped 4 spots to #36. Whitney
Houston's The Ultimate Collection held steady at #37. Foo
Fighters' Greatest Hits fell 3 places to #39. Madonna's
Sticky & Sweet Tour dropped 23 spots to #40.
Glee Cast's "Don't Stop Believin'" dropped 2 spots to #29.
Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" fell 4 places to #32.
Slash's self-titled solo album sold 14,000 copies in Canada, taking the
#1 spot on their album chart.
Erasure's Vince Clarke announced during a brief appearance on Howard
Stern's Howard 100 News radio show last week that the 2008 Yazoo
reunion was recorded and a live Yazoo album is due out in September.
Blackmore's Night are in the final mixing stage on their new studio
album due out later this year supported by tour dates in September.
Melissa Etheridge and her wife of 6 years Tammy Lynn Michaels have
separated. Michaels is the mother to their twin children,
Miller and Rose. Etheridge releases her new studio album,
Fearless Love, next week.
You may have heard about Jeff Beck's new studio album, Emotion And
Commotion, but it almost didn't get finished. Beck, 65, was
cutting carrots for a stew at his Wadhurst home when he cut off the top
of his left index finger. Surgeons were able to reattach it
but he struggled with finishing work on the album. He has
since re-upped his insurance on his digits to over $1 million a piece.
While fans await John Mellencamp's new studio album, No Better Than
This, due out in August, word of a 4-disc 54-track box set, On The
Rural Route 7609, due out prior to Father's Day has surfaced.
Concrete Blonde will reissue their classic 1990 album, Bloodletting, on
July 13th via Shout! Factory. The album has been remastered
and contains B-sides from the period and a previously unreleased French
version of the title track.
Steve Martin recently told Billboard.com that he and his touring band
Steep Canyon Rangers are planning to head into the studio in August to
work on the follow-up to their Grammy Award-winning The Crow: New Songs
For The Five-String Banjo album due out early next year.
The March Violets are asking fans to pre-order their upcoming album as
a way to help fund its release. Oddly enough, it will be
their first studio album (as they pretty much only released singles and
compilations previously.)
Rush have been hard at work on their follow-up to 2007's Snakes And
Arrows. Plans are to release a limited-edition single from
the album prior to their summer tour.
Bananarama have released their new single, "Love Don't Live Here," via
WhatRecords. An iTunes exclusive release of the single
includes a bonus Buzz Junkies 7" Mix of "The Runner."
Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye, Mike Watt and Chris Frantz are among the
artists interviewed for the upcoming MVD Visual release of I Need That
Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record
Store on Apr. 17th (which is Record Store Day) exclusively at
independent record stores. The DVD will head to stores
everywhere on July 27th.
According to WWD.com, Bruce Willis will be releasing a signature men's
fragrance set to launch on July 1st.
Danish heavy metal act Pretty Maids will release their new studio
album, Pandemonium, via Frontiers Records on June 8th (May 14th in
Europe.) "Little Drops Of Heaven" will be released as a
digital single today and a video for the song is up at YouTube.
Sade has been out promoting her next single, "Babyfather," on several
late night television shows and expects the video for the song to
surface in May.
Ratt release, Infestation, their first new studio album in 11 years
next week. Fans can visit
http://www.therattpack.com/board_posts/listen-to-infestation-here to
hear the entire album streamed.
Robyn Hitchcock has released the second installment in his Phantom 45
digital single series at
http://www.robynhitchcock.com/phantom45s/. From Apr. 15th to
Apr. 30th, fans download the songs "Halo Mary" and "Comme Toujours" for
free via the site.
Lita Ford and husband Jim Gillette have recorded a theme song for their
new reality television series, The Gillettes: An Extreme American
Family. A trailer with the track playing in the background
can be found on YouTube.
Madonna has given her seal of approval for next week's Madonna-themed
episode of Glee. Titled Glee: Power Of Madonna it will also
yield a 7-song soundtrack that will be released the same day the show
airs.
Kiske/Somerville, the new project featuring former Helloween vocalist
Michael Kiske and U.S. vocalist Amanda Somerville, have filmed videos
for "Silence" and "If I Had A Wish" off their debut album due out in
September. The digital single, "Silence," will be released in
late August.
Meat Loaf fans can get a taste of his upcoming studio album, Hang Cool
Teddy Bear, (due out May 11th) by downloading a free MP3 of the B-side
"Prize Fighter Lover" by signing up over at
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/prizefightlover/ for a limited time.
Ozzy Osbourne's new studio album, Scream, will be released on June 15th
via Epic Records. The first single, "Let Me Hear You Scream,"
was added to many rock radio outlets this week.
Modern English will release their new studio album, Soundtrack, via
Darla Records on May 24th. The first single from the album
will be "It's Ok."
Los Angeles publishing firm Bicycle Music has purchased the rights to
Nine Inch Nails' 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine, and announced plans
to reissue the album. Trent Reznor hasn't confirmed any
involvement in the reissue but in the past has said that he'd like to
see a 5.1 version of the album released with new packaging and extra
songs... as long as he's paid for his work. Pretty Hate
Machine was out of print from 1997 to 2005 until reissued by Rykodisc
(yet it is unavailable digitally and hard to find physically.)
Phil Collins will release, Going Back, his first new studio album in 8
years in September which will be comprised of Motown covers.
Nikki Sixx has issued an update to work on the new Sixx: A.M.
album. "We're getting close to picking our first
single. Its a really hard choice. Also the video
and photo shoots are gonna be coming up in the next 3 weeks, but right
now all I can think about is that the weekend is almost here... yeah."
The Church have are currently on their An Intimate Space 30th
Anniversary North American Tour 2010 until May 1st. Attendees
are being given a free EP featuring "Deadman's Hand" from their latest
album, 2009's Untitled #23, and some other tracks. The band
are talking about doing an electric tour afterwards where they will
play the latest album and 1988's Starfish in their entireties.
Killing Joke will release their new 4-track EP, Industrial Suicide
Tribe, on May 31st. The set contains the first tracts
recorded by the original line-up in 28 years. Their new
studio album, XIII: Feast Of Fools, will be released on Sept. 6th.
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has recorded, Rhythm Train, a
13-track children's album with Dick Van Dyke and Leslie Bixler.
The Friday Music label will release a remastered 25th anniversary
edition of Mr. Mister's 1985 album, Welcome To The Real World, next
week.
AC/DC: Iron Man 2 heads to stores next week. The album
contains 15 tracks from the band's career from 1976 to 2008 but there
will be many different versions: CD, CD/DVD Deluxe Edition and double
LP.
Tom Petty will release, Mojo, his first album in 8 years with The
Heartbreakers on June 15th. The band have placed the song
"Good Enough" on his Web site news section for fans to get an idea as
to the sound of the new disc.
Billy Squier will see the reissue of his 1981 album, Don't Say No, on
July 27th via Shout! Factory. The remastered songs on the
album will be bolstered with two bonus tracks, live versions of "The
Stroke" and "My Kinda Lover" recorded on his 2009 tour.
New expanded double-CD editions of Rick Astley's 1987 album, Whenever
You Need Somebody, and 1988's Hold Me In Your Arms are due out this
month.
The new documentary, We Were Feared, about the rise and fall of
legendary Orange County punk rock nightclub the Cuckoo's Nest, makes
it's world premiere at the Newport Film Festival on Apr. 25th.
Alan Parsons was interviewed by Long Live Rock's Sterling Whitaker and
Jeb Wright and told them that he is considering recording a new studio
album this year. "I think I probably will make an album over
the next twelve months. I think it almost goes without saying
that if I make this album, I will definitely get Kip Winger involved in
at least one track."
Bad Religion have announced that their upcoming new live album, 30
Years Live, will be released on May 18th and made available free to
those that sign up at http://www.badreligion.com/.
Weird Al Yankovic has made a guest appearance in Hanson's new video for
"Thinking 'Bout Somethin'." The song was named by MTV
Buzzworthy as a "Song You Need To Know."
Alice In Chains' Jerry Cantrell has told MTV News that the success of
their comeback album, Black Gives Way To Blue, has paved the way to a
possible follow-up.
Ministry frontman Alien Jourgensen will make a new solo project track,
"Voices In My Head," available as a free MP3 to those purchasing the
Revolting Cocks new album, Got Cock?, via Napster (or the shirt and CD
bundle at the 13th Planet Store.)
Original Pretty Boy Floyd bassist Vinnie Chas passed away over the
Easter weekend. Former band guitarist Aeriel Stiles posted a
statement confirming previous rumors to Chas' death on his Facebook
account. Little detail is available as his family wished to
keep it private. What is known at this time is that he and
Stiles were going to work on some new recordings for Kery Doll, Chas
was hit with "a sudden onset of illness," he called in to work ill on
Friday and, when no one could reach him on Monday, they went to his
home where they found his body.
New York-based drummer Steve Reid, 66, lost his battle with throat
cancer and passed away in his sleep on Tuesday. Reid played
with some of the biggest names in Jazz including James Brown, Ornette
Coleman and on Miles Davis' 1983 Tutu album.
Former Fallout/Carnivore and current Type O Negative vocalist/bassist
Peter Steele [born Petrus T. Ratajczyk], 48, died from heart failure on
Wednesday night. A statement was released by the band's
management saying, "Ironically Peter had been enjoying a long period of
sobriety and improved health and was imminently due to begin recording
new music with bandmates Josh Silver, Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly for
a follow up to 'Dead Again' released in 2007." An official
cause of death is pending autopsy results. Steele appeared on
Carnivore's 1986 self-titled debut and 1987's Retaliation before
splitting up and forming Type O Negative.