Dan Seals is reportedly battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer at Nashville's Vanderbilt Hospital and the MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He is currently doing well but is still scheduled to continue treatments. In
2002, Seals (who was in the duo England Dan & John Ford Coley) teamed up on stage with his older brother Jim
Seals (of Seals and Crofts) and have started working on an album together as Seals and Seals.
According to The Times, Metallica vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield was barred entry to Luton airport on Thursday
and questioned by the U.K. airport staff who were concerned about his appearance. With recent terrorist attacks
in the U.K., Hetfield's new "Taliban-like beard" created concern. He was interrogated briefly and was
allowed to leave after persuading officials that he was with the band who were there to play Live Earth at London's
Wembley Stadium as well as their own show there on Sunday. Meanwhile, the band's new studio album could be released
early next year.
Current Brent Muscat's Faster Pussycat guitarist Todd Kerns has posted to his MySpace account about the future
of the band. "Brent Muscat has decided to forgoe the entire headache and legalities involved in fighting for
the name Faster Pussycat. After much soul searching he decided after the European tour and the couple dates this
summer that he's decided to let the other parties carry on with the name." Muscat is expected to explain his
decision at a later date when he's ready.
Morrissey has been forced to postpone more dates on his current U.S. tour due to a continuing fight with a viral
infection. The singer saw a throat specialist in Washington, D.C., after his performance in Virginia and was told
to keep from performing until July 7th at the earliest.
New Order vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner married his long-time girlfriend Sarah last week.
Prince was forced off stage at Minneapolis' legendary First Avenue nightclub (made famous in the film Purple Rain)
on Sunday morning. The singer reportedly took to the stage at 2:45am while the club by law is only allowed to stay
open until 3am. According to the club owner, police officers allowed the singer some extra time to wind the show
down.
Sly Stone [Sylvester Stewart] will return from his self-imposed hiatus after two decades according to his interview
with Vanity Fair (his first since the 1980s.) The 64 year-old reclusive funk artist believes that he has "maybe
200" songs set aside in his home to work with for his new studio album due out in the fall. Stone has done
some production work here and there and made a brief appearance at the 2006 Grammy Awards since his last single
1987's "Eek-a-Bo-Static."
On Friday, Ozzy Osbourne became the first artist to receive a star on the Walk of Fame in his native Birmingham,
England.
Bon Jovi's Lost Highway dropped from #1 to #3 on the Billboard 200 chart with sales of 125,000 copies. Paul McCartney's
Memory Almost Full fell 4 spots to #9 with sales of 54,000 copies. The Beastie Boys' new instrumental album, The
Mix-Up, debuted at #15 selling 44,000 copies.
The Traveling Wilbury's Collection climbed one spot to #2 on the U.K. Album chart followed by the debut of Crowded
House's Time On Earth. Velvet Revolver's Libertad debuted at #6. The Police's The Police collection drops 6 spots
to #14. Rod Stewart's The Complete American Songbook 1-4 debuted at #16 while Shirley Bassey's Get The Party Started
drops 13 spots to #19.
Former Squeeze bassist John Bentley has rejoined the band for their upcoming tour. Bentley joined in 1979 replacing
Harry Kakoulli until the group disbanded in 1982. Bentley has recorded with Elvis Costello, Dave Edmonds and Nick
Lowe. He currently has a new band, The ID, and is just finishing up work on his new solo album, The Man Who Never
Was.
Rick Springfield plans to release a new studio album early next year via Universal. He is also almost finished
with work on a Christmas album.
While Live Earth and many couples used the 7/7/07 date to make memories, the Alarm decided to make music with the
release of the Counter Attack Collective and the single "Three Sevens Clash." The Counter Attack Collective
is a set of 7 mini-albums (5-8 tracks each) and one full-length album (12-15 tracks) with a special limited edition
packaging. Essentially, those purchasing the set online will receive a new disc every month for the rest of the
year. Counter Attack itself will be released in January. For more information and to order visit http://www.thealarm.com/777/
Meanwhile, the band recently walked up to the top of a mountain to perform as part of Snowdon Rocks which raised
funds for the Love Hope Strength Foundation.
Queensryche's Geoff Tate recently told BW&BK that the band will be working on a new studio album of cover songs
due out in December.
Robert Smith recently told Billboard magazine that the new Cure album could be released in October as a limited-edition
double album with a single-disc version also available. For a band that released "The 13th" as a single
in 1996, their 13th studio album has become a special occasion as the album will include 3 songs dating back to
the 1980's that have been revamped for this collection.
Great White's new studio album, Back To The Rhythm, is now due to be released on July 17th. The album marks their
25th anniversary and features their original members.
Mark Eitzel of American Music Club recently explained the departure of longtime bassist Dan Pearson and drummer
Tim Mooney in a blog post. He mentioned that he hadn't heard from either of them in 6 months and that he and longtime
guitarist Vudi were working on arrangements when they found their new bassist and drummer. There was a lot of enthusiasm
in recording the new material with the new members and they looked into releasing the new album, The Golden Age,
under another name but couldn't find anyone to do it. Eitzel hopes that longtime fans will "hold their noses
and check it out." Meanwhile, they will be the featured act on the Talking 80s Music Podcast this week.
Producer and recent Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Bob Rock and Paul Hyde have reunited as the Payola$ after
two decades apart. They have a new EP, Langford (Part 1), and single "Bomb" due out which will be supported
by a summer Canadian tour.
The Rolling Stones will see a 4-DVD set released from several worldwide performances from their Bigger Bang tour
under the name The Biggest Bang.
Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar has been working in the studio on a solo album which should be released this fall. Most
recently, Daniel was living in Osaka, Japan, where he runs his production company J-Pan Soul.
Mr. Christian now the time has come... Night Ranger has announced that Christian Cullen has joined the band on
keyboards as Michael Lardie has re-joined Great White for summer dates. Meanwhile, Kelly Keagy proposed to his
girlfriend Monique while on stage in Japan.
Guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep and Blackfoot will release his autobiography, Blood On
The Highway, on July 20th. A live DVD of the same name is due out later this year.
Fans of Nikki Sixx have been invited to see his new band, Sixx: A.M., perform a free show on July 16th (see his
MySpace page for details.) The band is the one Sixx used to record the soundtrack to Heroin Diaries and their new
single "Life Is Beautiful."
David Gilmour's 2006 performance at London's Royal Albert Hall was recorded for a live DVD entitled Remember That
Night due out Sept. 18th via Columbia.
EMI Music Germany are officially reissuing re-mastered versions of 3 of their albums (1988's Over The Edge, 1990's
Slave To The Thrill and 1986's Take What You Want.) Over The Edge is already available while the others will be
out on July 27th.
Eagle Eye Media are set to release Jethro Tull Live At Montreux 2003 as a DVD and a double-CD set on Aug. 21st.
Pretty Boy Floyd guitarist Kristy Majors has released a video from his latest solo album Sex Drugs 'N' Rock N Roll
entitled "Wasted In America."
Thomas Dolby will be releasing a live 5-track disc, SXSW EP, on July 17th which was recorded during his performance
at this year's South By Southwest Festival.
Former Guns N' Roses/current Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash will become a character in the upcoming game Guitar
Hero III. He will be a special character that will be difficult to 'unlock.' What kind of music he will be playing
in the game during his duel with the live player has yet to be announced. Meanwhile, Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose has
released a statement explaining that they were offered a spot at Rio Live Earth during the last couple weeks while
they were on tour in Australia with dates in Japan to follow. Their instruments were on the way to Japan and a
solution to the dilemma was not to be found.
Bob Mould will release his new live DVD, Circle Of Friends -- Live at 9:30, via Trixie on Oct. 9th. The set was
recorded during his performance in October of 2005 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Mould is continuing
his work on his next solo album.
Barbeque Babylon is a new album by Stan Ridgway's new project Drywall which was recorded with his wife Pietra Wexstun
and Rick King. The disc was released via his Web site StanRidgway.com on the Fourth of July.
Ministry plan to release their final album, The Last Sucker, on Sept. 18th via 13th Planet/Megaforce. The album
is the last installment of a trilogy (2004's Houses Of The Mole and 2006's Rio Grande Blood) and, according to
leader Al Jourgensen, he will retire the Ministry name after the support tour to work on other projects.
KMFDM will release their new studio album, Tohuvabohu, on Aug. 22nd via Metropolis Records. The title comes from
a passage in the Old Testament meaning 'wild and chaotic.'
Kim Mitchell will be releasing his 8th solo album, Ain't Life Amazin' on July 17th. The title track and "I
Got A Line On You" can be heard at his MySpace page.
Steve Parish's 2004 book, Home Before Daylight, about the Grateful Dead is being adapted for the big screen by
director Michael Garais. The film will cover the history of the band up to the death of frontman Jerry Garcia in
1995.
Q-Tip has released his new single, "WorkItOut," as a free download via his MySpace page. The song comes
from his new studio effort, The Renaissance, due out in the fall. He also guests on the song "Kids With Words"
from the upcoming Wu-Tang Clan album, The 8 Diagrams, due out around the same time.
Rob Zombie's re-envisioning of the classic horror film Halloween will head to theaters on Aug. 31st.
Today, legendary rappers Eric B. and Kurtis Blow attended a funeral in Detroit for their former friend... the 'N'
word. The mock burial event took place during the 98th annual NAACP convention.
Original Marshall Tucker Band member and rhythm guitarist George McCorkle, 60, died of cancer on Friday in Nashville.
McCorkle wrote the band's first Top 40 hit, "Fire On The Mountain," and many other hits for the band
before retiring from the group in 1984 to become a professional songwriter. Last August, he made a guest appearance
on stage with the band.