Despite heart problems that kept Kiss' Paul Stanley from performing recently, he will be able to perform at
Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp in New York City during the Labor Day weekend. "My heart is in great shape, and
the speed it can sustain is proof! I will be reporting to Fantasy camp primed, pumped and ready to rock out."
He assured fans, "I wanted to let all of you know that I am absolutely fine! I'm going to the gym as usual,
painting as usual and will be going into the recording studio this week.
Troubled former Village People frontman Victor Willis, 56, has plans to release a 'tell-all book' detailing his
frustration with his flamboyant gay bandmates and how it led to his withdrawl from the group in the early 1980's.
Willis completed a drug treatment program in April. The book is expected out in the spring of 2008. He is planning
a comeback show on Aug. 31st in Las Vegas to mark the 30 years since he first recorded as the Village People. Willis
also is trying to obtain the master recordings of the solo album he recorded after leaving the band for a possible
release in 2008. A new incarnation of the Village People are currently on tour.
It seems that the 6 children named in James Brown's will aren't all of them. Aside from his child with Tomi Rae
Hynie, about a dozen people have put claims forward that James Brown was their father with DNA test results revealing
that at least two are valid.
Enuff Z'nuff frontman Donnie Vie (a.k.a. Donald Van Develde) was recently in court testifying at a preliminary
hearing against his landlord David Mahler. Mahler is accused of murdering girlfriend Kirstin "Chrissie"
Franya Baldwin, 38, and dumping her body in a ditch near Barstow where it was found almost 3 weeks later. Vie said
that, on the day of the murder, the accused waved a gun at him and the victim threateningly and that he saw Baldwin's
body after the murder. According to the Los Angeles NBC affiliate, "As he was leaving, [Vie] shut the bedroom
door and heard what he thought was the sound of a gun shot." Vie has recently been working on a studio album
entitled Lost In Vegas with Enuff Z'nuff.
Melanie Brown (a.k.a. Scary Spice) is seeking legal acknowledgment that Eddie Murphy is the father of her daughter.
A recent DNA test reportedly confirmed Murphy's fathering the child. With an acknowledgment of paternity status,
an agreement regarding child support can be arranged. Murphy has responded by confirming he is the child's father
but has denied that he has failed to live up to his financial responsibilities as a father.
Former Great White manager Daniel Biechele will have a hearing with the parole board on Sept. 19th. Biechele was
sentenced to 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter by lighting the
pyrotechnics that sparked the Station nightclub fire in West Warwick on Feb. 20th, 2003. If approved, he will have
served a third of his sentence.
Robert Langley, admitted to bootlegging charges after hearing evidence provided by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy
Page. Originally, the defendant denied three trademark and two copyright infringements after being caught at a
record fair in Glasgow. Langley will be sentenced next month and faces another hearing under the Proceeds of Crime
Act.
Prince has earned his 13th top 10 album with Planet Earth which debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart
with sales of 96,000. The album debuted selling nearly half of what last year's 3121 and 2004's Musicology accrued.
Bon Jovi's Lost Highway fell two spots to #12.
On the U.K. album chart, Prince's retrospective hits compilation, Ultimate, re-entered the chart at #6. The Traveling
Wilburys' Collection dropped four spots to #9. Barbra Streisand's The Essential fell four places to #16. Rod Stewart's
The Complete American Songbook 1-4 dropped one spot to #17.
Erasure's latest single, "Sunday Girl," from their new album, Light At The End Of The World, has fallen
out of the top 10 (previously #8) on the Canadian singles chart to #19.
Bon Jovi's Lost Highway dropped two places on Canada's album chart to #3. Prince's Planet Earth debuted at #17
followed by the Police's The Police collection which climbed 18 spots to #18.
Cleopatra Records will release a 34-track double-CD entitled This Is Guitar Gods this week. The album contains
music from Jimmy Page, Mick Taylor, Dweezil Zappa, Mick Mars, Pat Travers, Slash, Steve Lukather, Johnny Ramone,
Richie Kozen, Phil Collen, Michael Schenker, Santana, George Lynch, Ronnie Montrose, Steve Howe, Robby Krieger,
Albert Lee, Zakk Wylde, Steve Morse, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, Jake E. Lee, Ted Nugent, Rick Derringer,
Elliot Easton, Earl Slick, Paul Gilbert, Tommy Shaw, Gilby Clarke, Mayne Kramer, Reb Beach, Bruce Kulick, Adrian
Belew and Steve Jones.
Information Society's Paul Robb has released his new Think Tank project album, Diabolical!, via Hakatak International
as a digital release.
Go West have launched a new official Web site (gowest.org.uk) and announced plans for a new album and DVD coming
soon.
Pat Benatar and husband/guitarist/co-writer Neil Giraldo plan to head into the studio, after the end of their tour
in September, to start recording acoustic versions of their songs. They also have written a new song, "Passion,"
which will be used in a new commercial for a Jell-O product sharing the same name. Benatar is also planning an
autobiography.
Fightback is the new 6-track mini-album and single from the Alarm MMVII's Counter Attack Collective Volume 2. A
video was filmed for the song and it can be seen at their MySpace page.
AC/DC have signed a deal with Verizon Wireless giving the carrier exclusive rights to sell the band's entire back
catalog through March 2008. The deal is limited to full-album downloads only. Verizon will sell them from the PC
version of its VCast Music service for $12 an album. There will be one exception as their biggest hit, "You
Shook Me All Night Long," will be available as an 'over-the-air' download. Verizon also has the rights to
sell ringtones and ringback tones of some 18 new tracks not available elsewhere. The company also plans to broadcast
the band's Live At Donnington concert and other performances via their VCast TV service.
Toad The Wet Sprocket bassist Dean Dinning has co-written 3 songs for and made a cameo appearance in the upcoming
film The Still Life. Dizzy Reed (formerly of Guns N' Roses) and Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish have recorded
two of the songs which will be on the soundtrack due out via Warner Bros. on Aug. 7th.
Following the success of their last batch of reissues, Genesis are looking to release expanded versions of their
1982 self-titled album, 1986's Invisible Touch, 1991's We Can't Dance and 1997's Calling All Stations next month.
Depeche Mode's Exciter and Ultra albums will be reissued in a remastered version on Oct. 2nd in the U.S. and a
day earlier in the U.K.
Little, Brown and Company have reportedly closed a deal that will pay Keith Richards $7.3 million for his memoirs
with a release planned in 2010.
According to Billboard.com's interview with guitarist Joe Walsh, the new Eagles album is "almost out. We're
just finishing vocals and mixing it. We're all finally signing off on it." An extensive 2008 tour is planned
to support the album.
Stevie Wonder is planning to follow up his 2005 album, A Time To Love, with a gospel album dedicated to his late
mother with hopes to release it before her birthday in January. He expects to debut some of the new songs during
the 13 dates of his A Wonder Summer's Night tour.
A new live Iggy Pop album, Live And Wild, is due out on Sept. 18th which features two previously-unreleased bonus
tracks featuring Ric Ocasek of the Cars. The performance was recorded near the end of Pop's tour in support of
his 1981 album, Party.
Rich Wilson has written a new book entitled Lifting Shadows about the rock act Dream Theater due out via Essential
Works in late November. A deluxe 'Images And Words' special edition can be ordered online (at dreamtheaterbook.com)
which includes a free music CD and two hardback books in a slipcase.
Robert Plant's collaborative studio effort with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand, will be released on Oct. 23rd via
Rounder.
Keyboardist Herbie Hancock will release River: The Joni Letters via Verve on Sept. 25th. The album is his take
on the Joni Mitchell songbook. In fact, Mitchell sings on a new version of "The Tea Leaf Prophecy." Tina
Turner and Leonard Cohen also guest on the disc.
The Scorpions believe they have reached a new creative high with the release of their 21st album, Humanity: Hour
1, on Aug. 28th via New Door Records/UMe.
John Fogerty will release, Revival, his first new studio album in his deal with Fantasy Records on Oct. 2nd. Fogerty
rejoined the label in 2005, after years of legal disputes going back to his time with Creedence Clearwater Revival,
to release the retrospective, The Long Road Home.
Tangerine Dream will celebrate their 40th anniversary this year with the release of their new album, Madcap's Flaming
Duty, on Aug. 28th. The disc is dedicated to former Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett who passed away in July of
last year.
A 36-track double-disc Rick Astley retrospective, Together Forever - The Best Of Rick Astley, has been released
in the U.K.
Kiss will release their live DVD collection Kissology: Volume Two 1978-1991 on Aug. 17th featuring nearly 7 hours
of rare or never-before-seen footage with television interviews and music videos.
According to Jim Babjak of the Smithereens, the band have been working on some new songs for a Christmas album.
They expect to wrap up recording this month and release it in the fall via Koch Records.
Kraftwerk's songs "Aerodynamik" and "La Forme" have been remixed by members of Hot Chip for
a new single to be released on Sept. 17th.
Slayer's concert on Aug. 25th in San Diego will be provided in a live, real-time stream viewable to fans globally
on www.YeboTV.com. Fans can also see the broadcast at Slayer.net, HotTop.com and ESP.com.
A new 36-track double-disc Terence Trent D'Arby retrospective entitled Sign Your Name - The Best Of Terence Trent
D'Arby has been released.
The House Of Love plan to reissue their 1988 self-titled debut album on Sept. 24th with some previously-unreleased
bonus tracks. A singles and rare tracks compilation is also due out that same day.
Poison's recent performance at this year's Mississippi Valley Fair broke attendance records set by acts that include
Def Leppard. The band previously played the fair in 2002 but this year drew more than 28,000 fans.
Ian Brown has announced that The World Is Yours will be his 5th solo album when released in the U.K. on Sept. 24th.
The first single will be "Illegal Attacks" which is one of two duets on the album with Sinead O'Connor.
Dolly Parton's first mainstream country album in 17 years will also be her first for her new label, Dolly Records.
The first single, "Better Get To Livin'," will hit radio on Sept. 24th and she is expected to perform
it on a 'national TV show' a few days later.
A digitally re-mastered version of George Thorogood and the Destroyers 1982 album, Bad To The Bone: 25th Anniversary
Edition, is on the way featuring newly recorded versions of album tracks and bonus B-side tracks. A tour in support
of the album is also planned.
Vocalist Carol Decker of T'Pau will be releasing a new single, "Just Dream," in the U.K. as a digital
download next month.
Rob Zombie plans to release his new 18-track live CD/DVD on Sept. 18th. The DVD will include live footage and other
videos.
The Anton Corbijn-directed Ian Curtis biopic Control will get released in New York City on Oct. 10th.
Judas Priest's Rob Halford has announced that Metal God Essentials - Volume 1 will be released in September in
Japan and the U.S. A Fight video project is also being worked on.
The Other Cinema imprint will release a career-capping Negativland DVD package entitled Our Favorite Things on
Oct. 23rd. The DVD is a collaboration of 18 experimental fimmakers to create the project.
Bjork has released "Innocence" as the second single from her Volta album as a digital download. The download
includes the radio edit of the song with 3 remixes.
Lyle Lovett has been busy in the studio working on his new album, It's Not Big It's Large, due out Aug. 28th. The
album features his longtime collaborator the Large Band. The disc is expected to be released in a deluxe CD/DVD
edition as well as a Starbucks-exclusive format with bonus tracks.
The first video from Bad Brains new studio album, Build A Nation, has been completed. "Give Thanks And Praises"
has been posted online and was directed by System Of A Down's Shavo.
Jazz bassist and psychologist Art Davis, 73, died at his home after a heart attack last week. The musician played
for John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Bob Dylan and Louis Armstrong. In 1982, he earned a PhD in clinical psychology
from New York University. He would balance teaching and practicing psychology with his concert performances and
recordings afterward. Davis released his solo albums Reemergence (1980), Life (1985) and A Time Remembered (1995).
He also played in a duo with Hilton Ruiz in 1985 and 1986.
Irish folk artist Tommy Makem, 74, has passed away in his New Hampshire home after a long battle with lung cancer.
Makem rose to fame as a member of the Clancy Brothers before going solo. He would join Liam Clancy as the duo Makem
and Clancy before leaving to go solo again in 1988 to release the album Rolling Home, the next year. He continued
his solo recording up to 1998's Song Tradition.