The Status Quo have been forced to reschedule
upcoming shows through the month due to drummer Matthew Letley
succumbing to an upper respiratory tract viral infection and under
doctors orders to rest. In fact, his condition has worsened
and he has been sent for further tests but hopes are to resume shows
soon.
Dead Or Alive vocalist Pete Burns has won his legal battle against a
cosmetic surgeon over a series of botched lip injections.
Compensation will be decided next year but Burns was seeking
£1 million.
Metal Church have been forced to cancel their spring 2009 tour with
Overkill due to guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof suffering from back
problems. Vanderhoof's doctor has warned him about doing a
bigger tour before the problem is solved.
Country star Lorrie Morgan has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in
federal court listing her estimated liabilities between $1 million and
$10 million and her assets between $500,000 and $1 million.
Neil Diamond has been named the 2009 MusiCares Person of the
Year. MusiCares and the Recording Academy will present the
award to Diamond at a dinner in Los Angeles on Feb. 6th (2 days before
the 2009 Grammy Awards.)
Metallica's Death Magnetic fell two places to #4 on the Billboard 200
albums chart on sales of 51,000 copies. Lucinda Williams'
Little Honey debuted at #9 on sales of 35,000 copies. James
Taylor's Covers retained the #10 spot selling 31,000 copies.
The Mamma Mia! soundtrack fell a place to #26. Bob Dylan's
Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 dropped 21 spots to
#27. Sarah McLachlan's Closer: The Best Of Sarah McLachlan
fell 19 places to #30.
Metallica's "The Day That Never Comes" holds onto the #1 spot on the
Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. AC/DC's "Rock N
Roll Train" holds the #2 spot for a second week.
Bette Midler's The Best Bette fell one place to #8 on the U.K. Albums
chart. Stevie Wonder's The Definitive Collection debuted at
#24. David Gilmour's Live In Gdansk dropped 8 spots to
#26. Metallica's Death Magnetic fell 11 places to
#28. Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series Vol. 8
dropped 20 spots to #29. ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits fell 6
places to #33. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack dropped 2 spots to
#35. ABBA's 18 Hits fell 4 places to #36. Queen's
Greatest Hits holds steady at #37.
Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and bandmate Candice Night have tied the
knot after 13 years together.
MC Hammer has officially announced that he's working on his
autobiography tentatively titled U Can't Touch This...Dug
Out. Hammer released a digital only single, "Getting Back To
Hetton," earlier this year.
Chris Cornell's video for the song "Ground Zero" from his forthcoming
album, Scream, can be seen at http://abc.go.com/primetime/lifeonmars/
as part of ABC's promotion of their new series Life On Mars.
The London musical Vampires Rock featuring Toyah will be filming their
Halloween performance at Ipswich Regent Theatre for a future DVD
release. Another DVD appearance is on the way for Toyah as
she made a guest appearance and provided vocals on 5 songs for The
Rocky Horror Tribute Show in 2006 which heads to U.K. stores on Nov.
10th.
Marty Stuart plans to re-release his 342-page photo history book,
Country Music: The Masters, on Nov. 11th.
Bono has agreed to write 6 to 10 articles for the New York Times next
year on topics ranging from Africa to the music of Frank
Sinatra. Meanwhile, U2 are expected to wrap up work on their
new album, No Line On The Horizon, shortly. It's also been
reported that the band will also receive an estimated $19 million worth
of Live Nation shares as part of their 12-year deal with the concert
promotion company earlier this year. The band had 1.56
million shares according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Suicidal Tendencies will see their self-titled debut album reissued in
a 25th anniversary digitally remastered version on CD and LP via
CMDistro.
According to a post on their official Web site, Hanoi Rocks will stop
rocking after 2008 (unless you count the farewell tour in Japan and a
few nights at Helsinki, Finland's Tavastia Club in the spring of
2009.) "Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy feel that they've taken
the band as far as it can go and now wish to go their separate
ways. All commitments until the end of the year, including
the UK tour starting in London on Halloween, will naturally be
honoured." The band will release their first-ever
career-spanning retrospective, This One's For Rock'n'Roll: The Best Of
Hanoi Rocks 1980-2008, on Nov. 26th in a 2-CD set.
Lee Ann Womack has released her new studio album, Call Me Crazy, to
retail outlets. The album contains a duet with George Strait
on the song "Everything But Quits."
Richie Kotzen will see his first-ever live DVD, Bootlegged In Brazil,
in Europe via Frontiers Records on Dec. 5th.
According to TMZ.com, police were called in the early morning of Oct.
17th to the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollwood after Big and Rich singer
John Rich was in a fight with former Danzig bassist Jerry
Montano. Paramedics responded to the scene as one party was
treated for a bloody nose. An investigation was taking place
but no arrests were made at the time and neither party wanted to press
charges.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, The Oak Ridge Boys, BJ Thomas, Mickey
Gilley, Delbert McClinton, Janie Fricke, Merle Haggard, George Jones,
Lorrie Morgan, Ray Stevens, T. Graham Brown, Willie Nelson, Ricky
Skaggs, Crystal Gayle and Juice Newton are among the artists that have
recorded with T.G. Sheppard for his new double-CD duets collection,
Partners In Rhyme. The set will also include a bonus
documentary DVD.
Rob Zombie and Slayer lead the tracklist for the soundtrack to
Punisher: War Zone due out on Nov. 25th. The Marvel film
heads to theaters on Dec. 5th. Zombie's "War Zone" (inspired
by and written for the film) will be the first single.
The Human League have begun work on their first new studio effort since
2001's Secrets. Currently, they do not have a record deal but
they are looking at alternative methods of getting it to the public.
Eagle Records plans to release a new 16-track live Jeff Beck album,
Jeff Beck: Performing This Week Live At Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, on
Nov. 25th.
Slash has been working on his solo album and is at the end of the demo
phase. But he has also said that the album could be
interrupted if Velvet Revolver finds a replacement for vocalist Scott
Weiland in the near future.
Morrissey has told BBC Radio 2's Janice Long that he will join the long
line of rock music's elite to write an autobiography as a means to
refute many claims that have been made about him in his career.
Paul Simon will see his 1980 performance at the Tower Theater released
to DVD under the title Live From Philadelphia on Nov. 25th via Eagle
Rock Entertainment.
The Offspring recently finished work on the video for their new single,
"You're Gonna Go Far, Kid," from their latest album, Rise And Fall,
Rage And Grace. You can see it now at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4hFb2A2ICc The song is
currently topping the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Frontiers Records have announced that they will release the new White
Lion DVD, Bang Your Head Festival 2005, on Dec. 5th.
ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons and producer Rick Rubin are holding
songwriting sessions with The Black Keys in hopes to come up with some
"back-to-basics" material for ZZ Top's upcoming studio album.
The physical release of David Byrne and Brian Eno's latest album,
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, heads to stores on Nov.
25th. An exclusive deluxe version of the album (with 4 bonus
tracks) will be available at EverythingThatHappens.com.
Kiss' Gene Simmons is among the celebrities slated to appear in the
upcoming Mike Judge film, Extract.
The Beastie Boys are in the middle of recording their next studio album
and have taken a break to play on the Get Out And Vote 08 tour.
Dr Pepper have announced that they will make good on their promise to
provide every person in America a can of their beverage if Guns N'
Roses' Chinese Democracy were released in 2008. Fans are
being asked to visit http://www.drpepper.com on Nov. 23rd (the day the
album is released at Best Buy) to register online. Those
registered will receive a coupon redeemable for a 20-ounce Dr Pepper
wherever it is sold. Coupons will only be available for 24
hours and will expire on Feb. 28th. Meanwhile, Guns N' Roses
have officially announced the release of album and the title track has
been released as the first single to rock radio stations.
Aimee Mann plans to release a new version of her One More Drifter In
The Snow album on Nov. 10th bolstered by a cover of Joni Mitchell's
"River."
Click Click's 12-track compilation, Lung Function, has been released
via Dependent Records to digital download services. An
expanded remastered version of the band's 1984 mini-album, Party Hate,
is expected to follow in December in the set of reissues.
R.E.M. will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their Murmur album on
Nov. 25th with a remastered 28-track double-disc version via
I.R.S./UMe. The second disc includes a live set recorded 3
months after the album's release. Meanwhile, the band's cover
of the Editors' "Munich" will be included in the third volume of BBC
Radio 1's Live Lounge series out now in the U.K.
Prefab Sprout plan to release their new album, tentatively-titled Let's
Change The World With Music - The Blueprint, in February.
This would be their first release since 2001's The Gunman And Other
Stories.
Expectations are high for the new AC/DC album as industry experts
believe the new album, Black Ice, could sell more than 800,000 units in
its first week (becoming Sony Music's biggest album debut in 2
years.) At this pace, the album is expected to debut at #1 in
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland,
Italy, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Some Bizarre Records plans to re-release Marc & The Mambas 1982
debut album and 1983's Torment And Toreros as well as the 1984 album by
Marc Almond And The Willing Sinners' Vermin In Ermine.
Eagle Rock Entertainment release Talk Talk's Live At Montreux 1986 DVD
to stores this week.
Longtime Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band collaborator keyboardist
Merl Saunders, 74, died this morning at San Francisco's Kaiser Hospital
after complications from a stroke. Saunders suffered a stroke
6 years ago which affected his ability to speak and the use of one hand
but he was still active in the music scene.