• Soul Queen Etta James passed away last Friday, use the RSS feed at your left to read more.
• Wonder what K.K. Downing is up to? Building a luxury hotel apparently.
• Eddie Vedder is embarking on a mini solo tour, it looks more like a tour of Texas and Florida than anywhere else.
• Original Riot founding member Mark Reale has been in a coma since Jan. 20th. due to complications from Crohns disease.
• Get your 100 sexiest album covers below. Personally I don't think they got the order right, the  Top 10 are kind of lame compared to some others on the list. Personal favorites: Nashville Pussy, Scorpions, White Zombie and the classic cover below.

100 Sexiest Album Covers

Random Hand Jives

• Johnny Otis has passed away at 90 years old. Considered the "Godfather of Rythm & Blues", Otis' most famous accolade is his hit Willie and the Hand Jive. But that isn't all-read more here.
• Today is the anniversary of Alan Freed's death. Alan was the original rock and roll DJ but the payola scandal took him down. If you haven't seen American Hot Wax check it out-it's "loosely" based on Alan Freed.
• Today is also the anniversary of Ozzy biting the head off of a live bat while at a Des Moines, IA concert.
• Check out "If Album Covers Were Honest" on Cracked if you want a laugh.

IF ALBUM COVERS WERE HONEST

Random Updates

• Dave Grohl has now recorded a song with Corey Taylor and Butch Vig, as previously mentioned with just did a collaboration with Ratt-I still say is is a Probot style Dave Grohl project. Time will tell.
• We just booked a cruise, I look at some of the music themed cruises before we booked-Kid Rock (sold out) Monster of Rock (still available but not till later this year), I think Buffet does one as well ($$$$$) and now there is the Kiss Kruise II. I would definitley be open to something like this on my next cruise, if there is one, but I would be very selective.
• There are now two Great White's. The non Jack Russell version and Jack Russel's Great White. I think I will do a whole write up on this situation of bands with two different versions co-existing.
• Sammy is not impressed with the new Van Halen-well there were a lot of people not impressed with Van Hagar either. I like the Van Halen and Hagar camps the way they are now......
• Vince Neil is contemplating leaving Motley Crue after their Vegas stint. Haven't we already been here with the Crue boys...
• Robbie France, drummer for Metallica influences Diamond Head, UFO and others passed away recently.
• YOU, yes YOU, can name Godsmack(s) & Staind(s) upcoming tour.

Coachella

Official lineup is announced-rumour is Black Sabbath was set to headline but backed out due to Iommi's status. Nevertheless a couple  of reunions including At The Drive In and Refused. Awesome lineups.......

COACHELLA

Bleak Updates

• Tony Iommi has lymphoma...they have caught it in the early stages so the prognosis is optimistic for now. 
• Bob Weston, a former guitarist for Fleetwood Mac & Dave Anderson aka Omar Sharriff have passed on to the great rock and roll band in the sky.
• There are now two different versions of Great White, and it's going to court.....
• 10 Great Albums that were shelved or abandoned
• In some more optimistic news, Janes Addiction is doing a theater tour, no Dallas date though.
• And in even more optimistic news I have added the Helpful Kitchen Danzig RSS feed to my site. Enjoy!

Rand-Domination 2

• It looks like Dave Grohl is working on another side project, currently collaborating with members of Ratt. Sounds like something similar to Probot maybe?
• Adam Ant, currently the only show I have tix to has delayed his US tour. He won't be hitting Big D until Sept.
• However there looks to be plenty of shows to see before then. See some of the bigger acts coming are here.
• I feel safe to say this now-Van Halen played a club last night, has a single, an album and tour dates scheduled. And friggin' Kool & the Gang is opening up. I'm in.

Rand-Domination

• Larry Reinhardt guitarist for Iron Butterfly and Captain Beyond passed away recently. Also killed by death recently: Fred Milano of Dion & The Belmonts, Jim Sherwood of the Mothers of Invention and several weeks ago Billie Jo Spears passed. There are others in the recent weeks too numerous to mention. See them all at The Music's Over (But the Celebration Lives On)
• Peter Frampton has been "reunited" with the guitar he used on Frampton Comes Alive! Supposedly lost in a plane crash, it was found in the Caribbean.
• According to Patrick Carney of the Black Keys:

 “Rock ‘n’ roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world. So they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be s— – therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world. F— that! Rock ‘n’ roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don’t like to see it f—ing ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous s—. When people start lumping us into that kind of s—, it’s like, ‘F— you,’ honestly.”

•  We have entered 2012 in a sad state of music commercially, which has been going on for several years. I would like to compare it to the end of the hair band era, when music was considered mediocre and a few certain grunge bands came along and changed that, however.......At that time we were not ruled by corporate radio on the airwaves and MTV still had some relevancy.  The FM DJ is long gone and the digital age of music is upon us. There are good bands out there you just need alternative sources, word of mouth, satellite radio, internet etc. to find them. And yes Nickelback is a major poster child for this situation. They aren't the only one but they are sure leading the pack. With that said, more power to them for taking advantage of their situation, if the mindless masses are going to suck it all in, keep spewing it out. PS-Their cousins Creed are planning on touring this year as well-GROAN!

WELCOME TO 2012

Some of my Christmas presents from good friends.....