Ready Fire Aim Week: Day 1 "Wannabe Your"

- Check out song samples, learn more about the album and group here

Zeppelin Gigs Denied

Jam! reports: Led Zeppelin will not be performing in Toronto in August, despite speculative reports to the contrary. A blog posting last week on MuchMusic.com said Zeppelin would reunite for the second time in as many years to play four shows at the Rogers Centre (the former SkyDome) in August. A Globe and Mail report yesterday said that preliminary discussions were taking place with the dome.

Yesterday, though, two sources in the position to know both said they were unaware of any discussions involving Led Zeppelin playing in Toronto at any venue, with one source completely dismissing the speculation. [wish those damn sources would get their story straight]

Music industry magazine Billboard inquired into the report "at the highest level" and, according to the magazine's news editor Jonathan Cohen, was "fairly confident there's nothing to it." - more on this story

Emophobia Suicide Cult Protest

idolator reports: Offended by the Daily Mail's portrayal of My Chemical Romance as a "suicide cult band," following the death of 13-year-old fan Hannah Bond, an ever-increasing number of the band's fans are planning a peaceful protest outside of the newspaper's offices on May 31.

Fans are being advised to bring placards that say "MCR SAVES LIVES" or "I AM NOT AFRAID TO KEEP ON LIVING," the latter also being the name of the organizers' site. And on the fashion tip, those organizers would rather you left your "emo attire" at home.

Please don't bring signs which you hold above your head in a picketing protest (the standard ones which are on a wooden stick and have slogans on them). The reason for this is that there is a small chance we will could get in trouble with the law if we have these signs.
- It gets better, they are encouraged to be as unemo-like as possible to protest emophobia.

Poison Rape Charge Dropped

Rikki Rockett Blog reports: Poison drummer Rikki Rockett was exonerated of a felony rape charge filed in Mississippi stemming from a September 23, 2007 incident in which a Neshoba County, Mississippi woman claimed that Rockett had forcibly raped her. Rockett was not in Mississippi during September 2007. The Neshoba County District Attorney refused to prosecute the case after determining that Rockett was not the person who committed the alleged rape. The charges carry a potential life sentence. Rockett said, "I want to sincerely thank my lawyers Barry Tarlow and Mi Kim for their commitment to my case and their terrific legal work that exonerated me of any wrongdoing."

The warrant, issued on December 18, 2007, sought the arrest and extradition of "Rockett, Rikki A" a/k/a "Minskosf, John" to Mississippi for "strong arm rape." News stories shortly disclosed the correct spelling of the name John Minskosf as "John Minskoff." Rockett has never used the Minskoff name. It is now believed that Minskoff used Rockett's name to convince the complaining witness to sleep with him.

"I think it was a case where the woman and her husband unfortunately believed they could extort money from me and my band," Rockett said, "This is a gross example of people attempting to abuse the law for personal profit. They tried to subvert and make a mockery of the criminal justice system. It is abhorrent and disgraceful." - more on this story

Tommy Lee Officially A Cartoon

antiMusic reports: Motley Crue's Tommy Lee is finally getting paid to do what he does best: act like a cartoon character. In fact, he'll lend his voice to new half-hour "toon" which is based loosely on his life and is titled "The Life and Times of Jimmy Jaxx." Variety has some more details: Smart Entertainment ("Blades of Glory") is behind the project, currently in the early stages of development at Fox.

"I've always loved the animated world," Lee said. "How fun and kooky is this gonna be, to combine some real-life experiences with some seriously over-the-top humor."

The project revolves around a rocker who attempts to balance his crazy lifestyle on the road with a calmer existence at home. The character is distracted, however, by his tattoos — which come to life and are constantly trying to lead him down the wrong path. - more on this story

Jager Tour

Metal Underground reports: This summer will see the Jagermeister summer tour head out on the road.

On the bill will be Kittie, Dope, Anew Revolution and Panic Cell with Dirge (featuring ex-SOiL guitarist Shaun Glass) will also be appearing at selected shows.

July 2 - Springfield VA @ Jaxx
July 3 - Springfield VA @ Jaxx (sold out)
July 4 - Spartanburg SC @ Ground Zero
July 5 - Fayetteville NC @ Jesters
July 6 - Jacksonville NC @ Hooligans
July 8 - NYC NY @ Blender Theater
- more dates

Classic Krokus Lineup Reunites

antiMusic reports: Krokus made the following announcement: It's official! No more speculation on who's gonna be the last part of the most anticipated Krokus comeback puzzle. No other than Mark Kohler will complete the return of the 'originals' on rhythm guitar.

He played in Krokus's most successful international lineup that stormed the charts worldwide in the early '80s. You heard Mark on 1982's 'One Vice At A Time' album for the first time, then on their most successful release 'Headhunter' in 1983, followed by 'The Blitz' album in 1984.

He also was featured on 1986's studio album 'Change Of Address' and the same year on the first Krokus 'live' album called 'Alive And Screaming'. He joined Marc, Fernando and Chris on 1988's 'Heart Attack' and one more time in 1995 on their release 'To Rock Or Not To Be'. - more on this story

Van Halen and Other Half Tour Ruled Out

antiMusic reports: Ross Cat of Best of WNY recently spoke with Sammy Hagar about his current outing and they discussed what role his former bandmate Michael Anthony will play as well as the possibility of the "The Other Half" teaming up with Van Halen for a tour.

Sammy told Ross, "Mike will be popping in and out of the tour for sure. He really wants to play with us at the stadium shows that we are doing with Kenny Chesney. At this time I'm not exactly sure when he's going to be playing; one things for sure knowing Mikey he can't stay home when Sammy and the Wabo's are out on tour, we've found that out over the last ten years. He's played on about 90% of our gigs since the last VH reunion; he's usually around by hook or by crook."

Ross then asked, "you toured with David Lee Roth back in 2003 any chance you'd be willing to set aside differences and give Van Halen fans the 'Best of Both Worlds' with all 5 guys touring together?" Sammy Responded, "As far as that goes that's just not something I'm really interested in doing again right now, Eddie would have to be able to bring himself back to ground zero; by that I mean he'd have to be completely clean." - Read the full interview here

Slick Rick Pardoned

AP reports: Rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters, who spent more than five years in prison on a 1991 attempted murder conviction and faced threats of deportation years after rehabilitating his life, was granted a full and unconditional pardon Friday by New York Gov. David Paterson.

Walters, 43, has been under threat of being sent back to his native United Kingdom, although he has lived in the United States since he was a child.

In a statement, he expressed gratitude to Paterson and his lawyers, and hoped that he could finally put the turmoil behind him. - more on this story

Emergency Skynyrd Surgery

Webster & Associates reports: Billy Powell, one of the original members and keyboard player for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members Lynyrd Skynyrd, has underwent an emergency partial revision hip replacement surgery in Jacksonville, Florida on Wednesday, May 21.

"Billy's hip had continued to give him dislocation problems and it was determined that a revision was the only possible solution," says Lynyrd Skynyrd manager Ross Schilling of Vector Management.

Billy will be recovering over the next 3-6 weeks and will have to wear a hip brace for the next 3 months. It is expected that Billy will re-join Lynyrd Skynyrd on tour sometime in July. The band will tour with an interim keyboardist in the mean time, while Billy recovers.
- more on this story

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