Bigelf Week: Day 2

Preview songs from the album, learn more about it and the group and more right - here!

John Paul Jones Confirms Led Zeppelin Will Ramble On Without Plant

egigs.co.uk reports: Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones has confirmed reports that that he, guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer Jason Bonham — following the band's one off appearance at O2 Arena, London last year — were itching to get out on the road.

Singer Robert Plant has already announced that he has no plans to join them, as he was committed to his work with Alison Krauss, although they could be reunited with him in "a couple of years."

In the meantime, the rest of the band is looking for a new frontman before hopefully taking to the road. John Paul Jones said during an appearance at this past weekend's Mansons Guitar Show in Exeter, Devon, UK, "As soon as we know who it is, we'll let you know who it is." - more on this story

Jennifer Hudson's Nephew Found Dead

AP reports: Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew was found dead in the back of an SUV on Monday, ending a frantic search that began after the shooting deaths of her mother and brother three days earlier.

The singer and actress was among seven family members and close friends who cried and held hands as they identified Julian King's body from a live image on a television screen at the Cook County Medical Examiner's office Monday afternoon.

Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the boy, like his grandmother and uncle, had been shot. The medical examiner's office planned a Tuesday autopsy. - more on this story

Amy Winehouse Rushed To The Hospital For the 738th Time This Year

antiMusic reports: Ok, we exaggerated the amount of times she's been hospitalized, but Amy Winehouse's visits to the hospital are getting close to equaling the number of times Pete Doherty has been arrested. Yahoo Music has the tale:

Amy Winehouse was rushed to hospital last night (October 26) after suffering from a suspected chest infection. According to the Daily Mirror, the singer was taken to the London Clinic when her condition deteriorated after a doctor visited her at her home on Thursday (October 23).

Winehouse's spokesperson told the newspaper that she is expected to return home soon and should recover fully. - more on this story

Band's Tour Bus Explodes

BBC reports: The tour crew of rock band Feeder had a lucky escape when the bus they were travelling in exploded minutes after they had evacuated it.

The 13 men were being driven from a gig in Glasgow to the next venue in Lincoln early on Saturday morning when their driver noticed a problem with the bus.

Manager Matt Page said that, shortly after the men were evacuated, there was "a fireball" which destroyed the bus. - more on this story

Eminem For Xmas?, Kinks Reunion Gains New Footing, V is for Video, B.I.G. Trailer, Murdered Guitarist, Dillinger Soundwave Plan, Craig Ferguson Damned and more

antiMusic reports: Here are the Quicks for the Tuesday: Although Interscope says no release date has been scheduled, Amazon.com is listing a Dec. 23 street date for Eminem's new album, "Relapse." more

Legendary British rock band The Kinks have taken a step closer to a reunion - frontman Ray Davies' brother Dave is back on his feet after a long illness. The 60s rockers are keen to reunite for live gigs and to record new material, but Davies revealed last month that they were only "three quarters of the way" towards their dream because Dave Davies still feels the effects of a stroke he suffered in 2004.more

"Momma Sed," the third video from Puscifer's debut album, V is for V****a, is currently streaming on Puscifer's YouTube page (youtube.com/pusciferdotcom) with a higher quality version available on Oct. 28 via iTunes.

Motown Records patriarch Berry Gordy Jr. and hundreds of others attended Monday's funeral for legendary Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs, whose stirring baritone made the group one of the most recognizable in American music during the 1960s and into the '70s.more

The Damned will be appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on October 30th and 31st. The performance is to support the band's brand new album, So, Who's Paranoid which is due out digitally on October 28, 2008. more

In another setback on her "Rock Witchu" tour, Janet Jackson has lost her opening act: LL Cool J. Add your own "going back to Cali" joke here.more

Opening statements in the murder retrial of music legend Phil Spector have been set for Wednesday after six alternate jurors were chosen. more

The official full trailer for the upcoming Notorious B.I.G. biopic, Notorious, has debuted. The film is out January 16 and the trailer can be viewed here

As I Lay Dying will be filming a string of dates in November for their first ever DVD to be released in the spring of 2009. The DVD will include live performances, backstage footage, interviews, photos, production videos, and a documentarymore

A statue honoring AC/DC's Bon Scott was unveiled at the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour in Western Australia on Saturday.more

Dillinger Escape Plan has posted an update to their MySpace page revealing that they will be playing at Soundwave in 2009—presumably as a replacement for Scars On Broadway, who controversially canceled all their future live commitmentsmore

Two members of Mest have resurfaced with a new project, The Twilight and the Sound. The band features Jeremiah Rangel and Matt Lovato from the pop-punk outfit, and describes their influences as The Cure, Deftones, Weezer and Interpol.more

Christina Aguilera and iLike announced that the first music video ("Keeps Gettin' Better") from Christina Aguilera's Keeps Gettin' Better – A Decade of Hits, will world premiere on iLike and iLike's Facebook app this afternoon (October 27 - the day they sent this to us a.k.a. yesterday), two weeks before the album becomes exclusively available at Target and Target.com (on November 11). If you care to view it, go here

We told you a tale about Enuff Z'nuff yesterday based on a message board posting by a band member. We pointed out that we weren't sure if he was being serious or not and included the quote that led to us questioning the seriousness of the posting. Turns out he wasn't being serious. No one has been shot, it was just a bad joke. Sadly, some other media outlets did pick up the story and left out the bit about not knowing if the message board post was serious or not. What can you do? Thankfully some did include a link to us so people could read the story in context if they clicked over. That doesn't always happen. But why the band didn't perform is still a big mystery.

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists have cancelled all upcoming dates. Band leader Ted Leo had only this to say: "Tour has been canceled due to a personal emergency. I am sorry." more

The Murdered has announced the addition of rhythm guitarist Dan Nelson. more

Once Nothing has dropped off their current tour with Rose Funeral and The World We Knew. - more

Skratch N Sniff Metallica

PR reports: In order to help celebrate the darkest of holidays along with the new CD release "Death Magnetic" from legendary rockers Metallica, Skratch N Sniff Radio is doing a special themed 2 hour mixs how and offering listeners a chance to win an ESP guitar autographed by all the members of Metallica.

"Skratch N Sniff's Metallica Monster Mash" will feature custom Metallica remixes done by DJ Mike Czech and Malcolm from Skratch N Sniff and guest hosting spots from Metallica band members, mixed along with lots of other ghostly and ghoulish songs and sounds to create a perfect Halloween party mix.

"To have Metallica endore [we think they meant endorse or maybe it was endure?] this Halloween mix is a huge honor for us," says Skratch N' Sniff host Malcom Ryker. "We have mashed-up tracks from as far back as 'Kill Em' All' and 'Master of Puppets' to new stuff from 'Death Magnetic'and mashed in hip-hop icons like NWA and Kanye West. There is gauranteed [sic]to be some sick tricks and treats for everyone in this show." - more on this story

Nickelback Live DVD Coming

Noble PR reports: Coming Home Studios is pleased to announce 'Nickelback: Live At Sturgis', Nickelback's first new live DVD release since 2002.

This DVD will follow the November 17th UK release of Nickelback's new album 'Dark Horse'. 'Live At Sturgis' is the first DVD to contain all new material from the band in over two years. It captures Nickelback in all of its sprawling glory as the guys pound out a set full of fan favourites and modern day classics from the band's first three multi-million selling albums 'Silver Side Up' (2001), 'The Long Road' (2003) & 'All The Right Reasons' (2005).

'Nickelback: Live At Sturgis' captures an explosive live moment in the world of one of rock's greatest modern day recording and touring artists. Vividly filmed in stunning Hi Definition by 15 cameras in front of a rousing crowd of 40,000, it's a must-have DVD for fans of the beloved Canadian rockers. - more on this story

Metal Church Sidelined By Bad Back

BW&BK reports: Metal Church have issued the following update: "We regretfully announce that Metal Church has been forced to take a hiatus from touring activities for six months or so.

"Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitar) has been suffering from serious bulging discs in his lower back and will have to be in regular spinal rehabilitation to correct the problem."

Kurdt released this statement earlier today: "I have been living with severe pain almost constantly for the past four years and I have to do whatever possible to get healthy again.

"This condition is literally stealing my life from me, and making all the things I enjoy doing almost impossible. I want to be able to walk when I'm fifty and I can't live in pain anymore. - more on this story

Mudvayne Hit Radio Before Hitting The Road

PR reports: As Mudvayne prepare an aural assault on America with "The New Game Tour 2008" with dates from October 28 in El Paso, TX through December 20 in Orlando, FL, their current single "Do What You Do" is tearing up radio and proving to be the fastest-rising single of their career.

In its first three weeks at radio, the song has already reached #7 at Active Rock and #26 at Modern Rock, according to BDS. Fans can tune into the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" on Monday, November 10 to hear a live interview with Mudvayne (check local listings for air times).

"Do What You Do" is the first radio track from The New Game, Mudvayne's first studio album in three years, due out November 18 via Epic Records. The deluxe special edition version of THE NEW GAME includes expanded packaging and artwork. - more on this story

Unearth Lose Support

Lambgoat reports: Gwen Stacy has cancelled the remainder of their tour with Unearth et al as a result of "personal matters at home." Here's a statement from the group:

"Regretfully we have to do this, but due to personal matters at home we have been forced to drop of the last week of our tour. We hate to do this, but sometimes important things come up, and we need to be there for the ones we love.

"We are deeply sorry to anyone that was coming out the remaining shows to see us. We'll do our best to make it up to all of you as soon as we can. I think even on our tour that starts at the end of November, we'll be hitting a few of those spots. So be on the lookout for that. - more on this story

Alice Cooper To Host TV Munster Mash

Metal Underground reports: WGN America is presenting "The Monstrous Munster Mash," 16 classic back-to-back episodes of "The Munsters," television's First Family of Fright.

Appropriately hosted by legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper, the eight-hour marathon featuring the odd occupants of 1313 Mockingbird Lane will air Friday, October 31st from 4:00 pm ET (1:00 p.m. PT) to Midnight ET (9:00 p.m. PT).

ALICE COOPER will be hosting the openings and interstitials for all 16 episodes of "The Munsters."

Immediately following the marathon, WGN America will air an exclusive 30-minute behind-the-scenes special "World Premiere: Alice Cooper's Along Came A Spider" (12 midnight ET/ 9pm PT) featuring the cable debut of music videos and clips from Alice's new album, "Along Came a Spider" (SPV Records). - more on this story

All That Remains and The Haunted Team Up To Tour

PR reports: All That Remains have confirmed the complete support package details for the band's forthcoming European co-headlining tour with The Haunted, set for a Jan. 10 start date in Nottingham and wrapping up a little over a month later in Brussels.

Support for the tour package will be rounded out by Britain's own Johnny Truant for the UK dates and Germany's Deadlock for the mainland European leg of the tour.

First, though, All That Remains will wrap up 2008 with a direct support slot to In Flames on the Swedish band's forthcoming North American headlining tour, which will also tap Gojira and 36 Crazy Fists. - more on this story

Singled Out: Drumbo

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today John "Drumbo" French, the original drummer from Capt. Beefheart's Magic Band tells us about "To The Loft Of Ravenscroft" from his new solo album "City Of Refuge," which hits stores on November 18th and incidentally reunites him with some of his Magic Band bandmates. We now turn it over to for the story:

In October of 2004, I received the sad news from The Magic Band's booking agent, Dan Silver, that John Peel had passed away. The Magic Band had just done his live show at Maida Vale in July and it had been a very pleasant reunion for me, as I recalled John quite well from the first Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band tour. He personally gave a tearful introduction to us at the Middle Earth before our first performance in the UK. Renting a Mini-Cooper, he and his wife drove Don and I to several of the venues.

I read the news as I was just starting to work on another composition for my CD, "City of Refuge." It became through inspiration a bittersweet instrumental tribute to John "Ravenscroft" Peel, and I titled it "To the Loft of Ravenscroft."

It's a piece with several sections and features bass solos in the style of Mark "Rockette Morton" Boston in the first half, then goes into a simple chordal pattern overlaid by a guitar solo, and finishes in a slightly-chaotic AABA type pattern with a soprano sax solo over the top. I worked hard to make it a listenable piece yet allowed myself to break the music rules so that it could soar away in a victorious flight that ends rather abruptly. The silence at the end is the real statement. An historic life is behind us.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album - right here!

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