Van Halen Tour- Blink-182 Recording- Def Conan- Phil Collins Retiring- Boysetsfire Reunite- Weezer Offered 10 Million To Break Up- NWOBHM Star Dies- more

Lynam is gearing up for the release of its new live album, entitled "Thank You Good Night!", on November 30 through Island/Def Jam digital distribution and New Ocean Media. The band's sixth full-length CD, it will also serve as Lynam's last-ever release. more -

Ozzy Osbourne Imagines Himself John Lennon Again

(Gibson) In celebration of what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday on Saturday, rock god Ozzy Osbourne is releasing his version of one of the music legend's songs. The Prince of Darkness has covered "How?" from the Imagine album.

Ozzy's take on "How?" is available today on iTunes. All proceeds will go to benefit Amnesty International, according to The Associated Press. A video for the song will debut on AOL's PopEater.com.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer (he was inducted with Black Sabbath) said that Lennon was a "driving force for humanity." He has often credited The Beatles as his inspiration for being a musician. - more on this story

Aerosmith Star Joins Experience Hendrix Tour

Aerosmith's Brad Whitford has been added to the next leg of the Experience Hendrix tour.

he Aerosmith guitar great played his first Experience Hendrix tour dates in 2008 and was part of the EH line-up for dates played earlier this year.

Whitford has been an integral part of Aerosmith for the past 39 years and, like the previously announced Experience Hendrix players, has a strong affinity for the musical legacy of Jimi Hendrix as well as a very personal connection to it. "I got to see Hendrix play in '68 in Boston Garden with Mitch and Noel Redding and it was like, 'Wow.' I bought a Fender guitar the very next day," he recalls. - more on this story

Top Randy Rhoads Solos

In recognition of Gibson's new Randy Rhoads 1974 Les Paul Custom, Gibson take a look and listen to Randy Rhoads' Top 5 Guitar Solos. Here is intro and a link to the list: In the early days of 1979, Ozzy Osbourne's life had reached a major fork in the road. He'd just been fired from Black Sabbath for various reasons, including major substance abuse and general unreliability. Ozzy was almost at rock-bottom. Enter his beloved Sharon, who convinced him that he didn't need Black Sabbath and that he should strike out on his own as a solo act.

Ozzy agreed to put his trust in Sharon, meaning one of the first orders of business was to find an amazing guitarist. Enter young Randy Rhoads, who'd been dazzling audiences with his guitar pyrotechnics for years in Quiet Riot, the band he formed when he was just 16. When Randy got the invite to audition for the Prince of Darkness, he showed up with his Les Paul and a practice amp, plugged in, and proceeded to warm up a bit. Ozzy heard the 22-year-old prodigy loosening up and doing a few practice runs, and he gave Randy the gig right on the spot.

"I just tuned up and did some riffs," Randy later recalled, "and he said, 'You've got the gig.' I had the weirdest feeling because I thought, 'You didn't even hear me yet.'" Ozzy would go on to say that hearing Randy play guitar was like God entering his life. By the end of '79, Randy, Ozzy and the rest of his new band were in the U.K. working on Ozzy's debut solo album, Blizzard of Ozz. - Check out the list here

Dimebag Darrell Landmark Saved?

The Metal Den reports that the legendary Fort Worth, Texas venue Ridglea Theater where late great Pantera/Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell played his final hometown date while in Damageplan is not going to be demolished and made into a bank.

Bank of America will not buy the Ridglea Theater in west Fort Worth, which it had planned to renovate into a branch location.

"After completing our review of the Ridglea Theater site, we have decided that it is not economically feasible," said Diane Wagner, the bank's Chicago-based senior vice president of media relations. She declined to discuss the reasons why the bank will not close its deal. - more on this story

Free John Lennon Song Download

(hennemusic) As the late John Lennon's 70th birthday approaches this Saturday, his estate has just released a freebie for fans.

A free download of the newly 'stripped down' Lennon classic, "(Just Like) Starting Over," taken from "Double Fantasy Stripped Down," is available from iTunes stores as of today.

"Double Fantasy Stripped Down" is a 2-disc set which pairs a newly remastered copy of the original album along with an alternate one in which Lennon's vocals are starker and more featured. - more on this story

Weezer Announce More Blinkerton Dates

(Gibson) Weezer are planning to perform their first two albums in their entirety on a fall/winter tour.

The band will do a two-night stand in each city they visit, performing their 1994 self-titled debut ("The Blue Album") on the first night and 1996's Pinkerton on the second. Each night will end with a smattering of hits from other Weezer albums – presumably including their new album, Hurley.

So far, the tour includes dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York and Chicago. Weezer also will be releasing a deluxe edition of Pinkerton with alternate takes and live material on November 2. - more on this story

Kid Rock and Detroit Lions Team Up

The Detroit Lions and Kid Rock will donate 500 tickets to the National Guard and the Paralyzed Veterans Association for this Sunday's game vs. the St. Louis Rams at Ford Field.

"We are thrilled and honored to partner with Kid Rock in this promotion that allows us both to say thanks to those men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country," Lions President Tom Lewand said.

The partnership extends both the Lions and Kid Rock's previous recognition and charitable donations to service men and women in the U.S. Armed Services - more on this story

U2 Leave Fans Guessing About Possible Festival Appearance

(Gibson) U2 fans, who were bummed to miss the Irish legends at Glastonbury this summer, can take heart. The group, who pulled out of this year's festival due to Bono's back injury, have released their concert schedule for next summer.

Amid the tour dates is a conspicuous gap in the schedule from June 24-26, which are (coincidentally?) the dates of the world-famous music festival.

With rumors running rampant, a story on the band's website advised fans to buy tickets for the show, with U2 manager Paul McGuinness alluding to the schedule gap: "We're certainly excited about our plans for next year. Watch this space!" - more on this story

Bret Michaels Named the Face of Diabetes

Poison frontman turned serial reality TV star Bret Michaels has joined the American Diabetes Association in their movement to Stop Diabetes by raising awareness about diabetes this November for American Diabetes Month.

Bret will serve as the "Face of Diabetes" by helping the Association kick-off the month with various activities and is featured in a public service announcement campaign that he helped produce.

"It is an honor to once again be working with the American Diabetes Association," said Bret. "As someone with type 1 diabetes, I know how difficult it can be to live with this disease and how important it is to raise awareness so that we can eventually put a stop to diabetes. I hope everyone will join me in the movement to Stop Diabetes this November." - more on this story

Megadeth Far From Rusty on Anniversary Tour

(Gibson) Seven months into the band's Rust in Peace 20th Anniversary Tour, Megadeth show no signs of slowing down. The band powered through the European mega-tour, The Big Four, with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax this summer, and are currently in the second week of the Jägermeister Music Tour with Slayer and Anthrax. Back onboard for all this madness is original bassist Dave Ellefson, who rejoined the group just before the tour began, after a six-year hiatus.

"It's been really good," Ellefson told TimesLeader.com. "I think coming back into the fold with playing songs we already know, learning a few we haven't ever played before, quite honestly, from Rust in Peace, but coming back to do it with such a celebration mentality was a great way to come back in."

According to Ellefson, the energy generated on this nostalgic tour has fed the creative process. "We all wanted this to work," he said. "We all wanted it to go the distance and now I can happily say that it has. Now that we've gone on and done all these other things, I think the fans are thrilled. I think the fans are really excited to hear what Dave and I are going to do on the next record and we started working on some of those ideas as best we can being on a tour. It's a rock 'n' roll band. We shouldn't have to overthink it, overplay it, or overdo it. You should be able to just get in a room and be able to just let flow, and that's what's happening right now." - What does Ellefson have to say about the big four?

Get Ronnie Wood's New Album For Five Bucks

Fans can get Rolling Stones legend Ronnie Wood's brand new solo CD I Feel Like Playing for just $5 throughout the month of October at Amazon's MP3 store.

Released September 28th on CD via Eagle Records, this 12 song rock 'n' roll party is visited by a diverse cast of Wood's friends including Slash, Flea, Kris Kristofferson, Billy F Gibbons, Bobby Womack and Ian McLagan.

Wood's gritty, unique vocals and top notch guitar playing have never sounded better. Get it - here

Fran Healy and Brandon Flowers Teaming Up For Fall Tour

Travis frontman Fran Healy will join The Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers for a two-week tour of North America.

Healy is touring in support of his brand new solo album, Wreckorder, which hit stores yesterday.

The Healy Flowers tour will kick off on November 10th in Los Angeles, CA at the Wiltern Theater. - more on this story

Shadows Fall Listening Party Part of CMJ Bar Crawl

Shadows Fall have announce an official listening party for the Madness in Manila CD/DVD on Friday, October 22nd in New York City at Idle Hands Bar.

The listening party will begin at 10pm, and happens to be the last stop on the annual Heavy Hitter Inc. CMJ Bar Crawl (this event and the crawl are 21+).

Idle Hands Bar is located downstairs at 25 Avenue B, and is co-owned by industry guru's Marc Schapiro of Branch Marketing Collective and Shadows Fall's very own manager, Dave 'The Rev' Ciancio of Yeah! Management. - more on this story

Down Release Diary of a Mad Band

Yesterday Down released their 3 disc (2 CD/1 DVD) set, Diary of a Mad Band.

The band will also be releasing a 180 Gram triple vinyl version with a bonus DVD, available on October 26th.

Diary of a Mad Band features a 17 track, 2 CD full concert, live in London during Down's very first European tour in 2006. The DVD highlights DOWN in the practice room, as well as six blistering weeks of the same European tour, promoted completely by word of mouth. No label, no publicity, just the band jetting off on a plane and setting across the continent. - more on this story

Arcade Fire Happily Independent

(Gibson) Having been signed to Merge for their first three albums, Arcade Fire are steadfastly an indie rock band. But when the Canadian group were having their initial success, a slew of major labels tried to seduce them.

"When we were getting courted in the early days of Funeral, we would get taken to these dinners, and it was just like, 'We'll take the dinner, but who's paying for this?' I guess Led Zeppelin is," Win Butler told Pitchfork. "But, at the end of the day, we were just like, 'Would we be paying for other peoples' dinners?' It's such a weird thing."

Arcade Fire have had huge success being on an indie label, scoring a #1 record this summer with The Suburbs. But that doesn't mean Butler rejects major labels entirely. "It's certainly not a black-or-white thing," he said. "The Flaming Lips have been on Warner Bros. forever, and certainly everything I heard growing up was on a major label in some way, from The Cure to Radiohead to Björk. It seems like the Internet really threw them for a loop." -

New Sister Hazel Album Coming Next Week

Sister Hazel will release their 8th studio album, "Heartland Highway," next Tuesday, October 12, 2010, via Rock Ridge Music.

"Heartland Highway" follows closely on the heels of their last album, "Release," which reached the band's highest ever spot (#37) on the Billboard Album Charts, topping even their platinum disc "Somewhere More Familiar."

"Heartland Highway" reflects a rootsy journey for both the band and the listeners and has 12 tracks. The first single, "Stay Awhile," will go to Hot A/C and Triple A radio in mid-September. - more on this story

Needtobreathe Announce Final Tour Leg

(Atlantic) Needtobreathe has announced the final leg of their North American tour, "Young and Far >From Home." The Daylights will be supporting as special guest on all dates.

The cross country trek begins with a homestate show on October 27th at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, SC.

The latest round of announced dates include a run of the west coast, before the tour makes its way eastward for a December 19th finale at the Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, IN. - more on this story

Pay What You Want For Scythia's New Album

Scythia are inviting fans to "Pay What You Want" for their debut album "...Of War" for the digital and physical album when purchased online via Band Camp.

"We strongly believe that everyone has their value of music, so in thought, we are trying something different with our fans. We want them to feel strongly about their purchase of our music. So for the release of our album, when they purchase it online they can pay what they want for it and what they feel is a fair purchase and what it's worth to them." comments vocalist / guitarist Dave Khan.
Blending epic storytelling with modern progressive metal to create an interesting dynamic that includes an oboe of death and classical violin. Scythia's ancient and medieval influenced melodies will bring the past back to the present as they ready to brandish their swords and prepare for tour in support of their upcoming release "...Of War" produced by Shaun Thingvold who has engineered on projects with SYL, Fear Factory, Darkest Hour and many more. - Get it Here

Goo Goo Dolls Beat Themselves

The Goo Goo Dolls have beaten their own record for the most Top 10 singles in the history of Billboard's Nielsen BDS-based Adult Top 40 chart, which launched in March 1996.

The band, singer-guitarist Johnny Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac, and drummer Mike Malinin, has notched its 14th Top 10 hit with "Home," the debut single from Goo Goo Dolls' new album Something For The Rest Of Us.

Rzeznik, a recipient of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award, has penned a series of chart-topping Hot AC hits beginning in 1995 with the No. 1's "Name," "Iris," and "Slide," followed by "Black Balloon," "Broadway," "Here is Gone," "Big Machine," "Sympathy," "Better Days," "Stay With You," and "Let Love In." - more on this story

Carlos Santana Ties Rolling Stones' Record

(Gibson) Carlos Santana's new album, Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, debuted at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts last week. The release's Top 10 chart entry tied a record set by The Rolling Stones.

As stated by Carlos Santana's official website, Santana and the Stones are the only two acts in the history of music to have Top 10 albums in every decade from the '60s through the '10s.

Santana's albums that have charted in the Top 10 include 1969's Santana, 1970's Abraxas, 1971's Santana III, 1972's Caravanserai, 1976's Amigos, 1977's Moonflower, 1981's Zebop!, 1999's Supernatural, 2002's Shaman, 2005's All That I Am and the new album, Guitar Heaven. - more on this story

Keith Richards Exhibition Announced

Keith Richards photography exhibition will be opening at the San Francisco Art Exchange on October 23rd; just three days before his autobiography is released.

Some of the world's greatest rock photographers' work is coming together to form an intimate look at the various stages of Keith's life in "Before They Make me Run – Portraits of Keith Richards '63 to '71."

As one of the world's most beloved musicians, Keith is celebrated as much for his lifestyle as his musical genius. See how each photographer captured a different side of Keith in "Before They Make me Run." - more on this story

The Who Live at Leeds Yet Again

(Gibson) Over the years, there have been many editions of The Who's landmark concert album Live at Leeds. In addition to the customary media changeover (vinyl, cassette and CD), there was a 1995 CD reissue that added nine more songs and another 2001 reissue that included the full performance of Tommy, which brought the set to two discs.

For its 40th anniversary, Live at Leeds is growing again. According to ClashMusic.com, The Who will release a new version of the album that includes the previously available full show from The University of Leeds, as well as the performance from the next night's show in Hull. The track listing is the same for both concerts with the exception that the Hull recordings do not feature "Magic Bus."

The tapes for the Hull show were recently discovered. It has long been said (by Roger Daltrey and others) that the Hull show actually went better than the Leeds appearance. That claim will finally be tested when the new version of Live at Leeds hits stores in November.

In addition to the four CDs featuring the two shows, this edition will feature a new pressing of the original six-song vinyl release, a replica seven-inch single, a 64-page hardcover book and the classic Pete Townshend poster, all housed in a hard-back box with a cover that mimics the original black-stamped sleeve. -

Hendrix's Are You Experienced To Make Gaming History for Rock Band

Next week's downloadable content release of tracks from The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced will push the Rock Band platform past the 2,000-song milestone, with the classic song "Are You Experienced?" coming in at No. 2,000.

More than 2,000 tracks will be available for play in Rock Band 3 when it is released Oct. 26 in North America and Oct. 29 in the rest of the world.

A mixture of live and studio tracks from the debut album from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced, will be available as a special Rock Band edition album download Tuesday, Oct. 12 through the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii. - more on this story

Foreigner's Lou Gramm Goes Back To School

Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm recently visited students at Florence Brasser Elementary School in Gates, New York, and did a Q&A session with the kids. Gramm, back when he was known as Louis Grammatico, graduated from Gates Chili High School in 1968, according to GatesChiliPost.com.

An assembly of fourth and fifth-graders had been rocking out to Foreigner tunes all morning in preparation for Gramm. They sang along to the video for "Juke Box Hero," changing the words to "Juice Box Hero." "You know, that would be a good song for a commercial," he said.

During the assembly, Gramm answered questions about which states he's performed in (all 50), the largest crowd he's sung for (500,000) and his musical influences (The Beatles, Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin).
- more on this story

Steve Miller Band Raises Half A Million For Kids

The Steve Miller Band recently raised over $500,000 at a sold-out benefit concert at The Fender Center in Corona, CA.

All proceeds from the event went to benefit the non-profit Kids Rock Free® music education program, to reduce the 800 kids on the program's waiting list into classes at The Fender Center.

With the success of the event, Kids Rock Free has also announced they will launch a nationwide campaign to expand the organization and its efforts by offering a model of music education that can be replicated in communities throughout the US. - more on this story

Random Touch Releasing New Album Next Week

Random Touch's fourteenth release, Reverberating Apparatus, will be released at CDBaby.com and randomtouch.com on October 15, 2010.

String Theory suggests a universe comprised of music, of vibration itself. And serendipity seems a natural outcome of quantum mechanics.

If there are eleven dimensions as M Theory proposes, then four or more of them play a role in the uncompromising and naked improvisation of this remarkable and serendipitous group. - more on this story

Elvis Costello Says Young Bands Have No Excuse To Be Dull

In an interview with Spinner.com, Elvis Costello talked about mixing elements of different music on his new album, National Ransom. "We're not making any great claims to making an innovation here," he said. "When rock 'n' roll first kind of happened, it was because some people jammed together a couple of styles that nobody thought should work, like Elvis Presley had put together rhythm and blues and bluegrass, and he ends up with a rock 'n' roll version of 'Blue Moon of Kentucky,' or Ray Charles does secular lyrics and gospel music, and he gets soul."

Costello also said that newer younger bands have no reason to make dull albums because they have access to decades of music history from all over the world. "Look at the Good, the Bad and the Queen: you've got Damon Albarn from Blur bringing in that sort of pop-song sense that he has from that group, and it's got Paul Simonon [of The Clash] on bass playing a punky reggae, and he's got Tony Allen on drums and got an Afrobeat thing going on in the rhythm. That's a truly modern band," he said. "Not saying that's better than everything else; it just shows you the way you can construct things now. It isn't the way I do it, necessarily, but I do dig it when people do that.

"You get stuck in any one church for too long, it's probably not gonna be healthy for the way you move music forward. [But] you constantly see bands make success and then five minutes after they've made that success they want to change it in some way, which is legitimate to them, but it takes a little trust on the part of the listener. Radiohead, there's a good example: They had some big hits and then they made records that are very crushed and use a lot of sonics that come from dance music, and people were horrified when those records came out first. Now you listen to them and they sound great." - more on this story

Asking Alexandria Touring with Veil of Maya and All That Remains

Asking Alexandria kicked off a quick U.S. tour with labelmates Veil of Maya in Ft. Wayne, IN last night.

After that run of dates they will be providing direct support to All That Remains on their upcoming North American tour.

Asking Alexandria's track, "Nobody Don't Dance No More," will also be featured in the premier episode of Real World Challenge: Cutthroat, which will debut this Wednesday on MTV at 10PM EST. - more on this story

Ravi Shankar George Harrison Box Set Coming

(PR) On October 19th, Dark Horse Records / Rhino Entertainment will release a limited edition deluxe box set entitled RAVI SHANKAR GEORGE HARRISON COLLABORATIONS which honors the sitar master's 90th birthday.

Collaborations is a 3 CD and 1 DVD uniquely numbered limited edition box set (the CDs come in replica vinyl jackets). All compositions were composed by Ravi Shankar and produced by George Harrison over a period of 20 years. The DVD is a rare concert performance of the Ravi Shankar's Music Festival From India recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1974. The albums include the acclaimed Chants Of India (1997), The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India (studio version 1976) and Shankar Family & Friends (1974). The 56-page book includes a foreword by Philip Glass, a history of George and Ravi "in their own words" and rare photographs from both family archives. - more on this story

Singled Out: Jet Set Go

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Javan from Jet Set Go tells us about "Barcelona" from their brand new album. We now turn it over to Javan for the story:

I remember humming the chorus melody to Barcelona for quite some time but for some reason would struggle with the rhythmic flow and the lyrics. I knew as soon as an undeniable chorus was captured the rest of the song would almost write itself.

The concept of Barcelona is based on facets of collapsing relationships lots of us unfortunately often face. It is about the final, almost desperate attempt to salvage a failing relationship structured around co-dependence.

The story of Barcelona is about a musician and his girlfriend who decided a change of scene is the perfect remedy for their unhealthy relationship. A songwriter seeking his next big hit while attempting to keep a disgruntled girlfriend happy and a girlfriend who's searching for anything to revive a faltering relationship. "Barcelona" was the chosen destination. The song is written from the Girlfriends perspective and influenced by her regurgitated words. It's a final plan that has backfired. Where hoping a change of scene and getting out of your comfort zone has failed. It really highlights incompatibility where one individual loves the change and finds a new surge of productivity while the other absolutely hates it and sees no hope. The idea was too bring to light the negatives of co-dependent couples (an individual in this case) who do not find happiness within themselves first. Barcelona was chosen as the title simply because even a romantic, world class paradise cannot help rescue an unhealthy relationship.

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