Classic Rock 93.9

Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer has revealed that he’s been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and one of the side effects is that he’s no longer able to play guitar.

“Towards the end of the last Stray Cats tour I noticed that my hands were cramping up. I’ve since discovered that I have an auto-immune disease,” he shared on social media. “I cannot play guitar. There is no pain, but it feels like I am wearing a pair of gloves when I try to play.”

“I have seen some progress in that I can hold a pen and tie my shoes,” he adds. “I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was at a point where I couldn’t even do that.”

Setzer says he’s being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which he describes as “the best hospital in the world,” noting, “I know I will beat this, it will just take some time.”

Stray Cats released their self-titled debut album in 1981, which featured the hit songs “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut.” They disbanded in 1984, although they’d occasionally reunite over the years. Their most recent tour was in 2024, which was their first tour together in five years. Their last show took place Aug. 17 in Hartford, Connecticut.

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Styx and REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin have a treat in store for fans who come out to see their upcoming Brotherhood of Rock tour.

The previously announced tour kicks off May 28 in Greenville, South Carolina, and now both acts have revealed that they will be playing one of their classic albums in its entirety on the tour.

Styx is set to perform their 1977 release The Grand Illusion, which features such hits as “Come Sail Away” and “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” while Cronin, who is on the bill as the Kevin Cronin Band, will play REO Speedwagon’s 1980 hit Hi Infidelity, with songs like “Take It On The Run” and “Keep On Loving You.”

Both artists previously played these albums in their entirety during residencies in Las Vegas. This will mark the first time both have played their classic albums in full on tour.

The Brotherhood of Rock tour, featuring former Eagles guitarist Don Felder as special guest, is set to run until Aug. 24 in Milwaukee. A complete list of dates can be found at styxworld.com and kevincronin.com.

Styx and Cronin, as frontman of REO Speedwagon, first toured together in 2000 and 2001; this will mark the sixth time they’ve hit the road together.

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On This Day, Feb. 14, 1984…

Rocker Elton John married German-born sound engineer Renate Blauel in an extravagant wedding in Australia. The marriage didn’t last long and they split in 1988.

Elton has said he realized he was “living a lie” and later said he believed that “being married would cure me of everything wrong in my life.”

Elton’s love life took a turn for the better when he started a relationship with David Furnish in 1993. In 2005 they entered into a civil partnership in the U.K., and after same-sex marriage became legal there, they married in December of 2014. They have two sons together: Zachary Jackson Levon, who was born in 2010, and Elijah Joseph Daniel, who was born in 2013.

In 2020, Blauel sued Elton for writing about their relationship in his 2019 autobiography, Me, but the suit was quickly settled out of court.

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Ozzy Osbourne has teamed up with Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison to rerecord their 2015 collaboration, “Gods of Rock Rock N Roll.”

The updated version, out now via digital outlets, adds a choir and a 61-piece orchestra to the track, alongside guitarist Steve Stevens, who also plays with Idol.

“Billy and I wrote ‘Gods of Rock N Roll’ together in a hotel room while I was touring in South America about 10 years ago,” Ozzy tells Kerrang!, which premiered the song’s accompanying video. “This rerecorded version of the song finally has all the bells and whistles. I told Billy then that it needed an orchestra and a choir, but it took 10 f****** years for him to listen to me!”

The new “Gods of Rock N Roll” appears on the deluxe version of Morrison’s 2024 album, The Morrison Project, dropping digitally on Feb. 21 and on vinyl March 7. The original record also included the Ozzy collaboration “Crack Cocaine.”

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The new documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin explores the formation of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin, up until the release of their 1969 sophomore album, Led Zeppelin II. The filmmakers — Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty — say there’s a good reason why they wanted to stick to that era.

“It was always going to be the origin story,” McGourty tells ABC Audio, “because the beginnings of things are always the most interesting.”

The film includes new interviews with the band’s three surviving members — Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones — and MacMahon, the film’s director, says they “were incredibly candid, once they agreed” to participate.

“They are completely without guile, artifice or self-consciousness,” he says. “I mean, they’re literally talking to you the way that they talk to us privately when it was just us in a room.”

The film also includes archival audio from the band’s late drummer, John Bonham, and MacMahon says he couldn’t imagine making the film without it.

“Led Zeppelin, more than any other musical entity I’m aware of, you remove one of those people, [and] it wouldn’t have been Led Zeppelin and it wouldn’t have worked,” he shares. “So if one of them was missing, I think the story for me could not have been told.”

The film also features full archival Led Zeppelin performances, with McGourty explaining, “We wanted it to be like something like the Rocky Horror Picture Show that we loved, that you could go and see multiple times, like a real concert experience.”

“I mean, the music’s absolutely incredible, so we’re giving the audience the music in the purest form possible,” MacMahon adds. “It’s like, if you did a film about Led Zeppelin and … you’re not showing the whole songs in the most powerful way possible, why are you making the movie?” 

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Sebastian Bach has released a new video for a track off his most recent solo album, Child Within The Man.

The latest clip is for “To Live Again,” a song he co-wrote with Myles Kennedy, who also teamed with Bach for the first song released from the album, “What Do I Got To Lose?”

“‘To Live Again’ is the closest song to a ballad on the record,” Bach shares. “I could not be more proud of this song and this video.”

He added, “This video is like a fantasy dream that has been going through my head for the last year. The directors Jim Louvau and Tony Aguilera have made recurring dreams that I have had at night come to life in this beautifully shot video.”

Child Within The Man, which was released in May, is Bach’s first solo record since 2014’s Give Em Hell.

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Props and costumes featured in the Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown are set to go on display at both the Bob Dylan Center and Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The new exhibit, Stepping Into the Unknown, will officially open Feb. 28. One day prior there will be a special opening event featuring the film’s Oscar-nominated costume designer, Arianne Phillips, and music supervisor Steve Gizicki. It will also include a screening of the film.

The exhibit, the first to be staged concurrently at both centers, will include such props as a letter Dylan wrote to Guthrie, Guthrie’s harmonica, Johnny Cash’s letters to Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind” lyrics on a cocktail napkin and fabricated album covers.

“As moviegoers learned from A Complete Unknown, the relationship between Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie is essential to an understanding of 20 century American music,” says Steve Higgins, managing director of the American Song Archives. “This exhibit will amplify that story by connecting it to the real-life artifacts in our collections.”

Both centers helped with the development of the props used in the film, with the movie’s prop master spending time at the centers to research what was needed for the project.

“The exhibit is a full-circle moment in a sense,” Higgins says. “We are bringing to Tulsa items from the film that were inspired by our collections in the first place.”

More info on the exhibit can be found at bobdylancenter.com and woodyguthriecenter.org.

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There’s another documentary about John Lennon on the way, and a new trailer for the film has just been released.

Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade is a British documentary that explores Lennon’s post-Beatles career using archival footage and never-before-seen interviews with musicians, journalists and close friends. There are also archival interviews from Lennon, Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney.

“Follow the legend as he evolves beyond The Beatles creating revolutionary music and standing at the forefront of anti-war protests that would make him one of the most influential pop culture icons of all time,” reads the description of the film.

So far there’s no word on when the documentary will be released.

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Metallica is back in the watch game.

After first announcing a collaboration with Nixon in 2018, the metal legends have reunited with the watch company to create four new pieces, each inspired by a different ‘Tallica album: Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and their latest effort, 72 Seasons.

The watches vary in price from $150 to $550. For more info, visit Metallica.com.

If you order one, perhaps you can show it off during the 2025 leg of Metallica’s ongoing M72 tour, which returns to the U.S. in April.

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The Caesars Superdome is probably still filled with confetti after the Eagles’ victory over the Chiefs at the Super Bowl on Sunday. But this fall the venue will be making way for the Piano Man and one of the reigning queens of rock ‘n’ roll.

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks have announced a co-headlining show at the Superdome on Oct. 18. Citi cardmembers can get access to tickets starting Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. ET; the general sale begins Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. ET.

The show is the third date so far that the two artists have announced for 2025. They’ll also perform together March 29 at Detroit’s Ford Field and Aug. 8 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

And when Billy isn’t performing with Stevie this year, he’ll be playing solo or co-headlining with Rod Stewart and Sting. Billy and Sting recently performed together in Indianapolis, and they have additional shows scheduled for April in Syracuse and Milwaukee; in May in Charlotte and Salt Lake City; in August at New York’s Citi Field; and in September in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Billy and Rod will perform together in July in Pittsburgh and at New York’s Yankee Stadium and in September in Cincinnati.

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