Classic Rock 93.9

Alice Cooper is looking back at his career with a new picture book coming next year.

Starring Alice Cooper features over 400 pages of material for Cooper fans to enjoy, all overseen by the rocker. It includes rare photos and images, and essays about Cooper’s career. It will also include an introduction written by American Gods author Neil Gaiman, a longtime Alice Cooper fan. 

“While creating a visual and sonic template that immediately and permanently sets him apart from his peers, the ever-changing Alice Cooper defies definition,” reads a description of the book. “Starring Alice Cooper celebrates a talent, and a life, of a true one-of-a kind icon.”

The book will be released in two editions, one being a limited edition A3 version that comes with a 3D lenticular image. Both will be signed by Cooper. 

Starring Alice Cooper will be available for preorder starting Friday, November 17, at 10 a.m. ET and is expected to ship in late May.

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It looks like Steely Dan will be sitting out at least two more shows on the Eagles The Long Goodbye tour.

The Doobie Brothers announced on their Instagram page that they will be opening the Eagles’ shows at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 17 and 18. These are the final two Long Goodbye shows for 2023. 

Steely Dan has actually been off the Eagles tour since October 6 due to frontman Donald Fagen’s health. Sheryl Crow, Steve Miller Band, Vince Gill and The Nashville Band, and Tedeschi Trucks Band have filled in as openers since then.

Eagles’ The Long Goodbye tour will continue through 2024, with Steely Dan still billed as the opener. A complete list of dates can be found at eagles.com.

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On This Day, November 15, 1980… 

Blondie landed their fifth U.K. #1 single with “The Tide Is High,” from their fifth studio album, Autoamerican. It would be another 18 years before Blondie topped the U.K. chart again, landing at #1 in 1999 with the track “Maria.”

“The Tide Is High” was a cover of a 1967 song originally performed by the Jamaican group The Paragons, with the tune’s songwriter John Holt singing lead on the track.

Blondie’s version of “The Tide Is High” also went on to hit #1 in the U.S., becoming their third and final #1 single. It also topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand.

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Ozzy Osbourne‘s touring days may be over, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop performing altogether.

In an interview with The Messenger, the Prince of Darkness’ son Jack shares, “I don’t think he’ll tour again. But he’s gunning to do one-off shows.

“Like festivals, gigs, things like that,” Jack says. “He’s not done yet!”

Ozzy’s last full live concert took place New Year’s Eve 2018. He’s been kept off the live stage the last few years due to a number of health issues, including undergoing multiple surgeries after suffering a fall in his home in 2019. In February, he announced that he was canceling his long-postponed European tour dates, adding, “Never would I have imagined that my touring days would have ended this way.”

It appeared that Ozzy was set to return to performing when he was booked for the inaugural Power Trip, but he ended up dropping off the lineup a few months ahead of the October festival.

“Unfortunately, my body is telling me that I’m just not ready yet,” he said.

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Just in time for the holidays, the late Jimmy Buffet’s 1996 Christmas album, Christmas Island, is being released on vinyl for the first time. 

The album features covers of holiday staples like “Jingle Bells,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Up on the House Top” and “Run Rudolph Run” along with the John Lennon classic “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” It also features two originals, “A Sailor’s Christmas” and “Merry Christmas, Alabama (Never Far from Home),” along with the original release’s hidden track, Buffett’s take on “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

The original album was released on CD, with Buffett sharing in the liner notes that he was a Christmas baby, born on the same day W.C. Fields died. “I think this only goes to prove that God does have a sense of humor,” he noted.

Buffett added, “Christmas Island is a collection of songs, not ladled over with sugary sentimentality and not too far out there in the strange corridors down which my mind sometimes wanders, and I hope it is what you would expect from the Christmas War baby turned island boy born on the day W.C. Fields died.”

Christmas Island will be released December 15 with two vinyl options: standard black and limited edition red. It is available for preorder now.

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If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the Deadhead in your life, a new auction may make shopping a little easier.

ANALOGr.com is launching a new auction, Live: Dead, on November 30, celebrating the history and impact of the Grateful Dead. The auction will include memorabilia from the archives of the band and members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, as well as Rat Dog’s Rob Wasserman and Dead engineer Dan Healy.

Some of the items up for auction include a functioning one-quarter-scale replica of the original Wall of Sound system, designed in 1973 by Owsley “Bear” Stanley specifically for The Dead’s live shows. There will also be a Jerry Garcia touring guitar rig, Wally Heider Studios recording equipment, over 1,100 unused backstage passes from 1977 to 1995, official vintage Dead T-shirts from as far back as 1978, photography, art and posters.

A VIP preview of all the items being auctioned off will take place November 27 at Soho House Warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, with the auction opening November 30 at 10 p.m. PT. The auction will wrap with a special invite-only event on December 2, featuring a performance by The Dead cover band The People’s Dead.

More info can be found at ANALOGr.com.

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Earlier this month, The Rolling Stones teased fans with a post sharing the website crossfirehurricane.com. While some were hoping the band was hinting at a tour, there’s no tour news just yet. But they are giving fans something else: booze. 

Crossfire Hurricane is actually a newly launched Caribbean rum created by the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. It is a blend of rums from Jamaica, Barbados and the Dominican Republic, which are aged in oak barrels.

“To us, the Caribbean is more than just a beautiful place. It’s a part of our story,” Mick Jagger and Keith Richards share on the rum’s website. “This aged, blended rum is our tribute to the islands that have inspired us for decades. Enjoy it neat, on the rocks or in the cocktail of your choosing – but never in silence.”

And the band is even giving you ideas on how to use the new rum, with the website offering up recipes for four different cocktails: the Two Licks, Gold and Stormy, Crossfire Mojito and Crossfire Espresso Martini. 

Crossfire Hurricane is available to order now.

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Nikki Sixx is opening up about a scary situation he’s been dealing with. The Mötley Crüe rocker revealed in a post on Instagram that two stalkers have been targeting him and his family. 

“Like many other public figures, myself and my family were harassed and threatened by a stalker,” he writes. “A deranged woman from Tennessee, who I have never met or seen before, targeted my wife and child with threats of death and bodily harm.” 

Sixx says he was forced to go to court after the harassment “got progressively more scary,” and he took out restraining orders that she violated multiple times, leading a judge to order her arrest.

But it didn’t end there. Sixx also shares that the FBI is investigating a second stalker who came to his house and threatened the lives of him and his family.

“It’s one thing to threaten my safety but when it comes to serious threats against my wife and children it just becomes beyond alarming,” he writes. “They do not deserve this.” 

“Thank you to the FBI, law enforcement, the detectives and the legal and court system for treating these threats with the severity and urgency they require,” he adds, noting, “I will go to any lengths to protect my family.”

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Guns N’ Roses are embroiled in a lawsuit filed by a photographer who worked for them for over a decade.

According to Rolling Stone, Katarina Benzova filed a lawsuit accusing the band of copyright infringement, alleging their management company “falsely claim[ed] ownership” over her photographs. She also accused the band’s manager, Fernando Lebeis, of sexual harassment.

But weeks prior to Benzova’s suit, Guns N’ Roses sued her, arguing she “improperly registered” for a copyright for the photos of the band, which they say they own.

“Ms. Benzova was initially contracted to provide tour photography services for Guns N’ Roses in 2010. She worked with the band for 12 years and was paid and treated extraordinarily well,” the band said in a statement to the magazine. “It was only after her services were discontinued in 2022 that she attempted to claim ownership in photos, which her contract clearly states are owned by the band.”

But Benzova argues in her suit that she was just a freelancer and worked without a formal contract throughout her 12 years with the band, with the exception of an 18-week period. She says GNR’s management is falsely claiming to own the photos from the non-contracted period and has been using them without consent in ads, various media outlets and more.

Her suit requests a court order that names her the “sole owner” of any photos taken during that contracted period. 

As for the sexual harassment, she says it began in 2016 and got so bad she went out of her way to never be alone with Lebeis. She says after rejecting him, Lebeis retaliated by lowering her pay, withholding money, and withholding photo credits.

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Bon Jovi is getting into the Christmas spirit. The rockers just announced they’ll be releasing a new, original holiday tune, “Christmas Isn’t Christmas,” on Friday, November 17.

This isn’t the first time Bon Jovi has helped soundtrack the holidays. Previously released Christmas tunes by the band include the original track “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas” and covers of “Please Come Home For Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

In 2020, frontman Jon Bon Jovi released a Christmas EP, aptly titled A Jon Bon Jovi Christmas, which featured three songs, “Christmas All Over Again,” “Fairytale of New York” and “If I Get Home on Christmas Day.”

“Christmas Isn’t Christmas” is available for preorder now. Those who order it will be entered for a chance to win one of three Bon Jovi Monopoly sets, autographed by Jon.

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