Soundgarden‘s Kim Thayil and Stone Temple Pilots‘ Robert and Dean DeLeo will be taking part in an upcoming edition of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp.
The program will take place March 16-19 in Los Angeles. Attendees will get the opportunity to learn from and jam with the guest rockers, including Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice, ex-Dio/Black Sabbath drummer Vinnie Appice, Night Ranger guitarist Joel Hoekstra, longtime Queen touring musician Spike Edney and many more.
Thayil, who participated in a grunge-themed Fantasy Camp earlier this year alongside Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell, says he’s “super excited” for another go-round.
“Bring your favorite axe, and let’s jam at Rock Camp!” Thayil says.
Part-time Los Angeles resident Elton John will provide the entertainment for this year’s big charity event for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, aka LACMA.
According to TheHollywood Reporter, Elton will perform at LACMA’s Art + Film Gala November 5; Leonardo DiCaprio is the event’s co-chair. The money raised will help fund an initiative to make film more central to the museum’s programming. Elton will be in the neighborhood since his final U.S. tour dates are taking place November 17, 19 and 20 at Dodger Stadium.
In addition to having two homes in LA, Elton and his husband, David Furnish, also have homes in the U.K., the south of France and Atlanta, GA. Now, the real estate website Dirt reports the two have purchased a penthouse in a yet-to-be-completed futuristic complex in downtown Toronto, which will be their sixth home. The two-story condo is 2,400 square feet with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
“David’s brothers and their wives and children are here. We spend a lot of the summer in Canada,” Elton told The Globe and Mail about their decision to purchase the home. David, who’s Canadian, added that their sons Elijah and Zachary “find Toronto dynamic.”
The 31st edition of the holiday event will take place in Haynes’ hometown of Asheville, North Carolina on Saturday, December 10 at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
The lineup will feature Haynes’ current band Gov’t Mule, founding Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh‘s Phil Lesh & Friends collective, Brothers Osborne, Dinosaur Jr., Beth Hart and more.
The concert also will boast several special guests, including former Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed and current Who touring violinist Katie Jacoby.
Besides playing with Gov’t Mule, Haynes will be performing as part of Phil Lesh & Friends, whose lineup will also feature guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski and drummer John Molo.
Tickets for the 2022 Christmas Jam will go on sale to the public on Friday, October 21 at 10 a.m. ET, while pre-sale tickets and VIP and travel packages will be available starting this Friday, October 14 at 10 a.m. ET. Visit XmasJam.com for more info and to purchase tickets.
“I’m excited to finally bring back Christmas Jam and continue the tradition we’ve been building for over 30 years,” says Haynes. “It feels like the perfect time to return to celebrating this wonderful cause (and life in general) and to be helping the community in my beloved home of Asheville.”
He adds, “Looking forward to being together for an amazing night of music and holiday cheer.”
In addition to the main show, Xmas Jam by Day gigs will be held at select local venues.
The Christmas Jam concert will raise money for the Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity and for BeLoved Asheville, an organization that helps the local homeless population and other in-need people in the community.
This past June, Queen‘s Brian May and Roger Taylor revealed that a previously unheard archival track by the band featuring late frontman Freddie Mercury had been rediscovered and was being prepared for release.
Now, Queen has announced that the song, titled “Face It Alone,” will officially be released worldwide this Thursday, October 14 at 6:15 a.m. ET. The band has been teasing the song’s arrival with a series of social media posts that include snippets of the tune.
In addition, photos of billboards and posters promoting the tune that have appeared in cities around the world, including London, Toronto, Madrid and Mexico City, have been posted on Queen’s officialwebsite.
An official webpage for the song has also been launched; it features a countdown clock that expires on Thursday at 11:15 a.m. ET.
May and Taylor revealed details about “Face It Alone” during a BBC interview just before Queen + Adam Lambert performed at London’s Buckingham Palace to kick off the star-studded Party at the Palace concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II‘s 70 years on the throne.
Taylor told BBC host Zoe Ball, “We [found] a little gem from Freddie that we’d kind of forgotten about,” adding that the track came from the sessions for Queen’s 1989 album The Miracle, which was the next-to-last record Mercury made with the band before his death from AIDS in 1991.
“It was kind of hiding in plain sight,” May told Ball. “We looked at it many times and thought, ‘Well, no, we can’t really rescue that.’ But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, ‘OK, we can do this and this.'”
He added, “It’s like stitching bits together. But it’s beautiful. It’s a very touching piece from Freddie.”
Ringo Starr recently canceled five shows with his All Starr Band after he tested positive for COVID-19, but the former Beatles drummer has announced that he and his group are set to relaunch their tour as planned on Tuesday, October 11 in Seattle, Washington.
On Monday, Ringo posted a message on his socialmediapages that reads, “On the road again I will see you in Seattle on Tuesday the 11th Portland [Oregon on] Wednesday I am negative peace and love everybody thanks for waiting.”
Accompanying the note is a photo of Starr flashing a peace sign and showing off his negative COVID test.
Besides the Seattle and Portland concerts, Ringo and the All Starr Band have five more shows remaining on their current North American trek — on October 14 in San Jose, California; October 15 in Paso Robles, California; October 16 in Los Angeles; and on October 19 and 20 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Stevie Nicks seems to be in a very creative mood lately. First she released her cover of “For What It’s Worth,” then she joined pal Dave Stewart of Eurythmics to sing a song called “Face to Face” in support of Ukraine. Now she’s posted a poem on Instagram that she says she’s turned into a new song called “Get It Back.”
The poem, which was posted on Monday, is a plea for people to stand up for what they believe in by voting. Nicks writes, “Don’t close your eyes and hope for the best/ the dark is out there/ the light is going fast/ and all the rights you had yesterday are taken away.”
The poem goes on to urge people to “stand up and take it back … you don’t have much time.” Stevie writes, “I wanna teach you to fight” before later urging, “Get mad/ It’s slipping through your fingers.”
In an introductory note to fans and “women of America, from 18 to 100 years old,” Stevie writes, “At 74 years old, I can honestly say that I am worried about every one of you. Worried about health care, and just in general, worried about your God given rights. You must gather together now. You must register to vote as soon as you can … and you must vote!”
Noting that the deadline for registering is Tuesday, October 11, in many states, Stevie points to “the disintegration of Roe v. Wade” as a reason that some may want to go to the polls.
“I watched what happened to women from 1966 … to 1973 when I was 2 years away from joining Fleetwood Mac,” she continues. “Believe me … you don’t want that world to come back.”
Stevie says she’s recording the song right now; no word yet on when it’ll be released.
This month marks the 45th anniversary of the 1977 plane crash that killed Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s Ronnie Van Zant and two other band members. The group’s former drummer, Artimus Pyle, says he’s now putting together a star-studded tribute album to commemorate the tragedy.
Pyle, who survived the accident, tells ABC Audio that 17 tracks have been recorded so far for the album, which will feature his solo group, the Artimus Pyle Band, playing classic Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes, along with a bunch of guest artists.
The 74-year-old drummer reveals Sammy Hagar, Gov’t Mule‘s Warren Haynes, Ronnie Dunn of the country duo Brooks & Dunn and Billy Ray Cyrus arecontributing to the project.
“Sammy Hagar is singing ‘Simple Man,'” Artimus reports. “He puts his heart and soul into it.”
He adds that Haynes sings “Saturday Night Special,” Dunn performs “Sweet Home Alabama” and Cyrus sings “Call Me the Breeze.”
Pyle has long been estranged from the Lynyrd Skynyrd camp, so perhaps the most surprising news about the tribute is that founding Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington has contributed to a track.
“Gary Rossington plays his iconic slide solo on ‘Free Bird,'” Pyle notes. “I’m on the drum track. So that’s the first time that’s happened in 40 years … Against all odds, Gary and I are on a track together that will be on this new album.”
As for how he feels about his solo band’s renditions of the tunes, Pyle says, “Only we could play them with the ferocity and the fervor that we play these songs with.”
Artimus says the Skynyrd tribute is still in the works and that they may decide to make it a double album, “because who deserves more than Ronnie Van Zandt a double tribute album?”
Daniel Knighton/Getty Images; Paul R. Giunta/Getty Images
What happens when you combine the guitar of Eddie Van Halen and the vocals of Chris Cornell? Unfortunately, we may never know, but such a song apparently came close to happening.
According to guitarist Pete Thorn, who played in Cornell’s live solo band, the Soundgarden frontman and the Van Halen shredder had developed a friendship, which they one day hoped to channel in the studio.
As Thorn explains, a Cornell-Van Halen collaboration became a possibility toward the late 2000s, when Thorn was putting together some alternate, stripped-down demos of songs off Cornell’s 2009, electronic and pop-driven solo album, Scream. Upon hearing Thorn’s recordings, Cornell suggested they ask Van Halen to play on them.
While Thorn was waiting for Cornell to reach out to Eddie, he happened upon a friend who built amps for Van Halen. Thorn shared Cornell’s idea with him, who then gave Thorn Van Halen’s number. A few days later, Van Halen called Thorn back and the two set up a recording session. While Van Halen did play on the recording, that’s as far as it got.
“I don’t wanna get anybody excited thinking that this ever got finished, because it didn’t,” Thorn says. “But, [Van Halen] did work on it.”
“It’s a long story, but it never got a vocal on it by Chris,” Thorn continues. “It just never ended up getting finished.”
Sadly, it will stay that way, as Cornell died in 2017, while Van Halen passed in 2020.
Foreigner has unveiled plans to return to Las Vegas in the spring of 2023 for a new residency at The Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort.
The eight-date engagement, dubbed “The Best of Foreigner 4 & More Live,” will take place on March 24, 25, 29 and 31 and April 1, 5, 7 and 8. The concerts will feature the band playing selections from its best-selling studio album, 1981’s 4, as well as many other classics from the group’s back catalog.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, October 14 at 10 a.m. PT.
Foreigner fan club members will be able to buy pre-sale tickets starting Tuesday, October 11 at 10 a.m. PT, while Live Nation customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie loyalty program can purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, October 12 at 10 a.m. PT.
You can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com, the box offices at the resort and by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.
Foreigner has played multiple residencies at The Venetian Theatre over the years, most recently in March and April of this year.
Meanwhile, their next scheduled concert takes place on Tuesday, October 11 in Cape Town, South Africa. The band has 10 other confirmed dates on its upcoming schedule, not including the Vegas performances. Visit ForeignerOnline.com for a full list of those shows.
Sharon Osbourne‘s 70th birthday party was basically an episode of Headbangers Ball.
Among the metal luminaries who attended the bash last weekend were Sharon’s husband, Ozzy Osbourne, as well as Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, Black Label Society frontman and Ozzy’s guitarist Zakk Wylde and Korn‘s Jonathan Davis.
On his Instagram, Davis posted a photo of him, Morello and Wylde dressed in their best tuxes while standing beside the Osbournes.
“What an amazing evening celebrating @sharonosbourne birthday,” Davis wrote in the caption. “Catching up with so many old friends felt good.”
Meanwhile, Sharon posted a video of her and Ozzy dancing together during the celebration.
Also in attendance was Sharon and Ozzy’s daughter Kelly Osbourne, who’s expecting her first child with Slipknot‘s Sid Wilson.
