Jon Anderson Announces West Coast U.S. & Canada Tour

Former Yes vocalist, Jon Anderson, is out on the road promoting his brand new album Survival and Other Stories. Expect music from the release, his time with Yes and Vangelis and his solo works.

The dates:

• 07/09 - Vancouver, BC - Vancouver Island Musicfest at Exhibition Grounds
• 07/10 - Vancouver, BC - Vancouver Island MusicFest at Exhibition Grounds
• 07/12 - Seattle, WA - The Triple Door
• 07/14 - Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
• 07/31 – Vernon, BC, Canada – Komasket Music Festival Komasket Park
• 08/03 - Lincolnshire, IL - Viper Alley
• 08/05 - Saint Charles, IL - Arcada Theatre
• 08/07 - Jerseyville, ON - Festival Of Friends Ancaster Fairgrounds (with America)
• 08/11 - Shirley, MA - Bull Run Restaurant

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Chart Watch Britain: Chart of July 2, 2011

Our weekly recap of veteran artists on the current British music charts. Chart highlights:

• Paul Simon remains the top selling veteran artist on the British album chart for a second week with So Beautiful or So What. There's a good chance that the album's sales could go up next week after his appearance at the Glastonbury Festival.
• Barry Manilow has the top debut by a veteran artist with 15 Minutes. It's start at 20 is two spots short of his last studio album, 2002's Here at the Mayflower.
• Def Leppard's new live album, Mirror Ball: Live and More, debuts at 44 on the Album and 3 on the Rock & Metal Albums.
• Even though Neil Young's archive album, A Treasure, fell out of the top 100 albums in its second week, it retains the top spot on Country Albums.

TW = This Week, LW = Last Week, N = New, R = Returning to Chart.  The highest charting entry by a veteran artist is shown in red.

Top 100 British Albums

TW	LW	Title	Artist
1	3	Born This Way	Lady Gaga
2	2	21	Adele
3	1	Progress	Take That
4	N	Bon Iver	Bon Iver
5	5	19	Adele
12	6	So Beautiful or So What	Paul Simon
20	N	15 Minutes	Barry Manilow
23	10	All Over the World: The Very Best of	Electric Light Orchestra
40	16	Hits	Frankie Laine
44	N	Mirror Ball: Live and More	Def Leppard
45	26	Working My Way Back to You: Collection	Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
54	24	Quid Pro Quo	Status Quo
55	29	Greatest Hits	Queen
60	49	The Singles Collection	Kinks
61	23	2	Black Country Communion
63	40	Up On the Roof: The Very Best of	Drifters
65	59	Legend	Bob Marley & the Wailers
81	44	Greatest Hits II	Queen
84	118	Greatest Hits	Bon Jovi
87	107	The Monument Singles Collection	Roy Orbison
90	129	Greatest Hits	Bruce Springsteen
93	81	Private Investigations: The Best of	Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler
94	89	Rumours	Fleetwood Mac
97	61	The Ultimate Collection	Sade
98	60	Director's Cut	Kate Bush

The balance of the British charts are after the cut.

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Bobby Vee Talks of Retirement and a Brand New Record

Bobby Vee posted a note on his official site (bobbyvee.net) laying out his plans for the future after his "semi-retirement" and a new recording project.

Once again the Vee Family & Friends musical caravan will be coming at you with an independence weekend barrage of good music and good times. I must confess that after this year's show (and 52 years of performing) I'll be pulling back the touring schedule to test the "semi-retirement" waters. It's a chance to concentrate on a few of the things going on in my life, namely grandkids, a new winter place that Karen and I just built at the base of the Catalina Mountains in Tucson, Arizona (with a LOT of daughter Jenny's help) and of course - recording music. That brings me to the exciting new project that we began this winter inside the walls of our new "adobe" garage. We had the idea to set up a portable studio and just start capturing some of the songs we've always loved but have never even thought about recording. The kind that never made it into our stage shows but always into our mix tapes and acoustic family campfires! Songs that seem to go well with crackling noises and 'smores. No particular theme, genre, or artist connects these tunes - just that we loved them. Songs from people like Townes VanZant, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Don Williams, Daniel Lanois, Carole King, Hank Williams, Rick Nelson, Elvis, Fats Waller, Johnny Horton, even a few of our own. It was really just about coming together purely for the joy of making music, as simple as that - and the fact that it looks like we'll have a complete CD at the end of it... BONUS !

So as the coyotes yelped outside in the cool night time air, and with the adobe walls still radiating warmth from the days' desert sun, the candles were lit, the record button was pushed, Tommy, Robby and Jeff started playing - I started singing, and next thing you know we've got a dozen songs in the can ! And it was all recorded live, in the garage - everyone's part bleeding a little into the other guys mic - just like the old days.

The album has a tentative title of The Adobe Sessions. No schedule for release has been announced.

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Home and Studio of Cowboy Jack Clement Burns

The building that housed the home of Cowboy Jack Clement and his Cowboy Arms Recording Studio and Spa were heavily damaged by a fire last Saturday afternoon.

According to reports, the fire started in the attic and quickly spread to the rest of the building. The Nashville fire department sent 18 trucks and about 40 firefighters to the scene who took approximately an hour to bring the fire under control. Captain Steve Holt told the Tennessean "It was a very hot fire, heavy smoke, all in the attic." Attempts to extinguish the blaze were hampered by the thick ceiling for soundproofing in the studio.

Clement was in the backyard when his girlfriend's son alerted him to smoke alarms going off in the house. Nobody was hurt in the house including Clement's three cats. Most likely a great deal of memorabilia was damaged or destroyed; however, Jack was happy to have gotten his prize Gibson J200 out of the house. In question are the master tapes of unreleased material by the likes of Johnny Cash, John Prine and many others.

Clement has had a far reaching career, engineering at the Sun Studios on classic recordings by Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and others, developing the careers of artists like Charley Pride and George Jones and producing tracks for artists ranging from Louis Armstrong to U2 (the Rattle and Hum sessions).

As a songwriter, Clement has written the likes of Ballad of a Teenage Queen, Miller's Cave and Guess Things Happen That Way. His publishing company holds such songs as She Thinks I Still Care, Amanda and Dreaming My Dreams.

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Preview - Outside Society - Patti Smith (Her First Career Spanning Collection)

Artist: Patti Smith
Title: Outside Society
Release Date: August 23, 2011
Label: Columbia/Arista/Legacy
Format(s): CD, 2-LPs, DD

For the first time, Arista and Columbia Records are coming together to release a career spanning collection for Patti Smith covering music from her 1975 debut Horses through 2007's Twelve.  The album will hit shelves on August 23.

All tracks have been remastered by Greg Calbi and Tony Shanahan and the set includes a booklet where Smith make a brief recollection of each song.

Smith has been on a critical roll in the last year, collecting the 2010 National Book Award for Nonfiction for her book Just Kids and being selected to receive Sweden's Polar Price in a ceremony that will take place at the end of August.

Track List:

• Gloria (Horses, 1975)
• Free Money (Horses, 1975)
• Ain't It Strange (Radio Ethiopia, 1976)
• Pissing In A River (Radio Ethiopia, 1976)
• Because The Night (Easter, 1978)
• Rock N Roll Nigger (Easter, 1978)
• Dancing Barefoot (Wave, 1979)
• Frederick (Wave, 1979)
• So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star (Wave, 1979)
• People Have the Power (Dream of Life, 1988)
• Up There Down There (Dream of Life, 1988)
• Beneath The Southern Cross (Gone Again, 1996)
• Summer Cannibals (Gone Again, 1996)
• 1959 (Peace and Noise, 1997)
• Glitter In Their Eyes (Gung Ho, 2000)
• Lo and Beholden (radio edit) (Gung Ho, 2000)
• Smells Like Teen Spirit (Twelve, 2007)
• Trampin' (Trampin', 2004)

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Anthrax Announces Release Date and Title for New Album

Twitter once again gives us news from a veteran artist. Newly married Scott Ian of Anthrax tweeted the title and release date of their first original studio album in eight years.

Guitarist Scott Ian tweeted "Worship Music is finished. I just listened to it LOUD in sequence. Our 10th studio record is fucking killer. Sept 13 my friends. Cheers!"

So there you have it. Anthrax’s first album of original music since 2003’s We’ve Come For You All, will be called Worship Music and will be released on September 13.

Worship Music is also the first album since the 1990 classic Persistence Of Time to feature their classic-era vocalist Joey Belladonna.

The band finished recording the album in April and tweeted that it will be "The Most Emotional Album" they’ve ever done.

You can get their new single Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't as a free download on their site here, by signing up to their mailing list.

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Chuck Berry Finally Gets His Statue in St. Louis

After a long fight between fans and those who simply saw him as a criminal, Chuck Berry is finally getting his statue in St. Louis. 

Reuters reports that the eight-foot statue of Chuck Berry is to be erected on a public bikeway that intersects with a shopping strip that includes the Blueberry Hill club where Berry has played over 160 shows.

The club owner, Joe Edwards, helped raise the $100,000 to build the statue, but at the last minute a petition was presented to oppose the construction.

One hundred signatures agreed with 86-year-old former city council member Elsie Glickert, who said, "This man is a felon and not a friend of women. It is a misuse of tax dollars to honour him on public property".

Edwards responded that Berry is the city's "most famous musical native son, who through his music changed race relations and culture around the world."

The University City council rejected the petition drive and approved the statue, which will be installed later this week and dedicated at a ceremony on July 29 with the 84-year-old Berry in attendance.

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Morrissey Thinks His Past Success Is Stopping Him From Getting a Record Deal

Morrissey has a unique theory about his current career situation. He feels that his past success is hindering his chances of getting signed to a new record contract.

The former Smiths frontman, who revealed last month he is currently unsigned after his contract with Universal ended in late 2009, has still not received offers from any industry bosses to release his music through them, which the Ask hitmaker thinks is because people prefer to break new artists.

He said: "There's not much I can do about it. Once it becomes public that you aren't signed, you assume that anyone who wants you will come and get you.

"I think labels for the most part want to sign new discoveries so that that label alone is seen to be responsible for the rise of the artist. Not many labels want bands who have already made their mark, because their success is usually attributed to some other label somewhere else at another time.

"Most artists are remembered for the albums that introduced them, or that made their success. For this reason, the press only write about me in terms of the Smiths' story, and the fact that I've had three solo number one albums, or even 25 years of eventful solo activity, is never mentioned anywhere. Odd."

The legendary singer admits he has enough new material to make an entire album, but has no desire to release the tracks himself and doesn't even want to perform them live without releasing an official LP first.

Asked if he would consider self-releasing an album, he told Pitchfork: "I am a staunch traditionalist. I don't have any need to be innovative in that way. I am still stuck in the dream of an album that sells well not because of marketing, but because people like the songs.

"All of the new songs are very strong. We don't want to let any more out yet because before you know it the album will suddenly already exist in a variety of forms except as a finished studio recording."

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Preview: All Wood and Doors - James Lee Stanley & Cliff Eberhardt with Robbie Krieger, John Densmore, Timothy B. Schmidt, Peter Tork and More

Artist: James Lee Stanley & Cliff Eberhardt
Title: All Wood and Doors
Release Date: July 12, 2011
Label: Beachwood Recordings
Format(s): CD, DD

James Lee Stanley, who released three albums for RCA and was partnered with Monkee Peter Tork in Two Man Band, and singer/songwriter Cliff Eberhardt have come together to record a salute to the Doors called All Wood and Doors.  The album will be released on July 12 via Beachwood Recordings.

Stanley first approached Doors member John Densmore, who was familiar with James' work with John Batdorf on his album of Rolling Stones covers, All Wood and Stones and offered to play drums on a similar album of Doors covers if it were ever made. James later met Cliff Eberhardt at a folk festival and the two hit it off, aiming to make the album.

From their, the production snowballed with the addition of Tork (Monkees), Timothy B Schmit (Eagles), Laurence Juber (Paul McCartney & Wings), Paul Barrere (Little Feat), Scott Breadman (Rippingtons, Lindsay Buckingham), Chad Watson (David Arkenstone, Janis Ian), and very special guests Densmore and Robby Krieger (Doors).

All Wood and Doors is a unique sounding album of classic Doors songs. It takes an acoustic closer look at all of these classic Doors songs in a way that has never been done before. It acts like a time machine... In a single moment you will find yourself hearing these Doors songs from a different world. Familiar and completely brand new.

Track List:

• Break On Through
• Love Me Two Times
• Take It As It Comes
• Strange Days
• Light My Fire
• Touch Me
• Crystal Ship
• Soul Kitchen
• People Are Strange
• Moonlight Drive
• Riders On The Storm
• The End

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Chart Watch Australia: June 23, 2011

Our weekly recap of veteran artists on the current Australian music charts. Chart highlights:

• Even though there are many albums by veteran artists doing well around the world, none are hitting in Australia where Fleetwood Mac holds on for a sixth week as the top selling veteran artist with their album Rumours.

TW = This Week, LW = Last Week, N = New, R = Returning to Chart.  The highest charting entry by a veteran artist is shown in red.  There can be ties in chart positions.

Top 50 Australian Albums

TW	LW	Title	Artist
1	1	21	Adele
2	N	Bon Iver	Bon Iver
3	N	Hell: The Sequel	Bad Meets Evil
4	3	Born This Way	Lady Gaga
5	N	Planet Pit	Pitbull
27	20	Rumours	Fleetwood Mac
49	50	Greatest Hits	Bon Jovi

The balance of the Australian charts are after the cut.

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Short Takes: Madonna, Tom Petty, Weird Al Yankovic, Burton Cummings, Barry Gordy, Marianne Faithfull

The Weinstein Company has set December 9 for the debut of Madonna's W.E. in New York and Los Angeles.  The film, looks at the romance between American Wallace Simpson and Britain's King Edward VIII set in contrast with a modern woman who has marriage problems.

Madonna co-wrote, produced and directed the film with a cast that includes Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D’Arcy and Oscar Isaac.

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Michelle Bachman once again played Tom Petty's American Girl at her rally on Tuesday night after being sent a cease and desist letter by the singer's representatives.  During a South Carolina stop, the song came on at the end of her speech and played for exactly 29 seconds before Katrina and the Waves' Walking on Sunshine began.

While nobody has come out and stated it, the 29 seconds is significant as fair use allows 30 seconds of a recording to be played without restriction (i.e., song samples on Amazon, iTunes, etc.).

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Weird Al Yankovic has his highest charting album ever with Alpocalypse. The new release will debut at number 9 this week on sales of 44,000.

In addition, the multi-year slide in album sales may be over. So far in 2011, 149.12 million albums have been sold compared to 148.42 million last year at this time.

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Burton Cummings will be added to Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto on October 1, joining 131 other previous inductees. He will also be performing at the ceremony.

Also being added this year are Dr. Roberta Bondar (first neurosurgeon in space), tennis player Daniel Nestor, actress Sandra Oh, comedian Russell Peters, actor Ryan Reynolds and writer Mordecai Richler.

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Another of Barry Gordy's children is climbing the charts. In the mid-80's, his son Kennedy took on the name Rockwell and climbed the charts with Somebody's Watching Me. Now, it's his youngest son, Stefan, who goes by the name of DJ Redfoo and is part of the duo LMFAO whose other member is Skylar Gordy (aka SkyBlu), Gordy's grandson.  The group is currently climbing the charts with Party Rock Anthem which has already hit number one in Britain, Australia, France, New Zealand and a number other countries.

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Marianne Faithfull has told Vanity Fair magazine that she is tired of being asked about her time hanging with the Rolling Stones. "I’m sick of talking about it. It would be great if people could see me as I see myself, which is as a working musician with an incredible arc of work. I’ve got such a body of work behind me. It’s much more important than my mythical life. And my life is mythical. Most of it is a lie, the tabloid version of me. You know that. If you know my work, you must know that."

Her new album Horses and High Heels was released in the U.S. on Tuesday.

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Watch: Marty Stuart in Philadelphia, MS Documentary

Marty Stuart is one of the great traditionalists currently working in country music. Whether putting on his annual Nashville Fan Fair concert, hosting his program on RFD-TV or recording albums like Ghost Train (The Studio B Sessions), Marty has kept the fires burning for the country sound of the 40's through the 60's.

This is a 30-minute documentary that was recently posted on Hulu called Marty Stuart in Philadelphia, MS, delving into the singer's roots with archival footage and interviews with family and friends along with music with his group the Fabulous Superlatives and his wife Connie Smith.

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Sam Cooke Honored With Renamed Street in Chicago

A segment of 36th Street in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood has been renamed Sam Cooke Way.

Cooke, who's early death at the age of 33 deprived the world of year's of beautiful soul music, grew up in that section of Chicago, eventually graduating from its Phillips High School which is not far from his now namesake street. Even with his early demise, he gave the world such classics as You Send Me, A Change is Going to Come, Chain Gang, Only Sixteen and many more.

June 18 was proclaimed "Sam Cooke Day" by Cooke County Commissioner Jerry Butler (himself, a past soul giant). The ceremony was attended by members of Cooke's family, radio personality Herb Kent and a number of area politicians and community leaders. Performing was the soul group The Notions. The day was organized by Chicago Blues Museum founder Gregg Parker.

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Bruce Springsteen Issues Text of His Eulogy for Clarence Clemons

Bruce Springsteen has issued the text of the eulogy he delivered on June 21 at the Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beech, FL for his friend and band member Clarence Clemons. He stated "This is a slightly revised version of the eulogy I delivered for Clarence at his memorial. I’d like to thank all our fans and friends who have comforted us over the past difficult weeks."

I’ve been sitting here listening to everyone talk about Clarence and staring at that photo of the two of us right there. It’s a picture of Scooter and The Big Man, people who we were sometimes. As you can see in this particular photo, Clarence is admiring his muscles and I’m pretending to be nonchalant while leaning upon him. I leaned on Clarence a lot; I made a career out of it in some ways.

Those of us who shared Clarence’s life, shared with him his love and his confusion. Though "C" mellowed with age, he was always a wild and unpredictable ride. Today I see his sons Nicky, Chuck, Christopher and Jarod sitting here and I see in them the reflection of a lot of C’s qualities. I see his light, his darkness, his sweetness, his roughness, his gentleness, his anger, his brilliance, his handsomeness, and his goodness. But, as you boys know your pop was a not a day at the beach. "C" lived a life where he did what he wanted to do and he let the chips, human and otherwise, fall where they may. Like a lot of us your pop was capable of great magic and also of making quite an amazing mess. This was just the nature of your daddy and my beautiful friend. Clarence’s unconditional love, which was very real, came with a lot of conditions. Your pop was a major project and always a work in progress. "C" never approached anything linearly, life never proceeded in a straight line. He never went A… B…. C…. D. It was always A… J…. C…. Z… Q… I….! That was the way Clarence lived and made his way through the world. I know that can lead to a lot of confusion and hurt, but your father also carried a lot of love with him, and I know he loved each of you very very dearly.

It took a village to take care of Clarence Clemons. Tina, I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for taking care of my friend, for loving him. Victoria, you’ve been a loving, kind and caring wife to Clarence and you made a huge difference in his life at a time when the going was not always easy. To all of "C’s" vast support network, names too numerous to mention, you know who you are and we thank you. Your rewards await you at the pearly gates. My pal was a tough act but he brought things into your life that were unique and when he turned on that love light, it illuminated your world. I was lucky enough to stand in that light for almost 40 years, near Clarence’s heart, in the Temple of Soul.

So a little bit of history: from the early days when Clarence and I traveled together, we’d pull up to the evenings lodgings and within minutes "C" would transform his room into a world of his own. Out came the colored scarves to be draped over the lamps, the scented candles, the incense, the patchouli oil, the herbs, the music, the day would be banished, entertainment would come and go, and Clarence the Shaman would reign and work his magic night, after night. Clarence’s ability to enjoy Clarence was incredible. By 69, he’d had a good run, because he’d already lived about 10 lives, 690 years in the life of an average man. Every night, in every place, the magic came flying out of C’s suitcase. As soon as success allowed, his dressing room would take on the same trappings as his hotel room until a visit there was like a trip to a sovereign nation that had just struck huge oil reserves. "C" always knew how to live. Long before Prince was out of his diapers, an air of raunchy mysticism ruled in the Big Man’s world. I’d wander in from my dressing room, which contained several fine couches and some athletic lockers, and wonder what I was doing wrong! Somewhere along the way all of this was christened the Temple of Soul; and "C" presided smilingly over its secrets, and its pleasures. Being allowed admittance to the Temple’s wonders was a lovely thing.

As a young child my son Sam became enchanted with the Big Man… no surprise. To a child Clarence was a towering fairy tale figure, out of some very exotic storybook. He was a dreadlocked giant, with great hands and a deep mellifluous voice sugared with kindness and regard. And… to Sammy, who was just a little white boy, he was deeply and mysteriously black. In Sammy’s eyes, "C" must have appeared as all of the African continent, shot through with American cool, rolled into one welcoming and loving figure. So… Sammy decided to pass on my work shirts and became fascinated by Clarence’s suits and his royal robes. He declined a seat in dad’s van and opted for "C’s" stretch limousine, sitting by his side on the slow cruise to the show. He decided dinner in front of the hometown locker just wouldn’t do, and he’d saunter up the hall and disappear into the Temple of Soul.

Of course, also enchanted was Sam’s dad, from the first time I saw my pal striding out of the shadows of a half empty bar in Asbury Park, a path opening up before him; here comes my brother, here comes my sax man, my inspiration, my partner, my lifelong friend. Standing next to Clarence was like standing next to the baddest ass on the planet. You were proud, you were strong, you were excited and laughing with what might happen, with what together, you might be able to do. You felt like no matter what the day or the night brought, nothing was going to touch you. Clarence could be fragile but he also emanated power and safety, and in some funny way we became each other’s protectors; I think perhaps I protected "C" from a world where it still wasn’t so easy to be big and black. Racism was ever present and over the years together, we saw it. Clarence’s celebrity and size did not make him immune. I think perhaps "C" protected me from a world where it wasn’t always so easy to be an insecure, weird and skinny white boy either. But, standing together we were badass, on any given night, on our turf, some of the baddest asses on the planet. We were united, we were strong, we were righteous, we were unmovable, we were funny, we were corny as hell and as serious as death itself. And we were coming to your town to shake you and to wake you up. Together, we told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that transcended those I’d written in my songs and in my music. Clarence carried it in his heart. It was a story where the Scooter and the Big Man not only busted the city in half, but we kicked ass and remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship would not be such an anomaly. And that… that’s what I’m gonna miss. The chance to renew that vow and double down on that story on a nightly basis, because that is something, that is the thing that we did together… the two of us. Clarence was big, and he made me feel, and think, and love, and dream big. How big was the Big Man? Too fucking big to die. And that’s just the facts. You can put it on his grave stone, you can tattoo it over your heart. Accept it… it’s the New World.

Clarence doesn’t leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die.

So, I’ll miss my friend, his sax, the force of nature his sound was, his glory, his foolishness, his accomplishments, his face, his hands, his humor, his skin, his noise, his confusion, his power, his peace. But his love and his story, the story that he gave me, that he whispered in my ear, that he allowed me to tell… and that he gave to you… is gonna carry on. I’m no mystic, but the undertow, the mystery and power of Clarence and my friendship leads me to believe we must have stood together in other, older times, along other rivers, in other cities, in other fields, doing our modest version of god’s work… work that’s still unfinished. So I won’t say goodbye to my brother, I’ll simply say, see you in the next life, further on up the road, where we will once again pick up that work, and get it done.

Big Man, thank you for your kindness, your strength, your dedication, your work, your story. Thanks for the miracle… and for letting a little white boy slip through the side door of the Temple of Soul.

SO LADIES AND GENTLEMAN… ALWAYS LAST, BUT NEVER LEAST. LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE MASTER OF DISASTER, the BIG KAHUNA, the MAN WITH A PHD IN SAXUAL HEALING, the DUKE OF PADUCAH, the KING OF THE WORLD, LOOK OUT OBAMA! THE NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EVEN THOUGH HE’S DEAD… YOU WISH YOU COULD BE LIKE HIM BUT YOU CAN’T! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BIGGEST MAN YOU’VE EVER SEEN!... GIVE ME A C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E. WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! … amen.

I’m gonna leave you today with a quote from the Big Man himself, which he shared on the plane ride home from Buffalo, the last show of the last tour. As we celebrated in the front cabin congratulating one another and telling tales of the many epic shows, rocking nights and good times we’d shared, "C" sat quietly, taking it all in, then he raised his glass, smiled and said to all gathered, "This could be the start of something big."
Love you, "C".

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Review: Let There Be Rock & Live at River Plate by AC/DC

by John Reed

Whilst rumors persist that AC/DC may be hitting the road again in 2012-13, nothing has yet been confirmed.

So as the bands diehards wait patiently with crossed fingers, a couple of newly released live DVD’s from AC/DC are making the wait more bearable:

Let There Be Rock (DVD)

Let There Be Rock has been one of the most sought after items for an AC/DC fan. Long out of print (and often bootlegged), the film has finally come to DVD. Truly one of the best rock movies ever, the film captures the band live in December of 1979 at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France on their Highway To Hell tour. The group was reaching a commercial high at that time due to the success of the Highway to Hell record and the intensity of their live shows. It is still such a treat seeing Bon Scott (who passed away two months after this concert) led version of the band tear through High Voltage, Sin City, Whole Lotta Rosie and the closing Let There Be Rock that not owning the DVD should not even be an option for enthusiasts of the quintet.

Live at River Plate (DVD)

Culled from a trio of live shows from December of 2009 (3 decades after the show captured on Let There Be Rock) in Buenos Aires, Live at River Plate is a keepsake from the bands gruelingly long Black Ice tour. As the performance is fantastic, the editing of DVD is annoying. Cutting away every few seconds from one shot to another, the DVD makes you want to pop open some Tylenol. The band sounds amazing and I am sure if they eased up in the editing room, this could have been quite a document.

For a guy who had been hesitant to tour, Brian Johnson is in amazing voice, while the band is the powerhouse they always are, and the 19 song blitzkrieg of new and old AC/DC is a well balanced set.

Save for the annoying editing, this is still an amazing show. Though, you may be better off just listening too the gig than actually watching it.

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U2 Selling Its 360 Degree Tour Claws To Venues Around the World

The 29,000-square-foot steels claws that make up the set for U2's 360 Degree Tour may be slightly used, but they are about as technologically advanced as you can get and, as far as the group is concerned, shouldn't go to waste in the future.

The run of shows, which have spanned across three years, are due to come to an end on July 30 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and rather than just let structures sit in a warehouse the group and their management intend to sell them off.

U2 tour director Craig Evans told Billboard magazine: "It's certainly our intention to see these things recycled into permanent and usable ventures. It represents too great an engineering feat to just use for [the tour] and put away in a warehouse somewhere.

"We're now in discussions to send them into different places around the world and have them installed as permanent venues. Some major events have shown interest in these, from four different continents and we haven't even really put the word out yet."

U2's '360 Tour' is the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, with ticket sales totalling over $700 million and it requires 120 trucks to transport its 50-metre tall sound system, stage and lighting rig making it the most expensive tour to hold.

Guitarist The Edge, who played the Glastonbury Festival with his bandmates Bono, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen last weekend, previously admitted the rockers will never be able to go on a bigger tour.

He said: "We're actually at the limit, the absolute limit, when you consider the economics and the practicality of transportation. We're really as big as we could ever get."

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Monty Python to Reunite For Graham Chapman Film

The members of Monty Python are signing on for a new film based on the memoirs of the late-Graham Chapman.

Chapman’s 1980 book A Liar’s Autobiography: Volume VI will provide a base for the film, which will be shot in 3D and will feature voice contributions from surviving members John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones. Eric Idle is yet to sign up for the film.

The film will also include audio of Chapman himself reading from his book shortly before his death in 1989.

Members of Monty Python reunited at the Royal Albert Hall for the Concert For George on November 29, 2002 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, which marked the first anniversary of George Harrison’s death. That line up included Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam with the help of Neil Innes, Tom Hanks and the “seventh Python”, Carol Cleveland.

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Ozzy Osbourne to Be an Author...As Doctor Ozzy

"Doctor" Ozzy Osbourne is about to dispense a new book of advice on health and happiness called Trust Me, I’m Doctor Ozzy.

"Dr." Ozzy was first invited to give advice for readers of the Sunday Times in 2010. When the 62-year old rock star played "Agony Uncle" for one weekend he answered questions about dog depression, snoring and a third nipple.

Don’t be too concerned "Dr." Ozzy will not be at your hospital anytime soon. The book has been categorized for the comedy section of bookstores.

From the books product description:

Wondering if science could explain how he survived his 40-year avalanche of drugs and alcohol, Ozzy Osbourne became one of a handful of people in the world to have his entire DNA mapped in 2010. It was a highly complex, $65,000 process, but the results were conclusive: Ozzy is a genetic anomaly. The "Full Ozzy Genome" contained variants that scientists had never before encountered and the findings were presented at the prestigious TEDMED Conference in San Diego-making headlines around the world. The procedure was in part sponsored by The Sunday Times of London, which had already caused an international fururoe by appointing Ozzy Osbourne its star health advice columnist. The newpaper argued that Ozzy's mutliple near-death experiences, 40-year history of drug abuse, and extreme hypocondria qualified him more than any other for the job. The column was an overnight hit, being quickly picked up by Rolling Stone to give it a global audience of millions. In TRUST ME, I'M DR. OZZY, Ozzy answers reader's questions with his outrageous wit and surprising wisdom, digging deep into his past to tell the memoir-style survival stories never published before-and offer guidance that no sane human being should follow. Part humor, part memoir, and part bad advice, TRUST ME, I'M DR. OZZY will include some of the best material from his published columns, answers to celebrities' medical questions, charts, sidebars, and more.

Trust Me, I’m Dr Ozzy will be published by Grand Central Publishing in the U.S. and released on October 11.

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Patti LaBelle Turns the Tables, Counter-Sues Cadet

Patti LaBelle, who was recently sued by an ex-West Point cadet after he was injured by her security team at the Houston airport, has filed a countersuit.

Richard King who, at the time, was a cadet at West Point Academy, claims he was talking on his cellular phone not realizing he was in the vicinity of LaBelle and her luggage, when her guards punched him up against a concrete column, causing injury (security tape video is available in the original article). Since that time, King was discharged from the academy.

LaBelle's countersuit, filed in a Houston court, claims that King started the altercation when he addressed the singer with racial and sexual comments, going on to punching Patti's son, Zuri Edwards, who drives her limousine. The security tape does not show this part of the altercation; however, there is a section where King is not visible.

The filing states that King was "obviously in an inebriated state" yelling "profane and racial slurs toward LaBelle.

King's attorney claims there is no truth in the allegations, saying that it's "the same false story they told the police. Thank goodness we have the surveillance videotape, which speaks volumes, and neutral eyewitnesses who will testified that Richard was brutally assaulted without provocation."

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