I don’t understand WHY the recent Foo Fighters announcement of the band taking a hiatus is such big news! People, come on! The band has been touring the WORLD over twice the past couple of years and it’s time to pull the plug! Let them go home and chill for a while! In the meantime, Dave is going to be finishing his doucmentary on the Sound City recording studio, which I guess will come with a soundtrack. Good on ya, Dave! Can’t wait to see the film! Now stop with all the questions! “Oh, are they breaking up?” Shut up!….Slash revealed via Facebook on yesterday (Oct 2nd) he was going into the studio to begin recording the score for Nothing To Fear, the first horror film from the guitarist’s Slasher Films production company. Slash mentioned the score was “really coming together . . . sounds awesome so far.” The film itself has been directed by Anthony Leonardi III, a creature and storyboard artist who also recently directed the video for Slash’s single “You’re A Lie.” Nothing To Fear began shooting last May in Louisiana with Anne Heche and others confirmed for the cast. Meanwhile, look for Slash with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators will appear on the Conan O’Brien show tomorrow night!….Here’s a good one: Metallica‘s third album, 1986’s Master Of Puppets, is regularly cited as the band’s finest hour and was recently voted “Greatest Heavy Metal Album of All Time” by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine. But lead guitarist Kirk Hammett told the magazine he was mostly “bored” during the making of this hard rock landmark. Hammett explained, “At the time, we were just making another album. We had no idea it would have such a range of influence that it went on to have. It was the first time that we could spend time in the studio and work on guitar sounds for a couple of days, really experiment with different sounds and overdubs . . . and I played a lot of poker with (late bassist) Cliff Burton in the studio. We’d just play poker, wait for Lars (Ulrich, drummer) to finish a track — which would sometimes be days — and we’d be bored.” Hammett added that Burton, who died in a tour bus crash just six months after the album came out, was a “pretty good poker player. But if he lost too much, he’d get pissed and start swearing and get up and walk away. He was a little bit of a sore loser when he wasn’t winning.” How crazy is that!!!???…..The classic 1995 Smashing Pumpkins double album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness has been given diamond certification for sales of 10 million copies — or five million copies of the two-disc set — and will be reissued in a deluxe edition on Dec 3rd. The fully remastered album, which contained the hits “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” “1979” and “Tonight, Tonight,” will be released in multiple physical and digital configurations. Among those are an expanded five-CD/one DVD deluxe box set. a four-LP vinyl package, a standard double CD and a digital edition. The box set will include 64 bonus tracks of previously unreleased material or alternate versions of songs, while the DVD features a live show filmed in London in 1996…Pretty excited that I was invited to a screening of the Led Zeppelin concert film, Celebration Day, their 2007 reunion-tribute show to the late Atlantic Records chairman Ahmet Ertegun. Right after, there’s a press conference where we can ask questions! One of my first concerts was in 1969 right after the release of their first self0titled album. It was in Schenectady, NY at a small venue called Aerodrome next to a music instrument store. Place held around 250 people. It was a warm up show for their Framingham, MA show the next night. In those days, audiences sat on the floor. You never stood at a concert. And they were doing “How Many More Times” and the lyric was “ ’cause I’ve got you in the sights of my gun” and I stood up and said “In The!” and he said “Tell that bird she’s got the job!” I sat back down and was freaking out I was being offered a job with Led Zeppelin! I was tripping or something and thought it was a REAL job offer! So I waited around after the show while Robert Plant was speaking with some fans, and then walked over and said “I’m the bird you said had the job! So what’s the job???!!!!” At which point he looked me up and down and said “Well, if you come with me to Framingham, Massachusetts you can have the job!” And I was insane with excitement! “Oh well, I have my dad’s car with all my friends, so I could drive them home and then catch a bus to Framingham tomorrow, is that ok?” It was almost like arrows were being shot over my head because I was so naive I had NO IDEA what he really meant! Yeah, he had a JOB for me, just not the one I was thinking! LOL So in the meantime, he walks away and I look around for my friends and notice a large portfolio-style wallet on the ground. I pick it up and it’s Jimmy Page‘s wallet and passport! I turn and see him with his guitar slung over his back, having a drink with fans at the bar. I brought over his wallet, and he thanked me profusely and said “Let me buy you a drink!” I didn’t drink in those days, but I replied, “Sure whatever you are having.” Beer. I asked the bartender to put ice in it! Yeah, I was young! LOL When I worked for Atlantic Records and the last Zeppelin album was released, In Through the Out Door I think it was, I was with the band and asked if they recalled that event. Robert didn’t., Jimmy sort of did, and John Paul Jones remembered the exact show! He’s now playing with Dave Grohl in Them Crooked Vultures, and it’s always a pleasure chatting with him. I hope he remembers me at the press conference on Tuesday….Happy 5-0 to Tommy Lee and Happy 4-0 to Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust!
