Whoa, for a minute, I thought it was Friday the 13th. Whew!….Back on Oct 1st, I listened to the new Kid Rock album, Rebel Soul, which comes out Nov 19th. Today comes news
Republican rocker has teamed up with outspoken liberal actor Sean Penn to star in a new short film called Americans, according to Billboard. The 11-minute piece, written by both men, aims to “tear down the one-dimensional political stereotypes portrayed by the media by confronting them head on. It reminds us that what really matters is that we’re all Americans, with diverse thoughts, opinions and stances on issues. We are millions of unique, individual parts, the sum of which comprise a whole that is the shining beacon of freedom throughout the world.” The film begins with Penn walking into a bar and getting annoyed at the sight of Rock on TV performing at a rally for Mitt Romney — only to see Rock seated at the same bar himself. The two immediately get into a shouting match, with Penn calling Rock a “warmongering, redneck, toothless, Wall Street troglodyte” and Rock slamming Penn in return as a “flag-burning, socialist, ACLU, whiney-ass granola-crat.” But the two men — who are actually close friends in real life — are soon put in their place by a female customer at the bar and the sight of a report on TV about 26 members of the U.S. military being killed in Afghanistan. Rock and Penn make up and begin a series of adventures, such as attending a gay wedding and going shopping for a Prius for Rock — which he promptly decorates with a gun rack on the back. The two eventually end up riding away on bicycles as a message flashes across the screen that says, “Don’t let politics divide us. Thinking differently. It’s what made this country great.” Just reminds us, we all have a voice. Make it heard Nov 6th and VOTE! Check out the Rock-Penn video here. (Thanks Pulse of Radio)….Deftones invited the son of ailing bass player Chi Cheng onstage with them in Sacramento on Wednesday night (Oct 10th), according to Loudwire. Cheng has been in a semi-comatose state for nearly four years after sustaining head injuries in a November 2008 car accident. At the band’s show in the California capital — which is also Deftones’ hometown — they invited Gabe Cheng to play bass on the song “Root” as the audience gave him a deafening welcome. See Gabe perform with the Deftones here. You can donate to help take care of Chi at oneloveforchi.com. We’ll be speaking with Chino Moreno of the band on Oct 29th when they arrive in NYC on their current tour with Scars on Broadway.…Well, it all started on the hardDrive Live Tour and now it looks like it could be more than just a fill-in slot! Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti lucked out when he got Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen to join Tremonti’s touring band at the last minute to replace Brian Marshall. Now Tremonti has told Metal Shrine he’s looking forward to extending Van Halen’s tenure in the band. Tremonti explained, “We’ve already talked about (recording) and we look forward to it. I think it’ll add a whole other element to this band.” Tremonti said Van Halen is “a very positive person and good to be around and an incredibly talented musician,” adding he had considered bringing him into the band at an earlier stage — until Van Halen decided to go on tour. Tremonti is touring in support of his first solo disc, All I Was. He just finished a headlining stint on the Harddrive Live tour and is now in Europe for a series of gigs opening for Slash. Van Halen is off the road for the rest of 2012 while Eddie Van Halen recovers from surgery on his intestinal tract, which means Wolfgang has at least a few more months to stay on the road with Tremonti. I love it!….Blabbermouth reports Finnish rock cello act Apocalyptica have gotten behind the Pink Ribbon campaign in their home country for breast cancer research. A number of well-known Finns have pledged their support by promising to do something unusual when the campaign reached sales of 30,000 pink ribbons in support of the cause. Apocalyptica said in a statement, “To celebrate sales of 30,000 pink ribbons, we play (the Black Sabbath song) ‘Paranoid’ (in Finland ‘play ‘Paranoid’ is the slogan people shout on every show for every band) . . . Hope you’ll have fun with this and please take part in your local Pink Ribbon campaigns all over the world!!!” I hear the band has been working on their next album, which we should see later in 2013….Spoke briefly with Metallica manager Cliff Burnstein at the Led Zeppelin press conference. ‘tallica is currently working on their 3-D movie they filmed earlier this year and are also doing shows here and there, all the while working on new material. Hopefully a new album could be ready by the time the second Orion Music and More Festival is in effect in June……Celebrating birthdays this weekend: Saturday: Sammy Hagar turns, are you ready, 65! Joey Belladonna of Anthrax is 52 and Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Bruno, Ali G) turns 41. On Sunday, NY Yankees coach Joe Girardi turns 48! GO YANKEES!
