Thanksgiving is a time to take inventory on all the things we can be thankful for. I am thankful for you, the fan of the show and the website. Without you, we’re nothing, so thank you. Now the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in it’s 86th year, marches straight past our office windows. Last year, we tried to get there, but they closed off the subway entrance to my building’s side of the street, making it impossible to get across. I was bummed. And after watching it from the street, I realized, it is still much better on TV, if you like that sort of thing. I might go see them blowing up the balloons tonight, which is actually cooler….. Keeping in the spirit, Pulse Content reports Linkin Park is teaming up with the United Nations via the band’s charitable foundation, Music For Relief, to help give the gift of clean energy next Tue (Nov 27th) on what is being labeled “Giving Tuesday.” Throughout the day-long event and the holiday season, fans who make a donation at PowerTheWorld.org will be able to give a solar light to someone without electricity or solar power to a hospital or health clinic in need of energy. Fans can also provide someone in need with the “Soccket,” a new clean energy tool that’s a combination soccer ball and power generator. I know a lot of people who live on the ocean around here that could use that for sure!….Metallica will release a new live DVD called Quebec Magnetic on Dec 10th, which was filmed in Quebec City, Canada during a two-night stand in October 2009 on the Death Magnetic tour. The double DVD and single Blu-ray will both retail for the “fan-friendly” price of $15.98. Quebec Magnetic will also be the first project Metallica releases on its own, instead of going through a record label or video distributor. Guitarist Kirk Hammett told Billboard.com, “We felt like we’re really doing a disservice just sitting on this great live footage, so we decided to put it out.” ……Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows has hinted at the direction of the band’s next studio album, telling Metal Hammer it will not sound like “Carry On,” the group’s contribution to the new video game Call Of Duty: Black Ops II. Shadows explained, “The new album has a lot more of a (Black) Sabbath / (Led) Zeppelin feel to it than ‘Carry On.’ There’s definitely more Sabbath in what we’re writing, and we’re proud of ‘Carry On,’ but this album is going to be on a whole new level.”… Pulse also reports Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger says success comes down to one thing: numbers. In a new article on the group by Business Week, Kroeger says there’s nothing mysterious about achieving success as a musician, explaining, “I always thought it was strange when these artists like Kurt Cobain or whoever would get really famous and say, ‘I don’t understand why this is happening to me. I don’t understand!’ . . . There is a mathematical formula to why you got famous. It isn’t some magical thing that just started happening. And it’s going to move exponentially throughout your career as you grow, or can decline exponentially if you start to fail as an artist.” Hey, love ’em or hate ’em, the numbers certainly add up for Nickelback, who have at least 19 hit singles and have sold 50 million albums worldwide. Kroeger himself, who is the band’s mastermind when it comes to merchandising, product placement and licensing as well as music, has earned nearly $10 million a year as of May 2011. He owns a vacation home in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and a 20-acre horse farm in British Columbia, Canada. He’s a pretty smart cookie, and, dare I say, a pretty nice guy….Was emailing yesterday with Lzzy Hale, and I discovered Halestorm is doing two shows with our friend Alice Cooper! Tonight they’re in Boise. (They LOVE Alice!) We’ll have Lzzy as a guest on the show soon!…..Blabbermouth reports the “lost” second album from Dark New Day, titled Hail Mary, will finally be released via Pavement Music on Feb 19th. Hail Mary was recorded several years ago as the follow-up to the band’s debut, Twelve Year Silence, but was never released by its then-record label, Warners. The band consisted of Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery, his brother Corey from Stereomud, Stuck Mojo & Eye Empire on bass, ex-Creed touring bassist Brett Hestla on vocals, Switched guitarist Bradley “B.C.” Kochmit and Evanescence & Skrape drummer Will Hunt, who said, “We in Dark New Day are extremely excited that our ‘lost’ album is finally going to get the proper release and treatment it deserves.”….Celebrating birthdays, Saturday, Nov 24, Tony Rombola of Godsmack turns 48. Will see him next week on Shiprocked! Chad Taylor of Live and The Gracious Few turns 42. On Sunday, Mark Lanagan of Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age turns 48. I’ll be keeping an eye on the news and will be checking in with info. You can also keep an eye on our Facebook (hardddriveradio) and if you haven’t already, LIKE US! Have a great holiday and be listening to the hardDrive tradition this weekend, our Cover It Up cover song special edition! It’s a good one!
