Happy St Valentine’s Day! It was all about the love last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC when the Sound City Players: Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters (with Rami Jaffee and Jessy Greene), Alain Johannes (Them Crooked Vultures), Lee Ving (Fear), Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Rick Springfield, John Fogerty and Stevie Nicks, who each had their own mini-set of songs, some playing with Krist Novoselic on bass and Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine) on drums, and it was a love fest for nearly 3.5 hours! Got a VIP pass, but the heat was on in the building and the AC wasn’t working, and it was a hot box up there, so I found the perfect little perch on the floor by the bar where it’s on the top step with no one in front of me, singing happily along. It was an amazing show, with clips of the documentary, Sound City: Real to Reel, played in between the set changes. It was a killer night. My feet hurt and my ears are still ringing, but it was totally worth it all! Can’t wait to hopefully do it again in Austin exactly one month from today! The audience was a range of folks from my age and older, to the 20 somethings. It was really cool. Dave is a genius and a star. I had never seen Lee Ving, Chris Goss or Stevie Nicks in person before. Nicks put on just a great set, talking about the song she wrote for the Sound City soundtrack, that was inspired by the death of her 18 year old godson who died from an overdose at a frat party in college. It was moving. And she’s got that etherialness about her. I can see why she carries the impression of being a witch. But a nice and talented one at that. Rick Nielsen commented how great Taylor Hawkins was (filling in for the absent Corey Taylor, who was in LA touring with Stone Sour.) He said something to the effect that “since Corey’s not here, I can tell you Taylor, you’re great!” So now I will have to make sure Lou Brutus tells him, who will be on the way to Vegas to spend the weekend with Stone Sour! LOL Anyhow, Fios on Demand has Sound City to view and so does iTunes. Buy it, rent it, watch it so you can appreciate the love too! Soundtrack comes out on Mar 12th….Scott Weiland just announced a 20 city solo tour called Purple to the Core. Hmmm, wonder what material he’s doing. See Road Rage. Starts Mar 1 in Flint, MI. More dates TBA….Alice In Chains have finally announced the name of their album. The follow up to the hugely successful Black GIve Way to Blue is, ready? The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. OK! Glad we had to wait for that! Coming out in early May….Speaking of, Rocklahoma features Alice in Chains, Korn and Guns ‘N Roses! The festival in Pryor, OK is May 24-26. Tix on sale Feb 21. I sent an email to one of the promoters saying “You better start the show late the night GNR play!” And he wrote back, “It’s a no curfew venue!” HA! Nice….As announced a day earlier, Black Sabbath released yesterday (Feb 13th) a behind-the-scenes video online that takes viewers into the studio for a glimpse of the making of the band’s new album, 13. All three original members — singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler — seem enthusiastic about finally working together again after 35 years, with Iommi saying about the album, “You can’t always repeat what you’ve done, you’ve just got to go on. It’ll be today’s version of how it was 40 years ago, I suppose.” ….And it you don’t have a “Valentine” do something nice for someone you like today! 🙂
