Sad news all over the rock world this weekend. First, the passing of Lou Reed. I know, most of you probably only knew him from the collaboration he did with Metallica on the Lulu album. But for me, Lou was sort of soundtrack to my late teen and early 20’s, starting with his work with The Velvet Underground. Check out this great article journalist Chris Morris wrote for Variety magazine and maybe you’ll learn more about the avant-garde artist who pushed the boundaries of what then was a psychedelic and blues/rock based time in rock. Then came news of the cancer diagnosis for Fleetwood Mac bassist , John McVie, forcing the cancellation of the band’s tour in Australia and New Zealand so he can start treatment. Sad weekend indeed…..Pulse of Radio reports Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl recently teamed up with actor Val Kilmer and comedian/musician Jack Black to perform as Sweetriver And The Huckleberry Dogs on an episode of the popular Yahoo! web series Ghost Ghirls. The segment focused on a recording studio being haunted by a 1970s-era Southern rock band — played by Grohl and friends — who require the assistance of the Ghost Ghirls to help them complete their last song, called “Back To The Beginning,” so they can shuffle off this mortal coil permanently and cross over into the afterlife. (Watch here) Another song by the trio, called “Georgia Peach,” appears on the series soundtrack and is available via iTunes. Grohl has done some acting and even guest-hosted the late night talk show Chelsea Lately for a week. But he told us those jobs don’t hold any interest for him: “It’s funny because a lot of people ask, like, ‘Wow, you’re kind of a natural at that, you should do that.’ I’m like, ‘Why? I can fill a stadium in Australia — that’s fun!’” In other news, Grohl will perform with the Zac Brown Band at the 47th annual Country Music Association Awards, which will be broadcast live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET on November 6th from the Bridgestone Area in Nashville. Foo Fighters recently began working on their eighth studio album, with Grohl saying, “We are going to make this album in a way that no one’s ever done before, and we’re pretty excited about it.” The band is also reportedly playing its first-ever shows in Mexico this December, according to a brief message tweeted by Grohl last week. And Dave also produced an EP containing 4 cover songs and one live track for Sweden’s Ghost BC called “If You Have Ghost.” That will be released on Universal/Republic on Nov 19th….Skillet have announced a string of headlining dates beginning after the holidays. See them in the Skillet section on the Road Rage page…..There’s been some movement on the Tool front regarding the band’s long-awaited fifth studio album, according to toolband.com. The person inside the Tool circle who usually posts news at the band’s official website has published a somewhat lengthy new update, in which he writes, “A couple of weeks ago I visited the Tool loft to try and get some kind of idea as to how things were progressing with the writing sessions now that the band was back hard at it. Well, I am happy to report that there has indeed been a lot of progress as far as new material goes, especially with the lengthy so-called ‘epic’ piece that the guys have been arranging for quite some time now.” The post continues that before the band put on their instruments, everyone in the room listened to the demos they had recorded at the previous session. The insider writes, “Judging from the smiles on their faces, it seemed that, for the most part, (the band members) liked very much what they were hearing and that after some finishing touches, the ‘epic’ tune would be ready for Maynard (James Keenan, vocals) to do his thing.” The writer adds the “epic” song contains “complex time signatures, interesting harmonic structure and expanding effects processing — similar to what fans of Tool have come to expect — only now, perhaps not surprisingly, the band has taken it to the next level.” In conclusion, however, the post says, “Please note that I am NOT suggesting in any way that the band is ready to go into the studio any time soon. I honestly have no idea as far as any recording timetables go.” (Editor’s note: Since I am a gambling-type person, I would put money down Tool will start in the studio after the holidays for a possible late spring, summer release. But hey, that’s just a long-shot!)….I will be on the hardDrive hotLine later today with A Perfect Circle mainman Billy Howerdel. Fresh off jury duty, we’ll check in on the band’s upcoming Three Sixty release and more…..Blabbermouth reports my boys Korn played its first-ever concert in China on August 17th as part of the Sonic Shanghai 2013 festival and has now posted a five-minute recap of the event online. Korn’s 11th studio album, The Paradigm Shift, sold 46,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at Number Eight on the Billboard 200 chart last week. The CD arrived in stores on Oct 8th…Mastodon will release “Live in Brixton” Dec. 10th…..Happy 57th today to Monster Magnet’s Dave Wyndorf and Happy 58th to Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
