Man, the cold and flu season is here, I have a stress fracture on my right foot and an abscessed tooth! Can life get any better for me right now? Although the one thing that made me smile this morning is this. Foo Fighters are wasting no time getting back into action. Just days after the band’s first-ever concerts in Mexico were announced, the band has posted a video online starring actor Erik Estrada, best known for his role as a California motorcycle cop on the late ’70s/early ’80s TV series CHiPs. In the clip, Estrada takes his bike and interrupts each band member in the middle of some humdrum domestic chore in a bid to convince them to reunite. The Dec 11th and 13th shows will take place at Mexico City’s 55,000-capacity Foro Sol stadium and are Foo Fighters’ first since Sep 2012….Jane’s Addiction got its star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles last Wednesday (Oct 30th). The star, the 2509th installed on the Walk of Fame, is located at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard. The 30-minute ceremony featured speeches from Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, X‘s John Doe and Doors drummer John Densmore, as well as Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Chris Chaney, drummer Stephen Perkins and frontman Perry Farrell. A private reception took place after the ceremony at new Hollywood club Dirty Laundry. Frontman Perry Farrell told Rolling Stone about the induction, “I think it’s awesome, but at the same time you have to remember it’s only a sidewalk. At the end of the day we’re talking about a sidewalk (laughs). But I’m really happy to be a part of Hollywood’s sidewalk.This is the truth: I try to ignore accolades and trophies. It’s really not why I do it at all, however, to be left out of accolades and trophies is crushing, it’s killing of the spirit. To be included is all I can ask for. I want to be included in the great musicians that have ever lived in Los Angeles.“…I am a friend of Dan Donegan’s on Facebook (and I’d like to think so in real life) and I was moved to read his comments the past day or so about the emotions that are generated when a musician, who is also a family man, has to pack his bags and head out on the road away from home. (Thanks Blabbermouth, for reprinting his comments.) On November 2, Dan posted the following message on his Facebook page: “Something a lot of people don’t realize about musicians/crew is most of us are fathers/husbands and it never gets easy to leave our families behind! Not easy seeing my kids off to school yesterday and seeing them cry ’cause I have to tour. It is a great life to travel and play music, but it can also be very lonely. I’m NOT in any way complaining about the life I have ’cause I’m very fortunate and blessed. [I am] just saying most of you who may enjoy a break from your kids, you get to return home from work and tuck them in bed every night. We drive further away to the next state. Our wives have got to be the strongest people I know to have to handle all duties with the kids, school, home, bills and also being lonely. Yes, it can be glamorous but there’s a price to pay! I’ve missed weddings, funerals, birthdays (including my son’s first b-day), kids’ school events, etc. There’s lots of great bands busting their asses that are happy just to make enough money to have gas to get to the next city. They put blood, sweat and tears into giving you their music or a show to help you feel good too! Do me a favor and it doesn’t need to be my band (FIGHT OR FLIGHT, DISTURBED), but if you hear about a new band, go buy their CD, knowing that all the sacrifices I’ve mentioned, that they are going through similar things and missing their families too! We in DISTURBED appreciate you the fans who have given us a career and have become our extended family and you know what, when we are away from you, we miss you too! So that being said, we have every intention of returning some day as DISTURBED and seeing all your faces again. All bands do what they can to find balance for our love of music and family. Songs help people heal, so find a new band, buy a CD/download it and help spread the word. Keep rock/metal alive.” After a few people commented on Donegan’s initial message by saying that a musicians’ hardships paled in comparison to the ultimate sacrifices made by the American soldiers, he responded with the following post: “Let me be clear about my previous post! Most of you get it and, unfortunately, there’s always a few missing the point! This is not a sob story! This is not comparing who makes a bigger sacrifice. Obviously, anyone who knows us knows our support to the troops and how hard it is for them and what they do. I also know truck drivers have it hard being away from family. The list can go on with many occupations. The point is that even though you may view us as rich rock stars living the dream that there is a human side to us that is our kids, family and friends. We post important things about our personal lives and share with you ’cause you are important to us. A lot of you enjoy that we take the time to talk to you as friends. It’s not always gonna be about music. I’m sharing a human feeling of how hard it can be to leave our families to go tour. That’s not complaining about what we do, it’s just showing that our lives, as glamorous as it can be at times, will always need some balance between work and family. I am also trying to make the point that bands go out and work hard and most with not much to show for it but their love for music is what keeps them going. We all need music because we all find songs that have been therapeutic. I was trying to shed light on the human element of us all that when all musicians walk out the door to bring you music, a lot of us leave our crying kids and wives that have to be without their father for some time. Yes, it’s our choice and music helps keep us sane. I could not live or function without family or music. This is not a pity party. It’s just reminding you that we all are alike and all of us make sacrifices in life. I’m asking you to find some new bands and remember that they are giving you everything they got trying to make enough to go to the next stop. They, too, make those same sacrifices, so go out and buy another band’s CD, go to a small venue and discover someone new. Share your comments about some new bands you discovered early and spread the word and keep metal and rock alive!” Even drummer Mike Wengren struggled greatly with leaving his wife behind, as she just lost her Mom and Mike will be missing the funeral now that Fight or Flight are back out on the road. And I am sure the same feelings will be shared when new dad David Draiman gets back out on tour with his band Device. I think they’re going to need a crowbar to get him out of his house. But that is just the life these musicians live. We all think it’s all big bucks and glamor! It ain’t! So like Dan said, please get out an support rock and keep it and the ones who make it alive!…..Congrats to my boys in Korn who’s single “Never Never,” which yours truly told JD should be the first single from The Paradigm Shift, has reached the Number One slot on the Nielsen Active Rock radio charts! Well deserved!….Today, Ronnie Radke of Falling In Reverse drops by the hardDrive NYC Studios…..Happy 48th today to Wayne Static of Static X.
