I remember only parts of that day. Can’t remember if I was home from school or if it was after we were sent home from school, but my Mom and I were glued to the tv watching the awful news unfold about President Kennedy‘s death. It was horrifying, especially when as a kid (I guess I was almost 12) you think the world is great and everything will be the way it is forever. JFK was an enigma: he was handsome, young and unlike any president we’d ever seen. And his wife was beautiful, they were like celebrities. He was the leader of the free world and she was elegant and soft-spoken and caring. It was a horrible day. I just couldn’t imagine what was going to happen next. Was this the start of a world war? Would U.S. citizens be at war with each other? This was the beginning of the conspiracy theories and all that. Just a sad day, all in all. And then all the things that happened to this family with his brother Robert’s assassination, John Jr’s death, Jackie’s death. As if the family was somehow cursed. Crazy. Oh well. On to the news….Pulse of Radio reports Metallica announced the band will join the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park for the second annual “Metallica Night” on May 16th, 2014. The game will be against the Miami Marlins and the group will perform the National Anthem and throw out the first pitch just as they did on the first “Metallica Night” back on May 3rd of this year. The band said in a statement, “Winter might be right around the corner, but we’re already thinking about baseball! We had such an amazing time last year supporting our local team and hanging at the yard that we jumped at the chance to do it all again . . . we’ll be on hand to kick it off with the National Anthem and first pitch, joining the orange and black faithful for the rest of the evening for all kinds of Metalli-fun and games.” Special event tickets for the game will go on sale Friday, Nov 29th at 8:00 a.m. PT. The special package includes a ticket to the game and a limited edition Metallica/Giants hoodie. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Little Kids Rock Bay Area Chapter. Check out last year’s anthem performance and check out those neat guitars here! In other Metallica news, drummer Lars Ulrich gave a new interview to The Talks in which he summed up Metallica’s 32-year career to date, saying, “The one thing I’ll always hold my head up high about is that 32 years later, it’s been quite a ride — it’s been a pretty pure ride, a pretty honest ride, a pretty straight ride — we haven’t done things for ulterior motives or tried to do things for commercial gains or for this or for that, so I feel pretty proud of all of it. I think I can look myself in the mirror and go, ‘It’s okay,’ because that was what I felt at the moment and I did my best.”….Papa Roach has posted a teaser online for its upcoming special on the Fuse network, which will document the band’s recent collaboration with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to make a fan’s dream come true. A teenage fan named Mark Guerra, who is currently battling a brain tumor, wanted his band Breaking Boundaryz to record an EP with Papa Roach. Papa Roach invited Guerra, his bandmates and his family to New York City, where they kicked things off with a dinner and VIP access to Papa Roach’s show that night in New Jersey. The following day, both acts hit the studio to record the EP, with Papa Roach’s label, Eleven Seven Music, announcing it would release the EP digitally and donate a percentage of the profits to the Make-A-Wish foundation. The special chronicling entire three-day experience will air on Fuse on Tuesday (Nov 26th). Check this out…Right now, there’s a dead heat in Smash or Crash between Eve To Adam and Smile Empty Soul! Have you voted yet? Get on over to the home page!…..And I’d like to leave you with this…..Celebrating birthdays this weekend: Today: Happy 73rd to Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame! Stoked they are “getting the band back together” next year! Saturday: Close the bars, Miley Cyrus turns 21, and my brother David is 55. Sunday, Godsmack’s Tony Rombola turns 49 and Chad Taylor of Live and The Gracious Few will be 43.
