SUPER BIG weekend here in NYC! Tonight, The Black Keys at the soon to be shuttered Roseland Ballroom (I am so bummed about this.) Roseland is a great, albeit super old, venue where the sound is always superb and sitelines are perfect. It’s such a drag we are losing yet another venue where rock bands can perform. When packed to the gills, like it probably will be tonight, you can fit 3500 people in there. It opened in 1922 and apparently their current owners don’t have the money or wherewithal to spend what it will take to bring it back to life. It will be very sad when they knock her down to build another skyscraper, or heaven forbid, a parking lot! Anyhow, the evening should be fun, yet melancholy. But probably not as fun as Saturday night when we board a giant Norwegian cruise ship and get hustled down to their big ballroom for the Foo Fighters (who hit the stage at 11 PM!) and the Zac Brown Band. I am very fortunate indeed to have scored tickets for these two special promo events. Don’t hate me…..Meanwhile, Pulse of Radio reports Dave Grohl has opened up a little — just a little — about the new Foo Fighters album, which the band is now in the process of recording. In an interview with BBC Radio One, Grohl said about the band’s eighth studio outing, “We haven’t really disclosed exactly what we are doing. We’re doing something that no one really knows about and we’ll announce pretty soon I think . . . I honestly think the entire concept is really going to take people by surprise and it sounds nuts.” Grohl added, “We recorded something the other day that’s unlike anything we’ve ever done and it starts with a fuse and then it explodes.” The singer and guitarist has hinted in previous interviews that the band is recording in a way that “no one’s ever done before.” Rumors have circulated the group will hit 12 legendary studios in 12 different major cities and record one track at each location, although that is yet to be confirmed. Foo Fighters was also named last week as one of the headliners for the 2014 Firefly Music Festival, which takes place from June 19th to 22nd in Dover, Delaware. Grohl will also be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this April as part of Nirvana. And did you know he has his own luxury jet emblazoned with a red Foo Fighters double F logo?…So just how did the Red Hot Chili Peppers get the chance to play the Super Bowl halftime show this Sunday (Feb 2nd)? Drummer Chad Smith says it was simple: headliner Bruno Mars told the NFL that he wanted them on board as his special guests. Smith told us the Chili Peppers weren’t about to say no: “They would never ask us, you know, they don’t do rock bands anymore, I don’t think, so — maybe in 20 years they might ask us (laughs). But you know, it’s a big event, obviously, and you know, we’ve done some wacky gigs, but this one, this will be up there.” Smith confirmed the Chili Peppers will be playing one of their own songs during the 12-minute halftime show, but kept the rest of the performance under wraps. Meanwhile, following the Super Bowl and a show in the Philippines late next month, Smith said the Peppers are “gearing up to start writing again,” adding, “We’re gonna take a little different approach to the writing process, but for the most part when we all get together, that’s when it really starts.” ….Whoa! Don’t hold your breath for another edition of Metallica‘s Orion Music + More festival. Frontman James Hetfield said in a Jan 27th interview with a Houston radio station the two-year-old event “has been a disaster financially, and it’s not able to happen again because of that. So it’s a bummer.” The first edition of Orion was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey over two days in June of 2012, with the second edition taking place on Detroit’s Belle Isle last June. Both featured around two dozen acts, along with exhibitions, films and other attractions. The Detroit show reportedly brought in around 40,000 fans for the entire weekend to see Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Deftones, Rise Against and others. The financial toll the festival took must have been even worse than the band first estimated, because Hetfield told us last year making money wasn’t the goal: “We’re not expecting this thing to break even for a while, really. It’s a long term investment, and as a band who’s done lots of things over 30 years, this is another adventure. We’re trying to help make a stamp on music history. So at the end of the day, it’s not about us making money at all.” Hetfield told the station the problems facing Orion were part of the same issues that have kept Metallica from touring in the U.S. more frequently. Asked when the band might be back on the road in its home country, Hetfield said, “I’m not sure what’s going on in the States as far as rock and metal goes and concert-wise, but there’s not really any willingness to get a big show out there and make it worthwhile to actually get out there and play . . . It’s pretty tough in North America.” Hmmm, tell that to the promoters of Rock on The Range, Carolina Rebellion, Welcome to Rockville and Fort Rock. Or Rockfest in Kansas City or Cadott, WI. Rock is NOT dead! Ticket prices are just too high!….I have to share this item I saw on Metal Hammer just now. “How To Write A Nine Inch Nails Song.” Very clever, Freddy Scott!….Have a great weekend! Hope your team wins! 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