The widow of late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has asked fans to stop leaving flowers, letters and other tributes to her husband at the house where he took his life. A steady stream of followers have flocked to the residence in Palos Verdes Estates ever since Bennington took his life last July, leaving flowers and notes close to the driveway of the suburban Los Angeles home.
But on Monday, Talinda Bennington retweeted a message from an employee at Linkin Park’s record company, Warner Brothers, reminding fans to leave their items at the record company’s Los Angeles offices and assuring them that their tributes would still be received.
She wrote, “Please go to Warner Bros Records as a place for memorial for @ChesterBe. We will have a special memorial for his birthday but we are still trying to figure out the details. Thank you for all of your love & support. Our family will receive all of your cards and gifts still. And we deeply appreciate them.”
Talinda added in a separate tweet, “We have moved into a new home . . . and the well meaning fans that still come to the house, are disturbing our tenants. We (our family & the band) are deciding on the best place for a permanent memorial. It’s a big decision and your respect & patience is appreciated. We love you all.”
Chester committed suicide on July 20th at the age of 41. A private funeral service took place nine days later near his home in Palos Verdes. Linkin Park paid tribute to Bennington last October 27th with an emotional three-hour show that featured numerous guests joining the band onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The band has yet to announce whether it intends to continue without Bennington.
The long wait for a new album from A Perfect Circle may finally be coming to a close. Guitarist Billy Howerdel said on the show 2 Hours With Matt Pinfield that the band’s fourth studio LP was going to be finished “imminently,” adding, “I’d say in the next several weeks we will be done with this record . . . We are certainly past the half way point and I’d say Maynard’s probably further along than I am musically. At least with the finished tracks. The songs are there but there’s tidying up to do there on some stuff there.”
Asked about how the schedule for A Perfect Circle could intersect with that of singer Maynard James Keenan‘s other band, Tool, who are also supposed to release a new LP this year, Howerdel told us he doesn’t let it concern him: “I’ve always treaded gently, if not at all, in that camp. You know, it’s Maynard’s first child, and I don’t get involved with that at all. I’ll wait for him to present himself to me.” Howerdel said the band was planning to do some more recording in a Hollywood studio, one of several facilities in Los Angeles where work has been done on the LP.
He maintained that the disc would arrive in the second quarter of this year, somewhere between April and June. The last A Perfect Circle studio effort, eMOTIVe, arrived in 2004. The band released a new song on New Year’s Day called “Disillusioned.” (Hear it above!) The track followed up another new tune, “The Doomed,” which came out earlier last year. A limited edition 10-inch containing both cuts will be available on March 9th.
A 23-year-old tour bus owned by Hellyeah and ex-Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott is now on sale at eBay for $45,000. The listing says that the 1995 bus was purchased by Abbott from country star Tim McGraw and contains 11 bunks, a/c and heat throughout, a full-size refrigerator, restroom, kitchen with plenty of cabinets and counter space, a TV, cooler and several couches.
Lower offers are also being accepted, but full payment — by money order, cashiers check or cash — is due within seven days of the end of the auction on January 14th at 11:24 p.m. CT. The buyer will have to pick up the tour bus in person in Carrollton, Texas, or arrange for it to be shipped to another location.
Hellyeah entered The Hideout recording studio in Las Vegas in early November to begin recording its sixth album and the follow-up to 2016’s Unden!able.
Late AC/DC co-founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young will be honored with a charity tribute concert in Melbourne this February, according to Australia’s Music Feeds. The event will take place at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on Saturday, February 17th, the same day AC/DC released its debut album, High Voltage, in 1975.
Artists confirmed for the event include local AC/DC cover band Whole Lotta Rosie, along with members of various well-known Australian acts such as the Jimmy Barnes Band, the Suzi Quatro Band, Powderfinger and others. All proceeds from the show will be sent to the Dementia Foundation.
Malcolm, who co-founded AC/DC with brother Angus in 1973, died on November 18th at the age of 64 after suffering from dementia and failing health for several years. His condition forced him to leave the band in 2014, with his nephew Stevie Young stepping into Malcolm’s position.
Hundreds of mourners gathered for his November 28th funeral in Sydney, Australia, including Angus and other members of the Young family, along with former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd, ex-AC/DC bassists Mark Evans and Cliff Williams, and ex-AC/DC singer Brian Johnson.
Malcolm was remembered as a “humble man” and “musical mastermind,” with friend David Albert saying in his eulogy that Malcolm’s impact on the music industry was nothing short of momentous. Young’s beloved Gretsch guitar, “The Beast,” rested on his coffin during the service.
An old friend of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain named John Purkey, who runs a YouTube account called The Observer, recently uploaded four videos containing cassette audio of Nirvana demos from the late Eighties. Purkey claims that the tapes were given to him by Cobain himself. They include early recordings of songs that would eventually make up the band’s debut LP Bleach, as well as material recorded with Melvins drummer Dale Crover and audio of early, pre-Dave Grohl Nevermind recordings featuring Chad Channing on drums. Purkey has also offered comments on each tape. The tapes amount to about two hours of material, some of which has been heard by fans before, with much of it sounding raw and unpolished.
Finally, let’s all wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the legendary Jimmy Page! Crank up some Zepplin today!
