Oh man, I can’t take my eyes off the TV while authorities are on the trail of the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. I lived in Boston for 18 years and my heart goes out to the Hub area and with the drama going down in one of the towns where I once lived, Watertown, it really is close to home. I hope they can catch this kid alive so we can find out the why and, indeed, make him pay!…..Well Rush finally made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! I love the acceptance speech by guitarist Alex Lifeson, who brought down the house with a speech consisting entirely of “blah blah blahs,” changing the tone of his voice to exhibit a range of emotions — with everyone understanding what he meant, especially when he “described” getting the call that the band was being inducted. Right on, dude! In addition to Rush’s induction (by Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins), Heart (inducted by Chris Cornell), Randy Newman and Public Enemy (inducted by Tom Morello) The night ended with the traditional jam as all the members of Rush, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Chuck D. from Public Enemy, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters, Chris Cornell from Soundgarden, John Fogerty, Gary Clark Jr., Tom Morello and DMC of Run-DMC broke out “Crossroads.” Crossroads? The Cream song, the Bone Thugs ‘N Harmony song or the original by Robert Johnson? Why? Not a Heart, Rush or Public Enemy song! Oh well. Meanwhile, Rush is getting a commemorative stamp from the Canadian Postal Service. It’s pretty cool! Check it out.….Watch the new video for Alice in Chains‘ video “Stone”? Jerry Cantrell told us he wrote the song when he was recovering from his shoulder surgery! “The riff for that is really great, and I didn’t even come up with it on a guitar. I was actually, I think, rehabbing my shoulder, so I couldn’t even play. I started hearing it in my head, so I grabbed my phone and started humming this riff into the phone, and a couple of months later I found it, and I’m like, ‘Wow, yeah.’ That was pretty great to get that one when I was kind of incapacitated and not able to play, and just kind of hummed it into the phone and remembered it.”….The first single from Black Sabbath‘s new album, 13, began streaming online yesterday (April 18th) and is expected to arrive at rock radio stations on Friday (April 19th). The song, called “God Is Dead?,” is nearly nine minutes long and begins with a soft guitar, builds into a slow, doom-laden stomp, then switches halfway through into a more uptempo riff that comes the closest to the sound of the classic early Sabbath albums. Ozzy told us a while back he had just one standard that a new Sabbath album had to meet: “If you don’t do an album that blows the doors off the last one that we did together, then it’s gonna be looked upon as a joke, you know.” ….Pulse Content posted part of my interview with Joshua Homme today. Queens Of The Stone Age‘s new album, . . . Like Clockwork, features guest appearances from Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl and other luminaries, including the legendary Elton John. We asked Queens frontman Josh Homme how he snagged the iconic singer/songwriter to play on the record on a tune called “Fairweather Friends”: “It actually stemmed from an old roommate of mine, who drives really high-end folks around now, and Elton was in the car listening to Them Crooked Vultures, I guess. And his assistant was saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got to hear Queens, the other band of this guy,’ you know. And because my old roommate was driving the car, it was like, ‘Do you want to talk to him?’ And I just got a phone call at my house on a Sunday. You know, he said, ‘The only thing missing from your band is an actual queen,’ and I said, ‘Honey, you have no idea.’” Hmmm, wonder what he meant????…..Papa Roach released the video for “Leader Of The Broken Hearts” off their latest album, The Connection. The album will be re-released as a special tour edition on May 6. It will also contain a bonus DVD of a live performance at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Frontman Jacoby Shaddix said, “I was able to make this record, express myself and get my family back together and get my respect from my band. At the eleventh hour, I pulled it off. I don’t know, man, this is a repeating cycle in my life. I don’t know how many more times I can do this to myself.” ….Happy 59th today to producer and former leader of the Payolas, Bob Rock. Saturday, Happy 46th to Mike Portnoy of Adrenaline Mob, former drummer for Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold. Sunday, Happy 66th to Iggy Pop, Robert Smith of the Cure turns 54, and Queen Elizabeth II will be 87.
