Weekly update – 03/28/08

Crosby, Stills & Nash at the Central Park Summer stage on Tues. July 29. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 am. $66.

Jimmy Buffet at MSG on Thurs. June 12. Also at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Sun. Aug. 24. Tickets on sale this Monday at 9:00 a.m. $51.50 – $201.50.

Steely Dan at the Beacon Theater on Fri., Sat., Tues. & Wed. June 13, 14 and 17 and 18th. Pre-sale on now for American Express Cardholders. General public on sale this Monday at 10:00 a.m. $54-$154. 

Erykah Badu and the Roots at Radio City Music Hall on Fri. May 9th. Tickets on sale this morning at 9:00 am. $55.50-$80.50.

Pearl Jam tickets on sale Friday April 11 for the Garden shows in June.

Sheryl Crow at the Central Park summer stage on Thurs. May 29. Tickets on sale today at noon. $65.

George Michael at MSG on Mon. & Wed. July 21 & 23. Pre-sale begins on Monday through I-Tunes if you purchase his new album “25” which includes 29 of his greatest hits and 33 videos now before it hits Tuesday and you’ll receive a password from I-Tunes. General public on sale is Mon. April 7.  

The Neville Brothers at the NY Fillmore on Wed. July 2. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 am. $35.

Kenny Chesney and LeAnn Rimes at PNC Arts Center on Thurs. July 24. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 am. $80.75 ($40 for lawn seats).

Counting Crows and Maroon 5 at Jones Beach & PNC on Thurs. July 31 and Thurs. Aug. 7.  Pre-sale through I-Tunes again if you pre-order Crows new CD. General public to be on Mon. Apr. 7. (I am no fan of the CC, I don’t get how they are considered a headliner. I thought they’d be playing Great Adventure by now)

Heart, Journey and Cheap Trick at Jones Beach and PNC on Thurs. Aug. 14 and Thurs. Aug. 21. No ticket info yet….I’m IN.

Type O Negative at the Starland Ballroom in NJ on Sat. May 10. Tickets on sale today at noon. $25.

Other items:

The Allman Brothers Beacon Theater dates in May have been canceled. They will be rescheduled for later in the year.

Young woman named Duffy from England will remind you of Amy Winehouse and she has a solid retro voice that you need to check out. Look for her new song on I-Tunes called “Rockferry.” I like it.  I also like her other popular song called “Mercy,” which was released as a single last month.

I’m loving the new song “Inside The Fire” by Disturbed which was just released as a single off of their upcoming album “Indestructible” which is set for a June 3rd release. \m/ \m/ They will start a tour this spring and Five Finger Death Punch has been tapped as opener. No NY dates, they’ll be at Webster Theater in Hartford CT on Sunday April 20.

Ok this is how far the music industry has fallen: Walmart has become the largest music retailer. I still refuse to purchase CD’s from them, just ain’t the cool thing to do but I may be tempted now. Why you ask? Well, Walmart is telling record labels to drop prices on its CD’s to as little as $5 and if they don’t start dropping prices, Walmart will stop selling CD’s. The chain has become such a music biz powerhouse that the Eagles sold 2.6 million copies of their 2007 disc at Walmart and Journey has recently agreed to release their three-disc set “Revelations” on June 3rd only through Walmart. Man, I remember as a teenager buying all my albums in Brooklyn on 86st street at a place called “The Little Record Store.” I’m sick.

The B-52’s have released their first album in sixteen years and “Funplex” is getting good reviews from the listeners at I-Tunes. I haven’t decided to take the plunge for the whole album yet but I have bought two songs from it- “Pump” and “Keep This Party Going.”  My uncle turned me on to these guys way back in 1979 and one of my all-time favorites from them is “Planet Claire.”

Madonna‘s new single “4 minutes” was released this past Tuesday from her upcoming album “Hard Candy” which is produced by Justin Timberlake. I like the single.

OK this week’s classic album review is the greatest hits collection from Sam Cooke, now I know you say that a greatest hits collection can’t be a classic album but back in the 1950’s and 1960’s there were not too many albums released by recording artists, mainly singles, so that is why I am considering it a classic. For those of you who don’t know who Sam Cooke is—well I won’t hold it against you but….. First off, please find a greatest hit collection that includes “A Change is Gonna Come.” This song is one of the most important songs that has ever been written and recorded. Every time I hear the song, I just stop what I’m doing and listen with awe. But that is not even my favorite song by him, that honor belongs to “Nothing Can Change This Love” and if I had to pick my all time favorite song ever- this would be it. Every time I hear this song, I ask my wife for her hand to dance- find me a better love song!! Another song that I could listen to over and over is “Bring It On Home to Me”- come on now this is pure greatness. I could go on and on about this man’s contribution to music history but I’d be here for a long time. Other classics are “That’s It, I Quit, I’m Moving On”, “Chain Gang”, “Cupid”, “Twistin’ The Night Away”, “Having a Party” (Yes he wrote that song-not Southside Johnny), “Love You Most of All” and of course “You Send Me” -arguably his most popular song (my dad would be upset if I didn’t put this song down). You really can’t go wrong with any of his greatest hit collection. Come on, find me a better voice? Everyone should own something by Sam Cooke. Again pass it on to anyone who will listen and if they don’t- force them to listen to it. I do it- I sit on my kids so they know what the classics are…..

92.3 K-Rock‘s bracket brawl is down to the Elite 8 and today the Final Four will be decided. Left standing are: Zep, Hendrix, Metallica, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, GNR, Pearl Jam and Tool.  I have 5 out of the 8 in my bracket picks. Final Four will be determined today and matches are: ’70’s bracket: Zep vs. Hendrix, 10:00am; ’90’s bracket Pearl Jam vs. Nirvana 1:00 p.m.; ’80’s bracket GNR vs. Metallica 4:00 p.m. and Now bracket Tool vs. Foo Fighters at 7:00 p.m. Then continues on Monday for last two battles ’70’s vs. ’80’s at 10:00 a.m. and ’90’s vs. Now at 1:00 p.m. and then ultimate battle at 4:00 p.m.

This year’s 3rd annual VH1 Honors will only honor The Who– it will be a two hour special with spoken tributes, today’s biggest band performing their songs and The Who themselves. Most likely to air in May.

Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Neil Aspinall who passed away at the young age of 66 from lung cancer. Aspinall is fondly referred to as the fifth member of the Fab Four because of his close ties to bandmembers Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. He served as the former road manager and business advisor for the Fab Four for over 40 years, and even sang backing vocals for the group’s hit “Yellow Submarine.”

Richie Sambora was arrested for DUI this week and had his 10 year old daughter in the car with him. Pretty careless I’d say.

Heart‘s music is often performed on American Idol, but on April 9th, Ann and Nancy Wilson — the band’s frontwomen — will appear on the charity fundraising special Idol Gives Back. They’re slated to perform their ’70s smash “Barracuda” with current chart sensation Fergie. Finally, they hope to begin recording their first album since 2004 later this year.

Speaking of American Idol I’m still mad that Chikeze was voted off on Wednesday night. Come on America, you nailed the wrong “dog.” Chikeze can sing, that song he did Tuesday was flawless, no matter what Randy or Simon thought.

Dr. Pepper is offering everyone in the country a free Dr. Pepper soda if Axl releases “Chinese Democracy” before the end of this year…. He won’t do it… he’ll keep everyone waiting as usual… except for me…

Back on this day in 1979, Eric Clapton married Pattie Boyd, George Harrison’s ex-wife. George, Ringo and Paul were all in attendance. Weird….

On this day in 1968 the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit was“(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” by Otis Redding. The song reaches No. 1 three months after Redding is killed in a plane crash near Madison, Wis.

Weekly Update – 03/21/08

Kid Rock with Lynyrd Skynyrd at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, May 15. It’s the Rock N Roll Revival Tour and special guests will include Reverend Run from Run-DMC and Peter Wolf. Sounds like its going to be a party at the Garden on that night! Pre-sale is on now at https://tixx1.artistarena.com/kidrock. Enter username: kidrock and password: tickets. Or go to ticketmaster and the password is HEKRLS. General public on sale tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. $41-$101.

Iron Maiden at PNC Arts Center and the Garden on Sat. & Sun. June 14 and 15. Pre-sale for Garden today from 10:00 am until 10:00 tonight and password is: HEIRON. General public on sale tomorrow at 10:00 am. $26-$69 at PNC $55 – $74.50 at Garden.

Duran Duran at the Central Park Summerstage on Sat. May 31. Pre-sale through Citi card members on now. General public on sale tomorrow at noon. $65.

George Thorogood & The Destoyers with Buddy Guy at the Hammerstein on Friday night Aug. 15. Tickets on sale next Wed. Mar. 26 at noon. $35-$50
Summer Slaughter Tour at the Fillmore NY on Thurs. June 26 beginning at 4:30 p.m. featuring Black Dahlia Murder, Kataklysm, Vader, Cryptopsy, The Faceless, Despised Icon, Aborted, Born of Osiris Psycroptic and White Chapel. Tickets on sale today at noon.

Elton John at Radio City Hall for one night on Wed. April 9 to support Hillary Clinton. Tickets on sale now. $125, $250 and $500. You can buy as many tickets as long as you don’t surpass $2,300 which is the max someone can contribute to campaign.

Pearl Jam at MSG on Tues. & Wed. June 24 and 25. Tickets on sale Sat. April 12. You know fan club members will get first shot and my assumption is their will also be a pre-sale. Will keep you posted.

Gretchen Wilson at North Fork Theater in Westbury NY on Thurs. Aug. 7. Tickets on sale Sunday April 6 at 12:30 p.m. $61

Other items:

Came across a cool alternative song this week, “Sober Driver” on the internet from a group called Dengue Fever. Go to to check out the song.

New rumor about Led Zep reunion tour has Velvet Revolver opening up for them. Come on now, I can think of 100 other bands that I would rather see open.
By the way, contrary to what Matt Sorum predicted, there is a buzz about STP getting back together. I know I’m psyched and that’s all that counts. They are BACK and will be touring this summer. Will keep you posted.

Motley Crue apparently have a big tour coming up with Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Drowning Pool. No official word but they have a press conference scheduled for April 15. If you’d like to have the chance to be at the press conference, put your name in the hat at http://therockvine.com.

The Raconteurs will release their 2nd album next Tuesday and its called “Consolers of the Lonely.” The album was completed and mastered in the first week of March and then taken to vinyl and CD pressing plant immediately so that no one has an advantage of hearing the music before anyone else. A video of the first single “Salute Your Salution” will also be posted on their web site on Tuesday.

Van Halen has rescheduled their NJ and NY dates and they are now Tuesday May 13 at the IZOD Center and Friday May 23 at the Garden. If you have tickets and can’t make it-you have until April 14 to send back your tickets. If you need further info on that, e-mail me.
OK I have another classic album that you should run out and purchase now.

It is Bill Withers third album “Still Bill”. This man just exudes coolness, c’mon you have to admit it. Talk about great R&B, he ranks right up there as one of the all time best, in my opinion. The quality of the song writing is superb and starts right off with “Lonely Town, Lonely Street”- just a finger snapping groove tune. Then onto the beautiful “Let Me In Your Life.” Tracks 3-5 are again totally groovin’ tunes with 4 and 5 being two of his biggest hits ever with “Use Me” and “Lean On Me.” The second half highlights are “I Don’t Know,” “Another Day to Run” and my favorite of the whole album “I Don’t Want You on My Mind.” C’mon you can’t tell me that you don’t like this album, I defy you. Please buy it and pass it on. Play it for your kids and their friends, play it for anyone who will listen. You’ll find yourself listening to this album over and over.

OK switching gears to rock or grunge or whatever you want to call it, came across Soundgarden in my I-POD shuffle and stopped in my tracks and immediately had to listen to “Superunknown” from beginning to end. If I had to pick the best album of the 1990s- this is it. Now granted it did take me a long time to like this album. It came out in 1994 and I did not start liking it until 1995 or 1996. I was thisclose to bringing the CD back to the store but I kept hearing the buzz at that time and figured I needed to hold off and give a try. It’s dark and gloomy at points but it really was their breakout album and in my mind one of the reasons they broke up because they could not top this CD. The album starts off with “Let Me Drown” and the drumming by Matt Cameron (who now is in Pearl Jam) is friggin’ great throughout but starts with this rockin’ song. Then onto another rocking song “My Wave” and Kim Thayil’s lead work on this song and throughout is solid. He doesn’t get the props he deserves, a solid axeman. Then it slows down quite a bit with “Fell On Black Days” and then my personal favorite of the album “Mailman”- again dark but I love it. Then it charges back up again with “SuperUnknown” and Cornell’s vocals are just flat out scorching on this one!! Track 6 “Head Down” could very well be the best song they ever recorded- so different from anything they did- again the guitar and drum playing are incredible. Then onto a “radio favorite” back in the day “Black Hole Sun”- dark lyrics but you can’t get the song out of your head. Then onto the song which Cornell wrote about this man who played music with spoons, the rocking “SpoonMan”- (I saw this guy at their show back in the ’90’s at the NY Armory and he was just crazy man, never thought I see a spoon solo- but you know what?- it worked). The second half of the album becomes real dark and again I can’t tell you why-but- I love it. Even the titles are scary but standouts are “Limo Wreck”, “The Day I Tried To Live” and “Like Suicide. “The “Fourth of July” is another great song. Give it a try. Overall I’d have to say that this is a colossal masterpiece. (how’s that for dramatic?).

Metallica‘s new album to come out in September and the word is its back to their “early days” sound.

Poison’s summer tour dates leaking out, no tri-state dates as of yet. Dokken and Sebastian Bach will be joining them for this years summer tour.

The official video for “Shockwave” is complete and now showing on MTV2. The video from the Miami Fla based band Black Tide includes the motocross bad boys of the Metal Mulisha also make an appearance making this video a throwback to the glory days of ’80s metal! Check it out here Got to love this song!!! Stay with the same site and it will bring you to another cool video/song with We The Kings “Check Yes Juliet”.

Snoop Dogg‘s new album “Ego Trippin'” is getting rave reviews, some calling it his best work. The single “Life of Da Party” is growing on me, I like it.

Breathing a sigh of relief on the fact that Sublime did not make it past round 2 in 92.3 Krock’s March Bracket Brawl. Soundgarden knocked ’em off. Closer than I expected though, 52% to 48%. Now I can follow the rest of the battles. Zep beat out the Who; Metallica squashed Def Leppard and Incubus (the surprise Cinderella team) beat out S.O.A.D. Love this bracket game more than the NCAA’s. Fun to follow.

The Type O Negative and Hatebreed Jagermeister Tour have announced the venue for NY and it is Terminal 5, still no ticket info yet. Keep checking terminal 5 web site for further info at www.terminal5nyc.com.

Weekly Update – 03/14/08

Foo Fighters at the IZOD Center on Tues. July 29. Pre-sale on now until 10:00 p.m. tonight and password is Summer. General public on sale tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.$38.50 – $45. 

The following shows are at the Nokia Theater:

Soulja Boy on Mon. Apr. 14. Tickets on sale today at noon. $27.50.

Kids In the Hall on Fri. thru Sun. Apr. 18-20. Tickets on sale today at 10:00 a.m.$39.50 -$49.50.

T-Pain and Family Playlist Tour on Wed. Apr. 23. Tickets on sale today at noon. $38.50-$40.

Third Eye Blind on Tues. & Wed. Apr. 29 and 30. Tickets on sale today at noon. $29.50.

Rod Stewart at Jones Beach & PNC Arts Center on Tues. & Wed. Aug. 19 & 20. Tickets on sale tomorrow. $35.25- $500. (Yes that says $500- Stay home and play his records, no one is worth $500, except maybe for Zep Reunion).

Mark Knopfler at Central Park Summerstage on Wed. July 23 at 5:30 p.m. and Arts Center on Fri. July 25. Pre-sale tickets starts this morning at 10:00 a.m. thru Q1043 and the password is Madame. General public on sale tomorrow at noon. $70

Boyz to Men at BB Kings on Wed. July 16. Tickets on sale now. $37.50 – $40.

Killing Joke at the NY Fillmore on Sat. & Sun. Rocktober 11 and 12th. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

The Last Goodnight at the Blender Theater on Sun. Apr. 6. Tickets on sale this morning at 10:00 a.m.

Lou Reed at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park on Thurs. Apr. 24. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.

Other items:

Van Halen shows have been “re-scheduled” for the IZOD Center and MSG which was suppose to happen on Mar. 13 and Mar. 17. Hey at least it has not been cancelled. Hopefully Eddie’s back on track soon and we get to see them rock out the Tri-State area.

Joe Perry will undergo knee surgery next week. He can’t take the pain any longer as its been bothering him for the past two years.

On March 23rd, VH1 and VH1 Classic will premiere AFTERMATH: The Station Fire Five Years Later. The one-hour special mixes interviews with survivors of the the Station Nightclub fire with footage of the recent Phoenix Rising concert to benefit victims of the blaze. Among the bands who performed at the concert were Twisted Sister, Tesla, Winger and Aaron Lewis. Sister frontman Dee Snider also hosted the concert.The February 2003 fire at the Station Nightclub in Providence, Rhode Island killed 100 people and seriously injured 200 others, only 15 of whom currently qualify for Social Security benefits. The folks at VH1 hope the special will raise awareness about the plight of the survivors. I’ll be watching and contributing!!!

Hatebreed and Type O Negative have been tapped to co-headline the spring Jagermeister Music Tour. The six-week jaunt kicks off May 16th in Providence, Rhode Island and ends June 28th in New York City.

OK discovered a new voice and again its Country music. The voice is that of a young woman named Rissi Palmer and her CD came out last October. The album is excellent and a perfect CD for a house and/or dinner party. The first two songs on the CD are pure hits with “Hold On to Me” and “Country Girl”. She pays homage to one of Country music greatest legends, Patsy Cline, with a cover of “Leavin’ On Your Mind.” Now of course its not as good as the original but you’ll be amazed on her vocals and I’m predicting she is going to be the next big star. Other highlights include “Sweet Contradictions”, “Hurt Don’t Know when to Quit” “Love You Like A Woman” and “All this Woman Needs.” Basically every song is good. Check out her website and see what I mean http://www.rissipalmer.com/frame.php.

K-Rock www.923krock.com is running a cool battle of the bands competition a la the March Madness Basketball Tournament. I entered and have Zep taking everything. First round was the other day and I have to tell you I was shocked to see Aerosmith beat out Black Sabbath. (I had Sabbath going to the Final Four but losing out to Zep- a very tough call). And on another note- Sublime beat out Alice In Chains. Are you kidding me? Can someone tell me how this band became so great? They had one good song. I’m so sick of Sublime (no offense to their fans) and oh by the way-how many “greatest” hit collections can a one song band have? I feel bad about the singer passing away but this is ridiculous. If Sublime make it pass the second round I won’t even check the results from that point onward.

Back on this day in 1972, Carole King won album of the year for “Tapestry” at the 14th Grammy Awards. That was the best selling album of 1971. Great disc- buy it if you don’t already own it.

Weekly Update – 03/07/08

Eric Clapton at PNC Arts Center on Thur. May 22 and at Jones beach on Thurs. June 5. Tickets on sale this Monday Mar. 10. PNC-$44.25-$199.25; Jones $49-$179.  

Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph & the Family Band at the Borgota Center in Atlantic City on Sun. May 25th. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

A third show for Jay Z and Mary J Blige has been added at the Garden for Friday May 2. Tickets on sale this morning at 10:00 am. $99.75-$199.75.

Counting Crowes at the Blender Theater on Sun. & Mon. Mar. 16 & 17. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 am. $38.50.

Les Nubians at Blender Theater on Fri. May 9. Tickets on sale this morning at 10:00 $32.50

Brad Paisley will be at the PNC Arts Center on Sat. June 28. Ticket info to follow.

KT Tunstall at the Town Hall on Wed. & Thurs. May 28 and 29th. Tickets on sale next Friday at 10:00 a.m. $46.50 – $56.50. (Town Hall is acoustic only)

The B-52’s with Cyndi Lauper and the “True Colors” tour will visit Jones Beach on Sunday June 1 and Radio City on Tues. June 3. Ticket info to follow.

Other Items:

Album Review: “Warpaint” by the Black Crowes released this past Tuesday. Ok if you are a Crowes fan, you will love this CD. I will state that this is their best work since 1994’s “Amorica.” There’s probably not a band out there today that does the kind of music they make: blues, rock, country, gospel and soul. Even at the height of their commercial success in the 90’s, they never really fit into the radio format. This album will be no different. These guys are a “throw-back” type of band that make passionate music from all the influences that are instilled in them. You can feel Dylan, Richards, Page and Marley throughout the CD. For all you “older” fans who love Dylan and/or the Allman Brothers but missed these guys (because they came out in the early 1990’s), please take notice- this is the CD for you to get to know them. If you have followed them, (they’ve been on hiatus for a while as they broke up and regrouped in 2005) then this CD will put a smile on your face. This album grooves, you will find yourself bopping your head up and down throughout.

The album starts off with the single released a few weeks back, “Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution” a cool mixture of keyboards and guitar kick it off and Chris Robinson’s vocals flow easily and I love his sort of twang when one of the lines states “Take it easy to avoid any snags”- he carries out “snaaaags” like that. Then just like that- the second tune is “Walk Believer Walk” and its a heavy slow blues rift that most other bands would not put as their second song- but that’s what great about the Crowes- they make their music their own way, in their order. Then its on to what will be a popular song for them “Oh Josephine.” (the longest track on the CD at 6:41) Tracks 4 “Evergreen” is also heavy guitar driven and again the groove is infectious. The heavy guitar continues into track 5 with “Wee Who See the Deep” (one of my favorites on the album) and the background vocals in this song are reminiscent of the Beatles with a great guitar solo in the middle. By the way, one of the new guitarists is Luther Dickson- who also plays with the North Mississippi Allstars and has worked with Robert Randolph. His playing along with Rich Robinson gives this band a new “1-2 punch” they didn’t have before. Track 6 goes back to the more mellow sound with the beautiful “Locust Street”. Then I’d have to say track 7 is one of the two best songs on the CD and this track is “Movin’ On Down the Line”- for some, it may take a while to get going- but sometimes you can’t rush greatness. The groove I was talking about continues with “Wounded Bird” and by this time, you realize 8 songs have past and you say to yourself- man this album is good. But wait it gets better- track 9 is “God’s Got It” (only song not written by the Robinson brothers -song written by the Reverend Charles Jackson) and it has rockin’ bluesy twist that you won’t be able to get out of your head.

Then its on to track #10 which is my favorite song of the album and I will go on record as saying this is the best song that the Crowes have ever recorded- “There’s Gold in Them Hills”- a beautiful song spotlighting Robinson’s vocals. Their musical talent on this song really shines. Can’t say enough about this song- if there is one song you download from I-Tunes, let this one be it. The album ends with “Whoa Mule” and “Here Comes Daylight”- two slow songs but again with the good hooks. The Crowes are back and I know its early in the year but I will say that this CD will end up in my top 5 albums of 2008. They performed the whole CD this past Tuesday at the NY Fillmore and received a good review from the NY Times in Thursday’s edition.

As I mentioned last week- Rolling Stone gave it 3.5 stars and the average rating from I-Tune reviewers is 4.5 stars. By the way, The Crowes have rejected the apology issued from Maxim- the magazine gave a review of the CD without listening to it.

Van Halen has been postponing certain shows across the states for an undisclosed medical reason concerning Eddie. So many rumors flying that the tour was cancelled. Apparently some of the last shows done, Eddie was looped and not playing very well. So far the NJ and NY dates, Mar. 13 and 17th are still on. Every show before the 13th has been rescheduled. Keep you posted on this one as I know a few of us are slated for the Garden, yes I am going again.

Jackson Browne has released his “Solo Acoustic Volume 2” this past Tuesday. Volume 1 was released in 2005. Both are getting rave reviews from fans across I-Tunes and Amazon.

Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Jeff Healy, who passed away this week at the young age of 41. He had a rare form of retinal cancer known as retinoblastoma which claimed his eyesight, beginning at the age of 1. This cancer took his life. He learned to play guitar across his lap. His most popular hit single was “Angel Eyes”. His unique playing style, combined with his bluesy vocals, earned him a reputation as a teenage musical prodigy. He shared stages with George Harrison, BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He loved jazz and his last 3 albums consisted of this genre. His love of jazz led him to host radio shows in Canada where he spun long-forgotten numbers from his personal collection of more than 30,000 vinyl records. His death came weeks before the release of his first rock album in eight years. “Mess of Blues” is slated for release on April 22.

Rolling Stone is reporting that Joan Jett has been added to the list of performers at Monday’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. She’ll pay tribute to inductees The Dave Clark Five, whose singer, Mike Smith, passed away last Friday. What a shame, waited all those years to get inducted but at least he found out he made it. Look for the show on VH1 sometime next week.

Today is Peter Wolf‘s birthday he turns 62. Wolf is lead singer for J. Geils Band.

Even though it is not today’s date, I thought I would mention that on March 5, 1963 the world lost one of the greatest singers of all time, Patsy Cline– she died in a plane crash near Camden Tennessee at the age of 31. She was my mom’s favorite all time singer and has become one of mine as well. Her greatest hit CD has sold over 8 million copies.