C103 Rock Report Thursday March 27, 2008

• As a promotional stunt, Dr Pepper has promised that if Axl Rose releases the long-in-production “Chinese Democracy” GNR album at any point in 2008, everyone in America will get a free can of the soft drink. Axl started working on the album way back in 1994 and has yet to finish it

• Paul McCartney’s divorce troubles aren’t over yet…Heather Mills is reportedly planning to hire an accounting firm to investigate her ex-husband's fortune in an attempt to land a larger divorce settlement. It seems the $48.6-million payout announced last week just isn’t enough for Heather…

• Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, the Kinks and Mott the Hoople are among the other artists who will be featured on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The game hits stores in June.

• The Rolling Stones have been permitted to play Blackpool, England after the city’s council lifted a 44 year ban. The Stones were originally banned when 50 people were hospitalized after riots broke out during a 1964 gig.

• Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora was arrested yesterday morning and charged with a DUI after allegedly driving drunk in Laguna Beach, California. Sambora previously spent two stints in rehab in 2007.

C103 Rock Report Wednesday March 26, 2008

• Aerosmith Guitarist Joe Perry is recovering in hospital after undergoing knee replacement surgery. He put the operation off for 2 years so he could fulfill the band's touring commitments.

• Smashing Pumpkins are suing their record label, Virgin, for using their name & image in a ‘Pepsi Stuff’ promotion which the band claims has damaged their credibility with fans.

• Fleetwood Mac are discussing a 2009 tour, but Lindsay Buckingham tells Billboard “I don’t think anything is written in stone yet” when it comes to the collaboration Sheryl Crow alluded to earlier this month.

• Lou Reed, My Chemical Romance and Santana are among the acts announced for this year’s Beale Street Music Festival, taking place May 2-4 in Memphis.

• Despite bandmate Duff McKagan’s assertions, Velvet Revolver’s Slash has downplayed claims that the band is the leading candidate to open for a Led Zeppelin reunion tour.

• A computer game based on the court case involving the divorce settlement between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills has been released online. The game, named "Mucca Chucka," involves players playing the part of Heather Mills. Points are scored by throwing virtual water over depictions of Sir Paul McCartney and his lawyer in scenes echoing the incident which occurred in court. Points are deducted on the Mucca Chucka game if a player hits a depiction of a judge by mistake. The more points a player scores, the more of Sir Paul McCartney's money the player wins.

C103 Rock Report Thursday March 20, 2008

My apologies, the Rock Report for March 20th got deleted by accident. I've re-added it below. Enjoy!

• Apple Corp is reportedly in talks with the major record labels about making access to their iTunes Music Store FREE in return for a adding premium to the price of its iPods, a proposed deal that’s been tagged ‘All You Can Eat’

• Bryan Adams is releasing a new CD called ‘11’…The track “Flower Grown Wild” on the new album was reportedly written about the troubles of Amy Winehouse shortly after she stayed at his Caribbean retreat.

• The Eagles – They kick-off their “Long Road Out of Eden World Tour” with the 1st of 4 shows at London's O2 Arena…no word yet if the Eagles will play Moncton this summer…they’re one of the band rumoured to play Magnetic Hill.

• Queen announced they will release their first album of new material since the Freddie Mercury era. This will be the first Queen Studio album to feature new vocalist Paul Rodgers and their first studio album of any kind since 1995’s Made in Heaven, which featured the band using Mercury’s last vocal recording session before his death in 1991. The album is expected to be ready for release on September 1st, with the tour starting two weeks later.

C103 Rock Report Tuesday March 25, 2008

• Apple Corp is reportedly in talks with the major record labels about making access to their iTunes Music Store FREE in return for a adding premium to the price of its iPods, a proposed deal that’s been tagged ‘All You Can Eat’

• Bryan Adams is releasing a new CD called ‘11’…The track “Flower Grown Wild” on the new album was reportedly written about the troubles of Amy Winehouse shortly after she stayed at his Caribbean retreat.

• The Eagles – They kick-off their “Long Road Out of Eden World Tour” with the 1st of 4 shows at London's O2 Arena…no word yet if the Eagles will play Moncton this summer…they’re one of the band rumoured to play Magnetic Hill.

• Queen announced they will release their first album of new material since the Freddie Mercury era. This will be the first Queen Studio album to feature new vocalist Paul Rodgers and their first studio album of any kind since 1995’s Made in Heaven, which featured the band using Mercury’s last vocal recording session before his death in 1991. The album is expected to be ready for release on September 1st, with the tour starting two weeks later.

C103 Rock Report Wednesday March 19, 2008

• Boston is reforming for a summer of North American stadium & festival dates that will kick off June 6th in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Veteran Stryper frontman Michael Sweet is being brought onboard as lead singer, replacing the late Brad Delp. The other new member is Tommy DeCarlo who came to the attention of Boston by posting his Boston cover performances on his MySpace page. Tom Scholz was reportedly impressed with DeCarlo’s vocal ability and shocked to discover the similarities between DeCarlo’s voice and that of late Boston singer Brad Delp.

• Athletic-shoe maker Converse is set to market a line of footwear with Kurt Cobain's autograph and some of his drawings & writings scrawled on them.

• Radiohead have launched an online contest encouraging fans to make an animated video for any song from their latest album, “In Rainbows”. Winner gets $10,000 and the chance to produce a full-length music video. Deadline is April 27th.

• Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French has rewritten the band’s “I Wanna Rock” as “I Want Barack” in support of Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The track is under the name Jay Jay French and Friends because Twisted Sister is split on the candidates.

• Coldplay’s fourth album, due out on June 17th, will be called Viva la Vida. Singer Chris Martin chose it after seeing the phrase, which means “long live life,” on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured polio, a broken spine, and chronic pain for decades.

C103 Rock Report Tuesday March 18, 2008

• Led Zeppelin in the news–Guitarist Jimmy Page is reportedly putting up for auction his mammoth tapestry depicting the Holy Grail. Sotheby's expects the 23-ft-long piece will sell for around $2 million.

• More Zeppelin news…Velvet Revolver is the frontrunner to open up for Led Zeppelin if the band were to go on a full reunion tour, says Velvet Revolver’s Duff McKagan. There could be a few bands fighting for the chance to open for Led Zeppelin…back in November the Cult’s lead singer Ian Astbury told a Cincinnati crowd that his band would be opening for the Zep reunion tour. Another potential wrench in the works would be Velvet Revolver front man Scott Weiland’s tour with a reunited Stone Temple Pilots. No Zeppelin reunion tour has been announced, as Robert Plant has scheduling commitments to his joint tour with Alison Krauss until September.

• Elton John will give his first solo concert in eight years at Radio City Music Hall on April 9th. The gig, called “Elton and Hillary: One Night Only” will benefit Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

• Metallica will make its first in-store appearance in nearly a decade on April 19, as part of Record Store Day, a promotional event for independent music retailers. The band will participate in a signing and meet-and-greet at Rasputin Music's Mountain View store, near San Francisco. In addition to promoting the vinyl re-release of the band's classic albums "Kill 'Em All" and "Ride the Lightning," Metallica's appearance is meant to bolster the indie record store community.

C103 Rock Report Monday March 17, 2008

• Lenny Kravitz is adamant his 19-year-old daughter Zoe should stay in school despite the fact she has a successful film career, appearing in the Catherine Zeta-Jones film “No Reservations” and in the Jodie Foster crime drama “The Brave One”.

• The divorce saga between Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills has finally come to an end, with Mills receiving £24.3 million, or $48.7 million. In addition to today’s ruling, McCartney will also have to pay $70,000 a year in alimony for the couple’s four-year-old daughter, as well as school and nanny fees.

• Although nothing is official yet, Sheryl Crow has announced she may be collaborating with Fleetwood Mac in the near future. Rumours suggest that Fleetwood Mac will be reuniting for a new album and a tour…it is suggested that Sheryl Crow would join the group to fill in for keyboardist Christine McVie who left the group in 1998…stay tuned.

• The new Rush live CD is being delayed…Snakes & Arrows Live will now be released on April 15^th instead of April 1^st. Rush’s record label has not given a reason for the delay

• And as we announced earlier this afternoon, C103 is proud to present George Thorogood in concert Saturday June 7 at Moncton Coliseum…Tickets are $42.50 each and will be on-sale beginning Saturday March 22 at 9am at the Coliseum Box

C103 Rock Report Friday March 14, 2008

• According to Paula Abdul, Bob Dylan has managed to sneak into the audience of “American Idol” without being recognized thanks to a disguise ... twice.

• In Meat Loaf’s new concert film, “In Search of Paradise”, actor Dennis Quaid joins him onstage for a cover of the classic Van Morrison tune “Gloria”.

• Eddie Van Halen’s Ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli says recent reports that say Eddie is in rehab are wrong. He's sober and being proactive about his illness, she claims, but declines to provide details about exactly what's ailing him.

• A new pilot scheme which offered people concert tickets in return for sperm donations, has called a halt to the experiment. An urgent update posted on the scheme’s website says that “applications for donation packs have far exceeded the expectations.” The new initiative was launched earlier this week after fertility clinics in Ireland admitted that they were in a state of crisis. In the last four years, Sperm donations have fallen by nearly 40% in the country and supply is failing to meet demand. Potential donors were told that they could donate using specially developed donation containers which were then sent by courier.

C103 Rock Report Thursday March 13, 2008

• Jon Bon Jovi has finally sold his Upper West Side pad in NYC, after dropping $1.5 million from the $6.9 million asking price. He’s been trying to offload the joint since 2006.

• More confessions from Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger…in a new “Playboy” interview he admits that as a teen he stole money from his junior high school in Hanna, Alberta. Seems he ripped off thousands from the school safe in order to buy guitars & video games.

• Paul McCartney has joined animal rights group Viva! in their fight to prevent Australia from slaughtering 500 kangaroos outside the capital city of Canberra.

• Chemical Wedding, a horror film co-written by Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, is set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with a theatrical run in the U.K. to follow in the summer.

• And more Iron Maiden news: The band will release Somewhere Back in Time, a combination of classic tracks from the band’s first ten years and a live album from their current tour. The album will also be available as a free download that will expire after three listens.

• Journey will release a three-disc CD/DVD package exclusively at Wal-Mart on June 3 featuring one CD of re-recorded classics, a second of new tracks, and a live DVD.

C103 Rock Report Wednesday March 12, 2008

• Tourism promoters on PEI aren't sure yet which big musical act will come to Charlottetown this summer, but first they have to decide when and where. The concert will likely take place over the Labour Day weekend on the Upton Farm lands in the north of Charlottetown. Tourism Charlottetown CEO Kim Green told CBC News Monday there's a list of about 20 acts being considered for the show, with Bon Jovi being one possibility. But before anyone is signed for the show, an outdoor venue has to be secured. The Upton Farm property was considered as a venue for a Black Eyed Peas concert in 2006, but that show eventually went to the Charlottetown Driving Park, and was followed up the next year by Aerosmith.

• And more news about Bon Jovi…the band will set a Canadian venue record after tomorrow’s show at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre…they’ve played the ACC five times on the same tour.

• Coldplay – Chris Martin’s actress-wife Gwyneth Paltrow has had a tiny ‘C’ tattooed at the top of her right thigh. She had it done in a London department store where she told the tattooist that ‘C’ is for ‘Chris’.

• Kid Rock – Yesterday he returned to the Atlanta-area Waffle House where he was arrested Last year after a brawl to sign autographs for charity. He and 5 members of his entourage are still facing charges of misdemeanor battery.

• Nickelback – Chad Kroeger's DUI case is going back to court in Surrey BC as a trial date is scheduled to be set. He was stopped for speeding in his $175,000 Lamborghini back in June 2006 and charged with impaired driving.

C103 Rock Report Tuesday March 11, 2008

• After postponing a week’s worth of concerts last week, Van Halen has decided it needs to hold off their reunion tour for the next month while Eddie Van Halen receives “medical tests” for an unspecified problem. The tour has now been put on hold until April 19th, leaving seventeen postponed dates — including a show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden — in limbo. No rescheduled dates have been announced, but fans are being asked to hold onto their tickets for use on a later date. According to organizers, Eddie Van Halen “is currently under doctors’ care” and will “continue medical tests to define a course of treatment.” The tour is, as of now, expected to resume with an April 19th show in Las Vegas.

• Peter Gabriel is an investor in the new ad-supported ‘We7' download site that will offer free music from Sony-BMG’s back catalogue of 250,000 tracks. It’ll be free ... and legal!

• R.E.M. will stream their new album Accelerate in its entirety via “social music discovery service” iLike, which has a partnership with Facebook. The “Worldwide Listening Party” will happen March 24th, a week before the album is released to stores.

• Metallica anticipates completing their new album in six weeks with the goal of a September release, drummer Lars Ulrich said. He says he likes it and admits he’s one of Metallica’s harshest critics. The album is being produced by Rick Rubin.

• In a new “Playboy” magazine interview, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback admits he used to subsidize his income by selling cannabis & magic mushrooms back home in Hanna, Alberta before the band hit it big.

C103 Rock Report Monday March 10, 2008

• The Beatles back-catalogue is finally set to be released for download thanks to a deal between Paul McCartney and iTunes that’s said to be worth upwards of $400 million.

• Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, claims ‘identity thieves’ have posed as her late husband to buy a $3-million New Jersey mansion, obtain some 188 credit cards in his name, and loot his estate to the tune of $72 million. She says she’s known about the scams for 5 years but nobody believed her because ... she was too strung out on drugs.

• Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are set to headline this year’s Lollapalooza, according to the Chicago Tribune. Although the festival’s line-up won’t be announced for several more weeks, “industry sources” state that both bands have been booked for the fourth annual Chicago fest, to be held August 1-3 in the city’s Grant Park.

• U2, Eminem and Paul McCartney have reportedly been asked to perform at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration. Queen and Annie Lennox are among the acts already confirmed for the June 27th show in London.

C103 Rock Report Friday March 7, 2008

• Blind Melon has reformed…they decided Travis Warren was the perfect replacement for late front man Shannon Hoon when they discovered he had a giant picture of Hoon ... tattooed on his back.

• Bob Dylan was moved to words on Thursday night when a young Brazilian woman rushed on stage and hugged him during a concert in Sao Paulo. A startled-looking Dylan hung on to his black Cordoba hat before a bouncer carried her away. At the end of the song, he spoke to his fans for the first time in a two-hour show. "Thank you, friends. And I'd like to thank that young lady for coming up and joining us on stage." Then he started chuckling to himself and said: "Where did she go? I want to give her my hat. Don't let her get away." It was not known if the two did eventually get to meet formally. Dylan is currently on tour of Latin America with dates in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

• Bruce Springsteen plans to raise some money for the restoration of the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. Springsteen, who grew up in nearby Freehold, is scheduled to hold a benefit on May 7 at the theater, which was built in 1926 to showcase movies and vaudeville. Restoration and renovation work is expected to start this summer. The theater was renamed after native son and jazz great William "Count" Basie in 1984.

• According to the website “Sound Generator”, The Rolling Stones will soon be releasing a new album featuring live recordings from a show they did at the Beacon theater in New York during October, 2006. The show at the Beacon was the one that was filmed by Martin Scorsese and features numerous special guests. The new album will include 22 tracks from the Beacon show and is scheduled for release in the U.K. on April 11 to coincide with the release of the Scorsese film which is called Shine-A-Light. There’s no word from Sound Generator on a Canada release date.

C103 Rock Report Thursday March 6, 2008

• Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has cancelled an April 5th performance at a Casino to undergo knee surgery. Perry has been on tour with Tab the Band, a combo that includes his two sons.

• Scott Weiland’s lawyer issued a plea of not guilty for the STP singer on charges of driving under the influence last November. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 4th.

• The current issue of Rolling Stone magazine features an interview with the Black Crowes, whose first album in seven years came out Tuesday. Though Warpaint is the band’s best, most focused work in years, the tension between brothers and bandleaders Chris and Rich Robinson still runs high. Guitarist Rich Robinson told Rolling Stone, “Outside of music, we probably would never speak to each other. That’s just the way it is.”

• Despite recently joining forces with iTunes, Facebook is reportedly reaching out to the major record labels about possibly starting its own music download service. MySpace is also in talks with the majors to set up a rival service. In further bad news for iTunes, Warner Music Group has struck a deal with 7digital to allow the digital music service to offer DRM-free files.

• According to a source at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Joan Jett will be performing at the ceremony in a tribute to inductees the Dave Clark Five. Jett joins Iggy Pop, Damien Rice, Patti LaBelle, John Mellencamp and others as performers at this Monday’s event. The Dave Clark Five, who will be inducted by fan Tom Hanks, recently suffered the tragic death of singer Mike Smith, who passed away while preparing to come to New York for the show.

C103 Rock Report Wednesday March 5, 2008

• The first 6 of a scheduled 18 Grateful Dead master recordings have been released for the video game “Rock Band”…so you can rock out to the Dead for hours…

• The 26^th Annual Canadian Music Week has begun in Toronto…includes performances by over 500 Canadian & international artists at 41 downtown venues. The festivities continue through Saturday.

• Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is the new face of Louis Vuitton. Richards will donate his fee from the photo shoot to Al Gore’s Climate Project.

• The Rock-la-homa Festival announced their roster today at a press conference in Los Angeles. The festival, which will take place July 10-13 in Pryor, Oklahoma, will boast performances by Bret Michaels, Cinderella, Warrant, Tesla and reunions of Armored Saint and Kix among others.

• The Foo Fighters have announced the first leg of their 2008 summer tour, while the band Boston revealed the first date of their first tour since 2004: August 4th at Bethlehem, PA’s Musikfest Riverplace.

• A judge has rejected the accusation that police illegally searched Nickelback's Chad Kroeger’s vehicle during a traffic stop in June of 2006. Kroeger will still face charges of impaired driving.

• And finally…to help boost struggling sales, EMI may re-release albums by many of their veteran artists, including David Bowie and Pink Floyd. I guess they figure if you don't like the new stuff you'll buy another copy of the old stuff...

C103 Rock Report Tuesday March 4, 2008

• Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver & Stone Temple Pilots has left rehab after 28 days and is doing well, according to his attorney. Weiland is due in court tomorrow on charges related to his November arrest for driving under the influence.

• The Van Halen reunion tour has not been cancelled, but several dates have been postponed while Eddie Van Halen undergoes medical tests. According to a statement from the band’s management, the guitarist “is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures.” Eddie Van Halen has battled cancer and substance abuse problems in recent years, however that’s all we know right now.

• Nine Inch Nails has wasted no time releasing its first album since becoming a free agent last October. The band started selling an instrumental album, "Ghosts One to Four" on its Web site, n-i-n.com, Sunday. Fans can receive the first nine songs from the 36-track project for free, or can pay $5 for the entire digital album. The standard double-CD set is retailing for $10, and will reach stores on April 8. A $70 deluxe edition and a $300 autographed version will ship May 1.

• Radiohead and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will headline a music festival at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in August. The festival, which aims to feature rock, blues, reggae, jazz, hip-hop, world, soul, Latin and electronic on five stages, will take place August 22-24 at the 1,000-plus acre venue. Organizers hope to draw about 60,000 fans on each of the three days.

• Kid Rock pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges stemming from a fight at a restaurant near Atlanta in which he allegedly punched and kicked a victim and hit him with a chair. If convicted, he could face up to one year in jail plus a $1,000 fine for each charge. The trial could start within a month.

C103 Rock Report Monday March 3, 2008

• According to the UK’s “Sunday Mirror”, Robert Plant has turned down a $200-million deal to reunite Led Zeppelin for a world tour. Word is he wants December’s successful one-off concert to be their legacy.

• A new BBC documentary claims Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot by the Hells Angels in 1969. After a purported dispute over botched security provided by the motorcycle club at the free Altamont Speedway concert in California, it’s claimed a hit squad tried to reach his Long Island NY home by sea but was thrown overboard in a storm. While all survived, they made no further attempt on his life.

• Van Halen have cancelled a handful of recent dates, and now sources say the band’s entire tour — scheduled to run until April 19th — has been called off due to issues with Eddie Van Halen. The band has yet to comment.

• Sad news for Jeff Healey fans…the guitar great died yesterday at age forty-one, two months shy of releasing his first album in eight years. He was diagnosed with cancer last year and underwent several surgeries.

• And, soon it may cost even less to buy CDs at Wal-mart…under a recently proposed five-tier price plan; Wal-Mart could further reduce its CD prices to start at $5, with new releases going for $12. The plan would require labels to cover more of the cost. No discussions between the labels and the retailer have taken place yet.