PowerBlogs: Rumour Mills

U-2 starts their 360 Degrees world tour tonight in Barcelona, Spain in support of their latest album, No Line on the Horizon. The band has been holed up in Barcelona for the past few weeks rehearsing, including a complete dress rehearsal the other night. A post on the band’s website won’t offer up any details, only saying, “Seems like the band are intent on really mixing things up on this tour… They’ve rehearsed 30-plus tracks…as well as a cracking selection from No Line — we counted songs from eight different albums…” Their manager Paul McGuinness says, “‘It would be crazy if they weren’t a bit nervous about the opening of a new show. It’s a very complicated production.”

The European tour runs through August 22nd in Wales followed by the North American leg, which gets under way on September 12th in Chicago.

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Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood wrap up their 14-city tour tonight at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. This run of shows follows the success of the three they did last year in New York and to promote last month’s C-D and D-V-D release of those shows, Live From Madison Square Garden. The two former Blind Faith members hadn’t worked together in 25 years until 2007, when they got together for two benefits — one of them being Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. Clapton says not only have they reconnected musically, but also personally. “We’ve become very good pals and we have a life outside of music… So that we can do something like we’ve just done anytime we want without there being any pressure on it.”

Clapton has no more touring plans for the summer, but Winwood starts a European tour next Tuesday in Italy.

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Limp Bizkit won’t be playing at the U-F-C 100 event July 11th in Las Vegas. The band says it’s because U-F-C and their label, Interscope, couldn’t come to an agreement about D-V-D rights for the concert. The band also says it’s because they wanted to play at the House of Blues in Vegas instead of on the beach at Mandalay Bay, which the band says had “its inappropriate layout for a heavy rock concert.” Instead Limp Bizkit will play its own show in Las Vegas on the 11th, at a venue to be announced.

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Robert Plant is among those protesting plans for the development of a wind farm near his rural U-K home. Plant and his fellow protestors feel it will devastate the landscape and have no significant effect on climate change or carbon emissions. Ann West, chairman of the Cambrian Mountains Society, says she is happy to have Plant helping their cause. “It is very important in getting us noticed on a larger scale. The protest was all about getting our voices heard and to show what a vast area will be destroyed by this wind farm as well as to make people aware of the importance of preserving our countryside.”

Plant recently donated a signed guitar, which was auctioned to raise money for the Worcester and District branch of the Parkinson’s Disease Society in England. The guitar went for just under 17-hundred dollars.

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Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer is the first member of the band to write his autobiography with today’s publication of Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top. In addition to his close to 40 years in Aerosmith, Kramer also covers his bout with anxiety, depression and substance abuse; a nervous breakdown; a near-fatal car crash and fire; and his tumultuous relationship with his father. He tells us, “The book is about me, it’s not about the band… [It's] about me and my life and how I feel about things.”

In the book, Kramer writes about drug abuse, “After a while, drugging became as empty and gross as stuffing my face with cheeseburgers and greasy French fries, eating out of gluttony instead of hunger for nourishment. Eventually feelings of waste, excess and anxiety crowded out all the feelings of pleasure, but by this time, I had no choice. I was no longer doing the drugs for a good time — I was doing them because I had to. And then the drugs started pulling the band apart.”

Kramer will do a few in-store appearances to promote the book — Monday at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts; July 8th at Borders in Boston; and July 22nd at Barnes and Noble in Hingham, Massachusetts.

Kramer and Aerosmith, with special guest Z-Z Top, are in Cincinnati tomorrow night.

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Blur are getting into the official bootleg business. They’ll record their shows Thursday and Friday at London’s Hyde Park and sell them through their web store. Fans who order the C-Ds will get high-quality downloads about a week after the shows, with the discs shipping a week after that.

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Rush drummer Neil Peart has posted another lengthy essay on NeilPeart.net, this one dealing with the weather in Southern California where he lives, bird watching, hiking, photography and eating. On a hike on the Channel Islands off the coast of California he writes about stopping for “lunchy-wunchy” with his friend Craiggie, who he says, “Unpacked and mixed a salad almost entirely from his garden, and also brought double chocolate brownies, Fig Newtons, trail mix, granola bars, and mixed fruit. From my pack came bottles of pink lemonade, sourdough rolls, Black Forest ham, havarti cheese, Grey Poupon mustard, mayonnaise, butter lettuce, and vine-ripened tomatoes, and I made a sandwich for each of us with my Swiss Army knife.

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Today, Slash will play his first concert since Scott Weiland left Velvet Revolver, at the Quart Festival in Norway. He’ll be joined by Ozzy Osbourne, drummer Jason Bonham, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, among others. They’ll perform Guns n’ Roses “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” Ozzy’s own “Crazy Train” and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.” Slash says he won’t be playing any songs from his upcoming solo album.

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The Offspring are having fans vote on what song to add to their set list every night. Text in your requests using a special code posted at their merch booths.

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Duff McKagan’s Loaded have joined the lineup for Crue Fest Two, which starts July 19th.

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A-C/D-C’s August 30th show at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington has been moved to August 31st. A-C/D-C wrap up the European stadium leg of their Black Ice tour tonight in Glasgow, Scotland. Their North American stadium leg start on July 28th in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Eddie Van Halen said “I do” for the second time Saturday night as he married his girlfriend and publicist of three years, Janie Liszewski, at his seven-acre estate in the hills above Studio City, California. Sporting cotton pants, un-tucked buttoned-down shirts and flip-flop sandals, Eddie and his best man, his son Wolfgang, watched as Janie walked down the aisle with her 15-year-old Pomeranian dog to Van Halen’s “When It’s Love,” performed by the Sonus Quartet. Alex Van Halen, Eddie’s older brother, Van Halen drummer and ordained minister, officiated the 20-minute, non-denominational service, which was witnessed by 100 guests, including Eddie’s ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli. This is the first marriage for Janie, who was given away by her mother. Her sister Jennifer was the maid of honor.

Janie wore a champagne and pink custom-designed Hanna Hartnell gown with matching Bulgari earrings and bracelet. Janie and Ed designed their rings — hers a platinum band beside a nearly three-carat diamond engagement ring; and his a gold band with yellow diamonds.

The cocktail hour included a non-alcoholic bar in celebration of Eddie’s year-and-a-half of sobriety, and among the eats were mini hamburgers, corn dogs, roasted garlic-parmesan and French fries. The dinner included salads, filet mignon, orange and rosemary glazed grilled chicken, Mojito-marinated prawns and grilled vegetables. And for dessert, a wedding cake layered with white chocolate, strawberries, whipped cream and decorated with white hydrangeas.

They toasted each other with French sparkling apple cider and sparkling pear juice, and their first dance was to Joe Cocker’s version of Billy Preston’s “You Are So Beautiful,” followed by Janie’s choice, Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” D-J K-M-P provided the entertainment.

Guests were each given a favor — Calvin Klein and Kate Spade vases and flowers, as well as an assortment of candy, including custom printed M-and- M’s. No word if the brown M-and-M’s per Van Halen’s old concert rider were removed.

Eddie and Janie plan to honeymoon in New York, Germany and the Netherlands, where he was born.

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Promoters have released the lineup for this year’s Voodoo Music Festival, which takes place in New Orleans from October 30th through November 1st. Headliners at the festival include KISS, making their first appearance at the event, as well as Jane’s Addiction, Eminem. Also on the bill are Wolfmother, Eagles of Death Metal, Silversun Pickups, Mute Math, Brand New, All Time Low and Down.

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Gene Simmons has finally issued a statement on the death of Michael Jackson and it’s a long one. He says he met Jackson a few times when Simmons dated Diana Ross in the early ’80s and “found him to be gentle, charming.” But he says the Jackson of “later years is someone I didn’t recognize… nor like very much. When there are children involved… when there are allegations (many) of child molestation… when there are admissions of inviting countless young boys to spend weekends and sometimes Michael’s bed with them (Michael’s quote), clothed or unclothed… makes no difference… when there are pay-offs to the children making the accusations in the 20-million dollar range (as reported by media) ….There’s more than doubt in my mind. This doesn’t take into consideration Michael’s children… none of whom are biologically his. All three of whom have had a ’strange’ upbringing. But then we don’t know much, except a ‘father’ who thought nothing of dangling his young child over the balcony (head covered in a towel), so his fans could get a thrill. So what’s my comment regarding Michael’s passing? I hope he finds peace. I wish his family and friends all the best in these very sad times.”

But Simmons doesn’t stop there. He goes onto say that the children Jackson allegedly molested should have a say. “Maybe then, away from rich celebrities, tricky lawyers and L-A court systems that can’t seem to convict anyone…. maybe then, we’ll find out the truth about child molestation charges leveled at Michael Jackson… My comment? I recognize and respect his talent, but the rest is very tainted. And I want to hear the truth, once and for all.”

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If you believe the rumor mill, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones is working with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Josh Homme [pr: HOME-ee]. Earlier this year, Jones said he was “working on some other music, which is more rock based, with a couple of other people,” but couldn’t reveal who they were. Now there’s speculation on a Zeppelin blog that it could be Grohl and Homme.

In 2005 Grohl said, “The next project that I’m trying to initiate involves me on drums, Josh Homme on guitar and John Paul Jones playing bass. That’s the next album. That wouldn’t suck.” And just recently, Greg Werckman of Ipecac Recordings told Rock-a-Rolla magazine that Homme has “got a new top-secret project that he’s working on now.”

Grohl has played with both Jones and Homme, and with Foo Fighters on hiatus, perhaps this is the project Jones says is a “secret.” A spokesman for Jones was unavailable for comment.

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A-C/D-C are among the acts up for Classic Rock magazine’s Classic Rock Roll of Honor Awards. They’re nominated in three categories — Album of the Year for Black Ice, Band of the Year and Event of the Year. Chickenfoot is up for Best New Band, and the Reissue of the Year category features Z-Z Top’s Eliminator, The Who’s The Who Sell Out, The Kinks’ Picture Book and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. KISS, Neil Young and The Rolling Stones are up for D-V-D/Film of the Year. The awards will be handed out on November 2nd in London.

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The Dave Matthews Band has entered into a new charitable partnership with Tom’s Shoes — and you can support it by buying a pair of shoes designed by Dave himself. For every pair purchased, Tom’s will donate a pair of the cruelty-free footwear — made with no animal products at all — to charity. The wildly patterned shoes retail for 68 bucks.

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band made their first ever British festival appearance Saturday night with a set at the legendary Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England. The set did not differ much from his shows on this tour, with the notable exception of the opening number, an acoustic cover of “Coma Girl” by the late Clash frontman Joe Strummer. Strummer wrote the song about Glastonbury, and it was quotes from Strummer in the festival organizer’s pitch that helped convince Springsteen to add it to his itinerary.

Max Weinberg was back behind the drums Saturday night, and on “No Surrender” Springsteen was joined by Brian Fallon, the singer of The Gaslight Anthem, a New Jersey band who Springsteen sat in with earlier during their Glastonbury set.

Springsteen did his second British festival last night, the Hard Rock Calling in London. The tour moves onto Bern, Switzerland tomorrow night.

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Def Leppard and drummer Rick Allen’s Raven Drum Foundation are giving military veterans free tickets to their summer tour with Cheap Trick and Poison. It’s a way to thank them for their service. Rick says, “Our mission with Raven Drum Foundation is to serve, educate and empower veterans and people in crisis through the power of the drum, and music is just one of the tools we use to promote healing. It is so exciting to have my band, family and so many others contributing to this effort.”

Military personnel and veterans with a military I-D are eligible to receive two tickets to one Def Leppard show. Tickets are available on a first come, first serve basis through RavenDrumFoundation.org.

Def Leppard performs in Mansfield, Massachusetts tomorrow night.

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Paramore have set a September 29th release date for their next album, which is now titled Brand New Eyes. The disc is the follow-up to 2007’s platinum-selling Riot. The lead single, “Ignorance,” will be available at I-Tunes on July 7th.

Paramore will tape a spot for the recently re-launched M-T-V Unplugged later this summer.

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My Chemical Romance drummer Bob Bryar has filed a lawsuit against “dog trainer to the stars” Daniel Schaffer after his pooch died while in the trainer’s custody. Bryar tells People magazine that when he went to fetch Dixie, his German Shepherd mix, he was told the dog had died in an accident — and then he received an urn containing Dixie’s ashes. The drummer says, “I don’t even know what happened to my best friend and miss her more than anything in the world. The devastation I feel is beyond words.”

Michael Jackson died yesterday (Thursday) afternoon from cardiac arrest at U-C-L-A Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 50.

From the details disclosed thus far, Jackson went into cardiac arrest at the home he was renting with his three children in Los Angeles at about 1:00 p-m. In a statement made by his brother Jermaine last night, his personal physician was apparently with him at the time. Paramedics responded and rushed Jackson to U-C-L-A Medical Center. At about 2:30 p-m, Jackson was pronounced dead at the hospital. His body was flown in the early evening from the medical center — which was engulfed by throngs of fans who’d spontaneously gathered around the facility — to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office. An autopsy is expected to be conducted today.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery and Homicide Division is handling the investigation, but foul play is not believed to be involved. A police spokesman indicated that the division was chosen due to the media involvement.

Jackson family spokesman Brian Oxman painted a shocking picture in a telephone interview with C-N-N. He said the Jackson family has “been trying for months and months and months to take care of Michael Jackson. The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him. If you think that the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, it is nothing in comparison to what we have been seeing taking place in Michael Jackson’s life.”
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A superstar before he hit his teens, Jackson was one of the most successful artists of all time, with millions of fans around the world. He had 13 number-one hits and won 13 Grammys. However, the latter part of his life was marred by odd behavior and legal woes — including an infamous child-molestation charge — eclipsing the talent he was originally known for.

Jackson was born the fifth of six brothers to Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana in 1958. He began his professional career in The Jackson Five with brothers Jermaine, Marlon, Jackie and Tito. After being discovered by Suzanne De Passe, then an assistant to Motown founder Berry Gordy, they signed to the label and became Berry’s star artists. The Jackson Five set a record when their first four singles — “I Want You Back,” “A-B-C,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There” — charted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

After scoring countless hits with the Jackson Five, Michael went solo and recorded his first disc, Off the Wall, with producer Quincy Jones. Released in 1979, the album solidified Michael as a bona fide solo star with hits such as “Rock With You,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and the title track. It earned him countless awards and honors, including an induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

His second album, 1983’s Thriller, is the biggest-selling disc of all time. Not only did it spin off classics including “Beat It,” and “Billie Jean,” the video for the title track became a cultural phenomenon.

Michael released Bad in 1987, which would prove to be his last major effort. His third album from Epic and the final album with Quincy Jones, Bad had lower sales than Thriller but was still a commercial success, with “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror” and the title track.

In the years following, Michael’s behavior became stranger and stranger, making him the outcast he’d always pegged himself as. What started with a small rhinoplasty in the ’70s morphed into an apparent addiction to plastic surgery. With each album he released — including 1991’s Dangerous and 1995’s History — his physical appearance became odder and odder. His skin appeared to have been bleached, which he blamed on the disfiguring skin disease vitiligo. His album sales plummeted as well.

After a devastating trial on child sexual abuse charges in 2005, he was eventually acquitted. Jackson then traveled the world with his three children, landing in Dubai for a time (the prince of a neighboring emirate, Bahrain, who was his benefactor, would later sue him) and, eventually, near Las Vegas. Despite mounting debts, he turned down all offers to return to any semblance of a musical career. He battled creditors — even sanctioning a 2009 auction of a number of his personal belongings and allowing his beloved Neverland Ranch to go into foreclosure to raise much-needed funds.

Finally, earlier this year Jackson announced a run of 50 shows in London, which all sold out in minutes. They were to begin in early July, but last month he postponed all but one of the concerts until March 2010, prompting speculation about his health.

Michael Jackson is survived by his three children — two by former wife Debbie Rowe, Prince Michael the First and Prince Michael the Second, and Paris, born to an unidentified mother.

Michael Jackson’s Number-One Hits, according to Billboard

Ben
1972

Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough
1979

Rock With You
1979

Billie Jean
1983

Beat It
1983

Say Say Say (with Paul McCartney)
1983

I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
1987

Bad
1987

The Way You Make Me Feel
1987

Man in the Mirror
1988

Dirty Diana
1988

Black or White
1991

You Are Not Alone
1995

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The outpouring of celebrity reactions to the death of Michael Jackson remarkably widespread, particularly in the showbiz world.

Liz Taylor, one of Jackson’s closest friends, was “too devastated” to issue a statement.

A statement issued on behalf of Stevie Wonder, who was a Motown labelmate of Jackson, said, “Stevie is not available for any comment for the time being. He is emotionally distraught and chose to be quiet right now.”

Madonna, in a statement to People, said, “I can’t stop crying over the sad news. I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever!”

Beyonce’s statement said, “The incomparable Michael Jackson has made a bigger impact on music than any other artist in the history of music. He was magic. He was what we all strive to be.”

Justin Timberlake’s statement read, “I can’t find the words right now to express how deeply saddened I am by Michael’s passing. We have lost a genius and a true ambassador of not only pop music. He has been an inspiration to multiple generations and I will always cherish the moments I shared with him on stage and all of the thing I learned about music from him and the time we spent together.”

Britney Spears, in a statement, says, “I was so excited to see his show in London. We were going to be on tour in Europe at the same time, and I was going to fly in to see him. He’s been an inspiration throughout my entire life, and I’m devastated that he’s gone.”

Mariah Carey tweeted, “I am heartbroken. My prayers go out to the Jackson family, and my heart goes out to his children. Let us remember him for his unparalleled contribution to the world of music, his generosity of spirit in his quest to heal the world and the joy he brought.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs said, “Michael Jackson showed me that you can actually see the beat. He made the music come to life! He made me believe in magic.”

During an appearance on C-N-N, Ne-Yo said that he was in touch with Jackson regarding work on an album. Ne-Yo called Jackson “really cool people”

Wyclef Jean said, “Michael Jackson was my musical God. He made me believe that all things are possible, and through real and positive music, he can live forever!”

In a statement, Jackson’s first wife, Lisa Marie Presley, wrote, “I am so very sad and confused, with every emotion possible. I am heartbroken for his children, who I know were everything to him, and for his family. This is such a massive loss on so many levels — words fail me.”

Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s second wife and the mother of Paris and Michael Junior, was reportedly “inconsolable.” Rowe gave up her parental rights and legally wouldn’t be in line to take custody.

Eddie Van Halen says, “I am really shocked, as I’m sure the world is, to hear the news. I had the pleasure of working with Michael on ‘Beat It’ back in ‘83 — one of my fondest memories in my career.”

Quincy Jones, who produced Jackson’s Thriller album and new the pop star for years, said, “I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news. To this day, the music we created together on Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad is played in every corner of the world and the reason for that is because he had it all…talent, grace, professionalism and dedication. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

Dick Clark, who hosted American Bandstand — a show that The Jackson Five appeared on early in their career, “I knew Michael as a child and watched him grow over the years. Of all the thousands of entertainers I have worked with, Michael was THE most outstanding. Many have tried and will try to copy him, but his talent will never be matched.”

Brooke Shields, who once briefly dated Jackson, says, “My heart is overcome with sadness for the devastating loss of my true friend Michael.”

T-M-Z spotted Michael’s mother Katherine Jackson and his sister LaToya entering the hospital. T-M-Z also spoke with Tito, who was reportedly “grief stricken” and regretted not having spoken with his brother “in a while.”

According to T-M-Z, Elton John was performing at his annual White Tie and Tiara Ball when he got thee news. He then dedicated “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” to Jacko. Among those in the crowd were Liz Hurley, Hugh Grant, Lily Allen and Kelly Osbourne.

The crush of people trying to tweet, I-M, post to their Facebook or MySpace pages was so great that all major social networking websites slowed to a crawl. Those getting tweets out included Miley Cyrus, who called Jackson “my inspiration;” Ludacris, who wrote “if it were not for Michael Jackson, I would not be where or who I am today;” Kelly Rowland, who call it “one of the saddest days in music history;” John Mayer, who said he was “dazed in the studio. A major strand of our cultural D-N-A has left us;” Ice T, who called Jackson “100-percent original;” and M-C Hammer, who simply wrote, “I have no words. I loved Michael Jackson.”

Russell Simmons, via Tweeter, called Jackson “the most iconic cultural figure of our generation. He inspired many. He always was gracious sweet and childlike;” Reverend Run tweeted, “Rip M-J! Dream as if you’ll live forever; live as if you’ll die today. You only live once, but if you do it right, dats all you need! You did it Big M-J;” rapper Jim Jones thinks “every radio station in the world should be playin’ his music for the rest of the day;” hip-hop star Fabolous says that he “had the glove toy that you put glue on the glove and put glitter on. Had the doll with the Cap’n Crunch suit. Real Michael Jackson fan as a kid.”

The Bio Channel will air a retrospective on the life and career of Michael Jackson, Saturday night at 11:00 p-m [PT].

Flowers will be placed on Michael Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today at 9:00 a-m. The star is at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard, in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

In a statement, Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, states, “Rarely has the world received a gift with the magnitude of artistry, talent, and vision as Michael Jackson. He was a true musical icon whose identifiable voice, innovative dance moves, stunning musical versatility, and sheer star power carried him from childhood to worldwide acclaim.”

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Friends, family and co-workers are remembering Farrah Fawcett, who died yesterday (Thursday).

Her longtime companion Ryan O’Neal said, “After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away. Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world.”

Her Charlie’s Angels co-star Jaclyn Smith said, “Farrah had courage, she had strength, and she had faith. And now she has peace as she rests with the real angels.”

Her other Charlie’s Angels co-star Kate Jackson said, “I will miss Farrah every day. She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was.”

And Cheryl Ladd, who replaced Farrah on the hit ’70s show, said, “I’m terribly sad about Farrah’s passing. She was incredibly brave, and God will be welcoming her with open arms.”

Her ex-husband Lee Majors said, “She fought a tremendous battle against a terrible disease. She was an angel on earth and now an angel forever.”

Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner called Farrah the “Marilyn Monroe of the 1970s” whose famous poster “defined what one thinks of as the All-American girl.”

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One of the owners of the nightclub where 100 people were killed in a fire at a Great White concert has been released from prison.

Michael Derderian was scheduled to be released in the fall, but earned time off for good behaviour.

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Eddie Van Halen is scheduled to marry his publicist, Janie Liszewski, this weekend at his Los Angeles-area home. His brother Alex Van Halen, an ordained minister, will marry them, and Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s son with ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, will be the best man. Reports promise a “small, intimate wedding” with a “string quartet for part of it and a D-J afterwards.”

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Britain’s Independent has compiled a list of the 10 worst actors to have come out of the ranks of rock musicians. At the top of the list — or the bottom of the barrel — is Mick Jagger, singled out for his work in such duds as Ned Kelly and Freejack. Number-two is Sting, who the paper chides for “a particularly gloomy acting career.” Bob Dylan gets docked for being “markedly lacking in soul,” and Roger Daltrey is dismissed with the line, “To retain some trace of the tattered relic that was once The Who’s dignity, let’s hope Hollywood directors don’t get fooled again.”

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The annual punk fest known as the Warped Tour kicks off today (Friday) in Pomona, California. Among the acts on this year’s jaunt are Bad Religion, Underoath, Meg and Dia, The Ataris and Saosin.

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Z-Z Top’s episode of V-H-1’s Storytellers premieres on the cable channel tomorrow (Saturday) night. Filmed in Chicago in March, the trio tells stories about some of its classic songs, including “La Grange” and “Sharp Dressed Man,” and also answers questions from the audience. Singer-guitarist Billy Gibbons, who is also a reverend, even renews a couple’s wedding vows. If you miss it Saturday night, it will begin airing on V-H-1 Classic and the Palladia channel on July 4th.

Z-Z Top and Aerosmith will be on stage in Wantagh, New York tonight (Friday) and Uncasville, Connecticut on Sunday.

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John Mellencamp releases his new concert album, Life Death Live and Freedom, on Tuesday, but you can stream it now on A-O-L and M-S-N. Meanwhile, he is continuing to release tracks from his last studio album, Life Death Love and Freedom, with “If I Die Sudden” being the fourth single. Mellencamp starts a tour of minor league ballparks with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson Thursday in Sauget, Illinois.

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A lunch with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is up for grabs as part of a charity auction to raise money for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The auction runs through Tuesday, and the winner will get to have lunch with Corgan in Los Angeles or Chicago at “a mutually convenient time.” Oh, and the winner “is responsible for the [lunch] bill.”

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Beck is pretty busy doing covers these days. He’s not only started his Record Club project to cover entire albums (the first being The Velvet Underground’s 1967 debut album) — he’s covered the Sonic Youth album Evol, whichwill be released on cassette as part of an upcoming Sonic Youth box set. He’s also recently finished an album with French singer-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. No release date has been set for either project.

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Journey canceled their show on Tuesday in Berlin, Germany after drummer Dean Castronovo was hospitalized with chest pains. He remained in the hospital for two days while his drum tech took over for Wednesday’s show in Hamburg. Castronovo is expected back for Journey’s last two shows of their European tour — tonight (Friday) in Germany and Sunday in Belgium. The U-S leg starts July 16th in Walker, Minnesota.

Weezer and Blink 182 will headline this year’s Virgin Mobile Festival on August 30th. The show is moving from Baltimore’s Pimlico Racetrack to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland and will be free. But previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will get first access to the 35-thousand tickets. Other bands on the bill include Jet, Franz Ferdinand, The Bravery and Taking Back Sunday.

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Deftones have decided to not release Eros, the album they’d almost finished before bassist Chi Cheng was critically injured in an accident last year. Instead, they’re re-recording the songs without him. They write at Deftones.com, “As we neared completion on Eros, we realized that this record doesn’t best encompass and represent who we are currently as people and as musicians. And although those songs will see the light of day at some point, we collectively made the decision that we needed to take a new approach, and with Chi’s condition heavy on our minds while doing so. We needed to return to the studio to do what we felt was right artistically.” Deftones don’t say when they expect to release the collection of songs recorded without Cheng.

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Steven Tyler says this summer’s Aerosmith - Z-Z Top tour is an “old-school” outing. “In the old days when you went and saw a band, there was another band equally as rip it up as who you were wanting to see anyway.” Aerosmith has been doing these types of tours the past few years, having gone out with KISS, Cheap Trick and Motley Crue. The Aerosmith - Z-Z Top tour rolls into Wantagh, New York tomorrow night.

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Daughtry fans better have some extra money in their bank accounts when Leave This Town comes out July 14th. That’s because there are six different versions of the album. Besides the standard version, there’s…

A digital deluxe version with the bonus tracks “On the Inside” and “What We Have Become” and the video for “No Surprise.”
An I-Tunes pre-order edition with the bonus track “Traffic Light.”
A Wal-Mart version with the bonus track “Get Me Through.”
A Target version containing a D-V-D with videos for “Its Not Over,” “Home,” “Over You,” “Feels Like Tonight,” “What About Now” and “No Surprise.”
A Daughtry website version with a limited edition poster and the bonus digital tracks “Long Way” and “One Last Chance.”

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Pearl Jam fans who are into action sports might find themselves in a new video for “Porch” from Ten. Fuel T-V is running a contest in which fans can submit clips of themselves doing their “sickest skate, snow, surf or B-M-X trick.” The Top 10 clips as selected by viewers will be used in the video, which will debut on Fuel T-V in August.

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Five Finger Death Punch’s second album, War Is the Answer, will hit stores on October 6th. The lead single, “Hard to See,” will be out July 13th. Five Finger Death Punch are expected to hit the road in September in support of the album.

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Marilyn Manson admits that after he broke up with actress Evan Rachel Wood last year, things weren’t going that well in his life. He tells Spin, “My lowest point was Christmas Day 2008, because I didn’t speak to my family. My walls were covered in scrawlings of the lyrics and cocaine bags nailed to the wall. And I did have an experience where I was struggling to deal with being alone and being forsaken and being betrayed by putting your trust in one person, and making the mistake of that being the wrong person. And that’s a mistake that everyone can relate to. I made the mistake of trying to, desperately, grasp on and save that and own it. And every time I called her that day — I called 158 times — I took a razorblade and I cut myself on my face or on my hands.”

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Two notebooks containing lyrics to 25 songs by the late A-C/D-C singer Bon Scott sold for 35-thousand dollars at a Christie’s auction Monday in New York. Among the songs were “High Voltage,” “T-N-T” and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.”

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U-2 are using U2.com to count down to their 360-Degrees tour, which starts on Tuesday in Barcelona, Spain. The site also has video of their massive stage.

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Slash recorded the narration for a new Jimi Hendrix documentary this week.

Three former members of Evanescence and onetime American Idol hopeful Carly Smithson gave a press conference yesterday in L-A to announce their partnership in a band they’re now calling We Are the Fallen. The new outfit gave their first public performance at the event, playing a new song titled “Bury Me Alive” and their version of Evanescence’s “Going Under.”

Smithson, Evanescence co-founder-and-guitarist Ben Moody, original band members guitarist John LeCompte and drummer Rock Gray, plus new bassist Marty O’Brien make up the band. Moody said that instead of releasing an album and then touring, they plan to tour for the next year-and-a-half while releasing two new songs about every eight weeks over that period. The first 100-thousand fans to register at the band’s website, WeAreTheFallen-dot-com, are eligible for a free download of their first single “Bury Me Alive.”

The Irish-born Smithson, who now lives in San Diego, finished in sixth-place on American Idol: Season 7 in 2008. Evanescence’s debut album, Fallen, has sold over 15-million copies worldwide.

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Tonight Def Leppard start their fifth consecutive summer tour which pairs them with another major classic rock act. Following past tours with Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx and R-E-O Speedwagon, Def Lep will be joined this year by Cheap Trick and Poison. Singer Joe Elliott tells us it will be an event because “we’re out with two other bands that everybody knows, everybody knows most of their music and it’s gonna be a good evening’s entertainment.” But Elliott adds that this may be the last summer tour for a while. “I would like us to just step back and smell the roses, I mean literally. I’ve got things in my garden that I don’t know I own because I’ve never been there in summer.” The tour is scheduled to run through September 6th in Devore, California.

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Def Leppard release deluxe editions of their Pyromania and Adrenalize albums today. The release comes as they kickoff their tour with Cheap Trick and Poison tonight in Camden, New Jersey. Both albums have been re-mastered, with Pyromania containing a live disc of a previously unreleased 15-track show from The Forum in Los Angeles in 1983. The bonus disc for Adrenalize contains live and acoustic tracks, as well as demos.

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Bruce Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau, has written a response on Springsteen’s website to a Newark Star-Ledger report that says it was Springsteen holding back over a thousand tickets for his shows last month in East Rutherford, New Jersey that caused problems with Ticketmaster when the seats went on sale in February. Landau once again explains what happened with Ticketmaster, as well as Springsteen’s organization holding back seats. He concludes by saying, “We do get upset when we see fans being taken advantage of, as they were on February 6th. So, when that stuff stops happening (and the Ticketmaster/Tickets Now problems surrounding our recent show in Washington D-C shows that these issues are far from resolved) we will stop complaining. And when the facts cease to be misrepresented, we will stop explaining.”

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Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington will take his side project Dead by Sunrise to Las Vegas next month. Bennington and company will do an acoustic performance to mark the opening of Club Tattoo at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on July 4th. Dead by Sunrise’s debut album is expected out this fall.

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Silversun Pickups have announced a tour that runs between their appearances at The All Points West Festival in Jersey City, New Jersey August 2nd and the San Diego Street Scene August 29th. Cage the Elephant and the Manchester Orchestra will open up all the shows.  They’ll be in Vancouver August 18th and 19th at the Commodore Ballroom.

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U-2 have been in Spain rehearsing for their 360-Degrees tour, which starts June 30th in Barcelona. While not completely revealed, details of their massive stage were recently reported in the New York Times. Sitting in the middle of each stadium, the circular stage — which the Times says resembles an “alien sea monster” — is 165-feet high, weighs 390 tons and will be transported in 180 trucks. Part of the inspiration for the design comes from the four-legged arched structure of the 1961 Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport. At a total cost of 150-million dollars, there are three stages, which means while one is being used, another can be built at the next venue and so on. The North American leg starts on September 12th in Chicago.

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Kid Rock has tapped superstar producer Rick Rubin to work on his next album. Rock had hoped to finish recording the album this summer and release it in the fall, but hooking up with Rubin has changed those plans. Expect Rock to debut some of his new songs on his summer tour, which kicks off Friday in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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Paul Stanley says KISS is just four days away from finishing a new studio disc. “[We recorded] 11 tracks and it is everything I’ve told you. It is classic. It is all written within the band and it rocks big time! [Guitarist] Tommy [Thayer] and [drummer] Eric [Singer] both handle lead vocals. The songs, sound and playing will knock your socks off. You will all be as proud and excited as we all are. Oh…and wait till you see the cover! We are just getting started!” They are in talks to release the album, their first since 1998’s Psycho Circus, exclusively through Wal-Mart.

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Tool and Linkin Park will be headlining a new hard rock festival in Pomona, California. Epicenter ‘09 will be held August 22nd at the Fairplex and feature sets by Alice in Chains, Wolfmother, Hollywood Undead, Atreyu and Street Sweeper Social Club. The festival is Linkin Park’s only U-S date of the year.

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Judas Priest guitarist K-K Downing hosted a fundraiser yesterday at his U-K golf course for The Lord’s Taverner’s charity, which provides sporting opportunities for disadvantaged and disabled young people.

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The Who’s Roger Daltrey performed at the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame’s opening night concert on Saturday. Backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, he did “Pinball Wizard” and “See Me Feel Me/Listening to You.” The show raised nearly a million dollars for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s music education program, Music Matters.

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Taking Back Sunday have a new I-Phone app for their single “Sink Into Me” that allows fans to “scratch” the song as if it’s on a turntable.

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Heaven and Hell canceled their show in Sunday night at the Metalway Festival in Spain because guitarist Tony Iommi was suffering from back pain.

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Nickelback were big winners at Canada’s Much Music Video Awards Sunday night, as “Gotta Be Somebody” won for best video, best rock video and best post-production.

Police have arrested former Warrant singer Jani Lane on suspicion of drunk driving.

Los Angeles police records show Lane was arrested Wednesday and posted bail of 30-thousand dollars on Thursday.

Lane parted ways with Warrant in September.

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Bret Michaels isn’t up to performing yet.

He’s called off three shows in California since Thursday and he blames it on his injuries at the Tony Awards.

Michaels had been hit in the face with a piece of scenery.

A statement on his website says the accident, which fractured his nose and split his lip, is now taking its toll on his throat.

Michaels will reschedule the gigs.

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Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin) and Jack White (of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather) spent Friday doing media interviews together. The two are featured in It Might Get Loud, a documentary about the magic of the electric guitar built around a two-day jam session between Page, White and U-2’s The Edge and each player’s individual story with the instrument. Directed and co-produced by Davis Guggenheim — who produced the documentary An Inconvenient Truth — the film screened at the L-A Film Festival Friday and will be shown again there today. It opens in theaters in L-A and New York on August 14th, with more locations to follow.

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Bad Company, with original members Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke (bassist Boz Burrell died in 2006), started a 10-city reunion tour last week in Florida with The Doobie Brothers opening. They’re playing 18 songs, including such standards as “Shooting Star,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Can’t Get Enough,” “Rock n’ Roll Fantasy” and “Bad Company.”

Rodgers tells us they’re only doing 10 shows because “having just finished this massive Queen tour…I hadn’t really planned to tour this year at all.” He also says Bad Company’s one show last year in Florida went over so well that they wanted to thank their fans “for their support.”

Show number-four is in Raleigh, North Carolina tomorrow night.

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Pink Floyd singer-guitarist David Gilmour performed with supermodel Kate Moss at a charity event last week in London. Someone had bid 78-thousand dollars for them to perform “Summertime,” which was the finale to the show. London’s Daily Mail reports, “The audience got more than they bargained for when the pair took to the stage — no one could believe what was happening… Kate really got into it. She dropped to her knees as she belted out the lyrics, and ended up writhing on her back. It was an electrifying performance.”

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Evanescence singer Amy Lee says the band still lives on, even though three of her former bandmates are starting a new group called The Fallen with American Idol finalist Carly Smithson. She’s writes on Evanescence’s website, “We’re currently working on new material that I’m extremely excited about. I believe that to make great music you have to give yourself the freedom to evolve. I don’t see the point in making the same record twice, so I always want to challenge myself to make something better, stronger and more interesting than before.” Lee adds that she expects to release a new album next year.

The Fallen will make their debut appearance at press event today in Los Angeles.

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It looks like fans of The Offspring won’t have to wait five years again to get new music from the band. Guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman and frontman Dexter Holland recently met with Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace producer Bob Rock to go over songs that didn’t make the cut for that album to see what they could salvage. They’re also considering tracks left off of Splinter and Conspiracy of One. The Offspring, whose tour takes them to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow, hope to hit the studio in January and release a disc next summer.

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Limp Bizkit won’t do a U-S tour until they have a new album done. That’s word from frontman Fred Durst, who hopes to finish the disc this summer and release it in the fall. He tells Rolling Stone that the style of their new album “is not going to disappoint any true, hardcore Limp Bizkit fans. But it also isn’t going to alienate anyone that else who is going to discover Limp Bizkit for the first time. It’s kinda going to change the game a little bit, but still stay Limp Bizkit — if that makes any sense.”

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The last of the Radiohead deluxe re-issues will hit stores and digital outlets on August 25th. 2000’s Kid A, 2001’s Amnesiac and 2003’s Hail to the Thief will each be available in two-disc Collectors Editions that add rarities such as radio sessions and live recordings. And Special Collectors Editions will add a D-V-D with each album’s videos and T-V appearances.

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Ozzy Osbourne’s long-awaited memoir will finally be published this fall, but only in the U-K. I Am Ozzy will be published by Sphere on October 1st. Antonia Hodgson at Little, Brown says the book is “fantastic, very much in the tone of his voice, very funny and a very full story.” Ozzy, who was photographed for the book’s cover last week, will do two book signings in the U-K the week of publication for the book, which was supposed to be out two years ago. No word on a North American publication date. A documentary on Ozzy’s life, Wreckage of My Past, is due out early next year.

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Living Colour are coming back with their first album in five years on September 15th. The “Cult of Personality” band recorded the new disc, The Chair in the Doorway, in the Czech Republic. They’ll kick off a world tour in September as well.

Queensryche are rocking the boat with U-S soldiers.Queensryche will perform a private U-S-O concert for more than 500 American and host nation troops on board the U-S-S Mount Whitney in Germany tomorrow.

The band’s last album is called “American Soldier” and explores the life of a soldier.

Singer Geoff Tate says the album was a life-changing experience and he wanted to thank the military serving abroad for inspiring the album.

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Bret Michaels says he’s not going to sue the Tonys.

Michaels tells People magazine he is taking the high road and there’s no lawsuit.

Michaels fractured his nose and split his lip after he was hit by a piece of scenery descending from the ceiling during the Tony Awards on June 7th.

Michaels says he was honoured to be asked to perform at the Tonys because it was something he’s never done and never expected to do.

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After playing the first three shows of their summer tour on their own, Aerosmith will welcome Z-Z Top to the lineup starting Sunday in Bristow, Virginia. Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry tells us they were looking at a “dismal” list of opening acts when their manager called and suggested Z-Z, to which he replied, “Did you even have to call?” Z-Z Top bassist Dusty Hill says, “It’s gonna be very, very rock and roll. It’s gonna be a great night.” The tour is scheduled through September 16th in suburban Detroit.

Sunday is Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer’s 59th birthday, and he’ll celebrate with 20 wounded soldiers he invited to be his guests at the band’s show in Bristow, Virginia, just outside Washington, D-C. The Marines and sailors — who all served in Iraq or Afghanistan — are from the National Naval Medical Center and are receiving treatment and therapy for their injuries. Kramer says, “I can’t think of a better gift to receive on my birthday than to have the privilege of sharing a night of our music with these brave and heroic warriors who have been wounded in the service of our country.”

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The third single from U-2’s No Line on the Horizon will be “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.” It’s due out in late August, just before their 3-60 tour starts in North America on September 12th in Chicago. An animated video for the song is being made by Irish director David O’Reilly.

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On a night brimming with speeches, the comments by Crosby Stills and Nash at their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame last night (Thursday) stood out from the pack. Graham Nash — pointing out that there are but 12 notes with which to make music — said that what songwriters over the years have done “with those 12 notes is astonishing.” Stephen Stills noted tongue-in-cheek that his inspiration came from “the great women that dumped me and all the dumb politicians that caused me to write songs.” David Crosby said, “Without a good song to start with, you really don’t really have anything — you can polish it for days and all you got it a bucket of polish.”

Other highlights of the Hall’s 40th annual ceremonies were an onstage reunion of Rascals tunesmiths and 2009 inductees Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere, while Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Junior closed the night with a rousing performance of their Fifth Dimension classic “Aquarius/ Let the Sunshine In” — Hair’s composers Galt McDermott, James Rado and the late Gerome Ragni were also inducted.

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Beck will relaunch his website next month with a new covers project called Music Club. The project involves Beck and other musicians — including M-G-M-T and his Mutations, Sea Change and The Information producer Nigel Godrich — covering an entire album in one day. The first album they’ll tackle is 1967’s The Velvet Underground and Nico. A new track from the sessions will be posted each week on Beck­.com.

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Lynyrd Skynyrd will once again take to the high seas as their Simple Man Cruise sets sail next January. Joining them will be 38 Special, Molly Hatchet, The Outlaws and others aboard the Carnival Inspiration, which will sail from Tampa, Florida to Cozumel from January 21st to the 25th. For more information, log onto SimpleManCruise-dot-com.

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Look out rock world, Courtney Love has re-started her band Hole. The only previous member joining Love is bassist Melissa auf der Maur, who provides some backing vocals on a new album called Nobody’s Daughter. Auf der Maur might also join Love on the road next year to play bass. Love expects to release Nobody’s Daughter either late this year or early in 2010.

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Even with Blink 1-82 reunited, Tom DeLonge’s other band, Angels and Airwaves, is not through. Up next for them is an album and film called Love that DeLonge plans to release for free in the late fall. He’s secured some corporate underwriting to pay for the free release. DeLonge has been talking about this film project for a long time — a lengthy trailer was posted on the Angels and Airwaves website in 2007.

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Three former members of Evanescence are teaming up with an American Idol finalist to start a new band. The Fallen, which takes its name from Evanescence’s multi-platinum debut, features guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt, drummer Rocky Gray and singer Carly Smithson. The Fallen plan to tour in September and initially will release songs as digital downloads every few months.

The Fallen will make their debut performance Monday in Hollywood at a press event. Afterwards, their single “Bury Me Alive” will be available for free download at WeAreTheFallen.com.

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RATT have started recording their first studio album in 10 years.

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Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood were joined by blues legend Buddy Guy Wednesday night in Guy’s hometown of Chicago for two songs — “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Drowning on Dry Land.”

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Bruce Springsteen has been asked to delay the start of his July 19th show in Rome so it doesn’t conflict with the start of the finals of the women’s 10 meter platform diving competition in a venue close to where he’s performing.

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Puscifer, the side project from Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, appear on New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets, which is due out digitally July 28th and in stores August 18th.

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Megadeth’s new album, Endgame, will be out in September.

There he is — Gene Simmons, right there at the bottom of a urinal.

A-and-E has put urinal cakes promoting “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” in urinals across the U-S.

Simmons is urging fans to leave the cakes for others to enjoy, but if fans do take them, he says they should remember to wash them first.

A new season of “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” begins Sunday.

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The former Cat Stevens has decided he’d rather have a cup of tea with Coldplay than take them to court.

Yusuf Islam claims Coldplay lifted parts of his 1973 song “Foreigner Suite” for their song “Viva La Vida.”

His claims came after Joe Satriani claimed Coldplay ripped off his song, “If I Could Fly.”

Islam tells Britain’s Daily Express he won’t sue Coldplay, even though he still believes they copied his song.

He says they didn’t do it on purpose and he’s even copied himself without realizing it.

He says he’d love to sit down and have a cup of tea with them and let them know it’s okay.

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“Weird Al” Yankovic has created a song that Jim Morrison could have written if he only he had had Internet access.

Yankovic copies The Doors for his new song, “Craigslist.”

He even got Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek (man-ZAYR’-ek) to play on it.

Yankovic does his best Morrison impression in the video, which was shot by Liam Lynch.

“Craigslist” is the first of four new songs Yankovic will release over the course of the summer.

“Craigslist” is available through digital retailers, and i-Tunes is selling the video.

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After a late night of rocking out, Denny’s wants you to eat like a rock star.

Denny’s is introducing a new Rockstar Menu next Tuesday at its restaurants.

You can chow down on Good Charlotte’s Band of Burritos — chicken or vegetarian.

Sum 41 has the Sumwich — a French toast sandwich filled with ham, cheddar and eggs and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

There’s also the Gym Class Heroes’ After School Special — Texas toast topped with hash browns, a fried egg, cheese, bacon, peppers and onions, served with ranchero country gravy.

The menu is offered 10 p-m to five a-m.

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Bad Company starts a 10-city reunion tour tonight in Hollywood, Florida. Singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke –bassist Boz Burrell died in 2006 — got together for a one-off show last August in Hollywood in order to protect the group’s trademark. Rodgers tells us that show, which will be out on D-V-D in August, was the catalyst for this tour.  The dates will be concentrated on the East Coast through July 4th in Atlantic City, New Jersey with The Doobie Brothers opening the first nine.

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In Session, the long out-of-print 1983 live album by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King, will be re-issued on June 30th. The album has been digitally remastered and features three sets of new liner notes. In Session features mostly King originals and Vaughan’s own “Pride and Joy.”

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Alice Cooper has been in the news lately with his collection of horror movies being lost and found, and then his personal assistant dying. Now comes this bizarre story: A fan at his show last July in England removed his false leg and punched a fellow fan in the face 10 times after he was asked to calm down. The case, currently being heard in a U-K court, involves Andrew Miller and John Lynch, who claims he asked Miller repeatedly to remain in his seat during the show. Miller objected and assaulted Lynch who suffered severe bruising and a hemorrhage behind his right eye. Lynch allegedly picked up a motorcycle helmet and struck Miller back.

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Eddie Van Halen and his company, E-L-V-H Incorporated, have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Nike. Eddie claims that Nike stole his trademarked black, white and red design for a new line of sneakers. He’s seeking monetary retribution and asking that all the sneakers be destroyed. Eddie introduced his E-V-H Brand Signature Striped Sneakers in April.

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If you buy Incubus’s new best-of album, Monuments and Melodies, you’ll get a lot more than just two C-Ds’ worth of music. Each copy comes with a code giving you access to an online archive called The Vault at the band’s website. It contains more than 100 rare or unreleased M-P-3s, more than 100 rare or unreleased videos, and more than 400 photos taken by the guys in Incubus. The access code will allow you to download 100 items from The Vault they’re posted this summer.

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The cameras were rolling when Def Leppard performed at the Download Festival Sunday in the U-K. A spokesman for the band tells us, “Yes, they did film. However, there are no specific plans for a release just yet.”

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Bruce Springsteen’s three-song jam with Phish from Bonnaroo Sunday night can be downloaded through LivePhish.com.

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Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt has designed a vegan sneaker for Macbeth footwear. Dirnt’s “45 R-P-M” shoe is made entirely without animal products — most non-leather sneakers contain glue made with animal products.

In addition to touring with Aerosmith this summer — a tour that gets under way Sunday in Bristow, Virginia — Z-Z Top has just announced eight of their own headlining shows during days off from the Aerosmith tour. They are spread out between July 18th in Louisiana and September 17th in Upstate New York…and include Kelowna at the Heartland Ranch August 14th.

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Meat Loaf will play a cop in a made for T-V movie on the Hallmark Channel.

He plays a detective who helps a woman, played by Ally Sheedy, who is convinced a family friend is responsible for her aunt’s murder.

The drama is called “Citizen Jane” and is based on a true story.

It will air September 5th.

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Spinal Tap finally got around to recording that song from their opera about Jack the Ripper.

A fully produced version of “Saucy Jack” is available as a free download on www-dot-SpinalTap-dot-com.

The song is also available as a download for the game “Rock Band.”

Spinal Tap are releasing an album called “Back From The Dead” today.

It contains what the band calls long self-suppressed studio versions of the songs from the movie, as well as six new songs.

John Mayer, Phil Collen of Def Leppard, guitarist Steve Vai (VY) and Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer are guest musicians.

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Creed will make their debut reunion performance in front of T-V cameras, performing on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends show on June 26th. They’re expected to perform their first single from their upcoming album, which they’ve been recording in Nashville with producer Howard Benson. Creed’s reunion tour gets under way August 6th outside Pittsburgh.

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Jack White is putting together a documentary based on The White Stripes’ 2007 tour of Canada — during which they became the first band to ever play every one of the country’s provinces on a single tour. White says, “When we started, we just didn’t know what we were doing, so we just said, ‘Film everything, see what happens. I’m pretty anti-reality television and all that ridiculous peeking behind the curtain sort of aspect of entertainment these days, but in this case, I don’t think it really has that ridiculousness to it.” White offered no clue as to when the documentary might see the light of day.

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Yesterday marked the 365th straight day that Judas Priest fan Jim Bartek of Cleveland listened to Priest’s 2008 album, Nostradamus, in its entirety. That means he spent approximately 624 hours, or 26 days of his life, listening to the concept album. When asked why, he said, “It just grabs me… Bartek says he will end the streak after seeing Priest on July 15th in Cleveland.

Priest have scrapped plans to play Nostradamus in its entirety on their summer tour, instead opting to play their 1980 album British Steel.

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Green Day are looking for fans to take their picture. Members of the band’s Idiot Club can enter a contest to be the official photographer at each stop Green Day’s upcoming tour. Each winner will receive a camera before the show and a pass to the photo pit to snap away. All the pictures will be posted at GreenDay.com. The tour starts July 3rd in Seattle.

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Green Day and Kings of Leon are among the leading music nominees at the Teen Choice Awards. Green Day have three nominations, including Choice Rock Group, while Kings of Leon are also up for Choice Rock Group (as are Linkin Park and Paramore) and Choice Album (Group) for Only by the Night. The Teen Choice Awards will air live on FOX August 10th.

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Wolfmother’s “Back Round” will be included on Guitar Hero Five and is available as a free download at GH5.GuitarHero.com. The song is from the band’s upcoming album, Cosmic Egg.

Frontman Andrew Stockdale just wrapped up recording Cosmic Egg in Los Angeles. There’s no official release date yet — Wolfmother.com says, “The masterpiece is being kept in solitary confinement until the authorities believe the general public is prepared for further mind expansion!”

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Kid Rock says his next album will feature songs that reflect the economic troubles in his home state of Michigan. He tells the Detroit Free Press, “I have a song called ‘Midwest Farmers’ I’m working on. Another one called ‘In Times Like These’ and another, ‘Care.’ A whole bunch of them that are really inspirational from everything I see around me.”

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Killswitch Engage will host listening parties for their new self-titled album at Hot Topic stores across North America on Friday at 7 p-m. The disc is due in stores on June 30th.

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Former New Order members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris have formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant, which features Blur’s Alex James on bass. They’ve completed an album that’s slated for British release in October.

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Seether’s new video for “Careless Whisper,” which features them as characters in a video game, is now streaming at Yahoo.

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Cage the Elephant will appear on The Late Show With David Letterman on July 30th.

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Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood are tinkering with their set list, dropping “Tell the Truth” and adding “Crossroads” the other night in Washington D-C. They’ve also re-arranged the song order. The tour is in Chicago tomorrow night.

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The Rolling Stones’ Biggest Bang concert D-V-D comes out in the Blu-Ray format today.

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Ted Nugent will be a presenter at tonight’s C-M-T Music Awards in Nashville. Def Leppard are among the performers.

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Alice Cooper’s long-time archivist and personal assistant Brian “Renfield” Nelson died suddenly on Friday.

When Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor said that the band’s stripped down show this year was going to be “a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye,” he really meant it. During the band’s set at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee late Saturday night, Reznor stunned much of the crowd by saying, “I just realized this is our last show in the United States — ever. Don’t worry. We’ll keep on going, I just feel like I’ll go insane if I keep doing this.” Nine Inch Nails kick off a six week European tour Friday in Austria, then do a brief Far East tour that wraps up August 12th in Taiwan.

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Bruce Springsteen had an odd duet partner at Bonnaroo — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

Springsteen was the headliner for Saturday’s Bonnaroo lineup, while Phish headlined Friday and Sunday.

Other performers included Elvis Costello, The Beastie Boys, Ani DiFranco, Wilco and Nine Inch Nails, who say it was their last show ever in the U-S.

The festival was hit with lightning storms Thursday and humidity on Friday, but the weather held out for Saturday and Sunday.

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Joe Perry says that the surgery Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford recently had was on his head after banging it getting out of a car. Perry says, “It was enough to cause a little bleeding and he had this terrible headache. Not unlike what happened to Keith Richards [a few years ago] when he fell out of the coconut tree.”

Whitford has been in intensive care and is expected to be off the road for six-to-eight weeks with his guitar tech, Bobby Schneck, sitting in for him.

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Alice Cooper has been reunited with his carry-on bag that contained his laptop and stash of obscure horror movie D-V-Ds. The bag, which had no I-D tags on it, went missing last week when he landed in London, and was discovered in a holding area at Heathrow Airport. Cooper started a tour last night in Russia on a bill with the Scorpions, and he brought the films because of the lack of English language T-V and movie theater options.

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Green Day are coming to Rock Band for the first time. A three pack of 21st Century Breakdown tracks — “Know Your Enemy,” “21 Guns” and “East Jesus Nowhere” — will be available for download for the game on July 7th. More Green Day songs will likely become available for Rock Band. The game’s producers say, “Additional Green Day songs and projects will be announced at a later date.”

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Could an At the Drive In reunion be in the works? The Texas group split into two bands — The Mars Volta and Sparta — in 2001, in the wake of the success of their 2000 album Relationship of Command. In an interview with Drowned in Sound, Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler Zavala says, “You know, it might happen, we just have to iron out a lot of personal things. A lot of it we’ve dealt with already and I’ve apologized for a lot of things I’ve said and the way it ended. We’ll see what happens.”

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A public memorial for Slash’s mother, Ola Hudson, will be held on Saturday at the All Saints’ Church in Beverly Hills. Ola died on June 5th from lung cancer, and Slash writes on his MySpace page, “This is a difficult time, but I have to share with you that she was the sweetest, warmest, most loving human being I’ve ever known (next to my grandmother on her side), as well as one of the most creative and talented. She was also the coolest rock and roll mom a rock junkie like myself could ever possibly want to have.”

Ola Hudson, a costume designer who made outfits for artists such as David Bowie, who she also dated, John Lennon and Ringo Starr, was 62.