PowerBlogs: Rumour Mills

The Grammys are packing in more entertainment at the last minute.

Jeff Beck will lead a tribute to Les Paul, the cast of “American Idiot” will perform with Green Day, and Slash will perform with Jamie Foxx, T-Pain and Doug E. Fresh.

Eminem, Drake, Lil Wayne and Travis Barker are planning a number together.

Robert Flack, Elton John and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland have also been added as performers.

The lineup also includes Beyonce’, Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Pink, the Black Eyed Peas, the Dave Matthews Band, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson and Usher.

Beyonce’ leads the nominations with 10.

Swift has eight, while the Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West each have six.

The Grammys will be handed out Sunday in Los Angeles.

—-

Kings of Leon and Bruce Springsteen are the leading rock nominees for Sunday’s Grammy Awards. Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” has four nominations — Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Rock Song. Springsteen also has four nominations — Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song for “Working on a Dream,” Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Sea of Heartbreak” with Rosanne Cash and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for “The Wrestler”

Green Day and U-2 each have three nominations, and Dave Matthews Band has two nominations, including one in the major category of Album of the Year for Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King.

—-

The Grammy Awards’ Best Alternative Music Album category features discs by veteran acts Depeche Mode and David Byrne and Brian Eno, relatively new bands Phoenix and Yeah Yeahs Yeahs — and a fifth nominee that’s not a full album. Death Cab for Cutie’s The Open Door is an E-P with only four new songs (the fifth is demo of a track from Narrow Stairs).

Death Cab drummer Jason McGerr says the band was very puzzled by the nod. “There are some things that make total sense with the Grammys. And then there are other things that you just say ‘Huh?’

—-

The Ting Tings don’t think they’ll win the best new artist Grammy, but they think they’ve won just by being nominated.

They’re used to being ignored.

Singer Katie White says their song “That’s Not My Name” is about The Ting Tings being dropped by their record label, no one returning their calls and nobody remembering their names.

White has gotten the hang of being in the studio and performing on stage, but she just can’t get the red carpet right.

She says she never knows what to wear and she always ends up looking like she’s going to a christening.

—-

Musicians looking for fashion advice for the Grammys probably should not ask Imogen Heap.

She acknowledges she was unclear on the concept when she was nominated for best new artist in 2007.

She figured she was coming from across the pond in England, so she wore a dress covered in lily pads and a frog with ivy woven into her hair.

Heap says she stepped onto the red carpet and noticed immediately everyone else was in diamonds and chiffon.

She says she had never seen the Grammys and figured they were like British award shows where everyone goes crazy with their outfits.

—-

Metallica say they are “profoundly saddened” to hear a fan who had disappeared after their concert has been found dead.

The band has posted on their Web site a notice offering their “most sincere condolences” to the family of 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. Her body was found in a farm field about 6 kilometres from the arena in Charlottesville where she had attended a Metallica concert in October.

Metallica had publicized the search for Harrington on their Web site and had contributed 50-thousand dollars to the reward fund.

—-

Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp is now a reality show.

V-H-1 will run four episodes in July based on the camp that will happen in Los Angeles next month.

The mentors include Bret Michaels, Michael Anthony, Lemmy from Motorhead, Ace Frehley from Kiss, Lita Ford, Kip Winger, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Rami Jaffee of The Wallflowers and Dave Mason of Traffic.

The camp is not yet sold out.

Details are at RockCamp-dot-com.

—-

Neil Young will be honored tonight (Friday) in Los Angeles as the MusiCares Person of the Year in recognition of both his legendary career and charitable work on behalf of Farm Aid and the Bridge School for children with special needs. A who’s who of artists will be on hand to perform Young’s songs including Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, Elton John, John Mellencamp and James Taylor.

The rest of the line-up: Jack Black, T Bone Burnett, Sheryl Crow, Everest, Patty Griffin, Josh Groban, Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Lady Antebellum, k-d lang, Dave Matthews, Ozomatli, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Leon Russell, Wilco and Lucinda Williams.

The entire set list is not yet available, but we’ve learned that John Mellencamp will do “Down By the River,” Elton John is doing “Helpless” and Lady Antebellum will do “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.’”

The annual MusiCares Person of the Year celebration, part of Grammy Week, benefits music people with financial, medical and personal needs.

—-

Billy Idol was one of Joe Perry’s choices to replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith, according to Classic Rock magazine. Perry invited the snarling singer to his Joe Perry Project show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles last November to discuss the possibility, but Idol never responded to the invite. As we reported yesterday, Perry also reached out to Paul Rodgers. Classic Rock says it knows of a third singer Perry reached out to and will reveal that person today (Friday).

The Joe Perry Project is on tour in Canada opening for Motley Crue, with a show in Winnipeg tonight (Friday).

—-

A company owned by KISS is embroiled in a lawsuit in Detroit. KISS Catalog Limited, which controls the trademarks to the KISS make-up, photos and posters, has filed suit against Vintage KISS Photos: 1974-1981 to stop the publication of a book of KISS photos and to shut down the Vintage KISS Photos website.

—-

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns n Roses bassist Duff McKagan are headlining a Seattle benefit for Haiti on February 28th. A Hootenanny for Haiti at Showbox at the Market will raise money for Partners in Health, which is one of the longest running health-care providers in Haiti.

—-

New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert is recovering from surgery this week to remove nodules on his thyroid. Doctors found no evidence of cancer, and Gilbert should be able to re-join New Found Glory’s tour within a week. Anthony Raneri from Bayside is filling in while Gilbert recovers.

—-

Olivia Newton-John is set to star in a hockey movie.

She’ll play the mother of a teenage hockey star in the film “Score: A Hockey Musical.”

Director Michael McGowan says he wanted to cast Newton-John in that role but didn’t think she’d say yes.

She will co-write and perform a song for the final credits. Shooting begins next week in Toronto.

It’s set for release October 22.

“We Are The World” is getting a makeover — as a charity single for Haiti earthquake relief.

Quincy Jones says he is putting together an all-star group of singers to re-cut the single on Monday in Los Angeles — the day after the Grammys.

Jones isn’t saying which singers are going to be on the song — in part because the lineup hasn’t been set.

The original song was recorded 25 years ago today in Los Angeles after the American Music Awards ceremony.

It was co-written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.

Jones was the producer.

—-

The “Hope For Haiti Now” telethon and C-D has raised one per cent of Haiti’s gross domestic product in less than a week.

Organizers of the telethon say the telethon and C-D have brought in 66- (m) million dollars since Friday.

The “Hope for Haiti Now” album has sold 171-thousand units so far, putting it at number one on the Billboard album chart.

It’s the first time an album that you can only buy digitally is number one.

—-

What happens to kids who used to be on “Barney?”

They grow up to be on “American Idol.”

Erica Rhodes was one of the kids who hung out with Barney, but as a grown-up, she showed up for her audition wearing leather and carrying a whip.

The judges put her through to Hollywood.

They also liked the girl who had leukemia, the man with Tourette syndrome, and the dock worker who says he can taste victory.

They said no to the perky girl in pink who Simon Cowell called a nightmare, and to very first contestant in Dallas who had tried out before.

Security had to escort her out.

Tuesday’s auditions go to Denver, with Victoria Beckham returning as guest judge.

—-

Virginia authorities are confident they have found the remains of a young woman who disappeared after attending a Metallica concert in October.

Virginia State Police say they’re sure they’ve found the remains of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington.

A farmer discovered her body on his property, which is in a remote area about 16 kilometres from the concert arena.

Metallica themselves had contributed to the reward for information about Harrington’s whereabouts.

An autopsy is being conducted to confirm the identification.

—-

Paul Rodgers was invited to be Aerosmith’s singer last year. Guitarist Joe Perry offered him the slot last November at the Classic Rock Roll of Honor awards in London, and though Rodgers was flattered, he made no real commitment nor refusal, with his manager telling us, “Paul is extremely busy with Bad Company and solo projects.” Meanwhile, Classic Rock magazine says it knows of two other singers who were approached and will reveal them today and tomorrow.

Joe Perry was recently quoted as saying that Aerosmith plans to continue without Tyler, but with a known entity. “I think it would make more sense, with a band like Aerosmith, to get somebody who the fans might recognize. There’s no sense going out there and being an Aerosmith clone band. In order for both parties to get something out of this, to move things along musically, it’s important to get somebody who’s a legitimate headliner on their own.”

Rodgers is no stranger to singing with other bands, having fronted Queen for a few years.

The Joe Perry Project will open the U-K tour for Rodgers and Bad Company in April.

—-

The Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy category features a lineup of platinum acts — A-C-/D-C, Alice in Chains, Metallica, Nickelback and Linkin Park, who are nominated for “What I’ve Done.”

In a typical Grammy quirk, L-P aren’t nominated for the three-year-old studio version. They got the nod for the version that appeared on their 2008 live album Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes. Vocalist Mike Shinoda says, “We work hard on our live show, and to get a nod for something in that direction is pretty awesome.”

—-

Jimmy Page seems to be softening his critical stance on games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. He says, “It’s a fun thing to do. You get an understanding of the timing of music, [and] with that you can have fun on it. I think the most important thing is that with an instrument, you should just really have fun with it and enjoy it.”

Last year, Page struck a negative chord, saying, “You think of the drum part that John Bonham did on Led Zeppelin’s first track on the first album, ‘Good Times Bad Times.’ How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?”

Led Zeppelin have yet to license their music for use in either game.

—-

Joe Walsh is running for Congress in Illinois, but it’s not the Eagles guitarist. However, the candidate is using a re-recording of a Walsh song in his campaign, which is not sitting well with the guitarist.

Walsh the candidate has taken “Walk Away,” a song the guitarist recorded with his pre-Eagles band, The James Gang, and redubbed it “Lead the Way.” This led to the guitarist’s lawyer firing off a cease-and-desist letter, which in part says, “You can’t use someone else’s song for your political campaign promotions unless you get permission from the owner of the copyright of the song. As far as we can tell, you didn’t do that. Maybe you got so busy with the campaign that you just forgot. This is not to say you’re not allowed to write silly lyrics, you just have to write them to your own music. Now, I know why you used Joe’s music — it’s undoubtedly because it’s a lot better than any music you or your staff could have written. But that’s the point. Since Joe writes better songs than you do, the Copyright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes.”

In closing, the lawyer, Peter Paterno writes, “Given that your name is Joe Walsh, I’d think you’d want to be extra careful about using Joe’s music in case the public might think that Joe is endorsing your campaign, or God forbid, is you. Or maybe you intended that. But you shouldn’t have.”

—-

Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman and Anberlin’s Stephen Christian are putting together an album to benefit Haitian relief. Foreman tells us the album — which they hope to release digitally “near Valentine’s Day” — will be titled Love for Haiti. He adds that Switchfoot will probably contribute a live version of “Red Eyes,” the closing track on their latest album, Hello Hurricane. Besides Switchfoot and Anberlin, the artists contributing tracks are still being confirmed.

—-

The next album from The Black Crowes will sound very familiar to their fans. That’s because they’ve re-recorded 20 songs from their catalog acoustically with, as the band’s site says, “the full band and a few other friends. We’re very excited about the session and feel it represents where we’ve been, who we are, and where we’re going.” The band hasn’t revealed when the acoustic set will be released.

—-

A-C/D-C may be the next act to join the growing list of artists who play one of their classic albums in its entirety in concert. Andy Copping, the promoter of England’s Download festival, tells the U-K’s X-F-M there’s a “possibility” that A-C/D-C will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Back in Black by playing it from start to finish at this year’s festival in June. There’s also a Facebook campaign to get them to do just that.

A-C/D-C starts a tour Down Under tonight in Wellington, New Zealand.

—-

Creed singer Scott Stapp, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and members of Godsmack are among the musicians supporting Plane to Haiti, an aircraft that flew to the country yesterday with more than 10-thousand pounds of supplies and a team of doctors to help the ailing country. Stapp arrived in Haiti Tuesday as part of the Global Orphan Project team and is sharing images of his visit via his Twitter page.

—-

Neil Young will be honored tomorrow night in Los Angeles as MusiCares Person of the Year. Among those scheduled to perform Young songs are Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, James Taylor and Red Hot Chili Peppers. We’ve learned that Mellencamp will kick off the night with “Down by the River.”

—-

Coldplay are giving away an artist pass from the Hope for Haiti Now telethon signed by all four members of the band. To enter, send your name and address to competitions@coldplay.com before February 10th.

—-

The Eagles have added another date to their spring tour — May 9th in Vancouver, Canada at the G-M Place.

—-

The Bruce Springsteen exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — From Asbury Park to the Promised Land — has been extended through the end of the year and features some new artifacts — including his first car, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and his recent Kennedy Center Honors medal.

—-

A company that deals in photos and posters of Kiss is suing to stop the sale of a book.

Kiss Catalogue Limited is asking a judge to shut down the web site VintageKissPhotos-dot-com and stop the sale of a book by the same name because its trademarks are being violated.

The lawsuit names Marc Scallatino and photographer Janet Macoska.

Macoska says she sold some Kiss images to Scallatino but warned he could not use them for a book.

Scallatino did not respond to requests for comment.

Devo are going to the Olympics.

They will perform February 22nd in Vancouver at the end of a Victory Ceremony, when the winning athletes that day receive their medals.

It will be broadcast live on N-B-C.

Devo plan to perform old favourites as well as songs from an upcoming album, their first in nearly 20 years.

—-

A-C/D-C are lending their music to the “Iron Man” sequel.

Fifteen classic A-C/D-C songs will be used in “Iron Man 2,” which comes out May 7th.

A-C/D-C will release an official soundtrack to the movie on April 19th.

They’ve already shot a video for “Shoot To Thrill.”

Other songs that will be used include “Back in Black,” “Thunderstruck,” “T.N.T.” and “Have A Drink On Me.”

—-

Joan Jett has been called any horrible rotten name you can think of.

Jett says when The Runaways hit the scene, people either considered them misguided girls for trying to play rock and roll, or they insulted them.

She says you’d think rock would have been more open, but guys in bands had problems with it.

The story of the band is the subject of the film “The Runaways,” which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

—-

Bob Dylan will perform for the first time at the White House.

He will sing on “In Performance At The White House: A Celebration of Music From The Civil Rights Movement” on February 10th.

Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal and the Blind Boys of Alabama will also perform.

The performance will air on P-B-S stations beginning February 11th.

—-

Bruce Springsteen is sticking around the Rock Hall by popular demand.

A Springsteen exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will remain there through the rest of this year.

It was supposed to close this spring.

Springsteen contributed many personal items for the exhibit, including the guitar he holds on the cover of “Born to Run.”

Springsteen’s first car, his Kennedy Center Honor and his Golden Globe Award have been added since its opening last April.

—-

ABBA fever has taken over London again.

An exhibition called ABBAWORLD opens today, with 30-thousand square feet of all things ABBA.

There are costumes, recreations of the studio where they recorded and the cabin where they wrote, even the helicopter pictured on the cover of the “Arrival” album.

Visitors can remix the band’s hits or dance and sing with ABBA holograms.

The members of ABBA donated items to the exhibit, which was supposed to be part of a museum in Sweden that didn’t happen.

The exhibit runs in London through March and then moves on to Australia and New York.

—-

Hope for Haiti Now, the album of performances from Friday night’s telethon of the same name, is poised to top the Billboard chart today when final sales figures are released. Even though the compilation wasn’t available for download until late Saturday, industry reports say that close to 150-thousand copies were downloaded between then and Sunday night.

Hope for Haiti Now, which features performances from Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and many more, will be the first digital-only album to top the Billboard chart.

—-

The Who’s “My Generation” has been remixed by Will-I-Am of the Black Eyed Peas and it will air during Super Bowl 44 in Miami on February 7th where the Who will be performing during the halftime show. Will tells us, “They were kind enough to give me the blessings to update my part to talk about the generation that’s happening now. I put Slash on it, and after they perform on the Super Bowl, the song will be available on I-Tunes and all the proceeds will go to Haiti.” Will plans to be in Miami to watch the Who’s performance.

—-

The Grammy Awards’ Best Alternative Music Album category features discs by veteran acts Depeche Mode and David Byrne and Brian Eno, relatively new bands Phoenix and Yeah Yeahs Yeahs — and a fifth nominee that’s not a full album. Death Cab for Cutie’s The Open Door is an E-P with only four new songs (the fifth is demo of a track from Narrow Stairs).

Death Cab drummer Jason McGerr says the band was very puzzled by the nod. “There are some things that make total sense with the Grammys. And then there are other things that you just say ‘Huh?’”

The Grammys air live on Sunday night at 5:00 p-m on C-B-S.

—-

Police believe the remains found on a remote farm 10 miles south Charlottesville, Virginia are that of Metallica fan who disappeared October 17th during their show at John Paul Jones Arena. Police said the skeletal remains were found Tuesday morning by a farmer driving a tractor through his hay field. The missing girl, Morgan Harrington, went to the Metallica show with friends but split up from them and ended up outside the venue. She called one of her friend’s cell and told them she’d get home on her own, but was never seen again.

Metallica made many pleas via their website for fans to help find Harrington and donated 50-thousand dollars to the 150-thousand dollar reward for her return.

—-

As you may have heard, Bon Jovi are letting their fans decide what song the band plays on the Grammy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles. The voting was open to six songs — “Always,” “Bed of Roses,” “Have a Nice Day,” “It’s My Life,” “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.” But that’s now down to three — “Always,” “It’s My Life” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Voting is open until showtime — 8 p-m [ET] on Sunday — at CBS.com/Grammys.

Bon Jovi is up for a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for “We Weren’t Born to Follow.”

Jon Bon Jovi will appear in an upcoming episode of the N-B-C sitcom 30 Rock. He’ll play one of Tina Fey’s former love interests in the Valentine’s Day-themed special, which is being filmed this week.

—-

Since getting off the road last fall, The Edge says he and Bono have been working on new songs. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the U-2 guitarist says, “We are working on a lot of new songs. Some of them are really, really happy. We’re convinced that we have something really special… We try and keep things moving forward. We are experimenting with a lot of different arrangements, and electronic is one of the things we are playing with. But there are other songs that are very traditional, almost folk. In some ways — that’s the thing we haven’t figured out yet — is where this album is going to end up.” No word on when the album will be released. U-2 resume their 360-Degrees tour June 6th in Anaheim, California.

—-

Steven Tyler, who’s rehabbing at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, California, has been keeping his vocal chops up with impromptu performances at a nearby karaoke bar — and again last weekend at a local Home Depot. T-M-Z is reporting that Tyler sang snippets of two Aerosmith songs over the store P-A on Saturday — “Dude Looks Like a Lady” and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” To add to his performance, he took a hit off a helium tank, and then signed some autographs.

—-

Ronnie James Dio continues to receive chemo for stomach cancer, and according to his bass player, Rudy Sarzo, “he’s doing fantastic.” Dio was originally diagnosed with stomach ulcers, but further tests showed it to be cancer.

In addition to writing his autobiography, Dio is booking dates this summer with Heaven and Hell.

—-

Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Hagar opened the Cantina in a partnership with his Van Halen bandmates, but after it proved to be a financial failure he bought out the other three members. 20 years later, it is a success with two other Cantinas in Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas, Nevada. To celebrate 20 years, Hagar will perform three shows at the original Cabo on April 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Hagar says, “I’m inviting everyone who has ever been there once to be there twice and make this the most fun we’ve ever had in Cabo!”

In addition to the three Cabo restaurants, Hagar is a partner in a restaurant in his hometown of Mill Valley, California, and he owns Sammy’s Beach Bar and Grill in St. Louis and Maui with more on the way.

Radiohead have raised half a million dollars for Haiti earthquake relief.

The band played a show Sunday in Los Angeles to benefit Oxfam International’s relief efforts.

Attendees bid online for tickets, and prices went as high as $4000 for a pair.

Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel, Charlize Theron, Anna Paquin and Daniel Craig were among those who attended.

—-

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder has released a digital single to raise funds for Haiti relief. The track is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “My City of Ruins” recorded at the Kennedy Center Honors last month, where Springsteen was among the honorees. Proceeds will go to Artists for Justice and Peace Haiti Relief.

—-

American Idol judge Simon Cowell has tapped Jon Bon Jovi to join Rod Stewart and many others on a cover of R-E-M’s “Everybody Hurts” to raise funds for Haiti relief. Singers are adding their vocal tracks throughout this week, and Cowell hopes to have a digital single out within two weeks.

—-

Pete Townshend tells Billboard that The Who will play a “mash-up of stuff” during their performance at the Super Bowl half-time show February 7th in Miami. “A bit of ‘Baba O’Riley,’ a bit of ‘Pinball Wizard,’ a bit of the close of ‘Tommy,’ a bit of ‘Who Are You,’ and a bit of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’ It works — it’s quite a saga. A lot of the stuff that we do has that kind of celebratory vibe about it — we’ve always tried to make music that allows the audience to go a bit wild if they want to. Hopefully, it will hit the spot.” Steve Winwood will perform during the pre-game show.

—-

C-B-S’s Super Bowl telecast will feature a new version of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Producer E-S Posthumus has worked the sports anthem into a mash-up with a new guitar track by Queen’s Brian May. May writes on BrianMay.com, “It features us, including Freddie [Mercury's] original vocal, an exploding super-giant orchestra and some great ideas… I must have heard a thousand versions of “We Will Rock You” over the years, but this is the best of them all.”

The Super Bowl airs live on February 7th from Miami.

—-

The Best Rock Song category features one relative newcomer and four Grammy veterans. Kings of Leon won their first Grammy last year for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “Sex on Fire,” and this year “Use Somebody” has four nominations, including Best Rock Song. Pearl Jam have won only one Grammy in their career. It was back in 1996 for Best hard Rock performance for “Spin the Black Circle.” They’re up this year for “The Fixer.” The other three nominees have multiple Grammy awards — U-2 for “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” Green Day for “21 Guns” and Bruce Springsteen for “Working on a Dream.”

—-

Are prices for concert tickets going to drop soon?

That’s what the major players in a big music industry merger claim.

The U.S. Justice Department has approved a merger between concert promoter Live Nation and ticket-seller Ticketmaster.

There are some conditions.

Ticketmaster must sell off one of its subsidiaries and licenses its ticketing software to competitor AEG.

The new company is forbidden for ten years from retaliating against concert venues that decide to go with competitors to sell tickets.

Representatives for Live Nation and for Ticketmaster say fans will see lower ticket prices because the merged company can earn money in new ways.

The deal must still be approved by a federal judge.

—-

More musicians are lending a helping hand to the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Evanescence are offering an unreleased track called “Together Again” to anyone who donates at least $5 to United Nations’ Central Emergency Response Fund.

Kris Allen writes on his Twitter site he’s going to Haiti to help in any way he can.

Ricky Martin has visited Haiti with the head of Habitat for Humanity, and he’s collecting donations through his Ricky Martin Foundation to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

—-

Good Charlotte have spent two months in the studio working on an album they’re throwing out.

Singer Benji Madden writes on the band’s Web site he heard the rough cuts of the album and felt they weren’t right.

He called a meeting with the band and was relieved when the rest of them agreed.

Madden says they were working with one of the biggest producers in the business, but the producer was focused on the commercial success of the record.

Madden says he was focused on the quality of the songs.

Good Charlotte have now hooked up with Don Gilmore, who worked with them on previous albums, and they’re starting over in Vancouver.

—-

John Legend wanted to collaborate on a film about the American public school system.

Luckily, he found a guy who was already making it.

Legend had planned to meet with “An Inconvenient Truth” director Davis Guggenheim to suggest the idea.

Legend says Guggenheim told his manager it was already in the works and would be done in three months.

Guggenheim welcomed Legend’s help, though. Legend wrote the song “Shine” for the movie “Waiting for Superman.”

The documentary premiered this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival.

—-

The Michael Jackson “This Is It” documentary comes out on home video today. Some video outlets were open at midnight to allow fans to buy it the minute it went on sale.

The home video will contain bonus footage like a making-of documentary, a feature on the costumes and a segment on the dancer auditions.

—-

A lost Rod Stewart album is seeing the light of day.

It’s called “Once In A Blue Moon” and he recorded it in 1992.

Pieces of it have been released in different mixes around the world, but six tracks have never been released in the U.S.

The album contains Stewart’s versions of the Rolling Stones song “Ruby Tuesday,” the Bob Dylan song “The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar” and the Stevie Nicks song “Stand Back.”

It’s not certain why Stewart did not release the album, but it may be because he recorded “Unplugged…And Seated” in early 1993 and that album sold three million copies.

“Once In A Blue Moon” is available now — and because it’s retro, it’s being sold in a CD long box.

—-

Ozzy Osbourne is reportedly changing the title of his next album, which will be out in July. He was going to call it Soul Sucka, but now he says, “The fans just don’t seem to like it. As soon as it was announced, people were really negative about it. They just weren’t gonna buy T-shirts with that on.” He has yet to announce what the new title will be.

Ozzy autobiography’s I Am Ozzy hit bookstores yesterday, and he’ll appear at the Columbus Circle Borders in New York today.

—-

Sting, who was part of Friday’s Hope for Haiti telethon, will be the musical guest at the Everglades Foundation’s fifth annual For Everglades Benefit on February 12th in Palm Beach, Florida. Tennis legend John McEnroe will serve as master of ceremonies.

The Everglades Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to protecting and restoring Florida’s Everglades.

—-

KISS and actor David Naughton rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Dr. Pepper. Gene Simmons, who’s featured in the soft drink’s “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor” ad campaign, recently filmed another Pepper ad with his bandmates that will premiere during Super Bowl 44 on February 7th.

Naughton, who starred in the classic “I’m a Pepper” commercials, is ranked by America Online as one of the “Top 25 Ad Icons of All Time.”

—-

Cheap Trick tapes an episode of the P-B-S series Soundstage today in Brooklyn, New York.

—-

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton joined the Adam Ezra Group on stage Saturday night in Boston for a version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” The show raised money for Haiti relief efforts.

—-

The Killers now say they canceled their dates in Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo and Seoul “due to unforeseen circumstances involving a serious illness of a close family member.”

Michael Buble’ will be the musical guest on this week’s “Saturday Night Live.”

The “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon has raised 57 million dollars overnight.

That’s the figure as of Saturday and includes money raised by phone, text and Internet.

The tracks from Friday’s telethon are available for purchase on iTunes, with the money going to Haiti relief, and that money is not included in the 57 million figure.

The “Hope for Haiti Now” album is the biggest one-day pre-order in iTunes history.

—-

Wyclef Jean has gotten new accountants to handle his charity.

The Wyclef Jean Foundation, also known as Yele  Haiti, has hired R-S-M McGladrey to oversee donations being pledged for Haiti relief through Jean’s foundation.

The charity came under criticism when it was revealed it had paid Jean to perform at fundraising events and bought ad time from a T-V station he co-owns.

Jean made the announcement about the new accountants before Friday’s “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon.

—-

The song Simon Cowell plans to produce as a charity single for Haiti will be a remake of the R-E-M song “Everybody Hurts.”

Rod Stewart, Leona Lewis and Michael Buble’ (boo-BLAY’) had agreed to participate, and Coldplay and Paul McCartney are among the acts who have been asked.

The Sun newspaper reports R-E-M has agreed to waive royalties and the British government will exempt it from sales task.

Proceeds will benefit earthquake victims in Haiti.

—-

Scorpions are calling it quits.

They write on their website, “We agree we have reached the end of the road.” They plan to release one last album, “Sting in the Tail,” in March.

They also are planning a worldwide farewell tour that will start in Germany in May.

Scorpions are probably best known for the songs “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “Winds of Change.”

—-

Prince can’t resist anything purple — even the Minnesota Vikings.

Prince tells K-M-S-P - T-V in Minneapolis he wrote a song called “Purple and Gold” after he saw the Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys last week.

Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian thanked Prince for the song on his Twitter page and added Prince is one of his favourites.

The song apparently didn’t inspire the Vikings enough, though — they lost last night to the Saints.

—-

Nikki Sixx and tattoo artist Kat Von D of “L-A Ink” have broken up after two years together.

Sixx writes on his MySpace site they’re taking a break from their relationship for personal reasons.

He says he won’t say a bad word about her and he believes she has nothing bad to say about him.

—-

One of Vancouver’s own will sing as part of N-B-C’s coverage of the Winter Olympics there: Sarah McLachlan.

She’s written and recorded a song called “One Dream” that will be used in N-B-C’s promotional campaign for the Olympics.

McLachlan says she’s thrilled to be associated with the Olympics and she can’t wait to share her hometown with the world

—-

Boys Like Girls recently got a box of organic cookies with a girl’s phone number written on it — and no way were they going to call.

Bassist Bryan Donahue says there was no way for them to tell how old she was, or whether her mom would answer.

He says he didn’t want to be “that creepy dude.”

Plus, he’s afraid he’d call and the fan would be disappointed because she really wanted to talk to singer Martin Johnson.

—-

Actor Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” will host.

Them Crooked Vultures will be the musical guest on the February 6 episode, with Ashton Kutcher as host.

—-

There won’t be a Rothbury Festival in Michigan this year.

Organizers are not blaming the economy, but the lack of a decent lineup.

They say in a statement, “Due to various artists’ recording and touring schedules, timing will not allow them to assemble the cutting edge roster that has been associated with Rothbury.”

They intend to stage a Rothbury Festival in 2010.

—-

Neil Young was the last musical guest booked on the Conan O’Brien-hosted Tonight Show, performing his classic “Long May You Run” on Friday’s finale. But that wasn’t the last song played on the show. Comedic actor Will Ferrell, dressed as the late Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, led the Max Weinberg Seven — with O’Brien, Z-Z Top’s Billy Gibbons, Beck and Ben Harper on guitars — in a version of Skynyrd’s “Freebird.”

Young wasn’t just paying tribute to O’Brien with “Long May You Run” — he played the song to mark the passing of his longtime film collaborator, L-A Johnson, who died Thursday at age 62. Young and Johnson met in 1970, and Johnson produced and directed every one of Young’s video projects.

—-

A Genesis reunion for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction is looking dicey. Original member Peter Gabriel isn’t sure he’ll be able to make the March 15th ceremony in New York, because he’ll be rehearsing for a European tour. And if he does make it, he insists he won’t perform. Gabriel tells Rolling Stone, “I learned at our last reunion [in 1982] that you can’t just get up there. You have to rehearse.”

This won’t be the first high-profile awards show Gabriel has opted out of — he refused to sing at last year’s Academy Awards after producers decided that the song he was nominated for, “Down to Earth” from Wall-E, would be part of a medley with the other two nominated songs.

—-

Godsmack have titled their fifth studio album Saints and Sinners. It’s being produced by Dave Fortman, who’s worked with Slipknot and Mudvayne. Godsmack plan to release the disc in the late spring, followed by a summer tour.

Godsmack are letting fans view their creative process through a series of webisodes on YouTube.

—-

Music from The Doors will provide the soundtrack to the February 21st episode of the C-B-S drama Cold Case. The featured songs will be “Light My Fire,” “Waiting for the Sun,” “Love Her Madly,” “Wild Child,” “Riders on the Storm,” “Moonlight Drive” and “People Are Strange.”

In the episode, titled “Metamorphosis,” the team investigates the 1971 death of a teenage circus aerialist whose mid-act fall may have been the result of foul play.

Other artists whose songs have been used in Cold Case include John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Nirvana, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, U-2, Bob Dylan, Santana, Bob Seger and Pearl Jam.

—-

Steve Winwood will provide the entertainment during the Super Bowl pre-game show on February 7th in Miami. The Who are handling the halftime duties. Winwood will then travel north to North Carolina on February 9th for the first date on a five-city tour that wraps up on the 14th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

—-

Them Crooked Vultures, the super-group with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, will perform on Saturday Night Live on February 6th. They’ll also appear on P-B-S’s Austin City Limits on the 13th. In between they’ll play shows at New York’s Roseland Ballroom on the 8th; Charlotte, North Carolina’s Fillmore on the 10th; and Atlanta’s Tabernacle on the 11th. And they’ll play the Coachella festival in Indio, California on April 16th.

Them Crooked Vultures are on tour in Australia with a show in Brisbane tonight.

—-

Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys and Blur’s Damon Albarn are donating items to be sold at an E-Bay charity auction to raise funds for Haiti earthquake victims. The items up for bids include a song written by Albarn specially for the auction winner and Coldplay singer Chris Martin’s Viva La Vida tour jacket signed by all four members of the band. All proceeds will go to Oxfam’s Haiti Earthquake Appeal. The auction runs through February 2nd.

—-

Linkin Park are working with producer Rick Rubin on their next album. They started the sessions by themselves and then brought in Rubin to get the project moving. Rubin produced Linkin Park’s last album, 2007’s Minutes to Midnight. The band hopes to release the album in the summer.

—-

Ozzy Osbourne will celebrate today’s publication of his autobiography, I Am Ozzy, with an appearance this morning on N-B-C’s Today show. He’ll also be on Wednesday, when Sharon Osbourne co-hosts the latter part of the show.

Following his T-V appearance, Ozzy has the first of his book signings, this one at Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue in New York.

—-

Foreigner performed during halftime of yesterday’s A-F-C Championship game in Indianapolis.

—-

Paul Stanley’s 2008 concert D-V-D, One Live KISS, will be shown at the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival on March 6th.

—-

The Chicago Cubs are in talks with Paul McCartney, Dave Matthews, Elton John and Billy Joel and Phish about one of them doing two shows at Wrigley Field this summer.

—-

The Killers have canceled their Asian tour, just days after they’d announced their decision to go on hiatus later this year.

—-

Chris Cornell will play a solo acoustic set Friday at the Troubadour in Hollywood.

Simon Cowell is planning a charity single to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

The “American Idol” and “X-Factor” judge may use singers Susan Boyle, Leona Lewis and other familiar voices on the single.

He says British leaders asked him to help raise money to ease the impact of the catastrophic quake.

Cowell says the goal is to raise as much money as possible in a short period of time. He says he plans to release the record within 10 days.

The British government and many private agencies are already sending large quantities of aid to the stricken Caribbean nation.

—-

Bono and The Edge wrote a song last week that they’ll perform with Jay-Z and Rihanna during tomorrow night’s Hope for Haiti telethon. They created the song in one night in Dublin. The Edge tells Ireland’s 2-F-M, “Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti. So Bono came up with the phrase on the phone and we wrote a song, finished, recorded and sent it back to them.”

Also performing tomorrow night are Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Sheryl Crow, the Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Kid Rock and Stevie Wonder. The benefit — being produced by George Clooney, among others — will air simultaneously on more than 30 U-S television networks, including all four major networks. Organizers say it will be the most widely distributed global telethon in history.

All the musical performances will be available for purchase the next day for 99-cents per song through the Apple I-Tunes Store, with all proceeds going to relief funds managed by the charities benefitting from the telethon.

More than 100 film, T-V and music celebrities overall are expected to appear on the program, benefiting such relief organizations as Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, Yele Haiti Foundation, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and the United Nations World Food Program. The show will be anchored by Clooney in L-A, Wyclef Jean in New York and C-N-N anchor Anderson Cooper in Haiti.

The event will also be streamed live on the Internet — including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, A-O-L, M-S-N, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com, VH1.com and Rhapsody, and on mobile via Alltel, A-T-&-T, Sprint, Verizon and Flo T-V.

—-

NBC says it has reached a deal with “Tonight” host Conan O’Brien for his exit from the show, allowing Jay Leno to return to the late-night program he hosted for 17 years.

The deal is worth a reported US$44 million.

Network spokeswoman Allison Gollust confirmed the deal early Thursday but did not offer any other details.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that O’Brien will get US$32 million and that the network agreed to pay his staff US$12 million in severance.

The announcement comes seven months after O’Brien took the reins from Leno.

—-

Ringo Starr has no problems asking Paul McCartney for help with his music.

McCartney appears on Starr’s new album, “Y Not.”

Starr says they’ve played on each others’ records several times, and McCartney added a part to his song “Walk With You.”

Starr says if they’re in the same city, they’ll meet up, but if they’re not, it’s not like they won’t see each other for a hundred years.

“Y Not” is out now.

Tour dates for his All-Starr band have not yet been announced, but he’ll open the tour in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in June, which is where he’ll rehearse.

—-

Korn and Rob Zombie will headline the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, which starts July 10th in Devore, California. Opening acts on the tour include Five Finger Death Punch, Atreyu and Hatebreed.

Korn will support the tentatively titled Korn Three - Remember Who You Are, due in early July. It’s the band’s ninth studio album and third with their original producer Ross Robinson.

The only Canadian date so far is Montreal in July.

—-

Vampire Weekend avoided the sophomore slump, as their second album, Contra, bowed at number-one on the Billboard album chart with 124-thousand copies sold last week. The New York quartet’s previous best sales week was when their self-titled first album bowed at number-17 on the chart with 28-thousand copies.

—-

With The Rolling Stones announcing that they have no plans to tour this year comes word that troubled guitarist Ronnie Wood is planning his own road trip. A “source” tells London’s Daily Express, “He’s still determined to start performing live again in the very near future… He will have no trouble putting a band together. He knows his music has been overshadowed by his personal life and he wants to get back on track. Ronnie is a musician first and foremost and touring is in his blood.” Woody also has a new album that he plans to release later this year called, appropriately enough, I Feel Like Playing.

—-

We’ve learned a little more about the new project from Jason Bonham, Black Country, which also includes guitarist Joe Bonamassa and former Deep Purple and Black Sabbath bassist Glenn Hughes. They’ll be back in the studio with producer Kevin Shirley in March for four more days of recording. They’ve already recorded six songs and plan to have the album out at the end of the year.

—-

With Mudvayne not touring behind their self-titled album, singer Chad Gray and guitarist Greg Tribbett have time to work on the next album by their side project, Hellyeah. Guitarist Tom Maxwell says they’re well into recording and plan to have it done by the end of February. He expects Hellyeah to hit the road in May with the album out in June.

—-

The master tapes to Black Sabbath’s third album, Master of Reality, are up for bids on E-Bay. The two Ampex reels are being sold by a private collector from Sweden. The bidding was nearing one-thousand dollars last night. The auction runs through January 29th.

—-

Gorillaz have officially ended their hibernation — and will release their long-awaited third album, Plastic Beach, on March 9th. The disc includes vocal turns by performers as varied as classic rocker Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mick Jones of The Clash and soul legend Bobby Womack. The first single, “Stylo,” features Womack and rapper Mos Def.

Gorillaz will headline the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California on April 18th.

—-

Drowning Pool have finished work on their new self-titled album and will release it in early April. The Texas quartet will debut some of the new material — including the lead single, “Feel Like I Do” — on a tour with Sevendust that kicks off on February 18th in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Closest to us is Seattle March 7th.

—-

Some Radiohead fans wondered why Thom Yorke’s name is followed by four question marks on the official Coachella website. Those four punctuation symbols represent the nameless band that will back him at the show — Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and L-A session folks Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco. Yorke hadn’t named the band when they played a few dates in L-A last fall, so the marquees at the shows simply displayed four question marks. And now the Radiohead frontman has decided to stick with the question marks for the April 18th performance at Coachella.

The Grammys are staging an unprecedented tribute in honour of Michael Jackson.

The Jan. 31 broadcast will feature a never-before-seen 3-D clip Jackson made for his hit “Earth Song.” The announcement was made Tuesday by the Recording Academy.

The clip was to be part of Jackson’s London comeback shows last year.

It will be accompanied by a performance featuring Carrie Underwood, Celine Dion, Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson.

Jackson died June 25 in Los Angeles.

The 52nd annual Grammy Awards will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on CBS.

—-

A radio station in central Kentucky is playing all Elvis, all the time.

W-E-L-V in Richmond, Kentucky, switched formats on January 8th, Elvis’ birthday. General manager Sean Hamilton tells The Richmond Register listeners will hear not just Elvis’ music, but interviews and live music.

People outside the listening area can tune in on the Internet at w-l-f-x-f-m-dot-com.

—-

Them Crooked Vultures, Faith No More, MGMT and Thom Yorke of Radiohead will perform at his year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The lineup also includes Public Image Limited, Jay-Z, Vampire Weekend, Grace Jones, Muse, Devo, Les Claypool, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gorillaz and Sly and the Family Stone.

The festival will be held the weekend of April 16 in Indio, California.

—-

Linkin Park, Alanis Morissette and the Dave Matthews Band are among the artists donating unreleased music to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.

They have created “Download To Donate For Haiti,” a collection of songs to raise money for Linkin Park’s charity, Music For Relief, as well as Dave Matthews BAMA, Habitat for Humanity and the U-N Foundation’s Central Emergency Response Fund.

Other musicians in the collection include All-American Rejects, Peter Gabriel, Slash, Enrique Iglesias and Hoobastank.

You can download the songs at MusicForRelief-dot-org and the web sites of each artist.

—-

Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z (zee), Keith Urban, and Taylor Swift have been added to the “Hope for Haiti” telethon.

The show was planned for broadcast from New York and Los Angeles, and now London has been added as well.

Rihanna, Jennifer Hudson, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, John Legend and Stevie Wonder will also perform.

The telethon will run Friday on all the major networks, with proceeds going to relief efforts in Haiti.

—-

Santana is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his “Supernatural” album by releasing a deluxe version of it.

The original album has been remastered, and a second disc of rarities has been added.

The second disc includes eight songs not on the original release, plus dance club mixes and instrumentals.

The new version of “Supernatural” comes out February 16th.

—-

Rush will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28th at the Toronto Center for the Arts. A number of Rush songs will also be inducted, including “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” “The Spirit of Radio,” “Subdivisions” and “Closer to the Heart.”

—-

The Who has yet another compilation out, but this one is different than all the others. The twenty-two songs on Greatest Hits Live, which were recorded between 1965 and 2007, are previously unreleased or newly mixed. Tracks include “I Can’t Explain,” “Substitute,” “I’m a Boy,” “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Pinball Wizard,” “Squeeze Box,” “5.15,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Baba O’Riley” and “Who Are You.” Greatest Hits Live is available now exclusively through the iTunes Store.

—-

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi will publish his autobiography later this year. Titled Iron Man, it follows Ozzy Osbourne’s memoir, I Am Ozzy, which hits stories on Monday. Ozzy’s first replacement in Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio — who’s now a member of Heaven and Hell with Iommi — is also working on an autobiography.

—-

Daughtry and Cavo will once again hit the road together. Their tour kicks off on March 18th in Baltimore and runs through mid-June. Lifehouse will be on board as an opening act.  Weirdly no Vancouver, but Seattle May 9th and Edmonton May 13th.

—-

Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth have parts in an upcoming movie, The Wolfman. Benicio Del Toro plays the hairy lead, but Simmons and Roth are among the many who provided his howls. Director Joe Johnston tells Box Office, “These guys, they’re not only singers, they’re comedians. Hilarious sessions. You can imagine Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth in there howling with the picture on the screen. And they would do it, crack a few jokes, and try it again… And their stuff became the most useful stuff that we did.” The Wolfman opens on February 12th.

—-

Jeff Beck will release his first studio album in seven years when Emotion and Commotion hits stores on April 13th. It contains 10 songs, including two sung by Joss Stone. On several of the songs, he’s accompanied by a 64-piece orchestra, including on covers of Puccini’s immortal aria “Nessun Dorma” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard Of Oz.

Beck will support the album with a U-S tour in April. He’ll also do a few dates with Eric Clapton in London, Toronto, Montreal and New York next month.

Avenged Sevenfold had just finished writing a record when drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan died last month.

Singer M. Shadows says it’s too painful to think about the band’s future, but he knows they will record and release the album in Sullivan’s honour.

Shadows says Sullivan was his friend for the past 18 years and he has no memories of the time before he knew Sullivan.

He also says Sullivan told everyone for years that he would not live past 30 years old.

—-

A British radio D-J is in trouble for playing Van Halen’s song “Jump” while police were trying to talk a woman out of jumping off a bridge.

Revolution Radio D-J Steve Penk says he played the song in response to calls and texts from frustrated commuters in Manchester.

The highway was closed in both directions.

Penk says he played the song at the request of a commuter but did not refer the suicidal woman.

Mental health charities say it was tasteless and insensitive.

Penk refuses to apologizes but says if he had it to do over again he wouldn’t have played it.

The woman did jump from the bridge but sustained minor injuries.

—-

Bono, Sting, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys are on deck to play the telethon for Haiti.

George Clooney says more than 40 celebrities will attend the event to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

The songs performed on the show will be available on i-Tunes, with proceeds going to charity.

Clooney and Wyclef Jean will host the telethon, which runs Friday on more than a dozen broadcast and cable networks.

—-

As much as he doesn’t want his private life in newspapers, it seems that Van Morrison can’t escape it right now. The U-K’s Daily Mail reports that Samantha Branch, whose mother Dee dated Morrison in the mid-’60s, wants the 64-year-old to take a paternity test.

Dee Branch was the road manager for Morrison’s band Them in 1966. Samantha was born in March 1967, but the identity of her father has remained a mystery, and Dee Branch died when Samantha was just four months old. Samantha says she was told when she was eight that Morrison is her father and even had regular contact with him in the ’80s. But Morrison cut all contact in 1987 when she first mentioned a paternity test.

—-

Filter’s Richard Patrick is encouraging fans to give to the Red Cross effort to help the Haitian people. Patrick has posted information on how to do so at OfficialFilter.com and tells us he can “only imagine how tough it is for those guys.”

—-

Jeff Beck says he would consider making another album with Rod Stewart, but only if his former singer puts in a “genuine effort.” Beck tells Rolling Stone that after Stewart performed with him at a Los Angeles concert last year, Rod called to ask about making an album. Beck says he’s game, but “it would have to be a genuine effort, not a weekend blues album.”

Stewart fronted the Jeff Beck Group in the late ’60s.

—-

Despite Steven Tyler saying he’s still a member of Aerosmith, guitarist Joe Perry and the rest of the band are still looking for another singer. In an interview with Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Perry says, “I don’t know what’s going on with [Tyler], but as far as Aerosmith goes, we’re going to find somebody to sing. I think it would make more sense, with a band like Aerosmith, to get somebody who the fans might recognize. There’s no sense going out there and being an Aerosmith clone band. In order for both parties to get something out of this, to move things along musically, it’s important to get somebody who’s a legitimate headliner on their own.” Perry and his band, The Joe Perry Project, start a Canadian tour opening for Motley Crue Saturday in Victoria.

—-

When you see Serj Tankian playing an acoustic guitar on stage, chances are it’ll be the signature model Taylor he unveiled at last week’s NAMM musical products show in Anaheim, California. Tankian tells us the guitar plugs directly in to the amp and gives him a sound that’s free of the distortion and feedback that sometimes can plague guitarists on stage. He says he prefers a more traditional Taylor acoustic for the recording studio, where those things are less of a problem.

—-

A new Smashing Pumpkins song called “Widow Wake My Mind” is available as a free download through SmashingPumpkins.com.

—-

Fans who pre-order the deluxe edition of Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe Two through I-Tunes will get four bonus re-mixes.

—-

Slash’s self-titled solo album is due out April 6th.

The man who sang “Pants on the Ground” on “American Idol” last week says he worked too hard for civil rights to see young people walking around with their pants falling off.

General Larry Platt is a veteran of the civil rights movement and is happy to show off his photos of him next to Martin Luther King and U-S Congressman John Lewis.

He says he wrote the song after seeing a young father with jeans below his waist.

He gets another chance to extend his fame, as he appears on A-B-C’s “The View” today.

—-

Neither Paul McCartney nor U-2 won the Golden Globe for best original song.

The winner was “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart.”

McCartney presented an award earlier in the night and referred to himself as “that guy from ‘Rock Band.”’

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs lost out on a Golden Globe too.

She was nominated for best original score for “Where The Wild Things Are” but lost to Michael Giacchino of “Up.”

—-

Just like a rock star…Julio Iglesias says his life as a lover is a thing of the past.

He told a concert audience in Punta del Este, Uruguay, he gave up his prolific sex life 15 years ago.

He says he had a superstition that he “couldn’t go onstage to sing if I didn’t make love first.”

He says in those days he was “like a rabbit.”

—-

Former Guns N’ Roses and Rock Star Supernova guitarist Gilby Clarke will have another surgery this week so he can walk again.

Clarke posts on his MySpace site he had one successful surgery last Tuesday to correct injuries from a hit-and-run accident eight days ago.

Clarke was riding his motorcycle when a pickup truck hit him.

He suffered three broken bones in his left foot and one in his right.

—-

Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band is telling his fans after he recovers from surgery he can dance with them again.

Clemons had back surgery on Wednesday in New York.

He says he’s in great spirits and looking forward to a brighter future and playing more music.

—-

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has been cleared to rock again.

Cuomo cracked three ribs and suffered injuries to his lung and spleen in a bus accident in upstate New York in December, forcing the cancellation of the rest of the Weezer tour.

Weezer’s website reports Cuomo is not allowed to fly, but he can perform as long as he doesn’t overdo it.

Weezer will perform a concert at Florida State University in Tallahassee on Wednesday.

—-

Yoko Ono regrets telling an interviewer she wants to write an autobiography.

She says someone asked her if she’d ever like to write one, and she said she’s so busy now but maybe in five years.

The headline went out all over the world, “Yoko Ono Plans Biography In Five Years.”

She says she wishes she had said “maybe, sometime” instead.

In the meantime, Ono is helping with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, which drives to different parts of the U-S and gives kids a chance to try out music equipment.

—-

Staind frontman Aaron Lewis took time off from his current solo acoustic tour to attend last weekend’s NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, where he helped launch a new signature model Gibson guitar. The guitar is an exact replica of the 1951 Gibson acoustic he plays every night on the tour, “built exactly the way it would have been built in 1951.” Lewis also reveals that his next solo album will include live performances culled from five shows he recorded last year, “with three or four new songs attached to the end, plus a live D-V-D and possibly a full-length documentary-style feature.” He says it will definitely be coming out sometime this year.

—-

Bono and Sting will be among the performers taking part in Friday’s Hope for Haiti benefit for victims of last week’s earthquake on the Caribbean island. Also performing will be Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys. The benefit will be held in New York and broadcast on more than a dozen broadcast and cable networks. Proceeds from the show will go to the Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam America, Partners in Health and singer Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation.

—-

For the third time in less than a year, Coldplay has been hit by a lawsuit from someone insisting the band is guilty of plagiarism. Sammie Lee Smith filed a suit in Los Angeles last week claiming to be the author of such songs as “Clocks,” “Yellow” and Trouble.” His evidence? A collection of 100 tapes containing his performances of more than four-thousand songs, including the “original” versions of the tunes he says Chris Martin and company ripped off. Smith is demanding an unspecified amount of cash and wants Coldplay to stop playing those songs.

—-

Filter are in the studio putting the finishing touches on their next album, which frontman Richard Patrick exclusively reveals to us will be titled The Trouble With Angels. Patrick credits their producer, Bob Marlette, with reminding him that “I am the ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot’ songwriter and that I write songs about murder and death and suicide.” He says he’s “very, very, very excited about working on some heavy music again.” Look for the album sometime this spring.

—-

Blink 1-82’s Mark Hoppus will appear at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on January 28th to discuss a documentary about his recent studio work. The film is part of the Gillette Uncut series and was directed by music photographer and director Danny Clinch, who’ll also be on hand that night.

—-

Ronnie James Dio continues to receive chemo treatments for stomach cancer. His wife and manager Wendy says he had a few setbacks over the holidays, including “a blood clot, a trip to the emergency room and a three-day stay at the hospital,” but after a third chemo treatment in Houston, “all seems to be going well.” And even though he is balding, he hasn’t lost any additional hair as a result of the chemo.

Dio did get out to see Avatar, which he thought was “amazing.” He’s also been writing more chapters for his autobiography, and he and his Heaven and Hell bandmates will soon be filming interviews for a 30th anniversary D-V-D due out later this year.

—-

Since filling in for his late father, John Bonham, at Led Zeppelin’s one-off reunion in December 2007, Jason Bonham gave up his drum seat in Foreigner in the hope that Zeppelin would reunite. Robert Plant opted out, which led Bonham to work with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones as they looked for a new singer. That also didn’t work out, and since then Bonham has bounced from project to project. His latest endeavor goes by the working title of Black Country and it features guitarist Joe Bonamassa and former Deep Purple and Black Sabbath member Glenn Hughes on bass. Bonham tells Spinner.com, “We just went in with [producer] Kevin Shirley and played riffs and just jammed for two days. And that’s really exciting… We’re actually recording an album, literally in that process of jamming it out and editing and putting together and going, ‘Yeah, that’s really cool.’ It’s a power trio.” No word on when the album will be out.

—-

Daughtry, Lifehouse and Cavo are teaming up for a tour that starts March 18th. Dates will be announced early this week.

—-

Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello plays guitar on two songs on Cypress Hill’s new album, Rise Up. It’s due out April 6th.

Former Guns N’ Roses and Rock Star Supernova guitarist Gilby Clarke is suffering from injuries from a hit-and-run accident this week.

He writes on his blog a pickup truck hit him while he was riding his motorcycle.

Clarke says he broke three bones in his left foot and one in his right, and his helmet saved his skull.

He says he won’t be walking for a while.

—-

Train still can’t believe how far-reaching their music can be.

Guitarist Jimmy Stafford says the day after “Hey Soul Sister” came out, a kid posted a video on YouTube of his version of it on acoustic guitar.

Drummer Scott Underwood jokes even though the kid got some of the words wrong, they were an improvement.

Stafford says he also likes to eat at a steakhouse near where he lives, and the piano player always will stop whatever he’s playing and break into “Drops of Jupiter.”

Stafford says it’s like having his own entrance music.

—-

Serj Tankian tells us the rumors that System of a Down’s hiatus is soon about to end are just that — rumors. “There is no story,” he inisists. “We always get interest, but there has not been any decision made to do anything as of now.”

Tankian has a live orchestral version of his first solo album called Elect the Dead Symphony due out in March and is close to finishing his second studio solo album. He hopes to have that as-yet-untitled disc out this summer, and describes it as an amalgam of “electronic, orchestral, rock and jazz.”

Serj Tankian says reports of the Haitian earthquake remind him of the quake that devastated his ancestral homeland of Armenia in the 1980s. In that instance, too, many of the poorly contructed buildings collapsed, causing damage and deaths. Tankian says his heart goes out to the Haitian people. He tells us that he and Tom Morello have “talked about maybe doing something” through their non-profit Axis of Justice organization, but haven’t gotten down to specifics yet.

—-

Blink 1-82 is one of the first acts to start fund-raising for Haiti relief. The trio has started selling a new T-shirt through their online store with all the proceeds going to the Red Cross relief efforts. The design features the rabbit character they’ve used on much of their merchandise the past decade holding up the Haiti flag.

—-

The summer stadium tour co-starring the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac is off. Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit tells the B-B-C, “It appears as though that is not happening… It was being pursued for a while.”

However, after they play three dates at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in April, the Eagles will tour in the summer.

Schmit joined former Squeeze keyboard player Paul Carrack on stage the other night in London, playing “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore” and “Love Will Keep Us Alive.”

—-

Starting next Wednesday you’ll be seeing Eric Clapton’s mug on television in ads for the new T-Mobile MyTouch 3-G Fender Limited Edition phone. Clapton is seen in the ad taking a call from his friend, blues legend Buddy Guy. The phone has a Fender guitar sunburst-finish-inspired design and comes pre-loaded with a number of Clapton songs — including “Layla,” “My Father’s Eyes,” “Wonderful Tonight” and “Rock ‘N’ Roll Heart,” which you hear in the ad. T-Mobile is also a supporter of Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. You can check out the commercial at Fender.com/news/.

—-

When U-2 released their last album, No Line on the Horizon, last February, they appeared on a number of B-B-C stations, including a rooftop performance in London. RadioCentre, the trade body for commercial radio companies in the U-K, issued a complaint over the coverage, saying the B-B-C gave the band “the sort of publicity money can’t buy.” The B-B-C agrees, saying their coverage gave “undue prominence” to the band.

—-

Another live Dave Matthews release is due out February 16th. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds’ Live in Las Vegas is a two-disc set culled from the duo’s three-night run at Planet Hollywood’s Theater for the Performing Arts Center last month. Fans who pre-order it through Matthews’ website will get a bonus disc with tracks left off the album.

—-

Last month, Gene Simmons was sued by a couple who claimed they were assaulted by the KISS singer and bassist. Nathan Marlowe and his wife Cynthia Manzo said Simmons attacked them, threatened them and took their video camera at a mall in Los Angeles on December 19th. The couple is seeking damages of more than 25-thousand dollars for civil claims of assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress. Simmons is not sitting still. His attorney describes the complaint as “opportunistic” and “riddled with distortions and false accusations.” Barry E. Mallen says Simmons and his family were accosted, and when Marlowe got too close to Simmons’ daughter Sophie, Simmons placed himself between them, grabbed the camera and moved Marlowe aside so his family could reach their car.

—-

Is Rush done making albums? That may be the case. Drummer Neil Peart tells The Canadian Press, “We feel very much liberated from the album format in a way right now, because in the three years since our last album (2007’s Snakes & Arrows), suddenly albums don’t mean anything. We’re thinking of writing and recording a few songs and maybe releasing them, and playing them live, and then going back and doing some more later. We just feel really free (in terms) of what we might do right now. Anything is possible in the nicest way and we like the fact of shaking it all up.” Peart says he’s working on new lyrics at home in California while Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are working on music in Toronto.

Peart’s version of “The Hockey Theme,” the song that has opened broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada for 40 years, debuted last night (Thursday) on T-S-N during their broadcast of the Toronto Maple Leafs - Philadelphia Flyers game.

—-

Jimmy Page was in Beijing, China Wednesday to announce his participation in the Show of Peace concert. The show, in Beijing on April 17th, will also feature Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and many others yet to be announced. While in Beijing, Page was recognized by the United Nations’ Pathways to Peace, which presented Page with their first ever award. Michael Johnson, a representative for the organization, said, “We’re doing this because musicians have a global impact on the world, and we also know that people who use their name and fame for peace building need to be honored.” In receiving the award, Page said, “Although this award has my name on it, this is a tribute to the power of music and its positive effect. Music has been the most powerful language to reach the hearts of people around the world. During my career, I’ve experienced the connection and harmony that music can bring.”

—-

Finnish rockers HIM will kick off a North American on tour March 26th in Philadelphia. They’ll be supporting their new album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, which will be released February 9th. We Are the Fallen, which features the former members of Evanescence, are among the opening acts.  They’ll be in Vancouver April 16th at the Commodore.

—-

Old episodes of Behind the Music will get a new spin on V-H-1 Classic starting February 6th. Behind the Music Remastered will be a 30-minute documentary that picks up where the original Behind the Music episodes left off. The episodes set to run include Genesis, Motley Crue, Metallica, Judas Priest, Def Leppard and John Lennon.

—-

U-2, Paul McCartney and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are up for Golden Globes on Sunday.

U-2 and McCartney are up for best original song.

U-2 is nominated for “Winter” from the film “Brothers,” and McCartney is up for “I Want To Come Home” from the film “Everybody’s Fine.”

Karen O is up for best original score for “Where The Wild Things Are.”

The Golden Globes are Sunday in Los Angeles.

—-

Death Cab For Cutie will perform a tribute to film director John Hughes tonight at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

They will perform “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from “The Breakfast Club.”

Nick Jonas and The Administration, Jonas’ side project from The Jonas Brothers, will be the house band.

The awards air live on V-H-1 tonight.

—-

Punk rocker Jay Reatard has been found dead his bed.

Police in Memphis, Tennessee, are investigating the death but have not released a possible cause.

He was 29.

—-

Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron plays on Peter Frampton’s new album Thank You Mr. Churchill, which is due out April 27th.

—-

Slash will speak at Canadian Music Week in Toronto on March 11th.

—-

The estate of D-J A-M has settled its lawsuits against the various companies involved with his September 2008 plane crash. The terms were not disclosed.

—-

Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, those popular but pricey experiences where aspiring musicians rub elbows and work with seasoned pros, will be turned into a T-V series. Mark Burnett, whose company gave us Survivor, is creating the show for V-H-1 Classic. It’s set to air starting in July.

—-

Slash tells G-Q magazine that he applauds Robert Plant’s decision not to reunite with Led Zeppelin following the band’s one-off show in London in 2007. “I thought that was the right thing. It was a special night, so why ruin it?”