PowerBlogs: Rumour Mills

It takes modern technology to hear a 41-year-old album correctly.

Chicago’s debut album, “Chicago Transit Authority,” is being reissued as a music-only D-V-D in Quadraphonic sound.

The disc is intended for play in D-V-D players connected to a surround-sound system and does not contain a stereo mix.

The album was mastered with the original four-track Quad mixes from 1969. The Quad version of “Chicago Transit Authority” comes out March 23rd.

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Jamaica is planning to open a museum to honour its musical heritage.

Among the items that will be included are the one album Bob Marley produced before he became famous and a cassette with a 1977 jam session between reggae great Peter Tosh and the Rolling Stones.

A date for the museum’s opening has not yet been set.

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The film about Anvil didn’t have a shot at an Oscar, but it did win a Spirit Award. “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” won best documentary Friday.

The Spirit Awards honour independent film.

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Peter Gabriel always wanted to do an album of covers, but he had to make it interesting.

For his new album, “Scratch My Back,” he covers other musicians’ works and they cover his.

Gabriel says Paul Simon did a beautiful version of “Biko” with acoustic guitar and cello, and Lou Reed did “Solsbury Hill” with a fuzz guitar in what Gabriel calls typical Lou style.

Gabriel also had a no drums or guitar rule on himself.

He says the worst thing you can say to artists is that they can do whatever they want, and rules make things creative.

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Just weeks ago, the future of Aerosmith was up in the air, and now they’ve announced their second tour in two weeks. Before hitting Europe in June, they’ll tour South America in May. The Cocked, Locked, Ready to Rock Tour will hit Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil between May 18th and the 29th.

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Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer has finally sold his suburban Boston home after having it on the market for close to two years. Sitting on 17 acres, the 62-hundred-square-foot home in Marshfield Hills, Massachusetts overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and the North River. It has four bedrooms, a recording studio, a carriage house, a pool, a Koi pond and three garages.

Kramer put the house up for sale following his 2007 divorce from his first wife, April. He’d originally asked five-million, but the Wall Street Journal reports that it sold for two-point-seven-million.

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Rolling Stones fans, be on the lookout for new music. Keith Richards tells Rolling Stone they have “no definite plans,” but adds that he “wouldn’t be surprised if we did some recording later this year.”

He’s less enthusiastic about touring, “I don’t know how the rest of them feel about roadwork at the moment. Maybe we’ll search for a different way for the Stones to go back on the road. Maybe not the football stadiums anymore. Maybe something different. You can’t go around there in lemon-yellow tights forever.”

Richards has also dispelled the recent report that he is on the wagon. “Listen, the rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated. And we’ll leave it at that.”

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Two of the three surviving members of The Traveling Wilburys were on hand last Thursday in Los Angeles at the launch party for a book on the band. Tom Petty, sporting a cane because of a broken toe, joined Jeff Lynne and George Harrison’s widow Olivia. Also at the soiree were Ringo Starr, his brother-in-law Joe Walsh, Wilburys drummer Jim Keltner, Eric Idle, Gary Wright and others. Wilbury Bob Dylan wasn’t there. The fifth member was the late Roy Orbison.

The Traveling Wilburys is a fine-bound book published in a numbered, limited edition of three-thousand copies, each signed by Lynne and presented in a cloth-bound slipcase. Each book is accompanied with a uniquely numbered lithograph of the lyrics to “Handle With Care,” handwritten by Harrison.

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In celebration of David Gilmour’s 64th birthday this past Saturday, the U-K’s Royal Mail unveiled another Pink Floyd stamp — this one featuring the cover of Floyd’s 1994 album, The Division Bell, and available in a 10-stamp sheet. It’s presented as a seven-inch record sleeve with the lyrics to the song “High Hopes” set against a background of the metal heads from the Division Bell cover.

You can order one at RoyalMail.com. And you can see Floyd playing “High Hopes” on their website, PinkFloyd.co.uk.

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Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne will be in Liverpool on October 9th to help celebrate what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday. The Liverpool Echo reports that Liverpool’s mayor invited them to take part in the festivities.

It’s no secret that Ozzy is a huge Beatles fan, writing in his recently published autobiography, I Am Ozzy, “Thanks to Beatlemania, it seemed all right that I didn’t want to work in a factory.”

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Dave Matthews will headline the Music Saves Mountains concert on May 19th at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Proceeds will go to the Natural Resources Defense Council and its campaign to end coal-mining mountain-top removal in Appalachia.

Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller are also on the bill.

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Legendary English record producer Steve Lillywhite is stepping up his campaign to take over Simon Cowell’s American Idol judge’s chair after this season. Lillywhite — who’s worked with such superstar acts as U-2, Dave Matthews Band and The Rolling Stones — began lobbying for the position last month with a YouTube video in which he trumpets his qualifications.

Last week, Lillywhite told the website Express After Dark that he’s planning a second video. “I watch that now and think, ‘Oh, God, what a little twit you are!’ So I’m going to do another one.” He compares his efforts to “a presidential campaign.”

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The Allman Brothers Band has canceled the last five shows of their 13-night New York residency at the United Palace Theater. A statement on the band’s website says, “Due to an unforeseen family matter, the Allman Brothers Band shows scheduled for March 22nd to the 27th have been cancelled. The shows scheduled for March 11thto the 20th will take place as planned. Refunds are available at point of purchase.” The Allmans will be on N-B-C’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tomorrow night.

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The Warped Tour 15th Anniversary Celebration concert is coming to D-V-D and C-D on March 30th. The collection features highlights from the show in Los Angeles last fall with performances by Blink 1-82, Rise Against, Bad Religion, Pennywise and Pete Wentz and the Decaydence All Stars (which featured members of Panic at the Disco). The D-V-D also includes archive footage from past Warped Tours.

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Blink 1-82 drummer Travis Barker has once again paid tribute to his late friend and collaborator D-J A-M — this time with a tattoo. The ink runs from his hip to his knee and says “In Memory Of” with D-J A-M’s lightning bolt logo floating in some clouds that have sunbeams coming out of them. Barker posted a picture of the tattoo on his Twitter page.

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Ted Nugent will appear at the National Rifle Association convention on May 15th and 16th in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Buddy Guy has been tapped to open for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in New York and Philadelphia this summer. Other guests on the Petty tour include C-S-N and Joe Cocker.

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Limp Bizkit, Alice in Chains and 3 Doors Down are among the headline acts at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, April 30th through May 2nd.

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Queensryche plan to take their Queensryche Cabaret show — which they debuted last month in their home state of Washington — on the road for a few dates.