Rock News

--The Muppets musical number has reportedly been cut from the upcoming 2012 Academy Awards telecast. The Brett McKenzie (of Flight of the Conchords)-penned song Man or Muppet from the new Muppet movie was one of only two songs nominated for Best Original Song award, which should have guaranteed it a performance slot in the award ceremony. However rumors have spread that due to the small number of nominated songs (the only other nomination being Real in Rio from the film Rio) the live performances for the original songs may be cut altogether. This may be related to the backlash following the new nomination process, which left only two, of 21 possible songs, eligible for inclusion. Original songs from Elton John, Lady Gaga, Chris Cornell, Zooey Deschanel, Mary J. Blige, the National, Willie Nelson and Brad Paisley, were all ruled ineligible under the new voting process which has voters rate the songs on a scale of 6 to 10, and then allows only songs with an average of 8.25 to be even nominated.

-- Legendary country singer/songwriter Randy Travis was arrested early for being drunk and disorderly in front of a Baptist church in Dallas, Texas. Travis claims that he had been "drowning his sorrow" following a fight with his girlfriend. Travis has issued an apology, saying, "I apologize for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl. I'm committed to being responsible and accountable, and apologize for my actions."

--American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert has quashed rumors that he will be replacing the late Freddie Mercury as the lead singer of the band Queen. According to the UK's Daily Star, Lambert reveled that he would be joining Queen for a performance at the Sonisphere Festival in July, quoting his as saying ""The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f---ing great songs, It's to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of." However, Lambert claims that he was taken out of context, saying on his Twitter "I haven't confirmed any guest appearances. I was talking about [my previous performance with Queen] at the [European Music Awards]" Lambert's new solo album, "Trespassing" is due out in March.

--Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of late Nirvana front man Curt Cobain and Hole singer Courtney Love, claims that her mother's drug addiction killed her pets. In newly released details from Frances Bean Cobain's 2009 restraining order against her mother, Cobain's cat died after becoming entangled in piles of trash, fabric, and refuse Love left strewn around their house; as well as losing a dog who accidentally overdosed after eating bottle of Love's prescription medication.

--Black Sabbath have vowed to continue with their upcoming recording and tour, with, or without, drummer Bill Ward. Last week Ward announced on his website that he may not be joining his former band-mates in their much hyped reunion if he was not presented with what he called "a signable contract." The band responded to Ward's announcement on their website by issuing their own statement saying "We were saddened to hear yesterday via Facebook that Bill declined publicly to participate in our current Black Sabbath plans." They went on to say "We have no choice but to continue recording without him, although our door is always open." This will however put the band in an awkward situation, as the upcoming tour, and subsequent album, were being touted as a full reunion of the original line-up, a claim that can no longer be made if Ward declines to take part.

--And if you're even keeping track at this point, Sinead O'Connor is back with her husband, marking the fourth reversal in the status of her whirlwind marriage in less than six weeks. We wish them luck, as they're going to need it.

Rock News

Don Cornelius, creator and host of the long running music show Soul Train, was found dead in his LA apartment early Wednesday morning, the victim of an apparent suicide. Cornelius hosted Soul Train from it inception, until 1993. The show, that ended it's run in 2006 after 35 years, was a showcase for soul and soul, as well as an early champion of hip-hop. Wherever you are Don, "We wish you love, peace and soul." Cornelius was 75.

Jack White, the former guitarist/frontman for the band The White Stripes, as well as a member of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, will finally release his first solo album. In the years since The White Stripes dissolved (Thursday, January 2nd, will mark the one year anniversary of the band's separation announcement) White has kept busy working with The Black Belles, Stephen Colbert, Insane Clown Posse and others, but has not put out any new work of his own, apart from a limited edition vinyl single. The video for "Love Interuption" the first single from the new album, entitled Blunderbuss, can be viewed here.  Blunderbuss will be released April 24th, on White's own Third Man Records.

Dick Kniss, the long time bass player for folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary has died. Apart from playing bass, Kniss was an accomplished songwriter, co-writting the John Denver hit "Sunshine on My Shoulder." Kniss passed away from pulmonary diseased, he was 74.

An unheard guitar solo George Harrison recorded for the song "Here Comes The Sun" has been rediscovered. The track, which did not make the final mix of the song, was found by Beatles producer George Martin, his son Giles, and Dani Harrison, George's son while reviewing the original master tapes for the Abbey Road album. Check out the video here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1RxdeqxF-U&feature=player_embedded)

Pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan claims he was almost the bass player for Metallica. Hogan, who worked as a session bassist before entering the world of pro-wrestling, was friends with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich during the band's early days, "Lars Ulrich...asked me if I wanted to play bass with Metallica" Hogan claims "...but it didn't work out." Hogan is now retired from wrestling, and staring in his own television series Hogan Knows Best.

This Week In Rock History

1959—Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson (The Big Bopper) are killed when their chartered plane goes down in a snowstorm outside of Clear Lake, Iowa. Richardson was not supposed to be on the flight, however he had been suffering from a bout of influenza, and the tour's bus had no heat. In a last minute switch Richardson took the seat originally offered to Holly's bass player, a 22 year-old Waylon Jennings. 
 
1962—Ringo Starr sits in with the Beatles for two shows at The Cavern Club while their regular drummer Pete Best was sick. When Best is asked to leave the band a year later Starr will be asked to permanently join the band.  
 
1963—The Beach Boys record the tune “Surfin' USA.” Although it was credited as being composed by Brian Wilson, the tune was a note-for-note cover of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen". Following a lawsuit, Berry was granted writing credit and royalties from the record. 
 
1964—Matthew Walsh, the Governor of Indiana, officially bans the song Louie, Louie by The Kingsmen claiming its indecipherable lyrics are “pornographic.” In response the song's publisher, Max Firetag, offers a $1000 reward to anyone who can find suggestive lyrics in the song. 
 
1967--John Lennon buys an 1843 poster from an antiques shop in Surrey, which will provide him with many of the lyrics for "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite".  
 
1969--The Beatles performed in public for the last time when they played a 42-minute rooftop concert above Apple Corps headquarters. The show was stopped by the police after neighbors complained about the noise. Ringo tries in vain to get police to remove him forcefully from the roof, thinking it would add to dramatic tension, however the police refuse to oblige.
 
2011—Gladys Horton, lead singer for The Marvelettes, who gave Motown Records it's first #1 with Please Mister Postman in 1961 (when Horton was just 16 years old), passed away following a series of strokes at the age of 65.

This Week In Rock Histroy

1958— Rock-and-Roll pioneer Little Richard announces he is leaving rock-and-roll to enroll in Bible school. He would return to rock 4 years later, only to find musical tastes have changed.

1959 —Buddy Holly enters the studio for the last time. Included on the playlist were the songs “Peggy Sue Got Married” and “Crying Waiting Hoping.” The recordings would be finished with overdubs posthumously.

1963— A folk trio known as the Rooftop Singers record a version of the song Walk Right In. The song would raise the song’s author Gus Cannon (leader of 1920s jug band Cannon's Jug Stompers) out of poverty and on the road to a comeback.

1968— Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested and charged with public drunkenness after harassing a security guard at a Las Vegas adult movie theater.

1979— At the fan's request, rocker Ted Nugent “autographs” a man's arm by carving his name into it with a Bowie knife.

1986— The inaugural Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame inductions are held, inducting Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, The Everly Brothers, and Fats Domino

2010—Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor is nominated for (and will go on to win) an Academy Award for the soundtrack to the film Social Network

Rock News

--Love them or hate them, Nickelback are one of the most publicly maligned bands working today; from a petition to stop them from performing a halftime show for the Detroit/Green Bay thanksgiving day football match up, to their deriding by Black Keys drummer Pat Carney in Rolling Stone magazine, few bands working today have created such backlash. However the band has now chosen to fight back via Twitter. The band, or a representative writing their tweets, has started publicly addressing negative references to the band on the popular social media site. However Nickelback may have bitten off more than they can chew, as their Twitter account is now filled with responses to their public insults, overshadowing their replies to fans, and upcoming concert information.

--Country singer Garth Brooks has been awarded one million dollars in a lawsuit against an Oklahoma hospital. In 2005 Brooks had donated $500,000 to Integris Health – Oklahoma's largest health care system – with the agreement that the hospitals new woman's care building would be named for the singer's mother. According to an Oklahoma jury the hospital took money under false pretenses since they never intended to name the building for Brook's mother, awarding Brooks his original $500,000 donation, with an additional $500,000 for trouble and expenses.

 --The queen of soul, Aretha Franklin, has decided to “postpone” her marriage to “long time friend” William "Willie" Wilkerson, saying that she felt they were moving “too fast.” Only three weeks after announcing her engagement to the former firefighter, and close friend of 27 years, Franklin decided there were “a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly," adding "There will be no wedding at this time."

--The US postal service has announced they will be releasing a line of stamps in 2012 honoring jazz legend Mile Davis. The Kind of Blue trumpeter will be immortalized in collection of “musically themed” stamps set to be released later this year. The post office will also be offering stamps commemorating French cabaret singer Edith Piaf, in partnership with the French postal service, La Poste.

--Iggy Pop has been named the 2012 Record Store Day ambassador. Record Store Day, set to take place on April 21st of this year, is an annual celebration of independent record stores and their place in their community. Past Record Store day ambassadors have included Jesse Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal,) Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age,) and last year’s ambassador Ozzy Osborne. Pop said of the honor “As Record Store Day Ambassador for 2012, I feel like a representative from some exotic jungle full of life and death and sex and anger, called upon to wear a leopard skin and translate joy to the world of the dead."  For more information on Record Store Day, visit recordstoreday.com.

This Week In Rock History

THIS WEEK IN ROCK HISTORY

1958—The management of St. Louis radio station KWK had all Rock 'n' Roll music removed from its play list. The disc jockeys gave every Rock 'n' Roll record in the station library a "farewell spin" before smashing it to pieces. The station manager, Robert T. Convey, felt that Rock 'n' Roll had dominated the airwaves long enough and called the action "a simple weeding out of undesirable music."

1963—Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Ian Stewart perform together for the first time.

1965—Former Cleveland DJ Alan Freed, the man credited with coining the term “rock & roll,” passes away at the age of 43. Once one of the most important men in rock, Freed died broke and unemployed, his career cut short due to his involvement in the Payola pay-for-play scandal.

1966—Former Beatle George Harrison marries long time girlfriend Patty Boyd. Boyd, a fashion model, met Harrison on the set of the film Hard Days Night. The marriage would last until the mid-1970s when Boyd left Harrison for Eric Clapton, who had written the song Layla about his (at the time) unrequited love for Boyd. When Clapton and Boyd married in 1977, George acted as best man.

1971—During court proceedings held to dissolve The Beatles' partnership, Ringo testifies under oath that "Paul behaved like a spoiled child.”

1976—Promoter Bill Sargent offers The Beatles 30-million dollars to reunite for one concert, at any venue of their choosing, even if they only play for 20 minutes. Sargent is reportedly “shocked” at the band's rejection of his offer.

1977—Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green was institutionalized after firing a pistol in the general direction of a delivery boy who was attempting to deliver a $30,000 royalty check. Green had renounced Rock and Roll in 1970 and didn't want the money. He later worked as a hospital porter and a gravedigger before returning to music.

1980—Paul McCartney is arrested at the Tokyo International Airport after officials find a half pound of marijuana in his personal belongings. Paul is sentenced to ten days in jail, and his 11 date tour of Japan, with his band Wings, is canceled.

1984—Soul singer Jackie Wilson passes away after having spent the previous nine-years in a coma. Wilson suffered a heart-attack on stage in 1975 in the middle of his biggest hit “Lonely Teardrops” and never regained consciousness.

1989—Stevie Wonder becomes the youngest person inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the age of 38.

1994—Paul McCartney inducts John Lennon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying "The thing you must remember is that I'm the number one John Lennon fan. I love him to this day and I always did love him."

Rock News

--Legendary singer Etta James has died at the age of 73. The songstress, best known for her rendition of Glenn Miller's ballad At Last, as well as the hits Sunday Kind of Love and The Wallflower. James had been battling leukemia and the onset of Alzheimer related dementia for the past few years. She was hospitalized in late December with breathing problems and put on a ventilator, it was at this time that he long time manager and friend Lupe DeLeon announced that the singer's condition was terminal. She was released from the hospital earlier this month to be with her friends and family for her final days. James was taken to the Riverside Community Hospital late Thursday evening, and passed away in the early hours of Friday, five days shy of her 74^th birthday.

--Funk saxophone legend Jimmy Castor passed away earlier this week in Las Vegas. Castor's band, The Jimmy Castor Bunch, are best known for the sax-heavy funk hits "It's Just Begun" and 1973's "Troglodyte." The latter's distinctive riff has been sampled, or appropriated, over 3000 times by bands as diverse as N.W.A., 2 Live Crew, Kanye West, Ice Cube, Mos Def, Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera, and Madonna. Castor had been hospitalized since November when he underwent a quadruple bypass, he was 71.

--Snoop Dogg is releasing his own line of cigars. Snoop, who is no stranger to lighting-one-up, will be putting his name to a line of Executive Branch Cigarillos, featuring tobacco from the Dominican Republic. According to a press release "[Snoop]was fortunate to encounter this tobacco company, Executive Branch and was impressed by their commitment to quality" further claiming that "[he] will be working with their team to make sure all products are up to Snoop Dogg standards."

--Eight years after succumbing to prostate cancer, Johnny Ramone's autobiography, Commando, is set to be released. The 176 page book was compiled by the guitarist's wife, Linda, from writings Ramone (real name John Cummings) produced between being diagnosed with cancer, and his death five years later at 55. The book will cover everything from Johnny's childhood, through his years with seminal punk rockers The Ramones, to his battles with cancer, and even his feud with fellow original Ramones member Joey Ramone, who used to date Linda, Johnny's future wife, leading to a rift between the two men. "I guess it was some sort of love triangle - Joey, Johnny and me. It happened, and of course he talks about it and he talks about how he feels about it," Linda said. "The three of us all probably have a different story, but this is Johnny's story." The prologue was written by band-mate Tommy Ramone, the only surviving member of the band's initial line-up, with an epilogue by close friend Lisa-Marie Presley. Commando will be released in April.

-- Sinead O'Connor is claiming her now five week marriage is over, this time for good. The singer, who married a man she met over the Internet just a few months ago, first claimed the marriage was at an end after only two weeks, then issued a statement just a few days later saying they had decided to reconcile. This latest announcement in her very public marriage comes not long after O'Connor posted Tweets about needing mental health help, and being "really unwell" O'Connor has since hospitalized herself for depression, posting "Don't want anyone worrying. They should only worry if a depressed person DOESN’T go to the hospital. All will be well. Just a little time." O'Connor's new album, "How About I Be Me (and You Be You)" is set to be released on February 21st.

--Adele's album 21 has joined the ranks of only five albums to sit at the #1 position on the Billboard charts for 16 weeks, and the first to do so since the Titanic soundtrack in 1998. The only other albums to have this long of a run at the top of the charts include Billy Ray Cyrus' Some Gave All (17 weeks), Garth Brooks' Ropin' The Wind (18 weeks), and the longest-running number one album, the Whitney Huston-dominated Bodyguard soundtrack, which stayed in the number one spot for 20 straight weeks in 1992-1993.