Dio’s Live In London: Hammersmith Apollo will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD and digital formats on May 12th through Eagle Rock Entertainment.
Filmed at London, England’s Hammersmith Apollo on December 12th, 1993, this previously unreleased concert film captures the then newly reformed Dio band on the last night of their European tour in support of the Strange Highways album. With a lineup of Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Vinny Appice (drums), Jeff Pilson (bass) and Tracy G (guitar), the band delivered a blistering performance on tracks from the Strange Highways album, previous Dio classics and favorites from Ronnie’s career with Black Sabbath and Rainbow.
Live In London: Hammersmith Apollo track listing:
1. Stand Up And Shout
2. Strange Highways
3. Don’t Talk To Strangers
4. Evilution
5. Pain (with guitar solo)
6. The Mob Rules
7. Children Of The Sea
8. Holy Diver
9. Heaven And Hell
10. Man On The Silver Mountain
11. Drum Solo
12. Heaven And Hell (reprise)
13. Jesus Mary & The Holy Ghost
14. Hollywood Black
15. The Last In Line
16. Rainbow In The Dark
17. We Rock
18. Here’s To You
The 10th anniversary MusiCares MAP Fund® benefit concert will honor Black Sabbath’s GRAMMY®-winning singer/songwriter Ozzy Osbourne, and owner/CEO of the Village studios Jeff Greenberg. Taking place at Club Nokia in Los Angeles on May 12th, Osbourne will be honored with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his dedication and support of the MusiCares MAP Fund. He is being recognized for his commitment to helping other addicts with the addiction recovery process. Greenberg will be the recipient of MusiCares®’ From the Heart Award for his unconditional friendship and dedication to the mission and goals of the organization. All proceeds will benefit the MusiCares MAP Fund, which provides members of the music community access to addiction recovery treatment regardless of their financial situation.
Continuing to celebrate the memory of DJ AM, the evening’s DJ will be Mix Master Mike. There will also be a performance by Osbourne and his touring band with special guest Slash on guitar. Additional performers will be announced shortly.
“Ten years ago MusiCares merged with the Musicians’ Assistance Program, originally founded by Buddy Arnold, to create the MusiCares MAP Fund,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and MusiCares. “Since then our addiction recovery resources and programs have grown substantially, and this annual benefit provides a meaningful way to recognize artists and industry professionals who are on the front lines in the battle to fight this crippling disease. It’s an honor to celebrate Ozzy and Jeff in our 10th anniversary year, and we know it will be an extraordinary evening filled with heartfelt words and serious rock and roll.”
“I know firsthand about the ravages of addiction and I also know that the MusiCares MAP Fund is a vital safety net for people in the music industry who need help with substance abuse,” said Osbourne. “This organization literally saves lives.”
“I’ve been lucky to spend my life in the music business doing things that I love,” said Greenberg. “But I’ve also seen the serious and, all too often, fatal effects of addiction in our industry, so that’s why I am an ardent supporter of the MusiCares MAP Fund.”
This special dinner and concert offers Living Room Sets that seat 10 for $12,500, Individual Floor Seats for $1,250 per person, and VIP Balcony Seats for $100 per person. Contact Wynnie Wynn for ticket information at 310.392.3777 or wynniew@grammy.com. General Admission Balcony Seats for $50 per person are available only through AXS beginning at 10 a.m. PT on March 7 at www.axs.com. Out of respect for the clients the MusiCares MAP Fund serves, the event will be alcohol-free.
Osbourne is a multi-platinum Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter. His career has spanned more than four decades as both a solo artist and as the lead singer of metal icons Black Sabbath, and his music is as relevant today as ever. Since 2011, Osbourne’s focus has been with Black Sabbath. In June 2013 Black Sabbath returned with their critically acclaimed album 13, which debuted at No. 1 in 13 countries. Produced by eight-time GRAMMY-winning producer Rick Rubin, 13 was the first studio album to feature original Black Sabbath members Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Osbourne in 35 years. Earlier this year, the group won a GRAMMY Award for Best Metal Performance for the album’s lead single “God Is Dead?”
Beyond his music career, Osbourne is a best-selling author (I Am Ozzy, 2010; Trust Me, I’m Dr. Ozzy: Advice From Rock’s Ultimate Survivor, 2011), advice columnist (The Sunday Times, The London Times and Rolling Stone) and among the first to have a celebrity reality television program (“The Osbournes,” which won a 2002 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Program (Reality) ). That same year, Osbourne was honored by the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
The MusiCares Foundationoffers programs and services to members of the music community including emergency financial assistance for basic living expenses such as rent, utilities and car payments; medical expenses including doctor, dentist and hospital bills; psychotherapy; and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, hepatitis C, and other critical illnesses. MusiCares offers nationwide educational workshops covering a variety of subjects, including financial, legal, medical, and substance abuse issues, and programs in collaboration with healthcare professionals that provide services such as flu shots, hearing tests, and medical/dental screenings. The MusiCares MAP Fund® allows access to addiction recovery treatment and sober living resources for members of the music community. Staffed by qualified chemical dependency and intervention specialists, MusiCares Safe Harbor Rooms, supported by the Bohemian Foundation, offer a support network to those in recovery while they are participating in the production of televised music shows and other major music events.
MusiCares holds weekly addiction support groups for people to discuss how to best cope with the issues surrounding the recovery process. The MusiCares Sober Touring Network is a database of individuals across the United States who can take music people to recovery support meetings while on the road.
Established in 1989 by The Recording Academy, MusiCares provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need. MusiCares’ services and resources cover a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies, and each case is treated with integrity and confidentiality. MusiCares also focuses the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues that directly impact the health and welfare of the music community. For more information, please visit www.musicares.org. For breaking news and exclusive content, please like “MusiCares” on Facebook follow MusiCares on Twitter and on Instagram.
The sideshow at Dodger Stadium is about to begin as Paul Stanley emerges from his backstage trailer, shirtless and in full kabuki drag: bright red lips, his face painted harlequin white, a black star over his right eye. The singer-guitarist is here to perform with his band KISS but hears his name and walks over to a crowd gathered at the fence.
“Arriba!” yells one fan, and Stanley reaches over to shake hands, as dozens of cellphones take snapshots. “Let me see your shoes!” shouts another, and Stanley half-climbs the fence to swing a tasseled silver-and-black platform boot over the top. “Thanks, Paul!”
In less than an hour, Stanley and his musical partner of four decades, Gene Simmons, will lead KISS through two short sets of hooks and hard rock riffs as halftime entertainment for an ice hockey game between the Kings and the Ducks. It’s another strange gig in the ongoing saga of KISS, which long ago evolved from band to lucrative brand, ready for high-profile special events, reality TV and cradle-to-grave business ventures in the form of KISS Hello Kitty Dolls, KISS comics, books, T-shirts, action figures and restaurants as well as KISS caskets and KISS urns.
In one more way, 2014 could be the band’s most surprising year since its initial 1970s pop culture explosion, beginning with KISS’ induction April 10th into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It welcomes the hard-rock quartet into the critical pantheon that has at times violently rejected KISS and acknowledges the band’s huge impact on rock spectacle.
“I still believe the heart and soul of this is a band. The music is imperative,” says Stanley, who has produced the last two KISS albums and next month releases an autobiography, “Face the Music: A Life Exposed.” “Maybe our horizons are broader because we have an opportunity to go other places. Why not? Whether it’s a football team or restaurants, people say that’s not rock ‘n’ roll. Let me tell you what’s rock ‘n’ roll: Winning is rock ‘n’ roll.”
Being voted into the Hall of Fame is a victory that comes 15 years after the band’s initial eligibility and annual outrage from fans. But next month’s ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn also means dealing with old wounds and complications that began with the final exit of founding guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss more than a dozen years ago. In their place ever since are lead guitarist Tommy Thayer, 53, and drummer Eric Singer, 55, who both wear the makeup designs of their predecessors (designs owned by Simmons and Stanley).
“The naysayers, and some of them are loud, talk about Tommy or Eric being impostors. I think an impostor is a guy up there doing it for a paycheck,” says Stanley, back in his trailer and now dressed in his full stage regalia, with black feathers on his shoulders and medallions over his chest of a guitar pick, a feather, a star. “We’ve never been happier.”
Any hopes for a reunion in makeup of the four founding members at the Hall of Fame ceremony ended last week with a band decision to not perform in any capacity. A statement on the KISS website read: “This is understandably an emotional situation where there is no way to please everyone.”
Negotiations with the Hall of Fame stalled, say Simmons and Stanley, who wanted to include Singer and Thayer, while the Rock Hall wanted a reunion of the original quartet in makeup.
“Imagine getting onstage and playing with a lineup that does not exist,” says Simmons, 64, comparing the situation to a forced reunion with an ex-spouse. Both have bad memories of years of substance abuse by their former partners but say they are happy and proud to accept the award with the former members. Putting the original quartet in makeup was “a nonstarter,” says Stanley.
Simmons and Stanley questioned whether the former members were up to performing. Reached via email, both Criss and Frehley are working on solo albums and say their problems with drinks and drugs are behind them. Frehley has been sober for seven years.
“We should of been able to work it out as grown men; it’s a shame we couldn’t,” writes Criss, who also survived a 2007 breast cancer scare.
“My guitar playing, singing, writing, performing and producing skills are as good or better than the past,” Frehley writes. “For years, Gene and Paul have been trying to minimize my contributions to the band, even though I designed the famous KISS logo … and designed the trademarked makeup for the Spaceman character.”
All four said they were open to joining the night’s traditional jam session at the end of the night. “That’s what the celebration is all about,” Frehley writes.
Long before being voted into the Rock Hall as a band, Simmons and Stanley were outspoken critics of the rock institution and its rules. “We had issues before this happened. It doesn’t turn into a love fest now,” says Stanley, but acknowledged, “There are some people who are angry or hurt by this, and I don’t want to see that.”
The controversies over the Hall of Fame and newer members wearing classic makeup are issues mainly for older fans with an emotional attachment to the original band. [Bassist Gene] Simmons calls up a photo on his computer from a stadium show in Stockholm, then another from Lima, Peru. Both show ecstatic young fans in the front rows.
“Can you see the faces? That’s about 90,000,” he says of the crowd. “You see a bald head in there? You think they … about Ace and Peter? They’re going, ‘Who?’ We’ve been around 40 years, and only two members stayed there the whole time, never quit, no drugs, no booze. KISS is bigger than anybody in the band.”
Krokus will release Long Stick Goes Boom-Live From Da House Of Rust, a new live album, on April 22nd in North America, May 21st in Switzerland and on May 24th in the rest of Europe.
“For those of you that could not make it to one of the shows last year, here is the next best thing: new Krokus live CD. U.S./Canadian residents can look forward to a bundle pre-order that also includes a one-of-a-kind t-shirt and a sticker,” says the band.
Long Stick Goes Boom-Live From Da House Of Rust track listing:
1. Long Stick Goes Boom
2. Hallelujah Rock’n’Roll
3. Go Baby Go
4. American Woman
5. Tokyo Nights
6. Fire
7. Medley: Rock City / Better Than Sex / Dög Song
8. Screaming In The Night
9. Hellraiser
10. Bedside Radio
11. Easy Rocker
12. Heatstrokes
13. Live For The Action
14. Hoodoo Woman
Richie Sambora has suggested that Bon Jovi aren’t the real McCoy without him. Although, he accepts that frontman Jon Bon Jovi doesn’t agree with that statement.
The guitarist says his departure from the band was his own decision. And he admits he’s found it frustrating being seen a less important member than the singer.
Long-standing tensions between the pair boiled over last April, when Sambora failed to appear for a string of tour dates and was replaced by Phil X, who’d covered for him while he was in rehab in 2011.
Neither side has fully discussed the reasons for the disagreement. But in the summer Sambora predicted it would all be over in a matter of months, which proved to be untrue.
He tells the Herald Sun, “It was an unpopular decision with the fans and the band, but sometimes a man’s got to do for his family. It certainly didn’t come down to money – it’s something I needed to do for my family and myself.”
Sambora says of his absence, “At the end of the day, if you’re going to buy a can of Coke you want the real thing. I know Mick Jagger wouldn’t tour without Keith Richards and call it the Rolling Stones. Jon just has a different mentality.”
Sambora remains disappointed at how his contribution has been viewed, saying: “For the longest time, even now, I’m considered Bon Jovi’s side-arm or something. Hey, I built this band too.”
But the door still isn’t closed on a reunion. “I’m not saying the band will not get back together at some point,” he states. “There will have to be a lot of communication, a lot of talking.”
VH1 Classic’s centerpiece in original programming That Metal Show returns this week for its seventh episode of Season 13 on Saturday, March 1st at 11:00PM ET/PT. The acclaimed hard rock and heavy metal talk show is hosted by Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine. This week’s episode takes a unique turn grabbing two of the biggest names in classic rock: Mick Jones, chief songwriter and founder of one of the most successful rock bands ever, Foreigner, and Leslie West of the formidable hard rock band, Mountain. Mick Jones gives an update on all things Foreigner and recounts how surreal it was when the band became one of the biggest bands in the world upon their very first album release. Leslie West, the first TMS Woodstock alum, shares his east coast wit and charm and generously gives Eddie Trunk a kick ass gift. We also see Mick and Leslie “Put It On The Table” with some surprising answers.
Guitar legend Lita Ford stops by to perform as the guest musician making her the first female performer to take over the job in the show’s 13 seasons. Lita Ford also holds the distinction of being the first-ever guest on “That Metal Show” and discusses having both crowns to her name. In addition to these show firsts, Lita wows the crowd with her riffing ability and shows why she is still a favorite to this day.
Episode 7 of the latest season features a Metal Modem segment connecting the hosts with Marty Friedman, former guitar ace of Megadeth. Marty checks in from his home in Japan and gives an update on his latest projects including dropping hints that he will embark on his first tour of the US in some time. The always fan favorite Stump The Trunk segment knocks the recently victorious Eddie Trunk back down a few spots, even though Eddie’s own attorney wasn’t able to stump him.
Since the January 18th premiere of Season 13, “That Metal Show” continues to bring their audience the biggest names in hard rock and heavy metal. A number of guests are confirmed for the upcoming episodes including Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe, The Winery Dogs, and Vinnie Paul, formerly of Pantera. Also confirmed to appear this season will be original Kiss members Ace Frehley & Peter Criss, and guitar genius Joe Satriani. Dee Snider has also been added to the list of guests coming up this season.
Known for having the best musicians in music perform each week on That Metal Show, Season 13 continues the trend with the likes of these TMS alums: Charred Walls of the Damned drummer Richard Christy, Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Chris Caffery, Cinderella front man Tom Keifer, and the guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. Each of these artists will make the new season the most musically diverse and rockin’ of shows in “That Metal Show” history.
This season marks some monumental changes for the show as it returns to New York City for Season 13. Previously, the show was taped over several days of one week out at Sony Studios in Los Angeles. The new season is shot at Metropolis Studios on Tuesday nights for broadcast that Saturday. Season 13 also consists of 12 new episodes making it the longest season in the show’s history. Fans can also catch the complete season 12 and brand new exclusive bonus clips at ThatMetalShow.VH1.com and in the new VH1 app. New episodes of season 13 launch on the web and in the app every Sunday morning following the show’s on-air premiere.
