So happy to have a nice LOONNNGGGG  weekend to recover from last weekend!  LOL!
Hopefully the weather won’t make me stay indoors ALL weekend, but so far it looks pretty much that way!  Oh well. Netflix, here I come! And this weekend, you can hear one of my favorite shows of the year on hardDrive!  Our COVER IT UP special edition! We’ve got new cover songs for ya this year and the way things are looking, more new covers for the next one over Thanksgiving weekend (yes, we are always plotting and planning stuff!)…Meanwhile, watch this space on Tuesday for an EXCITING announcement!  I can barely keep my mouth closed, but I will try really hard not to say anything til then!…..In a lengthy Facebook post published on Thursday (May 23rd), Disturbed and Device frontman David Draiman — in his signature all-caps style — reassured fans that the former band will eventually return from its current hiatus. But he also asked the group’s followers to show their support for Device as well as Fight Or Flight and Adrenaline Mob, two other projects featuring the other members of Disturbed.  Draiman wrote in part, “WHILE DISTURBED’S HIATUS IS IN EFFECT (AND NONE OF US TRULY KNOW HOW LONG THAT WILL LAST), MYSELF, DAN, MIKE, AND JOHN, WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE YOU ON THE GOINGS ON/PROJECTS FROM THE DISTURBED FAMILY . . . WHEN WE EVENTUALLY REUNITE, AND WE WILL, IT WILL BE AN EVENT, AND ONE THAT WILL HAVE GREATER MEANING FOR ALL OF US.” (Yes, David likes to type in ALL CAPS. No, he’s NOT YELLING!)  Draiman echoed this when we asked him about Disturbed’s eventual return: “Disturbed will reunite when the time comes. When we feel it’s right, when Device has run its course, when everybody’s in the right head space and we’re feeling re-inspired and we’re ready to go back at it and the itch is itching hard enough, it’ll happen.”  The singer added that there was no reason for fans to be mad about the band’s outside projects, saying, “BITTERNESS AT OUR INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS IS REALLY QUITE MISPLACED. SO PLEASE SUPPORT DEVICE, FIGHT OR FLIGHT, AND ADRENALINE MOB AS THEY ARE FRUIT BORN OF THIS HIATUS; WERE COUNTING ON ALL OF YOU.”   Device released its self-titled debut album on April 9th. It debuted at Number 11 on the Billboard album chart, selling 35,000 copies in its first week of release. Device will hit the road this summer on Gigantour 2013, along with Hellyeah, Newsted and other acts. The trek kicks off on July 3rd in Gilford, New Hampshire, wrapping on August 11th in Toronto, Canada. Meanwhile, Russ, the singer  from Adrenaline Mob,  joined Device on stage in Montclair, NJ the other night. And the next single from the new Device album is “You Think You Know.”…Man, I can NOT believe THIS happened here in NYC!  Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted was knocked off stage by an overzealous fan during his band Newsted‘s gig in New York City on Tuesday night (May 21st). According to Metal Insider, the group was halfway through a cover of Metallica’s “Whiplash” at the Highline Ballroom when the fan jumped onstage, appeared to attempt a stage dive, and ran into Newsted from behind, sending them both five feet down into the audience. The crowd surrounded the fan as security personnel swarmed over him and escorted him from the venue.  A visibly disoriented Newsted returned to the stage and told the crowd, “You know, no matter how many shows I’ve done, that just happened for the first time . . . Anyone get a good look at that motherf***er? Don’t kill him, just bruise him up a bit.’” A fan at the show filmed the incident and posted it on YouTube. He later met Newsted and showed him the footage, with the bass player himself suggesting that the fan post the clip online. (see it at the 3:08 mark)  Newsted concluded its first-ever U.S. tour on Thursday night (May 23rd) in Asbury Park, NJ, with the band headed overseas for European festival shows. The group, which also included Staind guitarist Mike Mushok, released its debut EP earlier this year and will issue its first full-length album later in 2013….Pulse Content also reports former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has spoken with Yahoo Music about what he’s been up to since the band announced its break-up earlier this year. Way revealed that although he’s been writing music, he has yet to choose what to do with it and has been focused on a different project altogether: a children’s show.  Way has reportedly co-directed and contributed music to the second season premiere of The Aquabats Super Show!, which will air June 1st on The Hub network. Way’s brother and My Chemical Romance bassist Mikey Way guest stars as the frontman for a death metal group called Asthma, who are seeking revenge against the Aquabats after losing a Battle of the Bands. Gerard also co-wrote portions of the story…..Celebrating birthdays on this Memorial Day weekend!  Today, Bob Dylan turns 72!  Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong is 75! Saturday, Scorpions’ frontman Klaus Meine is 65, Sunday, Stevie Nicks also turns 65! Lenny Kravitz will be 49 and Matt Stone of South Park and Book of Mormon fame turns 42.  Monday is especially special as Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains turns 47.  Have a great weekend, y’all!   Back on Tuesday!   Or whenever music  news breaks!

This week it’s…

I would be remiss if I did not address what’s happened in Moore, OK.  My heart goes out to the entire community devastated by what had to be one of the worst tornadoes to hit that area in years.  Several rock artists took to Twitter to express their shock and sorrow over the destruction and death wrought on yesterday (May 20th) by a mile-wide tornado that struck the suburbs of Oklahoma City. At press time the death toll was over 100,  and expected to rise further, with a number of children at an area elementary school  and patients in a local hospital among the dead. You can help:  text STORM to 80888 to give $10 to the Salvation Army.  Text REDCROSS to 90999.  Or contact these sites directly: www.unitedwayOKC.org  or www.tulsaCF.org.

Slash: “Horrible what the people in Oklahoma just went thru. The devastation they’re facing now. & the lives they’ve lost.”

Shinedown: “Take a moment… If you can… To tell the ones you love, just that… That you love them. Remember that life is so precious. God bless #OKC”

Papa Roach: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the mile wide tornado in Oklahoma.”

David Draiman: “My thoughts and prayers go out to the residents of Oklahoma who have been ravaged by the recent swath of tornadoes.”

And now on to the news:  I have to begin with our weekend in Columbus at Rock on the Range.  (Many thanks to organizers Joe, Gary, Melissa, Chamie, Danny and Del!)   It was definitely their biggest show to date!   Lou Brutus and I go in there like commandos!  We are on a mission! I schedule the interviews with the bands and Lou goes off to tackle them!   (I only did two of the interviews: Bush’s Gavin Rossdale  & Three Days Grace    On Thursday, when I arrived at my hotel, I saw all these tour buses and wondered if Korn were staying in my hotel.  Sure enough, YES!  I saw Head in the lobby being interviewed by some video guys while he was skype-ing with his daughter.  Later that night,  I texted JD‘s bodyguard and was invited onto the bus to hear to some of the new (as yet unmixed) music!   HOLY CRAP!   I was freaking out!  ( As I was listening on the bus, JD  texted  Head, Munky & Fieldy  to say “Roxy’s going ape sh&t !”)   I heard like 5 or 6 new songs.   I loved it all.  It’s heavy, still has electronic overtones on some, and then some great old skool stuff.  All I can say is get ready!  JD’s new love is “trap” music.  Ya know, Jonathan’s a DJ too, so that’s where the whole dub step influence came from.   Meanwhile, Korn was traveling with a group of fellas from Dallas (Scott, Condy, et al)  who were doing a documentary on the band, mostly having to do with Head’s return.  But as Korn’s “oldest fan,”  I was also invited to be on camera to talk about the band and their history.   Lou was filmed while interviewing Head and Munky.   It should be cool once it’s together.  The band perfomed on Friday night.  Not since Woodstock ’99 have I seen such an electric performance from the band!  (That was in front of 100,000, this show clocked in at around 27,500.)  Head is back in full form and the energy now is explosive!  I got to stand right on the stage and loved to see Jonathan turn and smile after one of the songs!  The crowd response was so off the hook and at one point, their manager and I walked from the side of the stage to the sound board, where he asked Marco the sound man to turn it up!   It was AMAZING!  They did all the hits starting with “Blind,”  and even pulled out a deep track from the first album I didn’t recall called “Lies.”  Other performances over the three days I got to see were:  Halestorm and Bullet For My Valentine, who never fail to kill.  We had breakfast on Saturday with Lzzy and Joe.  Unfortunately by the time I could get over to the side stage where Young Guns were playing, it was the last note of “Bones,” their last song!  Wah!   But got to hug the very sweaty boys!  Gonna miss them when they leave, but they are planning to record their next album in NYC, so I am sure I will be seeing a lot of them come fall. Saw a second of Hollywood Undead, but hung out with them in the parking lot backstage on Friday. They are a riot!  Played dice with them on their bus too.   Saw Mindset Evolution, who included their new song “Burn It Down” in their set.  They won last year’s  Battle of The Bands at the Rockstar Uproar tour.  Sorry I missed Cheap Trick, and Rick Nielsen also joined Buckcherry on stage.   I saw Beware of Darkness just rip in on the Jager stage on Sunday.  On Saturday, I really was sorry I missed Motionless in White, who I think have some great things in store.  On Saturday, I interviewed the guys in Three Days Grace: Neil, Barry and Brad.  They’re getting ready to take a well deserved break.  Neil said he plans to be out on his boat most of the time.  Was with Lou when he interviewed Stone Sour’s Josh and Corey.  Corey did mention next year, Slipknot would converge to begin tackling new music! YAY!   They also have some more shows to do this year.  Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix had his son Jagger out with him.  He’s 8 and sports a similar haircut as Dad and has some cool green frames on his glasses.  I sat with him while he ate lunch and we watched part of the hockey game (Blackhawks lost to Detroit!) on the bus.  Then we had meet and greets with our HardDrive Live Contest Winners Lance, Louis and Bailey.  They got to meet Bullet, Young Guns and Halestorm and got pictures and stuff.  Was cool.  While walking around I got to meet Randy Blythe of Lamb of God.  Told him the message he posted last week was so poignant.   He is still in the midst of all this stuff, but  did say he’s relieved this is nearly over.  It has been a nightmare to say the least.  Phil Labonte of All That Remains (their bus was very cool)  had his dog with him, a beautiful pit bull mix.  Let’s see,  talked to David Draiman on the Device bus. Needless to say, he can’t wait for his son’s birth!   (Samuel Bear is named after David’s grandfather.) Was bummed I missed their set (we had to be ready in front of Alice in Chains’ dressing room for the interview when they stepped on stage, so we missed the show!), especially when  In This Moment singer Maria Brink joined Device onstage on Sunday (May 19th)  to perform Device’s cover version of the 1988 Lita Ford/Ozzy Osbourne classic “Close My Eyes Forever.”   Fan-filmed footage has been posted online. Lou also spent  time in the Artist Lounge doing interviews, especially when bands didn’t have a bus or dressing room, where other outlets like Fuse and Revolver were doing video stuff.  We went to Alice in Chains’ dressing room and Lou interviewed Jerry Cantrell (who looks so great with his new haircut.  Even commented he can go out more now that he’s less recognizable!) and William Duvall, who told me about this amazing documentary he is doing on jazz drummer Milford Graves (see link) which centers around the theory that the heart is a drumbeat and amazingly,  music helps stem cell growth.  So the film will follow the efforts Graves is making along these lines with cardiac patients.  It’s a remarkable tale.  Anyhow,  while walking through the parking lot backstage, I saw Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and walked up to him.  Turns out he was having a cigarette with Soundgarden‘s Chris Cornell.  So we chatted for a bit.  I was sad to hear Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney is suffering from hearing loss.  80% in on ear, 20% in the other.  It’s just the hazard of this job. And reminds me how important it is to protect your hearing when you are at shows!   Wear EAR PLUGS!  Our final interview of the festival was while Alice in Chains were on stage.  Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron. Kim commented he is looking forward to making the next album with the band.  Then I ran back to the Alice in Chains stage (we were fortunate to be one of the 10 people that got special passes to watch the band from the viewing platform.)  I love them so.  One of my favs.  I always think of the first time I met the band, back in like 1992 I think when they were in LA  making the Dirt album.  Had them on a celebrity softball team.  I recall Layne Staley being an excellent slugger!  His hair and goatee dyed green in those days.  Sigh.  Anyhow, that’s what I can immediately recall from the weekend.  And lemme tell ya, my body still wants to be in bed right now!…Happy Birthday today to my partner & love of my life,  my homie, Dwight,  Happy 35th to Adam Gontier,  and rest in peace to Ray Manzarek of The Doors who passed away yesterday in Germany. Ray was 74.