TODAY ONLY: Lady Gaga 'Born This Way' album on sale for .99 on Amazon!

When Lady Gaga says she was Born This Way, does she mean she was born with a motorcycle for a body? I'm still undecided about that album cover, but I can't wait to rev up the new album - which was released today and is sale priced at just .99 on Amazon as a digital download. [Click here to buy.]

That's right - the entire new Lady Gaga for less than a buck!

Earlier this year, the album's title track was declared the fastest selling single of all time by iTunes - with pricing like this, the album might make set a few sales marks of it's own.

In addition, everyone who buy's Gaga's disc (or any MP3 purchase) gets a free upgrade to 20 GB of free storage space on the Amazon Cloud Drive.

Don't let Tommy Lee's penis scare you...Take a trip to 'Tommyland'

I honestly had no intention of reading Tommy Lee's book when it came out several years ago - not because I didn't care, but because when I heard it was co-written by his penis, well, yeah, then my interest admittedly faded.

I have a thing for Tommy Lee - not in a man-crush sort of way (not that there's anything wrong with that), but in a way where his passion for music resonates so much that it makes me feel a connection to him like I have with some of my best friends. I've got friends who I can talk about music with for hours on end - we don't even pause to refill our glasses, we just talk louder above the clinking ice and clanking bottles. Tommy seems like one of those guys.

The thing I like most is that Tommy isn't a stereotypical meat-head rocker who likes nothing that doesn't have screaming guitars and vocals that flirt with the stratosphere. No, he just loves music - and all kinds of it. Like me, he's drawn to anything that moves him, from Cheap Trick to Massive Attack to Daft Punk and beyond.

Music, to me, is about feeling a primal connection. It's about sparking that thing inside you that makes you feel like nothing else on the planet can make you feel in a given moment. It's spiritual, and it touches your soul.

And that's almost how I felt reading Tommyland, T-Lee's autobiography. I'm not getting Biblical or anything, I just really appreciate the man's zest for life.

I got a library card a few weeks ago, and Tommyland was the first book I saw when I walked over to the racks. It called out to me, and I grabbed it. Corny? Maybe. But it happens. Like I said, I never felt compelled to read a book narrated by a penis. And to be fair, since its release in 2004, not a single person has told me that this was a book I needed to read.

Which is why I'm telling you now - if you know how to read (which I think you've got covered if we made it this far) and have even a fleeting interest in the concepts of celebrity and pop culture, I highly recommend Tommyland.

Yes, I said highly.

To be clear, his penis only makes random commentary throughout (thankfully, less and less the further and better the book gets). And given that Motley Crue released their own band autobiography, The Dirt, in 2002, there's not even a lot of talk about Motley Crue.

Instead, it's an unflinching look inside the head of what makes one of music's biggest icons tick. The chapter about his meeting Pamela Anderson is literally laugh-out-loud funny, the two recounting their very different recollections of a weekend in Mexico that led to marriage. His discussions of his children are heartwarming, there is heartache in his divorce from Pamela, and we share heartbreak in the chapter that details the death of his son's 4-year-old friend in his Malibu swimming pool.

No, it's not Nobel Prize material, but Tommy Lee would never claim to be a budding laureate. It is raw emotion, and an honest and unwavering look at a side of celebrity that most people don't take the time to acknowledge - the human side. You sit right alongside Tommy Lee in his jail cell, and rant right alongside him at paparazzi.

And, in defense of his penis, as heavy as things do get (I'm talking about the subject matter, not... well, I'm sure you've heard the stories...), you can't blame the guy for trying to lighten the mood. I read a lot, and I'm partial to biographies and autobiographies - Tommyland is one of the more engaging bios I've read.

The book has its flaws, but don't we all? If you offend easily, it gets pretty raunchy, but in the end it's the passion and honesty of the writing that prevails.

I returned my copy to the library today, but I assure you I'll be buying a copy of my own. It's one of those books I want to be able to hand to someone, with the assurance that they'll come out with a whole new perspective on a person they thought they knew everything about.

It may have taken me 6 1/2 years to finally visit Tommyland, but it's a trip I'm glad I finally took.

RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE(November 15, 1952 - May 20, 2011)

Growing up, I can't remember not loving professional wrestling. It wasn't on every night of the week, there weren't monthly pay per views that cost more to watch than you'd make working two days at a part-time job, and it still embraced subtleties and nuances, rather than bombastic pomp and over-the-top circumstances.

Randy "Macho Man" Savage was instrumental in changing that.

My parents probably don't know this, but it was my grandmother who really got me into professional wrestling. She was Polish (the only of my four grandparents that wasn't Italian), and she loved Ivan "The Polish Hammer" Putski. As legend has it, she broke the arm off a chair watching him wrestle one time - because that's what wrestling meant in the '70s.

If you were Italian, Bruno Sammartino was to wrestling what Joe Dimaggio was to baseball. Pedro Morales was there for Latinos, and Bob Backlund was our squeaky clean, red-white-and-blue champion who would never cheat to win, and would never fight dirty until his opponents forced his hand. [Unrelated aside: I swam competitively against his daughter, with him sitting in the stands!] The Grand Wizard, Freddie Blassie and Captain Lou Albano were diabolical managers who represented everything bad in the world, while Arnold Skaaland was their baby-faced counterpart, crusading against their conniving, back-handed ways with a work ethic that epitomized the prevailing spirit of blue collar America.

The bad guys back then were truly bad guys, and you never cheered for them. It wasn't allowed. But today, "Magnificent" Don Muraco would be the people's hero with his smug arrogance and cocky swagger, and fans would give Blackjack Mulligan an ovation to see his leather claw turn an opponent's head into a bloody cheese grater. I remember crying when Superstar Billy Graham tore Bob Backlund's championship belt in half, and I can still remember the horror, shock and seething hatred I felt when Captain Lou Albano turned on his greatest heel, pulverizing Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka with his own South Pacific headband before Ray "The Crippler" Stevens piledrived him twice into the bloodied concrete floor.

At the time, wrestling was restricted to black and white televisions with bunny ear antennas. My parents didn't want me staying up until midnight to watch, but I watched anyway. Sometimes the reception was so bad all I could do was listen. Sometimes I had to watch with the volume off so my parents couldn't hear. But I always had to watch. I used to love when my grandmother would babysit because I could stay up late and watch with her in the living room.

That was before Randy Savage.

In my mind, he and Hulk Hogan represented the end of an era and the dawn of another. The Hulkster and Macho Man brought wrestling out of black and white and into color - off of local affiliate channel 9's overnight and onto NBC prime time. It was the vision of Vince McMahon Jr, carried out on the backs and charisma of his wrestlers.

And Macho Man was the manifestation of charisma. He was Gorgeous George, Superstar Billy Graham and an '80s rock star, all rolled into one. And when he anointed Miss Elizabeth his manager, the WWF's first Diva was born. That's what I love most about the clip above - it is everything Randy "Macho Man" Savage helped wrestling become.

It is not a barrage of coconuts to the head, it is three minutes of theater building to the Honky Tonk Man's guitar pop. Professional wrestling went from carnival attraction to three ring circus. From gray and grainy to neon technicolor. From Cold War simplicity to turn-of-the-millennium complexity. From sport to entertainment.

In my lifetime, professional wrestling has been a mirror of American culture - and today, with the passing of Randy "Macho Man" Savage, that mirror sustained a horrible crack.

Rest in peace, Randy...

* * * * * CHRIS JERICHO & JAMES DURBIN * * * * * It's time to metal up and Rock the Vote on 'Dancing with the Stars' & 'American Idol'

When American Idol finalist James Durbin was joined onstage by Zakk Wylde during his performance of Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal" last week, it represented more than just unprecedented mainstream exposure for Zakk Wylde - it represented an opportunity for the hard rock and metal community to make a statement that it is no longer the bastard son of the music industry.

Instead, too many "fans" used the opportunity to engage in online grandstanding and short-sided rhetoric.

The two biggest shows on television are Dancing with the Stars and American Idol - and for the first time ever, both are currently boasting competitors that are not only proud of their metal roots, they also wear them on their sleeves.

Chris Jericho is billed as a "wrestling superstar" by Dancing with the Stars, but fans also know him as frontman of Fozzy - a band that he started with Stuck Mojo guitarist Rich Ward a decade ago, and will be performing alongside the Big 4 on overseas festivals this summer.

Think about that for a minute: the singer of a band sharing stages with Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, is currently holding his own on a dance floor alongside Kirstie Alley, the Karate Kid, super-model Petra Nemcova, Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward, a Disney superstar, hip-hop/R&B star Romeo, and a reality TV star and Playboy model who dated Hugh Hefner.

What do all these people have in common? Unwavering fan support. They've all made it this far because they know that they have a fan base that they can count on to vote - except for Chris Jericho.

While Jericho has many fans who vote, he has just as many who don't vote because "dancing isn't metal."

We need to change that.


You don't need to watch Dancing with the Stars to support Chris Jericho, all you need to do is cast your votes while the show is airing. So while you're watching wrestling, baseball, or whatever else you may be doing between 8-10pm on Monday nights, log onto ABC.com (where it will take you no more than 30 seconds to vote the maximum-allowed nine times each week) and call (800) 868-3409 ten times (the max phone votes allowed per week, per phone line)...

Contrary to what some may say, Dancing with the Stars isn't fixed - in fact, the single-largest factor influencing who stays and goes is audience votes. It's a numbers game, and the numbers should be in Chris Jericho's favor. While Kendra Wilkinson may have five-times his Twitter followers, she doesn't have the hard rock and heavy metal communities and WWE Universe behind her - like Chris SHOULD.

This is OUR scene, and how great would it be to show the mainstream, pop-culture world that when we band together, we have the numbers to defy their trends and plastic icons?

By voting for Chris Jericho on Dancing with the Stars and James Durbin on American Idol we are voting for an end to the ongoing barrage of crap that litters our airwaves.

By voting for the people that stand for the same things as we do, we are not being less metal, we are banding together to make hard rock and heavy metal stronger.


Zakk Wylde became a trending topic on Twitter when he joined James Durbin onstage during Idol - but what did that get him?

Hear me out here...

Not only did James Durbin defy American Idol mentor and Interscope Records head Jimmy Iovine - one of the most powerful men in the music industry - when he chose "Heavy Metal" as his performance for the week, but he invited Zakk Wylde to perform with him... The best message that Zakk's fans could have sent would have been to throw their unprecedented voting power behind James, showing Idol just how powerful Zakk Wylde, his fans, and heavy metal can be.

If fans are subjected to listening to judge Randy Jackson fumble through a clueless introduction of Zakk Wylde, the least we can do is return the favor by supporting James and Zakk the only way that matters on Idol - with votes.

Making Zakk Wylde a trending topic on Twitter matters to nobody five minutes later. But if James Durbin gets 500,000 more votes than his previous week when Zakk Wylde performs alongside him, THAT makes Zakk Wylde look huge to the powers that be.

The great thing about social media is that WE shape it, WE make it what it is, and WE define its results - so WE need to make it count.

This is OUR scene, and we need to rally behind it. We need to use the tools at our disposal to crash through the disposable fads we are being force fed, and stand behind what DOES mean something to us - hard rock and heavy metal.

Because if we don't, who is going to? For every person that won't vote for James Durbin because he's heavy metal, we need five metal-heads that don't watch American Idol to vote to show that strength comes in numbers, and our numbers are there...

Just like the heavy metal community needs to stand behind Chris Jericho on Dancing with the Stars - where, last week, he performed to a song recorded by both Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.



Who else has the balls to do that on prime-time television?

THAT is metal... And even better, is that both Jericho and Durbin are turning heads with impressive performances throughout the process.

If you think two metal fans lose credibility by being in the biggest spotlight American culture has to offer, you're just as short-sighted as the people that turn their noses at the music that what we love and they don't understand.

Think about it - what could be a greater statement from OUR SCENE, than having Chris Jericho win Dancing with the Stars and James Durbin win American Idol?

Nothing - so let's rock the vote and make it happen!


TWITTER: Chris Jericho
TWITTER: Fozzy
TWITTER: James Durbin
TWITTER: Paul Gargano

TRAILER: Foo Fighters "Back and Forth"

I'll never forget the first time I met Dave Grohl - which is ironic, considering he was probably wishing he could forgot my banter while I was still mid-sentence.

That's the difference 15 years makes, because I've been in his presence numerous times since, but my desire not to be an intrusion outweighs my interest in telling him how much I appreciate everything he's done in the wake of Nirvana.

What does that have to do with the trailer for the new Foo Fighters movie "Back and Forth"? Nothing, really - the trailer (posted above), coupled with the anniversary of Kurt Cobain's suicide, just got me thinking about how I was never a big Nirvana fan, and always a big Foo Fighters fan.

I never resented Dave Grohl for starting Foo Fighters, I actually appreciated him more for it - and told him that backstage at Milwaukee's Riverside Theater on March 28, 1996. Grohl responded with a few amicable words, and I proceeded to talk at greater length with guitarist Pat Smear. Seeing as I am a bigger fan of the Germs than I was of Nirvana, it's no wonder that conversation went better.

Nirvana didn't speak to me like it spoke to so many others - I grew up on a steady diet of hard rock and metal, and my favorite music has always been more about visceral response than somber introspection. So when Grohl says, "honestly, had I taken this whole career thing seriously, I would have named it something else, because this is the worst fucking band name in the world..." at the end of the trailer, I'm just glad he doesn't take things too seriously.

I want musical thrills, not pills, and Foo Fighters always deliver the goods - I can't wait to see this movie...

CHRIS JERICHO "UNDISPUTED" Television & Media Archive

(click show title for link to video/article)

Lopez Tonight / WTBS (Feb 24, 2011)
What barbershop quarter wouldn't want Chris Jericho?

Attack of the Show / G4 television network (Feb 22, 2011)
An amusing interview with host Kevin Periera...

PIX Morning News / KPIX New York (Feb 17, 2011)
Chris addresses the Velvet Revolver rumors (and hermaphrodite fans)

The Opie & Anthony Show / SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Feb 16, 2011)
A 40-minute audio segment focusing on wrestling and Fozzy

Red Eye / FOX News (Feb 15, 2011)
What Chris did for $25, and what celebrity annoyed him most

AZcentral.com (Feb 15, 2011)
Chris talks about Arizona, and being an author

The Wendy Williams Show / syndicated (Feb 15, 2011)
Hamming it up with Wendy Williams (not Wendy O Williams)

FOX & Friends / FOX News (Feb 14, 2011)
New York City's subway slasher, Lady Gaga's pod, and Valentine's Day

LINKS
TWITTER: Chris Jericho
TWITTER: Fozzy

Grammy Award Muse-ings: East Coast bias, Mumford & Sons shine, Cee Lo Green glows, Arcade Fire ignite, Ma-GaGa-donna & more

First of all, the pink elephant in the room - the music industry is anchored in Los Angeles. The Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles. The notable parties are all in Los Angeles.

Why aren't the Grammy Awards televised live in Los Angeles?

The obvious answer I come up with is that they're hoping most of the industry won't watch them, that way they can't question why the awards show was opened with a stale tribute to a living legend that would have been better-suited for later in the telecast.

No disrespect to Aretha Franklin, but Cee Lo Green should have opened the show.

Or Justin Bieber, but God-forbid they do that and risk all the kids going to bed, then mom and dad turning on anything more entertaining. (For the record, there was nothing else on. My father-in-law called at 11pm EST and said he was watching - not because he particularly cared, but because he was out of options.)

That Cee Lo Green performance was everything that an opening act should be - dynamic, fun, original and relevant. Muppets! How awesome was that? You know what was just as awesome? The song - just further proving the argument I waged on my Facebook page a few weeks ago, that a great song becomes little more than a novelty when it's hanging its marketing shingle on an f-bomb.

The song is already great, and didn't miss a beat being delivered as "Forget You" - calling it "Fuck You" is nothing more than a cheap and completely unnecessary gimmick that panders to the lowest common denominator.

Speaking of turn-offs, I've loved Lady Gaga from day one - so early on, that people laughed at me when I told them she should be huge. That said, she's only one album in and I already fear her career trajectory could be where Marilyn Manson was after Mechanical Animals. That's how accelerated culture is today, and I fear she's already losing sight of the smaller picture as she jumps the Jaws tank in an effort to express herself.

You're only as good as your current hit, and the groundwork is already being laid for her next one, with the Hollywood Reporter reporting today that Gaga's producer RedOne boasts that the next single "is going to shock" - you mean, as opposed to suck?

"Born This Way" doesn't suck, but it's far from great - and a great way to have buried the song's Madonna comparisons would have been to be joined by the material girl onstage last night. Which obviously didn't happen. In a world where there is no such thing as accidental press, the fact that they're already setting up song No. 2 speaks volumes...

The big winner last night was Mumford & Sons (pictured above). They were in a league all their own, playing with an honesty and spirit that was effervescent. They're going to steal the show at Coachella this year - a 60,000 person sing-along will provide the type of magic that sells the festival out in three days despite a lackluster lineup.

Muse were my other favorite from the night - they managed to translate a big rock show (with obvious nods to Pink Floyd and Queensryche) onto the small screen, making it not only believable, but (here's that word again) relevant.

I wish Bob Dylan was remotely relevant. He came across as old as he sounded. Barbra Streisand sounded great, but how many people cared? Part of the problem NARAS are now facing is that they are trying to spread themselves too thin. Aretha tribute. Bieber performance. Yes, it's an overview of where we are, but it really wasn't tied together well at all. A shred of cohesion could do wonders.

John Mayer, Norah Jones and Keith Urban performing Dolly Parton was great - but where was Dolly Parton? I feel like that fell as flat as John Mayer wasting an opportunity to ad lib and stating he'd stick to the teleprompter...

What makes Mayer such a star - aside from his musical talent - is the fact that he is smart enough to manipulate pop culture to fit his personality. Problem is, he's been snakebit since calling Jessica Simpson sexual napalm, and now he comes across as afraid to open his mouth.

Nobody else worries about opening their mouth, why the double standard?

I had to hide from Twitter and Facebook all day yesterday to avoid the barrage of people announcing winners and spoiling the surprise before we on the West Coast had a chance to see the action, at least make it worth my while to watch!

Arcade Fire would have been a nice surprise - if it was a surprise. As for their show, their punk bravado reminds me a lot of Sonic Youth. And the strobe lights ever-present through their performances reminded me of Motley Crue when they reunited on television what seems like eons ago. We listen with our eyes as much as our ears - don't underestimate how important those strobes were...

Did Arcade Fire really deliver the best album of the past year? Does it really matter? The Grammy Awards got what they wanted - indie cred... Despite the disarray that ensued with their botched Arcade Fire/Barbara Streisand/Kris Kristofferson ending.

Ouch.

One final note, to the publicity company that sent out press releases immediately after the live broadcast aired announcing all the winners - really? You get paid in the ballpark of $5,000/month to work your A-list clients, but you can't stay up until the West Coast feed ends to send out a one-line release announcing that said band won a Grammy, and it was their first?

You couldn't even give us a quote from the band? Nothing but a buzzkill, that's all that press release was... NARAS, meanwhile, doesn't even know how to create a buzz - they kept announcing that people won earlier in the night, but they never went so far as to even scroll the winners that weren't televised.

When NARAS doesn't even think their own awards are important enough to announce, how seriously are we supposed to take them?

About as seriously as Cee Lo Green, I guess.

SLASH AND BURN @ SUPER BOWL XLVBlack Eyed Peas pack serious halftime heat

The only thing I found annoying about the Black Eyed Peas halftime performance during yesterday's Super Bowl, was the outpouring of hyperbole and criticism that followed.

We live in a culture of hatred and entitlement, and I'm finding it harder and harder to disguise my disgust. It used to be you needed a modicum of training, etiquette and professionalism to be a critic. Now all you need is an internet connection.

Spelling, grammar and any hint of education are optional, and typically frowned upon.

Just because you and all of your like-minded friends may agree that you hate the Black Eyed Peas, does not mean that the Black Eyed Peas suck. It just means that you don't like the Black Eyed Peas. I follow a disproportional number of rock fans on Twitter, and I could have predicted their reaction before the halftime show even started. But that was tame compared to the reaction at the party I was at, where I was standing between members of the Guns N Roses camp.

The tough crowd got even tougher when the "Sweet Child O' Mine" cover started and Fergie delivered a little Axl Rose slither as she cozied up alongside Slash, GnR's iconic ex-guitarist.

I'm an Axl Rose loyalist to the core - but, admittedly, even that collaboration didn't bother me that much. The Super Bowl halftime show is arguably the biggest stage there is in music - can you blame the Black Eyed Peas for pulling out all the stops?

Unfortunately, they didn't sound great. But it's the halftime SHOW, not the halftime CONCERT. The spectacle was huge, and it delivered. No, maybe the performers didn't deliver as well as they - and others - may have liked, but if you are watching the Super Bowl with the sole intention of critiquing ads and the halftime show, you're part of today's problem, not part of the solution.

The Super Bowl is a worldwide institution and, in a lot of ways, its prevailing hooplah has come to represent everything that's wrong with America as we spiral through the 21st century as a culture of lemmings that care more about being heard, than about right, fair or even articulate.

I never got the guy's name, but I had a great conversation in the third quarter about how much money was spent on advertising, and where all that advertising money comes from... Us.

We're in a recession, but we're still fueling an economy that continues to cater to excess at a time when we should be dialing our habits down. I don't care how much money Budweiser pays to license a classic Elton John song, their product still tastes more like stale piss to me than it does beer.

Which brings me back to the Black Eyed Peas...

They are a pop music phenomenon, not a live music staple. Their songs are built around club beats and designed for dance floors, not live performances. And if you want to compare them musically to any other act that's performed halftime in recent memory, you're just advertising your own tunnel vision.

Black Eyed Peas are a production team, not a rock band. And they're damn good at what they do. In fact, they are amongst the best. That show last night was visually stunning, even if the vocals fell a little flat. But you know what? At least they were singing (or trying, as the case may be) - I'd rather relish the effort amidst the spectacle, than watch a lip-sync laughathon.

It didn't take a sound engineer to know there were sound problems. All their mics cut out at one point or another, and that's not the band's fault. Who knows what they were actually hearing on stage? Am I making excuses? Yes, I am - but I tuned in to watch the Super Bowl, not play armchair quarterback and pass judgment on the bells and whistles that surrounded the game.

Last night's game was a phenomenal steak dinner. The Black Eyes Peas performance was akin to finding some wilted lettuce in a salad that is highlighted by some superb blue cheese dressing.

If you're tuning into the Super Bowl to get your music fix, I feel sorry for you - there's so much more out there, you just need to open your ears and listen. And if you're one of those people screaming that the Black Eyed Peas suck and are a musical travesty, maybe it's time to look beyond your own short-sightedness.

They don't suck,they're just not your thing. To the masses that are not metal fans, Slipknot suck so hard they should change their name to Hoover. That doesn't make me appreciate them any less. Green Day is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard to me - that doesn't mean that they suck, it just means that they're not my thing.

To each their own... But we live in America, where people are incapable of compromise. It's all or nothing, and our way or the highway.

If you're liberal, all conservatives are evil. Period.

And if you're a rock fan watching the Black Eyed Peas during the Super Bowl, you've judged them before you even stop to consider the very nature of what they do, or how they do it. Yes, their performance wasn't perfect, but they were playing the Super Bowl, not the Grammy Awards.

It was a football game, and they provided a halftime spectacle - and an excellent one at that. To say that Fergie can't sing is just flat-out wrong - she can sing, even if she wasn't in top form Sunday night.

If you would care to discuss how your definition of music is different than a Black Eyed Peas fan's definition of music, that's another story altogether - but, again, we are talking about opinions, not facts.

I just think back to how I felt growing up, being a fan of heavy metal and having people talk down to me because that wasn't what they consider "real" music.

I remember how it felt when people would tell me that Metallica sucked, when in fact they were just scared and intimidated of the band and what they stood for. They said they aren't music, they're noise. Those judgmental people helped shape me into the person I am today - and those memories are what make me want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

As Dan Akroyd said in the cinematic opus Spies Like Us - we mock what we don't understand.

As for the Super Bowl? Don't hate the playas just cuz you don't like the game.

And as for me? I like the Black Eyed Peas, and all the boom boom pow they deliver.

Has 'Rock of Love' found it's new star? This "Talk Dirty To Me" is pure poison...

Nothin' but a good time!!!

Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax...Big 4 announce single North American date

What do heavy metal and the movie Pretty Woman have in common?

The Empire Polo Fields, about 120 miles east of Los Angeles in Indio, CA, will be home to key moments in both.

It was announced this morning that the much-heralded live reunion of metal's Big 4 - Metallica, Slayer, Megedeth and Anthrax - will follow last summer's seven-date stretch of European festivals with a single North American concert event to be held April 23, 2011, at the site of Coachella's annual three-day weekend.

Last year's European dates were commemorated with the November 2 release of The Big 4: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria, a DVD package that, in the ten weeks since its release, has been certified double-platinum in nearly every country where it is available.

It will be a busy month of April at the Empire Polo Fields, which will be hosting the 12th annual Coachella festival the weekend before the Big 4 invade, and the fifth annual Stagecoach country music festival the weekend after. For metal fans that also appreciate a good romantic comedy, the polo fields were also featured in the Julia Roberts blockbuster Pretty Woman - yes, it was there that Jason Alexander's character found out Roberts was a hooker!

From glow sticks to mosh pits to cow chips - promoters Goldenvoice know a thing or two about diversity.

Tickets for the all-day event - which will feature full-length sets from Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax - go on-sale Friday, January 28 at 10:00 AM (PT) through Ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Ticket prices are $99.00 for general admission and $199.00 for VIP.

Round-trip shuttle service will be available from Southern California locations including Carson, downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Ontario, Riverside, Anaheim, Irvine and San Diego, with prices ranging from $40.00-$65.00.

Complete details can be found at the Big 4 Festival website.

Arin Ilejay to drum for Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold have named Arin Ilejay the band's latest drummer. Ilejay, formerly of the Southern California Christian rock band Confide, will make his debut Saturday night in Lowell, MA, where the band kick off their month-long Nightmare After Christmas tour [click here for dates].

Avenged Sevenfold's founding drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan, died December 28, 2009, from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol. The band recruited Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy to record drums on their latest release, Nightmare, and tour throughout 2010, and announced in December that he would not remain with the band entering 2011.

"For the past few months, we've been blessed with Mike Portnoy's talent and humanity. When Mike agreed to tour with us, it was only through the end of 2010. We always knew we'd need to find another solution for 2011 and beyond. And it's time for us to take that next step," the band said in a December 17 statement on their website.

"We know we are not ready to add another permanent member of Avenged Sevenfold. We don't know if we will ever be. But if we do, it will only be with someone who is not only a brilliant drummer, but also someone we've gotten to know well on the road and off, and who you the fans have had a chance to get to know, and hopefully accept," they continued.

"He will not be a member of a7x. He will be someone you and we are getting to know. Perhaps this drummer will be a fit. Perhaps not. One thing is for sure. Over time we will find someone who helps us continue our quest to make the music we love for the fans we love."

Enter Ilejay.

"Our long time studio drum tech, Mike Fasano, recommended Arin Ilejay," the band said in today's announcement. "We've rehearsed with Arin and have been impressed with his technical skills, attitude and work ethic. We're very excited to tour with Arin and hope all of you will give him the warm welcome to the family we have."

The Nightmare After Christmas tour - featuring special guests Stone Sour and Hollywood Undead - launches Saturday night, in Lowell, MA.

Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West and The Strokes to headline 2011 Coachella Festival

Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West and the Strokes will headline the 12th annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held April 15-17 at the Empire Polo Field, in Indio, CA.

While the lineup is light on surprises - the biggest may be the absence of long-rumored headliners Daft Punk - the roster reads like a who's who of the modern indie rock scene.

Highlights include Duran Duran, Animal Collective, the Black Keys, Big Audio Dynamite, Cee Lo Green, Cage the Elephant, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, Empire of the Sun, Mumford & Sons, Scissor Sisters, Gogol Bordello, and former Fugees frontwoman Lauren Hill.

For fans of the festival's Sahara Tent, DJs and electronic acts include the Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, Paul van Dyk, Sasha, Chromeo, Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 and Cut Copy.

The complete Coachella 2011 lineup (as of January 18, 2011):

!!!, 12th Planet, Afrojack, Alf Alpha, Andy C, Angus and Julia Stone, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, A-Trak, Axwell, Beardyman, Best Coast, Big Audio Dynamite, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, Bomba Estereo, Boys Noize, Brandon Flowers, Brandt Brauer Frick, Breakage, Bright Eyes, Broken Social Scene, Cage the Elephant, Caifanes, Caspa, Cee Lo Green, Chromeo, Chuckie, City and Colour, Clare Maguire, Cold Cave, Cold War Kids, Crystal Castles, CSS, Cults, Cut Copy, Daedelus, Death From Above 1979, Delorean, Delta Sprirt, DJ Hype, DJ Kentaro, DJ Marky, DJ Zinc, Duck Sauce, Duran Duran, EE, Elbow, Electric Touch, Eliza Doolittle, Ellie Goulding, Emicida, Empire of the Sun, Erick Morillo, Erykah Badu, Excision, Fat Freddy's Drop, Fedde Le Grand, Fistful of Mercy, Flogging Molly, Foals, Foster the People, Francis and the Lights, Freelance Whales, fun., G.Q., Gayngs, Glasser, Gogol Bordello, Good Old War, Gord Downie, Goth Trad, Green Velvet, Gypsy and the Cat, HEALTH, Here We Go Magic, High Contrast, Hurts, Interpol, Jack Beats, Jack's Mannequin, Jakes, Jenny and Johnny, Jimmy Eat World, Joachim Garraud, Joy Orbison, Kanye West, Kele, Kings of Leon, Klaxons, Kode9, Kyle Hall, Laidback Luke, Leftfield, Lightning Bolt, Lil' B, Lorn, Los Bunkers, Magnetic Man, Mariachi El Bronx, Marina and the Diamonds, Mary Anne Hobbs, MEN, Menomena, Monarchy, Mount Kimbie, Moving Units, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Mumford & Sons, Nas & Damian Marley, Neon Trees, New Pants, Nosaj Thing, OFF!, OFWGKTA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez, One Day as a Lion, Ozomatli, Paul van Dyk, Phantogram, Phosphorescent, PJ Harvey, Plan B, Ramadanman, Raphael Saadiq, Ras G, Ratatat, Riva Starr, Robyn, Roska, Rye Rye, Sander Kleinenberg, Sasha, SBTRKT, Scala & Kolacny Bros., Scissor Sisters, She Wants Revenge, Shpongle, Skrillex, Sleigh Bells, Steve Angello, Sven Vath, Take, Tame Impala, Terror Danjah, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Aquabats, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, The Drums, The Felice Brothers, The Henry Clay People, The Joy Formidable, The Kills, The London Suede, The Love Language, The Morning Benders, The National, The New Pornographers, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Presets, The Radio Dept., The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Strokes, The Swell Season, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Twelves, Thunderball, Tinie Tempah, Titus Andronicus, Tokimonsta, Trampled by Turtles, Trentemoller, Twin Shadow, Two Door Cinema Club, Warpaint, Wire, Wiz Khalifa, Yacht, Yelle and Zed Bias.

Three-day weekend passes, along with camping passes, go on sale Friday, January 21, at 10:00 AM (PT) through Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, and at www.coachella.com.

LINKS
Coachella 2010
Coachella 2009
Coachella 2008 review
Coachella 2007 review

Every time Michael Vick gets hit,an angel dog earns its wings...

I believe that Michael Vick deserves a second chance in life, I just don't believe that he deserves a second chance to play in the National Football League.

He facilitated and expedited the rape of dogs, where females were bound to poles so that they could be forcefully and violently impregnated. The puppies were then raised and trained to be fighters and killers, neglected to sharpen their survival instincts, and tortured to instill a horrifying sense of fear and tolerance of pain.

Then the dogs were pitted against each other for Michael Vick and his crew's sadistic pleasure and gambling enjoyment.

If the losing dogs were lucky, they'd be killed in cold blood.

The dogs that weren't killed, were left alive to be tortured and abused more, only to fight another day.

This wasn't a momentary lapse in judgment on Michael Vick's part, and it wasn't an accident. It was premeditated, callously calculated, and carried out with painstaking attention to every heinous detail.

Over, and over, and over again.

This isn't about what Michael Vick allegedly did, this is about what he confessed to doing. There's no grey area in what may or may not have happened - it happened, and he's not denying a single bit of it.

According to a court of law, he served his legal debt to society. But what about his moral debt to society? The debt that can't be paid off by a donation to the Humane Society, or by visiting a handful of inner-city schools and trying to explain why what he did was wrong, despite the fact that he still makes excuses for his behavior.

Because, in the end, it didn't matter that what he did was wrong - when the time came to be held accountable for deciding to embrace being a thug instead of a professional athlete and role model, the Philadelphia Eagles welcomed him back with opened arms.

And when that opportunity turned into one of the most remarkable physical comebacks in the history of professional sports, Barack Obama - the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, and the man that hung his election on a mantra of hope - called the Eagles' owner to commend the team for giving Michael Vick a second chance.

Because everybody deserves a second chance.

Bullshit.

Michael Vick has been coddled since the day his opportunistic handlers realized he was a goldmine of athletic potential.

Money. Gifts. Attention. Excuses.

All in abundance. All without accountability.

He received a scholarship to Virginia Tech, and every opportunity in the world to advance his lot in life. To improve the world of those around him. And to be an example for others to emulate.

Instead, he chose to remain a thug. A thug who could tuck a football under his arm and run - a thug with carte blanche to take his miscreant ways off the street, and behind closed doors.

Should Michael Vick get a second chance? Of course he should - in life. Not in the National Football League.

America is a country in crisis, and our youth need role models to emulate, not a path of excuses defined by moral cop-outs.

Michael Vick was given every opportunity to rise above the culture he claims dictated his behavior and handling of dogs. Yet he chose to defy those opportunities, and mock the establishment that presented him with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cash in a golden ticket.

Let his second chance at success be outside the National Football League. Let him use the college education that he got for free... What? He didn't graduate? Maybe he should have thought of that before he entered the NFL following his sophomore year of college.

He strapped his entire future to a professional sport that, even in failure, could make him enough money to last a lifetime. Yet he respected that sport so little that he needed to raise, train, torture and kill dogs for personal fulfillment.

It doesn't matter how many schools he speaks to, the real message to those students is loud and clear - you can make a grave, calculated, callous and criminal mistake so heinous that the end result would make anyone with a conscience's stomach curdle, and as long as you can blame your upbringing, even the President of the United States will have your back.

America needs to stop making excuses, and America needs to stop accepting excuses.

America needs to stand for something, or we'll fall for anything.

And right now, we're falling hard.

I've boycotted the Philadelphia Eagles all season long, refusing to watch or support any team that would give an opportunity to a man that epitomizes everything I think is wrong with America today.

I have also boycotted Nike since they announced that they would again endorse Michael Vick. If Nike choose to make him a face of their company, Nike are making a bold statement that they don't want me buying their clothing.

I am breaking my Philadelphia Eagles boycott to watch my Green Bay Packers make the trip to the City of Brotherly Thugs for the opening round of the playoffs.

Not because I want to watch Michael Vick, but because I want to watch the Green Bay Packers - a team I grew to love as a college student in Milwaukee, where they played half their home games. And a team I learned to love even more when I covered them for the Associated Press in the mid-'90s.

Make no mistake, the game is about more than football for me - it is a battle for control of America's moral compass. A compass that may be cracked, but a compass that can still be repaired.

I am not, and will not, end my boycott of Nike.

We need to stand for something, or we'll fall for anything.

And America needs to stop falling.

Humanely raised and handled... then killed

I love meat. A lot.

You know what makes meat even better? More meat. What isn't better with bacon?

Meat is so good, they make fake meat for people who choose not to eat meat. I call it the comedy section at the grocery store - the part of the refrigerated/frozen food aisle where they have the chicken-flavored tofu, so that the people that are fundamentally opposed to eating meat, can still savor the taste of the thing they're opposed to eating, while they pretend to eat it.

If it bothers you so much to eat meat, shouldn't it bother you just as much to be reminded of eating meat while you're going out of your way to not eat meat? But I digress...

The Counter is a hamburger chain that's all the rage in Los Angeles, and they recently opened one a few blocks from our house. Knowing that I love me some bacon cheeseburger (the more animal products the better), my wife snapped up a Blackboard Eats discount they were running, and sent me a link to the menu that I copied above.

We've established that I don't have a problem eating meat, right? Even so, I had to laugh at the box boasting "Humanely Raised + Handled" Angus Beef.

That's right the beef at The Counter is HUMANELY raised and handled - then killed, for our eating pleasure.

After I take that first bite of medium-rare, humanely raised and handled, 100% Angus good eats, I'll let you know if I can taste the difference...

INVEST IN MUSIC A new year's resolution that pays dividends

(Published Dec. 27, 2010 by OurStage.com)


Standing on the Staples Center floor during Roger Waters’ first of five sold-out Southern California performances of The Wall this month, I marveled at how much music has changed since I first became a fan.

To call myself anything short of obsessive as a teenager would be an understatement – but I wasn’t alone, that was how music made a lot of us feel. It wasn’t enough to know everything about the bands we loved, we also wanted to know everything about the bands they loved. We wanted to know why they wore the shirts they wore, and who inspired the lyrics they wrote.

When Anthrax covered a Joe Jackson song, I had to go out and buy the album it was from. When Lars Ulrich talked about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, I needed to know the bands he was championing. And when I discovered industrial music, I needed to also discover early innovators like Einstürzende Neubauten.

It was my responsibility as a fan, and I took that responsibility seriously. I went to record stores to find new music, read magazines to learn about inspiration and influence, and listened to the radio for news and information. The word fan is derived from the word fanatic for a reason – being a fan took effort, and our efforts were rewarded in kind.

Music wasn’t background noise then, it was the soundtrack to our lives. It meant something, because we needed it to mean something. Our favorite bands helped shape our identity, and that identity couldn’t be researched for free on the internet, bought for .99 on iTunes, and adorned for $19.99 at Hot Topic.

Today, there is no effort required...

(To continue reading, please click here to visit OurStage.com)

Merry Christmas!

SNL releases unaired Paul McCartney skit

Saturday Night Live has released an outtake from last weekend's show (12/14/10, view here) featuring musical guest Paul McCartney - the sketch features the Beatles frontman and guest host Paul Rudd in one of the night's more hilarious skits.

Download below, or click here to view at PaulMcCartney.com.

First Brett Favre, now the Metrodome...

If this doesn't sum up the Minnesota Vikings season, nothing will!

Remembering Dave Kirby

A week ago today, TKO [The Kirby Organization] founder and Chairman Dave Kirby lost his battle with prostate cancer. Dave was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2009 and, at that time, made the decision that he was going to devote the final months of his life to his wife and two teenage sons. Nobody outside his inner-most circle knew of his condition until he passed away Saturday in his Manhattan Beach home.

I first met Dave Kirby in New York in the mid-‘90s. I was Executive Editor of a rock magazine, and he was the agent for seemingly every band I covered. It was over our early and mutual belief in bands like Sevendust, Slipknot, Disturbed and Evanescence – bands whose careers he was instrumental in breaking – that we bonded over drinks at shows, standing in the back of venues like Roseland Ballroom, Coney Island High and Irving Plaza, comparing thoughts on the direction that heavy music was heading.

Dave viewed the road as not only the ultimate marketing tool, but also a key cog in the artist development wheel, and he was constantly applying that mindset to the bands on his roster, which now include Buckcherry, Anthrax, The Cult, Drowning Pool, Kittie, Hank III, Mudvayne and Motorhead. Over the years, I worked with him in several different capacities, from handling content for his website and press for his company, to even managing an act on his roster. Regardless of the project, Dave always had a vision.

Whether he was orchestrating packages for his largest clients, or plotting a road plan for an emerging artist, a meeting with Dave was like being in the midst of a chess game. It was actually an ongoing joke - if we had an 11am meeting, I could count on it being delayed until at least after lunch. Then I could expect to watch two CNN news cycles in his office while he seemed to take care of everything but our scheduled appointment.

If anyone else did that it would piss me off, but not Dave. The longer I'd sit in his office, the more I would learn - his people skills were epic. He could push buttons, then diffuse them a moment later. If it seemed like Dave was more interested in comparing Canadian and American politics, that's only because he was already two steps ahead of the meeting he was entertaining. And when there was a problem? Dave could mediate like no other.

As anyone that worked closely with Dave will attest, his greatest attribute was his loyalty. Once you earned Dave’s respect, you had it forever. And he always had your back. Was he outspoken? Of course he was. But like most successful businessmen, that became part of his charm. Dave Kirby defied the rules, abided by his instincts, and was beholden to nothing more than his gut.

And isn’t that what great music is all about? Great music, and great music executives. With the exception of maybe Sharon Osbourne, Dave did more for hard rock and heavy metal in the past fifteen years than anyone I can recall. And even OZZfest has Dave to thank - in 2001 alone, he represented eleven bands on the tour.

When I argued that we shouldn’t try and keep his cancer under wraps, suggesting that we should go public before rumors start to take on a life of their own, he just shook his head and said not to worry… And in typical Dave Kirby fashion, everything worked out. No, not for the best – we lost a great man to a crippling disease. But Dave Kirby had a plan, and he never strayed from it.

He died in his own bed, in the arms of his wife and the glow of his sons. He went out with dignity and pride, and he didn’t stress his friends and colleagues over worrying about how to act or how to feel. He didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him, he just wanted to cherish the time he had left with the people he loved most.

He left this life like he lived life – on his own terms. And in the end, just like the careers of the countless bands he launched, his plan was an unmitigated success. Right down to putting a team in place that he knew would not only carry TKO into the future, but also further his legacy of developing artists on the road and in front of fans, where their music means the most.

Dave believed that a major problem with today’s music industry is that too many people can’t see the proverbial forest through the trees. He knew that to have a forest, first you needed to grow the trees – and the stronger the trees, the stronger the forest.

If everyone in this business worried as much as Dave did about growing strong trees, I can only imagine how much stronger this industry would be…

Rest in peace, Dave, you’ve earned it!

DaveKirby.1000memories.com

LINKS:
TKO on Twitter
TKO on Tumblr
TKO on Facebook
Paul Gargano on Twitter

METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH & ANTHRAX...The Big 4 - live in our living rooms!

On November 2, The Big 4 are delivering the big score... Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax - live in our living rooms!

America may have felt jilted when the titans teamed-up for seven shows overseas this summer, but we got a fistful of the metal when they broadcast the Sofia, Bulgaria show as a one-off in cinemas nationwide. Now - in what might be the longest commercial trailer of all time - that cinematic release is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray.

The November 2 release of The Big 4: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria will feature full sets from all four bands, as well as behind-the-scenes and interview footage. There will also be a "super deluxe" box set that includes the 2-DVDs, as well as five audio CDs of the show, a 24-page booklet, a poster, photos of each band and a Big 4 guitar pick.

Why do I call it the biggest commercial trailer of all time? Because I can't imagine Metallica not bringing this package to America sooner than later. Eminem and Jay-Z stole headlines when they teamed up for the biggest hip-hop shows of all time this summer - and The Big 4 will make them look like amateur hour.

Simply put, it's too big not to happen...

And to get us ready? Don't forget about the Jagermeister Music Tour, which kicks off tomorrow night in Dallas [click here for complete itinerary] and features Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax sharing North American stages for the first time in two decades!

LINKS:
Official Metallica website
Official Slayer website
Official Megadeth website
Official Anthrax website
Paul Gargano on Twitter