Billy Joel made a spontaneous three-song live appearance on Saturday (February 4th) at the Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show. The "Piano Man" wowed fans when he showed up on his motorcycle and jumped on stage to perform with the local band, the Whipping Post. Event organizer Clare Frost told The Miami Herald, "He walked through the crowd without people really knowing who he was and looked at the over 230 vintage bikes on display and talked to a few of our vendors and out of the blue, he walks up on stage and stood there facing the lead singer, Bob. Bob did a double take, and Billy asked him if he could jam with them."
Frost went on to say, "Only about 25 were around them at first but I guess with Facebook, about 100 more showed up, and when he got off the stage after about three songs, (none of his), he signed autographs and had pics taken. He then got about halfway across the field, got lost in the crowd, got on (his) bike and left."
Last August marked 18 years since Billy Joel released his last studio rock album, The River Of Dreams. During Joel's exile from rock, he composed the classical album Billy Joel: Fantasies & Delusions (Music for Solo Piano) and recorded one "pop" song, the big band-inspired gush fest "All My Life" which was released in 2007 and produced by Phil Ramone.
Phil Ramone feels that Billy's return to rock n' roll is bound to happen soon: "I think he's about to reach the age of 62, or something . . . I think he, versus, let's say, Elton (John) -- Elton did not wanna go through this ghost period of having, y'know, not having three Number One records, and the tours are successful and he tried, from my point of view, Billy tried his classical thing, which did what it was gonna do. And I've always challenged him and said, 'You don't have to risk and look back.'"
DAVID LEE ROTH INTERVIEWS VAN HALEN BROTHERS IN NEW VIDEO
Van Halen has posted a video online in which lead singer David Lee Roth interviews guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen. The two brothers speak at length about their family background and how their Dutch father, Jan Van Halen, met their Indonesian mother, Eugenia, when he went to perform in Indonesia and ended up staying there for six years. The Van Halens also talk about their father's influence on their own musical careers. Van Halen's new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, arrived this past Tuesday (February 7th). Watch the clip below. (Henne Music)
Metallica announced on its website Tuesday morning (February 7th) the creation of the Orion Music + More festival, a new annual music, arts, and lifestyle festival founded and headlined by the band. The event will take place June 23rd and 24th at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Drummer Lars Ulrich said in a statement, "We've had the idea of doing our own lifestyle festival with lots of diverse music and fun and games for years. Finally this year all the practical ducks lined up in a row, and we are beyond psyched to bring Orion to our fans, friends and the curious."
Metallica has long been a staple of the European festival circuit and Ulrich told us a while back why he enjoyed those events so much and was glad to see them catching on in the U.S.: "To me it's about the sense of community and it's about shared experiences and about variety, and those European festivals have been thriving on that for decades. And I think it's awesome that that's starting to happen now with, you know, Bonnaroo and Coachella and the whole festival thing in America is just starting to, like, sort of pop a little more."
Orion Music + More will feature multiple live music stages plus a lifestyle element that reflects the personal interests of each member of Metallica.
The band will headline both nights, playing 1991's self-titled "black album" in its entirety one night and 1984's Ride The Lightning the other. This will be the only time the band will perform these albums in North America in 2012.
Unlike last year's "Big Four" shows, the rest of the lineup will not be just metal, with acts like Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Cage The Elephant, Best Coast, Gary Clark Jr., Lucero, Roky Erickson, The Sword and others either already on board or being confirmed in the coming weeks.
A pre-sale for Metallica fan club members begins on Wednesday (February 8th) at 10:00 a.m. ET, with the public sale starting on Saturday (February 11th).
PAUL McCARTNEY TO HEADLINE QUEEN ELIZABETH'S DIAMOND JUBILEE CONCERT
Paul McCartney has signed on to headline Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Concert on June 4th at London's Buckingham Palace, celebrating her 60 years on the throne. Among the other high profile performers will be Elton John, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Annie Lennox, Jools Holland, Madness, Cliff Richard, and others. Back in 2002, McCartney headlined the Queen's Golden Jubilee Concert -- also held at Buckingham Palace. The Diamond Jubilee Concert will be aired live on BBC TV and Radio with exclusive highlights being shown in the U.S. the next night (June 5th) on ABC-TV.
McCartney admits that not all of the songs on his new standards set, Kisses On The Bottom, were childhood favorites of his: "I actually learned a few that I didn't know, that I fell in love with, because somebody just said, 'What about that one?' -- My new favorite song! And the other thing is, we did try and avoid the most popular ones but, if everyone's done it . . . so we tried to stay off-piste."
RUMOR: OZZY OSBOURNE DRUMMER NOW PLAYING WITH BLACK SABBATH
A source has told MetalTalk.net that the three remaining original members of Black Sabbath have recruited Tommy Clufetos, who plays drums in singer Ozzy Osbourne's solo band, to sit behind the Sabbath kit for the foreseeable future. The source added that manager Sharon Osbourne has effectively "fired" founding drummer Bill Ward, who announced last week that he could not participate in the recording sessions or tour plans due to his unhappiness with the contract he was offered.
Ozzy, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler responded to Ward's February 2nd statement by saying, "We have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open."
The absence of Ward effectively prevents this from being the full-blown regrouping of the original Sabbath lineup that was first envisioned last year.
Ward said in his statement that he could not participate in the reunion, which was announced last November, unless presented with what he described as a "fair agreement" and a "signable contract" that financially reflected his contributions to Sabbath's history and his standing as a founding member of the band.
The recording sessions for what was meant to be the original band's first new album in 33 years were recently moved to London so that Iommi, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, could be close to his doctors.
Sabbath is scheduled to release its new album later this year and is confirmed to play the U.K.'s Download Festival in June. All other tour plans, however, are up in the air pending Iommi's ability to overcome his illness.
WILL THE ROLLING STONES SHAKE THINGS UP FOR NEXT TOUR???
The rumors abound regarding the Rolling Stones' 2012 tour. Rolling Stone magazine included the yet-to-be announced trek in it's online "10 Greatest Hopes And Fears For 2012" list. In addition to commenting on the pros and cons on upcoming Van Halen, Beach Boys, and Bruce Springsteen tours, the magazine posted in it's "hopes" section that there are whispers that both former Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor may be a part of the tour.
In the "fears" portion, the editors posted: "The biggest fear is that (Mick) Jagger ultimately decides not to tour, or opts for a stadium bonanza barely distinguishable from the Stones' previous 10 trips around the globe. From everything we're hearing, however, that isn't the plan."
Mick Taylor quit the band after the sessions for 1974's It's Only Rock N' Roll, due to a growing drug habit and the lack of credit for songs he contributed to. Bill Wyman lasted until what's considered the dawn of the Stones' "modern era." Noted Stones historian Bill German explained the back story on Wyman's 1991 departure: "He does the Steel Wheels tour in 1989 in the U.S. and then that continues on to Europe, where they call it the Urban Jungle tour in 1990. And after that, Bill feels, 'Y'know, we've done it. That's it, this is as good as it possibly could get.' I think Bill wanted the Stones to all retire with him. And when they wouldn't, he realized he had to leave. But, he didn't wanna fly anymore, he really didn't wanna be part of the band anymore, he got tired of a lot of the politics in the business, y'know? And he just didn't wanna do it anymore!"
Yes have replaced their frontman for the past four years, Benoit David, with singer Jon Davison of prog rockers Glass Hammer. David, who replaced co-founder Jon Anderson following his own illness back in 2008, recorded one studio album with Yes, 2011's Fly From Here.
Co-founding bassist Chris Squire broke the news to Noise 11 after stories began circulating that Davison would only be filling in for David on the band's upcoming spring dates. He said, "Yes, he has officially left Yes. . . Jon Davison is coming in because of Benoit's departure. I always hope that when there is a member change in the band that it will be a permanent thing. Only time will tell really."
Squire went on to say, "People have left to go off to do various projects and solo projects over the years. Some like Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman have left and come back. In Rick's case, four times. It's always been a fairly flexible in and out door for some members of the band. At the last count, including Jon Davison, he is the 18th member of the band. It has never been personal problems. It's just things that happen at certain times."
He touched upon his relationship with ousted lead vocalist Jon Anderson: "We email each other. We have a cordial relationship. . . I have never closed the door on working with Jon again. He has left the band before and come back and left it again and come back. It is an unusual situation. We will work together in the future but right now we are promoting the Fly From Here album which is our first studio album in 10 years."
When we last caught up with Yes drummer Alan White, he told us that feels that having Jon Anderson temporarily join up with the band for special occasions isn't out of the question: "Let's put it this way; I've talked about it with Chris (Squire) a lot. If the opportunity presented itself in the near future -- it's not that we would get Benoit out of the picture at all -- it would be the fact that we would do a one-off show or shows, maybe three or four, or something like that with Jon back singing and probably Benoit, too. So it would be more that kind of situation if that came down." AUDIO: ALAN WHITE ON JON ANDERSON'S STATUS WITH YES
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