On Saturday night I took my sister out for the full rock and roll experience via one of the best tours of the summer – Journey with special guests Heart and Cheap Trick. This was her first time seeing Heart and Cheap Trick, and as she reminded me, she had seen Journey (with Steve Augeri […]
Category: Guitar Gods
What I’m Reading: Off The Rails: A Tribute to Randy Rhoads
This week, I got a copy of the “collector’s edition” of Rudy Sarzo’s (Dio, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, Yngwie Malmsteen) book Off The Rails – Aboard The Crazy Train in the Blizzard of Ozz. The book is billed as “a tribute to Randy Rhoads” and indeed, that is exactly what it is. So often, […]
Good Listening: Pearl Jam – Tivoli: Utrecht, Holland – 3/4/92
Seventeen years ago today, Pearl Jam released their debut album Ten. As of 2003, the album has been certified twelve times platinum in the United States, and remains the band’s best selling album. So you might find it hard to believe that the album wasn’t an immediate success, and took nearly a year to reach […]
A little bit of Dylan on a Saturday
Saw this on Eric Ambel’s Myspace blog:
Metallica unleashes the first official single from Death Magnetic….
Unless you’ve been under a rock today, you probably know that Metallica revealed “The Day That Never Comes,” the first new music from their new album, the Rick Rubin-produced Death Magnetic, which will be online and in stores on September 12th. Clocking in at nearly 8 minutes, the track is already inspiring debate on the […]
Setlist: Foreigner @ House of Blues 8-17-08
The inflatable jukebox is in storage, and the band that carries the name “Foreigner” is almost entirely made up of replacement players these days, except for founding guitarist Mick Jones. Still, Foreigner managed to serve up an enjoyable yet predictable performance on Sunday night at the House of Blues. Vocalist Kelly Hansen, an almost-dead ringer […]
Good Listening: Gov’t Mule and Dave Matthews Band
This is part two of promised posts to “rock your weekend.” I had to pull the Black Keys post that was up earlier offline (hopefully temporarily.) So we’ll skip ahead to the second planned post. It was practically Jam Band Week here in Cleveland – The Black Crowes were at the House of Blues for […]
Hell Freezes Over – The Mark Knopfler Edition
Welcome to August! As I was leaving the house this morning to head for rapid transit, I grabbed the latest issue of Rolling Stone (with The Jonas Brothers on the cover) off of my kitchen counter. My eyes did a double take scanning the cover when I saw the headline “Mark Knopfler’s Second Act.” Indeed, […]
Steve Lukather announces tour dates in support of his new solo CD Ever Changing Times
Toto guitarist Steve Lukather put out a great solo CD earlier this year called Ever Changing Times. And now the unthinkable has occurred: Steve is touring to support the disc, and inside the run of scheduled tour dates, are 13 U.S. shows! The U.S. shows begin with a date at Red Rocks opening for Jethro […]
The week in review – Mark Knopfler live in Dayton, OH, etc.
My fellow Vinyl friends, it is a good day here at the Vinyl Empire. If a tree falls… After nearly a month, the tree that fell in my back yard is being removed, no thanks to my neighbor (whose yard this tree was formerly in.) After he went AWOL, I decided to pursue my original […]