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Alex Van Halen to His Late Brother Eddie: “See You on the Other Side”
Alex and Eddie Van Halen, via Warner Bros. Records Alex Van Halen has acknowledged the passing of his bandmate and brother, Eddie Van Halen, with a brief statement to media outlets. The drummer also shared a charming photo of the two of them as children. In keeping with the short tributes that have already been posted by Eddie’s other Van Halen bandmates, Alex simply wrote, “Hey Ed. Love you. See you on the other side. Your brother, Al.” The heartwarming photo depicts Alex standing up in overalls while a toddler-aged Eddie sits on a rocking horse and plays a toy drum. Thus far, there has not been an official band statement regarding Eddie’s death, but Alex’s message follows social media tributes from recent and former Van Halen members David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Gary Che...
Jeff Bridges on How His New Line of Eco-Friendly Guitars Abide by the Environment
When you’re buying a coffee table for your home or building a shed in the backyard, do you ever stop to think about where that wood came from? What about when you buy a guitar? Well, at Breedlove Guitars in Bend, Oregon, they are doing more than just creating environmentally friendly instruments; they are facilitating a new way of thinking. According to Breedlove, “owner Tom Bedell has traveled to each forest in Suriname, the Republic of Congo, and the Swiss Alps to verify individual harvest, chain of custody, and sound ecological practices.” Though what this company does is outside the norm, all it takes are the actions of one to create a chain reaction and potentially spark a huge wave of change. No one understands this concept more than Jeff Bridges. We all know the prolific actor for h...
Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten Says He’s Voting for Trump in 2020 Election
John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, photo by Amanda Koellner In case his T-shirt didn’t give it away, former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten, a.k.a. John Lydon, will support Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential election. In a wide-ranging interview with The Observer, Lydon said he’d “be daft as a brush not to” support Trump, adding, “He’s the only sensible choice now that [Joe] Biden is up – he’s incapable of being the man at the helm.” He cited Trump’s handling as the economy, and said he also sympathizes with Trump over being labeled as a racist. “I’ve been accused of the very same thing, so I’m offended for anybody who’s called that.” (In 2008, Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke accused Lydon of an “unprovoked racist attack” that resulted in Okereke suffering severe fac...
Pearl Jam to Celebrate 30th Anniversary of First Concert with Archival Performance of Ten
October 22nd, 1990 marks the 30th anniversary of Pearl Jam’s first-ever concert. To commemorate the occasion, the band will unlock another legendary performance from their vault and stream it live online for the first time. A full recording of Pearl Jam’s April 29th, 2016 concert in Philadelphia, newly mixed in stereo and 5.1 digital surround sound and featuring full-color HD footage, will be available to stream on Nugs.tv from October 22nd to 25th. The 32-song, three-hour performance opened with a full performance of PJ’s debut album, Ten, and also touted rare performances of “Breakerfall” and “Who You Are”. The two-song encore was packed with a number of covers, including Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”, Neil Young’s “Throw Your Hatred Down”, Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer”, and The Who’s “Ba...
Fiona Apple Live-Debuted Three Fetch the Bolt Cutters Songs at the New Yorker Festival
When Fiona Apple released her masterful new album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, in April the world had already gone into lockdown. She wasn’t able to bring those powerful songs to life on tour, and didn’t opt for livestreaming like many other artists chose to do this year. However, the singer-songwriter agreed to perform at the New Yorker’s virtual festival over the weekend, where she finally live-debuted three songs from the record: “I Want You to Love Me”, “Shameika” and the title track. The event marked Apple’s first live performance in three years. In addition to the set, Apple also chatted with New Yorker writer Emily Nussbaum, who penned a fantastic profile about her ahead of the album’s release. Watch her performance and see clips from the interview below. [embed...
Pearl Jam Release ‘Get It Back’ on Streaming Platforms: Listen
A couple weeks, dozens of artists donated previously unreleased songs to Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy Volume 2 — a compilation curated to raise money for Voting Rights Lab that was only available for 24 hours via Bandcamp. On Sunday, Pearl Jam surprised fans by releasing its contribution — a new track called “Get It Back” — on streaming platforms. Though the band hasn’t revealed when the song was recorded, it’s presumed to be part of the Gigaton sessions. The second volume of Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy came after its predecessor successfully raised $250,000 for Fair Fight and Color of Change. Listen to “Get It Back” below. [embedded content] Pearl Jam has had a busy weekend. Yesterday, the band announc...
TALAS Singer PHIL NARO Is Battling Tongue Cancer
TALAS singer Phil Naro has revealed that he is battling tongue cancer. The 62-year-old musician told iHeartRadio.ca that his cancer returned in the fall of 2019, six years after he had a tumor removed from his neck. “I’m doing 33 rounds of radiation and two rounds of chemo and 33 rounds of laser therapy,” he said. Several months ago, Naro reunited with bassist Billy Sheehan to record a new TALAS album, which is tentatively due in 2021. “I managed to finish recording before I started my treatments,” he said. “It was painful at times to sing, but I managed to finish.” A GoFundMe campaign has been launched “to help reduce some of this burden away from Phil during this incredibly arduous journey.” At presstime, nearly $19,000 had been raise...
JACK WHITE Pays Tribute To EDDIE VAN HALEN On ‘Saturday Night Live’
Jack White paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen during his “Saturday Night Live” musical appearance. For a performance of his song “Lazaretto”, White used a cobalt blue model guitar designed by the legendary VAN HALEN axeman, who died on Tuesday (October 6) following a long battle with cancer. Hours before his appearance, White announced that he would be honoring Eddie, writing on social media: “I thought it could be a nice gesture for me to use this blue Eddie Van Halen model guitar for one of the songs tonight on SNL. The guitar was designed by Eddie (with a few customizations I had added). Eddie was very kind to me and saw to it that this guitar was made for me to my specs. I won’t even insult the man’s talent by trying to play one of his songs tonight. Th...
STRYPER’s MICHAEL SWEET: ‘No Musician Influenced Me As Much As EDDIE VAN HALEN’
STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet has paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen, saying no musician influenced him as much as the legendary VAN HALEN guitarist did. Sweet offered his comments on Friday (October 9) — three days after Eddie‘s death — while he was a guest on “The Logan Sekulow ReProgram”, hosted by Logan Sekulow, one of the sons of President Donald Trump‘s attorney Jay Sekulow. Sweet said (see video below): “I had many influences throughout my history, starting with Elvis [Presley] and CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, and moving into a number of other bands — BOSTON, of course — but no band, and no musician, influenced me as much as VAN HALEN and Eddie Van Halen. Something magical happened to me when I heard that VAN HALEN album. And I’m sure many people w...
MEGADETH’s DAVID ELLEFSON: There’s Definitely A Chemistry That Happens When DAVE MUSTAINE And I Play Together
In a new interview with Italy’s Poisoned Rock, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about his musical contributions to the band and the life changes that he went through during his time away from MEGADETH between 2002 and 2010. He said (see video below): “With MEGADETH, obviously, there were three records I did not perform on [2004’s ‘The System Has Failed’, 2007’s ‘United Abominations’ and 2009’s ‘Endgame’], and they sound like MEGADETH, ’cause, of course, it’s Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] — it’s him writing; it’s him singing; his guitar style is very defined. There’s definitely a chemistry that happens when Dave and I play together, and I think one that is identifiable to the point that t...
Jack White Performs ‘Lazaretto’ and ‘Ball and Biscuit’ on SNL
Jack White, who earlier in the day shared that he’d be playing a guitar designed by Eddie Van Halen, performed a pair of popular songs from his catalog on Saturday Night Live. With a White Stripes greatest hits collection on the way, White performed a stomping version of “Ball and Biscuit” that was interspliced with Beyonce’s “Don’t Hurt Yourself” and Blind Willie Johnson’s “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” a song about the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. White was a last-minute addition to the SNL itinerary, replacing Morgan Wallen. The rising country star was kicked off the show for violating COVID-19 protocol after footage surfaced of him partying, unmasked, at a University of Alabama football game last weekend. He was joined by bassist Dominic Davis and Daru Jones on drums. “My actions...
HBO Max Releases Trailer for West Wing Reunion Special: Watch
On October 15th, the cast of The West Wing reunites for a special one-off theatrical stage presentation airing exclusively on HBO Max. In anticipation, the first trailer has been unveiled, and I’m happy to report that my liberal heart just bursted into a thousand pieces. The special brings back together President Jed Barlet (Martin Sheen) and his loyal White House staff (Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, and Janel Moloney) for a reenactment of the Season 3 episode “Hartsfield’s Landing”. The episode — which sees Josh Lyman (Whitford) obsess over the voting results in a small New Hampshire town — is an apt choice given the reason for this reunion. The special serves as a voter awareness campaign benefiting Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote non-...
