Scott Asheton, drummer for Detroit rock/punk band the Stooges, died Saturday. He was 64. Iggy Pop posted on his Facebook page Sunday that he’s “never heard anyone play the drums with more meaning than Scott Asheton. He was like my brother .”
Asheton was part of the Stooges when they formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Mich. His older brother, Ron, was the group’s guitarist, died in 2009. Scott suffered from undisclosed illnesses in 2011 and was unable to perform at summer music festivals in Europe with the Stooges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH6iDPhUjWs
Rob Nichols
VIDEO – Bruce Springsteen – "Human Touch" – Live in Australia
Bruce Springsteen just wrapped up a month-long residency-of-sorts in Australia, touring from west to east, and finishing up in Brisbane on February 26 with what is being called one of his greatest shows ever: a nearly four-hour long set that swerved away from the setlist after the first song, and included a live, in-sequence take on entire 1973 album The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle.
But here’s the hidden secret: it was a few nights before, on February 23 at a place called the Hope Estate Winery, that Bruce blew the doors off “Human Touch”, a forgotten, 1990’s non-E Street song that, in the middle of a winery, captured his – and the band’s – skills, all in high gear. Start with what is at the end: a long, impassioned, rising, killer guitar solo. The song, in slow-burn early, builds slowly. Mid-song, check out how he waits. And waits. And waits some more for the right moment to kick it in after resting on drummer Max Weinberg’s 1-2-3-4 cymbal ride. Here’s the YouTube clip. How the hell does he create a rock and roll gospel-like firestorm at nearly every show? Don’t know, but the audience is blessed.
read more about the Australian shows
VIDEO: "Highway to Hell" (Live) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Early candidate for out-of-leftfield, knock-it-out-of-the-park killer cover of 2014. Bruce and the band opened their show Saturday night in Perth, Australia (hometown on Bon Scott) with the AC/DC song.
VIDEO:" "Just Like Fire Would" – Bruce Springsteen and E St. Band
Of all the songs on Springsteen’s new High Hopes album, his cover of the song “Just Like Fire Would” by Australian punk rock band The Saints is nearest a throwback to the bar band day of the E Streeters. When other songs on the new album are either Tom Morello-fied or loop-filled or recast versions of songs the band has been rocking on stage for a few years, this one sounds like we want the band to sound. A musical home to come back to. Not always staying , but regularly visiting. What makes the mystique work for this one is the plucking of an obscure (for most) band and a song that sounds eerily like it could have been written by Bruce anyway.
Legendary Detroit rock band The Rockets release 4-song EP
When original guitarist Jim McCarty decided in 2011 to quit the legendary Detroit rock band The Rockets, the brief reunion seemed over. McCarty and drummer, songwriter and co-founder Johnny “Bee” Badanjek were members of Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels, and later formed The Rockets, a Midwest, heartland rock and roll band that could never quite hit the heights of a guy like Bob Seger. Cleveland has the Michael Stanley Band. Detroit had The Rockets
A few years ago, the two enlisted frontman Jim Edwards, and made a comeback. Live shows, but no albums. Until now. The great Gary Graff, a longtime Detroit area music writer does a terrific job telling the story of the new record. Worth a read. The first studio release in 30 years is a four song E.P. called Greetings From Detroit
They played a show on Saturday, Dec. 28, at the Fillmore Detroit, debuting the material.
New Mellencamp Album for 2014
The trifecta from the mid 80’s – Uh-Huh, Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee – forever cemented the John Mellencamp legacy. His heartland rock was both ubiquitous on the radio and was integral in opening the opportunity for the of heartfelt, energetic electric guitar and slamming snare roots rockers, alt-country-ers and Americana rockers like Uncle Tupelo, Del Fuegos, Georgia Satellites, BoDeans and Bottle Rockets to appear. If that was the ex-John Cougar’s entire legacy, it would still all be good. Real good.
Just as there was lesser material and albums preceding those three, he pushed on with another 20 years of releases, almost all of them good, not great, and only teasing with echoes of the old sound.
With this as background, the new Rolling Stone magazine has a multi-page story in the December 19 edition, and their website reveals in an interview with Mellencamp that he wants to play 100 North American shows in 2014 and is getting ready with a new album. Mellencamp sounds fired-up in the interview, recounting the recent occasion of waking up at 4:30am with a need to write a song.
It will apparently be T Bone Burnett producing, as he has for the previous two Mellencamp efforts. Expect nuanced and subtle instead of crack, boom, bam. Me? I need a little more of John’s crack, boom, bam.
Read website article
BONUS: Who was the guy on the iconic b/w cover shot of The Lonesome Jubilee at the bar? It was Woody Baker.
Read story here
VIDEO: Everything post-1987 was not necessarily below-average. There’s a lot of good music that just was not as anthemic and iconic as the previous records had been. It’s really hard for any artist to sustain a period of success like Mellencamp has done – both as a white-hot hitmaker for most of the 1980’s, and as a career songwriter/rocker. I’d bet the new album could be out sometime in the summer of 2014, and would love a guest shot from ex-guitarist Larry Crane, if anyone is asking.