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ROCK Bands
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Rock Road Trips
This spring/summer season of tours and new releases is shaping up to be a pretty hot one for me and all my classic rock
loving pals.
How's this for a touring trio? Journey, Heart, Cheap Trick. Between July and September, this high octane grouping will be playing outside a lot. Some 42 amphitheater dates are booked
in all parts of the US. The tour comes (not coincidentally, you can be sure) as Journey releases (June 3) a two-CD, one-DVD
package of new songs, new versions of old songs, and a live concert video. Revelation will be an only-at-Wal-Mart
release.
Styx and Def Leppard will be joined by REO Speedwagon for another triple. Side notes: Def Leppard's Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is scheduled for release April 29, and
Styx will make a side trip to appear with Boston on July 1 at the Universal City Walk in California.
The Allman Brothers Band's annual concert series at New York City's Beacon Theatre (May 5-24) is on hold. Gregg Allman
has been undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C, and although the treatments were successful, Allman is still recovering from
them. The band and the Beacon promise that the canceled shows will be rescheduled.
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The Beatles
It never ceases to amaze me that almost 40 years after they broke up, The Beatles still make news on a regular basis.
You may remember that I wrote (somewhat skeptically) a few weeks ago about an attempt to release a DVD purporting to contain Ringo Starr's first performance as a Beatle, in 1962 in Hamburg, Germany. Looks like the skepticism was well founded. Apple Corps Ltd.,
official overseer of The Beatles legacy, has filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the distribution of that footage. Wanna bet
who'll win this one?
More than a few people have been referred to as the "fifth Beatle" at one time or another -- producer George Martin, keyboardist
Billy Preston, manager Brian Epstein, to name a few. For my money, if anyone ever earned the title it would be Neil Aspinall,
who started as road manager and worked his way up to CEO of Apple Corps, a position he held until last April. Aspinall died
this week of lung cancer at the age of 67.
Finally, with their enshrinement in a Liverpool train station topiary, The Beatles can truly say that all you need is shrubs.
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Rock & Pop Master
What would you get if you put Orleans together with Rick Derringer (McCoys, Johnny Winter), Felix Cavaliere (Young Rascals),
Alex Ligertwood (Santana), Jimi Jamison (Survivor) and Ronnie Hammond (Atlanta Rhythm Section) on the same stage at the same
time? Dream band? Supergroup?
Well, for a lot of us, all of the above, but it's actually a very real group known as RPM (Rock and Pop Masters) who are
helping keep classic rock alive by performing it regularly for audiences made up of three generations of appreciative fans.
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