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John Mellencamp's son Spek wants his dad to quit smoking - so he made a little deal with his father. It's as simple as this: Spek has started up a dedicated "my dad John Mellencamp will quit smoking" Facebook page and John has agreed that once 1,000,000 have visited the page, he will quit smoking. I might be reading more into this than I should, but considering that "dad" didn't insist on some form of time limit, he just may be content to see this thing drag on as long as possible. (December 6, 2009) The inventor of the solid body electric guitar and for that matter, the underlaying sound of most rock 'n' roll, has died. Les Paul has passed away at age 94 following a bout of what a representative described as "severe pneumonia." Paul was highly renowned for both his artistic and technical mastery of guitar music. He was an early pioneer of recording studio techniques such as electronically produced echo and multi-tracking, which in the early days used magnetic tape running on reel-to-reel machines. As a musician, Paul had formed a duo with his wife Mary Ford, turning out several hits in the 1950's. After developing a six-string guitar body that allowed for superior tone-control and pickup placement, Paul partnered with the Gibson guitar company where his designs achieved unrivaled success and status over the years that followed. (August 13, 2009)

The recent on-stage fall of Aerosmith front man Stephen Tyler has resulted in the postponement and possible cancellation of the next show on their current tour, with some doubt being cast over succeeding shows proceeding as originally scheduled. Initial reports on the accidental fall during an August 5 show in Sturgis, South Dakota, held that Tyler's injuries were sufficiently minor that the tour's forthcoming schedule would not be affected. Unfortunately, the band's management has since informed promoters that today's August 7 stop in Winnipeg Manitoba would have to be postponed in light of a more thorough medical assessment of Tyler's condition. The 61 year old singer had been performing (rather ironically we think) Love In An Elevator to entertain the crowd during a sound system outage when he lost his footing and tumbled quasi-head-first downwards off a narrow cat-walk appendage to the main stage. The incident brought the show to a halt. Tyler, who has already undergone surgery on his foot and knee, had sustained visible head, neck and shoulder injuries. He was reportedly feeling some pain afterwards but remained in good spirits while being airlifted to hospital. (August 7,2009)
UPDATE: Aerosmith has announced that due to the extent of Tyler's injuries, the remainder of the band's summer tour has been postponed. The latest information is posted on the band's website.

Musician David Byrne, has some harsh words for U2 and it's lead singer Bono. The former Talking Heads vocalist is crying foul over the lavish size and scale of the legendary Irish band's current tour in light of Bono's high-profile urging for leaders of well-off nations to increase their financial stake in the war against third-world poverty. Byrne has posted on his website: "Those stadium shows may possibly be the most extravagant and expensive (production-wise) ever: $40 million to build the stage and, having done the math, we estimate 200 semi trucks crisscrossing Europe for the duration. "It could be professional envy speaking here, but it sure looks like, well, overkill, and just a wee bit out of balance given all the starving people in Africa and all." U2 had previously faced similar criticism over plans to corporately relocate outside of Ireland for the purpose of paying less in taxes. (August 2, 2009)

Procol Harum keybordist Matthew Fisher has been awarded a portion of the royalties the band has been receiving from the classic 1967 song A Whiter Shade of Pale. Although he had both composed and played the song's distinctive organ riff, Fisher's claims for a share of royalty payments have been cast in doubt by arguments from fellow band members Gary Brooker and Keith Reid that Fisher had signed away all his rights to the original recording. The award was part of a ruling handed down by the U.K's highest court which made references to how the riff contributed to the song's success and memorable attributes. (August 2, 2009)

Former Beatles manager and president of ABKCO Records Allen Klein has passed away at the age of 77. Although Klein was best known for his work with the Fab Four, he had also worked with the Rolling Stones and several other "British Invasion" artists. Klein's tenacious business instincts and dogged determination to secure the best deal possible for his clients set him apart from other pop music managers of the 1960's. He was particularly adept at negotiating music royalty deals with record labels. His tenacity often led to disagreement and strife within the bands he represented. Of the four Beatles members, only John Lennon fully supported the direction in which Klein was taking the band with Paul McCartney being starkly opposed - a situation that many to this day feel contributed to the group's eventual breakup. Contrary to his tough reputation, the side-burned Klein proved unsuccessful in securing The Beatles' ownership of their early song catalog. His death followed a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease. He is survived by his girlfriend, a former wife and children. (July 5, 2009)

Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. The legendary record producer remained expressionless and stared straight ahead as Los Angeles Superior court Larry Fidler handed down a term of 15 years to life for second degree murder with an additional four years for use of a gun in personal circumstances. Spector was also slapped with an order to pay various fees including $16,811 in expenses for Clarkson's funeral. Spector's attorney Doron Weinberg said there will be an appeal based on prosecution testimony the defense claims was admitted in error at the previous trial. Spector was led away to custody immediately after the court session concluded. (May 31, 2009)

Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Donald Evans has died of cancer. The 48 year old had been working, mostly on tour, with the band until being diagnosed with a relatively severe form of cancer in 2008. Evans was originally hired in 2001 following the death of former bassist Leon Wilkeson who had died in his sleep in a Florida hotel room. The band had recently suffered the death of it's original keyboardist Billy Powell last January. Evans, who was fondly dubbed "Ean" by the band, had died at his home in Columbus Miss. and is survived by his wife Eva and two daughters. Lynyrd Skynyrd has posted a message of condolence on their web site. (May 9, 2009)

Don Henley is taking legal action against U.S. Republican Senate candidate Charles DeVore. A lawsuit filed by Henley in Federal Court claims the DeVore campaign has used his songs Boys of Summer and All She Wants to do is Dance without authorization. The suit was brought about as a result of Henley's music being used in a pair of campaign videos with the original lyrics of "Dance" having been altered to attack one of Devore's political opponents. A message posted on DeVore's campaign site was starkly defensive regarding the suit, making reference to "Mr. Henley's liberal goon tactics." The suit names producer and renowned Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell who co-wrote Boys of Summer as a plaintiff. (April 18, 2009)

A second trial by jury in Los Angeles Superior court has found music producer Phil Spector guilty of murder in the 2003 shooting death of former actress Lana Clarkson. The shooting had taken place at Spector's large castle-like home and had originally resulted in a deadlocked 2007 murder trial. On the night of the shooting, Spector had earlier visited LA's House Of Blues night club. There he met Clarkson, who worked at the club as a hostess. She accepted Spector's invitation to visit him at his home for a late drink. After the club had closed, Spector's chauffeur drove Clarkson to Spector's home in suburban Alhambra. During the trial the chauffeur, testifying as a key prosecution witness, recalled that roughly three hours after Clarkson had entered the home, he heard a gunshot followed by Spector exiting with a gun in his hand, saying "I think I just killed somebody." The former actress was found dead in the home's foyer with a gunshot wound to her head. Spector's defence challenged the veracity of the chauffeur's recollections, arguing that Clarkson's wounds appeared to be self-inflicted, a contention they claimed was supported by multiple points of forensic police evidence. According to the prosecution, Spector had a well established past history of threatening people with guns during arguments. With five women testifying to that effect with different stories but eerily similar experiences, a common thread may have emerged that was sufficient to convince the jury of the 69 year old Phil Spector's guilt. (April 13, 2009)

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The reports and commentary on this page are based on reports from a variety of on-line and print media resources. In rare cases where direct quotes are used, the editor will endeavor to name the original source that reported the quote.

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