We're sick and tired of girls getting up there with dancers and karaoke tapes in back of them," Simmons told the crowd at the press conference, reports Billboard.com. "No fake bull***t. Leave that to the Rihanna, Shmianna and anyone who ends their name with an 'A.'"

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is an album from a long, long time ago, when the world was different. This is an album that is part of my history - it goes back to the wee hills of Scotland where it was formed. It's an album called RAM. It reminds me of my hippie days and the free attitude with which was created. I hope you're going to like it, because I do!" Paul McCartney, 2012

Kiss & Motley Crue Attack Rihanna



The ironic thing of course is that although Kiss was a fantastically commercially successful band in their heyday they were not widely considered then or now to be excellent or frankly even good musicians. They were known for exalting the stage show above any other consideration. Simmons in particular was known to be a greedy SOB who cared much more about the dollar signs and bs stage performances than anything having to do with music. In short KISS was EXACTLY what they are accusing Rihanna of being.

And that goes DOUBLE for Motley Crue who really were the 80's equivalent of the Jackson Five, The Partridge Family, Peter Frampton, etc-something safe and musically lame but that was loved by teen girls and sold bazillions of records because of that. No one talks about the musical honesty of Motley Crue or what skilled musicians they were. People talk about the various groupies they had, what they looked like in their tight pants and long hair, and their copious consumption of drugs and alcohol. They were EXACTLY the sort of "hair band" that was mocked by the 90's grunge movement.

I am not a Rihanna fan. I don't like or dislike her music. It's just not my thing.

But this idea that it's not "real" music unless you're playing a guitar thru an overdriven amp is silly. There is an jealousy that you see in a lot of rock bands. On the one hand they claim to be of greater musical integrity as compared to pop/dance. But on the other they are insanely jealous of the fact that dance-pop is what is in right now. Jazz, blues, classical musicians and others could make the same claims of musical fraudulence about rock in general and KISS/Motley Crue in particular that Simmons makes about Rihanna. A wealthy senior citizen wearing makeup, high heels and spitting fire/fake blood is going to criticize the musical integrity of a singer? Right...........

Lastly, anyone with the mellifluous name of Chaim Witz certainly has no business making fun of other's names.

George Harrison fans have also been exposed to a number of unreleased demo tracks over the years through unofficial releases. Some of those demos, along with other rarities, will see a U.S. release on May 1 with the release of Early Takes Vol. 1, a set of ten songs featured in Martin Scorcese's October 2011 George Harrison documentary.

Here’s the track listing for ‘Early Takes’:

1. My Sweet Lord (demo)
2. Run Of The Mill (demo)
3. I’d Have You Any Time (early take)
4. Mama You’ve Been On My Mind (demo)
5. Let It Be Me (demo)
6. Woman Don’t You Cry For Me (early take)
7. Awaiting On You All (early take)
8. Behind That Locked Door (demo)
9. All Things Must Pass (demo)
10. The Light That Has Lighted The World (demo)

I enjoy some of the insignificant tidbits I hear when I listen to the morning radio show. For instance, here is their list of top songs about "Money." I'm good with the top two, Pink Floyd & Dire Straits, and most of the others, but they forgot the Beatles "Money"(That's What I Want).

Electronic Dance Concerts Turn Up Volume, Tempting Investors
By BEN SISARIO
One Friday afternoon last month, 60,000 tickets at $100 and up went on sale for a major music festival at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., before the headliners had even been announced.

It sold out in three hours.

The festival with the fervent following was the Electric Daisy Carnival, a two-day event next month dedicated to the concert industry’s new favorite genre: electronic dance music. Long considered a marginal part of the music business that subsisted in clubs and semi-legal warehouse raves, dance has now moved squarely into the mainstream, with a growing circuit of festivals and profit margins that are attracting Wall Street.

For an industry increasingly reliant on aging headliners — like Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and the Rolling Stones — the appeal of a genre with fresh stars and a huge young audience is undeniable.

“If you’re 15 to 25 years old now, this is your rock ‘n’ roll,” said Michael Rapino, the chief executive of Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter.

Two weeks ago, 165,000 fans went to the Ultra Music Festival in Miami to revel in the pulsating bass and wave glow sticks in the dark. Similar numbers have turned out for events in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Dallas. With the boom, artist fees have exploded. Top D.J.’s like Deadmau5, Tiësto and Afrojack can earn well over $1 million for a festival appearance and $10 million for a Las Vegas nightclub residency, talent agents say.

Having developed on the margins, electronic dance music — high-energy waves of mechanized sound that, at its best, creates a communal experience for a sea of strangers — is dominated by a network of independent promoters.

They include Insomniac, which presents Electric Daisy Carnival; Hard Events, another nationwide promoter; Ultra, whose namesake festival in Miami has expanded to Brazil, Argentina and Poland; and Made Event, behind the Electric Zoo festival in New York.

Their success has attracted a clutch of potential investors from inside and outside the music world. The insiders include Live Nation and A.E.G. Live, the two biggest corporate promoters.

The outsiders include Ron Burkle, the supermarket magnate who made an unsuccessful bid last year for the Warner Music Group, and the media mogul Robert F. X. Sillerman, according to people involved in investment talks who declined to be identified discussing private agreements.

Mr. Sillerman — who transformed the concert industry in the 1990s by consolidating regional rock promoters into what is now Live Nation — declined to comment for this article, as did a representative of Mr. Burkle....

A new Springsteen album was already in the pipeline when Clemons died, and "Wrecking Ball" was released last month amid a flurry of appearances: a performance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, (where Springsteen gave the keynote speech); a soul-drenched Sirius XM-sponsored broadcast at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, N.Y.; and now a tour the E Street Band launched with almost no rehearsal. They stop tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

"There were a lot of discussions about what to do because of the loss of Clarence," says E Street Band guitarist "Little" Steven Van Zandt, of the pre-tour meetings.

"I think we made a lot of good decisions. Don't replace the irreplaceable. You're going to find people to play the (musical) parts of Clarence and Danny, but you're not going to replace them. And you don't want to put pressure on someone standing in that spot. So we have a five-piece horn section with two sax players who take turns playing Clarence's parts..."

This weekend we have the Master's golf tournament down in Augusta, Georgia. But a Grantland (ESPN associated website) article covers the town's other claim to fame: it's famous native son who grew up in a whorehouse, lived a brief young life of petty crime, and escaped Augusta to become the Godfather of Soul

James Brown's Augusta

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7783231/james-brown-other-side-masters

Axl Rose: I Will NOT Attend Rock and Roll HOF Induction

Axl Rose has shot down the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ... claiming he REFUSES to attend the Guns N' Roses induction ceremony on April 14 ... as long as his old bandmates plan to attend.

Rose just fired off a strongly worded letter to the Hall ... saying, "I won't be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N' Roses."

He adds, "I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf."

"Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of "Guns N' Roses."

Axl also notes he's aware that certain former GNR members have taken "jabs" at him recently ... and he doesn't want to appear anywhere he is "not wanted or respected."

"In regard to a reunion of any kind of either the Appetite or Illusion lineups, I've publicly made myself more than clear. Nothing's changed."

The diss won't be news to Slash ... who recently told Rolling Stone, "[Axl] hates my guts ... It's over a lot of different stuff; I don't even know. There's just no communication between us."

source: TMZ