Rock And Roll Fantasy On TV
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Be sure to check this one out...
Topic: Misc.
During the recent Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp which was held in New York City August 13 through August 17, both the NBC "Today" show and ABC's "World News Tonight" stopped by to do pieces on the Fantasy Camp experience. The ABC "World News" piece, which was filmed by Heather Nauert, will air sometime during the week of August 28, so be on the lookout for it. The NBC "Today" show piece will air on Monday, September 4, which is Labor Day.

TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider, ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick and guitarist Joe Satriani were among the legendary rock musicians and songwriters who taught and played with around 80 rock and roll fans over a five-day period in New York City as part of Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, where rock and roll dreams come true for fans who want to make their musical fantasies become reality.

ww.blabbermouth.net

Axl Rose, MTV Video Awards
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Axl W. Rose, the legendary GN'R frontman, will be present at MTV's 2006 Music Video Awards.
Topic: Misc.
Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose will present at the the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, which will be hosted by Jack Black and air live from New York's Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, August 31st at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Also scheduled to appear: Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Panic! At The Disco, T.I., The Killers, Ludacris with Pharrell, The All-American Rejects, The Raconteurs and Justin Timberlake.

Ian Gillan Writes Book
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: Former Deep Purple Frontman Writes His "One and Only" Book.
Topic: Misc.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - British singer and songwriter Ian Gillan, the frontman of the rock band Deep Purple, is trying his hand at a new form of writing -- a novel.

Gillan, 61, said he had already lined up a publisher for his novel, which is a political thriller titled "Wessex."

"This is my one and only novel. This really is a labor of love. It's the only idea I have ever had for a book which has inspired me to write it," Gillan told Reuters in an interview on Monday while on a solo tour on North America called "Smoke This!"

"But writing is a hobby. I write every day. One of my greatest pleasures is writing on my Web site." (http://www.gillan.com/)

Gillan said he expected the book would be controversial.

"A lot of wrong things have become the law and this affects people very deeply," he said. "This book is based on my own philosophies."

Gillan said he also signed a deal last week with a British company to remaster and re-release the five solo albums that he produced during the 1970s and 1980s. This should happen later this year.

His latest solo album, "Gillan's Inn," was released earlier this year to mark his 40-year career. Its title is consistent with the theme of "Gillan's Inn" being a roving pub band where others come out to jam with Gillan.

As part of this theme, Gillan launched an online contest in which people can record their own vocals and/or guitar for a new version of Deep Purple's song "Smoke On The Water" which was first released in 1972. The winner gets a trip to Las Vegas to perform with Gillan.

"Am I sick of that song? I have never been fed up with it," said Gillan. "When you get a song that has become public property we just become the backing group for the audience."

Courtesy of www.reuters.com

Interview With Carmine Appice
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: Blasting-Zone interviews session drummer Carmine Appice.
Topic: Misc.
Blasting-Zone.com recently spoke with legendary drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogert & Appice, Rod Stewart, King Kobra, Ozzy Osbourne, Blue Murder). Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: How did you become involved with Blue Murder?

Carmine: "I had my eye on Blue Murder because I really liked the way John Sykes played in Whitesnake and I loved the way Tony Franklin played in The Firm. When I heard they were getting a band together, they had Cozy Powell on drums. I was like, 'Man, Cozy is always getting these great gigs.' In the beginning of Cozy's career, he was like John Bonham, ya know? He told me I was his idol and he took a lot of my stuff and did it his own way. I was asked to join Rainbow originally, but couldn't do it, so they got Cozy and when I couldn't do the Jeff Beck thing, they got Cozy. After a while, I was like, 'What are you my professional replacement?' He played with a lot of great groups, ya know? So when I heard he was playing with Blue Murder, I got upset…but then I heard that he was out."

Blasting-Zone.com: Did you seek out the group or did they find you?

Carmine: "I went to London and hung out with my brother and Dio for four days and Chris Wells the writer is the guy who gave me the contact number for Blue Murder. I gave them a call and drove up to Blackpool, which is another little city on the beach. I met Tony first at the hotel and the next day, me him and John jammed and from the very first day it was magic. We were so tight… From that day on we said we were gonna do it, ya know?"

Blasting-Zone.com: I can remember being seriously bummed when you guys didn't come out with another record right away…

Carmine: "Well, you know that whole grunge thing came in… That band was wild because we were not set up for failure, okay? We were set up for that album to become a big, big album. We had John Kalodner, we had Geffen and we has the three of us. We had Bob Rock producing…we had everything, ya know? The only thing we didn't have was the manager. Lately, we've been talkin' about getting it together, but John is a very difficult guy to work with. He never knows what he wants to do, ya know?"

Blasting-Zone.com: Really? I never would have guessed…

Carmine: "Yes, unfortunately. I hooked John up with the manager that we have for Vanilla Fudge and Cactus so he could try to get some control in his life, but it didn't work out, ya know? The only way Blue Murder was gonna happen again in a big way was if he let this manager do a number on it… because he's great at doing it. He put The Cult together, The Doors…he put Vanilla Fudge back together. He's just really great at doing that stuff. …I was lookin' forward to it. Me, Tony and John played together last October. We jammed and the songs were ninety percent there, ya know? They wouldn't take a lot to get them to the point where we could take them out and do some shows. But John didn't want to get together to take a picture or anything. He's a weird dude…so right now, we're at a standstill with it."

Blasting-Zone.com: At what point were you involved with Ozzy? Was it before or after the recording of "Bark At The Moon"?

Carmine: "It was after the recording. I was actually involved with the mixing and the finishing of that album with Ozzy in New York for three weeks. I was supposed to be given a credit on the album and I guess I was on the first couple of hundred thousand units. They gave me an associate producer credit, but once I got fired, they took it off. But it was in my contract, so I had to sue and it was a big mess. …It's just sad. Look, I think Ozzy's a nice and wonderful guy. All I can say about Sharon is that she's ruthless, she's gotten Ozzy to an amazing point in his career. He's like General Motors now, ya know? …It's just an amazing this that she's done with him. He couldn't have done it without her, there's no doubt about it. She's fired people and screwed people, but she's done it all in the name of helping Ozzy have a great career. It's brilliant, actually, the way she masterminded it all. I give her credit where credit is due."

Read Cramine Appice's entire interview at http://www.blasting-zone.com/CarmineAppice1.htm.

Alice Cooper, Teen Center
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: Alice Cooper funs an Arizona teen center.
Topic: Misc.
PHOENIX - For all the envelope-pushing Alice Cooper has done as a shock rocker, he also knows the value of boundaries, especially for children.

"Kids love boundaries. We used to fight against them. But in all reality, what we really did want was to know where we could go. Of course, you always step over the line just a little bit to see what's going to happen," said the 58-year-old rocker, known for his ghoulish makeup and hits such as 1975's "Welcome to My Nightmare."

Cooper said his Christian, nonprofit Solid Rock Foundation has begun fundraising efforts for a 20,000-square-foot teen activity center to be called The Rock, to be built at Grand Canyon University in West Phoenix.

The $3 million center will feature a recording studio, indoor basketball courts, rock-climbing walls, coffeehouse, game room and concert hall. Construction is expected to begin next year.

"People don't lay in the sun in southwest Phoenix. There's lots of shootings going, there's lots of meth going on, there's lots of gangs," Cooper said. "In the middle of all that is a bunch of 12-, 13-, 14-year-old kids that can go one way or the other."

Officials for Grand Canyon University, a private college with a Christian focus, came to Cooper with the offer to build the youth center on the campus. Cooper has given scholarships to the school for more than five years.

"We're not going to beat them over the head with a Bible," Cooper said. "But we're certainly going to be available to tell them that that's available to them."

Cooper, who spends about seven months of the year at home in suburban Paradise Valley, said that when he walks off the stage, "I'm going back to Phoenix, play golf, work on Solid Rock, go shopping and do everything that a father and a husband's supposed to do."

"I watched all of my best friends -- Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon -- every one of them, die trying to live their image," he said.

"The one thing that my generation learned was `be a rock star when it's time to be a rock star.'"

Courtesy of www.ap.org

Dario Lorina: The New Big Guitarist
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Dario Lorina, age 16, just finished a tour with Warrant's Jani Lane.
Topic: Misc.
As I was going through all the 80's Glam sites today, I found an article on the 16 year-old Las Vegas guitarist Dario Lorina. Being very up-to-date on all guitarists passing through the industry, I had heard of him earlier this year when he had an audition to perform with Jani Lane, the ex-Warrant frontman. I later heard that he had set off on tour with Jani. Until now though, I did not know much about this 'prodigy'. When I saw an interview of him on glam-metal.com (see link below), I decided to research him and find out what this big fuss was all about. I had read comments earlier about him from major names like Nikki Sixx, Dana Strum, and the Nuge, but I just couldn't believe that a 16 year-old guitarist could claim all of his roots were in 80's metal (even though most of the best guitarists are from 80's metal bands).
I went on his site and first went to the video/audio list. I watched a solo of him, and was to say the least, amazed and awed. His styles are like that of Randy Rhoads (Quiet Riot & Ozzy), Yngwie Malmsteen, and Buckethead (Buckethead & GN'R). He had an almost neo-classical feel that can only be described as great, and by all means can be regarded as a 'shredder'. Now I had no doubt that he could've opened for bands like Dokken and have played with gods like Jani Lane.
Where can you find everything I've discussed? The interview with Dario can be found at glam-metal.com. His official website with audio/video clips can be found at cyruszain.com.

The image is from Dario Lorina's site. Dario with Jani. Only-Rock fans can expect a Band Page for Dario soon.

USA Poll "100 Greatest Rock Artists" gets very mixed feelings
Mood:  sad
Now Playing: Mixed Feelings about a USA Today poll.
Topic: Misc.
Top 20 greatest American rock bands of all time, according to the readers of USA Today:

01. PEARL JAM
02. AEROSMITH
03. VAN HALEN
04. THE EAGLES
05. JOURNEY
06. GUNS N' ROSES
07. THE GRATEFUL DEAD
08. QUEENSRŸCHE
09. THE DOORS
10. R.E.M.
11. THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND and FLEETWOOD MAC (tie)
12. METALLICA
13. KISS
14. THE RAMONES
15. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND and CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (tie)
16. DAVE MATTHEWS BAND and LYNYRD SKYNYRD (tie)
17. THE BEACH BOYS
18. NIRVANA
19. THE REPLACEMENTS
20. BON JOVI

I personally will not comment on this list (but I assure you the comments from visitors will speak for me). Comments from Blabbermouth.net visitors:

"COMMENT | Wel...
posted by : Chuva
7/6/2005 7:00:17 AM
The only thing I can respect about that list is... uhm... nothing? F**king Pearl Jam? WHAT? HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Bon Jovi are 1000 times better than f**king Pearl Jam... across the board. Better musically, bigger selling, better songs... just better, and they're 20? Man... I hate these lists... they all suck.

Well, at least Zepplin couldn't be on the list... thanks for that... cause I'm SICK of hearing about how "great" they are... f**k them."

"COMMENT |
posted by : znarf
7/6/2005 7:05:24 AM
According to this list the USA sucks in rock music."

"COMMENT | ..
posted by : Pod
7/6/2005 7:57:53 AM
the replacements? The Grateful Dead??? The Allman Bros??? The creedance clearwater revival???? Dave Matthews band????

this is up there with the rolling stone top 100 guitarists list as one of the worst polls in the history of music"

"COMMENT | PJ Haters
posted by : jamfan95
7/6/2005 1:23:26 PM
For those of you that don't agree with the list, I ask you this, have you seen any of these bands live? I don't know if I agree with Pearl Jam being #1 on the list, but they are certainly deserving of a top 5 spot, based on their live performances anyway."


"COMMENT | crap
posted by : Opeth Owns You All
7/6/2005 2:15:14 PM
1. crap
2. crap
3. crap
4. crap
5. crap
6. crap
7. crap
8. crap
9. crap
10. crap
11. crap and crap (tie)
12. crap
13. crap
14. crap
15. crap and crap (tie)
16. crap and crap (tie)
17. crap
18. crap
19. crap
20. crap"



"COMMENT | Fuck!
posted by : Loddiej
7/7/2005 6:38:20 AM
Guns N' Roses & Metallica are way to low!
F**k this!"

"COMMENT | OMG
posted by : Tooth & Nail
7/6/2005 7:59:33 AM
Peral Jam over Aerosmith, the Eagles and Journey? And Dave Matthews Band is right there with Lynyrd Skynyrd? Man, this list completely blows. If this list represents what you people from the states take pride in, you should be ashamed of yourselves."

Well, I think you get the picture. More bad comments than good, though, and I certainly agree with them. Until next time, keep on rocking (not with Nirf**ckingvana, please!).