More From KISS & Paul Stanley
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Is there a possibility for another KISS tour? Yes. How about a possibility for a new album form the knights? Paul says no.
Topic: Classic Rock
The Kiss Army may be able to pack its gear for a tour in the near future, but not an album. The group's Paul Stanley, preparing for the Oct. 24 release of his solo album "Live To Win" and an attendant tour, tells Billboard.com he's "sure there will be a [Kiss] tour at some point."

He even confirms that one of the ideas being discussed is a traveling version of the orchestral shows Kiss played in 2003 in Australia, which resulted in the "Kiss Symphony" CD and DVD releases.

"It's not out of the realm of possibility," says Stanley, who welcomed his second son, Colin, with wife Erin on Sept. 6. "Anything's possible, but we're far away from conforming or committing to something like that. I'll let you know when it's true."

New Kiss music is another matter, however. Stanley says as far as he's concerned, trying to make a new album in the shadow of Kiss' classic repertoire is, at the very least, a challenge. "The fact is, [fans] may tolerate the new songs, but it's the old ones you want to hear," he notes. "I think Jimmy Page and Robert Plant found that out. The [Rolling] Stones certainly know it. The Who certainly know it. So unless you're willing to go into the studio accepting that how your album will be received will never match your expectations, I'm not sure it's worth the effort."

What would it take to change his mind? Control, Stanley says. "I would consider doing it if I could do it the way I wanted to do it," he explains. "If 'Live to Win' was good for anything, it was me confirming how I believe I'd like music to sound that I'm a part of. To do another Kiss album, I would not be willing to compromise my point of view perhaps as much as I have in recent years."

But how would that go over with longtime Kiss partner Gene Simmons? "Well, y'know, you'll have to see if we go into the studio," replies Stanley -- who says he's not yet watched an episode of Simmons' new A&E reality show, "Gene Simmons Family Jewels."

Stanley takes a break from diaper duty to begin a 15-date solo tour on Oct. 21 in Atlanta.

Courtesy of www.billboard.com

Wolfmother Will Tour America
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Wolfmother, a blues/heavy metal oriented modern rock trio, returns with a US tour.
Topic: Modern
Aussie power trio, Wolfmother, will roll their unmistakable brew of tripped out rock across North America through November and December. The group will headline major cities from New York to San Francisco. These shows will see the band playing venues that are ten to twenty times larger than those they were playing in the same cities just seven months ago, capping an amazing year in which their self titled debut album has sold over 800,000 copies globally so far.

Wolfmother recently completed some arena dates in Europe opening for PearlJam. In Spain Eddie Vedder joined them onstage to add vocals to their epic "Minds Eye", Mike McCready jammed on "Woman". In Belgium frontwolf, Andrew Stockdale, sang with the headliners on a memorable encore of the Who's "Baba O'Riley" and Temple Of The Dog's "Hunger Strike". It was a trip.

Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, Wolfmother's new single, "Joker & The Thief" can currently be heard in trailers for the forthcoming movie "Jackass Number 2". Johnny Knoxville's notorious crew are also featured in the kinky video for the song that's currently generating loads of buzz both on and off line. Check it out via http://www.wolfmother.com

"Joker & The Thief" isn't the only Wolftune to be making waves right now. The band's first single -- "Woman" -- is featured in the latest version of the massively popular "Madden Football" game and the opening track from their album -- "Dimension" -- is the theme for comedian Dane Cook's HBO series. All this on the heels of a recent iPod campaign featuring the grooves of "Love Train".

But it's on the road where this band has really made its mark with acclaimed performances over the summer at festivals from Coachella through Lollapalooza. This current run of dates will continue through until the end of this month including appearances on Baltimore's V Festival and San Francisco's Download Festival. Their September 28 gig at the famous 3,400 capacity Hollywood Palladium sold out last month as have several other shows later this month ... hence the new November/December dates which were announced today.

To experience Wolfmother live during 2006 you need to be at the following venues on the following dates:

September
Wed 13 The Norva Theatre, Norfolk VA
Fri 15 House of Blues, Orlando FL
Sat 16 Jannus Landing, Saint Petersburg FL
Mon 18 Center Stage Atlanta (Earthlink Live), Atlanta GA ALREADY SOLD OUT
Tue 19 New Daisy Theatre, Memphis TN
Wed 20 Exit In, Nashville TN ALREADY SOLD OUT
Fri 22 Mr. Smalls Theatre, Pittsburgh PA ALREADY SOLD OUT
Sat 23 V Festival, Pimlico Racecourse, Baltimore MD
Thurs 28 Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles CA ALREADY SOLD OUT
Fri 29 Viejas -- Concerts in the Park, Alpine CA
Sat 30 Download Festival, Shorline Amphitheatre, Mountain View CA

November
Tue 21 Electric Factory, Philadelphia PA
Wed 22 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York NY
Fri 24 Majestic Theatre, Detroit MI
Sat 25 Riviera Theater, Chicago IL
Sun 26 Mississippi Nights, St Louis MO
Tue 28 Meridian, Houston TX
Wed 29 Gypsy Ballroom, Dallas TX

December
Sat 2 Roseland Theater, Portland OR
Sun 3 Moore Theatre, Seattle WA
Mon 4 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC
Thu 7 The Joint, Las Vegas NV
Fri 8 Marquee Theatre, Tempe AZ

Courtesy of www.prnewswire.com

The Original L.A. Guns & Guns n' Bullets Tour Announced
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: A ton of club dates have been announced for the L.A. Guns and Bulletboys joint tour this year.
Topic: Hair Metal

L.A. Guns Founding Members Reunite For 20th Anniversary Tour And Album!!!

Twenty years after their break up, the founding members of rock band L.A. Guns make a bold return to the stage to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band they started together in the mid 1980s.

Leader Tracii Guns initiated the long awaited reunion of the original members. Its been great jamming with the guys I started this journey with 20 years ago, says Guns of lead vocalist Paul Black and drummer Nickey Alexander. All the classics sound better than ever and well be performing them all as well as some surprises at these special shows!

Paul Black co-wrote the bands fan favorites from the first two records along with Tracii Guns, but left the band just as their deal was signed. Nickey Alexander played all the drum tracks on the classic self-titled record. The band released a CD called Black List earlier this year, which is a collection of previously unreleased recordings of L.A. Guns standards recorded by the original line up between 1985 and 1987. Black List is the only record available by the real L.A. Guns states Black. It was difficult to get out too. Our former label and management buried these original recordings and hid them a long time ago. In fact theyre still locked up in the vaults at Universal Records. That didnt stop Black List from being released though. Paul and Tracii assembled the record from the best versions of the songs they had saved on cassette tapes. Although its only out in limited supply, its being reviewed as the best L.A. Guns record to come out since the debut.

Why did the band break up? Polygram Records and our management had a problem with our singer Paul Black says Tracii. At that time he lived a reckless rock n roll lifestyle and they were afraid of him. Paul was an amazing front man, singer and a great songwriting partner but Polygram told us they needed to replace him or we would be dropped from the label. The band was never the same. Nickey left because we replaced Paul. Our label tore apart the band I loved. Ive been looking to find that same magical chemistry ever since and was never able to achieve that againuntil now.

Were writing together again too says Tracii. Its really exciting cause this is the line up that wrote the most successful songs. Were reclaiming our band and were gonna restore some respect to the name that has been continuously dragged through this mud by our replacements for the last few years.

Weve picked up where we left off and were finally gonna make the record our label wouldnt let us make twenty years ago Black explains. Weve got some great new material plus were gonna give fans some lost classics which made the band popular to begin with. There are so many songs we wrote which never made it to tape cause it was so expensive to record back then. I never forgot em though and were gonna bring em back.

A chip off the rock block, Jeremy Guns (bass) has been adopted into the band family as one of their own. This Gun is loaded with enthusiasm, inspiring Black to dub him the new engine. Upon announcing this project, Tracii, Paul, Nickey and Jeremy were immediately booked to play several special event shows. At the end of October they will be headlining a U.S. Guns & Bullets tour with The Bullet Boys. This weekend you can see the original L.A. Guns in their hometown of Los Angeles for the first time together in twenty years. Saturday September 16th they will appear at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana and audiences can catch them Sunday September 17th at The Key Club in Hollywood.

After two decades, L.A. Guns has undeniably come full circle. Its a return to their roots with a new twist. True to its original form, founding members promise the excitement of the music from their 80s heyday with an added element for an updated sound. Featuring original lead vocalist Paul Black, guitarist Tracii Guns, drummer Nickey Alexander and Jeremy Guns on bass, the band is back and better than ever.

Get ready to Rock N Roll!

Courtesy of www.tracii-guns.com

Just announced. Tracii Guns and Marq Torien Agree to tour together for the fall season.

Tracii Guns and the original LA Guns Join forces with the Bulletboys for the following tour schedule.

L.A GUNS AND BULLETBOYS TOUR

10/27/06 Famington, NM Big City Night Club
10/28/06 Aurora, CO Hubba's House of Rock
10/30/06 Lees Summit, MO Alley Catz Bar & Grille
10/31/06 Middleton, WI The Warehouse Stage
11/03/06 Warren, Mi The Ritz
11/17/06 Clifton, New Jersey Dingbatz
11/15/06 Washington, D.C. Rock N Roll Hotel
11/17/06 Oreland, PA Whiskey Dix
11/18/06 Springfield, VA Jaxx
11/22/06 St. Petersburg, Florida The Garage
11/26/06 Little Rock, AR Hall of Industry
12/08/06 Casper, Wyoming Eagles Lodge
12/09/06 Butte, Montana Butte Depot
12/11/06 Seattle, Wa Studio 7
12/13/06 Tacoma, WA The Factory

Join us for Marq Toriens Birthday bash at the Winchester In Cleveland Ohio on Friday the 22nd of Sept with a couple of surprise guests.

See ya there.

Courtesy of www.myspace.com/marqtorien

Songs Of Love
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Heres something that cheered me up a bit....
Topic: Misc.
Ashley Abernathy was 9 years old, suffering from leukemia and needed to be cheered up. She found her inspiration from the unlikeliest of places: a serenade from David Lee Roth.

The former Van Halen frontman recorded a song especially for Abernathy, giving the little girl the rock-star treatment in the heart-rending tune.

"Who deals the cards? Ashley Abernathy," Roth sang. "Who steals your heart? Ashley Abernathy. Ashley Abernathy makes you happy!!"

"It was just amazing, really cool, to think that a rock star would've recorded a song for me," said Ashley, who is now 15 and in high school in Gastonia, North Carolina. She has been in remission for almost five years.

The song was made by the Songs of Love Foundation, a Queens-based nonprofit that records personalized tunes for chronically or terminally ill children and young adults. This month, the foundation expects to reach a milestone by recording song No. 10,000.

The foundation plans to celebrate its achievements during a Black Eyed Peas concert on Sept. 8, when it will enlist assembled fans to sing tune No. 10,000. The song is for Saeed Boynes, 14, who has sickle cell anemia and is being treated at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the New York City's Bronx area.

The Songs of Love Foundation was founded in 1996 by John Beltzer, a musician and songwriter whose Queens apartment doubles as a recording studio.

Twelve years earlier, Beltzer's twin brother, Julio, committed suicide by jumping off the roof of an apartment building -- the final act of a monthslong struggle with depression and schizophrenia.

"When it first happened ... I thought I would have nightmares every night," John Beltzer said. "I do think about it a lot. It's still very surreal."

The traumatic episode -- Beltzer made it to the roof just moments after his brother jumped, and stood by him as he took his last breath -- is a pivotal part of the Songs of Love story. The foundation is named after a song Julio Beltzer wrote and recorded two months before he died, and his spirit is kept alive through his brother's work.

"I really believe that this was his gift," John Beltzer said. "The seed he planted, after a 12-year incubation period, that seed sprouted in January 1996."

He said the idea hit him with full force one day in January 1996 as he walked down a street in his neighborhood.

Soon, he was consumed with getting the group got off the ground.

"I felt completely empowered, just completely driven," Beltzer, 46, remembered. "There's no question about it -- just something took over. I became obsessed."

Songs of Love works with hospitals and families around the country to identify a person for whom the foundation can record a song.

The child or young adult's family completes a biographical information sheet, which they send back to the foundation. The group then commissions someone from its team of songwriters to craft a tune based on those details -- name, age, favorite hobbies -- and within 25 days, the song is recorded, transferred to a CD and shipped to the child.

The service is free for the song recipients, but songwriters are offered a $75 to $100 stipend per song to help cover the costs of writing, producing and recording. The group, which has 12 full- and part-time employees, gets its funding through individual and corporate donations or grants.

The melodies aren't meant as musical get-well cards, but, as Beltzer describes it, serve as "a constant reinforcement of their healthy selves."

Ashley Abernathy says her song still resonates with her to this day. In the song, Roth refers to the little girl's affinity for Beanie Babies and driving a golf cart with her family.

"I love listening to it," she said.

Such reactions remind Beltzer he is using his talents in the best way possible: to help others.

"Everybody can understand the language of love, and compassion and caring," he said. "When somebody helps somebody else, everybody feels the same. Everybody's going to feel good."

Courtesy of www.iht.com

Chinese Democracy: It's Soon
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: When Axl appeared on MTV's VMA's, nobody knew what would happen.
Topic: Hardcore
Axl, who introduced The Killers' debut performance of their new single, "When You Were Young," stated that Guns N' Roses will start a complete U.S. tour around October 24th. Watch John Norris' entire three-minute interview with Axl Rose at http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?name=special&id=1539535&vid=104872.

To see photos of Rose backstage at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards (courtesy of Wire Image) go to http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=GLS====208034&c4nvi=3&str=14648&styp=clbi&nbc1=1.

Guns N' Roses has lined up a number of U.S. dates in September, including an appearance at KROQ's Inland Invasion 2006 on September 23rd at the Hyundai Pavillion at Glen Helen in Devore, California.

Guns N' Roses' "Greatest Hits" collection, which was originally issued in March of 2004, was certified triple-platinum on April 11th, 2006 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for shipments in excess of three million copies. The CD sold almost 13,000 copies in the United States last week alone (week ending August 27), bringing the total number of copies sold since its release to 3.13 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

source: blabbermouth.net

Metal: A Headbangers Journey To Air On VH1
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Check out VH1 on either Saturday, September 9 at 9:00 p.m. EST or Sunday, September 10 at 1:00 a.m. EST.
Topic: Misc.
"Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", a brand-new documentary offering a guided tour through heavy metal's storied but largely ignored history, is one of eight new high-end feature-length programs that is included in VH1's documentary series "VH1 Rock Docs". Each of the documentaries will reveal an untold story in the history of rock and hip-hop music, combining never-before-seen footage with a unique and unconventional narrative approach. The documentaries will tell some of the most unique stories of artists and music from a wide range of genres, styles, and musical perspectives.

"Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" air times on VH1:

Saturday, September 9 at 9:00 p.m. EST
Sunday, September 10 at 1:00 a.m. EST

Making its television premiere on VH1, "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" follows 30-year old anthropologist Sam Dunn, who has decided to study the plight of a different culture, one he has been a part of since he was a 12-year old: the culture of heavy metal. Sam sets out on a global journey to find out why this music has been consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned and yet is loved so passionately by its millions of fans. Along the way, Sam explores metals' obsession with some of life's most provocative subjects — sexuality, religion, violence and death — and discovers some things about the culture that even he can't defend. Shot on location in the U.K., Germany, Norway, Canada and the U.S., this documentary is the first of its kind. It is both a defense of a long-misunderstood art form and a window for the outsider into the spectacle that is heavy metal.

You can watch the trailer, find more information about the release and read the directors' blog at www.metalhistory.com.

www.Blabbermouth.net

Brian May Vs. Myspace
Now Playing: Queen guitarist Brian May makes it clear that he does not like the website, Myspace.
World Entertainment News Network reports that Queen guitarist Brian May has threatened three
MySpace imposters with violence if they continue to impersonate him.

The veteran musician, whose official web site is
BrianMay.com, has also demanded the Brian May chatroom on the popular web site be closed down to prevent fans from being hoaxed.

"Right now I'm feeling more and more powerless, and depressed about the way the Internet is going," May posted on his real web site last Thursday. "It seems nothing is protectable anymore. The Internet seems to have made it easy for any git to pretend he is someone else."

"There are now three bogus MySpace 'blogs' pretending to be written by me...and I'm a peaceful person, but, frankly, I feel like going over there and applying a fist or two," he wrote.

"Just so you know, folks, once and for all, there IS NO Brian May page on MYSPACE...NOR WILL THERE EVER BE ONE...I am completely disgusted that the organizers of this site exert no sense of responsibility to check that people are who they say they are."

KISS Makeup
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: KISS' marketing continues... with makeup!
Topic: Hard Rock
According to a posting on KissOnline.com, KISS licensee Cinema Secrets will be releasing KISS makeup kits which are expected at retail outlets some time in early September. The retail price is estimated to be $14.99.

The first run will be released as shown at http://www.kissonline.com/news/images/makeupkits1.JPG, but the packaging is expected to change on the second run.

There are four makeup kits available — the Demon, the Starchild, the Spaceman and the Catman.

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

Poison Members Fight On-Stage
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: With the end of their tour less than a week away, Poison members Bret and Bobby fight it out at an Atlanta show.
Topic: Hair Metal
Atlanta's still burning...it was striking hot on stage the other night when Poison's show ended in a volatile fight...on stage.

Bassist Bobby Dall and singer Bret Michaels went at each other last Friday night (August 25) right before the encore, with Bret throwing his mic at Bobby, and Bobby retaliating by slamming his bass into Bret, injuring Bret's knee.

This is not the first physical incident between the band members. There have been many over the years, but this is the first onstage since the famous fistfight between Bret and C.C. at the MTV Video Awards in 1991, but that took place after the performance, not during.

Even though Poison's current release, The Best Of Poison: 20 Years Of Rock, has been on Billboard's Top 200 chart for more than 20 weeks (and is going full steam ahead to be certifield gold), and the concerts have attracted huge crowds all across the country, is this the end of Poison? Will the band break up after 20 years? Right now, it's day to day, as their intense summer tour is scheduled to end September 2.

Courtesy of www.myspace.com/poison