It's time to shake off the gloves, grab the jersey, and have a good ol' fashioned brawl over the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees list!
Every year we preface this fight with the statement that music is an art that is IMPOSSIBLE to judge! It's something that means different things to different people. It's subjective, and therefor should not be 'voted on'.
Whew... Now that we've got that out of the way...
Let's judge shall we???
Here is the list of nominees for the Class of 2011. The inductees will be announced in December.
Kid Rock, Aaron Lewis and Finger Eleven also came into town for the big celebration, but they all left Boston after the party was over... but not Papa Roach!
They had the choice to spend the night in Boston, or travel to their next show a day early in Chicago! They chose to hang out in Beantown! So, I pulled some strings with the jocks down the hall, and got 4 tickets next to the Red Sox dugout at Fenway. I offered them up to Jacoby &Â Jerry from PR and their tour manager Eddie who has been a friend of mine for the last 10 years. I assumed that they would use the 4th ticket to invite someone from the record label etc, but instead they asked me to go. I said yes of course.
It should be noted that these tickets are very tough to get and very expensive if you could buy them (not sure WHy you would ever sell them if they were yours!  I kissed a ton of ass to get them!)  The surrounding seats are filled with a mixture of 'suits' trying to close business deals, and old time fans who have had these season tickets for decades... We obviously did not fit in! I think the quote of the night was "a turd in a punchbowl!" Gotta love it!
I met the guys in the seats after my show. But before they could arrive, a beer vendor came over to ask me if LB was joining me! HA! Once Jacoby, with his eyeliner and facial tattoos, Jerry and Eddie got here, the whispers started. I'm sure some people thought that we must have mugged someone for the tickets... Before long, we were the novelty of the section. "Hey, lets talk to the freaks sitting behind us"
Being from Cali (Jacoby & Jerry) and Florida, (Eddie) they were getting a bit chilly when the sun went down, but for me and everyone else at the game, it was a perfect night at the ball park.
They started asking questions about the park, and like any good Red Sox fan... I knew the answers. I explained the red seat, the monster, Pesky's pole, and the 406 club. Jacoby explained that the only baseball player that he could name was Wade Boggs, so that must make him a Sox fan right? When David Ortiz got on deck right in front of us, they laughed as people called him "Papi". Well that was it, Jacoby can now name 2 players Boggs and Papi. He spent the rest of the night, regardless of who was up to bat, yelling 'Aye Papi' very funny!
I forced them to order a Fenway Frank, warned them about the bathrooms, and giggled during the 7th inning stretch because they didn't understand why everyone was standing up. But, the highlight of the night came during the 8th inning. "Sweet Caroline" is a traditon at Fenway, and YES I am aware that it's a weird one. They asked "why does everyone in Boston love Neil Diamond so much?" I explained, that by the time the 8th comes around, most people are so drunk that the only thing they can sing is... "Ba Ba Ba and So Good, So Good"
After the first go around, I decided to go first and make an ass out of myself... BIG surprise... I started singing, in my awful... sick, raspy voice. They all laughed at me! But, they jumped in with me... We looked like idiots! But, it was awesome! They talked about learning the song for their show at the Palladium in October (click here for details). So, if you are going to the show, don't be surprised if your hear a rock version of Sweet Caroline, and Jacoby yelling 'Aye Papi"!
(Jacoby, me, Eddie and Jerry)
Thanks for a great night guys! I just wish that the Red Sox could have won it for you!
Slash came into Boston last night to destroy the House of Blues... And, I haven't checked yet this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if the building is gone! He started his day in beantown with the tweet "@Slash F*ck, Boston is a pretty city."
Taddy Porter and Tab the Band did a great job of getting the sold out crowd worked up, but when Slash came out... It was VERY clear who everyone was there to see! Slash took the stage (ON TIME) and from 'note one', made that guitar his BITCH!!!!! They started with Ghost off of the new solo album, and like a runaway train... it just kept getting faster and more intense! Myles Kennedy is the closest thing to vocal perfection that can be found! He was able to shift gears from classic GNR songs, to Slash's Snake Pit songs, to Velvet Revolver songs, to new Slash songs, and even an Alterbridge song seamlessly... Man can that guy sing! The real treat of the night, was the old GNR songs that we all know and love! They were perfect! Myles hit every note, and so did Slash! It should be noted that Slash's band are no slouches either! If you closed your eyes, you could almost confuse their performance with the original GNR in their heyday! Of course, it's minus the late start, the lead singer tantrums, the riots, and the fights with fans etc! Instead, you got 2+ hours of 5 guys on stage doing what they love... and it showed!
Nightrain showed the crowd that they were in for a night filled with classics, Civil War was only missing the 'failure to communicate' intro, Rocket Queen wad 'dead on balls', the first note of Sweet Child O' Mine sent chills down your spine from the first, infamous note. Finishing with My Michelle into Paradise City sent everyone home wondering what decade it was.
The look on the faces of the fans 25 and under was hilarious! They've never seen GNR as they once were... They've grown up with the music, but have only been exposed to the shell that once was GNR. (I like to call it 'braids N buckets')  It was like watching 2000+ people have an epiphany simultaneously! I felt like screaming "Yes, that is what it is supposed to sound like!"
Nuggets of Snake Pit, new songs and Velvet Revolver classics made the set interesting and diverse. I loved Fall To Pieces! But, when they started playing Rise Today from Myles's band Alterbridge, I was impressed! Slash's lack of ego, allowed the bright spotlight to be shown on someone other than himself! That NEVER would have happened if Axl were anywhere around Boston!
They played until after midnight, and left me sad that it was over. That almost never happens anymore. No beer swilling, no falling down, no mistakes, no egos... just Rock N Roll in its purest state. I think the broken guitar string count was at 6, at the end of the show. Hendrix, Vaughn, Iommi, Van Halen, Page and the like would have been impressed by the clinic that Slash put on last night. He is a Guitar Hero, in the true definition.
Slash left Beantown with this tweet "@slash Goodnight Boston! Always a rockin' time in Beantown! Man, I wish we could have hung out longer. Iii|; (,"
We do too Slash, we do too!
I need a nap!
(photos courtesy of my iPhone with the Hipstamatic app)
I interviewed Chris Cornell when he was a member of Audioslave and as a solo artist, but Soundgarden was long gone by the time I started on the air at WAAF. Out of the grunge bands, I always gravitated to the heavier one's: Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam. We got AIC back, even after losing Layne, and Pearl Jam never left... But Soundgarden held out and made us sweat for long enough! They're back!
I talked to Chris today about a lot of things... How the reunion took place, why the band broke up, when they are touring, Temple of the Dog reuniting with pearl Jam on tour, what's up with the new music, how Nirvana got all of the credit for the grunge movement, why people tweet about pooping and so much more!
I'm not really sure what he can do to top what's he's already done... But, Kid Rock has finished a new album and it will be here soon!
Here's the press release!
 KID ROCK UPS THE ANTE WITH âBORN FREEâ
NEW STUDIO ALBUM DUE NOVEMBER 16th ON ATLANTIC RECORDSÂ
NEW YORK, NY â Kid Rock will release his 8th studio album, âBorn Free,â on November 16th via Atlantic Records. The record was produced by Rick Rubin and mixed by Greg Fidelman.  The first single from the album will be, appropriately, âBorn Freeâ which hits radio September 14th.  âBorn Freeâ is in many ways a transformational album for Kid Rock. While there is still the edge, wit, and swagger of previous albums, he doesnât rap, thereâs no metal â there isnât even a parental warning sticker.  Says Kid Rock, âThe catalyst for this record was Detroit, and my thoughts on the world through the lens of Detroit.  Watching everything go downhill over the past few years, the economy, the loss of jobs everywhere, I wanted to make a record that reflected the times but that still had soul."
 The bulk of the album was recorded live in a two week span in Los Angeles with a stellar cast of musicians including Heartbreaker Benmont Tench, Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith, David Hidalgo from Los Lobos and Chavez guitarist Matt Sweeney. Studios in Detroit, Nashville and Atlanta were used to incorporate collaborations with Bob Seger, Sheryl Crow, Zac Brown, Trace Adkins, and in a pairing surely never to be replicated â T.I. and Martina McBride on the track âCare.â Kid Rock and Rick Rubin, as friends, have spent many hours talking about their respective histories â starting in hip-hop, crossing into and creating new territories â as well as the need for a great new American classic rock record that challenges the field. âBorn Freeâ is in part the result of those conversations â an album that is meant to be played from start to finish.
Kid Rockâs last album âRock âN Roll Jesus,â released in 2007, debuted at #1 and stayed in the charts for 100 weeks, becoming the biggest selling Rock album of 2008. His hit single âAll Summer Longâ hit #1 in 8 countries and provided Kid Rock the opportunity to expand his huge touring base outside of America.   Kid Rock has a unique ability to genre-hop, marking his territory everywhere. He hosted last years CMT Awards (whose ratings rose 19% over the previous year) and performed at events ranging from the Grammyâs to the VMAâs,EMAâs and CMAâs to the Hip Hop Honors.  He has performed for and visited troops overseas numerous times, and remains one of entertainments most vocal supporters of our soldiers abroad. In the past year he has entered into a unique partnership with Jim Beam, while at the same time expanding his philanthropic efforts through his own Kid Rock Foundation.
The appearances scheduled to promote âBorn Freeâ will be revealed shortly, in addition to tour activities.
