JOURNEY TOUR: OPENING NIGHT UNDER THE STARS, UNZIPPED!  - 6/27/05 by Jim Villanueva
Opening night of the Journey Back and Into the Future tour was like a zipper: it had its ups and downs. A packed house at Irvine, CA’s Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre was treated to 3 hours plus of music from the band’s entire career, including smash hits such as “Open Arms,” “Wheel in the Sky,” “”Lights,” “Don’t Stop Believin’” and show closer “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’:” the problem was they were also asked to listen to at least nine brand new songs, often in an uneven pace that included back-to-back new tunes on two separate occasions during the show. The night also included a real-life, honest-to-goodness “wardrobe malfunction” when the zipper on lead singer Steve Augeri’s oh-so-tight leather pants came down, causing the singer to acknowledge from stage that the incident was “quite embarrassing.” Over all however, the crowd left having heard plenty of hits and with a copy of the band’s new CD, Generations, in their hand…for free!
 

ALLMAN BROS: GREEK JAM BAND GODS! - 5/9/05 by Jim Villanueva << Read >>
 

STYX PROVES BIG BANG THEORY EXISTS! - 5/9/05
In an exclusive interview for this service last Thursday in Los Angeles, Styx members Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young and Lawrence Gowen revealed their work on Big Bang Theory, their upcoming studio disc (in stores tomorrow) was a true labor of love. The 14-song collection includes 13 covers of all-time classic rock songs that the members loved growing up, plus “Blue Collar Man @ 2120,” a reworked and updated version of one of their biggest hits, recorded at the legendary Chess Studios located at 2120 South Michigan Ave. in Chicago. “It was incredible,” guitarist Young said of recording at such a historic place, especially in his hometown. “There are pictures of Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy just staring down at you from the walls…it was awesome.” The updated “Blue Collar” features very special guest appearances by local blues legend Koko Taylor and the late Johnnie Johnson on piano (one of the last sessions he played before his recent death). The band’s cover of “I Don’t Need No Doctor” (written by Ashford & Simpson and made famous by Humble Pie on their Rockin’ the Fillmore live album) will be the CD’s first single.
 

DEF LEPPARD ROCKS, NO MATTER WHAT! - 5/5/05
In an exclusive interview for this service, Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen said yesterday much of the material found on the band’s upcoming 2-CD best of package, Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (due in stores May 17), was picked by the band’s fans. “The first half speaks for themselves, they are the obvious hits,” Collen said, “kinda like Vault on steroids. Disc two is fan requests and downloads and just stuff like that…what people wanted to hear, and actually more so than the band. We would say, ‘Lets put this one on here’ and what we’d hear back from America and the fans is, ‘No, no, we want to hear this.’ So we bowed to better judgment. The album is about the fans, so that’s what we did.” “No Matter What,” the band’s cover of the Badfinger classic is the album’s first radio single: their U.S. tour begins on June 1 in Portland.
 

SOUL SIRKUS COMES TO TINSEL TOWN! - 4/21/05 by Jim Villanueva << Read >>

BRUCE PREMIERES DEVILS & DUST! - 4/8/05 by Jim Villanueva << Read >>

Miracle Drug? U2 IN CONCERT! - 3/30/05 by Jim Villanueva << Read >>