Rapid recovery wishes going out to Mick Jagger. After the 75 year old front man tweeting that the Stones needed to cancel their appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the band has also postponed the rest of its tour so Jagger can be treated for an undisclosed ailment.   Mick hinetd the cancellation of the May 2 date in New Orleans was due to a medical issue when he wrote, 

I’m devastated for having to postpone the tour but I will be working very hard to be back on stage as soon as I can. Once again, huge apologies to everyone.”

Stevie Nicks joined the ranks of artists inducted twice by the Rock Hall Of Fame last night. Enshrined as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998, Nicks was honored for her solo work Friday night  (3/29) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn during a ceremony  that included her performing Stand Back, Leather and Lace, Stop Dragging My Heart Around and Edge of Seventeen. 
Don Henley was there to join her on Leather and Lace and Tom Petty almost certainly would have been to accompany her on Stop Dragging My Heart Around and to induct her if he was still around. Former One Direction star Harry Styles stood in for Tom in both roles, calling Stevie '...the mystical gypsy godmother'. Nicks praised Styles during her backstage presser for deciding to do a Rock album after stepping away from his pop boy band, which she mistakenly identified as NSYNCH before correcting herself and adding 'I'm never gonna live that one down'.
The rest of the class this year was predominantly British, with The Zombies, Roxy Music, Def Leppard and Radiohead.
Def Leppard brought the night to a hi decibel close with Pour Some Sugar On Me and Photograph.

Classic Rock fans disappointed by the lineup Michael Lang has put together for the The Woodstock 50 concert are apt to find the guitar greats Eric Clapton has lined-up for his Crossroads Festival much more impressive. When Eric calls, who's not going to jump?!
The September 20 & 21 roster of six string masters appearing at the American Airlines Center in Dallas includes Billy Gibbons, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr,, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Vaughan, Jonny Lang, Peter Frampton, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Sonny Landreth and more.
Proceeds from the concerts will support the Crossroads Centre, the substance recovery facility that EC established a number of years ago.
 

One of the great live albums of all time was recorded on this and the following night at the Fillmore East in New York City in 1970. Mad Dogs & Englishmen featured Joe Cocker and Leon Russell backed by a great band that included a horn section and backing vocals from a choir that included Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, and Pamela Pollard.

Chris Stainton joined Russell on piano and organ, Carl Radle played bass, sax players Jim Horn and Bobby Keys were joined by Jim Price on trumpet, Don Preston played guitar and Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Chuck Blackwell and Bobby Torres provided drums and percussion.

The album got released in August. Expanded editions have been released since, and the complete sets from both nights are now available. There is also a great film documenting the tour that includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage of what proved to be one of the wildest tours ever staged.

Rockers of note born on 3/27 include Tony Banks of Genesis (1950) and INXS keyboards player Andrew Farriss (1959).

The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia was arrested on drug charges during a traffic stop near Philadelphia on 3/27/1973.

Scorpions released Love At First Sting on this day in 1984.

U2 shot the video for Where The Streets Have No Name during a rooftop live set in LA on 3/27/87.

And Sammy Hagar made his live debut fronting Van Halen on this night in 1987 in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Few band members have been through as much together as Aerosmith's lead guitarist and their front man.  Here's Joe Perry's birthday message to Steven Tyler and Tyler's reply.

Billy Joel's monthly concerts at Madison Square Garden have resulted in some great guest drop-ins. This week, John Fogerty was in the house to join the Piano Man on this CCR classic.

Ric Ocasek, front man and rhythm guitarist for The Cars, was born today in Baltimore. After moving to Cleveland with his family at 16, Ocasek met bass player Ben Orr and the pair began promoting concerts together in the Columbus area in the early 70's. The two also played together in a few other bands before relocating to Boston and starting a harmony based folk rock group named Milkwood. A subsequent group called Cap'n Swing added guitarist Elliott Easton and caught some airplay on WBCN. After recruiting Modern Lovers drummer David Robinson to join them and re-adding Milkwood member Greg Hawkes on keys, the group shifted gears, becoming The Cars in 1976.

ZZ Top released a couple of albums on March 23. On this day in 1983 the blockbuster Eliminator got its release and on 3/23/90 Recycler came out.
The Red Rocker, Sammmy Hagar, earned his spot on the Bay Area Music Walk Of Fame during a ceremony on this day in 2018.

Keith Relf of the Yardbirds was born on this day in 1943.
Bob Dylan's Bringin' It All Back Home got released on 3/22/1965.
On The Border was released by the Eagles on this day in 1974. The group's third studio album introduced a shift into a more of a Rock mode with the addition of Don Felder to the group and the decision mid-way through the recording to replace Glyn Johns as producer with Bill Szymczyk, who had impressed them with his production on future Eagle Joe Walsh's 1973 album The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Are. 
Aerosmith played on Saturday Night Live 3/22/1997.

Happy birthday to The Money Man, born on this day in 1949 in New York City. With his father, a grandfather and brother int eh NYPD, a young Edward Mahoney enrolled as a trainee in the department, but the lure of music proved stronger than the appeal of a career in law enforcement. Moving to the Bay Area of California, Eddie established a solid performing reputation playing San Francisco and East Bay clubs in the mid 70's and landed a recording contract with Columbia Records.His debut album, released in December of 1977, remains the biggest release of his career, which includes 10 additional lps.

David Bowie and Iggy Pop got popped in a drug bust in the Americana Hotel in Rochester, NY after a concert in the city on this night 0n 3/21/1976.

Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar for Streets Of Philadelphia on this night in 1994.

AC/DC's Brian Johnson joined Billy Joel on Highway To Hell during one of the Piano Man's concerts at Madison Square Garden on 3/21/1994. For some reason, David's mug shot was not taken until days after the arrest.

Mike Campbell and Neil Finn rehearsed with Fleetwood Mac for the first time on this day in 2018 after having been invited to replace Lindsey Buckingham in the group.

One of the greats behind the kit was born on this day in 1950. Carl Palmer played drums with several groups before gaining wider recognition when he took over for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown when the band's beat keeper left the band in the middle of its 1969 tour. After a brief stint in Atomic Rooster, a band that also included Arthur Brown alum Vincent Crane on keyboards, Keith Emerson, then in the Nice, invited Palmer to audition for a new band he was putting together. Carl proved to be a good fit, and became the Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Carl joined up with Steve Howe of Yes and Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music and Uriah Heep and UK veteran John Wetton to form Asia after ELP called it quits in 1980.

John Lennon married Yoko Ono on 3/20/1969 at the British Consulate in Gibraltar, during a crazy week recounted in the song The Ballad of John and Yoko. On the same day the following year, David Bowie married Angela Barnett, a union that lasted 10 years. And Eric Clapton's 4 year-old son Conor died in a fall from a New York apartment after a window was left open during a cleaning on this day in 1991. The tragedy moved Eric to write Tears in Heaven with Will Jennings.

Woodstock 50 at Watkins Glen lineup reminds us of a cable TV package... pay for 150 channels when there are only 15 you really want to watch.

Friday Aug. 16
The Killers
Miley Cyrus
Santana
The Lumineers
The Raconteurs
Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
John Fogerty 
Run The Jewels
The Head and The Heart
Maggie Rogers
Michael Franti & Spearhead 
Bishop Briggs
Anderson East 
Akon
Princess Nokia
John Sebastian
Melanie 
Grandson
Fever 333
Dorothy
Flora Cash
Larkin Poe
Brian Cadd
Ninet Tayeb 

Saturday, Aug. 17
Dead & Company
Chance The Rapper
The Black Keys 
Sturgill Simpson
Greta Van Fleet 
Protugal. The Man
Leon Bridges
Gary Clark Jr. 
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros 
David Crosby & Friends
Dawes
Margo Price
Nahko & Medicine For The People
India.Arie
Jade Bird
Country Joe McDonald
Rival Sons
Emily King
Soccer Mommy
Sir
Taylor Bennett
Amy Helm
Courtney Hadwin
Pearl
John-Robert
IAMDBB

Sunday, Aug. 18
Jay-Z
Imagine Dragons
Halsey
Cage The Elephant 
Brandi Carlile
Janelle Monáe
Young The Giant
Courtney Barnett
Common
Vince Staples
Judah & The Lion
Earl Sweatshirt
Boygenius
Reignwolf
The Zombies
Canned Heat
Hot Tuna
Pussy Riot
Cherry Glazerr
Leven Kali
The Marcus King Band
Victory
Hollis Brown
John Craigie
Amigo The Devil
Liz Brasher

A pair of solid albums from bands that it's a crime were not long ago inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame dropped on this date. Jethro Tull's 4th studio album introduced the Rock world to Aqualung on 3/19/71. Five years later, the Doobie Brothers came out with Takin' It To The Streets, their 6th.
We lost a couple outstanding guitarists on flights on March 19th. Free guitarist Paul Kossoff suffered a pulmonary embolism when a blot clot in his leg moved to a lung during a flight from LA to New York in 1976. On 3/19/1982, Randy Rhoads, guitar wizard with Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne, lost his life near Leesburg, Florida when Rhoads and some others went to a nearby airstrip while work was being done on an Ozzy Osbourne tour bus that was carrying the band from a concert in Knoxville to a festival in Florida. A pilot took the keyboard player and manager on a short flight. Rhoads and the tour's make-up artist boarded the single engine Beechcraft next. They made a couple of close passes over the tour bus. The third pass cut it too close, the wing clipping the bus, sending the small plane into a spiraling and tumbling crash that ended with an explosive fire, killing the pilot, Rhoads and the make-up artist instantly.
Queen, Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Richie Valens and Solomon Burke were inducted into the RHOF on this night in 2001.

On this day in 1978 an estimated 350,000 fans attended California Jam II at Ontario Motor Speedway in California. Aerosmith, Santana, Foreigner and Heart led a lineup that also included Ted Nugent, Save Mason, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, Bob Welch and Ribicon.

Rockers of note born on this day include Wilson Pickett (1941), Bobby Whitlock (1948), original Doobie Brothers drummer John Hartman (1950), James McMurtry (1962) and Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains (1966).

Members of the Rolling Stones got arrested for relieving themselves on the wall of a gas station in Essex, England after the owner refused to let them use the restroom on this night in 1965.

Asia released its debut album on 3/18/1982. Darryl Jones was introduced as Bill Wyman's replacement in the Stones today in 1994 and in 1997, Aerosmith released Nine Lives.

The Grateful Dead's debut album dropped on this day in 1967. Recorded in a matter of just a few days in hastily arranged sessions in Los Angeles, the album included a number of tracks the label insisted be shortened in hopes the release would get more airplay. Six of the nine songs on it clocked-in under 3 minutes. Despite that, the album failed to get much radio time beyond the band's Bay Area home turf. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann once remarked that Viola Lee Blues, a 10 minute long song, was the only tune on the record that came close to capturing what the band really sounded like.

Musicians of note born on March 17 include the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian (1944) and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins (1968).

Bad Company released Desolation Angels on this day in 1979 and Van Halen III, the only release with Gary Cherone out front, came out on 3/17/1998.

And Eddie Vedder joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Shine On You Crazy Diamond on this night in 2017 when the RHCP's played Key Arena in Seattle.

Heart's younger sister Nancy Wilson was born on this day in 1954 in San Francisco. When she and sister Ann watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Nancy said it was like a '...lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck' the two of them. The pair's first band was The Viewpoints. Nancy moved to the Seattle area and Ann to Vancouver, where the two eventaully reunited in a band known as Hocus Pocus before becoming Heart.

Other musicians of note born on 3/16 include Jerry Lee Lewis (1926), Jerry Jeff Walker (1942) AND Sly Stone (1943).

REO Speedwagon released You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish on this day in 1977. The Who's Face Dances came out on 3/16/1981 and Dire Straits album Alchemy landed in record stores on this day in '84.

Blues Breaker and Free veteran Andy Fraser passed away on this day in 2015 after battling AIDS and cancer. Blues great James Cotton died of pneumonia and Ray Davies of the Kinks was knighted by Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace on this day in 2017.

A Happy birthday to Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh, born on this day in Berkeley, California. Lesh played violin and trumpet before meeting Jerry Garcia and agreeing to pick up bass to secure a spot in the Warlocks, the group that would morph into the Grateful Dead. Other musicians of note born on this day include Blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins (3/15/1912 - 1/30/1982) the Beach Boys Mike Love (1941) and Ry Cooder (1947).

the Talking Heads released Naked on 3/15/1988. Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Billy Joel headlined the group of musicians inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame on this night in 1999, and the Hall inducted Genesis, the Stooges and the Hollies on 3/15/2010.

RIP Michael Porcaro, bassist with Toto, who passed away on this day in 2015 after a battle with ALS.

Def Leppard got introduced to the world on this day in 1980 with the release of its debut album, On Through The Night.
On 3/14/1971 the Rolling Stones staged a farewell to the UK concert in London before a move to southern France to escape heavy taxation.
Metallica did its first concert at a venue named Radio City in Anaheim, California on this night in 1982.
U2, the Pretenders and Buddy Guy got inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame on 3/14/2005.
An SONY Music paid $750 million on this day in 2016 to buy back the 50% stake in the Beatles catalog that had sold to Michael Jackson for $47 million in 1985.

The Rock Hall Of fame has announced the lineup that will induct this year's honorees at the March 29th Induction ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Queen's Brian May welcomes in Def Leppard. Harry Styles does the honors for Stevie Nicks. The Cure is brought in by Trent Reznor. David Byrne inducts Radiohead. The Bangles Susanna Hoffs initiates The Zombies and Roxy Music gets enshrined by Simon Le Bon and John Taylor of Duran Duran.
HBO will carry highlights of the event on April 27. The special exhibit honoring this year's inductees can be viewed starting March 22.

An album many consider to be the greatest double live album ever released was recorded on this and the previous night in 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City. Released in July of '71, the Allman Brothers Band Live At Fillmore East established the group as a must-see live band. 
Since the ABB was just an added act on a nights billed as "Johnny Winter and Elvin Bishop Group, with Extra Added Attraction: Allman Brothers" the band only received $1250.00 for doing the gigs but crowd response got them elevated to headline status for the third night.
U2's Adam Clayton was born on 3/13/1960. Eric Clapton parted with the Yardbirds on this day in 1965. The Eagles started recording their debut album on 3/13/1972.
John Lennon and Harry Nilsson got ejected from the Troubador in LA for being disruptive during a Smothers Brothers appearance on this night in 1974. And Bob Seger was honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 3/13/1988

In November of 1970, Elton John did a 13 song live broadcast set for a New York City FM station. Recordings of that concert began to surface as bootlegs almost overnight. Within weeks, so many were getting sold that Elton's label started thinking about releasing an official album. Simply titled with the date of the original performance, 11-17-70 got released on 3-12-71.

Rockers of note born on this day include Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane and Starship (3/12/1947-1/28/2016) and Little Feat's outstanding keyboard player Billy Paine (1949).

Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman on this day in London in 1969. Two Years later, a British court would officially dissolve the Beatles partnership on March 12.

R.E.M. released Out Of Time on this day in 1991.

Van Halen, R.E.M. and Patti Smith were inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame on this day in 2007.

Hal Blaine, the drummer a staggering number of artists counted on to provide the beat on many of the biggest songs of several decades, passed on yesterday at 90. The member of the fabled Wrecking Crew of session players is heard on many of the biggest songs from Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean the Mamas & the Papas, Sam Cooke, several of the top tracks of artists Phil Spector produced and on albums by the Byrds, Steely Dan, Neil Young, America,Warren Zevon, Buffalo Springfield, JJ Cale, Leonard Cohen, John Lennon and countless others. Blaine became one of the first session players inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame.

Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies arrived in record stores on this day in 1975. Cooper's 8th studio release, recorded after the breakup of the band that bore his name, presented nightmares of a boy named Steven. Alice Cooper concerts have included more songs from this release than any other.

Crosby, Stills & Nash won the Best New Artist Grammy on 3/11/1970. Eric Clapton released Behind the Sun on this day in 1985. U2 did a small theater concert and live broadcast on this night in 2009 from the Somerville Theater, near Boston.

Jethro Tull's 5th album got its US release on this date in 1972. Thick As A Brick was conceived as a spoof concept album by Ian Anderson in reaction to critics that believed the group's previous album, Aqualung, had been one. Anderson's writing credits for songs on Thick As A Brick were listed as Gerald Bostock, a made-up 12 year-old character that supposedly wrote a long poem included in the multiple page faux newspaper that folded out of the album's cover.

Other albums of note released on March 10th include Billy Joel's Glass Houses (1980), There Goes The Neighborhood from Joe Walsh (1981) and Pilgrim, the 1998 release by Eric Clapton.

Boston's Tom Sholz (1947) and Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament (1963) were born on this day. Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath to reunite with Deep Purple on 3/10/1984.

Danny Joe Brown of Molly Hatchet died of pneumonia on this day in 2005. And keyboard genius Keith Emerson, depressed over nerve impairment to his hand, took his life in his southern California home on 3/10/2016.

U2 released The Joshua Tree on this day in 1987. The Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois produced album was the group's 5th studio album and broke from the gate at a pace that made it the fastest selling album in UK history. The album landed Album Of The Year and two other Grammy's and more than 30 million copies of it have sold world wide.

Rockers of note born on this day include Trevor Burton of The Move (1944) and Procol Harum guitar great Robin Trower. Bad Company did its first concert on 3/9/1974. The Who postponed US tour dates on this day when Keith Moon collapsed during a concert in Boston. And Boston's Brad Delp was found dead on 3/9/2007 in his New Hampshire home after taking his own life.

Metallica: when in Kansas...

And because it was on David Gilmour's birthday...

After briefly going under the name Trigger, the group decided Foreigner was a better name for a group comprised of American and British musicians. The debut album of the band made up of UK members Mick Jones (Spooky Tooth), Ian McDonald (King Crimson) and Dennis Elliot (Ferris Wheel & Ian Hunter) and US members Lou Gramm (Black Sheep), Ed Gagliardi and Al Greenwood got released on this day in 1977. The opening notes of Feels Like The First Time signaled the arrival of a band with a signature sound. Cold As Ice, Long, Long Way From Home, Headknocker and Starrider also got plenty of radio play, establishing the group as one of the decade's top new acts.

Randy Meisner, the veteran of Poco, Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band and the Eagles from 1971-'77, was born 3/8/1946 in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

The Fillmore east opened on this night in 1968 in New York City with a concert featuring Janis Joplin with Big Brother & The Holding Company.

Ron 'Pig Pen' McKernan, the first of the many keyboard players in the Grateful Dead to die before their time seemed due, passed away on this day in 1973.

Beatles producer George Martin died alter a long and remarkable career on this day in 2015.

A lot both has and hasn't happened since we learned there would be competing Woodstock 50th anniversary concerts going head-to-head on the same August, 2019 weekend (story).

Live Nation, which had secured rights to the original site by virtue of the fact it has been booking events at Bethel Woods, the amphitheater adjacent to it, announced it would do a few headlining concerts instead of a multi-day, multi-act festival. Michael Lang, one of the organizers of the 1969 event, made arrangements to host his anniversary event at Watkins Glen, the Finger Lakes region home of the road race course that hosted the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and The Band in 1973. 
Original festival highlight Carlos Santana elected to opt-in with Live Nation. Ringo Starr and the Doobie Brothers will also appear there.
Speculation grew that Lang's event could get scuttled due to funding problems got walked back today when Billboard reported that a Japanese company backing the Watkins Glen site concert had come through with the dollars needed to ink The Dead and Company, Santana, the Black Keys, Imagine Dragons and The Killers and rappers Jay-Z and Chance The Rapper. Negotiations are also reportedly underway between Lang's group and Robert Plant, Gary Clark Jr., The Raconteurs, Greta Van Fleet, Portugal The Man, Dawes and several other groups.
Lang has promised a line-up of 80+ artists for the Watkins Glen event.

David Bowie's 9th studio album dropped on this day in 1975. Young Americans marked David's move from the Ziggy Stardust glam phase of his career into one that embraced more rhythmic and soulful songs The title song, recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia using Luther Vandross producer Tony Visconti, and Fame, the song that Bowie and John Lennon worked on together on at Electric Lady Studios in New York, propelled the album into the top 10. Additional recording David Sanborn plays sax on the title track and Sly and the Family Stone's Andy Newmark is featured on drums throughout the album.

Happy birthday to Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band, born on March 7, 1946. Genesis released From Genesis to Revelation on this day in 1969, and David Gilmour's On An Island solo came out on 3/7/2006.

On this night in 1973, Bruce Springsteen did the showcase performance for John Hammond of Columbia Records that got him signed to the label... and gave Hammond a heart attack.

We salute Joe Walsh, one of the nicest guys in the Rock world. The James gang & Eagles veteran's VetsAid foundation is awarding $795,000 to veterans service organizations. The proceeds were raised during Joe's annual Concert For Our Veterans, staged last yea in Tacoma, Washington. Walsh was joined by Don Henley, Chris Stapleton, Ringo Starr and James Taylor at the Tacoma Dome concert.

One of the titans of Progressive Rock guitar was born on this day in 1946 in Cambridge, England. David Gilmour would become a member of Pink Floyd shortly before Syd Barrett exited the band. Raised on the music of Bill Haley, Elvis, the Everly Brothers and other Rock pioneers, getting introduced to Barrett and the other members of Pink Floyd redirected him into a whole new realm of creative expression on guitar. When it became apparent that Barrett's personal demons would make it impossible for him to continue in the band, Gilmour stepped up. Barrett's parting with the band was announced on Gilmour's birthday in 1968.
Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor were inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame on March 6th, 2000. Aerosmith released Push To Play on this day in 2001. Ten Years After guitar wizard Alvin Lee died on 3/6/2013 while undergoing surgery, and Melbourne, Australia honored Bon Scott by naming a street after the late AC/DC front man and unveiling a statue of him.

To Fast to live, too young to die, my, my. The world lost a brilliant manic comic on this day in 1982 when John Belushi died of an apparent overdose in Los Angeles.

Rockers of note born on March 5th include Alan Clark of Dire Straits (1952) and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1970).

3,000 radio stations played We Are The World at an appointed time on this day in 1985. The single to raise aid money for Africa included Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Willie Nelson, Steve Perry, Bob Dylan, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Bob Geldof, Lindsey Buckingham and dozens more.