Some interesting stories have emerged with the recent passing of Nelson Mandela. One of the more bizarre ones comes from E Street Band and Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt. While visiting South Africain the 80's, the guitarist says he discovered that Paul Simon's name was on a list an anit-apartheid South African feedom fighter group had compiled of people it wanted assassinated. Simon was apparently a prime target because he defied a global boycott organized against the South African regime in the process of making his Graceland album. Van Zandt, who in 1985 joined Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Pete Townshend, Keith Richards to record Sun City, a song protesting the regime, said, "In spite of my feelings about Paul Simon I said to them: 'Listen I understand your feelings about this; I might even share them, but this is not gonna help anybody if you knock off Paul Simon. Trust me on this, alright.' "
ClassicRockMagazine.com
Motley Crue fans will get a last chance to experience the thunderous spectacle of the band live when the Crue crew takes to the road for a retirement tour this summer and fall. Bolstered by Alice Cooper, the farewell tour includes nearly 70 shows, commencing on July 2 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and wrapping up in Vancouver.
The Monday 
38 years ago, the Allman Brothers Band released a live album titled The Road Goes On Forever. In a literal sense, that will cease to be the case for the Southern Rock institution when 2014 comes to a close. Gregg Allman, speaking with our friends at JamBands, said that the road remains open for future special occasion reunions invovling current and former members of the band, but regular tours will be a thing of the past for the Allman Brothers once 2014 comes to a close. Saying, 'This is it - this is the end of it', the founding younger Allman Brother announced, '45 years is enough and I want to do something else'. The decision comes just a few weeks after the bnad's two gutarists, Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, released a statement saying they would leave the group by the end of this year
A Pearl Jam fan lucky enough to find himself in a pick-up basketball game with the band's Jeff Ament and members of Arcade Fire in New Zealand was on the receiving end of an unintended high elbow from the bass player. Misfortune turned good for Sherif Hassan when Ament arranged free tickets and a backstage pass for Hassan when Pearl Jam and Arcade Fire played the Big Day Out festival in Auckland, where he also earned a shout out from Eddie Vedder during PJ's set. His assessment of Ament's basketball skills? Hassan told Triple J Radio, 'He's aggressive, I'll tell you that much.'
A Ringo Starr-Paul McCartney joint performance during the Grammy telecast looks like it won't Come Together, but a reunion of the two on stage is a lock for a CBS special being recorded in LA the following day (Monday. 1/27). Access Hollywood says that the drummer gave them a confirmation that he and Sir Paul will perform together for The Night That Changed America: A Grammys Salute to The Beatles. The network will air the program on Feb. 9th, the 50th anniversary of the night the Beatles performed live on the Ed Sullivan Show.
The glitz and glamor of The Strip in Vegas masks a reality that Las Vegas shares with too many other American cities - a population of people who live on the streets. Carlos Santana does not want to '...tell people who to be, what to do or how to do it', but he does want to help provide resources so that homeless people in Las Vegas have options and opportunities that are not available to them now. Citing the good work that tennis great Andre Agassi has done by leveraging his name and recognition to raise money for schools that offer college preparatory schooling for kids that would otherwise have little or no chance at a higher education, the guitar legend says also he plans on '...reaching out to the people with deep pockets and beautiful hearts' by staging annual benefit concerts to raise funds to support housing and programs for those living on the streets. A recent personal experience may have inspired Santana. A San Francisco TV reporter happened across an original member of the 1960's Santana Blues Band while doing a story on the homeless on the streets of Oakland 
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A 13 disc set encompassing the two decades Little Feat spent on the Warner Brothers roster will be released February 25th by Rhino Records. Rad Gumbo: The Complete Warner Bros. Years 1971-1990 includes every studio and live album released by the band in that time frame along with a number of outtakes and bonus tracks.
The country estate an hour from London that John Lennon paid just over $32,000 for in 1964 is on the market for just over $22 million. The sprawling Surrey house John and Cynthia lived in was where John did much of the writing that would appear on the groups transformative albums of the mid to late 60's. Paul McCartney, who preferred to remain in London, made regular visits to write with John. John also hosed a vist with Bob Dylan at the six bedroom Tudor style home. Most of Lennon's writing and informal recording was done in a small den toward the back of the house or a top floor room, which was where he and Yoko Ono recorded most of the songs that appeared on the Two Virgins album. The house is also where Cynthia discovered John and Yoko together when she returned from vacationing in Greece. The house was sold not long after.
The Guess Who gained entry to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame back in 1987. Randy Bachman becomes a two-time member during the Junos in March when Bachman-Turner Overdrive gets inducted. Bachman parted ways with the Guess Who in the spring of 1970, forming a group called Brave Belt in western Canada with another Guess Who alum, Chad Allan. They also enlisted Fred Turner shortly after releasing a debut album. Allan was replaced by Randy's brother, Tim, the following year. Before the next album came out in 1973, the group had changed its name to Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, released in May of 1974, brought BTO major success on both sides of the border with Let It Ride, Takin' Care Of Business and You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, a #1 song in Canada and the US. Randy Bachman left the group in 1977.
The January 26 Grammy Awards program got some additional fire power with confirmation that the two surviving Beatles will perform. While there was no early guarantee the two will play together during the ceremony, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr would probably just as soon not suffer the consequences of dashing the expectations of the millions that will tune-in expressly to see that happen. They last performed together four years ago. McCartney is nominated for the Best Rock Song Grammy for Cut Me Some Slack, the song he recorded with Dave Grohl & Krist Novoselic. Ringo has a lock on his hardware that evening in the Staples Center. He will be given the Recording Academy's 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Joe Perry has been chosen for a role in the movie Cottonwood, a murder-mystery period piece set in West Texas during the Dust Bowl era. The Aerosmith guitarist will play Joe Walker, a character in the story about a sheriff implicated in the murder of a local red neck. Perry says he is '...extremely prod and excited to be a part f this very distinguished, heartfelt film'. The movie is a period piece that takes place during the Dust Bowl era. Others in the cast include Louis Gossett, Jr., Alsion Eastwood and Anthony Michael Hall, who is also the Producer of the film.
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A sold-out crowd of fans gathered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta Friday
John Mellencamp, whose son is attending Duke, hinted that the 2014 Farm Aid concert will be in the Raleigh-Durham, area. John's remark came during the opening ceremony of the Chik-fil-A Bowl game, which the younger Mellencamp suited-up for. John is one of the charter members of Farm Aid's collective of musical organizers, but 'Maybe' is as close as the group is willing to come to confirming that this year's fund raising festival will be staged in North Carolina. The prospect that it will has the Director of the state's Rural Advancement Foundation International jacked up. Scott Marlow says RAFI has worked with Farm Aid on a number of initiatives that support farming. The boost having the concert there represents would be especially welcome to him because tobacco farmers will be losing payments put in place to assist them while they transitioned from a quota system to a free-market one this year. There's some irony in that; Mellencamp has tried to kick a smoking habit for years. One of his sons even waged a Facebook campaign to rally support for his efforts to get his dad to kick butts.
High Hopes, the new release from Bruce Springsteen, was briefly leaked by Amazon last Saturday 
Angus Young says that AC/DC plans to mount a 40th anniversary tour before the year is out. Where, when and how long details have yet to be worked out, but news the band will be doing concerts gives Hard Rock fans and ear specialists all the more reason to be excited about 2014.
