KISS' GENE SIMMONS will make a cameo appearance as a record company mogul in a VH1 original movie tentatively titled At Any Cost, about a band trying to make it big in Los Angeles. Simmons, who'll be seen on the big screen as a hairdresser in the dark comedy Wish You Were Dead and is producing Rock and Roll All Nite for CBS (about a couple that meets at a KISS concert), is also developing a minisieries and two series for VH1.
Have a spare $4.2 million? (yeah, sure... I'll pull that out of my ass in a jiffy) If so, you can buy OZZY OSBOURNE's six bedroom, nine bath Beverly Hills mansion. The 8100 square-foot Mediterranean-style home is gated but not secluded enough for Ozzy, who's moving to more secluded digs.
Melodicrock.com is reporting the following tidbit on MOTLEY CRUE and VAN HALEN: At a recent UNION show in Old Bridge, New Jersey, a fan was asking John Corabi about few nagging rumors. When asked what he thought about Tommy Lee leaving Motley Crue, singer JOHN CORABI said "I'm not surprised...they got back together for the money (with Vince) and I know for a fact that Tommy and Mick (Mars) hate Vince's guts!! I'm surprised Mick didn't leave!!" With regards to VAN HALEN, he repeated what is currently the worst kept rumor in the music business and said, "I know for a FACT that they are rehearsing with Roth for a big tour! They're trying to keep quiet about the reunion since Eddie and Dave have both in the past shot their mouths off before thinking about what they were saying!"... Who knows? This could be a bullshit story, or it could just be another confirmation leading to the inevitable return of David Lee Roth to center stage with Van Halen.
In related VAN HALEN news, David Lee Roth recently recorded a brand new song specially for Ashley Abernathy, a little girl who is currently battling leukemia. Read the full story at the VHND and sample the song at: www.songsoflove.org/events.html ... or just CLICK HERE for the song (.aiff format)
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE have some famous guests on their second album, due out June 6: vocalists ROB HALFORD and MARK LANEGAN (SCREAMING TREES) and drummer BARRETT MARTIN (also Screaming Trees). The band will be on OzzFest this summer.
Tony Harnell, Bruno Ravel and Mark Reale's WESTWORLD has their own website, located at westworld-web.com. the site is still under construction and will open soon, but news will be posted on the splash page until the site opens to keep fans up to date on the band, and the release of WestWorld's second release Skin. Incidentally, Skin is now due out in late July/August through Roadrunner Japan and another label yet to be announced.
Rock producer KEVIN SHIRLEY has updated his website with some archive interviews with JOURNEY and a few current ones including IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson.
Somewhere between suing Napster, shooting a video for a new song on the "Mission: Impossible 2" soundtrack, and preparing for a summer tour with Korn, Kid Rock, Powerman 5000, and System Of A Down, METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted is finding time for more work. Newsted is in a San Francisco studio recording an album with his own side project, a power trio called ECHO BRAIN. For the project, the bassist is hooking up with guitarist and vocalist Dylan Dokin and drummer Brian Sagrafena. The trio has also lined up a slate of musical guests that includes Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, former Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin, and members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Newsted has not yet found a record label home for Echo Brain, nor has he lined up a release date. We'll keep you posted.
In related news, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich will deliver a literal truckload of paper to Napster Inc. listing hundreds of thousands of people who allegedly use the company's software to share unauthorized MP3s of the band's songs. The hard-rock group wants Napster to stop the users (all 335,435 of them) from trading Metallica tracks. On its Web site (www.napster.com), the company promises to terminate the accounts of users who trade material without permission, but the company requires copyright holders to notify them of who is doing the unauthorized trading. "We're giving [Napster] what they asked for," said Gayle Fine, a spokesperson at Q Prime, Metallica's management company. Metallica representatives compiled the more than 60,000-page list of Napster user IDs during the weekend. Real names are not included in the list. Q Prime said Napster users are offering 1.4 million MP3 files of 95 Metallica songs.
Cheeseball Alert!!: The long delayed LOVERBOY album Live, Loud & Loose has finally had new life breathed into it and will be released in the United States on July 4th. The album was set for release by the band's previous label CMC International, but now will be issued by Sony after the label expressed a renewed interest in the band and an album of classic live material. The tracks were recorded from various tours in the band's 80's heyday. That was the label's preferred option, even though the band wanted to have a few new studio tracks or more recent live recordings included. The track listing for the album is: Working For The Weekend . Lucky Ones . Lady of the 80's . Take Me To The Top . Jump . This Could Be The Night . Dangerous . Lead A Double Life . When Its Over . Queen Of The Broken Hearts . Lovin' Every Minute Of It . Hot Girls In Love . Turn Me Loose . The Kid Is Hot Tonite. There are embryonic plans to re-issue Get Lucky and Lovin' Every Minute Of It as remastered CDs with previously unreleased studio bonus tracks
