The documentary “It Might get Loud” will be screened at the LA Film Fest in June. It will be shown the following dates: Friday, 6/19/2009 7pm Mann Festival theatre in Westwood and Monday, 6/22/09 2pm Landmark Theatres in West LA. Tickets @ Mann Festival are $12 plus $2.50 on call = $14.50 Tickets are on sale now! go to http://www.lafilmfest.com/2009/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sBLir8H2zM&feature=player_embedded
According to The Pulse of Radio, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has joined the new “supergroup” started by former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar. The band, tentatively called Chickenfoot, also features ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and will enter the studio to begin recording its debut album this summer. Smith told The Pulse of Radio he got involved in the project by owning a home near Hagar’s place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. “If you’re in Cabo, of course you know Sammy ’cause he’s, you know, he rules the joint,” he said. “And he’s a really nice man, he’s a great guy actually. Somehow he’s taken a liking to me, and we played in Vegas, and we played some cover songs — we’re a good cover band now. He got pretty excited about it and it actually sounded really good. Him and Joe got together up at his place and they wrote like five things together, and we’ll see.”
Hagar himself spoke about the project in a recent interview, explaining, “We’ve written eight, nine songs…When people hear the music, it’s Led Zeppelin. It’s as good as that. I know that’s a mighty bold statement…We could rival Zep.”
Hagar sang with Van Halen from 1986 to 1996, and again on a 2004 reunion tour, but left both times after feuding with guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Hagar said recently about his relationship with the troubled guitar hero, “I love Eddie, but we don’t love each other. I heard that he got cleaned up again. Hopefully he stays that way and doesn’t die, because before we both die we have to be friends again.”
Chad Smith has been playing with former Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes as well as his own jazz combo since the Chili Peppers came off the road last year after touring in support of 2006’s “Stadium Arcadium” CD.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/Blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=97913
A brass Chinese gong once owned and used by Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham is set to fetch up to £76,000 at an auction in America.
John Bonham, with his gong in the background, performing with Led Zeppelin.
The gong, which is 29.5 inches wide and features two painted Chinese characters - has been put up for sale by Redditch-born Bonham’s younger sister Deborah and his mother Joan - and appropriately it will be auctioned at Bonhams in Los Angeles on June 14.
‘Bonzo’ Bonham used gongs for dramatic effect by having them set alight in Led Zeppelin performances.
Led Zep guitarist John Paul Jones confirmed: “He did that more or less every night. His roadie Mick Hinton had to set it alight. I think he used lighter fuel and it was quite dangerous. John got the gong idea from Carmine Appice when we supported Vanilla Fudge in the early days.”
Bonham was aged just thirty two when he died on September 25,1980. An inquest heard that in the 24 hours before he died of a pulmonary oedema, he had had drunk forty measures of vodka. A verdict of accidental death was recorded. He was cremated and his ashes were interred at Rushock parish church, Worcestershire. Next Sunday would have been his 61st birthday.
Educated at Lodge Farm secondary modern school, Redditch, his headmaster famously remarked that Bonham would “either end up a dustman or a millionaire.”
In 1964, he joined his first semi professional band, Terry Webb and The Spiders,and met his future wife, Pat Phillips, at a dance in Kidderminster. He also played in other Birmingham bands, including The Nicky James Movement and The Senators.
Bonham needed some persuading to join the newly-formed Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant had to send eight telegrams to Bonham’s favourite pub, the Three Men In A Boat, at Walsall, while the band’s manager, Peter Grant, reputedly followed this with a further 40 telegrams to the pub.
The drummer was famed for his hard-hitting style - he used the largest drum stick on the market - and was famed for his drum solo Moby Dick which could last for half an hour.
Bonham’s son, Jason Bonham, 42, is also a drummer and played with Led Zeppelin in their reunion show in December 2007. Bonham’s daughter, Zoe, 33, is a singer-songwriter. Thanks to KPE6zep