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“My father … lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning,” Wolfgang Van Halen wrote. “My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss”
Eddie Van Halen, the legendary guitar innovator and virtuoso who led Van Halen through five decades and three lead singers, establishing himself as one of the all-time great players in rock history, died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.
“I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning,” his son Wolfgang Van Halen wrote. “He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss.”
“40 years ago my life changed forever when I met you,” Van Halen’s ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli wrote. “You gave me the one true light in my life, our son, Wolfgang. Through all your challenging treatments for lung cancer, you kept your gorgeous spirit and that impish grin. I’m so grateful Wolfie and I were able to hold you in your last moments. I will see you in our next life my love.”
Read More: RollingStone
The music world has suffered a great loss as Van Halen guitarist and co-founder Eddie Van Halen has died at the age of 65.
Born in Amsterdam to Jan van Halen and Eugenia van Halen, Edward was part of a musical family. His father was a clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist. The family moved to Pasadena, California in February 1962 and Eddie and his brother Alex gravitated toward music at a young age, with both siblings starting on piano at the age of six. Eddie eventually picked up guitar, admitting years later in an interview that he did not read music. The guitarist learned from watching and listening, making his improvisational skills all the more impressive.
Eddie and Alex formed their first band in 1972, eventually adopting the Van Halen family name for the group in the mid-'70s and landing a record deal with Warner Bros. in 1977. The band, which by that point featured David Lee Roth on vocals and Michael Anthony on bass, released their self-titled debut album in 1978, bolstered by Eddie's ear-catching guitar playing on their introductory cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me." The album also featured "Eruption," a track displaying Eddie's nimble guitar playing that made him an instant favorite as a new guitar hero in the hard rock scene.
During his time with Van Halen, the band released 12 studio albums, including the Diamond certified 1984 , which has sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. Other accolades included a Grammy in 1992 for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal for their album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge . Van Halen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Eddie's skills were also heavily sought out by many of his peers. He famously delivered the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's "Beat It" off the Thriller album. He's also worked with KISS, Black Sabbath, Brian May, Roger Waters, Steve Lukather and LL Cool J among others.
The guitarist made headlines in 1981 when he wed One Day at a Time actress Valerie Bertinelli. The couple are the parents of Wolfgang Van Halen. In 2005, the couple split. He remarried, tying the knot with Janie Liszewski in 2009.
In 2000, Eddie underwent treatment for tongue cancer and had a portion of his tongue removed. He was declared cancer free in 2002.
Van Halen is widely recognized as one of the greatest guitarists in rock history, with his influence felt across players of a whole generation.
Abbey Road Studios Shut Down for the First Time in 89 Years. Now, It’s Thriving
By localbandz, 2020-09-16
The iconic studios have started welcoming more livestream events, like the one post-punks Idles recently played, and have adopted new measures to adapt to social distancing.
Abbey Road Studios was prepared when they closed their doors for nearly three months in March due to Covid-19 restrictions. Many of the artists and orchestras had already started moving their bookings, and the staff had begun working on an operational strategy. But still, the shuttering gave them pause. “Abbey Road had never closed before,” Mark Robertson, the studios’ Head of Brand & Communications, tells Rolling Stone . “We’re 90 years old next year, and this is the first time that the studios have closed. It was a really significant deal.”
Today, as Robertson and Abbey Road’s manager, Fiona Gillott, walk from the building’s entrance, where a contactless check-in system greets guests, to Studio Three, the halls look unusually empty. The studios reopened on June 4th, but with reduced capacities. There are signs encouraging people to stay two meters apart, and both Gillott and Robertson, who speak with Rolling Stone via Zoom, wear masks until they’re a safe distance from each other in the studio.
Read More: RollingStone
Our new single, Poison In Your Well, drops this Friday, September 18, on all streaming platforms. Whether you listen to Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon, you'll be able to hear us on your preferred streaming service.
But... You don't have to wait until Friday!! We are going to give you an Exclusive "Sneak Peak" at both the song & the lyric video right NOW!!
You can go to our Home page at https://dmlconspiracy.com/home . This is our way of saying Thank You for all of your support. We couldn't do any of this without you.
This has been an incredible year for us in spite of all of the current world events. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to play out live, but we have been able to continue to write and record new music. And for this, we are grateful.
The new lyric video for Poison In Your Well is available to preview on our Video page at https://dmlconspiracy.com/videos . Special thanks to Rich Ravarino for creating the new video for us.
This Friday, both the song and video will be available to everyone else, in the meantime, we hope you enjoy.
In other great news, An Act Of Defiance has been submitted for Grammy consideration for the 63rd Annual Grammy's in 2021. So please cross your fingers and wish us luck. We will definitely be representing all of our fans should we get a nomination.
In addition to that, our last single, Hello Superman, has already been streamed over 1000 times on Spotify within its first month!! We have been getting a lot of traction for this song and we hope to keep the momentum going with Poison In Your Well next.
As always, we appreciate everything that you do for us.
Keep Rock & Roll Alive!!
Dodd Michael Lede
www.dmlconspiracy.com
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Foo Fighters have cancelled their upcoming 25th anniversary Van Tour.
Dave Grohl and his bandmates were scheduled to hit the road this spring but the trek was rescheduled due to the coronavirus crisis.
And after initially postponing the tour to October, the group has now decided to axe the dates altogether.
"Foo Fighters have cancelled the Van Tour 2020," a statement posted on social media reads. "For further information, please visit your point of purchase. We look forward to seeing you all as soon as it is safe for everyone to do so."
The Van Tour was scheduled to revisit the venues from the Best of You band's first U.S. tour in 1995.
The rockers' titular debut album celebrated its 25th anniversary in July, frontman and Grohl reflected on the record in a new interview with Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music’s Beats 1, and revealed that he recorded an cassette tape version by himself “for fun”.
“I actually recorded the whole thing in sequence,” he shared. “I was really, really excited to do this. I mean, it was almost like a school project. I was preparing, I had charts.”
Grohl also revealed his favourite song from the album was Exhausted.
Jimi Hendrix's Japanese sunburst electric guitar has sold for more than £160,000 ($209,000) at auction.
The late music icon - who chocked on his own vomit and died at the age of just 27 in September 1970, and was one of the first rock stars to join the famous cult 27 club - used the popular instrument after being discharged from the army in 1962 and when he performed for acts including the Isley Brothers.
The classic piece went under the hammer at GWS Auctions and was only expected to fetch £38,000 ($50,000), but it sold for £138,000 ( $180,000), plus fees, meaning the total spent on the sought-after instrument by the winning bidder was £165,000 ( $216,000).
As per the description of the guitar on GWS' website, Hendrix used the instrument when he "played on the Chitlin’ Circuit with the likes of Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner and Jackie Wilson before moving to Harlem, New York in early 1964."
Hendrix's friend Mike Quashie - who influenced the 'Purple Haze' rocker's music - signed a letter confirming the electric sunburst belonged to the rock legend before his passing last year.
The listing stated that the guitar is “in well-loved condition” and was “keep it in its original state” without any strings on it.
The Hendrix sale comes just two months after Kurt Cobain's acoustic guitar from Nirvana's iconic 1993 'MTV Unplugged in New York' performance sold for a record-breaking $6 million (£4.85 million) at auction.
The 1959 Martin D-18E - which was often out of tune - was expected to fetch between $1million (£810,835) and $2 million (£1.62 million) at the online 'Music Icons' sale hosted by Julien's Auctions, but it ended up breaking the record for the most expensive guitar ever.
The priceless instrument - which was bought by an Australian businessman - succeeded the black Stratocaster owned by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, which sold for $3.95 million in 2019, as the most expensive guitar.
Hour of Anguish
hourofanguish@gmail.com
www.hourofanguish.com
July 13th, 2020
Hour of Anguish
The New Wave of Swedish Melodic Metal
Over 100 years ago Oscar Wilde said, 'Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.'
Gothenburg, Sweden's "Hour of Anguish" is a living embodiment of this expression.
“Grow. Advance. Explore. Evolve.” Are the guiding principles of Hour of Anguish's New Album, "Into the Empty" releasing July 31st 2020.
Standing tall on the shoulders of the giants that inspired them – bands like Soilwork, In Flames, Lamb of God, Slipknot & Dark Tranquility – Hour of Anguish looks to push beyond the horizon set by these metal masters, define, and pioneer the New Wave of Swedish Melodic Metal.
This 9-song album is a genre bending amalgamation of force, ferocity, balance, and beauty. “Into the Empty” is one-part existentialism and one-part unbridled aggression. Think beauty and the beast – the album in written to be unrelenting, compelling, melodic metal for the masses.
"We challenge people to forget they think they know about metal and get lost in our music." Says Andreas, "Metal is always growing and evolving, we want to reflect that with “Into the Empty”. We have grown a tremendous amount since our last release and I really think we are going to give people a little of what they know and a ton they never expected."
"I focused on building themes questioning mortality, morality, isolation, and self-liberation. We are really in a time where the world feels like it is on the edge of a knife," remarks Richard, “people keep preaching the ‘End of Days’, I really rode that wave in the writing process and art.”
“Into the Empty” is bleak, beautiful, jump into the unknown, and we are excited to have you with us in the journey.
To learn more, visit us at www.hourofanguish.com.
Contact:
Hour of Anguish
hourofanguish@gmail.com
www.hourofanguish.com
“She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many,” said husband John Travolta
Kelly Preston, the actress best known for her role as the fiancée of Tom Cruise’s character in Jerry Maguire , died Sunday. She was 57.
The actress’s husband, John Travolta , shared the news on Instagram Monday. “It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,” he wrote. “She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.”
Born October 13th, 1962, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Preston studied acting at the University of Southern California and began her career with minor roles on television shows like, For Love and Honor. In 1985, she landed her first major movie role with the teen comedy Mischief .
Preston’s breakthrough came a few years later when she portrayed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love interest in the 1988 comedy film Twins . That same year, Preston met Travolta while they worked on the film The Experts . The couple would marry in 1991.
Preston worked steadily on various film and TV projects during the early Nineties, before landing Jerry Maguire in 1996. It wasn’t a huge role, but Preston made the most of it, particularly a scene where she tells off Cruise’s Maguire with a few punches to the face and a knee to the gut after he unceremoniously dumps her.
In addition to Jerry Maguire , Preston portrayed Jane Aubrey in 1999’s For Love of the Game , and made a cameo appearance in the 2000 sci-fi film Battlefield Earth , starring Travolta. Her final film role was in the Travolta-helmed Gotti , in 2018, as the wife to Mafia boss John Gotti. To prepare for the role, Preston met with the real-life Victoria Gotti and formed a relationship with her.
“We sat there for hours, just talking and eating,” Preston said at a press meeting during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. “I spent the whole day with her family. I also had an email relationship with her, and she would tell me everything.”
Preston is survived by Travolta and their children, Ella Bleu and Benjamin. Their eldest son, Jett died in 2009 at age 16 after having a seizure.
BlueNevada Is Gearing Up for The Comeback with Their Latest Album Release, The Self-Titled EP BlueNevada Share Article The recently-launched BlueNevada EP marks the highly-anticipated comeback and got the crowds ready for more unforgettable shows. News Image FREDERICK, MD. (PRWEB) APRIL 10, 2020 BlueNevada is a Frederick, Maryland based band that performs original rock/jam/blues compositions. The band has been creating and performing for quite some time and they have already released multiple works. The band is founded and fronted by the Corbin brothers, the singer-songwriter duo Shannon Blue and Dusty Nevada. They are joined by Alex Hess (Bass Guitar/Back up/Harmony Vocals), Arney Stewart (Drums/Back up/Harmony Vocals), Autumn Jade and Hannah Hess (Back up/Harmony Vocals). Growing up with influences such as the Grateful Dead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Eagles, and the Beatles, BlueNevada’s music can be described as dance-able and chill-able jams. They have played up and down the East Coast and their wonderful music could be heard in all types of places such as bars, universities, festival stages, and even on Live radio broadcasts. BlueNevada is no stranger to major venues and they have shared the stage to headliners such as The Jerry Garcia Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Tricksters, and many more. Furthermore, BlueNevada has had internet radio airplay from the U.S. all the way to London, as well as airplay on college radio stations. “BlueNevada, a hippie quartet that easily passes my Strunk and White litmus test. Billed as "original rock 'n' roll psychedelia," the quintet is loose and exploratory but minimizes effluvia. Original yet recognizable, they flow between strains of rock, hard-driving funk, even shades of metal,” said Dickson Mercer, Frederick Post. BlueNevada gained a large fan base after two live studio performances on a cable network TV show. The band was highlighted and interviewed on a show that spotlights unsigned bands on commercial radio (Key 103.1, 106.9 The Eagle). Their song "Rhythm Boy" was selected and played again at the end of the year "Best Of" show on that station. This hard-working band has again and again proven its musical devotion with stellar performances on stage, and they are going to prove this again with their comeback album that is right around the corner. BlueNevada has found much success as a DIY indie act but is aiming to take it to the next level. The band wants to target the local D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas mainly, but would also like to go global and see all opportunities. Wherever they go, these musicians hope to spread the fun and good vibes that lie at the center of the band’s sound. They write songs about girls, good times, bad times, anything that creates a passionate emotion that comes out in poetry and music. Recently, they have been very busy recording their upcoming 2020 BlueNevada EP. BlueNevada is a hardworking and fun act that loves playing live music because that is what they do best. For more information about the band, visit their website https://bluenevada.com/official-epk. Furthermore, this website is also being reworked and will display totally new, improved features, keeping the fans informed about the band’s gigs and latest announcements. ABOUT BLUENEVADA Founded in 1996, BlueNevada brings a unique sound, by wittingly combining and approaching multiple musical styles, from jazz, classic rock, chill and jam. The band has been invited to play on numerous festivals, university ceremonies and live on radio stations all over the East Coast. In 2020, the band returned in force with their self-titled EP BlueNevada. Fans and high-quality music enthusiasts are sure to be delighted by this great news. MEDIA CONTACT ADDRESS: Frederick, MD WEBSITE: https://bluenevada.com/ EMAIL: Bluenevadaband@gmail.com PHONE: 2404407907 INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/_bluenevada_/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlueNevadaband/
