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There was talk of Sheryl Crow joining the band. Doesn't look like that's happening. --Howard

Jason wasn't the leader of Jellyfish (no "The") but he did play guitar and bass on the band's debut album, "Bellybutton." Singer/drummer Andy Sturmer and keyboardist Roger Manning were the creative core of Jellyfish, a band with many fans here. Jason Falkner also has a second solo CD out, "Can You Still Feel?", which is also very, very good. As on "Author Unknown," he plays every instrument and sings every part. Howard

ROD STEWART SAYS THE FACES WILL HIT THE ROAD THIS SUMMER Rod Stewart confirmed that he and the surviving Faces -- Ron Wood, Ian MacLagan, and Kenney Jones -- will hit the road for the first time since 1975. The band held their first rehearsal on Monday (November 16th). On Friday (November 13th) Stewart was asked by mirror.co.uk if the tour rumors were to be believed: "Yes, absolutely...It will be next summer and I am looking forward to it. It'll be great." When asked about bandmate Ron Wood's current problems, including splitting from his wife, falling off the wagon which resulted in yet another rehab stint -- as well as living with a 20-something Russian model -- Stewart said, "Ronnie is up to it. He is full of energy and very excited. We try not to mix our family problems with work. I'll say you said 'hi.'" No firm dates for the reunion have been announced. A touring member of Stewart's live band was said to be on hand for Monday's rehearsal, but there has been no word as to whether he'll be the permanent bassist for the tour. The Faces formed in 1969 when Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott quit the band to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. The band -- which included cofounder and bassist Ronnie Lane -- enlisted the help of Stewart and Wood -- who, being several inches taller than their diminutive bandmates, forced the group to drop the "Small" from their name. Prior to that, both Stewart and Wood were in the Jeff Beck Group. Between leaving the band and and linking up with the Faces, Stewart had signed a solo deal with Mercury Records. In the six years that the band was together, Stewart ran double duty recording numerous solo hit albums -- with Wood's help -- and recording harder, less commercial rock albums with the Faces for Warner Bros. The Faces incorporated all of Stewart's solo work into their repertoire, which led the band to feel at times they were merely backing Stewart. Their best known band hit was 1972's "Stay With Me" which peaked at Number 17. Ronnie Lane left in 1973 following the band's 1973 swan song, Ooh La La, and was replaced by Japanese bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, who returned to Japan following the band's 1975 split. Ron Wood began touring with the Rolling Stones in 1975 -- while still in the Faces -- becoming an official member the following year. Ronnie Lane died in 1997 due to complications from Multiple Sclorosis. Kenney Jones replaced Keith Moon in the Who in late 1978 and was kicked out of the band in 1988. Ian MacLagan went on to record and tour with the Stones and Stewart, and also married Keith Moon's ex-wife Kim Kerrigan, who died in 2006. Back in 2004, MacLagan oversaw the band's box set called Five Guys Walk Into A Bar... He says that he'd forgotten just how good a band the Faces were until he went back over their music for the four-CD set: "I was surprised, constantly, you know, in the playing, (and) the singing, you know? I fell in love with the band again, 'cause I hadn't really listened to the stuff -- I knew what the records sounded like, kind of, but I hadn't sat down and listened to them. Strong stuff -- we rocked!" Rod Stewart's next U.S dates are set for January 29th and 30th in Hollywood, Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Live.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I'm lovin' me some "Til I Die." One of BW's best to these ears. So brutally honest about where he was at that time: I'm a cork on the ocean Floating over the raging sea How deep is the ocean? How deep is the ocean? I lost my way That's some pretty good sh%t right there.

The last surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience has passed on. Great drummer, just finished a tribute tour. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081112/ap_en_ot/obit_mitch_mitchell PORTLAND, Ore. – Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s and the group's last surviving member, was found dead in his hotel room early Wednesday. He was 61. Mitchell was a powerful force on "Are You Experienced?" the 1967 debut album of the Hendrix band. He had an explosive drumming style that can be heard in hard-charging songs such as "Fire" and "Manic Depression." The Englishman had been drumming for the Experience Hendrix Tour, which performed Friday in Portland. It was the last stop on the West Coast part of the tour. Hendrix died in 1970. Noel Redding, bass player for the trio, died in 2003. An employee at Portland's Benson Hotel called police after discovering Mitchell's body. Erin Patrick, a deputy medical examiner, said Mitchell apparently died of natural causes. An autopsy was planned. Bob Merlis, a spokesman for the tour, said Mitchell had stayed in Portland for a four-day vacation and planned to leave Wednesday. "It was a devastating surprise," Merlis said. "Nobody drummed like he did." He said he saw Mitchell perform two weeks ago in Los Angeles, and the drummer appeared to be healthy and upbeat. Merlis said the tour was designed to bring together veteran musicians who had known Hendrix — like Mitchell — and younger artists, such as Grammy-nominated winner Jonny Lang, who have been influenced by him. Mitchell was a one-of-a-kind drummer whose "jazz-tinged" style was a vital part of both the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Experience Hendrix Tour that ended last week, Merlis said. "If Jimi Hendrix were still alive," Merlis said, "he would have acknowledged that." Mitchell played for numerous other bands but was best known for his work in the Jimi Hendrix Experience, which was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1992. According to the Hall of Fame, he was born July 9, 1947, in Ealing, England. Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell held their first rehearsal in October 1996, according to the Hall of Fame's Web site. In an interview last month with the Boston Herald, Mitchell said he met Hendrix "in this sleazy little club." "We did some Chuck Berry and took it from there," Mitchell told the newspaper. "I suppose it worked."

VH1 Classic premiered its one-hour "The Story of Mudcrutch" special last night, Tuesday 11/11. I caught most of it, well worth checking out. The channel will rerun it on the following days (Eastern time, I believe): Thurs, 11/13, 1 a.m. Friday, 11/14, 4 p.m. Sunday, 11/16, 10 p.m. Tuesday, 11/18, 12 midnight Weds, 11/19, 4 p.m. more info at vh1classic.com

Marvin, where is Klaatu?

And now comes this latest news item (from wmgk.com news) concerning a loving fan encounter with Mr. Peace and Love: Ringo Starr had a run-in with an overzealous fan on Sunday night (November 9th) in Monaco after accepting the prestigious Diamond award on behalf of the Beatles at the World Music Awards. Mirror.co.uk reported that the Beatle drummer clashed with a starstruck fan, with an eyewitness explaining, "A middle-aged woman ran over and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over. Ringo was a bit shocked, he just wanted to get away. After he shouted at her she looked absolutely stunned, but he just walked away." Allheadline news.com reported that Starr was heard to scream at the woman, "Get off me. F*** off!"

Well said, Johns P and O. Plant has always had trouble replicating his recorded performances onstage--especially the high notes. Even in "The Song Remains the Same," he doesn't hit the heights he did on record--and he was young then! And I agree the money doesn't mean much to him. The Zeps are very rich, so they don't need to do it for the big payday. I think Page, Jones and Bonham want to do it for fun--to "have a play." When you get that rich, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. They'd enjoy playing together. If Plant doesn't want to have a go, they'll get another singer--so they can play. The big question to me is if they'll go out as "Led Zeppelin" or do something like what "Howe Squire and White of Yes" are doing currently. I think using the band name would be a bit misleading, but there's a lot of commercial firepower in those two words.

Speaking of Cream, check out this doozy, reported today on Philly Classic Rock Station WMGK's site: GINGER BAKER PREPARED TO STRIP IN COURT Ginger Baker says that he's prepared to strip in court to prove that his former assistant was never his lover, according to timesonline.co.uk. The Cream and Blind Faith drummer is embroiled in a lawsuit against his former assistant Lindiwe Noko, who the drummer claims defrauded him out of over $45,000. Noko has claimed that she and Baker were lovers and that any money she received was a gift. Baker has stated that he can prove that he and the woman were never lovers due to the fact that he has a scar that would be obvious to Noko had they been intimate: "I'm quite prepared to strip. It may well come down to it. I've a scar that only a woman who had a thing with me would know. It's there and she doesn't know it's there." A hearing in the case is scheduled in Britain in January.

I wonder if he was serious about bringing TR into Cream ... probably not (I'll be if, say, Peter Frampton was walking by at the time, he would've mentioned him), but that would be an interesting lineup. Tho' I'd imagine after his recent experience with The New Cars, replacing an iconic member of another classic band would be about the LAST thing Todd would do right now... --Howard

Will Zep follow in the footsteps of Journey, Yes, Boston, etc., and get a young buck to take the place of their legendary frontman? Posted today on Aces Showbiz.com and elsewhere: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00018920.html Despite Robert Plant's refusal, Led Zeppelin will still continue with their plan to hit the road. Twisted Sister's frontman Dee Snider tells MuchMoreMusic that the rockers will be touring with Alter Bridge's singer Myles R. Kennedy. "They're saying [to Robert], 'We're all rehearsed, we're ready to go, here's a gazillion dollars on the table," Snider says. "If you don't do it, we're going out with this kid. And he can sing the shit out of Zeppelin.' And they're gonna, like, hope that Robert, at the last minute, will go, 'OK,' and step in, before having the lead singer of Alter Bridge out with John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Jason Bonham." There hasn't any statement from both Zeppelin and Kennedy's camps referring to the rumor. Previously, Robert revealed that he had "no intention whatsoever of touring with anyone for at least the next two years." Robert also admitted that he "will not be recording with LED ZEPPELIN." Robert was reportedly reluctant to be back with the band again after they faced huge amounts of paperwork from the record industry bureaucracy during their one-off gig at London's O2 arena. ___ Could very well be BS, but Jason Bonham did say on a radio interview a few weeks back that he, Page and Jones are working on new music and rehearsing together ... and Plant has repeatedly said he won't do no Zep tour, no how. Time will tell, and stranger things have happened... --Howard

He made such a vital contribution to the band, frequently overlooked as the spotlight shone on Waters and Gilmour. Listen to the piano on "Us and Them" off "Dark Side...": beautiful feel, a very delicate touch. He also wrote and sang a lot of their early songs in the Syd Barrett days. Worth checking out if you're a Floyd fan and can find it is his final solo album, 1997's "Broken China," a very PF-like concept album about his wife's battles with depression. Sinead O'Connor guested on two songs. R.I.P. --Howard

There's also a rumor going around that the tour may be billed as "Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes" ... rather than calling it Yes outright. H

HUGE Zappa fan myself. Good call to give him props. Another wonderful musician discovered by Zappa: Adrian Belew. --Howard

True, Billy K ... also reminiscent of the Dennis DeYoung/Styx situation (DDY's nerve condition made him sensitive to stage lighting, so he was replaced by a ... Canadian! Lawrence Gowan), as well as Journey (Steve Perry needed hip replacement, held off on getting it, enter Steve Augeri). In the Styx and Journey cases, I 'spect the health situations gave the bands an opening to cut ties with someone they wanted out anyway. Big rifts between Shaw/JY and DDY as well as Schon/Cain vs. Perry. I don't think the surviving Doors were getting along too well either when Ray and Robbie hit the road as Doors of 21st Century and started getting sued by Densmore. Doesn't seem like that was the case with Yes. They were going to do shows this summer. In the official announcement, released today, Chris Squire referred to Benoit David as an "understudy" and mentioned the possibility of JA coming back at some point. Here's the official story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_en_ce/music_yes --Howard

Apparently Yes is the latest band to pluck its new lead singer from a tribute band ... the prog-rock veterans have reportedly chosen Benoit David, who sings with Quebec-based (that's right, Marvin--a Canadian!) tribute band Close to the Edge (www.ctte.net) to sing on the band's upcoming fall tour, with Rick Wakeman's son Oliver on keyboards joining Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White. Yes was supposed to tour this summer, but that was scrapped when Jon Anderson had a life-threatening asthma attack. He's apparently left the band, or been canned, depending, I guess, on who you ask, and the band has opted to carry on. You can check out Benoit David (not to be confused with jazz pianist David Benoit) singing with Close to the Edge here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3BFuxBayxg Full details on the Yes saga at: www.bondegezou.co.uk/wnyesm.htm --Howard

Electric: Standard Stratocaster (made in Mexico) satin finish, burgundy with black pick guard and walnut neck. Nice for about $400. Acoustic: Dean acoustic-electric. Has a nice sound, actually. $200 on eBay, including hard case. Bass: A Peavey "Fury" sunburst model I picked up for $68 in a used instrument shop --Howard

Hey Billy K, Pat Travers is actually still active in the music biz...admittedly on a smaller scale than his heyday. Classic Rock Revisited recently did an interview with him: http://classicrockrevisited.com/Interviews/08/PatTravers2008.dwt --Howard

You can now stream the entire "Lucky Old Sun" CD at: http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/00/99999999/BRIANWILSON/80814001 --Howard

Shaun Cassidy backed and produced by Todd Rundgren and Utopia on his 1980 LP "Wasp" ... including a screamingly weird falsetto cover version of Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" ... pretty cool album, actually... --Howard

Word is Augeri's working on a solo album, and he is doing a festival show in Europe with his old band, Tall Stories. I agree with you, Jeff. Steve A was working at The Gap, he gets his once-in-a-lifetime shot, and now he's replaced, just like Perry was by him. That must suck. And the new CD pkg at Wal-Mart already outsold "Generations" in its first week. Ouch!

Jeff, no doubt Augeri was a good Perry clone. Trouble is, I think, the job takes its toll on your voice, and his was ripped up by years of constant touring and doing those songs every night, to the point he was replaced by a hard drive, and then Jeff Scott Soto, who ended up being just a temp tour fill-in. In a recent interview on MelodicRock.com, former Journey manager Herbie Herbert talked about how Steve Perry himself can't cut it anymore singing Journey songs. So now we have Pineda. Interestingly, I don't think he was the first guy they worked with ... Jeremy Hunsicker, singer of Journey Tribute band "Frontiers", got a songwriting credit on the first song on the new CD, "Never Walk Away." No one's saying he had the job at any point, just that he took part in a "writing session," but do the math. As for Perry, I hear he did some writing with Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt recently. HB

BTW, Paul, Cheap Trick did do "Voices" in April. That was a full show, 90 minutes, so it's anyone's guess if they do it on the Journey tour.

Actually, AJ, I saw Cheap Trick play a corporate event in April and they most certainly did play "The Flame." While they've been outspoken about how they didn't write it and didn't like it, it was, I believe, the biggest chart hit of their careers. For that reason, I wouldn't be surprised if they played it on the Journey tour. Tours like that--3 bands playing shorter sets, especially the two openers--are all about doing the hits. --Howard