Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Music News & Notes

Uh, No Thank You Queenie


The Beatles were honored with the MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965. Four years later, John Lennon returned his medal to Buckingham Palace in protest of a number of issues as outlined in the note that was attached to the award.

"Your Majesty,

"I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.

"With Love, John Lennon."

About 40 years have past since the return of the medal, but it has recently been found by officials at St. James Palace in London. Included in the find was the infamous letter.

St. James Palace officials have contacted Yoko Ono to ask about disposition of the find. A palace spokesperson said:

"John Lennon's MBE is being taken good care of and is in storage at the Central Chancery. It has been retained since the day Mr Lennon returned it, but in order to decide whether the medal could go on display in a museum, we would have to establish ownership first. It could be up to Yoko Ono as she is the custodian of John Lennon's estate."

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Zeppelin To Carry On without Plant

According to the manager for Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin are planning to tour and record a new album, without vocalist Robert Plant.


Although Plant remains on good terms with his former band-mates, he confirmed that he is not interested in the reunion. So Page’s manager Peter Mensch has stated that the band would indeed carry on-if they can find the right singer.

“Jimmy Page has been playing guitar professionally since he was 16 years old,” said Mensch. “Jimmy likes being a musician. That’s what he does! He doesn’t want to be a race car driver or a solicitor.”

“So they (Page, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer Jason Bonham) did the show (at London’s O2 Arena in 2007) with Robert Plant; they had a really good time rehearsing, the three of them, before Robert showed up. And they decided that if they could find a singer that they thought would fit their bill- whatever their bill was at this stage in their career-that they’d make a record and go on tour,” explained Mensch.

“John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page enjoy playing with each other, Jason Bonham is a really good drummer so why not? We just need to find a singer,” he said.

Rumors have swirled as to who the next singer will be, from Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, but Mensch has remained tight-lipped as to who the replacement singer may be.

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New Aerosmith Material?

According to information on Aerosmith’s official website, Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton are hard at work on some new music.

“Happy New Year!” the post reads. “Today is the first day Tom and I are getting back together. We just rehearsed for 2 hours and it feels so good. We can’t wait to get back into the studio and get back out on the road and to do what we do best. We’ll check in from time to time and give you progress on how things are going.”

If they do record a new album, it would be the band’s first original material since “Just Push Play” in 2001.

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Happy Birthday!

On January 12, legendary Country artist Ray Price will celebrate his 83rd birthday with all his fans at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum in Carthage, Texas.

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Frehley Solo Project

KISS veteran Ace Frehley is naming his new solo album “Anomaly.” It will be his first release in more than 18 years and includes songs that he has been writing and collecting over the past twelve.

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