Friday, April 29, 2005
Steve Black and Jasin Todd from Shinedown
¶ 4:04 PM
4/29/05 V.I.P. Show #4 and Testament
Last night was the RIF, Miller Lite V.I.P. show with 3DG, Seether and Shinedown. The show was great, even though the mix was a little ruff in the beginning.
It was cool to see the shinedown guys again. Jasin Todd told me they just covered "Tie Your Mother Down" for a Queen Tribute cd that also features Kid Rock (Fat Bottomed Girls) and Sum 41 (Killer Queen). The band had a great time recording it and is working on their 2nd cd now.
Last night was also the first time I’ve met and interview 3 Days Grace and Seether. Audio from all 3 bands should be up at WRIF.com soon.
I got an email earlier this week from guitarist Alex Skolnick of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He wanted to let me know that after almost 15 years, his first band Testament is doing a reunion tour. For now most of the shows are in Europe, I’ll let you know if they play in Detroit.
Alex also has a Jazz trio called the Alex Skolnick Trio. In addition to originals, they cover metal songs in an instrumental jazz forum. "Blackout" & "Electric Eye" gone jazz….it is pretty cool.
Black Out.
¶ 4:01 PM
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Chris Cornell & Tom Morello
¶ 7:49 PM
4/26/05 Audioslave
Monday’s concert was as good as it gets. Tom Morello is one of the top guitar players of our generation, and Chris Cornell is the premier voice of it.
The song selection was impressive as well. The new stuff sounds great, and the highlight was "Killing in the Name".
I also got to slip onto the tour bus for a while and tape a conversation with Tom Morello for the Chop Shop. This was the first time I have met Tom and I was impressed with his intelligence and charisma.
WRIF arranged for a few lucky fans to hear the new CD, which won’t be released until May 24th. They had a separate tour bus around back. The feedback is that this album may be better than 2003’s double platinum disc.
Sabrina, Mike Staff, Mark Pennington & I did get to see most of soundcheck, so I did hear a few of the new songs that they did not play at the show.
All in all it was a very impressive show….maybe a top 10 all-time. And that comes from someone who has seen 500 plus concerts.
Black Out.
¶ 7:46 PM
Saturday, April 23, 2005
A Great Week For Music
This last week was a busy one. I had the honnor of filling in for Arthur P. all week, plus the Motor City Music Awards on Wednesday, and the Motor City Music Conference all weekend! Thanks to all the bands who were involved and all the hard work so many people put in, this is going to turn it to a massive yearly event.
This week is shaping up nicely as well. WRIF presents the sold out Audioslave show this Monday at the State Theatre. This time around the band is playing some Soundgarden & Rage songs. Here is the set list from the opening show of the tour on April 14th.
01. Set it Off
02. Exploder
03. Your Time Has Come
04. Like a Stone
05. Spoonman
06. Doesn't Remind Me
07. Gasoline
08. Out of Exile
09. Be Yourself
10. Bulls on Parade/Sleep Now in the Fire
11. Outshined
12. Shadow on the Sun
Encore
13. Black Hole Sun
14. I am the Highway
15. Show Me How to Live
16. Killing in the Name
17. Cochise
If you are one of the lucky ones….The RIF crew and I will see you at the V.I.P. show this Thursday at the Masonic for 3DG, Shinedown and Seether.
Check back later in the week for news on the Testament reunion tour.
Black Out.
¶ 10:39 AM
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Kenny Olson of Kid Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker Band
¶ 11:49 AM
4/17/05 Kenny Olson
I called Kenny Olson (Kid Rock’s lead guitarist) at his home in Traverse City a couple of days ago. Kenny is doing great! He has a new CD on the way called "Pack of Wolves". Kenny told me this new project has allowed him to take his playing to new heights. He said "I’m gonna bring back what has been lost in the guitar world".
He also has a signature series Gibson Les Paul that will be available this summer. And speaking of Les Paul, Kenny is also playing on an upcoming Les Paul tribute CD along with Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.
Here is a quote from Eric Clapton posted on ultimateguitar.com. "Those of us who play the guitar both young and old know Kenny Olson," said Eric Clapton. "He is well respected by his peers and is respected for his playing not for who he plays for."
Kenny Olson will be my guest in the Chop Shop in early May.
Black Out.
¶ 11:46 AM
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Black & Mac at the Sports Rock Shop
¶ 11:16 AM
The Sports Rock Shop
Yesterday was a cool day. I got to hang out with some of Detroit’s finest bands at the new Sports Rock Shop in the Livonia Mall. Vinnie from Sponge, the Dirty Americans, Zug Island, Paradime and Darren McCarty from Grinder were all on hand to promote the up coming Motor City Music Convention.
It was nice to see Vinny again, It had been over a year since I’ve seen him, He always keeps himself busy. It was also good to catch up with Darren McCarty. Mac has used the lack of hockey to spend more time focusing on his music, as you can tell by the blue Mohawk.
If you get a chance stop by the store and check out all the cool WRIF gear.
Click back here in a few days for some news on Kenny Olson from Kid Rock’s band.
Black Out.
¶ 11:12 AM
Monday, April 11, 2005
A shot of Steve Vai that I snaped at the Crossraods festival last summer.
¶ 9:57 AM
4/10/05 Concerts
WOW! What a show from Steve Vai this past Friday night in Royal Oak. Many people know Steve is one of the best guitar players the earth has ever know, but he is also among the showmen as well.
The concert schedule is really starting to fill up, it is going to be another great summer in Detroit. Here are some shows on my personal "Can’t Miss List"
Audioslave (sold out) on the 25th
WRIF V.I.P. show #4 Shinedown & 3DG & Seether on the 28th
Velvet Revolver on the 30th
The Mars Volta on May 5th
Judas Priest & Queensryche on June 4th
& Iron Maiden at Ozzfest in August.
Black Out.
¶ 9:52 AM
Friday, April 08, 2005
Steve & Sabrina Black, March 2005
¶ 5:30 PM
Sabrina Update
So often, whether I'm out at clubs (like last night at Gator Jakes) or email or phone calls people are asking for updates on my wife's fight with cancer. She sends out an occasional update and gave me the O.K. to post her latest:
Aloha! It’s been about 3 months since I wrote an update, and there have been quite a few changes, so here goes.
In the 3rd week of December, I had a CaT Scan that showed my active Hodgkin’s Disease tumours to be stable—no progression, but no regression either. Exactly 2 months later, at the end of February, my CaT Scan showed marked growth, with a very large tumour in the pelvic area, another on my spine, which was causing me a great deal of pain, and what appears to be cancer in my bones. Very bad news. The pain was on the far tip of my right ribcage, and started off as an occasional discomfort when I woke up, progressing within weeks to a SCREAMING ouchy all day long. At my clinic check up a few weeks back, they decided first to manage the pain. (I was in favor of that!) I was taking codeine, but that was no longer curbing the agony, so I moved up the pain meds ladder to the bigtime! Morphine. I’m not real excited about taking morphine on a regular basis, but hurting all the time is a lousy choice, too.
My Karmanos doctors, and Stephanie Mellon-Reppen, my awesome nurse-practioner, who follows me EVERY visit, sent me back to Dr. Decker, my fabulous Beaumont oncologist, to talk about chemotherapy and radiation. Dr. Decker consulted with Dr. Voravit, my main (and scary smart) oncologist at Karmanos, and together they decided that radiation, followed by chemo was the way to go. They sent me to Dr. Forman, who is now my radiation oncologist, and he got me set up to be measured and tattood (so they can always find the EXACT spot where the radiation is to be pointed) and start radiation within two days. Unfortunately, the tats are just little blue dots. Nothing fun like "Mother" or "These Colors Don’t Run". Black and I were going to Florida the following week, and Dr. Forman thought getting a few treatments before the trip would help with the pain management. And he was right! That’s why they get paid so much, I'm pretty sure. I felt great the whole time we were down there at Kamp Kallen Kondo and we had an awesome vacation, which surely helped with my mood.
We resumed the radiation treatments this week, and the always entertaining Dr. Forman thinks I’ll be getting another 1-2 week’s worth. That’s going every day, Mon-Fri. When that’s done, I’ll be starting a chemotherapy regimen, a "baby" chemo. Probably something called Gemzar, which is fairly new. They can’t really blast me with heavy duty drugs, because of the condition of my heart, and that’s the same reason they won’t give me a cocktail of mixed chemos. My heart is functioning at about 30%, which is a lousy percentage, but still better than the 20% I was working with last year, so I’ll take the extra 10%, thankyouverymuch.
As always, we SOOOOO appreciate the cards, the prayers, the good vibes and the well wishes we receive from everyone. The support from all of you makes it possible for me to keep fighting, and some days it is really hard. But there’s really no choice in the matter, because I want to live, as long as I can have a decent quality of life.
Thanks for the love.
Peace & Love,
Sabrina
¶ 5:19 PM
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Steve Black with Alter Bridge
¶ 7:45 AM
Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge made an apperence at the WRIF studios yesterday. They are super cool guys and fun to see live, as they played 3 acoustic songs for a group of lucky RIF listeners, and played them flawlessly at that.
I did manage to sit down with lead guitarist Mark Tremonti for a Chop Shop interview. Mark has already been on the show twice, (you can listen to my last Alter Bridge interview at www.chopshopradio.net) and I wanted to include him in the Chop Shop one year anniversary show next month along with Joe Perry (thanks to Doug Podell) & Zakk Wylde (Thanks to Mark Pennington).
My next apperence will be at the Steve Vai show this Friday at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, stop out and say hello.
Black out.
¶ 7:24 AM
GO TIGERS
Tiger's opening day was huge! The State theatre was packed with the Doc. & Sponge, and even the guys form Alter Bridge stoping by. The weather was perfect, and the team kicked some "Royal" butt 11-2. Thanks to everyone who who made it out to the WRIF post game party as well at the Lions Roar inside the MGM Grand. We will see you out at the ball park several times this season!
Blackout.
¶ 7:18 AM
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Black and Zakk 
¶ 8:12 AM
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