Iron Maiden are touring in a unique fashion in 2008. They will be traveling in a specially commissioned and customised Boeing 757, flown by Airline Captain and Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

The Astraeus 757, decked out in Maiden and Eddie designs, will carry the band, road crew and other personnel of around 70 people plus over 12 tons of equipment.

This first leg of the ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME’ World Tour opens in Mumbai India on Feb 1st, and continues through Australia and Japan before arriving in the U.S.

The entourage then fly to Mexico then the band’s first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Columbia, and then on to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rica and New York, before finishing in Toronto on March 16th.

Comments Bruce Dickinson, “I have been flying commercial passenger jets for Astraeus Airlines for a few years now and we are commissioning an Astraeus Boeing 757. It will go in for overhaul, painting and conversion in November which will then give us time to ensure we have all the necessary safety documentation, especially with regard to fire safety. It also means it could possibly be flying commercial air routes decked out in Maiden colours for a couple of months before we start!”

To tie in with forthcoming 2008 releases on DVD of the classic ‘LIVE AFTER DEATH’ concert video this tour, aptly entitled ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME’, will revisit the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on the 80’s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which will be based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the 1984-85 ‘Powerslave Tour’. This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.

So Far there are only 2 US dates and the closest to Detroit is the Toronto show.

This week's question comes from Jill Goldesberry, IA “Why aren't Jorma Kaukonen or Jack Casady in your Hall of Fame?”

So far there are only 24 guitarists that have been inducted. All of them have been voted in by listeners and music fans who visit the Chop Shop website. It’s not suppressing that the biggest names Hendrix, Page, Van Halen & Jeff Beck were the first to be inducted. As for Jorma Kaukonen, the average listener wouldn’t know who he is. Even considering his work with Jefferson Airplane and his outstanding acoustic work he would finish dead last in the voting, simply because very few people know his name. As for Jack Casady he is known primarily as a bass player, and therefore it makes no sense to talk about adding him to a Hall of Fame of guitarists.

¶ 9:32 AM

Thursday, November 08, 2007
weekly email question

This week’s email question comes from Chad in Davenport, Iowa, who gets the Chop Shop on Q106.5. “Do you think CDs will ever become obsolete?”

Yes, at some point they all bite the dust, reel to reel, 8-Track tapes, records, cassettes have all disappeared. We have already seen a dramatic shift among the youngest generation who only use CDs or DVDs to back up their mp3 collections.
I do think that digital music will be here to stay, but the digital formats are likely to change. The concept of “on-demand” will also play a larger roll in the music and broadcast industries. People are becoming used to watching (through the Tivo/DVR revolution) shows when ever they feel like it. Music and programming must do the same. It will be done mainly through web sites, but shows like the Chop Shop will ultimately need to be ready for listeners on their own timetable.

¶ 9:46 AM


Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Last week I made a quick trip to Florida to get ready for this year’s 2-hour Chop Shop Christmas special. For the 4^th year in a row the special will be hosted by the guitarists of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, what is different this year is the timing and the number of guitarists.

I usually wait for the T.S.O. tour to hit Detroit, Toledo or Grand Rapids to sit down with the guys and record the CS/Christmas special but this year they are playing so many matinee shows, that the timing would have been tuff to record 2-hours worth of stuff. The solution was for me to go to Florida and interview the band members during their tour rehearsals. This gave us more time to record, allows me get the show produced sooner for affiliates that want the special early to tie into the T.S.O. tour schedule and it gave me access to both touring troupes TSO East and TSO West.

This years CS/TSO special will feature all 4 guitarists, Chris Caffery (Savatage/Doctor Butcher), Alex Skolnick (Testament/Savatage), Al Pitrelli (Alice Cooper/Megadeth/Savatage), Angus Clark (Kitaro/Naked Sun) as well as electric violinist Mark Wood (toured with Steve Vai, Celine Dion, Dee Snider).

The 5 of them will talk about their amazing journey over the last 12 years to become the #1 Seasonal touring band in the world, what it’s like spending Christmas on the road and being part of the biggest light, sound and performance show in the world.

The Chop Shop/TSO Christmas special will be on all across the nation Christmas week, with most stations running the 2-hour show on Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

¶ 9:00 AM

Thursday, November 01, 2007
Listeners questions

We’ve started answering Chop Shop listeners email questions here on the blog.

This week’s question comes from Nick in Barboursville, WV who listens on WRVC Planet 92.7. "How many CDs do you own and what artist do you own the most of?"

I don’t really know, I have 5 CD racks that hold about 350 CDs each, plus another cabinet that holds maybe 100, and I have a separate shelf that holds all local or “Unsigned” band’s CDs and there are 200 or so there, plus the stacks on the floor, I’m guessing it’s in the neighborhood of 2000 to 2500 somewhere.

The artists I have the most of are Frank Zappa, I have 78 different Zappa CDs, 21 Alice Cooper CSs & 18 from the Cure.

¶ 12:19 PM