Rockers And Wine?

Maybe it is the age factor. It appears that some classic rockers are getting into wine drinking in a big way.

A while back I stumbled onto an article that described in some detail, Geddy Lee’s personal wine cellar. Lee, and his band members were known to go in search of restaurants that served good wine during their down time while on tour. I guess the boys of Rush are pretty serious about their vino.

Now comes word that legendary classic rock band Foreigner is involved in something that is being billed as “A Multi-City Cross-Promotional Rock and Roll Tour and Sweepstakes,” which apparently involves the group traveling around and doing shows that feature a wine-tasting event before the show.

For more information check out this link.

New Album From Ray Davies

As this article points out, how long has it been since the Kinks have been played regularly on classic rock radio, with the exception of Lola or You Really Got Me?

I always thought the Kinks were a pretty cool band, and that aforementioned hit, Lola has to be one of their coolest songs.

Kinks fans may be happy to hear that Ray Davies is releasing a brand-new album entitled Other People’s Lives.

Getting this album completed was something of an ordeal for Davies who was working on it in the midst of a divorce and was battling with his former record company.

Worse yet, he ended up fighting for his life due to serious complications that arose as a result of a gunshot wound to his leg which he suffered at the hand of some low-life mugger while he was in New Orleans mixing the album.

I rather hope he enjoys some great success with this new album after all he’s been through to get it out the door.

Bo Bice Rocks On

It was the first season that finally hooked me on American Idol. Being a bit of a contrarian by nature, I often have a tendency to reject things that I consider too popular. I am not quite sure what made my wife and myself sit down and decide to tune in one evening, but the result has been that we have been hooked ever since.

Beyond the all-too-typical “how in hell could that person ever imagined they could sing, and whoever told them they could?” of the early audition shows of every season, there are some genuinely good performers who show up on that show.

Bo Bice was one of those performers. Not only was he one of only two rockers to make it into the finals, he was one hell of a performer and took to the stage as if he has been doing it for 20 years.

With one year to go before his planned “retirement” from the music biz, Bice got lucky and hit the big time as the runner up on American Idol and hasn’t slowed down since.

An article in The Cleveland Plain Dealer take a look at Bice, his background and how got to where he is now.

OK, Here’s Another One

At the risk of making this look like a one-hit-wonder website, here is yet another one in what seems to be a growing collection of articles about the newest generation of classic rock fans.

One particular quote from the article that caught my was as follows:

“Though classic rock is in no danger of edging out emo and hip-hop on most teenagers’ playlists, a growing number of kids are also making room for Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles.”

I don’t know about “most teenagers,” but I know that my two teenagers have absolutely no room on their playlists for hip-hop or emo (whoever or whatever that is). They do indulge in some material from more current artists that I have not found terribly inspiring so far, but it’s not material that could be classified as hip-hop or anything like it. And for that I am thankful.

A lot of today’s kids appear to crave actual music, and shouting or talking along with a back beat just ain’t it.

The Classic Rock Generation Gap

Here’s yet another newspaper article about young classic rock fans and the love of classic rock that they share with their parents.

It would be foolish to claim that there is no generation gap where young classic rock fans are concerned, but it does strike me as rather unique (and kinda cool) to see kids and parents whose taste in music overlaps quite significantly.

As surprised as I am by this, it is not something completely new in my experience. My mom has always been pretty “hip” when it comes to music and there were quite a few artists she heard booming from my room that she enjoyed listening to and still likes to this day.

That was a much better experience than the kids that had to hear “Turn that crap down!” all the time, I am sure. It was always neat to have a cool mom and looking back on those years, I appreciate it now more than ever.

In addition, I can now say I have cool kids as well. The best of both worlds!

New Album Coming From Aerosmith

In a conversation with Rolling Stone recently, Steve Tyler of Aerosmith revealed the band’s plans to begin working on a new album in the late spring.

Describing their plans in more detail, Tyler was quoted as saying: “It’s going to be just like what the White Stripes are doing, and like a couple of songs on Sheryl Crow’s new album,” says frontman Steven Tyler. “You’ll listen to it and be like, ‘I’ve heard that before’ — but you never did.”

With their last studio album, Honkin’ On Bobo, released back in 2004, the band seems to be staying pretty active — at least compared with some other classic rockers who have not been doing too much studio work of late.

Guitarist Joe Perry also made an interesting comment when he said: “Every year we go out, there’s another generation of fourteen-, fifteen-, sixteen- and seventeen-year-old kids who are interested in hearing classic rock, and that’s the backbone of our set.”

I presume they have a good idea about the types of fans buying their albums, which would mean good news for the future of classic rock.

The Mysteries of Geezer Rock

It appears that some (if not all) the members of Aerosmith are rather surprised by their longevity. The Boston-based band has been rocking and rolling for 30 or so years at this point.

Joe Perry talked a bit on this subject not long ago in a telephone interview that was quoted in this article from the Denver Post.

I think Perry hits the nail on the head regarding the band’s enduring popularity when he says: “It’s been interesting, this classic rock swelling up underneath all the pop stuff that’s going on. I don’t know, there’s something about good music - and it isn’t just that I have a soft spot in my heart for those songs that I grew up with, that I cut my musical teeth on.”

I’ve whined about this in the past and I expect I will continue to do so in the future. So much (I could almost say “all”) of the popular music today just sucks. It’s not music — it’s garbage, and evidently there are a few people out there that are not content to settle for crap just because everyone is. That’s why classic bands like Aerosmith, The Stones, Rush, Journey and others are still able to fill concert halls.