The Day in Rock 8/18: Velvet Revolver Cancel EP/DVD, Frantic Metallica, Jack Osbourne Joins Troll Twins, "Let's Get It On" Writer Dies, Grand Marshall Kid Rock, No Rush To Rio, Viva Lost Elvis!

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Velvet Revolver Cancel EP/DVD 
Blabbermouth.net reports: VELVET REVOLVER, the new band featuring GUNS N' ROSES alumni Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, David Kushner of  SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and former STONE TEMPLE PILOTS frontman Scott Weiland, have abandoned plans to issue a live EP/DVD of their June 19 Los Angeles performance and are said to  be concentrating on writing the material for their full-length debut,  tentatively due in early 2004 through an as-yet-undetermined label. "The EP/DVD project was cancelled a few weeks ago," the group's publicist said. "It didn't make any sense anymore, and since we are negotiating with a few new record labels, they don't want anything to be released before the actual full CD." 

The band, who were previously reported to have secured a one-off  deal with Immortal Records for the release of the now-scrapped EP/DVD, are believed to be talking to several major labels about the release of a full-length album, including Elektra, Warner Brothers and J Records. 
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Frantic Metallica 
SNMnews.com reports: METALLICA's new video, 'Frantic',� has been put up on METALLICA's webpage, and can be viewed at [this link.] It can be watched in either Windows Media or Realplayer.

'Frantic' will also be the next track off the new album, "St Anger", to be released as a single, and will do so September 15th. It will come in various formats, with most places receiving 2 CDs. - Click Here for the Full Story

Jack Osbourne Joins Troll Twins
Jack Osbourne will be managing the Troll (Olsen) Twins in a new film. The twins have a striking resemblance to the Troll dolls that were all the craze a few years back, but have yet to play the characters in a film or television show. 

Undercover Reports: Jack Osbourne will be seen on the big screen in 2004 starring opposite the Olsen twins.

Osbourne has signed on for 'New York Minute', the new movie from director Dennie Gordon. Gordon also directed 'What A Girl Wants' and 'Joe Dirt' and prior to that worked in TV directing shows such as 'Dawson's Creek', 'The Practice' and 'Ally McBeal'.

Jack Osbourne will play the part of a band manager. Mary-Kate Olsen will play Roxanne, the 17 year old punk star of the band and Ashley will play her twin sister Jane.

The entire movie is set in a 24 hour period. Roxy and Ash find a computer chip in a bread roll and for the rest of the day the chase is on. 

The movie has just started filming and will premiere in 2004.. - Click Here for more info

"Let's Get It On" Writer Dies 

AP Reports: - Ed Townsend, who wrote hit songs including1958's "For Your Love" and Marvin Gaye (news)'s controversial "Let's Get It On," has died. He was 74. 

Townsend, who wrote more than 200 songs, died of heart failure Wednesday in a San Bernardino hospital. 

Nat King Cole and Etta James were among the stars who recorded Townsend's songs. One of his first hits was "For Your Love" � which Townsend recorded himself, at the suggestion of Capitol Records executive Joe Zerga. 

"The simplicity of the song was what makes it enduring to the people," said Clyde Otis, chairman of the Clyde Otis Music Group and a friend of Townsend's since the 1950s. "Ed had no idea it would become that popular." 

"Let's Get It On," released in 1973, had an overt sexual theme that generated criticism. But Townsend insisted the song was actually about getting on with life. 

Townsend also wrote and produced the Impressions' 1974 No. 1 R&B hit "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man)." 

Townsend, a Fayetteville, Tenn., native, grew up singing in the choir at th echurch where his minister father preached. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. 

Survivors include his wife, Janice; four children, a brother, a sister, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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Grand Marshall Kid Rock 
AP Reports: Full story � Rapper-rocker Kid Rock will serve as grand marshal at a three-day fund-raiser in his home state next weekend. 

He will also lead a motorcycle event at the Lapeer Forum Summer Fest, about 60 miles north of Detroit. Proceeds from the events will benefit three charities. 

Kid Rock, a Michigan native, didn't hesitate to sign on to the event when he was asked, said Lloyd LaVoy, owner of the Lapeer Forum Sports  Bar, the site of the fund-raiser. "That says a lot about him," LaVoy told The Flint Journal. 

The event will aid the Easter Seals Foundation; the Rainbow Connection, a Detroit-based charity for terminally ill children sponsored by Kid Rock; and the Steve Bell Scholarship Fund, named for a local firefighter and police officer killed in a traffic accident earlier this year.

. - Click Here for the Full Story

No Rush To Rio
Blabbermouth.net reports: eteran Canadian rock trio RUSH have reportedly pushed back the release date of their triple-disc live album and double-disc DVD, titled "Rush in Rio" (view cover here), to late October via Anthem/Atlantic Records.

As previously reported, the DVD version of "Rush in Rio" includes all 28 songs from the CD (recorded last Nov. 23 on the last show of the band's "Vapor Trails" tour), augmented with a documentary with footage from other shows in the Brazilian cities Porte Allegre and Sao Paolo. Fans will be able to view the action from multiple cameras, and  will be treated to "extra stuff like pictures of Big Al [guitarist Alex  Lifeson] at home in his pajamas and some other unusual things hidden in there somewhere," according to bassist Geddy Lee.
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Viva Lost Elvis!  
canoe.ca reports: Looks like Elvis left something behind on his way out the building. 

Nearly 40 years after its recording, a never-before-released Elvis Presley track is set to appear on the forthcoming collection Elvis 2nd to None. The King, who died on August 16, 1977, recorded the song "I'm a Roustabout" for his 1964 circus-themed film Roustabout with Barbara Stanwyck (news) and Raquel Welch (news), but the producers ultimately opted for a different song to be used as the film and album's title track. 
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