Sources have claimed that he was in and out of Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles for treatment for kidney disease, possibly related to his past cocaine and heroin addiction.

The guitarist alleged that Signatures Network Inc., purchased by Live Nation in 2007, has continued to sell merchandise with images of Iommi and Black Sabbath's trademarked symbol after the expiration of a licensing agreement, according to a complaint filed today in a U.S. District Court in New York.

"I've not heard it," says Gallagher. "I've read the reviews, and judging from the reviews I know I'm gonna f**king love it.

While No Doubt recently announced that the reunited band will tour in 2009, it doesn't look like their first new album since 2001 will be out next year.more

Phish and Bruce Springsteen are rumored to headline next year's Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN. The reunited Phish, who recently announced four gigs set to take place in March, are strongly tipped to headline two nights at the festival which takes place June 11-14. more

Former and present members of Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver, Yes, Kiss, the Stray Cats, Grand Funk Railroad and Alice Cooper's and Paul McCartney's bands will take part in next year's Hollywood edition of Rock'n'Roll Fantasy Camp, which will take place April 29-May 3more

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will celebrate its 40th anniversary this spring with a star-studded lineup featuring Aretha Franklin, Dave Matthews Band, Wilco, James Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Kings Of Leon, Tony Bennett, the Neville Brothers and Sugarland.more

Thursday have revealed that they will release their new album 'Common Existence' on February 16.more

The Who's 1979 documentary "The Kids Are Alright" will be reissued in two different DVD forms Jan. 20 from UMe, both of which feature digital remastering and 5.1 surround sound.more

Down will team up with hellbilly rocker Hank Williams III (Assjack, Superjoint Ritual, Arson Anthem) for a U.S. tour in February/March. Also scheduled to appear on the bill are Evil Army and Weedeater. more

NOFX has announced three shows to celebrate their 25th Anniversary as a band. To coincide with this event, the band will play three special anniversary sh ows representing all four eras of NOFX, with old members of the band showing up to play songs from those periods.details

Nickelback have added an extra gig to their arena tour of the UK next year. The band's five-date jaunt has now been increased to six nights, as a new show at Sheffield Arena has been scheduled for Friday May 29th. more

Scarlett Johansson is planning her second album, after she released a record of Tom Waits cover versions this year called Anywhere I Lay My Head. But unlike her debut, this actress wants to release an entire album of original songs. But will she sing this time or just use a ton of vocal effects over her talking the lyrics? more

Heaven And Hell - the band featuring legendary Black Sabbath members Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Vinny Appice (drums) - have scheduled a new string of world-wide tour dates. grab them here

Order Of Ennead is pleased to welcome guitarist John Li into the band's touring lineup. Having been filled in by Deicide guitarist, Jack Owen during the band's previous shows, Li will be playing his first with them, beginning with their Tampa, FL gig on January 2nd at The Brass Mug. dates

As the reunited Cheech & Chong's stand-up tour Light Up America fires out nationwide, Big Vision Entertainment said it will produce an animated film featuring the duo more

Portishead are starting to plan their fourth album, following the overwhelming success of this year's acclaimed 'Third'. Although it took the three-piece eleven years to record the album, it looks as though fans will not have such a lengthy wait to hear the follow-up. more

The Duke Spirit and The Little Ones are set to play a benefit concert in support of a Los Angeles-area elementary school this weekend. The bands will perform at the Daniel Webster School in Pasadena, California on Saturday (December 20).more

Katy Perry is set to headline Gridlock New Year's Eve in Los Angeles, which will take place December 31 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.more

Anya Marina's forthcoming album, Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II, has been confirmed for US release on January 20, 2009 on Chop Shop Records. The first single "Move You (SSSPII)" is exclusively available via iTunes as of TODAY and the new video will be premiering on AOL on December 23.

In a statement on Epica's official website, guitarist Ad Sluijter has decided to leave the band after six years and four studio albums.read the statement

Dark Funeral frontman Emperor Magus Caligula has replaced Sanctification's Kristoffer Hell.more

Rhino Bucket has placed the track "Welcome To Hell" in the upcoming Darren Aronofsky feature, "The Wrestler." The movie stars Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, both nominated for a Golden Globe, as well as Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song, "the Wrestler". Gotta love those Golden Globes... they nominate films that aren't even out.. neat hat trick there! Rhino Bucket is now in the final mixing stages for their upcoming release on Acetate Records

The Hold Steady have announced a string of dates, kicking off March 31 in Albany, NY.more

Musical film Mamma Mia! has become the highest grossing movie cinema release in the UK, beating 1997 film Titanic. Mamma Mia! has now taken just over �69m at the box office, narrowly passing Titantic's record. more

Equity Music Group, the Nashville-based independent label that launched with much hope in 2003 under co-founder and flagship artist Clint Black, is suspending operations.more

KOCH Records announces the addition of High On Fire to its roster. The band just completed a run of West Coast dates and now will focus on writing the new CD that will be released in Summer 2009.more

Between The Buried And Me is currently holed up in their Winston-Salem, NC practice facility writing their next release. One song has been completed thus far and according to bass player Dan Briggs, "there's an extreme abundance of great musical ideas flowing out of us."more

The Presets will return to the US this spring with a handful of headlining shows.more

Barnes & Noble.com announced today the debut of a new monthly column by legendary music and culture critic Robert Christgau. Known for his long tenure at the Village Voice, Robert Christgau began his career as a music columnist at Esquire in 1967. Check him out here.

March 2009 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Stone Roses' self-titled debut album, an ideal opportunity for a special edition reissue (of course) and, if Mani is to be believed, a reunion tour.

Donald Lite is going after Brandy and Awatef Aboudihaj -- the married mother of two killed in the accident -- claiming their disregard for road rules caused the multi-car pileup that left him with extreme physical damage.

In the suit, filed last week in L.A. County Superior Court, Lite says their failure to keep a safe distance, mixed with their inability to travel at a safe speed, caused Brandy to rear-end Awatef, which sent Awatef's car smashing into his.

"I had about 220 songs in GarageBand by the end of the Eyes Open tour," he explained. "We narrowed it down to about 30 songs and then we recorded about 20."

The 'Circus' star met the dance instructor through Madonna and he will act as the singer's guide, reports the Daily Star.

Well I had the idea for "Afflicted" bouncing around in my head for a few weeks, it's a song that deals with experiences I had in past relationships, so I just drew from that and one day at home in my office/music studio I picked up my acoustic and started some chord progressions and almost immediately I developed the chorus with the lyrics and melody, I have a tendency to have full chorus ideas in my head before I even attempt to record the idea. I hammered out the basic arrangement and recorded a demo of vocals and just the acoustic - didn't have the verse lyrics completed at that time - the guys make fun of me sometimes because I record demo's where I just ramble and put in words to work a melody I have for the song....So I did just that and played it for Matt and we basically fine tuned the arrangement.

Matt and I are the main song writers in the band. We work really well together and share the same vision musically for the band. Usually I write full songs or even partial songs and play them for Matt and we finely tune them and the same goes for Matt. Sometimes he'll just have a riff idea (and Matt is great with writing killer riffs) - like in "Cure for You" Matt wrote the main riff and we built the songs around a chorus I had kicking around. Typically when we write a song we'll completely demo it in my studio at home before playing it for the other guys in the band, once we have the basic song down Jamie will drop in some really cool guitar flavour and leads. This is just how we work and it seems to work well. In fact, we�re always writing and have new material in the demoing process. When we were in the studio I wanted to keep the acoustic element in "Afflicted". I am a fan of that sound and have always been it adds a sense of warmth to it. I also felt it was important to retain the original feel of how I wrote the song which was on acoustic. In the bridge of the song I wanted to go back to the intro feel and focus on just vocals and the acoustic, because it brings the song back down to a softer feel before the chorus hit's you hard.