First off was the strange case of Ozzy Osbourne announcing he was letting Zakk Wylde go during an interview. Unfortunately, he failed to tell Zakk the news first: (Rock Radio) Ozzy Osbourne has told Classic Rock Magazine "Zakk Wylde came down and did a bunch of stuff - I don't know if I want to use it but I've got it there if I do. I haven't fallen out with him, but he's got his own band I felt my stuff was beginning to sound like Black Label Society. I just felt like I wanted a change.
"I'm getting a new guitar player . I tried John 5 at one time and I didn't really give him a chance. And I've got a guy from Greece coming in." more

Zakk Wylde was asked during in an interview with Oregon's rock station 101.5 KFLY about his status with Ozzy Osbourne and he gave the host an earful! Wylde told 101.5 KFLY's Standard Ass Rock Show with Carl: "The boss (Ozzy) hasn't even given me a phone call , so I mean� I'm just like� I don't know what's going on over there.... We're working on the new record, we'll be back in September, we'll work on finishing the record. And then we're supposed to do the tour. I mean, it's like, dude, you don't wanna play with me anymore? Fine. Play with whoever the hell you wanna play with. I couldn't give a rat's ass. Like I'm gonna get all jealous or whatever. But you know what?! Man up and give me a phone call and tell me what the hell's going on. You finished with me? Cool.

"I mean, it's just like� Everything's sounding like Black Label? [Referring to Ozzy's claim in a recent interview that his solo albums were beginning to sound like Black Label Society due to Wylde's involvement with both projects] "I guess everything sounded like Black Label when I first started with you, when I was 19. It was still the same guy; I don't know what you're talking about."

The Metal Den picked up this choice quote from the interview "Where I come from, the bottom line is� ---- like this that goes down, I swear to Christ we snap muthaf**kers necks and we beat the living f**k out of people. It ain't cool!" more

Then Music Radar conducted an in-depth interview with Zakk Wylde where he discusses a lot of different topics. One of the more interesting things we learn from the exchange is how Zakk found out that Ozzy had fired him. Here is that part of the interview: "Well, I found out from Neil Zlozower, 'cause he was doing a photo shoot with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. He calls up and goes, 'Hey dude, I hear you're not playing with Ozzy anymore.' I go, 'Where'd you hear this?" And he's like, 'I heard it from Gene and Paul.' So I go, 'Well, I guess I'm not playing with Ozzy!'" [laughs] more

Metal legend Ronnie James Dio is battling cancer but according to his wife and manager, Wendy Dio, the cancer is in the early stages and she seems optimistic about his recovery. She posted the following update on the Dio website on Wednesday: "Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans." A follow up article is here

Zakk Wylde is having a really bad summer. First he gets fired from Ozzy's band with the Ozzman announcing his axing publicly, apparently even before being man enough to tell Zakk in person (A Sharon move perhaps? At least it is consistent with how the Osbourne's treat band members). And then this week he had to visit an emergency room following a concert because of a blood clot. Blabbermouth reports: Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne ) was apparently taken to a local hospital emergency room following Black Label Society's August 19, 2009 concert in Missoula, Montana in order to receive treatment for a blood clot.

The next article: Zakk Wylde's wife Barbaranne has revealed that The Black Label Society frontman is suffering from "a rare genetic clotting disorder" for which he is currently receiving treatment in California. She writes, "Zakk is still on this roller-coaster . One day blood thinners [which are used to prevent clots from forming in the blood, are] too high... next day they don't even register in his blood."

Here is the report from 8/14/09: Aerosmith's Steven Tyler issued a statement on Thursday about his shoulder breaking fall from the stage in Sturgis last week which led to the cancellation of the band's current tour with ZZ Top .
Here is what he had to say: A major thunderstorm had delayed the show for an hour, but after it passed through, the full moon and tens of thousands of my biker buddies were ready to rock! It was one of the best shows we've played in a long time! The band was slammin' and I was lovin' every minute of it!

And just as I'm thinking, 'It doesn't get any better than this'... FUSES BLOW! We have an COMPLETE AUDIO SOUND SYSTEM FAILURE! (You can even see one of the amps frying on YouTube.)

We were in the middle of 'Love In An Elevator' , and the band slowly realized something was up. Well, I wasn't gonna go hide under the big top and play ROCK STAR and wait for everything to be fixed.

I wanted to go out to the crowd to continue the show... so, the Train Kept A- Rollin' and I ran out on the cat walk and grabbed my mic to finish the song. I was doing the Tyler shuffle and then I zigged when I should have zagged...AND I slipped, and as I live on the edge...I fell off the edge!

I landed upside down, and after twenty stitches on the back of my head, and a broken left shoulder, I just want to say that I'm plain grateful that I didn't break my neck! In truth, after thousands of live shows, falling off the edge four times ain't too bad.

I want to thank all of the fans for your love and support. I also want to thank the Aerosmith crew and the Buffalo Chip staff for taking care of me in a time of need... and the Sturgis Police Department and the Medvac helicopter crew for getting me outta there before I bled to death... and all the doctors and nurses at the Rapid City Hospital for putting my Humpty Dumpty ass back together again.

Replogle has the exclusive contract to sell the life-size bronze statue of John Lennon. The following is from artist, Brett-Livingstone Strong's website, detailing the provenance and importance of this singular, historic memorial to Lennon: