Today's Day in Rock Stories

Rick Wakeman Changes His Tune About Yes Rock Hall Induction

"How Good It Is" features the Black Sabbath legend on acoustic guitar with lyrics inspired by Psalm 133 and performed by men and boys from the Cathedral Choir.

"It's great to be involved with the Cathedral and doing something for it," explains Iommi. "When Catherine mentioned it, it felt like a nice thing to do, to be able to give something to the city.

Apart from liver cancer, Gabon also in recent times reportedly had suffered from other major health issues including a heart attack, a stroke, diabetes, and liver and renal failure, according OC Weekly. They report that he is survived by his six year-old son, Presley.

Cadillac Tramps broke the news to fans with the following Facebook posting "Our hearts are broken. Our beloved Gabby has passed away. Vaya con Dios compadre!

The 5-song set for BBC Radio 1's Rock Show With Daniel P. Carter saw the group deliver in-studio versions of the project's first three singles: "Atlas, Rise!", "Moth Into Flame" and "Hardwired", alongside classics "Harvester Of Sorrow" and "Enter Sandman."

Despite being a New York native, Joel's early career was spent as a piano player and lounge singer at the Executive Room in Los Angeles, where he performed under the name, Bill Martin, and inspired his iconic song "Piano Man."

Not only that, but Cambridge - rated the world's fourth best University by The Times Education Supplement (after the California Institute of Technology, Oxford and Stanford) - will also throw-in some Leonard Cohen academia too.

From January, a new Cambridge course will examine the works and achievement of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, inviting students to assess their lyrics, music and poetry. It will be led by novelist and literary professor Jem Poster and musicologist and guitarist Stephen Ferron, focusing predominantly on the two artists' songs written during the 1960s. The two-day course runs on January 28 and 29, with participants welcome to attend either or both sessions.

And asked whether he was disappointed not to get the chance to perform songs from the group's latest album Rock Or Bust live, Rudd tells Eon Music: "I was very disappointed, but it's called 'shooting yourself in the foot', young man.

"I f***in' did it, mate, and I did it well. I'm sort of a little bit restricted on travelling around like I'm used to, but I'm coping with that, and I'm not done yet! "

Since Rudd's departure, frontman Brian Johnson and bassist Cliff Williams have left the band, with mainman Malcolm Young having bowed out previously. Rudd recently said he was optimistic that guitarist Angus Young will return and that he wants to take part.

The set of dates will be kicking off in Europe with the leg beginning on May 27th in Dublin, Ireland at Slane Castle and wrapping up on July 12th in Nijmegen, Holland at Goffert Park.

The band will be play a one-off show in Tel Aviv, Israel at Hayarkon Park on July 15th before returning to the U.S. to launch the North America dates on July 27th in St. Louis, MO at The Dome At America's Center.

The frontman says he, his wife and son were welcomed to stay at the Bon Jovi family home and Jon gave him his old stage clothes, adding: "He literally gave me the shirt off his back."

But Skid Row's growing popularity when opening for Bon Jovi on their 1989 tour soon caused relations to sour. As Skid Row's t-shirts began to outsell Bon Jovi's, the headliners took Bach to task for swearing on stage.

Bach says he was "summoned into Jon's room," where, he adds, "Jon stared me down and said the words, 'I'll f***ing own you.'" He also recalls heading to the stage in Kentucky's Rupp Arena when Bon Jovi's road crew grabbed him, secured his hands and "poured a vat of freezing cold ice milk" over his head. He ran on to the stage and hit out at his tourmate in between songs, calling him "Bon Blow-me."

After the show, Bach says: "We saw about 60 people coming toward us. Leading the pack was Jon Bon Jovi himself. Flanking him was his dad and his brother Tony. Behind them was the full Bon Jovi road crew."

According to Bach, Bon Jovi said to him, "I heard what you said on my stage, motherf***er," and then threw a punch, which Bach ducked. Bach was then marched by the road crew into his dressing room and held against a concrete wall, as Bon Jovi Senior pointed in his face.

Apart from Gramm and Jones, Al Greenwood (keyboards), and Ian McDonald (rhythm guitar, keyboards, saxophone, flute, backing vocals) were also on hand for the platinum plaque presentation by Atlantic Records Chairman & CEO Craig Kallman on December 5th.

Bassist Black, 47, was arrested after Weiland's body was found on his tour bus on December 3 of last year. It was reported at the time that a small amount of cocaine was found on the bus and it was later revealed that the former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman had died of an accidental drugs overdose.

Now Black reveals he was arrested simply because he was too drunk to take part in an interview with officers investigating Weiland's death. It was later confirmed he would not be charged with any crime.

Black says he was at a mall in Minnesota when he got the call to say that Weiland was dead. He tells Yahoo: "I went straight to the bus. The police were there and they wouldn't let anyone on the bus at that point. We went to hang out in the hotel lobby - and then I went to the bar next door by myself.

"And you know, I just got drunk when I heard the news. I went next door and had a few shots, unfortunately. And the detectives came to question us - they question everybody when somebody dies on a tour bus.

It was announced that Disturbed's cover of The Sound Of Silence on the Conan show would go up against Beyonce and Jack White's Don't Hurt Yourself in the Best Rock Performance category at next year's Grammys.

And Draiman has questioned the ceremony's definition of rock music and says the fact that both feature in the same shortlist means that "something has gone wrong."

He tells Billboard: "I have mad respect for all the artists in this category, including and especially Jack White. Is it strange to be up against Beyonce? It definitely stands out - like, one of these things is not like the other. But what are you going to do?

"What bothers me is that everybody in this category are giants of the field. These are the biggest of the big - the people who made a serious impact this year. Those boys in Twenty One Pilots did some damage this year. And Bowie, a posthumous award happens all the time, and who more deserving? It's crazy the amount of talent in this category."

"Yesterday, December 7th, I lost my best friend to a long and stubborn battle with cancer," announced Lake's manager Stewart Young. "Greg Lake will stay in my heart forever, as he has always been. His family would be grateful for privacy during this time of their grief."

"It is with great sadness that I must now say goodbye to my friend and fellow band-mate, Greg Lake," said drummer Carl Palmer. "Greg's soaring voice and skill as a musician will be remembered by all who knew his music and recordings he made with ELP and King Crimson. I have fond memories of those great years we had in the 1970s and many memorable shows we performed together.

The singer suffered what he called a "mental moment" on stage in late November, appearing to claim that his mother was dying, when his sister said she wasn't.

He returned to action the following night and apologised. But now he's dropped off the tour, with Five Finger Death Punch saying he's "fallen ill" - and they'll complete their live commitments with All That Remains singer Phil Labonte in Moody's place.

Guitarist Zoltan Bathory says: "Ivan is our brother and we fully and wholeheartedly support him in taking care of himself so he can get well as soon as possible.

And Frehley insists his relationship with his former colleagues has never been as poor as it was perceived to be in public. He co-founded Kiss in 1973 and first left in 1982, returning in 1996 and bowing out again four years later.

Frehley tells Trunk Nation on SiriusXM: "However the press colors the fact that we don't get on, in reality we do. We have disagreements and things are said sometimes, but I've always been friends with those guys and they've been friends with me.

"We may not have agreed about certain things over the years, and there were times we didn't talk. I mean, we created something amazing that withstood the test of time."

Asked about the rumor that he could return for a final tour, Frehley says: "Rumors are rumors. I haven't been contacted. I'm not ruling it out. It's a possibility. If that's something they would like to do to end the career of Kiss, if it was handled correctly, it could be great.

The four shows follow a handful of experimental appearances earlier this year, when the veteran Deep Purple guitarist decided to try out a return to rock after many years working with his Renaissance-themed band Blackmore's Night.

He'd originally described the shows as "just a few dates for fun" - but afterwards he said: "We might do a few more shows again. I enjoyed it, especially the last one in England.

"The first two were a little bit intense because we hadn't played together - but the last one in Birmingham seemed to work to me. It was so weird, I think it was 20,000 people - it sold out in 15 minutes and I kind of wondered who they thought was playing. When I got to the auditorium, it was so vast that I thought, 'Maybe someone else is playing this show tonight.'"

Abbruzzese posted a lengthy reaction on Facebook beginning with a quote from a posting from his friend Kari who wrote, "So� Rock & Roll Hall of F***tardia. Ergh. It makes absolutely zero sense to me� I'm just gonna shove this statement up someone's arse: 'As the original ballot is created, the members of each eligible band are determined by largely who was present and active during the most influential recording years.' I'm not sure how 275+ live shows and 38% of record sales doesn't fit their criteria�"

He then posted his own reaction which included "The qualifications required for me to have been inducted with my former band mates certainly have been met. I challenge anyone to justify why I am not worthy of a place in the history of Pearl Jam. The official reason given from the RRHOF makes it bullsh*t. It make my years of hard work appear to be worthless towards the success born of the formative years of Pearl Jam. This is simply not the case. The milestones and the success obtained during my period in the band... The Grammy, AMA's, Mtv awards, over 20 plus million albums sold. Mtv Unplugged performance. SNL twice, etc. Over 275 shows

"For anyone to take a stand for denying my right to be recognized, I deserve to hear how you are possibly justifying such an absolute travesty.
Statistics and the opinions of the Pearl jam fans voiced on social media for the last 20 plus years will attest to that. Someone need only to pull their head out of their ass and add my name. 'Nuff said? Thank you, everyone!!" Read his full pos

Last In Line was formed by former Dio members Appice, Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain - with Andy Freeman on vocals. And while Appice is sure the late Dio would like Last In Line's debut album Heavy Crown, he isn't sure the vocalist would be comfortable with the idea of his band performing without him.

Appice tells MyRockWorld (via Blabbermouth): "I think he would like Heavy Crown. He might go, 'F*** those guys!' I don't know. He would probably like it inside, musically, but he wouldn't like the idea of us playing together. That's what I think."

The thrash veterans are currently working with producer Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Steel Panther, Stone Sour) on the new effort at a recording studio in Hollywood, California. The group also features drummer Jeff Friedl.

Ellefson had the following to say "What started out as simple bass ideas quickly developed into some really great songs together. Our fans would probably never suspect that a couple of metal bass players would have songs like these inside of us.

"It's exciting to write melody with diversity while still pushing the limits of lead-bass playing. Frank's singing, and both of us playing guitars and other instruments, gave us a whole new dimension for creative opportunities."

Carlile's struggles with genetic disorder Marfans have seen him undergo a string of surgeries and have led to Of Mice & Men pulling out of various tours. Most recently, they had to withdraw from an Australian tour with A Day To Remember.

Now the singer had addressed fans in a series of tweets in which he explains his condition is not something he will ever fully recover from. Carlile says: "FYI you don't 'get better' with Marfans. You get by. I've had foot, ear, rib, head, hip, back and heart surgeries just so I can function and live.

Jones, 54, has played bass with the Rolling Stones since 1994 but never appears in any publicity shots, which are reserved for core members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood.

After replacing Bill Wyman, who quit after 31 years with the Stones, Jones has appeared on all of the band's material since 1994 and also stars on new album Blue And Lonesome.

Asked if he's like to be a full member of the band, Jones tells the BBC: "It has not really come up very often. Obviously that would be a really wonderful thing for a person like me. I have been a sideman for more than 30 years now.

"I think most musicians, somewhere deep down inside, even if they are sidemen, or if they are hired players, there is a desire to be in a band. And I would not be being completely honest if I said that it would not be wonderful, it would not be amazing, to be considered and, you know, jump into this organization as a full member.

The Kensington Police Service of Prince Edward Island used the joke/ threat (which they later apologized for) to attract more attention to their seasonal DUI campaign. They say via Facebook: "The holiday season is upon us and that means more social events, staff parties and alcohol-based libation.