Hard to believe we are almost to Memorial Day weekend and that means one thing around here: hardDrive’s Cover It Up Special Edition this weekend! It’s our semi-annual all cover songs, all the time on hardDrive! Hope you get a chance to listen on your local station!
Yesterday, we posted a killer acoustic music video on the hardDriveRadio YouTube Channel from Hell Or Highwater doing “I Want It All” filmed in the hardDriveRadio studios! (Video James and Paulie Walnuts did a great job!!) Check it out and please subscribe to the hardDriveRadio YouTube Channel!
We also posted our Metallica WorldWired Contest winner, Tressa E. from Madison, WI, a ‘JJO listener, backstage with Lars Ulrich and Lou Brutus at the Philadelphia stop May 12th. Pretty cool stuff! Love that Lars ended up interviewing HER! Thanks all!
Wedding Bells Are Ringin’ AGAIN! The Pulse Of Radio says Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne renewed their wedding vows on May 14th, Mother’s Day, one year after the couple’s 34-year marriage was nearly wrecked by the revelation Ozzy had been caught in an affair with a celebrity hairdresser. The ceremony was held at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas, with Sharon posting on Instagram, “The best Mother’s Day ever.”
A source told U.K. tabloid The Sun that the Osbournes “are obviously used to doing everything in the spotlight but made a conscious decision to keep this quiet. It was just an intimate family get-together at the hotel with their children and very nearest and dearest there.”
Sharon broke the news of the impending celebration last December when she announced, “Ozzy has asked me to renew our wedding vows and I’d like to. I’m happy, and, to be honest, that’s all I want for Christmas this year.
Ozzy and Sharon, who were married on July 4th, 1982, separated last May when Sharon discovered evidence of Ozzy’s affair with Michelle Pugh. She turned out to be one of several women that Ozzy had been seeing and claimed that she and Ozzy had fallen in love.
Ozzy later told Sharon that he would “go to any lengths necessary to repair the damage” that he had caused by his alleged affair. The couple went to marriage counseling and Ozzy reportedly checked into rehab for sex addiction.
Ozzy later apologized publicly to the women with whom he had extramarital sexual relationships. Sharon continued to manage Ozzy’s career throughout their marital crisis.
The singer recently completed a year-long farewell tour with Black Sabbath and is preparing to hit the road with his solo band.
In other news, Wednesday (May 24th) marked the 20th anniversary of the first show on the first full Ozzfest tour. After Ozzy had been rejected by the organizers of Lollapalooza, Sharon was inspired to start an all-metal festival. Ozzy recalled a while back how it went down: “She tried to get me on Lollapalooza, and they turned around to Sharon and said, ‘You know what, we don’t think there’s a spot for Ozzy in this music anymore.’ So she came home, pissed off, and she said, ‘We’ll do our own damn show.’ So she booked me a few shows, it sold out overnight, and everything after that Sharon did on her own, you know.”
Following a successful two-date trial run in Arizona and California in October 1996, the first of 22 Ozzfest shows kicked off in Bristow, VA on May 24th, 1997. I can’t even count the Ozzfests Lou and I have covered over the years! They were the model of so many festivals we have today!
The initial main stage lineup of that first tour featured a reunited Black Sabbath, Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Machine Head and Powerman 5000, with Marilyn Manson on selected dates. Ozzfest was a major triumph, hitting the road with different lineups for the next decade before falling victim to the U.S. recession. The Osbournes have sporadically staged one-off Ozzfest events since.
System of a Down on stage in 2015
Yesterday we posted news about System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan opening his Torpedo Comics store in Las Vegas. Today Blabbermouth and The Pulse of Radio report John says it’s “very disheartening” that the band hasn’t released a new album in nearly 12 years. Speaking to Las Vegas radio station X107.5, Dolmayan said, “In our band, the difficulty really isn’t, ‘Is one of us gonna fall off the wagon or get into a bad situation?’ It’s really a matter of, ‘Are we gonna come together and make something happen?’ It’s been about twelve years since we’ve put out an album.“
He continued, “I don’t know why we aren’t coming out with an album. It’s very disheartening, because it seems like we all get along, we all have a great time touring, we still are putting together really good music. I think that we can put out a fantastic album.”
Dolmayan revealed in a 2016 interview with Kerrang! magazine that System Of A Down had written more than a dozen new songs for a possible follow-up to Mezmerize and Hypnotize, which came out in 2005. The band went on hiatus in the fall of that year, although they have toured most summers since 2011.
Singer Serj Tankian — long speculated to be the holdout on recording — told us not long ago that a new album was not on the radar: “As far as a System record, there’s nothing in the plans right now. It’s something that we’ll do down the line when it’s the right time. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on right now on my own, and trying to get all those releases out and work on them. But we’ve really been enjoying playing together on tour and having a blast, and I think our performance is actually better than it’s ever been in our heyday.“
Dolmayan maintained that music for a new System album does exist, and that he feels it can “match or beat anything we’ve done in the past . . . It’s a matter of getting together and putting aside whatever differences, or whatever problems people have — which don’t seen to surface when we’re together, by the way.” The band will return to Europe in June and July to play summer festivals and select headline dates. Maybe the discussion will arise then. Let’s hope so!
A bunch of Hollywood based musicians got together to pay tribute to Chris Cornell at the Whisky A Go Go. Check out Living Colour, doing “Blow Up The Outside World.”
Chris’ funeral is tomorrow and there will be a public viewing at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Chris’ wife VIcky wrote a heartbreaking letter to her late husband. I am sharing:
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To My Sweet Christopher,
You were the best father, husband and son-in-law. Your patience, empathy and love always showed through.
You had always said I saved you, that you wouldn’t be alive if it were not for me. My heart gleamed to see you happy, living and motivated. Excited for life. Doing everything you could to give back. We had the time of our lives in the last decade and I’m sorry, my sweet love, that I did not see what happened to you that night. I’m sorry you were alone, and I know that was not you, my sweet Christopher. Your children know that too, so you can rest in peace.© (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
I’m broken, but I will stand up for you and I will take care of our beautiful babies. I will think of you every minute of every day and I will fight for you. You were right when you said we are soulmates. It has been said that paths that have crossed will cross again, and I know that you will come find me, and I will be here waiting.
I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the history of loving and more than anyone ever will.
Always and forever,
Your Vicky
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Sigh ;( I am so sad…..
On that note…..Please have a good day……..