Happy Thursday! Marilyn Manson has added a new leg to his touring endeavors for 2015. See Road Rage….I am hearing some new festivals will be announcing soon, including Rockfest in Cadott, WI. I also just saw the line up for this year’s Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, TN. Five Finger Death Punch, Rise Against, Slash, Breaking Benjamin, Of Mice And Men, Cage The Elephant, In This Moment, Scott Weiland and more. Ed Sheeran, Ryan Adams, Paramore, Lenny Kravitz, Pixies, The Flaming Lips, Parliament Funkadelic, John Fogerty and others are also confirmed. The festival is scheduled for May 1st through the 3rd at Tom Lee Park in downtown Memphis….Earlier this week, we spoke about Rob Zombie’s new film, and today he’s made a casting announcment for his upcoming horror film 31. Zombie has cast Torsten Voges as a character known as the Death-Head. Voges is best known as the nihilist Franz from The Big Lebowski and for his role as Count Gorgann in Zombie’s last film, The Lords of Salem. 31 is currently in pre-production for possible release later this year….Metallica has confirmed it will perform at the 30th anniversary edition of the original Rock In Rio festival in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The event is set to take place from Sep 18th to the 27th this year at the City of Rock in Rio. Metallica, which is already headlining the first-ever U.S. version of Rock In Rio in May, stated, “One Rock In Rio in a year is just not enough!” The band added, “This will mark our eighth (!) Rock In Rio appearance, including the upcoming May show in Las Vegas. It promises to be quite the party, as we join a stellar festival line up including Faith No More, System Of A Down, Queens Of The Stone Age, Slipknotand many others. Tickets will go on sale in April, so keep watching for more info.” As previously reported, Metallica, Linkin Park and Deftones are among the confirmed bands for the inaugural United States edition of the Rock In Rio festival, set to take place on May 8th, 9th, 15th and 16th in Las Vegas. The event will feature six stages and unique lineups for each of the four days. Other acts confirmed for the Vegas event include The Pretty Reckless, Rise Against, Foster The People, Gary Clark, Jr., Bleachers, Hollywood Undead, Of Mice & Men, Sam Smith, No Doubt, Taylor Swift and John Legend. Metallica is reportedly at work on its 10th studio album. Don’t expect to see it this year, at least that is what I had heard last time I asked…..I dunno, although I’ve been DVR-ing The Walking Dead, I haven’t had a chance to watch any episodes yet. Blabbermouth reports this Sunday, March 1 at 10/9c tune into AMC TV‘s live “The Walking Dead” after-show “Talking Dead” to watch Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian join host Chris Hardwick to discuss new episode “Remember” (Season 5, Episode 12), which features Ian in a guest role as a walker. Fans can submit questions during the live broadcast at this location. Questions will be broadcast and discussed by Chris and Ian on the show. See more here …Blabbermouth also reporting Da Capo Press has set a July 14 release date for Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe‘s memoir, “Dark Days: My Tribulation And Trials”,. Random House purchased the foreign rights to the book and will act as publisher in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The memoir, which puts emphasis on the past year of Randy‘s life, is an incredible, harrowing, heartbreaking, and redemptive story told in Blythe‘s already well-recognized writing style. It chronicles his horrific experiences of dealing with being on trial in a foreign country on charges of murder. The book’s synopsis reads: “In 2010, a nineteen-year-old super-fan rushed the stage during a Lamb Of God concert in Prague. To protect himself, singer Randy Blythe pushed the fan away. Unbeknownst to Blythe, the young man hit his head on the floor when he fell and later died from the injury. Blythe was promptly incarcerated on charges carrying a prison term of five to ten years. Thirty-seven days later, he was released on bail to await trial. Although legal experts told him not to return to the Czech Republic to face the charges, Blythe explained that he ‘could not run away from this problem while the grieving family of a dead young man searched hopelessly for answers that [he] might help provide.’” He had to mortgage his home, the home of his manager and find other ways to pay for his legal fees. It was a nightmare for the dude and his close confidants and manager. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is turned into a film…..This is crazy! Blabbermouth also reports according to the Denton County Crime Stoppers web site, an arrest warrant has been issued for Dave Abbruzzese, who played drums for PEARL JAM from 1991 until 1994. The musician is wanted in Texas on charges involving controlled substances. The charges — which date back to September 26, 2014 — include possession of a controlled substance for an amount under 28 grams, a Class A Misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of a year in county jail and a $4,000 fine. The second charge, for “manufacture or delivery of substance” is a first degree felony which carries a sentence of between five and 99 years in prison. Those with information leading to the arrest of Dave Abbruzzese could earn up to $1,000 cash reward by contacting the Denton County Crime Stoppers web site, which is operated by the Denton County Sheriff’s Office….Shinedown, who are hard at work on their new album, are also having their agents work up a tour for them later this summer. The album will probably be ready to drop around the same time me thinks. …Finally today, look for a free download of the music recorded for Catch The Throne: The Mixtape Volume 2. This is the second installment of music inspired by HBO’s popular series Game Of Thrones, which returns Apr 12th. Killswitch Engage has posted a snippet of their contribution called “Loyalty: House Martell” over on Soundcloud. Anthrax, Snoop Dogg, Method Man and others also recorded music. Apparently, the Game Of Thrones folks supplied the artists with key words or phrases from the story line or characters and the task was left up to the bands to come up with appropriate music relating to the show. The download should be available next month. #catchthethrone….Happy 46th today to Tim Commerford of Rage Against the Machine and Future User.