Our friends at Pulse of Radio posted this this morning. The world lost a comic giant and acting titan yesterday (Mon, Aug 11th) when Robin Williams died at the age of 63 from an apparent suicide. Williams started his career as a stand-up comic, first achieved fame as the star of the TV sitcom Mork And Mindy in 1978, then delivered a string of iconic performances in movies like Good Morning Vietnam, Moscow On The Hudson, Awakenings, Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting — for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor — Mrs. Doubtfire, Insomnia and many more. He desperately struggled with depression and alcoholism. As the world mourned his loss, rock musicians chimed in with their emotional reactions via Twitter. Here are some of their remarks:
Rise Against: “RIP Robin Williams. You will be missed.”
Lzzy Hale of Halestorm: “A staple of my childhood. You will be missed.”
Tom Morello: “RIP fellow Illinois Entertainer-In-Arms Robin Williams. Thank you for bringing joy to so many with ur peerless wit.”
Godsmack: “Very sad …. So much talent.”
Philip Labonte of All That Remains: “Rest In Peace Mr. Williams.”
Corey Taylor of Slipknot: “No one ever made me laugh like Robin Williams. Now I can’t stop crying. We’ll miss you, Mr. Williams.”
Gerard Way: “RIP Robin Williams, you always made me laugh, you always seemed so kind and genuine.”
Ozzy Osbourne: “Such a tragic loss. I will always have amazing memories of Robin Williams. Respect and love goes out to his family.”
Sharon Osbourne: “The entire Osbourne Family is grieving the loss of a kind, funny, generous and talented man, Robin Williams.”
Morgan Rose of Sevendust: “So sad to hear of the loss of Robin Williams. We met him years ago. What an amazing talent and sweet man. So sad.”
Wolfgang Van Halen: “I’m speechless… Robin Williams was such an amazing and important man. My condolences to his family. Rest in peace.”
Chester Bennington of Linkin Park: “RIP Robin Williams. Thank you for a lifetime of laughter. You will truly be missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to your family & friends.”
Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers: “R.I.P. robn williams. grew up with that man, what beautiful gifts he gave to us.”
I saw Robin do his stand-up back in the ’70’s here in NYC at the now shuttered Copacabana on East 60th Street. I sat at a table in the front. I remember his set included his crazy movements and being sprinkled with his sweat. He gave his performance 10,000 fold. Also had a friend who worked with him on Mork & Mindy. It’s so sad to know someone has so many demons on the inside, yet you would never know it from the outside. If you know someone who is depressed, please reach out before it’s too late…..Pulse also reports Foo Fighters have announced the title and release date of the band’s 8th studio album. Not that it’s a surprise, but the set is called Sonic Highways and it will arrive on Nov 10th. The title also happens to be the name of the upcoming HBO documentary series that will chronicle the making of the record, which will premiere on the cable network on October 17th. The track listing for the album is “Something From Nothing,” “The Feast And The Famine,” “Congregation,” “What Did I Do?/God As My Witness,” “Outside,” “In The Clear,” “Subterranean” and “I Am A River.” The recording of the 44-minute disc took place in iconic studios in eight different cities around the United States, with the Foos also collaborating with and interviewing local artists in each region. The eight-episode HBO series will follow the band to a different location each week. Frontman Dave Grohl held off on writing lyrics for each song until the last day of each session so that he could be inspired by the experiences, interviews and meetings with local personalities that became part of the recording process. Sonic Highways is the exact opposite of the last Foos album, 2011’s Wasting Light, which was recorded in the garage of Grohl’s Los Angeles home. He told us a while back that he likes to change things up all the time: “If you start feeling stagnant, like you’re doing the same thing over and over again, it just loses that excitement or that charm, you know. You don’t want to feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over and over again.” Sonic Highways, the album, is being released on CD and 180-gram vinyl. The vinyl edition will come with nine different covers, including the main one and eight variants each themed for one of the cities in which the album was recorded: Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The Foos have yet to announce tour plans behind the new disc….First off, this is the new Five Finger Death Punch video for “The Wrong Side of Heaven.” Grab a kleenex and watch it here. It is heavy and brings to light the serious plight of war vets who suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome.) In a statement about the video, the band said “We wanted to do something impactful to help our veterans in need. With this video and the accompanying campaign we hope to shed more light on the seriousness of their issues. The statistics are shocking, and if any change is to take place it will start with general public awareness. We have been playing numerous military shows but wanted to do more; educate, reach out and donate to the organizations that are making a difference to better the lives of our veterans.” As you can see at the end of the clip, there’s a huge list of organizations that you can contact to help. hardDriveRadio commends Five Finger Death Punchon this brave and charitable move. Right on, brothers!….KNOTFEST has added more bands, and now has 4 stages and over 20 attractions!!!! See Road Rage for all the info!…..I’d like to share this interview Blabbermouth printed today with Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney. He was speaking with Bismarck, North Dakota radio station 96.5 The Fox, who asked him if he thinks any new bands can become as successful as ALICE IN CHAINS, despite the fact all the streaming-music services and illegal music downloading have dramatically affected record sales. “I’d hope so, but I think it’s gonna be really hard, because everybody wants it now and they don’t have to do anything to get music,” he said (hear audio below). “So it’s kind of devalued music. You don’t go and get it, then wait for it to bring it home. And you don’t listen to albums. As many people don’t listen to albums in their entirety; they cherry-pick stuff.” “You know, when you don’t put anything into getting something, then it doesn’t have much of a value… On a bigger scale, it is what it is, but it’s just sad, because music is so important to so many people and such a huge part of the world and how we connect and what brings together. And when you put a value of zero on that, I’m more afraid of what the future will be of that. Now you’ve devalued such an important art form and part of everybody’s life.” “So I would hope that people would stick with bands, but when you put nothing into going to support a band, they can’t financially continue to be supported, because they’re not being supported financially; it costs money to go places and make music.” He continued: “So, yeah, it’ll be interesting. My fear is, like, when big rock bands that can still go to an arena and play that show — Metallica and stuff like that — decide to not do it anymore, who will take their place? Is there anybody that can? Right now I’m not feeling super positive that anybody can. And that could go missing for generations of people. That whole experience can be lost. It’s like the experience of listening to an entire album. It’s an experience. And now how you experience music is being reshaped and hopefully something will shake up.” Read more here…… And finally today, check this scene out from Good Will Hunting. It’s poignant.