OK, so I’m confused! Is it 12-12-12 or 12-21-12 when the end of the world is coming? I REALLY need to know so I can pack and do my last minute Christmas shopping! And OH JOY, “Downton Abbey” is coming back Jan 6th! I must say, I LOVE THAT SHOW! OK, so enough about me……Now you heard it here first, but Corey Taylor told he has made his New Year’s Resolution and he’s QUITTING SMOKING! Now this is a man who smokes nearly 30 cigarettes a day! A pack and a half of those awful, stinking, disease-ridden carbon sticks. Needless to say, as a reformed smoker, I am SO happy to hear this news. I will be spreading this around because I will be policing Corey every time I see him! LOL Seriously! …Meanwhile, while editing artist interviews for our upcoming Best of shows happening the end of the year, I totally forgot Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch revealed he’s the dad of a new baby boy! I am so happy for him. (Cue The Who song from Tommy “Captain Walker/It’s A Boy”….”a son! a son! a son!”)…Those Halestorm kids are at it again! Lzzy Hale said in a new post at their Facebook page, “The boys and I are tossing around the idea of putting out another cover EP. We know a lot of you have ideas . . . so let’s hear ’em! What songs would you love to hear us record? Thank you for being such a big part of our lives!” Ok, so I have one, Pat Benatar‘s “Heartbreaker” or Heart‘s “Barracuda.” She could totally nail either of those! I’m just sayin’….Tonight is the massive 12-12-12 concert at Madison Square Garden. You can DVR it on Showtime at 7:30 PM Eastern. (Don’t miss hardDrive XL, yo!) Columbia Records will be releasing a selection of 24 tracks from 12-12-12: A Concert For Hurricane Sandy relief via iTunes. The tracks are available now at iTunes.com/121212, with a physical album to follow soon. There’s been no word as to which artists will be contributing tracks to the new compilation. The net proceeds from the soundtrack will go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund, which is “providing money, material and know-how to local organizations that are serving families and individuals in the regions hardest hit by the storm.” The artists are Dave Grohl, Eddie Vedder & Roger Waters, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Kanye West, just to name a few. (And I just saw a report where McCartney will perform with Dave, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, the remaining Nirvana members! Wonder what they will do??) In addition, National CineMedia (NCM), will broadcast the 12-12-12 concert in over 200 Cinemark, Century and Tinseltown theatres across the U.S. The presentation will be projected live, starting at 7:30pm eastern standard time. The admission price will be equal to that of a child’s ticket price in each theatre and all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. And please try to donate if you can. There are so many devastated homes, businesses, marinas, and lives. And around the holidays, these losses hurt even more. So do what you can, please!….Finally, there is justice! Rush, Heart, Donna Summer, Randy Newman, blues legend Albert King, and rappers Public Enemy are the 2013 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea announced the inductees yesterday (Dec 11th) at L.A.’s Nokia Theater, which is where where the induction ceremony will be held on April 18th. A truncated version of the evening’s events will air on HBO on May 18th. Producer/arranger and L.A. music scene powerhouse Lou Adler along with Quincy Jones will receive the prestigious Ahmet Ertegun Award….Sad news today of the passing of Ravi Shakar. Shakar was a 1960s musical icon, the man who popularized the mystical and exotic sound of the sitar. Shankar, who is also the father of recording artist Norah Jones, introduced the Beatles to the sitar, leading George Harrison to become a devotee of the distinctively melodic stringed instrument. It was Harrison who later dubbed Shankar “the godfather of world music,” as Shankar helped propagate the centuries-old traditions of Indian music to an entirely new generation of fans. In 1971, Shankar helped Harrison assemble the groundbreaking Concert For Bangladesh benefit show. Ravi Shankar was 92 years old. (Thanks to RAMP for this item.)