Ugh, waking up to the news of the horrific event in Austin this morning on 10th & River Streets during a peak hour for the SXSW attendees, a drunk driver evading police killed two people on a moped and struck 23 others. Just horrifying. Thoughts and prayers go out and hopefully no one we know! And yesterday, as I was writing Dirt, I heard a BOOM and discovered it was a gas leak in a neighborhood several blocks east of me causing two buildings to collapse, but sounded like it was much closer. Gas and smoke made it feel like 911 all over again. These are some scary times……On a better note, I was sent some audio of Slash at SXSW, so will be diving into that today…Lou Brutus was on the hotLine last night with Powerman 5000’s Spider One. The band is back after a long break, and their new single “How To Be A Human” is really great. Their album Builders of the Future drops later this summer. Be listening for the interview on air with Lou soon!…..Forgot to mention Avatar was in the studio on Tuesday. Singer Johannes Eckerstrom and drummer John Alfredsson stopped in and we talked about their new album, Hail The Apocalypse, due May 13th. There’s a bunch of tunes on there I rather like, including the radio single “Bloody Angel,” “Vultures Fly” and “Tower.” There’s also a cover of Nirvana’s “Something In The Way.” See them at Rock on the Range!…Shaun Morgan‘s call with me is being rescheduled. He hurt his back moving things around his new home in Nashville. Hope the Seether frontman gets better soon!…Pop Evil and Escape The Fate are teaming up for an 18-date U.S. tour that will begin on April 30th in St. Louis and wind down on May 22nd in Broussard, Louisiana. The supporting acts will be Avatar and Glamour Of The Kill. Ticket sales will begin this Friday (Mar 14th) at 10:00 a.m. local time at Escape The Fate and Pop Evil’s official sites. See Road Rage for all the dates….Paulie Walnuts also posted the Lacuna Coil, Kyng, Nothing More, Eve To Adam run…Halestorm‘s cover version of the classic Dio song “Straight Through The Heart” is now streaming online. The song is taken from the album, This Is Your Life, a tribute to late, legendary metal singer Ronnie James Dio that includes contributions from Metallica, Corey Taylor/Roy Mayorga, Rob Halford, Anthrax, Adrenaline Mob, Scorpions, Motorhead, Killswitch Engage and others, including the surviving members of the last lineup of Dio. This Is Your Life arrives in stores on April 1st, with proceeds from the sales of the album going to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. On Monday night in Hollywood, Halestorm, Taylor, Mayorga, Duff McKagan, Halford, Lemmy and surprise guests will perform at a fund raiser at the Avalon. Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer in 2010 at the age of 67 after a lengthy and influential career that included stints with Black Sabbath and Rainbow as well as his own band Here’s Halestorm performing the song in concert!….Hey, must turn you on to another new track I was turned onto by a record label peep. A Day To Remember, off their Common Courtesy album called “End Of Me.” Good stuff!….Static-X’s Wayne Static announced he’s taking his new band out on the road to perform the band’s debut album, Wisconsin Death Trip, in it’s entirety. “Push It”!!!! Should make for some nice mosh pits!….Happy 41st today to David Draiman! Happy 54th to U2’s Adam Clayton!