This is a very solemn day here in NYC, as you can imagine. 9|11 impacts just about every one. I will never forget that day. Such a beautiful morning it started out to be. The sky was crystal clear. I was just coming in from my walk in Riverside Park. Was listening on my compact cd player to the new Sevendust album as the band was going to be in the studio later that afternoon. One of those planes probably passed over my head as I walked under the trees that lined the west side of the park near the Hudson River. But as I left the park to walk up Broadway near my apartment, I noticed a contractor’s van pulled over to the sidewalk at an odd angle, and a few people, including a woman with a briefcase, were leaning into the cab with the passenger side door open and the driver in his seat, apparently listening to the radio. I noticed there was hardly ANY moving traffic on the streets. I thought, “Hmmm, must be a problem in the subways or a fire or something.” So I headed up the hill to my apartment building, walked into the lobby where our hall person sitting at the front desk had the tv on and was crying! I pulled off my headphones and asked what was the matter! She told me a plane had struck one of the towers at the World Trade Center. HUH? “Must’ve been a commuter plane,” as I looked at the screen, and then suddenly, BANG, the second plane, visibly a large passenger jet, struck the other tower! I ran upstairs, turned on the tv, saw the city was on lock down and emailed my people and the band to say I wouldn’t be heading to the office, what a horrible thing had happened! In a few hours after that, both buildings were completely GONE! The smell of smoke permeated the entire city. It was foul. It was horrific and we felt so vulnerable. At the time, the engineer for hardDrive, Chris, his mom worked on the 85th floor of the south tower. She was probably one of the first to perish. An executive I knew from Warner Bros Records, his wife was on the plane from Boston to LA. It was all so surreal and hit home hard. Each year, as they read the names of the victims, I get so sad. The museum will be open today. This weekend, I plan to see it. God bless us all….Last night, I saw Avatar do a warm-up gig at Webster Hall. They were great! The place was packed and so into seeing them. Producer David Bendeth was there (God, I love that guy!). Hope he gets to do their next record! Met David first time at a Breaking Benjamin show in NJ, they were on a bill with Three Days Grace. Dave produced Breaking Benjamin at the time. Discovered he and I will both be attending Bring Me The Horizon‘s show at Wembley with Young Guns and Sleepwave (Dave produced both BMTH, Sleepwave as well as the latest Of Mice & Men albums) in London on Dec 5th! Can’t wait! Funnily enough, also at last night’s show, was mastering engineer/producer/remixer/engineer Paul Logus. He’s worked with everyone from Pantera to Britney Spears. Limp Bizkit to Puff Daddy. Stone Sour to Michael Bolton. Anyhow, Avatar was very sweet to acknowledge me from the stage! (Funny, that’s the second time I got a shout out from a band who played that stage. First one was from Beware of Darkness!) Anyhow, please see the band when they come to your town. They always meet and hang with fans after the show. Sweet guys, all. Check out their Hail The Apocalypse cd out now….Speaking of Three Days Grace, was emailing with Neil Sanderson yesterday. The band just got back from Alaska last week and are headed to Europe and Russia on Sunday night. As Neil said, he never unpacks his suitcase these days! But the band is also putting finishing touches on the new album. He said a new single called “I Am Machine” will drop on Sep 29th. So be listening for that for sure! And take a look at their ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s probably the MOST bone chillin’ one you have EVER seen! ….Meanwhile, I learned yesterday the two new members of the Slipknot touring band will wear the same mask. Corey Taylor told Loudwire “We wanted to make something that still looked unified but still stayed with the spirit of what the band is all about . . . On one hand, they get a mask, but at the same time, it’s not the individual mask that we in the band use.” Taylor added, “We knew that any attempt to do anything like that might be taken as disrespectful, but at the same time it’s part of the way of . . . getting past the hardest steps, which is just moving on. So, we decided that we would come up with a mask that works for both the bassist and the drummer and that’s what they’ll wear on stage.” The identities of the band’s new rhythm section have not been revealed, although the drummer is heavily rumored to be Jay Weinberg, son of E Street Band drummer Mac Weinberg. The new members replace late bassist Paul Gray, who died in 2010, and ex-drummer Joey Jordison, who was dismissed in late 2013. Taylor said on the phone with us on Monday he’s pleased with the response to a teaser for the band’s upcoming tour, which features a glimpse of his own all-new mask: “People have been losing their minds because there’s little subliminal pieces of a bunch of different masks in that thing, so it was pretty cool to see that come together. I thought it was a great way to really get people even more excited, you know, getting a little glimmer of what the new look is going to be, and I’m glad the kids are responding to it.” I hear Corey’s mask is probably the creepiest it has ever been! Can’t wait to see it in “the flesh.” LOL. Meanwhile there will be some wonderful news coming out of the Taylor camp in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned!….Pulse of Radio reports on Linkin Park DJ Joe Hahn. He has released a new clip from Mall, the upcoming movie marks his debut as a feature film director. Hahn has directly around 30 music videos for Linkin Park since the band first arrived on the scene in 2000, and told us his experience with those helped prepare him to make a movie: “When the band thing finally took off, I was always involved with the music videos, so I think with each video I started gaining the skill set and more confidence towards directing something longform, which eventually led to this film.”…Pulse also posted Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith says he’s ready for a second drum-off with his lookalike, actor Will Ferrell, after the latter won their first round in a controversial decision on The Tonight Show earlier this year. Smith wrote online, “Will Ferrell claims he’s coming to Seattle on September 19th. I’ll bet he pops off about his alleged ‘Drum Off’ victory. I just might have to be there to call him out on it and settle the score once and for all. The only way you will know for sure is if you are actually there to see it with your own two eyes.”Ferrell is scheduled to head to Seattle on the 19th for a charity event titled “Approximately 90 Minutes With Will Ferrell and Some Other People…” The event will raise funds for Cancer for College, the same organization Ferrell championed during the first “drum-off.” You remember THIS, right?