Weekly Wrap-Up: Guns N’ Roses, Scott Weiland, Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Grohl, Alice in Chians, The Killers, Mitch Mitchell

Posted by Albert Costill on Nov 14, 2008 in Events, News | Comments

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It’s been a rather gloomy week, at least weather wise, so it’s refreshing that there were a good amount of news on 90′s acts.

While not a 90′s band per se, Guns N’ Roses have revealed a number of listening parties for the long awaited Chinese Democracy. The listening parties are open to the public, but no recording devices what so ever will be allowed in. And, for fans that pre-ordered the new album and bring their receipt will get a free shirt. He may have taken over a decade to finally get Chinese Democracy out, but Axl seems to be making it up to the fans. Here’s the info on the listening parties:

November 17 – New York, NY – Webster Hall (7:00 p.m.)
November 17 – Dallas, TX – Whiskey Bar (8:00 p.m.)
November 17 – Chicago, IL – Joe’s (8:00 p.m.)
November 18 – West Hollywood, CA – The Roxy (9:00 p.m.)
November 18 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line (6:30 p.m.)
November 19 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle (7:30 p.m.)
November 20 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (7:30 p.m.)
November 20 – Boston, MA – Cavern Club (8:00 p.m.)
November 20 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall (7:00 p.m.)

Speaking of shirts, I gotta give a shout out to wearyourbeer.com for hooking us up with a gnarly “chinese” guns and roses shirt!

Axl’s temporary replacement, well sort of, Scott Weiland is getting busy to promote his second solo album Happy in Galoshes. He’ll be appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on November 21 and Jimmy Kimmel Live on November 26. Weiland has also set up a few live dates in December and will then embark on full solo tour in January.

Besides his second solo disc coming out on November 25, Weiland has also discussed STP’s future. Weiland has made it pretty clear that STP doesn’t want to do another major label release. The band would rather do something unconventional, where they have more freedom and can make more cash. However, Atlantic Records stands in the way. Check out his interview at MTV.com.

Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin have been on the road celebrating twenty years of Smashing Pumpkins. However, the festivities haven’t exactly been celebratory. Corgan has been putting up with a lot of hecklers, and even fans leaving, the shows. Seems like people aren’t too excited to celebrate a 20th Anniversary with only half of it’s members on board. Also, fans haven’t been too keen about the setlists, which contain a lot of obscurities and jam sessions. In fact at one show Corgan invited a heckler up the stage and asked what the problem was. The heckler stated, “Last night’s show fucking sucked, man!”, which drew some cheers from the audience. Corgan then told the guy to leave and replied with, “By the way, I liked that song you wrote. I heard it was Number 1. Wasn’t it Number 1 in Europe? It’s called Take Your Dick Out Of My Ass And Stick It In My Mouth.”

OK, fans should know by now that the Pumpkins now are just Billy and Jimmy, even if they don’t like it. Also, for someone that has been doing this for two decades, they should know how please fans at a show. There has to be a balance of hits and rarities to please casual and die hard fans, as well as, the musicians. Why do you think that Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band have built up such a following on their tours? Billy should really look into this and stop being Eric Cartman.

Dave Grohl will be sitting behind a drum kit once again. The former Nirvana drummer will be featured on the track “Run With Wolves”, which will appear on Prodigy’s new album Invaders Must Die, expected to be released in March of 2009. The drum tracks have already been laid down and were sent via e-mail; isn’t technology great? I always thought that Dave was one of the best drummers from the 90′s, glad to see him back at it. In other Dave news, you can catch him on Bravo’s Top Chef on November 26 at 10 p.m. Dave will be one of the judges for a special edition of the show creatively entitled “The Foo Fighters Thanksgiving”.

Alice in Chains have been in the studio working on their first album since 1996′s self-titled release. While Layne Staley is unfortunately no longer here, the band has found a worthy replacement in William DuVall. Anyways, the band has released a second behind-the-scenes video of them in the studio. Actually, it’s just them fucking around. But, if you remember anything about AIC, they’re a bunch of clowns. It’s great seeing them back in action and having fun. You watch the clip right here.

The Killers have moved up the release date of their third album Day & Age. The album will be released one day earlier, November 24, in a unique move by their label Island Def Jam. The Killers won’t be the only Monday release on the 24th, as they’ll be joined by label mates Kanye West and Ludacris. Looks like it could be a busy three days for Best Buy, since Chinese Democracy comes out on November 23, this Monday release and the typical Tuesday release with Scott Weiland, Rivers Cuomo and more.

Finally, the Weekly Wrap-Up ends on a sad note. This week drummer Mitch Mitchell passed away of natural causes at age 62. Mitch Mitchell was the remaining member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and had just completed the Experience Hendrix tour. He had a style of playing that was all his own and never stopped spreading Hendrix’s music. One of my favorite Mitchell moments was when he appeared on The Rolling Stones Rock n’ Roll Circus in 1968 as part of the supergroup The Dirty Mac.

The Dirty Mac consisted of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards (on bass), and Mitchell, who did a sick version of the Beatles’ “Yer Blues”. Reread that and let it sink in. Without making light of the situation, at least he went out doing what he loved. Ever musician should be so lucky. R.I.P. Mitch, you will be missed.

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