Wild Thing

In March 1967 at Finsbury Astoria in London, Jimi Hendrix lit a fire on his way to rock stardom. He literally and figuratively set his 1965 Fender Stratocaster afire onstage but he got burned in the process for his concert- ending stunt earned him a trip to the hospital for minor burnt injuries in his hands.

A lot had been said about that legendary night and the fate of his “Strat” went unheard of for decades until the nephew of Tony Garland, who was once Mr. Hendrix’s aide found the burnt guitar in his grandparents’ garage in England in 2007.

Today, that iconic guitar sold for $495,000 at an auction by the rock memorabilia firm, Fame Bureau and was bought by Daniel Boucher an American collector who plans to convert the guitar for right- hand playing so that he can play it himself. In case you don’t know it yet, the guitar god was a lefty.

Here’s a video of his US debut as the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival where his only other documented "guitar- burning” took place.

Masked Madness

Like every artist worth his music, the masked metal band from Iowa Slipknot dreams of being on top of of the Billboard pop charts for quite some time but never attained it.

Although they did come close twice in the past with the albums “Vol. 3 the Subliminal Verses” peaking at No. 2 in 2004 and “Iowa” landing at No. 3 in 2001, in the final counting they always end up short.

This time though they will not be denied as they achieved the feat and finally joined the elite group of chart toppers.

Their latest album “All Hope Is Gone” is now No.1 according to Billboard, and has sold 239, 516 copies on its first week to relegate the Game‘s “LAX” to number 2.

This time, the metal band won the battle over the rapper even by a mere 1,134 album sales.


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Sir Duke

Motown Superstar Stevie Wonder will receive the Gershwin Award for Popular song on February 29, 2009. He will be the second recipient of the award after Paul Simon in 2007 which is given by the Library of Congress to recognize a musician‘s lifetime of work.

James Billington of the Library of Congress in a statement said that, the prize is to “honor an artist whose work transcends musical styles to bring diverse listeners together and foster mutual understanding.”

Songs like "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "My Cherie Amour, ""Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," "Superstition," and "I Just Called to say I Love You" have indeed transcend generations and endeared him to music lovers all over the world.

Another Brick in the Wall

Pink Floyd received the 2008 Polar Prize worth $157, 700 from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in honor of their contribution to popular music.


The Polar Prize, founded by Stig Anderson, (a.k.a. the manager of ABBA) is Sweden’s highest and biggest music prize and is usually given to pop artists and classical musicians. Some past winners were Paul McCartney, Pierre Boulez and Bruce Springsteen, just to name a few, all successful artists in their own right.

The Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt cited Pink Floyd who was represented by Nick Mason and Roger Waters for "a monumental contribution ... and captured the mood and spirit of a whole generation in their reflections and attitudes."

Various Swedish artists performed their songs during the ceremony which were capped by the singing of their monstrous hit “Another Brick in the Wall.”

They shared the honors with soprano Renee Fleming who was also honored for her contribution to opera.

Neil Young's back in the saddle

The Old Man is back on the road again in North America. The short journey commences on October 14 in St. Paul, Minnesota and will end at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on December 15, 2008.

There will be a one night stop- over in Motown on December 7 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Wilco and Everest will be the front act.

Tickets go on sale for the Detroit date on Sept. 12. Tickets will be $45, $75 and $250. For more information, go to www.neilyoung.com or www.livenation.com.

Dave Matthews Band's LeRoi Moore, 46

Leroi Moore
September 7, 1961- August 19, 2008

"LeRoi Moore, the versatile saxophonist whose signature staccato fused jazz and funk overtones onto the eclectic sound of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday of complications from injuries he suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident, the band said. He was 46." --AP

Metallica's Death Magnetic in store September 12, 2008

Yes, per posting on the band's website entitled "The Last Piece of the Puzzle"-- "Death Magnetic" their first album in five years, will be released worldwide on September 12, 2008.

By scheduling the release of the said album on a Friday, Metallica is once again defying the norms for albums are usually released in North America on a Tuesday. But knowing their history and peculiarity, this is not surprising since they did the same thing with their ill- fated album (read: commercial failure) "St. Anger" where it was released a day earlier than planned in their attempt to combat piracy.

Metallica by the way will be back on the concert scene this Saturday at Ozzfest in Dallas, Texas wherein guitarist Kirk Hammett will join Slayer's Kerry King, Alice In Chains' Jerry Cantrel and Anthrax's Scott Ian in a tribute to late Pantera guitarist Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott, who was murdered on stage in Columbus, Ohio, in 2004.