News Of The Week Roundup: Week 5, 2021

Another big week of news, at least in America. The good news is that vaccine distribution is significantly picking up, new cases are down and it seems like we are turning the page... at least in the U.S. Still, all kinds of misinformation hinder the progress. A look at how conspiracy theories online are hurting the fight against COVID-19, by ProPublica:

Conspiracy theorists' "skepticism is a bottomless, never-ending pit of skepticism about anything related to the official account. And that skepticism is accompanied by extreme gullibility to anything related to the conspiracy."https://t.co/ynpP1pg8Sf

— ProPublica (@propublica) February 7, 2021

The pandemic has taught us all some valuable lessons - and I hope the positive side of this nightmare is that we realize life is short, time is precious and we shouldn't waste every waking hour working. From Travel and Leisure:

Americans Learned Their Lesson and Are Going to Actually Use Vacation Days, Expedia Survey Says https://t.co/pL5vsZ3qKo

— Travel + Leisure (@TravelLeisure) February 5, 2021

The GOP paid for an autopsy to figure out what went wrong during the 2020 election cycle. I could have done this autopsy for free and in about 15 minutes. The findings? People don't like the prospect of dying from a novel disease that the government ignored, white voters moved heavily to the Democratic column and folks didn't think Trump was honest enough (no kidding).

New - Trump chief pollster Tony Fabrizio has circulated a detailed autopsy of what went wrong:

-hemorrhaging white support
-disapproval of coronavirus management
- a voter perception that he wasn't "honest and trustworthy"

Read the full thing >>https://t.co/BEfa3zgCnu

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) February 2, 2021

And I leave you with this...

How it started How it’s going https://t.co/QtdEUFV83K

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) February 3, 2021

'Take Me To The Top'

Motley Crue is remembering their first song as they celebrate their 40th anniversary year. When I played this clip, my cat Roosevelt threw his ears back and glared. I don't think he cares for Vince Neil's voice. But I could be wrong.

Underrated Guitarist Christopher Cross

TGIF - it's been a long week. I've still got lots of work to do before I'm officially done for the week, but I wanted to go ahead and post a little something for everyone to chew on. I was listening to Christopher Cross earlier today and it dawned on me that he might be one of the most underrated guitarists of all time. He made it big in 1979/1980 with his self-titled debut. He has five Grammy awards and an Oscar too... and he filled in for Richie Blackmore during a Deep Purple tour in 1970. He opened for Led Zeppelin too. Cross has a great tone, is an incredibly talented songwriter and can shred should the need arise. Cross had a very bad bout with COVID-19. The disease temporarily paralyzed him and he developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Cross still has long-haul COVID, walks with a cane and fights brain fog. But he is able to play his guitar again and can't wait to tour again when it is safe. I have seen Cross live and it was pretty incredible. Here's "Ride Like The Wind" live - guitar solo is at 3:30 (also one of my favorite songs of all time!)

Here's "All Right" with a nice solo around 2:30ish. From the album Another Page - the solo is done by Steve Lukather on the album and Michael McDonald sings backup.

There are so many other great songs - these are just two examples. Do you agree Cross is an underrated guitarist?

Metallica Announce Super Bowl Show

Metallica will play live on a special edition of Stephen Colbert's show right after the Super Bowl this Sunday night. This will be something fun to watch after the big game! I wish Metallica was the halftime show, but alas, it was not meant to be. This year we get The Weeknd. It could be worse, I guess.

We’re celebrating the #SuperBowl with our friend @stephenathome on Sunday! Tune in to @colbertlateshow’s “A Late Show: Super Bowl Edition” at 11:35pm EST on CBS to catch our performance. #LSSC #LateShow pic.twitter.com/uis4RaAIyb

— Metallica (@Metallica) February 2, 2021

2021 Festival Announcements, Including Louder Than Life & Aftershock

Some hopeful news - from my inbox. We'll see if any of these shows really happen. I'm most skeptical about Inkcarceration because it is in July. The others are deep enough into the fall that they will probably be okay. Time will tell.

As the music industry looks to bring live events back to eager fans in 2021, leading independent live entertainment producer and promoter Danny Wimmer Presents is excited to announce its upcoming festival calendar for the year.  The event lineup includes the return of fan favorites Louder Than Life and Welcome To Rockville, alongside the previously announced Aftershock, and new to the DWP family, Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival.

Louder Than Life, the largest rock festival in America, will take place September 23-26, 2021 at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky and will be adding a Thursday night celebration event to kick off the weekend.  All current pass holders will receive admission to the newly added Thursday night kickoff celebration for free.

Welcome To Rockville will return with an expanded 4-day festival weekend that furthers its reputation as Florida’s biggest rock experience, and will move to a new weekend for 2021, November 11-14. Rockville will also have a new home, relocating to the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Due to the festival date change from May to November, current Welcome To Rockville ticketholders will have the opportunity to request a refund or use their passes for the upcoming November festival.  All fans who defer their passes to Rockville 2021 will receive complimentary access to the newly added 4th day.

Danny Wimmer Presents is also pleased to announce a new partnership formed with the creators of the fan-favorite Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival. Inkcarceration is scheduled for July 23-25 at the famous Ohio State Reformatory (aka “Shawshank State Prison” from The Shawshank Redemption) in Mansfield, Ohio. The previously announced Aftershock, the West Coast’s Biggest Rock Festival, which has sold out for the last five consecutive years, will be bigger and better than ever, taking place October 7-10 at Discovery Park in Sacramento, California.  Aftershock 2021 will be headlined by Metallica (performing two unique sets, one on Friday and one on Sunday) and My Chemical Romance (Saturday), who were both confirmed for the sold-out postponed 2020 event. The diverse Aftershock 2021 lineup will also include: Limp Bizkit, Rancid, The Offspring, Social Distortion, Rise Against, Volbeat, Machine Gun Kelly, Mastodon, Gojira, SEETHER, Parkway Drive, and many more.  Several other longstanding events within the Danny Wimmer Presents portfolio will take a hiatus in 2021, with a commitment to return bigger than ever for the 2022 season, including Epicenter (Charlotte, NC) and Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival (Columbus, OH).        

Nikki Sixx Is A Supportive Husband And I'm Here For It

Nikki Sixx seems pretty supportive of his wife Courtney. It seems like they have a strong and genuine relationship. He tweets about her projects from time to time and did so again today, praising the launch of her new floral business.

I am too cheap and anti-consumerist to ever spend money on a floral box subscription, but I do think it is an interesting concept and I know a few people who would really love it. In home flowers? Totally glam, apparently.

Proud to support the launch of @bouquetbox

The first ever DIY floral arranging system by @how2girl and #marksgarden I’ve watched her work on this project for years and you can finally get it starting today. Sign up at https://t.co/tPaR1VnJ30 👍🏽 pic.twitter.com/FniZBBAeBV

— 📷 (@NikkiSixx) February 2, 2021

Some Slash Solos

It is February and that means a little closer to Spring. The Super Bowl and Daytona 500 both happen this month - with the latter always being a turning point for me. I know that when we hit Daytona, warmer weather is coming around the corner. It snowed in Ohio overnight and huge swaths of America are under winter storm warnings. I can't wait to say goodbye to the cold.

Thinking of live shows and tours always reminds me of summer. For whatever reason, my mind wandered to Slash and thinking about him performing live. So for no reason at all, here are some awesome Slash solos.