e’s Addiction called me today to talk about the new Jane’s album ‘The Great Escape Artist’, the bands reunion, the upcomming tour, baseball, and so much more! Click below to listen to the interview!
It’s got to be nice for Conan, to welcome fellow Bostonians on his show! If you’ve ever spent any time in LA, you know that it’s a different world compared to Boston! The Dropkick Murphy’s brought a little ass kicking, Boston style, to Team COCO last night, playing the title track from their latest album ‘Goin’ Out In Style’!
Is there ANYTHING that he can’t do? He’s like a Rock ‘N’ Roll crime fighter! Waiting in the shadows for a band in distress, and up in the sky appears an illuminated DG light that the mayor of Gotham has lit, meaning that there is a band in need of a KICK ASS drummer… NOW!
Cage the Elephant’s Jared Champion’s appendix burst Monday night. Luckily, Dave Grohl was nearby. The always awesome Foo Fighters leader didn’t actually perform surgery on the Kentucky rocker, but he offered to fill in for the drummer at the band’s show at Salt Lake City, Utah’s Maverick Center (Cage are currently the opening act on the Foos’ tour supporting Wasting Light). “He had an ulcer for a couple days, then at 1 A.M. it was just unbearable, so he went to the emergency room,” guitarist Lincoln Parish tells SPIN. “He was rushed straight into surgery.”
Enter Grohl. “Dave somehow heard what had happened and called our tour manager. He said, ‘Hey, so do you think the guys would go for it?’ ” Parish says. “Our manager was like… ‘Um, yeah!!!”
While he currently fronts the Foo Fighters, Grohl has a little experience behind the kit, as you may recall, and he agreed to join Cage the Elephant on the six or seven songs he’s most familiar with, including “In One Ear,” “Shake Me Down,” “Sell Yourself,” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” Cage the Elephant kicked off their set with a fill-in sticksman (the monitor engineer for the tour), and then Grohl joined for the last five songs of their set. The crowd, understandably, went berserk when he stormed the stage.
“I had to pinch myself,” says Parish. “I turned around and Dave Grohl is playing the drums. It’s an amazing, once-in-lifetime experience. Nobody can replace Jared. But… it’s Dave fucking Grohl. If you’re going to be replaced by anybody, it might as well be the best.”
Actually, it’s a twice-in-a-lifetime experience: Grohl has agreed to again join the Cage boys for a portion of their set at the Forum in Los Angeles on October 13. It’s a move indicative of the two bands’ friendship, says Parish. “I’ve never met a group of more humble musicians,” he explains. “We sat down and had dinner with Dave last night. He’s like a friend you’ve had for 20 years. It’s like you’re talking to your old buddy from high school. The first night of the tour, as soon as we got offstage, Dave had shots of whiskey. Last night he came into the dressing room with moonshine.”
The two bands met at KROQ’s Weenie Roast in L.A. last June. “Jared ran into him backstage before the show and said, ‘Come check us out!’ He did. Dave saw the last two songs of our set, and afterwards told [frontman] Matt [Shultz] that we should do some shows together. Two weeks later we got the call offering the opening spot on their tour!”
But what about Jared and that appendix? “He’s getting released from the hospital today,” says Parish. “He’ll stay in Salt Lake tonight and then fly into L.A. tomorrow, when he’ll jump back on the bus with us. He’ll probably be back onstage by San Diego [on October 17]. He’s a trooper.”
You know him from hundreds of movies and television shows. He’s one of those guys who’s name is unrecognizable but when you see his face you say, “Oh yeah, that guy!” Lt. Boyle from “Silence Of The Lambs”, Murdock from “First Blood Part II”, the anti-semetic leader of the country band The Good Ol’ Boys from “The Blues Brothers”. If you needed a no bullshit tough guy that had a face like a Stone Tiki Idol he was the man. But his finest role in my humble opinion was the optimistically evil space hippy Adam from the Star Trek episode “The Way To Eden”. You are finally there sir. When you get to Heaven tell Steve Jobs to lose the mock turtleneck and have a whiskey.
Take a look at Afghanistan from the air! I got to fly around the ‘Ring of Steel’ for about an hour, touring the bases, neighborhoods, and mountains that surround Kabul! Sometimes it’s tough to figure out where you are because it looks like it could be anywhere… and other times, it can only be Afghanistan that you are looking at!
Thanks to the chopper pilots and the 26 MEB for setting this up for us!
It’s supposed to be in the 80′s this weekend. This may be the last chance to fire up the grill until Spring. Here’s a great recipe for your grilling pleasure from our friend Henry. Let me know how that comes out. Enjoy!
Jimmy Fallon continues to impress me with his musical guests and cameo appearances! On Friday, Pearl Jam finished ‘Pink Floyd Week’ by covering ‘Mother’. With all of the amazing cover songs that Pearl jam has done over their 20 year career, this is one of my favorites! Check it out below! What is you favorite Pearl Jam cover?
Don’t forget to tune into Under The Covers every weeknight at 10pm!