Only a few short months after their show in Cleveland, the reunited Stone Temple Pilots will be bringing their large catalog of 2nd wave grunge hits to UA's E.J. Thomas Hall on Monday, July 7.

The band features all orignal members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, Eric Kretz and Chagrin Falls native Scott Weiland who recently parted ways with the sucessful supergroup Velvet Revolver.
The tour began in Columbus and passed through Cleveland earlier this month.
Barring any unforseen problems (which in the band's past have all been named Scott Weiland), STP is set to hit the studio to record their sixth album and first in since Shangri-La Dee Da in 2001.

Tickets for the show go on sale at 10 a.m., Saturday with ticket prices set at $58.50 and $48.50.

Your dreams have been answered.

NKOTB is back, baby!

LiveNation announced today that New Kids On The Block will be performing at "Da Q" on October 3, so save up your pennies all you (now) 35 year old NKOTB fans because tickets go on sale Monday, June 2 and prices will be $27.50, $47.50 and $67.50.

Joey (formerly Joe as a grown-up solo artist but apparently back to Joey for the reunion) McIntyre had this to say about the whole reunion caffafel.

“I think history has looked upon us fondly,” say McIntyre. “I wouldn’t say we were important, but people do now see our place in pop history. We’ve read that we `begat the boy bands” like Backstreet Boys and N’Sync. And in a way, those groups have all made us more contemporary. They made us younger in a way by putting us in their generation. But hey, what about New Edition? There would be no New Kids without them. And of course, the Jackson Five begat New Edition. So I guess we were really just the first white boy band.”

Good for you, Joe.
Glad to see you know some history and aren't trying to pull a Vanilla Ice (who considers himself a pioneering "white rapper") and claim you started the boyband craze.

Hey, I don't wish these guys any ill will, though I must admit I'm surprised to see character actor Donnie Walburg interested in whipping out those old moves again.
Anyway, not that they don't have a cache of fans who are no probably longer ashamed to admit they TOTALLY WERE IN LOVE WITH NEW KIDS, but isn't booking Quicken Loans Arena aiming a bit high?
I mean sure they sold 70 million albums and had numerous hits ("including the back-to-back international number one efforts, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough and 1990’s Step By Step — and a series of crossover smash R&B, pop hits like You Got It (The Right Stuff), Cover Girl, Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Hangin’ Tough, I’ll Be Loving You, Step By Step and Tonight," the press release reminds us) but I dont' know if fuzzy and warm teenage nostalgia is enough to fill Q.L.A. with screeching 25-35 year olds.

Though, I suppose those fans won't have to ask their parents for ticket money or a ride this time.

Good luck, men….I mean, "Kids"

Old R&B/pop Divas (yes, that includes Elton John) and now apparently old R&B bands don't die, they just settle in Vegas.

To wit: Former Prince proteges The Time will be doing a summer residency at The Flamingo Las Vegas.
The band recently performed on the 50th Grammy Awards show in February with all orginal members Morris Day, Jerome Benton, Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on stage together for the first time since 1993..

Now the same lineup will try to inspire tourists and gamblers to do The Walk and The Bird and perhaps even engage in a little Jungle Love while reminding everyone how Cool they were in the 80s'
(sorry about that)

Anyway, The Time will perform 15 shows at the Flamingo from June 24 through Aug. 2, with ticket prices ranging between $65 and $125 via Harrahs.com.

I'm a big fan, but for $125 Morris Day better come to my table and sing 777-9311 to me and Jerome has to be my hype man for the rest of the evening?

Another week and another rapper wants to be an actor.
This week it's Bow Wow who is coming off a sucessful collaborative album with fellow teen hearthrob Omarion.

According to the Associated Press, the rapper known as Shad Moss by his mama is going full steam ahead with his acting career.

Bow Wow will become a regular on HBO's "Entourage" when the show returns for its fifth season this fall, according to reports.

The 21-year-old rapper, whose real name is Shad Moss, is currently filming the New Orleans-based sports drama "Patriots" opposite Forest Whitaker and Isaiah Washington. His movie resume also includes "Roll Bounce" and "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift."

Perhaps as he said after spending 16 of your 21 years on earth making teen rap hits perhaps the grown up Wow is reading the tea leaves.
He's already surpassed the average rap career by about 10 years and three albums so he (and his team) likely figure that the teenage fans he's been marketed to will contine to grow up and his albums sales (along with the rest of the industry) are likely to dwindle. After good notices for his work in Roll Bounce he's got a much better chance of continued fame and fortune as an actor.

Also, Tokyo Drift sucked so bad, I wouldn't bother to put that on my resume.

Recently the Sun Sentinel in Florida ran a story about the worst album covers ever and they came up with 50 real stinkers.
As much as we dislike sending readers to look at another paper, this one's worth it.
Here's the link to the story:

Once you're done laughing hysterically at some of the awful artwork and concepts (John Bult's Julie's Sixteenth Birthday is just plain creepy) check out this long running site which offers a more comprehensive look at some of the awful and odd things people have done in the name of album art organized in fun categories such as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and "Lounge Axe"

West Akron blues-rock duo The Black Keys are riding the wave of glowing press, sold out shows that has followed the release of their fifth album Attack & Release which debuted at number 14 on the Billboard charts. Befitting the band's rising profile, online portal Myspace.com enlisted them to perform as part of their series of "secret shows´´ (myspace.com/secretshows) Wednesday night the Beachland Ballroom.

As secret's go, it wasn't very well kept as many fans were turned away at the door but with less then 200 people gathered in the cozy tavern of the Beachland where the band played it's first ever show in a decade ago. The older and wiser duo performed a high energy and loose hour plus set that featured about half of the new album along side a healthy heaping of fan favorites from their growing back catalog.

Attack & Release recorded with hip producer Danger Mouse and it is the band's most elaborately arranged and recorded album begging the question of how some of the tunes would translate to the onstage two-man setup. The question was answered immediately with the set opening §li Same Old Thing §lf which on record sounds a bit flat due in part to some mechanized percussion. But live, drummer Patrick Carney pushed the groove giving it the blues rock swing the it lacked in the studio. Several other new tunes also faired well in their stripped down versions such as the single Strange Times §lf and Oceans & Streams.
Just as with many band's who make their name on the road, The Black Keys often embellish their older, familiar tunes for the stage, inserting dramatic breakdowns and drops in dynamics only to build to incendiary climaxes in all the right places.

Guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach sporting long hair and a full beard that made him look like TV's Grizzly Adam's guitar slinging son hopped, swooned and swayed to the music coming out of his fingers and throat though he flubbed a few notes, seemed more comfortable with displaying his lead guitar skills. On a re-arranged §li Stackshot Billy §lf Auerbach unleashed a searing fuzzed out solo and the band followed it with a version of §li Busted §lf that felt like a sonic gutpunch.

The only surprise of the set was a faithful cover of Captain Beefheart's old R&B ballad I'm Glad which featured a soulful vocal from Auerbach (The band recorded the song a few days ago and have posted it on their myspace page).

The duo is unlikely to play in Northeast Ohio again until the fall. So for local fans, the "special secret show´´ may not have been much of a secret but both myspace and the Black Keys delivered on the "special.´´

Somebody messed up.
Due to routing issues the Maroon 5 and Counting Crows show scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 26 at Blossom Music Center has been cancelled.
The bands and super promoter Live Nation are terribly sorry for the inconvenience and would love it if all you Maroon 5/Counting Crows fans would go see the bands in one of the following cities where your tickets will be honored at the gate.

Pittsburgh (8/21; Post-Gazette Pavilion)

Detroit (8/29; DTE Energy Music Theatre)

Cincinnati (8/30; Riverbend Music Center)

And here's the really sweet part:
"Refunds are available regardless of whether the ticket holder attends another show.
Nice.
Also, tickets purchased via phone or internet will have their account automatically credited and tickets purchased at an outlet or box office can be refunded at the original point of purchase.