Blog: Nightwatcher's House Of Rock

According to Contactmusic.com , Alice Cooper owes Jimi Hendrix his career - because the guitar legend introduced the shock rocker to his longtime manager. The shock rock legend has been represented by Shep Gordon since the 1960s - and it was only because of Hendrix that the pair met in Los Angeles, launching Cooper's band's career. He tells Britain's Daily Express: "My manager for the last 40 years has been Shep Gordon. In the late Sixties, Shep met Jimi at an L.A. hotel pool with (soul band) The Chambers Brothers. When Jimi asked [...]

On February 22, 2011, MVD Distributing/Inakustik will release a brand new live DVD from rock/jazz/fusion/blues guitar legend Robben Ford 'Robben Ford Trio - The Paris Concert'. Filmed in July 2009 at The New Morning club in Paris, France in HD and featuring 5.1 Surround Sound, Ford is backed for the performance by bassist Travis Carlton and Athens born drummer Toss Panos. Running 105 minutes, the DVD also features two bonus tracks with legendary jazz fusion guitarist Larry Coryell joining the Robben Ford Trio on stage. Tracklisting [...]

After five years, three studio albums, two live albums and hundreds of shows, drummer Bogie Bowles has announced he has left blues guitar titan Joe Bonamassa's band. In a posting on Bonamassa's Official Message Board, Bowles issued the following statement : "Hi Everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that I have decided not to come back next year. It has been an amazing five year run with Joe and everyone. It was full of great music, wonderful places, and all of you fantastic fans! I will certainly never forget [...]

Major congratulations are in order as Soundspike is reporting that Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Dr. John and Darlene Love will be inducted as the class of 2011 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, according to the industry website Hitsdailydouble.com. The publication reported the names of the winners over the weekend. An official announcement of the Rock Hall winners is scheduled for Wednesday (12/15). The 26th annual induction ceremony will be held March 14 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. To read more go to this location .

According to Spinner.com , a number of guitars, amps and speaker cabinets owned by Eric Clapton are to go under the hammer next year as the legendary guitarist attempts to raise money for his Crossroads Centre -- a rehab clinic based in Antigua. Clapton -- himself no stranger to drug and alcohol problems -- founded the clinic in 1998. Among the 150 lots set to be auctioned in New York in 2011 are the guitar Clapton played at the 2005 Cream reunion gigs as well the speaker cabinets used in the early 1970s when the guitarist [...]

"Lance Lopez got 3 standing ovations when he opened a show for me and I was among those standing..." - B.B. King On Friday, December 17th, hard rocking Dallas,Texas bluesrocker Lance Lopez will be celebrating the official CD release party for his Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Santana) produced new studio album 'Salvation From Sundown'. The guitarist will be backed by a stellar band put together for the event featuring Eric "Scorch" Scortia (Omar and the Howlers, Delbert McClinton) on keyboards, Alex Hahn (Don Henley) on bass and Rob G. on [...]

Since 'tis the season, we thought we'd make you all aware of a couple yuletide offerings music -wise which won't break the bank. What's even better is you don't even have to leave where you are right now to pick them up! First off, hard rocking blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa has a brand new Christmas song - a cover of Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus Is Coming Back To Town" available for download free at this location . Just use the code XMAS10 while checking out. Also, for a limited time [...]

Chicago blues guitar legend Magic Sam's 1967 debut album, 'West Side Soul', will be reissued on January 18, 2011 by Delmark Records. The source material for the special edition digipak version is the original 1967 analog stereo mix by Stu Black who recorded many of Delmark's classic 1960s blues and jazz recordings. One of the greatest electric blues albums of all time, 'West Side Soul' was chosen by Living Blues magazine as one of its top ten Desert Island Blues Discs. The albums 12 songs include the classics "That's All I Need", [...]

Forty years after Jim Morrison was convicted of exposing himself at a wild Miami concert, this is the end: Florida's Clemency Board, egged on by departing Gov. Charlie Crist, pardoned The Doors' long-dead singer Thursday according to The Associated Press . Some people who were at the Miami show March 1, 1969, insist even today that he exposed himself, though others in the audience and Morrison's bandmates contend he was just teasing the crowd and only pretended to do the deed. Crist, tuned in to the controversy by a Doors fan, said there was enough doubt [...]

In celebration of the recent releases Ladies and Gentlemen and The Rolling Stones remastered vinyl box sets, Rolling Stones fans can enter to win the ultimate fan prize pack which includes the 1964-1969 vinyl box set, other super deluxe box sets, lithographs, and much more! Enter at this location . Eagle Rock Entertainment released the long-awaited concert film, Ladies & Gentlemen…The Rolling Stones on DVD and Blu-ray this year. Considered one of the most sought after Rolling Stones concert performances, it has been fully restored and remastered from the original film print and multitrack [...]

A classic archival 1971 Allman Brothers double live album is to be re released on January 18, 2011. S.U.N.Y. at Stonybrook 9/19/71 was recorded, as the title suggests, on September 19, 1971 and it features the band at their absolute peak. The album was originally released as the second in the band's self distributed archive series in 2003, but had fallen out of print. Guitarist Duane Allman was tragically killed less than six weeks after this recording was made, making it one of the last live performances from the original line-up. [...]

Members of the Experience Hendrix tour - namely original Jimi Hendrix Band Of Gypsys bass legend Billy Cox, Aerosmith's Brad Whitford, Jonny Lang and Chris Layton (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble) - performed the Jimi Hendrix classic 'Fire' on the Jay Leno Tonight Show last night (Monday, December 6). Check out YouTube footage of the performance :

Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles are reporting that after storming the world for nearly 40 years and taking their very special brand of heavy metal to all four corners of the planet, Judas Priest -one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time, have announced this will be their final world tour. However, the mighty Priest will certainly be going out strong as they rock the planet starting in 2011 on the massive Epitaph tour - hitting all the major cities throughout the world they will be playing the songs that helped make [...]

According to Tourdates.co.uk , Robert Plant would rather listen to wailing Berber music than reform Led Zeppelin. The singer dissolved the rock band after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 and despite frequently being approached about reforming with the group's remaining surviving members - Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones - for a full tour he always turns them down. The musician insists he is more interested in working on other projects - such as playing with nomadic Berber and Tuareg musicians from the tribes of North Africa. [...]

One last song which Ronnie James Dio nearly completed before his death will be released next year, says former Dio member Craig Goldy. The title of the track hasn't been revealed, but the guitarist says hearing it is an emotional experience, as the singer dealt with his battle against cancer, which he lost in May at the age of 67. Goldy told Classic Rock magazine: "The lyrics deal with what Ronnie was going through at the time. It's hard to listen without a lump in your throat. "We were [...]

Two-time Grammy nominated Australian virtuoso guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, is set to release his all new 2-disc album Little By Little on February 15, 2011 on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label. On Feb. 3, he kicks off a string of U.S. tour dates beginning with three days of TommyFest - a concert series dedicated to the promotion of great acoustic guitar music - in Elizabethtown, KY before moving to shows on both the West and East Coasts. As the Swahili proverb says, all things are possible if you just take it little by little, step by step. [...]

Fender.com is reporting that on the heels of the Nov. 16 release of the Who's Live at Leeds — 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collector's Edition, Fender has teamed up with the Who for the Live in Your Living Room Video Contest. The contest invites you to upload a video of yourself either playing along to any track on Live at Leeds or playing unaccompanied to a Leeds track for a chance to win a grand prize package that includes a custom designed Leeds Fender Stratocaster autographed by Pete Townshend, a Live at Leeds — 40th Anniversary [...]

The initial dates for heavy rock legends UFO's 2011 North American tour have just been revealed. The band will be touring in support of its upcoming studio album, which is slated to be released in June 2011 via SPV/Steamhammer. The East Coast leg of the tour will kick off May 11, 2011 at Bourbon Street in Baltimore, Maryland. Confirmed dates so far: May 11 - Baltimore, MD @ Bourbon Street May 13 - New York, NY @ BB Kings May 14 - Foxboro, MA [...]

Keyboardist Derek Sherinian is a man out of time. For if this were the 1970's, in the heyday of such titans of the keyboards such as Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman and Jon Jord, he would be among that elite circle of players whom were superstars - back in a time when such talent was not only appreciated, but celebrated in popular music. Raised in Santa Cruz, California, the young Sherinian began playing piano at the age of five, then came under the spell of the music of Elton John, particularly his [...]

A rare Pink Floyd reunion show of the three surviving members of the band has been scrapped after the bandmates learned British socialite Jemima Khan was hosting the gig. Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason were all set to come together for the charity show until they discovered where it was to be held. Mason tells British newspaper The Independent, "That particular event wasn't right for a reformation of Pink Floyd. I said I would do it, but it was a charity event for suits, and it felt wrong to turn a [...]