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The new video for “Tea Party” by Kerli is out. It’s one of the standout tracks from the new Almost Alice album. As you might already know, Almost Alice is a new compilation of songs inspired by the Tim Burton film “Alice In Wonderland”. The new 16-track album features songs by Mark Hoppus, Pete Wentz, All-American Rejects, Shinedown, 3OH!3, Franz Ferdinand, Avril Lavigne and All Time Low.

Almost Alice is out now and can be purchased at online retailers like CD Universe.

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Eric Clapton stopped by The RBC Center in Raleigh this past monday to rush through his 16-song set and to completely ignore his fans. Yes, I know, Clapton is known for his lack of stage banter but come on, throw us a bone every now and then. The arena was pretty much filled to capacity, the least he could have done was acknowledge that we were there and maybe even say the name of the town he was in. He honestly looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. Clapton fans would argue that he lets the music speak for itself but the living legend just seemed to be going through the motions, literally on autopilot the whole night. No spark of inspiration nor glimmer of enthusiasm were evident at this particular show. Another tell tale sign was Clapton plowing through song after song without pausing to allow the audience to give him some applause. weird. He was pretty much the same way when I last saw him live back on his Journeyman tour but his disinterest and disengagement seemed more pronounced this time around.

But having said all that, I have to say that the man is a guitar legend and I’m still glad I got to see the show. Clapton has a stellar band with him including Steve Gadd on drums and Willie Weeks on bass. Ya can’t go wrong there. And he also performed one of my all time favorites, “Old Love” that featured a nice extended solo. Other moments during the set that featured some tasty guitar work included “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Little Queen of Spades” and “Before You Accuse Me”.

As for Roger Daltrey, I wasn’t expecting much from him after seeing the poor half-time performance by The Who during this year’s superbowl. But surprisingly, Daltrey did a fantastic job and really got the crowd going. He was the total opposite of Clapton: engaging with the crowd, making a few jokes here and there and he genuinely seemed happy to be on stage. He had a well paced set with highlights like “Who Are You”, “Gimme a Stone”, “Young Man Blues” and of course, “Baba O’Riley”.

retroGrade: C+ (Eric Clapton), A (Roger Daltrey)

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Southern California band Sherwood is currently out on tour to support their latest release, Qu. With songs that feature sun-drenched vocal harmonies, the band isn’t afraid to wear their Beach Boys influence out on their sleeves. In a marketplace full of pop-punk Green Day knockoffs, it’s refreshing to hear a band that tries to put the emphasis back on songcraft & melody and not just rely solely on highly-distorted power riffs.

March/April 2010 tour dates:
Wed 03/03/10 Nashville, TN Exit / In
Thu 03/04/10 Knoxville, TN The Square Room
Fri 03/05/10 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade
Sat 03/06/10 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
Mon 03/08/10 Orlando, FL Back Booth
Tue 03/09/10 Tampa, FL The Crowbar
Thu 03/11/10 Greenville, SC The Handlebar
Fri 03/12/10 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
Sat 03/13/10 Elizabethtown, PA Folklore Coffee & Company
Sun 03/14/10 Somerville, MA Center For The Arts At The Armory
Mon 03/15/10 Vienna, VA Jammin’ Java
Tue 03/16/10 South Hackensack, NJ School of Rock East
Wed 03/17/10 New York, NY HighLine Ballroom
Thu 03/18/10 Rochester, NY Water Street Music Hall
Fri 03/19/10 Pittsburgh, PA Diesel Club Lounge
Sat 03/20/10 Akron, OH Musica
Sun 03/21/10 Columbus, OH Skully’s Music Diner
Mon 03/22/10 Cincinnati, OH Mad Hatter Club
Tue 03/23/10 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection
Wed 03/24/10 Chicago, IL Subterranean
Thu 03/25/10 Milwaukee, WI The Rave Eagles Club
Fri 03/26/10 La Crosse, WI Warehouse
Sat 03/27/10 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club
Mon 03/29/10 Denver, CO Marquis Theater
Tue 03/30/10 Murray, UT The Murray Theater
Wed 03/31/10 Idaho Falls, ID Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium
Thu 04/01/10 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Fri 04/02/10 Seattle, WA El Corazon
Wed 04/07/10 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop
Thu 04/08/10 San Luis Obispo, CA Downtown Brewing Company

Sherwood: Nate Henry, Dan Koch, Joe Greenetz, Mike Leibovich, Dave Provenzano
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Frontiers Records recently revealed some new details concerning Asia’s upcoming release, Omega. With the success of 2008’s Pheonix and supporting tour, fans the world over are itching for more from this legendary foursome. I’m particularly interested in the new material especially since learning that producer Mike Paxman is involved with this project. Legacy artists like these obviously know their way around a recording studio but from what I’ve seen, it’s always beneficial to have an outside producer to provide a fresh perspective on their material. Geoff Downes is quoted in the new press release saying “We were looking to create something different with Omega… Of course, the sound of the 4 band members of Asia will always have a certain hallmark when we play together. That’s a given. But we approached the song writing with a mind to getting a degree of variety into these compositions. Hence, you will hear areas of textures where arguably we have never gone before.”

Look for Omega in stores and online on April 23rd in Europe and May 4th in the U.S.

Here’s the TrackList:
Finger on the Trigger
Through My Veins
Holy War
Ever Yours
Listen Children
End of the World
Light The Way
Emily (bonus track)
Still The Same
There Was a Time
I Believe
Don’t Wanna Lose You Now

Produced by Mike Paxman
record label: Frontiers Records
the band: John Wetton, Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Carl Palmer
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Keith Emerson and Greg Lake recently announced tour dates for the month of April. The announcement of a tour is a bit of a surprise since I thought Emerson had experienced some issues with his hands last year which led him to cancel a set of “Keith Emerson Band” dates. Well, I guess this is a sign that he’s well enough to perform live again.

I’d be interested to see how this goes. According to the press release, the format is pretty much the two rock icons on stage re-interpreting their classic tunes in an “unplugged” setting. I’m a bit bummed that they’re not coming to my town but if any of you catch the show, feel free to post your thoughts right here on this page.

Here are the Emerson/Lake Tour dates:
Thu 04/01/10 Lakewood, OH Lakewood Civic Auditorium
Fri 04/02/10 Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
Sat 04/03/10 Ridgefield, CT Ridgefield Playhouse
Mon 04/05/10 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage
Tue 04/06/10 Alexandria, VA Birchmere
Thu 04/08/10 New York, NY Nokia Theatre Times Square
Fri 04/09/10 Westbury, NY Theatre At Westbury
Sat 04/10/10 New Bedford, MA Zeiterion Performing Arts Center
Tue 04/13/10 Montreal, QC Place des Arts
Fri 04/16/10 Milwaukee, WI Northern Lights Theater
Sat 04/17/10 Merrillville, IN Star Plaza Theatre
Sun 04/18/10 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre
Sun 04/25/10 Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre

**UPDATE: 23Feb10** new dates added to the tour -
Sunday 04/11/2010 Lynn, MA Memorial Auditorium
Saturday 04/24/2010 Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas Hilton
Wednesday 04/28/2010 Colorado Springs, CO Pikes Peak Center

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Currently, Neal Schon is in the midst of working up songs with Jonathan Cain for an upcoming Journey album but for a couple weeks in March, Schon will be taking some time to do some gigs of his own.

here are the dates according to PollStar.com –
Wed 03/17/10 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
Thu 03/18/10 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
Fri 03/19/10 Henderson, NV Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa
Sat 03/20/10 Modesto, CA The State Theatre Of Modesto
Mon 03/22/10 Chico, CA El Rey Theatre
Thu 03/25/10 San Juan Capistrano, CA The Coach House
Sat 03/27/10 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Tue 03/30/10 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
Wed 03/31/10 West Hollywood, CA House Of Blues

the live band features:
Neal Schon, Miles Schon, Marco Mendoza, Prairie Prince and Keith St. John.

Apparently Schon is headed for the studio in April to begin work on the new Journey album so there won’t be any further live dates for Schon and his band until he’s through with the recording sessions. busy guy!

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Carrie Underwood’s latest titled Play On is like the Wal-Mart of popular music. Underwood along with her producers and writers set out to please the broadest possible listening audience and by doing so, the bulk of the album is generic and bland as mac & cheese. It’s a bit disappointing since Underwood is so darn likeable and she’s obviously got the vocal chops. Too bad the material isn’t challenging enough to keep me interested.

For today’s song of the day, I thought I’d share the sole highlight of the album, a song called “This Time”.

Maybe it’s the way that the stars are aligned
That’s making me feel this way tonight
Maybe it’s the words you left unsaid
Maybe it’s the stardust in my head

Yeah I just wanna tell you that my heart is busting at the seams, yeah
And I can’t wait another minute
Life is short, love is sweet ain’t no time like this time baby
- This Time written by Lindsay, McEwan, Simpson

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To promote the release of a Journey Greatest Hits compilation in the U.K., Steve Perry gave a rare interview with Nicky Horne on Planet Rock radio this past wednesday. Perry confirmed that he has written some songs and recorded demos but apparently nothing close to a new album just yet. He also mentioned during the interview that he misses performing for fans but doesn’t miss the limelight. Another interesting tidbit from the radio segment is that Perry always wanted to be a radio DJ. Horne, the interviewer, was delighted to hear of this and even invited Perry to join the staff at Planet Rock. heh, heh.

anyway, a fellow fan MerryPeary posted the audio of the interview on youtube so be sure to check out the following links and listen for yourself:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

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man, these veteran musicians work mighty fast! 80’s supergroup Asia just announced that their brand new studio album titled “Omega” will be released in April. Not only that but also they’ll touring Europe and Japan in April/May to support the new record. No word yet on any U.S. dates. but stay tuned…

Check out this new interview with guitarist Neal Schon from the recent Winter NAMM show in Anaheim. Schon talked briefly about his vision of the upcoming Journey record. I’m pleasantly surprised to hear that he’s not going for radio-friendly hits this time around. Apparently he and Jonathan Cain will be working on a “conceptual record” that’ll be more musically adventurous than their previous albums. awesome! I’m looking forward to it. According to Schon, the new album is scheduled for a 2011 release.

In the meantime, Schon is keen on doing some solo shows with his own band which includes his son Miles Schon, Marco Mendoza and Prairie Prince. Hopefully he’ll be doing some gigs near me sometime soon. stay tuned…

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