Ozzy Osbourne's upcoming Ozzfest tour is offering prospective brides and grooms a chance to tie the knot at one of the stops on the tour through a new offering called the Unholy Matrimony Package. The promotion will provide 10 general admission pit tickets for the happy couple and eight guests, an official wedding ceremony performed by Ozzfest MC and ordained minister Big Dave, an Ozzfest cake and a champagne toast. The wedding party will also get early entry into the venue and a pre-show backstage tour, plus access to the VIP lounge.
Also included will be specially designed Ozzfest tour shirts, numbered and limited tour posters, Sony earbuds and official Ozzfest guitar picks.
Each couple will also be eligible for a special Ozzfest wedding gift from the Unholy Matrimony bridal registry and supplied by the tour's sponsors, including a refrigerator and a guitar.
The Unholy Matrimony Packages have already been sold for the California, Connecticut and New Jersey shows, but are still available for Chicago on August 17th, Pittsburgh on the 19th and Boston on the 24th.
Couples must provide their own marriage license.
This year's six-show Ozzfest excursion will feature Ozzy in the headlining slot, along with Motley Crue, Rob Halford, DevilDriver, Nonpoint, Drowning Pool, Black Label Society and others on two stages.
The Black Crowes plan to unveil a web series, called 20 Years Of Tall Tales, in conjunction with the August 3rd release of Croweology -- their first-ever double album of all-acoustic material with new arrangements of classics and deep cuts.
Throughout the month of August, the band will release one webisode per day on BlackCrowes.com. In the clips, they'll answer questions about the band's highs, the lows, controversies, arrests, feuds and more. The series was filmed earlier this month at Chris Robinson's Los Angeles home.
Black Crowes are celebrating the release with an extensive tour this year. They're on the road through the end of 2010 on what will likely be their last road trip for a while. Earlier this year, the group announced it would ber going on a lengthy hiatus once the Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys tour wraps with A six-night stand at The Fillmore in San Francisco this December. Singer Chris Robinson tells us why they decided to take a break: "The real story is is you know, it's been five solid years of touring, you know three records and DVDs. And I think it's more about just having a little bit of space and taking our breath away from the thing. It's hard because it's easily been the most fulfilling and progressive time in the band, in you know, 20 years."
Chicago co-founder and trombonist James Pankow says that the band's ultimate legacy is bridging the generations. 41 years after breaking on the music scene, Pankow, along with co-founders Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane (pronounced: Locknee), and Walter Parazaider, are still delivering the goods night after night to three full generations.
Pankow explains how he's come to terms with Chicago's legacy: "It's a crazy time we're living in right now. Looking back, this might be the 40th anniversary of the second album. With all due respect it's kind of irrelevant to me right now. I think our longevity speaks to the fact that little did we know that this music that we wrote over the years would become timeless stuff -- and not only timeless, but multi-generational."
Chicago tour dates (subject to change): August 8 - Chester, WV - West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort (with The Doobie Brothers) August 19 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay August 20 - Coto de Caza, CA - Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club August 25 - Tulalip, WA - Tulalip Amphitheatre August 27 - Coquitlam, BC - Boulevard Casino August 28 - Richmond, BC - River Rock Casino Resort
In October, Chicago -- along with America and Peter Frampton -- are set for an extended Australian tour.
Friends and fans of John Lennon's legendary recording engineer Dennis Ferrante (pronounced: Firr-ant-eee ) will be teaming up on August 4th at New York City's Highline Ballroom to raise money for a new heart for him. Examiner.com reported that Ferrante, who has suffered numerous heart attacks and whose heart is only functioning at 20 percent usage, is now classified as a "1-B heart transplant candidate." The benefit will partially cover Ferrante's medical insurance and living expenses. Among the assorted friends performing the Have A Heart For Dennis benefit are Wings members Denny Laine and Steve Holley, along with the Crystals' La La Brooks, Lou Christie, and Will Lee from the Fab Faux and CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman. Other special guests are expected to appear.
Ferrante worked side-by-side at the Record Plant East studio with Lennon throughout the 1970's and engineered most of Lennon's solo work, including Imagine, Some Time In New York City, Mind Games, Walls And Bridges, and Rock 'N' Roll.
Ferrante recently told us that the loss of Lennon -- and the aftermath of his death -- continues to hit him hard: "Yoko stole John from everybody because she had him cremated that night, or the next morning. And nobody got to pay our last respects to him, we never got to see him. She just cut everybody off from that. And I thought that was heartless on her part -- and I still think it was heartless. Because, y'know, it's not that it was just her husband, he had a lot of friends that wanted to be there to at least pay respects, and she stopped it from everybody -- she stopped everybody from doing that. Her claim was that she didn't want to put everybody through it, and I don't believe it."
Robert Plant's new album with the revamped new version of his pre-Led Zeppelin group Band Of Joy will release their self-titled debut on September 13th. Plant spoke about the album on his official website (robertplant.com) saying, "It's been a blast working on these new songs ... and I'm enjoying such creativity and vitality. It's been a remarkable change of direction for all of us and as a group we all seem to have developed a new groove."
Blabbermouth.net posted that among the tracks on the album is the new single "Angel Dance," as well as covers of Townes Van Zandt's "Harm's Swift Way", and two songs by the indie band Low's 2005 album The Great Destroyer -- "Silver Rider" and "Monkey"
Robert Plant and Band Of Joy U.S. tour dates (subject to change): July 30 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall July 31 - Miami, FL - Bayfront Park Amphitheater
Ron Wood's artwork will receive it's first major U.S. museum showing this fall when his paintings and sketches will be shown at Ohio's Butler Institute of American Art. Pollstar.com reported that Wood will be on hand for the opening on September 21st, with the exhibition including "30 of Wood's paintings, 22 pen-and-pencil drawings and seven mixed-media works." The eight-week show ends its run on November 21st.
Wood told us that his earliest creative influences were his family: "Ever since I was tiny, ever since I was three or something. I used to copy my elder brothers -- they were both artists and both musicians, so I just followed in their tracks."
Wood's personal problems with alcohol -- above his art and music -- have kept him front and center in the tabloids over the past couple of years. He spoke candidly on why he drank and did drugs, and ultimately what caused him to go get straight: "Y'know, I think a lot of it is to do -- the drink and drugs -- with the celebration thing. Like, if you've done something really well, you go 'Yeah! Let's drink to that.' And that was just getting kind of out of hand. And I realized that I wasn't getting any happier if I drank. In fact, I was getting this person that I wasn't. I was getting very depressed and quite an angry person, and very snappy with people, and I don't like to think that that is me."
