Slick Style Music
By Jenna Croyle

With much passion for music and superstar stage presence, you cannot help but to keep coming back for more, show after amazing show. This week’s Featured band is hard driving 60 Inch Slick.

This Alternative Country and Rock band has a vast musical repertoire that includes traditional country covers of Dwight Yoakum and Willie Nelson along with Alternative Country such as Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley and Pat Green.

60 Inch Slick offers their fans an array of classic Rock and Roll including the music of Journey, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin; Southern Rock such as Alabama, Grand Funk Railroad and ZZ Top along while adding covers of some of the more recent artists such as Maroon 5, Nickelback, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Unlike many cover bands that you see playing out around town, this very versatile band does not just cover the music of other artists, but with a style all their own, they make each song a 60 Inch Slick original.

Lead by guitarist and singer Ralph Chamberlain, these seasoned and professional musicians create a band that is not just the run of the mill cover band. With an ever-growing collection of original tunes that they perform, making sure that each and every note and beat is perfectly played, each show is truly an amazing musical experience of a Country band that is a Rock and Roll great time, for attendees of their shows.

The true test of a great cover band is not just being able to step on stage and play the songs that others who came before them had made great. The benchmark is to be able to engulf your audience with the soul of the music allowing every listener to feel the rhythms rattling their bones and taking over their hearts through nothing more than the pure energy exuded from the stage. With the sound, intensity and showmanship, along with the sheer power flowing off the stage, 60 Inch Slick is certainly such a band.

60 Inch Slick is comprised of Ralph Chamberlain, Danny Rich, Ricky Lee, Danny Buseck and Jerry Chamberlain.

The next time you are out and about, looking to hear some great music and to have a fantastic night, I strongly recommend checking out 60 Inch Slick as they pound the sounds and break the beats, giving you a night to remember.

For show dates please check out their Facebook Page.

Bob Dylan Turns 70

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan. The music legend Bob Dylan is 70-years old as of yesterday.

Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Dulith, Minnesota on May 24, 1941. Although he mainly lives at his beachside house at Malibu in California, he spends a lot of time at his other house back in Minnesota next door to his brother.

Bob Dylan is so famous that just about the only person in the world who doesn't know of his fame is Bob himself. He shuns stardom, mostly flies coach and often elects to catch the bus from an airport instead of taking a limo.

Dylan was one of the most important songwriters of the 60s. His classics 'Blowing In The Wind' and 'The Times They Are A-Changin' were soundtracks to a changing world.

Bob is forever on tour, so much so that his continuous road-trips have become known as 'The Never Ending Tour' since the 80s. He can still do more than 200 shows a year. He has been on tour ever year since 1988 and by the end of 2010 had played over 2300 shows.

It is unknown how many children he has. Some say more than 20 by various mothers. The most famous is his son Jakob Dylan, lead singer of The Wallflowers.

Bob was also once part of supergroup The Travelling Wilburys with George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.

Happy Birthday Bob, forever young at 70.

Kathy Kirby Dies at 72

60s pop star Kathy Kirby has died at the age of 71.

Kirby was at one-time the highest paid female singer in England. She rose to international fame after representing the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. She won second prize. Prior to that she had 5 Top 40 hits between 1963 and 1965 including her cover of Doris Day's 'Secret Love' and her own 'Dance On'.

Kathy stopped performing after 1976 when one of her last appearances was for Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

However, in 2005, she was recorded singing the song 'He' with Amy Winehouse's father Mitch but the song was never officially released.

Her story was tragic. She had two failed marriages, went bankrupt, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and put in a psychiatric hospital and then had a lesbian affair with a fan who was later jailed for fraud and forgery.

Her last ever interview (and first in 26 years) was conducted by the Sunday Express in 2009. In it she revealed that some unreleased recordings would be released in 2010 but it never eventuated.

Brewerie at Union Station

Lionel Richie Joins a Star Studded List of Artists in Morocco for Festival Mawazine

Multi-Award winning artist and humanitarian Lionel Richie joins a star studded list of artists from around the globe, including Quincy Jones, who are coming together in Morocco for Festival Mawazine.

As part of Festival Mawazine, placed under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Maroc Cultures Association has organized a special concert on Sunday, May 29th at the Jemma El Fna square in honor of the victims of the April 28th terrorist attack in Marrakech.

Festival Mawazine and the participating artists have agreed tocome together in the name of peace and tolerance and in show of their firm opposition to terrorism and obscurantism. Internationally acclaimed icons Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie, who together with Michael Jackson, and others led the nations in musical harmony with the ground-breaking song 'We Are the World', join Marrakech born artist and human rights activist Sapho, India's Bharati Show, Mory Kante from Guinea, Hussein El Jasmi of Egypt, Moroccan based group Nass El Ghiwane with Algerian composer Safy Boutella and Hindi Zahra of France/Morocco in solidarity with the people of Marrakech, and against the use violence and oppression.

Admission to the concert will be free. Tickets will be available to purchase for the front rows only. The total revenues from the sale of these tickets will be donated to the families of victims of the attack in Marrakech.

Both national and international press continue to be confirmed and the concert will be broadcast live on multiple television channels and media outlets.

Faithful to its values of openness and tolerance, Maroc Cultures Association extends an invitation to all and hopes to attract as much of a large public in display of their support and commitment to international human rights.

For more information visit website.

Academy Award Winning Songwriter Commits Suicide while Facing Charges

The Academy Award-winning songwriter of "You Light Up My Life," who was awaiting trial on rape charges and was found dead in his apartment, committed suicide, the medical examiner's office ruled Monday, citing asphyxia by helium.

Joseph Brooks was discovered in his apartment Sunday by a friend with whom he was supposed to meet for lunch. The door was unlocked and the doorman at Brooks' apartment was given instructions to allow the friend upstairs.

Police said the 73-year-old was found slumped over on a coach in his den. A plastic dry-cleaning bag was wrapped around his head and a towel was wrapped around his neck. A hose was attached to the bag and a small tank of helium nearby.

The medical examiner's office said Monday Brooks died of asphyxia due to displacement of oxygen by helium gas within the plastic bag over his head.

Helium is generally difficult to detect in an autopsy. Using it to commit suicide is outlined in a best-selling suicide manual by British author Derek Humphry.

The songwriter was awaiting trial on allegations that he lured women to his apartment through an online ad offering auditions for a movie role, then sexually assaulted them after making them drink apparently drugged wine as part of an "acting exercise." He pleaded not guilty in 2009, and his court date had not yet been set.

Police said a rambling, three-page suicide note was found that included complaints about his health.

Brooks suffered a stroke in 2008, and his lawyer had said the songwriter's health was deteriorating during the court case. He appeared gaunt and shuffled slowly as he came to recent court dates.

Brooks won the Academy Award for best original song for the 1977 Debby Boone ballad "You Light Up My Life" and directed a movie of the same name about a comedian who had a one-night stand with a director. Brooks also won a Grammy for the song.

"I have been saddened to hear of the horrible tragedies surrounding Joe Brooks and his family over the years," Boone said in a statement released through a friend on Monday.

"My only real association with Joe was in 1977 for a couple of hours in a New York recording studio when I recorded his beautiful song. I will continue to sing it proudly and hope that people will be able to separate the song from Joe's severely troubled life," Boone said.

In an unrelated case, Brooks' son, Nicholas, is charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Peruvian-American swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay. She was found dead, half-clothed and face-up, in a tub at the swanky Soho House after water began leaking through to the floor below.

Nicholas Brooks has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the Rikers Island jail complex.

Review: Rick Ross, Wale lead Maybach's "Self Made"

Maybach Music Group, "Self Made Vol. 1" (Maybach Music Group/Warner Bros.)

Compilation albums have earned a reputation for having only a couple of songs that are worth a listen. Unfortunately, Maybach Music Group's debut album, "Self Made Vol. 1," helps solidify that view.

It's the label's first compilation album, starring one of hip-hop's best in Rick Ross, alongside Maybach's newly signed rappers Wale, Meek Mill, Pill and singer Teedra Moses. The burly and bearded Ross shines like expected through much of the 15-track album, but he doesn't completely overshadow the lyrically gifted Wale and Moses.

For Meek Mill and Pill, it's different story. Meek Mill struggles to hold his own, with his youthful tone, against the formidable combination of Ross and Wale. Pill delivers raps that aren't easy to digest and forgettable.

The separation of powers is obvious on the opening track "Self Made," as Ross and Wale offer swagger, with Moses backing them up with her soulful voice. The trio leaves Meek Mill and Pill in the dust.

"Self Made's" throwaway tracks include "Pacman" and "By Any Means." But there are some respectable songs, such as "Pandemonium," "Play Your Part" and "That Way," featuring Jeremih, which save the album from a complete downfall.

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: Even though Pill was outdone for the most part, he does show promise on "Don't Let Me Go" featuring Gunplay.

Jethro Tull to Tour Aqualung

Jethro Tull 'Aqualung' is 40 years old and Ian Anderson is taking the album on the road.

Jethro Tull has announced a 16-show tour of North America on their world trek for "the snotted one's" 40th anniversary.

"The Snotted One" is, of course, Aqualung, Tull's 1971 album that moved them from cult group to FM radio stalwarts.

The LP contained a number of songs that went on to become classic rock standards, including the title song, Hymn 43 and Locomotive Breath, and was the group's first top ten album in the U.S., reaching number 7.

The following are both the North American and European dates for the tour:

06/08 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater
06/10 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
06/11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre
06/12 - Valley Center, CA - Harrah's Rincon
06/13 - Anaheim, CA - Grove of Anaheim
06/14 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery
06/16 - Eugene, OR - Cuthbert Amphitheater
06/17 - Troutdale, OR - McMenamins Edgefield Concerts
06/18 - Woodinville, WA - Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery]
06/19 - Vancouver, BC - The Centre in Vancouver
06/21 - Edmonton, AB - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
06/22 - Calgary, AB - Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
06/23 - Regina, SK - Casino Regina-Show Lounge
06/25 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
06/26 - Chicago - Chicago Theater
06/27 - Chicago - Rosemont Theatre
07/14 - Asti, Italy - Piazza Cattedralle
07/15 - Boretto (RE), Italy - Cantiere Arni
07/16 - Brescia, Italy - Piazza della Loggia
07/17 - Cattolica, Italy - Arena La Regina
07/22 - Aanekoski, Finland - Keitelejazz Festival
07/24 - London, England - High Voltage Festival, Victoria Park
07/28 - Hannau, Germany - Amphitheater
07/29 - Seebronn, Germany - Rock of Ages Festival
07/30 - Zitadelle Petersberg, Germany - Erfurt
07/31 - Munich, Germany - Circus Krone

Bono Agrees with Bad 'Spider Man' Review

Bono has said he agrees with a bad review of Spider Man: The Musical.

The music from the show was composed by U2 members Bono and The Edge.

In an interview with ABC (America) News' 'Nightline' program, the superstar said 't might have been a little hard for some other people around here to take that, but we don't disagree with the New York Times. That's the sort of stuff we were saying backstage.

'The last version of 'Turn Off The Dark' had a lot of magic and mysterious stuff. It was beautiful actually, in so many ways. It just, it didn't cohere.'

The play has been troubled from day one. There were numerous delays to opening night, budget problems (it is believed to be the most expensive show in the history of Broadway costing upwards of $US70million) and recently the show's director Julie Taymor threw the towel in and quit the show.

The show hasn't had many particularly great reviews.

The review, which originally appeared in the New York Times says of the show: ''m not kidding. The sheer ineptitude of this show, inspired by the Spider-Man comic books, loses its shock value early. After 15 or 20 minutes, the central question you keep asking yourself is likely to change from 'How can $65 million look so cheap?' to 'How long before I'm out of here?''

The songs by Bono and the Edge are rarely allowed to take full, attention-capturing form. Mostly they blur into a sustained electronic twang of varying volume, increasing and decreasing in intensity, like a persistent headache. A loud ballad of existential angst has been written for Peter, who rasps dejectedly, ''d be myself if I knew who I'd become.' That might well be the official theme song of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.'

It's not the first time U2 have lent their musical talents to a comic book hero. In 1995, they wrote the song' Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me' to the Batman Forever soundtrack.

The Beatles 'Love' to Turn 5

The Beatles musical 'Love' is about to turn 5 years old.

If you intending to attend the June 8 performance of the Beatles-themed Love in Las Vegas, you had best get your tickets tickets now because over half of the audience is already filled with people associated with the Beatles for the 5th anniversary of the show.

Attending will be Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison's ex Patti and their son Dhani, George and his son Giles Martin along with many of their associates. Ringo Starr is unable to attend due to his current tour. McCartney will also be hosting a private party after the performance with music by DJ Chris Holmes.

Love, a creation of the Cirque du Soleil's Guy Laliberté and and Patti Harrison, opened on June 30, 2006 and was such a success that the theater company has already opened the Elvis Presley show Viva Elvis and has plans for additional shows based on the music of Michael Jackson and Danny Elfman.

Jerry Nadal, senior vice president of Cirque, told USA Today, "Tapping into all these different fan bases has meant a great expansion for us. For the first year or two, we got a lot of hardcore Beatles fans who had never seen a Cirque show. They said, 'Wow, that's Cirque? I want to see another one.' Anytime you make an investment north of $100 million, there's a risk, but this ended up being a great marriage."

Stone Sour Drummer Suffers Stroke

Heavy Metal merchant 'Roy Mayorga' of 'Stone Sour' has sadly suffered a minor stroke in Des Moines after the bands headline gig there.

Subsequently the band have made the verdict to terminate the rest of their tour dates to allow for their stickman to make a full recuperation.

On 'Stone Sours' MySpace blog a recent post read: 'Our friend and drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke a couple of nights ago after our show in Des Moines'. The post also states 'He's doing great and is expected to make a 100% recovery'.

The band have recently just come off of the road from the 'Avalanche Tour 2011'. This tour also saw the likes of 'Theory of a Deadman' and the engagingly thundering 'Halestorm'.

Stone Sour are a band from Des Moines whose newest album, 'Audio Secrecy', was released just last year. The line up consists of 'Corey Taylor', 'Shawn Economaki', 'Jim Root', 'Josh Rand', and of course, 'Roy Mayorga'.

'Roy Mayorga' is a Forty One year old drummer who was also involved with both of the 'Max Cavalera' projects 'Sepultura' and 'Soulfly'.

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Plant, Miller Lead Americana Awards Nominations

Robert Plant and Buddy Miller teamed up to top the list of nominees for the 2011 Americana Awards with three apiece.

Each was nominated Monday for artist of the year along with fellow three-time nominee Elizabeth Cook and teamed up for several nominations on their collaboration "Band of Joy."

The album earned the former Led Zeppelin singer a nomination for album of the year. His all-star group of collaborators, which includes co-producer Miller and is also known as The Band of Joy, earned a nod in the duo/group category at the Oct. 13 awards.

Miller is also up for instrumentalist of the year.

Cook also received nominations for her album "Welder" and her "El Camino." Hayes Carll, the fourth artist of the year nominee, is up for two awards.

Jeff Bridges to Release Self-Titled Album in August

Oscar winning actor Jeff Bridges will release his self-titled major-label debut album on August 16, record company Blue Note said on Monday.

The album is being produced by Bridges "Crazy Heart" collaborator, T Bone Burnett, and features material by several songwriters as well as Bridges' own compositions.

Bridges, 61, told Reuters last fall that "Crazy Heart", which won him a best actor Oscar playing a washed-up musician, led him to the creation of the album.

"I've gotten into my music a lot and I think that's a direct result of 'Crazy Heart'," he said.

"Jeff Bridges" features such songwriters as Burnett, Stephen Bruton, John Goodwin, Greg Brown and Thomas Cobb.

Bridges himself wrote or co-wrote four out of the 11 songs on the album. Roseanne Cash, Ryan Bingham, Sam Phillips and Benji Hughes appear as guest vocalists.

Bridges and Burnett first met in 1980 and worked together on the 1998 film "The Big Lebowski." Burnett co-wrote several of songs for "Crazy Heart" included "The Weary Kind," which won the Oscar last year for best original song.

Paisley's Latest is Arena-Ready

Brad Paisley, "This Is Country Music" (Arista Nashville)

Among the clichés in country music are songs about the clichés in country music, such as the tune Brad Paisley co-wrote to open his latest album. The self-congratulatory title cut panders to the converted while referencing the flag, Jesus, trucks, mama and beer.

Also common in the genre are the sort of suffocating, more-is-better song arrangements that undermine "This Is Country Music." Paisley's guitar-playing remains a marvel, and he composed some clever material for this 15-song set, including tunes that name-drop guests Alabama and Clint Eastwood in the title.

But Paisley also piled on layers of guitars, fiddle, banjo, pedal steel, keyboards and vocals, barely leaving himself room to breathe, much less riff. The title should be "This Is Arena Music," because the songs are built for America's most cavernous performing rooms rather than a pair of headphones.

Even so, the album is worth hearing, in large part because of those jaw-dropping guitar solos (there are 11, count `em). Two tunes mention cancer, but Paisley's mostly in a mood for fun. "Don't Drink The Water" is rollicking Tex-Mex party music with Blake Shelton, and the comical "Working On A Tan" combines Dick Dale guitar with a Jimmy Buffett vibe. When the boys from Alabama stop by on "Old Alabama," the result is a hoot, while "Toothbrush" is just plain cute.

Most of the rest will be better live.

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: On "Eastwood," a spaghetti-Western-style instrumental, Paisley is convincing in the role of guitar slinger while Clint himself plays the whistling cowboy.