Slash Jams With Lenny Kravitz

Slash made a  appearance performing alongside Lenny Kravitz at the ‘Power of Love Gala’ — a tribute to legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali held Feb. 18 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Slash was recently lampooned in an episode of ‘South Park’ as a fictional character who is portrayed by several different people, much like a mall Santa Claus. Though Slash is indeed a real person, the gag poked fun at the fact that sometimes it seems like Slash is everywhere.
The former Guns N’ Roses axeman’s most recent appearance was at a ceremony to honor boxing legend Muhammad Ali. “Muhammad Ali is and always has been a role model & a hero to me,” said Slash. “It’s a huge privilege to be able to perform in his honor. He is one of the great icons of American culture and history.” Slash took the stage with Lenny Kravitz to pay tribute to Ali with a performance of ‘Always on the Run’ — a track the pair wrote together for Kravitz’ 1991 album ‘Mama Said.’
The ‘Power of Love Gala’ celbrated the 70th birthday of Muhammad Ali with all proceeds from the event being donated to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Others in attendance at the event included Chris Cornell, Stevie Wonder, Sean Combs, Snoop Dogg, former President Bill Clinton, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Oprah Winfrey, fellow boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, and more.
Another high-profile appearance Slash is expected to make will be at Guns N’ Roses Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony April 14. Despite current GN’R keyboardist Dizzy Reed’s recent claim that the band’s original lineup will be in attendance, Slash isn’t so sure. “I know that there’s a lot of rumor about it, as always when it comes to GN’R, out there on the Internet and stuff,” said Slash in an interview with the radio station DC101. “But as it stands right this second, I have no idea what’s going on.”

Slash’s new album featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators is titled ‘Apocalyptic Love‘ is set for release May 22 and is the follow-up to his critically acclaimed solo debut ‘Slash.’by tree riddle

Van Halen Kick Off Tour

Van Halen hit the ground running on the first show of their 2012 tour in Louisville, Ky. tonight (Feb. 18), proving that a four-year layoff has done pretty much nothing to diminish their ability to delight a sold-out arena crowd with both old and new songs.
Hitting the stage with little fanfare — no dropping curtain, no pyro, very little in the way of warm-up music — via their familiar show-starter ‘You Really Got Me,’ the blood-related trio of Alex, Eddie and Wolfgang Van Halen and their charismatic frontman David Lee Roth quickly had the fans on their side.

A gigantic video screen behind the band displayed live footage along with some scrolling photos and images to fill out the visual presentation for the evening. Free to roam on the extremely clean, simple stage thanks to his new headset microphone  Roth proved to be an ageless wonder, dancing and sliding across the stage with grace and boundless energy.
Even more impressively, he was in strong voice throughout, even as any notion of sticking to the original lyrics on tunes like ‘Hot for Teacher’ and ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ was joyfully jettisoned in favor of some classic stream-of-consciousness musings. (It should go without saying by now that Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang performed with precision and fire all night, but if that wasn’t obvious, let the record be clear!)
The 22-song set list featured four songs from the band’s new album ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ and if we had to quibble with anything about tonight’s excellent show, it would be with which tracks from that album made the cut. We were really hoping for ‘Big River,’ ‘You and Your Blues,’ ‘Blood and Fire’ and especially ‘Outta Space’ in addition to early show highlight ‘She’s the Woman.’
Instead, we got ‘China Town,’ which went over rather well, along with ‘The Trouble With Never’ and ‘Tattoo’ which didn’t succeed quite as much, the latter kicking off the first obvious “bathroom break” exodus of the evening.
This minor (and highly subjective) complaint was more than washed away by the late-set 1-2-3 punch of songs from the band’s 1979 sophomore album ‘II,’ including ‘Beautiful Girls’ together with the long-unheard ‘Women in Love’ and ‘Outta Love Again.’ This sequence also found the band locking into the most satisfying, slightly relaxed groove of the evening.
Following that, we got ‘Ice Cream Man,’ whose intro found Roth rhapsodizing about the difference between his sheep- and cattle-herding dogs, an exceptionally jaw-dropping (and somewhat economical) guitar solo showcase from Eddie Van Halen, and the group’s now-traditional and confetti-aided finale ‘Jump.’
Any one of the tens of thousands of fans in attendance could have easily named six more songs they’d still want to hear, but nobody could say we didn’t get our money’s worth.by matthew wilkening

Whitney Houston Back On Billboard Charts !

 Massive uptick in digital sales and radio airplay following her death this past weekend, Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" re-entered Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart this week, landing at #7. And, in the process, it forced the magazine to adjust the way it handles so-called "catalog" tracks on the chart
Historically, catalog songs — tracks still frequently aired on contemporary radio months or years after their initial debut — were ineligible for the Hot 100 (Billboard moves them to several "recurrent" charts once they've spent 20 weeks on the chart and have fallen below position number 50), though, in Billboard director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo said that will now officially change.

"Going forward, we feel that it is the proper move to allow older titles posting enough activity to return to the Hot 100 if ranking in the chart's upper half," he said.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, "I Will Always Love You" — which topped the Hot 100 for a staggering 14 weeks in 1992 — posted a 6,723 percent increase in digital sales, while Nielsen BDS reported radio airplay of the song leapt by 915 percent, both of which helped it vault back into the Hot 100. In addition, Houston will also place two more songs on this week's singles chart, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" at #35 and "Greatest Love of All" at #41.

Houston's back catalog has also seen  The Greatest Hits re-entered the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at #6, and several of her biggest hits have combined to rack up nearly 900,000 downloads in the days since her death.

 Resurgence of "I Will Always Love You" is historic, though not entirely without precedent. In 2001, following the attacks of September 11, Lee Greenwood's 1984 hit "God Bless the USA" and Houston's iconic performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" both returned to the Hot 100, though, as Billboard explains "at the time, the inclusion of these songs properly captured the musical mood as the nation reacted to that tragic day

Orignal Guns N' Roses Will Attend Rock N Roll Ceremony

Paul Natkin, Getty Images

Current Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed has confirmed that the entire original lineup of the band will be in attendance for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony April 14 in Cleveland, Ohio.
After tons of speculation and indecision from all involved parties, Reed tells Billboard that the ‘Appetite for Destruction’ lineup of Guns N’ Roses will be present for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. “I know that all the original band is going to be there,” said Reed of the upcoming ceremony. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to go down. It’s one of those things I’m sure will all come together and be really cool. I’m just going to go in with a good attitude and a clear head and a grateful heart.”
The big question now is, of course, whether the original lineup will perform together for the first time in 22 years. The biggest obstacle standing in the way of the reunion performance is, and has always been, the ongoing bad blood between singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash. Perhaps Slash’s recent Tweet wishing Axl a happy birthday brought an end to the decades-old feud — it’s not likely, but it’s possible.
The original lineup consisting of Rose, Slash, Steven Adler, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin last performed together at Farm Aid on April 7, 1990 — almost exactly 22 years before their scheduled April 14 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Reed and drummer Matt Sorum of the ‘Use Your Illusion’ lineup are also expected to be inducted.by tree riddle