JOURNEY: Guess Who's Crying Now?
Journey guitarist Neal Schon is once again airing the band's dirty laundry in public. He's felt the need to respond to comments singer Arnel Pineda recently made in an interview with
Rolling Stone -- for which Schon and Jonathan Cain were also interviewed -- in which he expressed his desire to quit the band due to personal issues at home -- he's going through a nasty divorce -- and how he felt his requests fell upon deaf ears. Schon has taken to
Facebook to say, "Over the years, Journey has always been about the music and the fans first.
"There’s been some recent press and speculation that doesn’t reflect the full picture. Touring at this level involves many moving parts, and decisions are made collectively with our team, including management, agents, and promoters. "Like any long-running band, there are moments where people feel the pressure differently. I respect that, and I have nothing but appreciation for what everyone brings to the stage. "For clarity, no one was ever prevented by me from making their own personal decisions. At the same time, we were all advised by our representatives that there are contractual obligations tied to touring that need to be honored.
"My focus has always been — and remains — delivering the best possible experience for our fans and keeping the music alive."
While Pineda grumbled about feeling ignored and the way the tour was laid out, he did say in that same Rolling Stone interview that everything worked out when it came to which songs to leave out of the set and the length and structure of the show in order not to tax his voice.
Journey's Final Frontier tour moves to Sioux Falls, South Dakota tonight (Monday), followed by stops this week in Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday, and Lincoln, Nebraska on Thursday.
STEVIE NICKS: Her Birthday Present For You
Stevie Nicks will reportedly release her next album, The Ghost Record, on May 26th, which is her 78th birthday. It will be her first studio album since 2014’s 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault, and her first with all new material since 2011’s In Your Dreams. Stevie hinted at the album last April when she was inducted into concert industry magazine Pollstar's Live Music Hall of Fame, saying, "I have seven songs, and they are autobiographical real stories where I'm not pulling any punches for probably the first time in my life... They're real stories of memories of mine, of fantastic men! I call it the ghost record."
And in other Stevie news, a new biography, Lessons & Lace, will be published on September 15th. It was written by music journalist Rachel Brodsky who says it's a "philosophical, prescriptive biography" that "traces the journey of the iconic Fleetwood Mac singer through the lens of her own life lessons and recounts her path to becoming the wisdom-dispersing fairy godmother we know her as today." Stevie will be on the road later this month with
shows in Thackerville, Oklahoma on April 18th, Austin, Texas on the 22nd, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on the 25th.
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: Arrest Warrant Issued For Stalker
Michelle Dick, the woman who has been stalking Lindsey Buckingham since 2021 and who allegedly poured an unidentified liquid on him last month (not April 1st as previously reported) in Santa Monica, California, has been charged with seven criminal counts in Los Angeles County despite not being arrested yet. The felony complaint was filed on Friday and includes one count of making criminal threats, one count of assault with a deadly weapon involving a motor vehicle on March 19th, and one count of vandalizing Buckingham’s Mercedes-Benz S450 the same day. She also faces a separate felony count of making a criminal threat against Buckingham on March 25th, and a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly using force during that incident.
An arrest warrant has been issued, and, finding probable cause, bail has been set at $300,000.
Michelle started harassing Buckingham and his family in 2021 and has gone to his home and repeatedly harassed his wife and children in a desperate bid to catch his attention. She's called him and his wife dozens of times, leaving long messages claiming to be his daughter. Buckingham denies she's his daughter. She's threatened to kill Buckingham and his family, along with blaming him for facial deformities she suffered as a child. In 2022 police told her to stay away from Buckingham and his wife, so instead she started reaching out to his son Will.
In 2024, "Michelle" sent Buckingham a picture collage with her face and his. Later that year she called the police in the middle of the night claiming Will was in the family home threatening to harm himself. Lindsey opened the door only to be placed in handcuffs until cops could get the story straight. In December 2024, Buckingham was granted a permanent restraining order against her. Buckingham has not commented on last month's attack.
FOO FIGHTERS: Rubin Goes Into Drummer Switch
Foo Fighters drummer Ilan Rubin says that switch between him and Josh Freese as the drummers in Nine Inch Nails wasn't supposed to happen until he'd finished the first leg of the Nails tour last year. Rubin told the Go With Elmo podcast that when Dave Grohl first approached him about joining the band the 2025 North American leg of the Nine Inch Nails Peel It Back tour hadn't been booked yet. He says, "So as far as I knew, my contract ended on a date. After that, it was, what am I doing next? And when this happened and the opportunity presented itself and it was just an obvious great fit and a great thing for me." Rubin said that he agreed to do the North American leg to wrap up his contract and that he didn't abandon that trek to join the Foos. He says, "The only thing that kind of really bothered me at the time when that news leaked was that it kind of gave the impression that I just kind of said, 'Well, this came up. I'm outta here. Have fun, guys,' which was not the case at all. Everyone knew what my commitments were, and I'm a very, very loyal guy and I do what I say I'm gonna do.
"Had everything gone the way it was originally supposed to, I would've finished that American leg of the Nine Inch Nails tour, I would have had a week to rehearse with Foo Fighters and then play a festival in Jakarta. That's what it would've been. That's what everyone had agreed to, and that's what it was."
Rubin says that NIN frontman Trent Reznor decided that since Freese was going to do the 2026 leg, he might as well have the drummer start early. He says, "That allowed me to, rather than have a week with the band, to have a couple of months to leisurely learn 40 songs or whatever it was, hang out with the guys, get to know everybody really well."
Watch Guns N' Roses Play 'Use Your Illusion' Deep Cut for the First Time in 35 Years
Guns N' Roses surprised fans at Monsters of Rock Brazil by playing the Use Your Illusion I deep cut "Bad Apples" for the first time in 35 years. This marked only the third live performance of the song by the band. The performance in Sao Paulo was part of Guns N' Roses' 2026 world tour, which includes a diverse lineup of opening acts and runs through December. The band also debuted other songs and covers during the tour, including "Rocket Queen" and Black Sabbath's "Junior's Eyes." Watch the performance on YouTube.
Metallica Announces Two Shows at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun
Metallica has announced a pair of "intimate" concerts for the end of 2026 — which, by Metallica standards, means they'll be playing an arena that "only" holds 10,000 people. They’ll play two shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Nov. 19 and 21. The band is billing them as intimate shows with their signature "No Repeat Weekend" format, meaning two completely different set lists across the two nights. They'll be supported on the first night by Suicidal Tendencies (with whom Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo used to play, and with whom his son Tye Trujillo now plays) and Spiritbox on the second night. The shows are Metallica's only two U.S. concerts of 2026 so far that are not booked at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Single-day and two-day tickets go on sale this Friday. Find out more information at Metallica.com.
Geddy Lee Defends Decision To Tour Under Rush Name
Geddy Lee is defending his decision to tour as Rush after previously insisting that the surviving members would never tour under the famous moniker again. During a recent conversation with Classic Rock, the musician acknowledged that he and Alex Lifeson agreed that the band was only Rush if the late Neil Peart was in it. However, the decision to perform under Rush comes as they'll be playing dozens of songs by the band. Lee said it wasn't an easy decision but admitted that it felt "silly" to go on as "Lee and LIfeson Present The Music Of..." Rush will be paying tribute to Peart during the upcoming "Fifty Something" reunion tour, which kicks off this June.
RUSH: Moving Tributes
While Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson continue to bring their new drummer Anika Nilles up to speed for the Rush Fifty Something tour, they've also been working out how to pay tribute each night to their late drummer Neil Peart, which they explained on the Brazilian TV show,
GL: “We’ve been talking about certain songs that we feel really give us the vision of Neil. And we'll pick those songs in each set of the two sets. So twice a night we will pick a song to play sort of for him and we’ll present a visual tribute behind us, to Neil, whether it be to his lyrics or just to his playing or whatever. Take a moment, play these songs with him in mind, so the whole audience and us can remember him.”
AL: "A celebration of who he was as a person and a drummer. Not so sad anymore.”
Also, during the interview, Geddy talked about what songs he'll continue to play keyboards on now that they augmented the band with keyboardist Loren Gold. He says he'll play on those "signature songs" like "Tom Sawyer," "Subdivisions" and "Red Sector A." Rush will start their Fifty Something tour on June 7th with the first of four shows at the Forum in Inglewood, California, where they played their last show on August 1st, 2015.
RINGO: Chooses Love Again
Ringo Starr has released "Choose Love," the second track off his new country album, Long Long Road. Joined by St. Vincent on vocals, it's a re-recording of the title track to his 2005 album, which he co-wrote with Gary Burr and Mark Hudson. Like numerous songs that he wrote with Hudson, "Choose Love" contains references to two songs by The Beatles -- "The Long and Winding Road" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" -- as well as his first solo hit, "It Don't Come Easy." Ringo said, 'The Long and Winding Road', which was a great line, I didn't write it, but, you know, it's one of those sayings. But, it is more than a song, so it works, you know. And 'Tomorrow Never Knows', which I did write, you know, and John [Lennon] turned that into a song, and, you know, they still hold up. And I have no shame about throwing songs or titles from before." And Mark Hudson told us Ringo "likes to make a reference to older songs only as a feeling, but not as a message." Long Long Road, Ringo's second country album in just over a year, will be out on April 24th.
U2: Songs are the Boss
In the issue of Propaganda, the U2 fanzine that accompanies last Friday's release of their
Easter Lily EP, guitarist The Edge talked about their decision to release a second collection of music just over a month after their Days of Ash EP. He says, "We wrote some songs meant for our album but they started to assert themselves in some unexpected ways, demanding special attention. Their own devotional world, suggesting they didn’t feel part of our album...
“So we folded … agreed to their timeline … which was Easter … 40 days after Ash Wednesday … the songs are the boss, you have to do what they say or they’ll abandon you for someone else.” And, he adds that both EPs "had a point. They had a symmetry." “If the songs on Days of Ash captured our response to the outside world and emergencies that keep us away at night, then with the Easter Lily EP it’s more what’s going on in our interior world and asking prayerfully have we the strength to meet the moment personally before we approach the politics.” The Edge sings lead on one of the six songs on Easter Lily EP, “Song for Hal,” which was written for their late producer Hal Wilner, who would have turned 70 yesterday, Easter Monday.
SAMMY HAGAR: Easter Prayer
Sammy Hagar took to Instagram on Easter Sunday to rail against politics and how it's tearing families, including his, and this country apart, causing many families not to spend the holiest day in the Christian faith together. "We need someone to bring us together as a race -- for the race, for the humans and the life on this planet. Not just for this country, but for everyone. That is what leadership needs to be about -- helping each other, loving each other. Arguing, fine. But the hate, hate is a horrible, powerful thing. It grows. It festers in people. And love is an even more powerful thing, and it's a beautiful thing. Hate to be quoting The Beatles, but all we need is love. Put a little love in your heart, whatever. But it's what we need, less division."
Sammy also issued a statement on the passing of Montrose and Van Halen engineer Donn Landee, saying, “Working with Don, going back to 1972 with Montrose, he and [producer] Ted Templeman were an inseparable team. I'm so grateful he was able to remaster the 'Van Hagar' era box set before he passed. Rest in peace, Mr. Landee." Landee engineered the first eight
Van Halen albums, and co-produced their first two with Sammy. He was 79 when he passed from natural causes.
Sons Of Kiss' Stanley And Simmons Announce First-Ever Live Shows
Stanley Simmons are announcing their first-ever live shows.The band, featuring the sons of Kiss stars Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, aer set to perform four shows in California next month. They'll kick things off on May 4th in San Diego. They'll hit Santa Ana and Morro Bay before wrapping up in Ventura on May 13th. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday.
Upcoming Crosby, Stills and Nash Documentary Shows ‘Deep Love,’ Not Fighting
Fans can look forward to seeing a different side of Crosby, Stills and Nash when a new documentary is finally released, according to Graham Nash. "It shows how much we love each other," he said in a new interview. "Yes, we've argued, you know that and everybody knows that. But we have a deep love for each other, and it shows in this movie. People are really going to understand the relative importance of the music that we've made over the last 60 years." The late David Crosby first shared news about the forthcoming film, which does not yet have a release date, in the summer of 2021. Robert Zemeckis, known for blockbuster films like the Back to the Future franchise, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump, is attached to the project.
According to Nash, fans can expect a soundtrack to go along with the documentary. "Joel Bernstein, my dear friend, who's not only a great photographer himself, but [was] a guitar tech for Bob Dylan, for Prince, for Neil [Young] and for Joni [Mitchell]. he and I have found about 33 songs of CSN that have not been heard before," the singer-songwriter says. "We're trying to put that record together as we speak, so that it comes out with the movie." The range of the material that the pair are preparing goes from 1969 through 1997. Nash also shared plans for upcoming tour dates with his solo band, including special performances with Emmylou Harris and the Avett Brothers at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Bon Jovi Reaches Milestone On Billboard’s Albums Chart
A movie about the early days of Bon Jovi is in development, though no title or release date has been announced. The band's compilation album, "Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection," has spent 400 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, marking a significant milestone. The album debuted in 2010 and has consistently performed well on various Billboard charts, including the Top Hard Rock Albums and Top Rock and Alternative Albums. Bon Jovi's iconic single "Livin' on a Prayer" also continues to be a top performer on the charts.
BRUCE HORNSBY: Plays Track Star
Bruce Hornsby is the latest guest on the musical game show Track Star. He identifies songs by Dire Straits, The Grateful Dead and Vampire Weekend and more during the appearance. Watch it on YouTube.
IN OTHER NEWS
Guns N' Roses keyboardist Melissa Reese, who dropped out of the band's tour just before it started last month, posted a video with various photos on Instagram. They include showing her in a hospital room, a number of prescriptions, and a very low blood pressure on a monitor. She wrote, "The insane amount of messages of support I’ve received has floored me. They are everything during this time and have been so touching.... I’m working on it, I promise. I truly hope to see you all sooner than later."
Blondie have paid tribute to their drummer Clem Burke on the first anniversary of his death – April 6th, 2025. In a social media post they say, “It is difficult to believe a year has passed… There is a hole in our hearts. Yet his energy lives on—vibrant, resonating in ways we can’t fully understand. You are deeply missed.” Burke was 70 when he succumbed to cancer. Blondie will release a new album this year, High Noon, which has Burke playing on it.
Elton John, through his AIDS Foundation, has issued a statement on Congress recently passing a bipartisan budget to try to end the AIDS epidemic. He says, “Today, we have extraordinary new tools to prevent HIV and treat it more effectively than ever before. Ending AIDS is within reach. But progress is fragile, and without sustained investment, it can quickly be reversed. Now is not the moment to pull back. It is the moment to double down. We urge both Congress and the [Trump] Administration to once again come together to protect and strengthen funding for HIV/AIDS. Millions of lives depend on it, and the opportunity to end this epidemic, once and for all, must not be lost.”
Pat Benatar and her guitar-playing husband and bandleader, Neil Giraldo, will be on hand at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 19th signing copies of their children’s book, My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!
Founding KISS drummer Peter Criss will sign copies of his new self-titled album at Revilla Grooves in Milltown, New Jersey on May 9th.
Billy Joel has posted on his YouTube channel his performance of “Pressure” from June 8th, 1984 at London’s Wembley Arena.
On This Day
·In 1978 - The Band released the soundtrack album The Last Waltz. It features performances from their farewell concert, including collaborations with artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton.
·In 1994 - Courtney Love was arrested on drug and theft charges after a reported overdose. At this time, Love was unaware that her husband Kurt Cobain was dead at their home (his body wasn't discovered until April 8 by an electrician who arrived to install a security system at the house).
·In 2008 - Bob Dylan got an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture." He was the first rock musician to win the award.
·In 2014 - Twenty-five-year-old Peaches Geldof, daughter of Live Aid mastermind and Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof, was found dead in Kent, England. The official cause of death was a drug overdose. Tragically, her mother, Paula Yates, died from similar causes in 2000, when Peaches was 11.
·In 2016 - Jimmie Van Zant died in hospice in Florida after several years of treatment for liver cancer. He began playing guitar and piano as a child, mentored by his cousin Ronnie Van Zant, but largely gave up music until the 1977 plane crash in which Ronnie, the founder and singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, was killed. He then took up a career playing Southern rock music.
·In 2016 - Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in North Carolina, joining business groups in condemning a state law that rolled back protection for gay and transgender people. Springsteen said, "Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry which is happening as I write is one of them."