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... the Denver-area promoter admits the pistol was in his pocket when Mr. Rose left Mile High Stadium on Guns N' Roses' co-headlining show with Metallica. Fey is FULL OF YARNS about his years promoting shows, and he's just penned a book, Backstage Past. 
My colleague Dave Herrera, music editor at Denver's Westword, caught up with Fey recently and got him to tell a few tales that didn't make the book. The conversation is well worth a read.
Rest assured, we hear Axl has been showing up -- and sticking around -- for gigs these days. So if you haven't gotten your ticket to see Guns at KeyArena on December 16, feel good about making that purchase over the weekend.
This morning I was on a conference call with Roger Daltrey, who's bringing The Who's rock opera, Tommy, to KeyArena on October 25. Pete Townshend, he said, was kicking around the idea of taking the Who's Quadrophenia on tour next year. When I asked Daltrey -- admittedly not the songwriter that Townsend is -- why the two were pursuing records from the past rather than new works, he said that it was probably because Townsend hadn't written a new record.
As for doing something new, away from the Who, Daltrey said he was more than open to new opportunities.
"I'd love to find someone to collaborate with. I haven't gotten any ideas. I'd love to do something with Eddie Vedder, for instance." Vedder joined Daltrey on stage at the Showbox in 2009. "He's a good writer, too and a good friend, too."
More >>For those of you who don't know who Steve Gadd is, in the drumming community he has few peers. These days, if he's not on the road with Eric Clapton, he's probably playing with Paul Simon. And in the '70s, he played on a number of Steely Dan tracks, including the title track to 1977's Aja.
The drum solo in "Aja" is an intricate, effortless classic (@5:10, above). In geeky drum circles, legend has it that Gadd threw down on the first take, and was in the studio for just a few minutes. If true, it's an incredible feat. If not true, it's still incredible. OK, now that we're on the same page--and Steely Dan is playing the WaMu Theatre tomorrow--here's a quick note to Mr. Gadd.
More >>Apparently, Dave Meinert doesn't man the Capitol Hill Block Party Facebook page personally--of today's Soundgarden rumor-mongering, he had the following to say:
"Havent heard that rumor. But that would be awesome, however, unlikelySent from my iPhone"
Aw, Meinert's so cute when he's being coy.
Last night, KEXP DJ Assistant Jon B. Hamilton sent me the following tweet, retweeted by Capitol Hill Block Party, speculating that Seattle grunge icons Soundgarden could be playing the Pike St. music festival:
@EricGrandy Did you see this? "@CHBlockParty: @JonBHamilton Is it weird that there is no Seattle date??? http://t.co/EER2tp8"less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone 
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Jonny H
JonBHamilton
In fact, Hamilton tweeted that item to a bunch of outlets, and CHBP has enthusiastically posted coverage of it to their Facebook page, in what amounts to some shamelessly transparent rumor-milling. Now, I don't know Hamilton's stake here--maybe he's just a Soundgarden superfan--but it's obvious what the Block Party has to gain: free publicity and the possibility of selling tickets pre-lineup announcement, all without having actually promised anyone anything. Or they might just be letting a cat out of the bag. Who knows? (The tour dates Hamilton points to aren't anything so telling as a hole between Portland and Vancouver dates the weekend of CHBP, they're just four shows earlier in July with the last scheduled date in Inglewood, Calif., that Friday, July 22nd.) But if the rumor was true: Would we even want Soundgarden to headline the Capitol Hill Block Party?
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As Chris Kornelis reported yesterday, Pitchfork reviewed the Head and the Heart's self-titled, Sub Pop re-released debut album, resulting in an ugly 3.8. 
The review's content wasn't too surprising. There are the usual jabs at Dave Matthews and Coldplay (which by now should be inducted into the Pitchfork-review-clichés Hall of Fame), as well as a general sort of critique of overt earnestness as a songwriting method. However, one particular passage caught my attention, not for its entertaining Pitchfork-isms, but for demonstrating very transparently an all-too-common trend in music criticism:
Such nods to history and to hard labor are meant to give this album the sheen of authenticity, but it doesn't take long to see through to the calculation beneath . . . The Head and the Heart sound anonymous, their drama wholly predictable. Conceptually, they're close to Mumford & Sons: opportunistic in their borrowings, yet entirely unimaginative in the execution.
Critiquing a band on the basis of its perceived "authenticity" or sincerity--which is exactly what Pitchfork does here--is more than a little ridiculous.
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Yiiiiiikes.
Laura Musselman
The Head and the Heart is a lackluster mélange of vaguely old-time instrumentation, wan gospel harmonies, and heart-always-on-sleeve songwriting. Jon Russell and Josiah Johnson trade off lead vocals, each trying to out-earnest the other, while Charity Thielen's violin traces placid swirls around the melodies. But it's Kenny Hensley's piano that distinguishes the band and broadens their palette, for better or worse. He injects some much-needed pomp into "Ghosts" and "Heaven Go Easy on Me", goosing these songs out of their tasteful torpor. On the other hand, he constantly falls back on the tactic of repeating chords to convey general drama, which recalls Coldplay more than Tin Pan Alley.
The Head and the Heart, overly earnest? Say it ain't so!
In his preview of Paul Simon's stint in town--tonight's show commemorating KMTT The Mountain's two decades on air--The Seattle Times' Paul de Barros succinctly captures the Seattle sound's transformation toward the Mountain's adult-contemporary fare:
Laura Musselman Watch a slideshow of Fleet Foxes' set at Columbia City Theatera> last night.
The Mountain officially characterizes its format as "acoustic, electric, classic, eclectic" -- but mellow rock is close to the mark. Such middle-of-the-road fare traditionally has been scorned by young, cutting-edge Seattleites, but, ironically, millenials recently have embraced a species of Americana that sounds suspiciously like the music their parents listened to. Fleet Foxes, The Head and the Heart, Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers all air on The Mountain, and, not surprisingly, they fit right in.
Exactly.
There's an interesting story on The Atlantic's Culture channel today that dissects the logic behind the meteoric stateside rise of London's smooth-indie act Mumford & Sons in the wake of their recent Grammy performance. I walked away from it thinking: "This could be a story about The Head and the Heart in 18 months."
Kyle Johnson While Mumford & Sons are touring in a vintage train this spring, The Head and the Heart (seen here) are traveling by sea.
It's not hard to imagine how a break like the Grammys would inspire a million fans of adult contemporary (with a side of "authentica") to descend on Starbucks shelves in droves for the record.
Consider the following, and tell me the same couldn't be said about Seattle's THATH:
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