According to a London newspaper, The Rolling Stones will meet next Thursday (July 12) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their very first live show. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood and their WAGS will attend a gala and  preview of  an exhibition of photographs taken at that very first gig. The story also  claims that the group is  planning to use that event (st Somerset House) as the launch for their 50th anniversary celebrations, and that former Stones Billy Wyman and Mick Taylor will also fly in for the event. Here’s hoping!

Mick Jagger has signed on as the host AND musical guest for the season finale of  Saturday Night Live on May 19. We’ve already been told that there are no plans for the Rolling Stones to tour this year to celebrate their 50th anniversary, but  Ronnie Wood recently let slip the secret that the band planned to meet  in the studio in May. He later retracted, saying Mick Jagger had called him and told him off for announcing something that wasn’t supposed to be made public (he didn’t say that it wasn’t true though!).

There have been reports that the band has come together again.  And the meeting has been in a New York Studio where they practiced a few old Stones songs.  SNL tapes in NYC , so will we get Mick Jagger as show host and The Rolling Stones as musical guest? If that’s the case, it may also be a great way to announce plans for a tour.  That being said, the only sure thing is Mick Jagger on SNL, Saturday May 19. The rest is pure speculation and wishful thinking!

The new issue of Rolling Stone Magazine (with Bruce Springsteen on the cover) will carry a story that explains why we won’t get a chance to see the Rolling Stones tour this year to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a band.

In separate interviews, both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have said that it’s not going to happen. According to Keef, the band simply isn’t prepared. According to insiders, it’s concern for Richard’s health that’s keeping the Stones off the road.

So that’s the bad news, and here’s the good; The Stones are about to hit the studio and start recording sessions and there will be a number of 50th Anniversary celebrations this year. “The Rolling Stones: 50″ is a book full of photographs that cover the band’s long history. It’s coming out on July 12. There will also be a documentary movie that follows the history of the band using lots of interviews and previously unseen film. It should be released this fall.

And the band does intend to hit the road next year. According to insiders, they are looking at long runs at large venues as opposed to a more rigorous city-hopping event that Richards might find difficult. Not only that, the band doesn’t feel pressured to tour this year. As Keef put it “The Stones always really considered ’63 to be 50 years, because Charlie [Watts] didn’t actually join until January. We look upon 2012 as sort of the year of conception, but the birth is next year.”

Let’s hope this is the start of the 50th anniversary party! The Rolling Stones have opened the door to their archive, to give fans a chance to listen to  music, see previously buried photos and film and have a chance to view and even buy  memorabilia and signed items. There will also be personalized merch, tour items box sets and more. For starters, the band is releasing a download of a show they recorded in 1973 in Belgium. “The Brussels Affair” is considered to be one of their best live shows and has only been out there as a bootleg in various forms.

Here’s where to start.

According to industry insiders, the plan is for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to  meet in December to discuss how the Rolling Stones will celebrate next year’s 50th anniversary. Richards has already started the ball rolling by organizing a jam with Ronnie Wood &  Charlie Watts but insists that he hasn’t been working on any new Stones material as there’s been no talk about recording an album. Will it be 50 cities to celebrate 50 years?  Rumour has it that more than one band member would prefer multiple dates in major venues to cut down on the travel. Hopefully, we’ll hear more soon.

It may not be the announcement we were hoping for, but it’s a start. Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts are getting together to jam in London. In Keith’s words  “We’re just going to play a little together, because we haven’t played for three or four years. You don’t necessarily want to rehearse or write anything – you just want to touch bases. That’s a good start: me, Charlie and Ronnie. Mick’s welcome, and I’m sure he’ll turn up, but right now we just want to get our chops down.”

Fingers crossed….

If the Stones don’t embark on a 50th anniversary tour next year, Ronnie’s got his radio career. Catch the Ronnie Wood Radio Show Tuesdays at 9pm and Saturdays at 6pm on CHEZ 106.

As for Keith, he’s been recording with his side band The New Barbarians, and he may have a future as a novelist. He has just  been awarded the Mailer Prize for Distinguished Biography for his million-selling memoir, Life.  Former Us President Bill Clinton presented to award  on  Tuesday (November 8 ) in Manhattan.

The Rolling Stones are about to re-release their 1978  album “Some Girls” , giving it the same treatment as  “Exile On Main Street”. There will be a “Deluxe” and “Super Deluxe”  version, and at least one new track : “No Spare Parts” which you can hear on CHEZ. The band recorded the song in Paris  during the “Some Girls” sessions.

The re-mastered re-releases of “Some Girls” are due November 21

Bob Seger has a new hits collection for us, that starts with the original mono mix of “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man’ and includes recent tracks like “Downtown Train”  and “Hey Hey Hey Hey (Going Back To Birmingham)”. His holiday tune “Little Drummer Boy” is also in the collection.

Bob Seger-” Ultimate Hits -Rock & Roll Never Forgets” is due out November 21.

There’s something for Rush fans too. A box set called “Sectors” that covers the band’s years with Mercury Records. The set is in chronological order with each “sector” covering  a different time span. The albums have all been remastered and there are lots of added treats like booklets of photos, lyrics and artwork.

Rush “Sectors” is coming November 21.

     Keith Richards says the Rolling Stones are considering playing a gig to mark the band’s 50th anniversary in July of next year.  The band played their first ever gig as “The Rollin’ Stones” at the Marquee Club in London on July 12th 1962.  In an interview with The Sun, Richards said, “the idea is there. We kind of know we should do it, but nobody’s put their finger on the moment yet.”

     Richards said he and Mick Jagger have put aside the differences that arose following the release of Richards’ autobiography last year.  Said Richards, “Mick pouted a bit, as is his wont…I told him, ‘It’s water under the bridge. I want to talk about the future. We’re larger than a little bitching.’”  Keef is currently working with his band X-Pensive Winos, while it has recently come out that Jagger is doing his own thing with Super Heavy, which features a bunch of big-name musicians.

Steven Tyler solo…

Aerosmith’s  Steven Tyler will release his solo single “(It) Feels So Good” on May 9. It will be available the next day at digital retailers.

He’s hoping to record a whole solo album but as soon as Idol wraps up, Aerosmith is due to regroup in the studio to finish work on an album they started recording in January.

Ringo gets personal…

Ringo Starr has revealed that he is currently working on an “autobiographical” album.

He’s been asked to write a book about his life, but feels that most people are only interested in the eight years he spent in The Beatles. According to Ringo, there would be “three volumes before I even got to that”.

Instead, Ringo is  “making a record about me and Liverpool”,  and will create mini-autobiographies in song form.

Keith is at it too…

A number of sources say that Keith Richards  has been recording at New York’s Germano Studios with producer Steve Jordan and engineer Dave O’Donnell. There’s no official confirmation and no word on whether it’s solo material or something for the Rolling Stones.

Either is possible because not too long ago, Mick Jagger’s brother Christopher confirmed that Mick was working on a solo album in Los Angeles with producer Dave Stewart.

It COULD be two solo albums in the works but there’s always the chance that The Glimmer Twins are working on Stones music at separate locations. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking!

” The Roger Waters Collection” will be released May 30th. It’s a deluxe Box Sset that  includes seven CDs and one DVD, with each album packaged in a mini-LP replica sleeve with original artwork. Included in the collection: “The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking”, “Radio K.A.O.S.”, “Amused To Death” and “Ca Ira” (his opera). There’s also a 2 CD/DVD edition of “In The Flesh – LIVE”

Paul McCartney will reissue his albums “McCartney” and “McCartney II” in remastered and deluxe editions. The deluxe editions will come with bonus DVDs and a booklet featuring rare photographs. The remasters will include bonus tracks and live material. The albums will be available as of June 13.

CD:

Rolling Stones – The Complete Singles 1971-2006 (45-CD box set)
Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
Derek and the Dominoes – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (remastered with bonus CD)
Marc Bolan & T Rex – Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (reissue)
T Rex – Tanx (reissue)
Robert Johnson – The Centennial Collection

Vinyl:

Jefferson Airplane – The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (reissue)

DVD:

Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan Revealed

Blu-Ray:

Bob Dylan – Don’t Look Back
Bob Dylan – The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965