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Prepare yourselves – Lemmy and pals are heading for a city near you. Motörhead have announced a tour that will take them from the west coast to the east and back again during January, February and March. The trek is in support of their new album, The Wörld is Yours, due out February 8.

Rest assured the CITI FM promotional machine is working on getting Lemmy & company here to Winnipeg for the new year…stay tuned!!

A remarkable collection of vintage rock and roll photographs has been rediscovered in the personal archives of the late, renowned photographer Chuck Boyd (1942-1991). Boyd began his career in the early ’60s, and quickly befriended enough artists, managers and publicists to gain some remarkable access to the top acts of the ’60s and ’70s. Among the newly rediscovered works are shots of The Beatles at their 1965 press conference at Dodger Stadium, one of Bob Dylan’s earliest Los Angeles press conferences, and shots from Led Zeppelin’s historic 1970 stand at the L.A. Forum

Perhaps Neil Peart should retire so someone else can have a chance. Yes, the ballots are in for Drum Magazine’s year-end awards (the “Drummies”) and, for the fourth year in a row, Rush’s drumming legend has walked off with Drummer of the Year. Runners up for Drummer of the Year were Travis Barker (Blink-182, Box Car Racer), the late Jimmy Sullivan (Avenged Sevenfold), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Aaron Gillespie (Underoath).

R.E.M. are offering a free download of a song from their upcoming album to anyone who signs up for their e-mail list at www.remhq.com. The song is called “Discoverer,” and it appears on their new record, “Collapse Into Now.” Fans who preorder the album on iTunes this week will get an instant download of another song, “It Happened Today.” Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye and Eddie Vedder are guest musicians on the album. “Collapse Into Now” comes out March 8.
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Some people thought Captain Beefheart’s music is unlistenable because it’s atonal and surreal, but he put in the effort. He rehearsed the music for his “Trout Mask Replica” album for a year before recording it in 1969. He wrote 28 songs in nine hours after his friend, Frank Zappa, signed him to his label and told him he had creative freedom. Beefheart, also known as Don Van Vliet (VLEET), turned full-time to art in the 1980s. He died Friday at the age of 69 of complications from multiple sclerosis.
SEE VIDEO LINK UNDER “CLASSIC ROCK SHORTS”

Velvet Revolver have a new singer in mind and they’ll reveal it in the new year. All drummer Matt Sorum will say is it’s someone we’ve probably heard of and they will continue to use the Velvet Revolver name. In the meantime, Velvet Revolver have released a DVD called “Live in Houston,” shot in 2005. Sorum says he remembers they were all in shape, sober and getting along at that time. He learned something about himself, too: he gets funny expressions when he plays. He says he’s “more aware now not to make goofy faces.”

Foo Fighters‘ Dave Grohl is set to make a cameo in next year’s Muppet film, simple titled The Muppets. NME reports that Grohl will fill in while regular Muppets drummer “Animal” attends anger-management treatment. Grohl joins a star-studded cast that includes Jack Black, Paul Rudd and Zach Galifianakis. The movie’s due out next November.

…OTHER STORIES…

Clay Cole, who hosted what was arguably the most influential local rock and roll TV series during the 1960s, died Saturday at his home in North Carolina. He was 72. An Akron, Ohio native, Cole came to New York in 1959, where for the next nine years he featured such up-and-comers as The Rolling Stones, The Four Seasons and Lesley Gore. He succeeded Alan Freed in emceeing package shows at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. His 1960 Christmas show with Chubby Checker, Dion, Neil Sedaka and Bobby Rydell set attendance records — and helped land Cole a co-starring spot with Checker in the movie Twist Around the Clock.

Cole moved behind the camera and became a successful producer of TV programs, before returning to the public eye in 2009 when he published his memoir Sh-Boom — The Explosion of Rock and Roll.

Three Thin Lizzy re-issues co-produced by Def Leppard‘s Joe Elliott and original Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham will hit stores on February.

• The band’s 1976 breakthrough, Jailbreak, has a bonus disc with re-mixes of the title track and “The Boys Are Back in Town,” and a BBC session from late that year.
• 1976′s Johnny the Fox has a bonus disc of outtakes and re-mixes.
• 1978′s Live and Dangerous is now a two-CD set with a bonus DVD of live performances.

To the surprise of perhaps no one, the official opening of Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark has been pushed back yet again. The troubled Broadway musical with songs by U2‘s Bono and The Edge has moved its premiere from January 11th to February 7th.

Producer Michael Cohl says, “Due to some unforeseeable setbacks, most notably the injury of a principal cast member, it has become clear that we need to give the team more time to fully execute their vision.”

Bono and The Edge will be in New York for the next few weeks to work full-time on the musical