Rock Of Ages

Playlists

All the playlists are available in the
Playlist Archives.

Podcasts

Benjy Mudie talks to Ian Anderson (22MB)

You say it's your birthday...

July 2
Pete Briquette - Boomtown Rats - 1954
Johnny Colla - Huey Lewis & The News - 1952

July 4
Ralph Johnson - Earth, Wind & Fire - 1951

July 5
Robbie Robertson - The Band - 1943
Huey Lewis - Huey Lewis & the News - 1950

July 6
Rik Elswit - Dr. Hook - 1945
Bill Haley - 1925

July 7
Ringo Starr- 1940

July 9
Bon Scott -AC/DC - 1946

July 11
Richie Sambora - Bon Jovi - 1959

July 12
Christine McVie - Fleetwood Mac- 1943
Eric Carr - KISS - 1950
Phil Kramer - Iron Butterfly - 1952

July 13
Roger McGuinn - Byrds - 1942
Stephen Bladd - J. Geils Band - 1942

July 15
Marky Ramone - Ramones - 1956
Linda Ronstadt - 1946
Jeff Carlisli - .38 Special - 1952
Joe Satriani - 1956

July 16
Stewart Copeland - Police - 1952

July 17
Geezer Butler - Black Sabbath - 1949
Chet McCracKen - Doobie Brothers - 1952
Mick Tucker - Sweet - 1947
Spencer Davis - Spencer Davis Group - 1939

July 18
Cesar Zuiderwijk - Golden Earring - 1950

July 19
Brian May - Queen - 1947
Bernie Leadon - Eagles - 1947

July 20
John Lodge - Moody Blues- 1943
Carlos Santana- 1947

July 21
Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) - 1947

July 22
Don Henley - Eagles - 1947
Rick Davies - Supertramp - 1944

July 23
Blair Thornton - BTO - 1950
Dino Danelli - Rascals - 1944
Slash - Guns 'N Roses - 1965
Andy Mackay - Roxy Music - 1946

July 25
Jim McCarty - Yardbirds, Renaissance - 1940

July 26
Roger Taylor - Queen - 1949
Gary Cherone - Van Halen - 1960
Mick Jagger - Rolling Stones- 1943

July 28
Rick Wright -Pink Floyd - 1945
Steve Morse - Deep Purple - 1948
Simon Kirke - Bad Company - 1949

July 29
John Sykes - Whitesnake - 1959
Patty Scialfa - E Street Band - 1953
Neal Doughty - REO Speedwagon -1946
Geddy Lee - Rush - 1953

July 31
Bob Welch -Fleetwood Mac - 1946
Bill Berry - R.E.M. - 1959
Hugh McDowell - Electric Light Orchestra - 1953

Courtesy of
About ClassicRock

Birthday Archives

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Courtesy of
About ClassicRock

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News Archives

Previous newsletters are available in the News Archives.

Playlist Archives

All the playlists are available in the Playlist Archives.

Benjy says...

Greetings rock fans,

Welcome to the first full newsletter since the show switched to Radio Today, its been a while since I mailed you with the playlists, news, reviews, gigs, etc and it's long overdue! As you know Rock of Ages can be heard on the air - every Monday night, 8 to 11pm on 1485AM (Joburg only) and DSTV Audio channel 169 (national). I have included all 4 playlists since the show kicked off in early June.

In the 2 months that I was off the air I have been hard at work collecting new material to play on the show - Rock music is in a very good space at the moment, in fact it's at it's most creative for years - there are so many great new bands out there plus great new albums from established rockers who seem to have a new lease on life. Over the next few weeks I'll not only be playing tracks from these artists but also reviewing them on the website .... For the record Rock of Ages is mucho impressed with the following new bands for starters: Stone Rider (think Zeppelin-meets-Skynyrd); Danny Bryant's Red Eye Band (scorching blues rock guitarist ala Joe Bonamassa); Black Stone Cherry (thundering hard rock); The Stone Gods (ex The Darkness sans singer reinvented as crunching rockers) ... plus new excellent albums from Journey, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Walter Trout, Uriah Heep, Whitesnake and many more ..... who said rock is dead?

I get a lot of emails from bands detailing gig info, releases, etc but none are as hysterically funny as those from Cape Town's finest - The Boulevard Blues Band ... here is a very hilarious blog about their recent tour to 'Nam (Namibia).....

Windhoek, The Doctor and some Pills

Boulevard Blues Band

The Doc was in serious need of a Doctor during our recent Tour de Nam. As we touched down in Windhoek........A flu virus touched down in John and downhill was the name of the game. First night at the Warehouse Theatre John did his Joe Cocker vocal impersonation....but by the 3rd night he was in serious need of some medication. Arriving at the gig with hot and cold sweats......running a fever, hardly able to swallow (never mind sing) and sporting a brochial spasm which roared into a low mucous growl every time he sucked on a cigarette......this was no way to hit the stage.

Enter a real doctor........Doctor Pryor......Although not a practicing doctor and not a doctor that has a degree in this lifetime......He is a Doctor nevertheless that has had many lifetimes and in the year 267AD when he was Romulus Pryhiticus he was able to get his doctoral parchment on which there was written in Middle English "Docterious inter Buggerious" which in laymans terms means.....'Bugger you I am a Doctor.'

Anyway back to the story....There he was (Doc John, singer) ...backstage....a figment of the man that he once was before he klapped a jet ride into Nam and before he sucked on a virus. Doc Pryor (guitarist) was handing out some of his choice Schedule 5 stock from his travelling Chemical Bag. This is not the sort of medication he hands out lightly.....but here was a desperate man having a dreadful time so circumspection was not the order of the day. Some green pills, 2 white pills with a blue pill ....and then 2 effervecent orange ones went down like slugs falling though a mucous membrane. Before he could say 'Phlegm Robinson' some 10ml of sticky brown cough mixture was forced into his viral cavity just above his right front tooth. This was a codiene, diphenhydramine and dextromethorphan concoction with a 22.5 mg Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride injection that was guaranteed to lighten the heaviest lung.

Hitting the stage from the the right and nearly doing an exit left ...Doc John finally settled himself in front of what now looked like 3 microphones. As the stage lights blared down on him and as a drop of sweat slowly rolled off the end of his probiscus onto his sticky Jagermeister shoe............Something deep inside his sub-concious growled, gurgled and pushed through into the concious fray like a mushrooming blackhead and then like a lion bearing down on it's kill....... he ate the microphone...........errrr.......well no he didn't actually eat the mic.........but he tuned it good and solid.............he gooied ou pel. John was back to his on-stage antics due to his pryor chemical affiliations and injections.

It was a great show and the crowd responded with huge applause and respect for a man that knows the Blues and was busy living it.

When he said to the crowd "and we're here for your pleasure" ...we definitely knew it wasn't for his. With John now feeling a false sense of confidence and health creeping back ....he managed to pull out his last legs. After realizing his last legs where paralyzed he continued to undo all the work that had just been done to get him up on the stage in the first place...And slowly, purposefully and with gay abandon reached out for the Jagermeister, the Bells whiskey and the carton of Pacific cigarettes after the show. These acts where to prove disastrous and after all was said and done.........the brochial spasms continued though to the next day waking up everyone in room 1407 and 1409. Each cough sent shivers down Ernst Herma, the organiser's spine and we never knew if perhaps our drummer Graeme Abbott was gonna have to sing. It was groundhog day every day where we all went through the same procedure trying to get John up on the stage each night. The cold sweats, the Benylin cocktail, the bright lights and the brown toothbrush.............errrrrrrr...........stop!!!

All in all Boulevard Blues delivered and the locals and the foreigners where happy..............The Germans even clapped in English. Although John declared these the toughest gigs of his life, many were oblivious to his mucous missions. After 5 gigs on the trot the rest of the band had a great time meeting up with our old friend the test pattern at our hotel rooms at the Kalahari Sun. We again took pictures of the test pattern and also some pics of John passed out in front of the test pattern after he thinking the Codiene Syrup was a Jagermeister bottle.

Upcoming specials

One of the hallmarks of Rock of Ages has been the very popular artist specials: over the past four years we have showcased the careers of the finest in rock and blues and, from time to time, particular genres like psychedelia, metal, prog rock and more. The good news is that the "Rock of Ages Special" is back this coming Monday and we are kicking off with a special on one of the perennial hard rock bands in rock history:

UFO

UFO

Vocalist Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker , formed the band in August, 1969. Originally taking the name 'Hocus Pocus', the group changed their name to UFO in honour of the London club where they were spotted by Noel Moore, who signed them to his Beacon Records label. Their eponymously titled first album debuted in 1970 and was a typical example of blues and boogie based hard rock. The album included a heavy version of Eddie Cochran's classic, "C'mon Everybody". Both UFO 1 and its follow-up, Flying, were very successful in Japan and Germany but generated poor interest in Britain and America. Consequently, their third effort, UFO Lands In Tokyo (also known as UFO Live and UFO Landed In Japan), was only released in Japan.Part of UFO's early heavy metal work was strongly influenced by space rock (their second album, including a 26-minute long title track and a 19-minute long opus "Star Storm", even was subtitled "One Hour Space Rock") that was modestly popular at the time, but the band soon realised the style was somewhat limited. In January, 1972 Mick Bolton left the group, and UFO set out to find a guitarist capable of providing the band with a more standard rock sound.

After brief trial runs with ex-Pink Fairies/Motorhead Larry Wallis and future Whitesnake member, Bernie Marsden the band recruited Michael Schenker from Scorpions in June, 1973. On a new label, Chrysalis Records, and with new producer, Leo Lyons, UFO recorded Phenomenon in 1974, which debuted the band's harder-edged guitar sound. Schenker was only 16 at the time, but was already a well-respected guitarist. Phenomenon was not an instant classic, but contained many fan favorites such as "Doctor Doctor" and "Rock Bottom" By the time of the Phenomenon tour, ex-Skid Row guitarist Paul Chapman joined the group, but he left in January, 1975 to form Lone Star.The band later released Force It (July, 1975) and No Heavy Petting (May, 1976) and toured extensively, which brought UFO increased visibility with American audiences and made them huge stars in England.After the band experimented with keyboards during the recording sessions of Force It a keysman Danny Peyronel (previously in Heavy Metal Kids) joined the line-up in August, 1975, but left the following summer.

UFO - Force It

In July, 1976 the band recruited keyboardist and second guitarist Paul Raymond (born Paul Martin Raymond, from Savoy Brown to make 1977's Lights Out. Lights Out was the pinnacle of UFO's studio career and is considered a genuine 1970s rock classic, containing songs such as "Too Hot To Handle", "Lights Out", "Alone Again Or" and the 7-minute opus "Love To Love". With Lights Out, the band received substantial critical acclaim.With their new-found success, the band went back into the studio to record Obsession in 1978. Whilst not as successful as its predecessor, Obsession still contained several popular tracks, such as; "Cherry" and "Only You Can Rock Me". Later that year, the band went on tour and recorded the live album, Strangers In The Night. Strangers was a critical and commercial success but ensions had begun to grow between Mogg and Schenker in the late 1970s and before the release of the album Schenker left the band. He made a brief return to the Scorpions before going on to form the Michael Schenker Group.After Schenker's exit, UFO rehired Paul "Tonka" Chapman on guitar. Shortly after they released their next LP, No Place To Run in January, 1980 which failed to match up to the success of its predecessors. Paul Raymond left the band at the end of the No Place To Run tour. At the beginning of following year UFO released the self-produced The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent, which had a lighter pop rock sound, which was popular at the time. The album achieved mild success in the UK, sparked by the Top 20 single "Lonely Heart".In February, 1982 the band released Mechanix. It contained the popular song, "Back Into My Life", which was a minor hit in the USA. Later that year, founding member, Pete Way left the band to form Fastway with Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie and then his own Waysted. He was replaced by Talas bassist, Billy Sheehan. UFO released Making Contact in 1983, but the album was a critical and commercial failure. Thus, that May, UFO decided to disband.This proved to be a short hiatus as, two years later, Mogg assembled a new UFO line-up and released Misdemeanor. This was followed by the 1988 EP Ain't Misbehavin'. Despite the renewed activity of the band, neither release was financially successful and they disbanded again.

UFO - No heavy petting

In 1992, Mogg and Way decided to put a new UFO line-up together with Clive Edwards and Laurence Archer in the band and released High Stakes & Dangerous Men. Whilst only released on a small independent label, High Stakes was enough to generate serious interest in a full-blown reunion. The following year, the late 1970s UFO line-up Â– Mogg, Schenker, Way, Raymond and Parker Â– reunited, and the resultant album Walk on Water, was released in 1995. This line-up went on a world tour (barring Parker's replacement by AC/DC's Simon Wright on drums). However, tensions arose again, and Schenker left the band in the middle of the tour. Therefore, the other members went their separate ways again.Phil Mogg and Pete Way continued working together, however, and released two albums under the Mogg/Way name in the late 1990s, - Edge of the World and Chocolate Box. In 2003 they released The Plot with drummer Jeff Martin.In 2000, Schenker rejoined UFO yet again and the band released the double CD, Covenant which contained a disc of new material and a disc of live classics. This album saw Aynsley Dunbar join on drums. Despite constant rumours regarding Schenker's status in the band he returned once again in 2002 to record, Sharks. Shortly after Sharks was released, Schenker left the band yet again. Mogg, Raymond and Way decided to replace Schenker with Vinnie Moore.In 2004 UFO released You Are Here with Jason Bonham on drums.As a follow up for the tour, UFO record their live set and release a double-DVD recording titled Showtime (2005) along with a double live CD on SPV in November 2005, mixing a number of re-recoded studio songs, some of which can be viewed on YouTube.In November 2005, Andy Parker returned to the band to play in the Piorno Rock Festival .UFO's nineteenth studio album, titled The Monkey Puzzle, was released in Europe .Andy Parker recently returned in early 2007 after recovering from proper medical surgery on his leg. In January 2008 they re-released three albums (Phenomenon, No Heavy Petting and Force it) which include bonus tracks and live versions of select songs.

UFO - Lights Out

Recommended listening
Flying (1972)
Phenomenon (1974)
Force it (1975)
No heavy petting (1976)
Lights Out (1977)
Obsession (1978)
The Monkey Puzzle (2006)

Rock Of Ages News

METALLICA LAUNCH ALBUM WEBSITE

Metallica have just launched the website www.missionmetallica.com. This will keep fans up to date on all info about the new album, offer teasers from songs and much more.The band will call their new album 'Death Magnetic'. Produced by Rick Rubin, this is due out in September.

COBAIN'S ASHES STOLEN

There are reports that Kurt Cobain's ashes have been stolen from his widow, Courtney Love's house in LA. Thieves broke in, and took jewellery and clothing as well.

DR. PAGE, WE PRESUME?

It's now Dr. Jimmy Page! The Led Zeppelin legend has been given an honorary doctorate by the University Of Surrey for services to music.

DIMEBAG TRIBUTE

Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner, ex-Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson and Iced Earth singer Tim 'Ripper' Owens have joined forces for the song 'Leave It Alone', a tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell that also features a guest solo by former Grim Reaper guitarist Nick Bowcott. This is to be made available for download via iTunes, with all proceeds going to the Little Kids Rock school programme.

'DC FINISH ALBUM

AC/DC have confirmed they've finished recording their new, as yet untitled album. It's currently being mixed in Vancouver by Angus and Malcolm Young, together with producer Brendan O'Brien and Mike Fraser. It's expected out in October.

OZZY WINS LIBEL CASE

Ozzy has won a libel case against the 'Daily Star'. This is because the British tabloid claimed that ozzy had suffered a health scare prior to the Brits earlier this year, after he'd fallen over twice just before the awards. Ozzy is to donate all libel damages to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Programme.

ROTTEN SUED

Johnny Rotten is being sued by a former reality TV producer. Roxane Davis claims the Sex Pistols man hit her in the face, because he was unhappy with a hotel room she'd booked for him in Los Angeles.

JOVI GUITARIST GUILTY

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora has pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was stopped recently by police, while driving his ten-year-old daughter. Sambora has been out on three years probation, and will not be allowed to drink alcohol at all in that period. He also has to attend alcohol education classes and pay $1600 in fines and legal costs.

STREAMING DEMOCRACY?

Finished tracks from the Guns n' Roses album 'Chinese Democracy' were apparently being streamed at antiquiet.com. The band immediately slapped a 'cease and desist' order on the website, forcing them to stop the streaming.

GARBAGE'S MANSON IS TERMINATED

Garbage singer Shirley Manson is not only working on a solo album - collaborating with Billy Corgan and Jack White, among others - but has also landed a part in the sci fi series 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'. She'll play Catherine Weaver, CEO of Cyberdyne.

CHICKENS IN STUDIO

Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith have teamed up in new band Chickenfoot. They're expected to record an album soon.

SHOCK TACTICS

Electric Eel Shock have signed up to sellaband.com, and have already raised $30,000 towards their target of $50,000, needed to record their next album. SellaBand is 'a concept that mixes web 2.0 with the latest independent approach to the music industry. Artists finance their album recordings through fans and keep control of their music'.

Short cuts ...Boston plan to release a new album early in 2009. It's the first from the band since 2002's 'Corporate America'....Gene Simmons plays the role of the demon god of rock 'n' roll in new Japanese movie 'DMC'. This is based on the Manga comic of the same title....Motley Crue have now decided to title their upcoming album 'Saints Of Los Angeles', instead of 'The Dirt'. This is due in mid-July....Claudio Sanchez of Coheed And Cambria has started his own comic strip, called 'Kill Audio'. The storyline concerns a man increasingly frustrated by his own immortality....Poison frontman Bret Michaels is being sued by the owner of a $9 million mansion in California. This was used for Michaels' reality TV show 'Rock Of Love' and the owner, Ray Sahranavard, claims damage to the tune of $380,000 was done while filming took place....John Rutsey, the original Rush drummer, has died at the age of 55. He appeared on the band's 1974 self-titled debut album... In what seems like a very puzzling move, Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland has already been released from jail - after serving just 14 minutes of his eight-day sentence for DIU (Driving Under the Influence).....Van Halen have now finished their American re-union tour with David Lee Roth. They played 74 shows to nearly a million fans, and grossed over $93 million. Don't be surprised if a DVD is released featuring footage from this tour... Alice Cooper is to release new album 'Along Came A Spider' at the end of July. It's a concept record about a serial killer called Spider (duh-Ed), meanwhile Alice has posted a new track 'Vengeance Is Mine' at www.myspace.com/officialalicecooper ...The re-united Extreme are to title their new studio album 'Saudades De Rock'. Produced by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, it's due out later in the summer....Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate is to launch his own brand of red wine. This is to be called Geoff Tate Insania...Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash guests on the new album from the celebrated Edgar Winter, This is titled 'Rebel Road' and is due out in mid-July. It also features a guest guitar performance from Winter's legendary brother, Johnny Winter...Bands still know how to have fun on tour. Nightwish decided to give support band Pain a special gift after the last night of their European tour together. So, they got their pyro experts to put stage flashes under the latter's tour bus, and effectively blew it up ....... it's only rock 'n' roll!!!! .....Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy has teamed with former Spock's Beard man Neal Morse and guitar hero Paul Gilbert for a version of The Osmonds' classic 'Crazy Horses'. This is to be featured on Morse's upcoming solo album...Ted Nugent reaches a landmark occasion on July 4, when he plays the 6000 shows of his career. This is to happen in his hometown of Detroit...Thin Lizzy are to have a live album released by the MLP label on September 8. Titled 'Live '75', it was recorded at the Derby College on November 21, 1975....

Live Gigs

Boulevard Blues Band

13th July Berties Mooring, Gordons Bay
27th Paulaner Brauhaus, V&A Waterfront CT

Rock of Ages presents "Footstomping Music"

Order this album directly from the Rock of Ages website.
Click on www.rock.co.za/rockofages for details.

click to buy this CD direct from Rock Of Ages

Rock Of Ages Presents Footstomping Music

Track List

Grand Funk Railroad - Footstomping Music
Deep Purple - Burn
Uriah Heep - Look at yourself
Black Sabbath - Sweat Leaf
Thin Lizzy - Chinatown
Robin Trower - Too rolling stoned
Mountain - Never in my life
Wishbone Ash - Blowin' free
Foghat - I just wanna make love to you
Budgie - Baby, please don't go
Santana - Toussaint l'Overture
Alice Cooper - Muscle of love
Nazareth - Go down fighting
Blue Oyster Cult - The Red & the Black
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gimme back my bullets
Free - The Hunter
Taste - What's goin' on

Buy this 'Footstomping Music' CD direct from Rock Of Ages

Keep the rock real...

Benjy

Contact Rock of Ages

Email:
Frequencies: 1485AM -Johannesburg and nationally on DSTV Audio Channel 169
Website: www.rock.co.za/rockofages
Snail mail: PO Box 782022, Sandton 2146

Your Host

Benjy Mudie

Then	Now

Benjy Mudie is a self confessed 'rockaholic' with little chance of recovery ... a music obsessive whose entire life has been spent in search of the lost chord ... from discovering Jimi's "Are you experienced" at 13, he has constantly devoured music through lp's, singles, tapes, cds, dvds, books, magazines, film, concerts, radio, tv and the internet. His entire working life has also been music related: from running a record store and later joining WEA Records in the mid 70's through to his 21 year A&R/Marketing stint at Tusk Music where he signed some of the biggest names in South African rock and pop. Since 1999 he has been nurturing new talent at his indie label Fresh Music and reissuing classic albums as part of it's ongoing Retro series ... To say that 'music is his first love' (to paraphrase John Miles's classic song) is somewhat understated.

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