Free Republic

WASHINGTON – Kid Rock was nowhere to be found at the inaugural youth concert tonight, but another foul-mouthed singer dropped the F-bomb on the crowd including hundreds of pre-teen Hilary Duff fans. The lead singer of the band Fuel proclaimed, "Welcome to the greatest ----ing country in the world." Brett Scallions followed with a quick apology of "excuse my language." But it was a little late. The concert was hosted by President Bush's twins Jenna and Barbara, who were in the audience but did not come on stage. Duff was the headliner at the D.C. Armory concert, a paid tribute...

THOSE WITH THEIR EARS to the ground have not been surprised that punk has resonated with conservatives. Rolling Stone magazine rock critic Anthony DeCurtis told the BBC this year, "In a lot of ways in the United States, the Republicans have gotten much more punk than the Democrats." The ingredients of punk rebellion -- introversion, angst, and teenage alienation -- belong to no ideology. To the extent that conformity is encouraged or discouraged by particular political movements, the right is now more "punk" than the left. The left espouses group identity; the right promotes individualism. The left says we all...

Win or lose, Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] has pulled off something people have tried to do for more than a decade: reuniting the surviving members of Nirvana. Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, who made rock history in Seattle with the late Kurt Cobain, will appear today at a Kerry rally at the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas. Grohl will perform with his band, Foo Fighters. Novoselic, an activist who authored ``Of Grunge and Government,'' will speak. Also expected are Kerry's daughter, Alexandra, stepson, Chris Heinz, and Tom DeLonge of punk band Blink 182.

NEW YORK - They played the obligatory classics: "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Girls on Film." But when Simon Le Bon ripped into the chorus of the new single "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise," the sun suddenly illuminated Times Square as if to officially mark a new day for Duran Duran. As the original five members performed for "Good Morning America" last week, it seemed the planets had finally aligned for a band that had been ignored through its ever-changing lineup and lackluster albums of the past ten years. The British quintet once created a fan hysteria that was compared...

QUEEN - THE TOP 100 BOOTLEGS Queen are one of the most widely pirated bands in the world. A large number of their live performances (over 700 in all) exist in unauthorised recordings - from the earliest college gigs in 1971, to the final open air spectacular at Knebworth Park in 1986. In response to public demand, large numbers of ‘bootleg’ LPs, tapes, CDs, videos and now DVDs, proliferated. There is a HUGE mass of bootlegs to choose from – an overwhelming volume. Only a tiny fraction of these are worth seeking out, as most are poor-quality, shoddily conceived packages...

On an episode of South Park, Satan is trapped in a gay love triangle involving Saddam Hussein and goes to God for advice. God says, "Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" Sometimes I feel that way about the aging stars of heavy metal. Not that they're gay or anything, except for Rob Halford. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay. Let's review. Metallica behaves like spoiled little boys. Ozzy Osbourne plays a frail Uncle Fester on a reality show of his own life. The music of Slayer is used to torture Iraqi PoWs. Gene Simmons turned into the...

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and his rock 'n' roll band, Capitol Offense, will headline the Jan. 20 inaugural ball hosted by Free Republic, a grass-roots conservative news, analysis and activism forum, in Washington. It's a repeat performance for the 49-year-old Mr. Huckabee, whose gubernatorial term expires in 2007. Because of the high-spirited show put on by his band at the 2001 Free Republic Inaugural Ball and Count the White House Silverware Party, guests left other inaugural balls in favor of the governor's less-formal gig, which, this year, honors the U.S. armed forces.

Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven has been voted the best rock song of all time by listeners to digital radio station Planet Rock. The 1971 track took more than 70% of the vote in the poll, conducted on the station's website. Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple and Black Sabbath's Paranoid completed the top five. "It's probably the only song fans agree is a classic," DJ Mark Jeeves said. "After all these years, there's nothing to touch it." The song was never released as a single, but has been covered by stars...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Late punk guitarist Johnny Ramone is being immortalized with a bronze statue at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Ramone, co-founder and guitarist of The Ramones, was 55 when he died of prostate cancer on Sept. 15, 2004, at his Los Angeles home. The statue is near the grave of bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, who died of a drug overdose in 2002. The Johnny Ramone monument, created by artist Wayne Toth, shows Ramone playing his Mosrite guitar and it features the words, "If a man can judge success by how many great friends he has, then I have...

PETALUMA, Calif. - Spencer Dryden, the drummer for legendary rock band the Jefferson Airplane, has died of cancer. He was 66. Dryden, who died at his home Tuesday, retired from performing 10 years ago, although he hadn't been working much before that. "I'm gone," he told the San Francisco Chronicle last May. "I'm out of it. I've left the building." A benefit concert last year featuring Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and raised $36,000 for Dryden, who was in the middle of two hip replacement surgeries and was facing heart surgery at the...

In the three concerts that country star Toby Keith has performed at The Mark of the Quad-Cities in Moline in the past 27 months, he’s gone from cautious to confident to cocky. But a capacity crowd of about 10,000 blizzard-weary fans soaked in all that is Toby Keith on Saturday night, reveling in the Oklahoman’s greatest hits. A filmed intro, with Keith and his ever-present bulldog pulling down a bar with chains on a pickup (from the tour sponsor) led into “Stays in Mexico,” the first song from Keith’s “Greatest Hits 2” album last year. Keith strong-armed his way through...

OSLO, Norway (AP) - President Bush's ``Hook 'em, 'horns'' salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan. That's what it means in the Nordics when you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their fans in the region. View Photo View Photo View Photo More Photos ``Shock greeting from Bush daughter,'' a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper Nettavisen said above a photograph of Bush's daughter Jenna, smiling and showing the sign....

He (hearts) rock-and-roll: Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won't just be another Republican party animal during inaugural festivities. He'll be part of the entertainment. Huckabee brings his rock band, Capitol Offense, back to Washington this week to play at a ball put on by Free Republic, a conservative news and activism Web site. "We played four years ago," the bass-playing governor told us. "It's one of those wonderful situations where it's rare to be invited the first time and even more rare to be invited back." The band's three-hour set will include boomer-pleasing songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones,...

CHICAGO (CBS/AP) The tour bus driver for the Dave Matthews Band was formally charged Wednesday with dumping human waste on passengers of a sightseeing boat. The alleged driver, Stefan A. Wohl, surrendered to police Wednesday. He faces two misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct and contaminating the Chicago River. Whol, 42, was released on $1,000 bond. Wohl now faces up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine. In August, passengers were hit with 80 to 100 gallons of waste as they cruised under the Kinzie Street bridge. Investigators said the dumping could not have been an accident. Cook County...

Linda Cummings arrived at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in a white, backless, nearly see-through mini-halter dress, white fur jacket and white high-heeled go-go boots. Not exactly site-specific attire, but then again, she is Johnny Ramone’s widow. Various celebs milled about, including Anthony Kiedis, who showed up wearing a Johnny Ramone–style hairdo to go with the anorexic-model type on his arm. The crowd included everyone from mohawked gutter punks in leather jackets and bondage pants to businessmen in three-piece suits. They had all come for last Friday’s unveiling of the Johnny Ramone memorial statue. Ramone (born John Cummings) died in September from...