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Marshall Lytle, the bass player for Bill Haley and the Comets during their biggest era, died on Saturday morning at 3:30 AM in his home in Port Richie, FL after battling lung cancer. He was 79. Lytle was honored one year ago when he and the rest of the Comets were among the first backing group's to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the Comets, the honor came 25 years after Bill Haley was accorded the same honor. Marshall started out his musical career as a guitarist but switched to double bass when he joined...

LED Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has taken out a restraining order against a crazed fan after she bombarded him with threatening messages, it is reported. The rock legend, 64, is even said to have hired a security team in the wake of intensifying harassment from the deluded groupie.

Grateful Dead singer-guitarist Bob Weir collapsed during his performance with Furthur at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York last night. The band, which also includes bassist Phil Lesh, was closing out a nine show residency at the historic venue when the 65-year-old Weir stumbled and fell to the floor about a minute into the song “Unbroken Chain.” He was helped up by crew members and was able to complete the tune while seated in a chair before the band took a brief break. When they returned without him, Lesh told the crowd that Weir had strained his shoulder...

While watching the Grammy awards last Sunday, it occurred to me that American culture has been defined by music ever since the end of World War II. After the Germans and Japanese surrendered in 1945, millions of GI's returned home to marry and begin families. The big-band era of good-time music accompanied that, and romantic singers like Frank Sinatra ruled the day. In the '50s, many young people, tired of conformity, began to rebel. The rise of Elvis Presley illuminated that rebellion. Then the angst kind of died out as Chubby Checker ushered in "The Twist" in 1960, and...

Friday night bandstand ...Elvis..Ricky Nelson...Gene Pitny...Jack Scott...Good music listen in ...few commercials...*** G.P

George "Shadow" Morton (b. 9/3/1940), the innovative record producer associated with Phil Spector, died yesterday. Morton had visited Ellie Greenwich at the Brill Building when he heard songwriter Jeff Barry working on a tune. Morton commented that it wasn't a song, and Barry replied that if Morton was so great, why didn't he show them on of his songs. Morton said he'd return in a week. Sitting in his car, he wrote "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," which would be a hit by a local girl-group, the Shangri-Las (and an unknown Billy Joel on piano in the recording session). He...

'Reg Presley, lead singer of 60s rock band The Troggs, has died aged 71. The band's frontman died at his home in Hampshire, his daughter, Karen, confirmed to the BBC. The Troggs had a number of hit songs, including Wild Thing and Love Is All Around. Music publicist Keith Altham paid tribute to Presley on Facebook, saying his "dear old pal" had died "following a succession of recent strokes and a losing battle with cancer". Presley announced his retirement from music a year ago after being taken ill during a concert in Germany and then being diagnosed with lung cancer.'

A Swede who gained worldwide fame for having his love of hard rock classified as a disability says he remains addicted to heavy metal music five years after being granted social security benefits for his affliction. "I'm still very addicted," Roger Tullgren, 47, told The Local this week from his home in Hässleholm in southern Sweden. "I listen to heavy metal music 24 hours a day."

Amid the media swirl surrounding possible gun control measures after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre just last month, many pro-gun advocates are speaking out. Musicians are no different. Zoltan Bathory, guitarist of Five Finger Death Punch, used his Facebook page to discuss his annoyance at the media and the concern that his guns will be confiscated by the government, despite the fact there is no evidence to back up that fear. Bathory writes: "Let's talk about 'assault' rifles for a second. Anti-gun advocates in the media placing all the emphasis on the word 'ASSAULT' for a reason. It sounds menacing...

Before ZZ Top became a blues-rock band known for gritty, boogie-based rhythms, sizzling guitar flights, humorous lyrics and luxuriously long beards, it was a Houston-based psychedelic proto-punk garage band called the Moving Sidewalks. And though its following was decidedly regional at the time – its biggest hit, “99th Floor,” was a chart-topper in Houston for six weeks in 1967 – the group’s recordings can be found on more than half a dozen compilations of 1960s garage band tracks, not to mention the ZZ Top anthology “Chrome, Smoke & BBQ: The ZZ Top Box.” ... with ZZ Top between tours, Billy...

SANTA ANA, Calif., Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Lee Dorman, the bassist for "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" rockers Iron Butterfly, has died of apparent natural causes in California, a coroner said. He was 70. Dorman, who had a history of heart problems, was found dead in his car Friday in Orange County, E! Online reported.

According to a law enforcement official close to the investigation, Jovan Belcher was out "partying" the night before he shot Kasandra Perkins. He had been with a woman in the Power and Light District, an area of bars in downtown Kansas City. Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/12/03/jovan-belcher-case-new-information/index.html#ixzz2E3c2estg

ALL fast approaching or beyond 70, the Rolling Stones are entitled to look a little lived in. Their 50-year career has taken its toll — as have the booze, the drugs and the groupies. In fact, it is a wonder they are still standing, let alone rocking and rolling.

LONDON (AP) — You can't always get what you want — but if your desire is to attend a Rolling Stones concert this might be your lucky day. The legendary band said Monday it would return to the stage this year with four concerts in Britain and the United States. The shows will take place on Nov. 25 and 29 at London's O2 Arena, followed by gigs on Dec. 13 and 15 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, just outside of New York. The shows mark the first time in five years that the Stones have performed live,...

Hey, girls (on film), he’s not just a pretty face! Duran Duran’s John Taylor seems to agree with many on Twitter, including Tawny Kitaen, who called Joe Biden an “embarrassing jackass.” The consensus is that Joe Biden’s debate performance was disgraceful, from the creepy smirk to the cranky old man attitude, capped off by his shameful laughing at the issues.

Rush, Public Enemy among Rock Hall of Fame noms By CHRIS TALBOTT, AP Music Writer – 6 minutes ago Rush, Deep Purple, Public Enemy and N.W.A. are among the group of first-time nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They join returnees Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Randy Newman, Donna Summer and Kraftwerk among the 15 artists vying for entry. Even in the iPod age, the list of nominees up for induction in 2013 is as eclectic as they come. Nominees differ wildly in sound, origin and influence, ranging from the enduring prog rock of Canadian trio...

On Sept. 25, 1980, at 32 years of age, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham passed away, inadvertently bringing an end to one of rock’s greatest bands. The group’s final studio effort ‘In Through The Out Door’ had been released in Sept. 1979 after many delays. In May 1980, the group performed what would be their last European tour. That September, the band was in rehearsals at guitarist Jimmy Page’s house in advance of an American tour.

A wounded war veteran and his wife received an emotional surprise when entering a model home and discovering not only their friends and family inside, but musician Kid Rock as well. Standing before Sgt Davin Dumar and his wife Dana, the musician greeted the couple as they entered what will be a mirror image of the home he plans to help build for them.

First New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was rebuffed by The Boss. Now another well-know liberal musician has spurned the advances of a right-wing politician-fan. In a brutal Rolling Stone editorial, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello calls Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's recent vice presidential pick, the "embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."

I have an alter ego in the blogosphere. Here, it’s politics, but on Facebook I blog about popular music, usually leaning heavily towards rock and roll. And until a few days ago I never imagined that there would be any ideological cross-pollination to worry about. But then I had an epiphany… I’ll start my little tale here- I blog about music to promote a fiction book that I wrote 3 years ago. The book is about a garage band from the early 70′s that was on the cusp of making it big, but then fell just short. I plot an...