quote:


NEW YORK - Many have tried, but so far nobody has been able to pry the decade-in-the-works Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” from the hands of lone remaining original member Axl Rose.



Now, Dr Pepper thinks it’s up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to “everyone in America” (excluding ex-Guns members Slash and Buckethead) if “Chinese Democracy” arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008.



Rose responded on his band’s web site (http://www.gunsnroses.com) that the band was “surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper.” But the offer did not prompt him to rise to the challenge.



Chinese Democracy” was most recently scheduled for release in March 2007, but promptly vanished from the schedule without a new date being set. Rose said at the time that all the recording had been completed, but there were some “scheduling difficulties.”



It will be the first album of fresh Guns N’ Roses material since the 1991 sets “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II.” Rose has reportedly burned through $13 million in recording expenses for “Chinese Democracy,” and also burned his bridges with the bandmates who helped him turn Guns into one of the biggest rock groups in the world by the early 1990s.

quote:


MIAMI - Lawyers for the Beatles sued Friday to prevent the distribution of unreleased recordings purportedly made during Ringo Starr’s first performance with the group in 1962.



The dispute between Apple Corps Ltd., the London company formed by the Beatles that helps guard their legacy, and Fuego Entertainment Inc. of Miami Lakes stems from recordings the Fab Four apparently made during a performance at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

quote:

Poison drummer Rikki Rockett was arrested on a rape warrant and his case was turned over to the district attorney's office for possible grand jury consideration, officials said Friday.

Rockett, 46, was arrested Monday at or near Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles police said. He was booked and released, and was awaiting an extradition decision by Mississippi prosecutors.

A woman in Mississippi filed a complaint that she was raped on Sept. 23, 2007, at the Silver Star Casino, Neshoba County sheriff's investigator Ralph Sciple said.

quote:


ATLANTA - An Allman Brothers Band member says Gregg Allman is unable to play several upcoming concerts because of his treatments for hepatitis C.



Drummer Butch Trucks says the band has canceled appearances in Florida next month and bowed out of its annual run of shows at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre in May.



Trucks says Allman began undergoing treatment last year.

quote:


LONDON - They’ve played to sell-out audiences all over the world — except in Blackpool.



Until now.



After being banned for almost half-century from the English seaside resort, the Rolling Stones are free to perform there again, the local council said on Thursday.

quote:


So the Health Blog was intrigued to learn that Gov’t Mule, the Southern Rock jam band and small business if there ever was one, recently started providing health insurance to nine musicians and crew members.

How come? Employee retention, as the folks in corporate HR sometimes put it.

“We found that magic combination of people that have been with us for a while, and we want them to stay,” says Stefani Scamardo, who manages the band and also DJs on Sirius satellite radio. “We had an entire band and crew that have no health insurance, and that was troubling.”

Big-name musicians like Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes – who also plays for the Allman Brothers and ranked No. 23 on Rolling Stone’s list of the hundred all-time greatest guitar players — can get health insurance through their union. Even then, the coverage can be costly or available only to those who pile up enough music sales each year, a dicey proposition in an unpredictable business. Crew members, who typically get paid only during tours, often have fewer options.

Gov’t Mule’s plan is from Oxford Health Plans, a unit of UnitedHealth. The band pays all the premiums, which came to $61,507 last year, Scamardo tells the Health Blog. “You don’t budget for it — you just make the decision to do it and deal with it,” she says. “It’s something that relieves a lot of stress in our organization; we all feel a lot better and sleep a lot better at night.”

quote:

ORIGINAL: farglebargle

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/03/26/rock-and-roll-may-never-die-but-sometimes-it-gets-sick/?mod=WSJBlog

quote:


So the Health Blog was intrigued to learn that Gov’t Mule, the Southern Rock jam band and small business if there ever was one, recently started providing health insurance to nine musicians and crew members.

How come? Employee retention, as the folks in corporate HR sometimes put it.

“We found that magic combination of people that have been with us for a while, and we want them to stay,” says Stefani Scamardo, who manages the band and also DJs on Sirius satellite radio. “We had an entire band and crew that have no health insurance, and that was troubling.”

Big-name musicians like Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes – who also plays for the Allman Brothers and ranked No. 23 on Rolling Stone’s list of the hundred all-time greatest guitar players — can get health insurance through their union. Even then, the coverage can be costly or available only to those who pile up enough music sales each year, a dicey proposition in an unpredictable business. Crew members, who typically get paid only during tours, often have fewer options.

Gov’t Mule’s plan is from Oxford Health Plans, a unit of UnitedHealth. The band pays all the premiums, which came to $61,507 last year, Scamardo tells the Health Blog. “You don’t budget for it — you just make the decision to do it and deal with it,” she says. “It’s something that relieves a lot of stress in our organization; we all feel a lot better and sleep a lot better at night.”