News Bites: ‘It Was Like We Were Eating Dinner Together’

All the latest news in brief, including: Aerosmith Tyler’s cancer call, Fogerty’s Helm tribute, Metallica to record Dio and Purple, plus updates from The Beatles, record store charts, Winger, Motörhead, Sabbath, G3 and Montrose…

♦ Aerosmith star Steven Tyler has a new No.1 fan after he Skyped seven-year-old cancer patient Cole Grace in his hospital bed. He spoke to Cole for 10 minutes and the pair sang Walk This Way together. The battling boy says: “It was very cool. I was eating dinner so he told me he’d just had a turkey sandwich, and he said it was actually like we were eating dinner together.”

♦ Creedence Clearwater Revival mainman John Fogerty paid tribute to Band drummer Levon Helm by guesting with the Black Keys on a version of The Weight at the continuing Coachella Festival (see video below). Bob Dylan is among many artists to have released a statement after Helm died last week at the age of 71 following a battle against throat cancer, saying: “He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. I’m going to miss him, as I’m sure a whole lot of others will too.”

♦ Metallica are currently trying deciding which Dio and Deep Purple tracks they’ll record for a pair of tribute albums. Frontman James Hetfield tells Metal Hammer: “We reached out to Wendy Dio about wanting to be a part of the Dio tribute. We’re very honoured to be a part of that.” Of the Purple tribute drummer Lars Ulrich adds: “We were asked if we’d contribute to the anniversary of Machine Head – we can’t turn that down.”

♦ A collection of 20 unseen photographs of The Beatles will be auctioned next month. They were taken on the set of the Fab Four’s 1964 movie A Hard Day’s Night by props manager Peter Allchorne, who was able to bypass producers’ camera ban. His daughter Jacqueline Griffin says: “He got to know The Beatles quite well but he wasn’t that interested. They were just four lads in a band – it didn’t really hit him. He didn’t like the music. He was into jazz.” The collection is expected to make £10,000 at Omega Auction in Stockport, Cheshire on May 19.

♦ The first Official Record Store Top 10, launched to coincide with Record Store Day, features albums from seven independent labels, including the No.1 spot.
1. Alabama Shakes: Boys And Girls
2. Adele: 21
3. Trembling Bells: The Marble Downs
4. Graham Coxon: A&E
5. M Ward: A Wasteland Companion
6. Lana Del Ray: Born To Die
7. Sun: Death
8. Black Keys: El Camino
9. Dr John: Locked Down
10. Shins: Port Of Morrow

♦ Winger drummer Rod Morgenstein is auctioning autographed items to raise cash for sheltered housing complex in Arizona. He’s donated four cymbals, a set of isolation headphones and a pair of signature sticks. For more information on the auction email troz57@msn.com

♦ Motörhead‘s red wine has sold more than 250,000 bottles in Scandinavia, says the region’s biggest newspaper. Created with the help of iconic mainman Lemmy, Motörhead Shiraz should be drunk at a slightly cooler temperature than most wines of its type and is best served lamb, beef and pasta dishes. Lemmy says: “Approach it with caution. Wine is deceptive – anything could happen.”

♦ Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler admits the band wouldn’t have existed without Bert Weedon, the guitarist and teacher who died last week at 91. “I had stopped commenting on death and disasters because my journal was starting to resemble an obituary column,” says Butler. “But I can safely say that many UK and Ireland guitarists from John Lennon onwards would probably have never learned to play without Bert’s Play In A Day book. I know Black Sabbath wouldn’t exist – both Tony Iommi and myself learned to play from it.”

♦ The latest incarnation of Joe Satriani’s G3 touring band will feature John Petrucci of Dream Theater and Steve Morse of Deep Purple. They’ll play two shows in Brazil in October: Citibank Hall, Rio, October 11 and Credicard Hall, Sao Paulo, October 12.

♦ A posthumous Ronnie Montrose live DVD will be released next month. Live At The Uptown was recorded in California in January, just weeks before the iconic guitarist committed suicide. Further details are here.