Well it's that time of year. The holidays are upon us and so is the cold and snow. This is a great time to recap the year in a lot of circles so I will follow suit. 2007 saw the induction of R.E.M., Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash, The Ronettes and Van Halen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After a pissing match VH ended up bowing out of performing at the induction ceremony yet went on to tour and so far so good. This year was also a time to mourn the loss of Ahmet Ertegun the man who brought us Led Zeppelin among many others with the powerful Atlantic Records company. Such an indelible mark was his life, it has created a reunion of the remaining members along with Bonhams son Jason and this time it's serious. You can't go anywhere without hearing or seeing something about Zep, they have put their entire catalogue on line, they have given the rights to their music and video to ESPN as well as Verizon, and XM has a 24-7 Led Zep channel. Pile this on to the Led Zeppelin Roller Coaster, opening down at Hard Rock Park in South Carolina in 2008, the newly released "Mothership" compilation and the digital remaster of "Song Remains the Same" on CD and DVD, a new website and the cover of Rolling Stone and there is more and will be more. But the lingering question remains...Will there be more tour?

2007 also saw a ...

I love new music of any kind. I may not embrace it but I always want to check out something new and different. And, as a music lover it is my duty to pass on the buzz. My friend Maria has a love for guitar and knows her stuff, so when she turns me on to something, I check it out with anticipation. Her latest suggestion was a duo known as Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Their story is as interesting as their playing. They are two Mexican metal heads who transplanted to Dublin, Ireland and cultivated a sound and style unheard of before. They are a mix of thrash and speed techniques, with sultry intricate fret dances that ends up sounding like a band rather than a duo...

Holy crap summers over and its back to school. Great...now we have to watch out for school buses while we ride. Keep an eye out for the kids too. August was a great month for riding and parties. A big congratulations and thanks to Greg and Lee for five years of service to the motorcycle community. This time around an interview I did with a metal icon.

On August 15th I had the great pleasure to interview Motley Crue bassist and founder Nikki Sixx. But not as much about Motley Crue but more so about his life from December of 1986 to his eventual overdose a year later. True it inspired the song “Kick Start my Heart” but that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Nikki kept a diary, several of them, of the wild and tragic life he lived in that 12 months. As life moved on so did Nikki and he rocked and rolled with the Crue all over the world some more. After twenty-five years and 40 million plus albums sold along with two solo projects and numerous song collaborations and co writing “Dirt” the history of Motley Crue, he came upon the diaries. He decided to publish them. The book “The Heroin Diaries, A year in the life of a shattered rock star” hit stores September 18th. The excerpts alone will chill you. I advise you visit theheroindiaries.net and read them. Here is a taste...

“Merry Christmas, well that's what people say at Christmas right? Except normally they have somebody to say it to. They have their friends and family all around them, They haven't been crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in their arm like and insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys” “They're not out of their minds and writing in a diary and they're not watching their holiday spirit coagulating in a spoon. I didn't speak to a single person today...” This is the chilling opening of the album as well.

After showing the diaries to...