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 ...

great line up of free shows from Jonesbeachevents.com down at Jones Beach Field Four band-shell. The free shows hosted by WBAB were a blast with a lot of great talented tribute acts for thousands of families and friends, I can't wait to do it again next summer. I mean what's better than a free show under the stars on the boardwalk with the kids sucking down Friendly's ice cream while you enjoy a cold one. Across the road Live Nation gave us a bunch of good shows at the Nikon Jones Beach Theater. Dylan returned this year with Jimmy Vaughan, Rush packed the house again, Poison returned and the success of Brett Michael's Rock of Love on VH-1 didn't hurt. I was reminded about the fact of the rich musical history Long Island has by the performances of Dream Theater who I used to play as Majesty on Fingers Metal Shop back in the day (we've come a long way from Sundance my brothers) The Stray Cats played this year with the Pretenders and ZZ Top, remember Heckles and Jeckles? And Joan Jett opened for Aerosmith. My favorite show had to be Heaven and Hell, the Sabbath boys and Dio really nailed it and Queensryche and Alice Cooper were excellent openers. There were a bunch of other shows including the Allmans, Velvet Revolver, Chicago and America and more. What was your favorite?

I had the opportunity to host a great show at Eisenhower Park, put together by playgroundz.net for the U.S.O.. Long Island bands gave their time and talent to a show to express appreciation for our troops in Iraq. It was fun and rocking as well as moving knowing we were here kicking out jams in the land of the free while our men and women across the globe protect our rights and help others. The show was broadcast over the web for the troops in cooperation with the U.S.O. and I was proud and honored to be a part of it. I also am reminded that Freedom isn't Free.

2007 was also a year we lost fine some musicians and entertainers. On March 9th Boston singer Brad Delp committed suicide. April 14th Don (Tiny Bubbles) Ho, (who I saw at the age of 15 on a family trip in Hawaii) passed due to heart failure, later Bobby "Boris" Picket The man behind the Monster Mash died April 25th due to complications from Leukemia. June 29th George McCorkle guitarist and songwriter and founding member of Marshall Tucker Band succumbed to cancer. Legendary Crooner and a one time star of the Simpsons, Robert Goulet died of a rare lung disease October 30th. On November 25th singer Kevin Dubrow from Quiet Riot (the first metal band to hit number 1 on the charts) was found dead in his home due to an accidental cocaine overdose. Sadly we all have to go sometime, thankfully the music lives on.

The motorcycle world felt the loss of the man who churned the spirit and passion of riding in many of us, as well as caused a few of us some bumps and bruises. Robert Craig "Evil" Knievel died at the age of 69 from a variety of health problems. He was a true daredevil and broke more bones than records, but he was the guy that got me and many others into bikes and was like a real life superman. His sorted life was an interesting and eye opening one, I suggest you read up, or catch one of the TV shows about his life, it was not pretty but he was hella cool.

I wish you well in the coming year and thank you for reading my column and I invite you to drop me a line with any questions or ideas at Fingers@shortscoots.com

On the air and in the wind, Fingers