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Odds & Ends: Ted Nugent, Nirvana & Alabama Shakes
Ted Nugent’s TV special glorifying guns won’t be returning to the Discovery Channel, fans shouldn’t count on a Nirvana “reunion” tour starring the surviving members, and Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard was robbed at gunpoint last weekend.
Last week fans got to see the surviving members of Nirvana play with Paul McCartney on two separate occasions. Following a surprise appearance at the 12-12-12 Sandy benefit concert at NYC’s Madison Square Garden, Dave Grohl, bassist Krist Novoselic and touring Nirvana member guitarist Pat Smear once again performed with the Beatle on “Saturday Night Live.”
Photo: AP Photo / Starpix
"12-12-12" (A Concert For Sandy Relief), Madison Square Garden Arena, New York City
Which of course meant that some people would start asking about a tour. The New York Post reported their sources claim Grohl was talking about a rumored tour featuring “a secret frontman” that was not McCartney. Representatives for Grohl told the Post that the rumors were “nonsense.”
This week the Discovery Channel announced that it will not be renewing the reality show “American Guns” and has no plans to air repeats of the program. According to Raw Story, “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country” won’t be back on the network either.
A spokesperson told Raw Story, in remarks specified as “not for attribution,” that the singer’s hour-long special didn’t earn the best ratings when it aired in October. Raw Story points out that, according to Nielsen Ratings for the special,” viewership was pegged at 864,000 people.
Photo: Courtesy of MC and Steve Pouliot
Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion, Gilford, N.H.
Nugent was apparently under the impression that “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country” would actually be turned into a “series” and had reportedly told Armed America Radio listeners in October that there would be “at least a dozen shows a year.”
As for the reality show “Sons of Guns,” a spokeswoman for the Discovery Channel told the New York Times that “it is not on the schedule and it is not on the schedule in the near future.”
Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard was robbed at gunpoint in Nashville Dec. 15 after playing a show with her side project Thunderbitch, which features members of Fly Golden Eagle and Clear Plastic Masks. Nashville Scene’s Nashville Cream blog reports that Howard and several members of Clear Plastic Masks were robbed on the front porch of Bomb Shelter studio owner/producer Andrija Tokic’s home.
Photo: Jack Plunkett / Invision / AP
Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park, Austin, TX
Serpents and Snakes Records general manager Seth Riddle, who was also at the private residence, told Nashville Cream that two teenage boys came up to Howard and the musicians with guns drawn.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt. The muggers reportedly stole “a few dozen dollars in cash and some cellphones.”