Odds & Ends – Lonestar, Paul Rodgers, X Japan

Lonestar Goes Back To The Future

Fans following Lonestar’s Twitter feed were told yesterday that there would be “Big News” today. The country band kept its word by announcing the return of original lead singer Richie McDonald.

The band also announced it would celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012 with a new album and tour, designating the previously announced Feb. 26 through March 4 shows in England, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany as the first upcoming dates featuring the band’s four original members – McDonald, Michael Britt, Keech Rainwater and Dean Sams.

Of course, someone returning to the Lonestar fold means someone is leaving as well. That would be lead singer Cody Collins who joined when McDonald left in 2007. While announcing McDonald’s return, Lonestar wished Collins “the best in his future musical endeavors.”

While it sounds like splitsville for Collins and Lonestar, the singer will still be appearing with the band for the remainder of 2011, such as Nov. 4 in Swainsboro, Ga., at the Georgia Sports Arena.

The Great White North Welcomes Paul Rodgers

We wouldn’t blame you for associating Paul Rodgers with England. British by birth, Rodgers has fronted several legendary English bands during his multi-decade career, including Free, Bad Company and the mid-1980s group The Firm which saw him partnering with Jimmy Page. He also did the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour that ran from 2005 through 2006. So he seems British through and through.

But despite his rich associations with British rock bands, Rodgers has been living in Canada’s British Columbia province for years with his wife, a former Miss Canada.

Now he’s official Canadian, having been sworn in as one of the country’s newest citizens Oct. 21 during a public ceremony in Surrey, British Columbia.

“It may not be my native land but Canada is surely now my home,” Rodgers said in a statement. “While I’ll always be an Englishman, Canada has given me so much for which I am grateful. My wife, your former Miss Canada Cynthia Kereluk, a new and extended family and the chance to be truly free in a country that with its quiet strength combines the best of so many worlds. I’m proud to be a Canuck.”

No X Japan For Beijing

Japan’s mega rock band, X Japan, won’t be playing Beijing Nov. 2. And before you start thinking that it’s another one of those incidents where the Chinese government hadn’t officially green-lighted the gig, the band wants you to know it did receive a permit from the country’s communist overlords.

Instead, X Japan blamed the dropped the date from its tour of Southeast Asia on “a last-minute decision by the promoters that included technical and production issues.”

Although Beijing is now off the routing, X Japan is still on for Shanghai’s Grand Stage Oct. 30 and Hong Kong’s Asia World Expo Nov. 4. Other dates on the band’s tour include Seoul, South Korea (Oct. 28); Taipei, Taiwan (Nov. 6), and Bangkok, Thailand (Nov. 8).