Here & There …

With all the hoopla over tonight’s Zeppelin performance, it’s easy to forget why there is a concert in the first place – The Independent

When you think of it, it’s surprising we don’t see more stories about automobile accidents caused by iPod fiddling – Minneapolis / St. Paul Star Tribune

Sure, Eddie Van Halen is a rock star. But he’s also a homeowner. And he has problems just like any other homeowner. Like flooding from a broken water main – Prince George Citizen / Associated Press

How well do you know Led Zeppelin? – The Guardian

Stockholm police detain Liza Minnelli crew member for allegedly beating up a photographer – Cincinnati Enquirer / Associated Press

Ray Charles’ hometown honors the r&b legend with a statue – UPI

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

We have a whole bunch of dates for 2008’s “Take Action Tour” featuring Every Time I Die, From First To Last, The Bled, August Burns Red and The Human Abstract. Dates are for February and March, and cities include Toronto, DC, Atlanta and New York.

The horse still doesn’t have a name, but America keeps on keepin’ on. New dates include shows Anchorage, AK, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, Greensburg, PA and Jim Thorpe, PA.

Henry Rollins launches another one of his famed spoken word tours. Look for Henry during January, February and March in places like Brooklyn, NY, Lincoln, NE, and Birmingham, AL.

Lots of new March dates for Steve Earle in cities like Madison, WI, Toronto, ON and Minneapolis, MN; The Mars Volta have new January dates; The co-headline tour of Three Days Grace / Breaking Benjamin adds February and March shows; Babyshambles slots two more nights in the U.K. and Kylie Minogue adds another Belfast gig in June and a London show in August.

During the last couple of hours we also updated the schedules for Linkin Park, LL Cool J, Mae, Marilyn Manson, Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons, Eric Jerardi Band, Elton John, Dark Star Orchestra, Corey Harris, David Gray, Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin and Trisha Yearwood.

And we’re only half done (or half undone, depending on whether you’re one of those half filled / half empty kind of people). We have more data to post. Tons and tons of data still on our loading docks waiting to be processed. Don’t miss Your Latest Update, coming up around 3 PM, from Pollstar.com!

This Day In Music History … (from Associated Press)

In 1967, singer Otis Redding and four members of his band, the Bar-Kays, were killed when their twin-engine plane crashed into a lake near Madison, Wisconsin. Redding was only 26. He came along at a time when black rhythm-and-blues artists were making inroads into the Top-40. But it was not until after his death that one of his records made the top of the charts. “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was a number-one hit in early 1968, selling four million copies in five months.

In 1965, the Grateful Dead played their first concert under that name at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The band, led by guitarist Jerry Garcia, was previously known as the Warlocks.

In 1966, “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys reached number one on the U.S. charts. The record marked a more sophisticated approach than their previous surfing and hot rod songs, and was reputed to have cost more to produce than any single record up to that time.

In 1971, singer Frank Zappa was thrown from a stage in London, breaking his leg and his ankle and fracturing his skull. A 24-year-old man said he did it because his girlfriend said she loved Frank.

In 1976, Billy Idol’s Generation X played their first show at London’s Central Art School.

In 1995, Darren Robinson, a 450-pound rapper who found stardom with the Fat Boys, died of a heart attack in Rosedale, New York at 28. Robinson was known as the “human beat box” for his percussive grunts which permeated the Fat Boys’ recordings.

In 1996, Faron Young, a huge country star in the 1950s and ’60s, died in a Nashville hospital one day after shooting himself in the head. He was 64.