Daniel Knighton/Getty ImagesGuitarist Joe Satriani is set to join Sammy Hagar on his Best of All Worlds tour this summer, where they’ll be playing, among other things, songs from the Van Halen catalog. And despite his expertise with the instrument, Satriani doesn’t expect it to be easy."My task right now is trying to unravel the mystery of Eddie Van Halen s strange guitar playing," Satriani tells Classic Rock in a new interview. "I spent decades avoiding how to learn this stuff so I wouldn t copy it, and now all of a sudden I m doing a crash course on the idiosyncrasies and the genius of his guitar work.”He adds, “I know these songs but I ve never actually played them. It s a task."And while it won’t be easy, Satriani is happy to do it, sharing, “I can t think of a (Van Halen) song that doesn t put a smile on my face – it s just a question of figuring out how to play them.”Satriani says he can guarantee that fans who come to the shows will "
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesRick Springfield has penned a heartfelt tribute to “All By Myself” hitmaker Eric Carmen, whose wife, Amy, announced on March 11 that he passed away at the age of 74.“This is almost more than I can stand. I have always been a huge Eric fan,” Springfield wrote on social media. “Amazing singer. Amazing writer. Good human. Why do we have to wait until we pass before we acknowledge what they mean to us.”The “Jessie’s Girl” singer noted how he opened for Carmen’s band the Raspberries in 1974 when they were playing high school gyms, sharing that they “followed each others careers ever since.”“Just a brilliant musician that lesser artists have surpassed in fame but not talent,” Springfield concluded. “May God speed your spirit home sweet Eric.”Other artists paying tribute to Carmen include:E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who wrote, “Damn. Another friend gone. RIP Eric Carmen. The Raspberries set a productio
L-R: Brad Booker, Dave Mullins, Sean Ono Lennon/ photo credit: Disney/Frank MicelottaA short film inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic tune “Happy Christmas (War Is Over),” took home an Oscar Sunday night. War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko won the award for Best Animated Short Film, with the couple’s son Sean Ono Lennon on stage to help accept the award alongside filmmakers Dave Mullins and Brad Booker.“John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote a song that inspired us,” filmmaker Dave Mullins said in his speech. "It is an anti-war message that we tried to honor with this film."Sean used his time to give a shout out to his famous mom. "My mother turned 91 this February, and today is Mother s Day in the U.K.," he said. "So could everyone please say, Happy Mother s Day, Yoko! " The 11-minute film follows a game of chess, with a heroic carrier pigeon helping the game continue across enemy lines. It ends with
Mike GreenhamArtists like The Who, Santana and Jimi Hendrix have fans all over the world, but their music is no longer limited to folks here on Earth.Billboard reports that digitized recordings from a slew of musicians was included in a time capsule on the Odysseus space craft, which touched down on the moon on Thursday, February 22.In total, the time capsule features music from 222 artists, including Elvis Presley, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, and Chuck Berry. Some previously unreleased material was also included, as well as photos from Woodstock and album art, including Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.Dallas Santana, of the company Space Blue, brought the idea of the music collection to Arch Mission Foundation and curated the music that appeared on it. He notes, “This is music that stands the test of time.”Santana adds that much of the collection is made up of music from 1969 and artists who were at Woodstock, since