Hey guys,

It's a great honour to announce that In our next edition of 'LET THERE BE ROCK' Radio, RONNI LE TEKRO of TNT will present his favorite tracks.

Make sure you listen on May 12 (9-11PM CET), you will LOVE it for sure!
Keep rockin'

Ron
- www.myspace.com/ltbr_radio
- Live internet stream: http://w4.boschtion.nl/index.php?pageid=21
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lettherebe_rock

This month's edition (12 / december 2008) of Aardschok magazine covers a 2 page interview with Jason Becker. Aardschok is the leading Dutch Rock magazine, and has supported Jason from his early days !

Make sure to pick up your copy, when in the Dutch neighbourhood....... :-)

If you want the .pdf version of the article, send me your e-mail address and I will mail it to you.

By the way, the guy on the picture next to Jason is not me, it is Dennis Mollan, proudly showing the Jason Becker Distortion Pedal, made by ProTone Pedals.

Take care, and I hope you enjoy Jason's new CD as much as I do !

Ron

Mission completed !

After 10 months of intense training I have finished the New York Marathon last Sunday November 2.  It was an INCREDIBLE and FANTASTIC experience running through the streets of New York City with 40,000 runners, being cheered by 2 million New Yorkers. My God, the crowd was so amazing……. Thank you New York for supporting us runners !

Starting from the Verrazano Bridge on Staten Island, we ran through Brooklyn (great atmosphere !), and Queens, before entering into Manhattan. My start was good, too good to be true, so when I arrived on 1st Avenue I was punished very hard for that. East Manhattan and the Bronx were very heavy for me, and when I arrived in Central Park I was blessed with so many people yelling me to the finish line. Also, having a carefully selected playlist (see image) with some of the best music around on my iPod helped tremendously. It was an intense moment of glory passing the finish line (and a BIG relief as well :-) ……) with Jason's 'Meet me in the morning' on the iPod……..

Despite the cold weather and the differences in altitudes, my finish time was 3:47:05, which is a time I could only dream of.

All of you know that I ran this race also for Jason Becker. The past 10 months I have been very involved in setting up a Charity for Jason around this marathon. The element of being able to do something for a fellow human being in need, was and is very rewarding and just gave this triumphant run an extra flavor. The Charity for Jason was very successful, I have been able to raise some good funds for Jason and it got a lot of attention on the internet in several rock-communities. I am very glad I could help a bit to raise some more awareness for Jason's cause.

From now on the Charity activities will be on a much lower level in it's current form. There are some more rock memorabilia items that will be auctioned over the next couple of weeks and months, since they are still underway from some musicians. Keep an eye out for that, some great stuff coming ! I have some rough ideas on how to possibly continue activities for Jason, but I need to give them some more thoughts and I will be back in 2009.

Of course I could not have done all of this without the help of many people, without whom this Charity would never have been a success, let me thank the following people:
Jason Becker: the man that has inspired me from the moment I first heard about him in the late 80's. Jason, you have been such a great source of inspiration, musically but especially as a human being. Your way of looking at life, people & society has been so valuable, it makes me very humble and grateful for all that I have. I have enjoyed your music every day for the last 20 years and I will do so for the next 20 years, it makes me so happy and also makes me realize how terrifying talented you are ! Thanks my friend for everything !

Pat Becker: Pat, thank you very much for believing in me, and helping me to fight and get this Charity running for Jason ! You are a great person. Your love for Jason is so great to see, and on behalf of all of Jason's fans I thank you for taking care of Jason in such a fantastic manner

Frankie Banali, Tony Mills & Will Schut: You guys have been extremely helpful; you have a very good heart and love for your fellow musician Jason. You do what you promise and this has helped me enormously ! Love you guys !
And more rockers: the following rockers have helped me out very well by donating some of their valuables so that I could auction them for Jason. Please know that your stuff sold very well !  Thanks you for the great support: Paul Gilbert, Virgil Donati, Ray Luzier, Rusty Cooley, Bumblefoot, Steve Stevens, Steve Vai, Mike Keneally, Gus G., Chris Amott, Marcel Coenen, Gert Nijboer, Joe Stump, Phi-Yaan Zek, Lale Larson, Ron Keel, Craig Erickson, Marco Minnemann, Carl Canedy, Joey Allen, Shane Gaalaas, Eric Vandenberg & Danny Seraphine.

All of my friends in cyberspace: many people have supported my Charity for Jason by all means. Some stopped by the MySpace page every now and then, some promoted the Charity on their sites, some did a donation, some helped out by advising me etc. etc. This has all meant a lot to me. A big THANK YOU for the following people: Greg Phillips, PaScAlee, Rod DeGeorge, John Denner, Fredrik Prantare, Erick Ferini, Sebastian Salinas, Licia, Michelle and Lois, Dennis from ProTone Pedals, Stuart from Paradise Guitars, Laurie Monk, Andrew McNeice of MelodicRock.com, Rory Sullivan of Alloutguitar.com, Oscar van Eijk of Aardschok.com, Jason Houston, Bas Verbeek of Brabants Dagblad, Jonathan Artz, Markus, Jeremy K., Linn, Roemir & Di and to all the people that made a donation for jason !

Thanks to you all, it has been a great couple of months and I hope we can stay in touch somehow !

Take Care, Ron

Countdown has started, only a few days left before I will run my **s off in the New York Marathon, this Sunday November 2. This is where I lived and trained for during the last 12 months and I am very confident that I will pay a great tribute to Jason Becker, since I also do this on his behalf.

To all New Yorkers: it would be great if you would come to support me and my fellow 39,999 runners. Should anyone catch me on photo, please e-mail it to ron.coolen@wxs.nl and I will publish it here on MySpace. I will start 10:00 AM on Staten Island and hope to finish between 13:45 and 14:00 in Central Park. Look out for me in the white 'Running for Jason Becker' shirt, as you can see on the picture underneath.

This is an article that was published today in a Dutch daily...... Thanks to all you guys that have been so supportive for the last 8 months or so, you were great ! I will talk to you when I am back next week ! And in the meantime: make sure to buy Jason's new CD on November 4 !

Love & Peace, Ron

check it out guys, we had to wait a long time, but this beautiful baby is out now !Paradise Guitars launched the Jason Becker Signature Guitar ! Many thanks to Stuart (of Paradise Guitars) who did an amazing job in producing this beautiful guitar. Go out and buy it guys !!

http://paradiseguitarsusa.com/guitars.html & http://www.myspace.com/paradiseguitarsusa

hi guys,

some of Jason's musical friends have donated another great bunch of articles to be auctioned on eBay on behalf of Jason.

Pay special attention to the Peavey Monitor Magazine. This 1991 edition has a great interview with Jason Becker.

Please make sure to go to the Auction site http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/coolenron and bid on the item of your choice.

Once again thanks to all of your for your great support and do not forget to buy Jason's new album on November 4 !

AC/DC - Tourbook 'For those about to rock'
Christopher Amott (Arch Enemy) - Guitar Pick
Craig Erickson - Signed CD 'Rare Tracks'
Craig Erickson - Guitar Pick
David Lee Roth - Slam Dunk limited edition double single signed by Ray Luzier
David Lee Roth - DLR Band CD signed by Ray Luzier
Frankie Banali - Signed drumstick
Gus G. - Guitar Pick
Jason Becker - Monitor Magazine Spring 1991 with interview
Joe Stump - Signed photograph b/w (20 * 25,5 cm)
Kansas - Tourbook 'in the spirit of things 88/89'
Lale Larsson - Signed cassette from the band OMINOX
Marcel Coenen - Guitar Pick
Mr. Big - CD Booklet 'Bump ahead' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Mr. Big - CD Booklet 'Lean into it'  - signed by Paul Gilbert
Mr. Big - CD Booklet  'Mr Big I'- signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert - DVD Cover  ' Get out of my Yard' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert - CD Booklet  'Alligator Farm' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert - CD Booklet 'King of Clubs' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert - CD Booklet  'Burning organ' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert - CD Booklet  'Flying Dog'  - signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert - CD Booklet  'Beehive Live' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert & Jimi Kidd - CD Booklet  'Raw blues power' - signed by Paul Gilbert
Scorpions - Tourbook 'Blackout'
Shy - Vynil record ' Misspent Youth' signed by Tony Mills
Shy - Vynil record 'Excess all areas' signed by Tony Mills
Shy - Vynil record ' Brave the Storm' signed by Tony Mills
Shy - Vynil record ' Once bitten…twice...' signed by Tony Mills
Shy - CD 'Unfinished Business' signed by Tony Mills
Shy - CD 'Sunset and Vine' signed by Tony Mills
The Rods - Promo Pack (1 photo b/w + 2 color stickers)
The Rods - T-shirt  'Vengeance'
The Rods - T-shirt 'Rock Hard' from Metal Rock Fest 2008
The Rods - Rock Hard' Tank top
Tony Mills (Shy, TNT) - Signed CD 'Cruiser'
Tony Mills (Shy, TNT) - Signed CD 'Freeway to the afterlife'