I'm getting worse with my blog entries.

I read an article today on CNN.com that said the video game Guitar Hero, along with Rock Band, is saving rock and roll.  Apparently, right after the Aerosmith edition of Guitar Hero went on sale, catalog sales for Aerosmith went up 40%.  Sports taverns that hold Guitar Hero competition nights see sales increase 25 to 35%.  And even Guitar Center has reported an "increased interest in guitars" (whatever that means -- no sales figures were included).  Could I have been wrong about the Simon Says game with the little plastic Flying V??  Probably not.  While sales of certain old-school rock artists are seeing a bump thanks to the game, and kids born in the 90s are happily discovering bands from the 70s and 80s, a quick look at the Billboard Top 40 reveals the horrifying truth:  the closest thing to a rock band in the Top 10 is...Coldplay.  Next closest?  Kid Rock at number 28.  So, at the moment, I'd hardly call this rock and roll's salvation.  But, alas, there's still time!  Maybe if the kids in high school right now start learning how to play those songs on Guitar Hero on a real guitar and start forming real bands, before the next president is finishing up his first term, we might have some real rock on the charts again. 

We're still in the studio recording new stuff.  Stay tuned for updates.

Duff McKagen finally has a signature model Fender P-Bass.

It's about time.  When I started playing bass, I could never figure out what this thing Duff was playing was.  It was shaped like a Fender P-Bass but it had an extra Jazz pickup on it and no pick guard.  All I knew was that it was good enough for Duff, so I had to have one.  In 2000 or 2001 Fender came out with a Hot-Rodded P-Bass which was basically a normal P-Bass with a Jazz pick-up added at the bridge.  Of course, I immediately snatched one up and discovered almost right away that I don't like Jazz pick-ups.  Oh, well.  It works well with his sound, obviously, but not mine. 

Now ZZ Top is going to be working with Rick Rubin.  I want Rick Rubin's job.  I want to be able to take an artist or group that's well past their sell-by date and help them re-capture their faded glory by crafting an album that pretty much just sounds like their first one or two.  If you've had some success and then you try a bunch of crap that doesn't work, I think it's pretty obvious you need to go back to the original formula.  And I think this is the case with about 99% of bands. 

Film at 11:00