live bladen songs now posted online; show notes

If you haven't already done it, download the three-song online EP posted at rustybladen.com. Recorded live at the Bucher FarmFest in September, 2004, it is a nice way to ring in the new year. And it is absolutely free!

Get live version of "Ride That River", "Karaoke King", and "Just For Awhile", a great primer into Rusty's live show with the new band, Rusty Bladen and the Designated Drivers.

The studio version of RTR is set to appear in the upcoming Madison movie on HBO this spring, and in a limited theater release. KK has never been released with the band (an online solo version from The Willard in Franklin is as close as it has come to a public release). JFA is, in my opinion, the best thing off of Rusty's debut album, and this is also the first time we have offered a live version online.

It available now through January, 2005. We have more online EP's coming. Get them while you can. And tell your friends and fellow music fans to download too.

To paraphrase Belushi in Animal House, "Wanna some songs? Don't cost nothin'".

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Two show notes: A few tickets remain for New Year's Eve at Gallagher's 2 in Indianapolis. Club is new, clean, easy to find on the southside of the city, and always a good time. Info is at rustybladen.com...and note a full band show at Pierre's in Fort Wayne in February. Club debut and it is an awesome stage, sound system and room. North side of Ft. Wayne. Come out and support.

rock news of the week

We await a pair of performances from Rusty this weekend; both in Madison, with Friday's 8pm show at the Thomas Family Winery and an hour-long performance at Madison Coffee and Tea at 3pm Saturday.

In the meantime, here is some rock and roll news from the rustybladen.com newswire...

Twenty-five years after the release of their debut — and just weeks after they topped the charts with their latest album — it's been announced that U2 will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.The Irish rockers lead the 20th anniversary class of inductees, which also includes R&B vocal group the O'Jays, soul singer Percy Sledge, the Pretenders and blues guitarist Buddy Guy (see "U2, Grandmaster Flash, Sex Pistols Lead Rock Hall Of Fame Nominees").The class of 2005 will be inducted at a ceremony on March 14 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
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U2 will launch a 10-month world tour early next year, starting with a U.S. leg that kicks off in March. According to the group's official website, a March 1 tour launch in Florida is planned. A subsequent European tour will get underway in June, and the group will then return to North America in the fall of 2005 before finishing out the year with a run through Japan and Australia in November and December. The world tour will comprise a total of 115 shows.
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Queen are planning an early 2005 reunion tour featuring Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers on vocals. Queen last toured in 1986, before late frontman Freddie Mercury began showing symptoms of AIDS. Mercury died of the disease in 1991.

"We are in the process of looking at venues for a Queen tour in the spring," guitarist Brian May wrote on his official website. "It really all came about because of the Fender 50th Anniversary gig that I did with Paul Rodgers [in September]. We were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in 'All Right Now' that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was 'something happening here.' Last month, Rodgers sang with May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor during Queen's induction into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. According to British press reports, the tour will probably launch in the U.K., and will probably hit the rest of Europe next.

music notes from the rock world

More Bladen news soon: check out the show this weekend at Poppy' s in Lawrenceburg, IN w/ Mark Hamilton on guitar and Vernay on bass. Saturday night at 10pm.
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RockNotes - to help you know more than the next guy...:
Ted to tour with Toby
Ted Nugent will joint country star Toby Keith for about 20 arena dates in the first quarter of 2005. The pair first worked together on a USO tour last summer, according to Keith's manager, T.K. Kimbrell. "They're real compatible." Nugent's own band will back him on the joint tour.

Kids on Floyd's "The Wall" seeking back royalties
Peter Rowan, of Edinburgh's RBL Music, is looking to secure as much as $11,650 for the 23 students of Islington Green School, more than 25 years after they recorded their vocals for the chart-topping 1979 single, "Another Brick In the Wall, Pt. 2."

A spokesperson for the group had no comment.The song's famous anti-authority chorus "We don't need no education/ We don't need no thought control" — was actually recorded without the permission of the headmistress of the school.
When the headmistress finally heard the recording, which also includes the lines, "No dark sarcasm in the classroom/ Hey! Teachers, leave them kids alone," she forbade the students from appearing on television or radio, making Rowan's job of identifying the students more difficult.

we love the rock and roll dvd's
just released: we have your list....
DVD Rod Stewart Live at the Royal Albert Hall (J)
DVD White Stripes Under Blackpool Lights (live U.K. performance) (Third Man/V2)
DVD Audio Mark Knopfler Shangri-La (I(Warner Bros.)

This will be the last of the releases until after Christmas. If it ain't out now, it won't sell for the holidays...

private weekend show report

Rusty took a large step closer toward his goal of returning to the road, as he and bandmate Mark Hamilton played a private gig in Salem, Indiana Saturday night.

Playing acoustic guitar fulltime for the first time since his October 9 tour van crash, Rusty and Mark teamed for what Rusty called "a hot show" and, combining sets, clocked in at about two-and-a-half hours.

Rusty will hit the public stage with his guitar on Saturday night (December 11) at Poppy's in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. It is the first time to play a full show outside of Madison (he and guitarist Joe Hanna played a Thanksgiving eve show at the Broadway) since October.

Take an opportunity to see what really should be a landmark show in his career, back and rocking, ushering in a new era of Rusty Bladen rock and roll...and we write that because we know some of the things he has been working in the time off the road.

photos posted

We have posted pics from the Rusty Bladen Benefit on November 14. Band pics, celebrities, guitars and Rusty in a couple slings. Well worth a look....