R&R HALL OF FAME DRUMMER FACES METHAMPTHETAMINE CHARGES NOV 6, 2014 – The Rock & Roll world is in shock this morning as the news of AC/DC’s drummer Phil Rudd has been arrested and charged in a murder-for-hire plot to kill 2 men, as well as methamphetamine drug charges. AC/DC has a new album due to be…
SEP 30, 2013 – Matt Sorum, who used to drum for Guns N' Roses and now drums for Velvet Revolver with Slash, Dave and Duff, joined the protest against the horrible annual dolphin hunt in a the remote Japanese village Taiji recently. Matt is a great musical activist that also played the "Giving 2010" benefit concert for Musicares, but also went all the way around the world to physically join the protest against the unspeakable and despicable dolphin hunt that occurs in this small village every year. This horrific event was captured in the moving and Oscar-winning film "The Cove", and Matt shared the TakePart.com article about it on his website where David Kirby described it best by writing, "a six-month orgy of mass terror, suffering, kidnapping and bloodshed and slaughter inflicted upon hapless pods of whales and dolphins unlucky enough to swim near the coast of Japan's Kuman-nada Sea." The protest had participants holding iPads depicting the horrible footage of the bloody "flash-mob" killings. Read more on Matt Sorum's website here. (photo credit: Lincoln O'Barry/TakePart.com)
(Joey Covington at his final performance on June 1, 2013- Photo credit: Dean M. Gray/DesertVortex/Flickr)
JUNE 6, 2013 – Sad news in the realm of '60s music, Joey Covington who played drums for one of the 1960s biggest groups, Jefferson Airplane, died in a car crash. His common law wife, thinks that a stroke or other health problem might have been a factor. He apparently drove off the road and hit a cement wall. He wasn't wearing his seat belt. A man at the scene tried to resuscitate, but was unsuccessful. Joey was 67.
Joey was born in 1945 in Pennsylvania and taught himself to play the drums. He started recording music in Johnstown, PA when he was only sixteen. His first group was the Fenways, jammed a while with Jimmy Greenspoon in LA (who later went on to fame with Three Dog Night) and also played with Papa John Creach.
In 1969 he formed the group Hot Tuna with Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, and also joined Jefferson Airplane; either double-drumming with Spencer Dryden, or sometimes replacing him entirely. He broke his leg and was not able to play drums for their Woodstock show. In the 1970s he went solo, then in the 1980s and 1990s he was part of the group San Francisco Allstars. He was popular in the Palm Springs area, and even played free gigs, and talking to the fans after the show. Read more on Today.com here, and a report with pictures from the local CBS affiliate here.