Author Archives: Ward Meeker

Blake Shelton has organized and will headline the telethon “Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert” on May 29 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. Other performers will include Miranda Lambert, Reba and Vince Gill, and others. The concert will be televised live at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and air on cable networks [...]

Brady Smith, proprietor of the Oklahoma-based Walrus Audio, has organized 19 fellow effects-pedal builders for a raffle to benefit the Red Cross of Oklahoma in the wake of the tornado that struck Oklahoma City and the suburb of Moore on May 20, leaving 24 people dead and approximately $2 billion in damage to buildings including [...]

Bassist Trevor Bolder, who played with Uriah Heep for decades, died May 21. He was 62 and had been battling cancer. After playing on the local R&B scene in the ’60s near his hometown in East Yorkshire, England, bolder scored a gig with The Rats, which included guitarist Mick Ronson. In 1971, re replaced Tony Visconti on bass in [...]

Levy’s Leathers Jimi Hendrix lyrics guitar straps are inspired by the style of the legendary guitarist and use his images and handwritten song lyrics exclusively licensed from Authentic Hendrix. Each sublimation-printed polyester strap has an original design, song title, and handwritten lyric excerpt on the front, with the full song lyrics printed on the back. [...]

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, passed away May 20. He was 74 and had been battling cancer. Manzarek  and singer/front man Jim Morrison formed The Doors in 1965 and it became one of the most successful rock acts to emerge from the decade. In 1993, the band was inducted to the Rock and Roll [...]

Classical guitarist Scott Tennant will stage a performance using seven guitars owned and played by the Romero family, June 1 at showroom of Guitar Salon, Santa Monica, California. The guitars – an 1886 Torres, 1970 Miguel Rodriguez reverse-fan, 1919 Santos Hernandez, 1958 Miguel Rodriguez flamenco, 1969 Hermann Hauser, the 1973 Miguel Rodriguez churchdoor known as [...]

An event dubbed The Jeff Hanneman Memorial Celebration will take place May 23 at the Hollywood Palladium, in Los Angeles. It will be free and open to the public. Hanneman, who passed away May 2 at the age of 49, co-founded Slayer with fellow guitarist Kerry King, bassist Tom Araya, and drummer Dave Lombardo in [...]

The Seymour Duncan Nazgûl pickup was designed for high-output, chug-heavy distortion. The company calls its tone “heavy and aggressive” but says it retains articulation and provides precise pick attack. “The Nazgûl gives chords heavy saturation and produces a lightning-fast response… Perfect for all high-output metal needs in which sonic obliteration needs to be accomplished.” The Nazgûl [...]