Category: Newswire

The Allman Brothers Band have announced the passing of Joseph Lawrence "Red Dog" Campbell. He died February 21 after a battle with cancer. He was 68.

One of the original and longtime crew members for the Allman Brothers Band, his photo is memorialized on the back of the group’s <em>At Fillmore East</em> album, and writer/filmmaker Cameron Crowe included a character based on him in the film <em>Almost Famous</em>.

After returning from Vietnam, Red Dog introduced himself to the fledgling band and helped support them with his pension checks and worked with the band for years. Red Dog chronicled his adventures with the Allman Brothers Band in his book <em>The Legendary Red Dog: A Book of Tails</em>.

There is no funeral service, but a memorial is being planned for Friday, April 22 at Macon, GA’s Cox Theatre. Campbell requested donations on his behalf be sent to:

Hospice Of Central Georgia
858 High Street
Macon, GA 31201
(912) 749-9161

Donations can also be given via http://splat.mansellgroup.net/hospice/give.asp.

Jackson Ampworks’ The Britain 3.0 is a two-channel footswitchable amp that uses a set of EL84 power tubes to produce 12 or 25 watts output in class A or 50 watts in Class A/B operation. The second channel is a boost circuit and there’s a series effects loop for each channel. Compared the 2.0 version of the amp, it is 18 pounds lighter, 8" narrower and three times more powerful. Learn more at jacksonampworks.com.

The founder of the short-lived Bakersfield-area Hallmark Guitars, Joe Hall, died February 11 after an extended battle with liver disease. He was 72.

Hall’s foray into the electric guitar market in the mid ’60s is part of the intriguing and nebulous Bakersfield guitar scene, which also included such brands as Mosrite, Gruggett, and Standel. Hall had worked with Semie Moseley’s Mosrite company, starting in the late ’50s, and eventually started up his own company in nearby Arvin. One of his earlier efforts was a series of Standel-branded instruments that were built to accompany the respected amplifier company, but that affiliation did not last. Some legitimate/fully-original "double-branded" instruments seen in the vintage guitar market are sporting a Hallmark logo on the headstock but a pickup mounting plate on the body that has a snake-like Standel "S" logo.

Hallmark’s most unique instrument was the Swept-Wing, which was a modern-looking, radically-contoured solidbody instrument. It was offered in six-string, twelve-string, and double-neck guitar models, as well as in a bass configuration (a hyper-rare ’67 Hallmark semi-hollow Swept-Wing bass was featured in the August ’09 issue of <em>VG</em>).

Hallmark also made other body configurations, as well as a few models of other brands that never got off the ground. The company closed its doors in 1968. Hall estimated that less than 1000 Hallmark instruments were ever made. He worked in the oil industry overseas, and garnered a petroleum engineering degree, continuing work as a consultant.

The Hallmark brand was resurrected around the turn of the century by Maryland luthier Bob Shade, who acquired the rights to the Hallmark name and logo, and Hall agreed to serve as a consultant for the new venture.

"When I finally approached Joe about my wanting to continue building Hallmark guitars, he was both delighted and surprisingly excited," Shade commented. "Joe gave me a shot of moral support over the years, and was the kind of guy who would help you with anything, if he was able."
The new company’s frontline model is the Swept-Wing, but the lineup has expanded to include other famous Bakersfield-associated guitar designs, as well as a series of guitars based on custom auto designs by legendary builder George Barris.
"Joe was a good man, a good friend, and I will sorely miss his companionship and help here at Hallmark Guitars," said Shade.

A feature on Hallmark instruments appeared in the June ’04 issue of <em>VG</em>.

Daisy Rock Girl Guitars is supporting MusiCares, a charity founded by The Recording Academy, by donating a Wildwood Artist Deluxe to help a musician in need as part of MusiCares’ outreach program.

MusiCares provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need. Its services and resources cover a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies, and they treat each case with integrity and confidentiality. MusiCares also focuses the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues that directly affect the health and welfare of the music community. There is an emergency financial assistance program, addiction recovery, and outreach program.

MusiCares is holding their annual Person of the Year Tribute Gala today as part of Grammy week. The recipient of the 2011 Person of the Year award is none other than the amazing Barbra Streisand and will be honored at the LA Convention Center. She is an eight-time Grammy winner and Grammy Legend and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Streisand is the only artist ever to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, National Medal of Arts, and Peabody Awards, as well as France’s Legion d’honneur and the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The entertainment industry’s most glamorous and star-studded celebrities and artists attend the Person of the Year Gala. Past Person of the Year honorees such as: Tony Bennett, Bono, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, David Crosby, Neil Diamond, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Luciano Pavarotti, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young, also attend the yearly Gala.

For more, visit www2.grammy.com/MusiCares or daisyrock.com.

Rocklahoma, the three-day rock festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, has announced the performance roster for this year’s event, slated for Memorial Day weekend, May 27-29.

The initial lineup includes: Mötley Crüe, Staind, Whitesnake, Seether, Papa Roach, Saving Abel, Skillet, Sick Puppies, Sebastian Bach, Black Label Society, Drowning Pool, My Darkest Days, Rev Theory, All That Remains, Escape The Fate, Cavo, The Gracious Few (featuring members of Live and Candlebox), Hail the Villain, Jonathan Tyler &amp; the Northern Lights, Taddy Porter, Pop Evil, Crooked X, Texas Hippie Coalition, New Medicine, Art of Dying, Electric Touch, One Less Reason, Gypsy Pistoleros, Alias, Wildstreet, The Glitter Boys, Gunner Sixx, Black Tora, Mad Max, Aura Surreal, Firstryke, Aska, Pretty Little Suicide, Arena, Blue Tiger, Bad Things, Cutlass, Mock Star and more special guests to be announced.

Learn more at rocklahoma.com.

Gator Cases’ new Mini-Bone pedalboard line uses U.S.-made molded polyethylene and a carpet-lined angled surface. It holds up to three single effects pedals and includes a convenient cinch tote carry bag with accessory pocket. Learn more at gatorcases.com.

The Steve Miller Band will release a new album, <em>Let Your Hair Down</em>, April 19 on Miller’s Space Cowboy Records in partnership with Roadrunner/Loud &amp; Proud Records. The band will kick off the album release with a Spring tour featuring special guest Gregg Allman.

Prior to the release and tour, The Steve Miller Band will celebrate the opening of the new Austin City Limits venue at The Moody Theater with a concert to benefit KRLU-TV, Austin PBS, on February 24, followed by the inaugural live taping on February 26.

<em>Let Your Hair Down</em> features the last recordings by harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo, Miller’s "partner in harmony" for 33 years. The cover is by noted album-cover artist Storm Thorgerson.

Miller will make a appearance with jazz guitar greats Jim Hall, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Howard Alden on February 12 in a concert celebrating the opening of the exhibit, "Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen From Italy To New York," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Three custom-made archtop guitars by luthier James D’Aquisto from Miller’s personal collection are included in the exhibit.

Prior to the release of <em>Let Your Hair Down</em>, The Steve Miller Band will perform material from the album at a gala concert opening the new multi-million dollar performance facility built for the long-running music TV series, "Austin City Limits," on February 24. Two days later, the band will tape the first show of the coming season in the new theater, while the streets outside are closed off and a huge party and free concert takes place.

Miller also plans a series of theater and small-arena dates in mid April through the South and East Coast with Allman, whose new solo album, <em>Low Country Blues</em>, is one of the best-received releases of his career, a combination that is sure to produce some rip-roaring jams onstage.

The new album caps one of the busiest years of Miller’s accomplished career. In addition to the release last year of the acclaimed first new Steve Miller Band album in 17 years ("cause for celebration," said The Huffington Post), Miller not only led a sold out tour across the United States and Canada, but returned to Europe for the first time in more than twenty-five years for a triumphant round of dates culminating in a sold out Royal Albert Hall concert in London.

One of rock music’s all-time greats, The Steve Miller Band has sold more than 30 million records in a career spanning more than 40 years. His trademark blues-rock sound made him one of the key artists in classic rock radio. He is the Gangster of Love. Some people call him Maurice, the Midnight Toker or the Space Cowboy. And, as Let Your Hair Down so aptly demonstrates, Steve "Guitar" Miller still speaks in the pompitus of love.

Learn more at SteveMillerBand.com

Dean Guitars and Aphex have teamed up to create the Dean John Entwistle Bass. Two Entwistle signature basses, the Spider and the Hybrid, use the Aphex Exciter/Compressor/Optical Big Bottom circuitry.

The Hybrid is a standard model, while the Spider is a limited edition collectors’ item featuring an active three-band EQ, spider-web inlays, and an angular body design. The Hybrid has a similar body, but with more rounded edges, and includes several upgrades from the standard, such as the bump up to a mahogany top and body from alder, rosewood or ebony fingerboard instead of maple. The Hybrid also uses EMG Lo Z pickups versus the standard’s EMG HZ humbuckers. Learn more at deanguitars.com.

Renowned guitarist Gary Moore passed away in his sleep yesterday while on vacation in Spain. He was 58.

Moore hailed from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and throughout a storied career became one of the preeminent blues/rock players after stints with Thin Lizzy and as a solo artist. Moore was to known for embracing a range of genres, most notably blues and hard rock, and performed onstage and in the studio with a range of major artists, such as B.B. King, Albert Collins, and Albert King. He was even offered the guitar spot in Ozzy Osbourne’s first solo band, but turned it down. On his own, Moore released 20 solo albums.

The guitarist received some of his earliest critical acclaim as a member of Skid Row and Thin Lizzy in the early ’70s, but worked with Lizzy on and off throughout the decade. The apex of this collaboration was the acclaimed 1979 album, <em>Black Rose</em>. His solo work kept him at the forefront of guitar heroics, and he achieved solo success via singles like "Parisienne Walkways," a cover of the Yardbirds classic "Shapes of Things," and "Out In The Fields," a hard-rock duet with his old Thin Lizzy pal, singer/bassist Phil Lynott. His 1990 song "Still Got the Blues" is a perfect example of the fat, sustaining tone created by the Gibson Les Paul Standard set to its neck pickup and played through 100-watt Marshall heads and 4×12 cabs.

The May issue if <em>VG</em> will include a recent interview with Moore, as well as a retrospective of his music, his gear, and his career.

Joe Satriani headlines a guitar-heavy bill that also includes Richie Kotzen, Steve Lukather, The Kehoe Nation, Flametal and more will get together March 26 to play a benefit show for Jason Becker, a one-time guitar prodigy first known as part of the metal duo Cacophony, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in the early ’90s. Though the disease robbed him of his ability to play guitar – and eventually left him both paralyzed and unable to speak – Becker continues to compose music with the help of computers, collaborators, and a system of communication using eye movements that was devised by his father Gary.

Even after his once prodigious axe skills left him, Jason’s music continued to earn the respect of his peers. Not Dead Yet headliner Joe Satriani called 2001’s Perspectives – Jason’s first recorded work after losing his motor functions (originally self-released in 1996) – "A triumphantly powerful and beautiful album." Fellow virtuosos joined the chorus of praise, including Steve Vai, who said, "Jason has discovered a brilliant source of inspiration within himself. His deep soul searching has resulted in a body of music that reveals courage and insight and is deeply moving."

The Festival, at Slim’s in San Francisco, is a tribute to Jason and celebration of his amazing story, as well as an opportunity to educate music fans and guitar aficionados about the effects of ALS and the quest for a cure. The idea for the show originated with Bay Area guitarist Dave Lopez of Flipsyde and Bang Data. With the support of Jason and his family, Lopez enlisted Gary Avila of Tao Music Group to make the show a reality. From there, Guitar Player magazine’s Matt Blackett was brought on board to recruit artists for the show, and Tim McKee from Mesa Boogie and Brian Kehoe from Dunlop soon added their support. Jason’s friend Mike Shannon of ALS TDI (Therapy Development Institute) signed on to promote ALS awareness at the show.

The Jason Becker’s Not Dead Yet Festival is presented by Jason Becker with assistance from the Tao Music Group, and support from the ALS Therapy Development Institute, Mesa/Boogie, Guitar Player magazine, Dunlop, and Triple Crown Clothing. For those unable to attend the festival, donations can be made via PayPal at pat.becker@intres.com. For more, visit jasonbeckerguitar.com.