Michael Buckner, Getty Images As we recently reported, Jack Osbourne got married to Lisa Stelly over the weekend in Hawaii. And while that is certainly wonderful news, it just might be what Ozzy Osbourne ‘s son did days after wedding that is truly remarkable. Jack and his buddy helped save the life of a woman who had a heart attack and started to drown in the surf on the Hawaii beach where he’s been enjoying his honeymoon. Jack’s new bride, Lisa Stelly, with whom he had a child earlier this year, broke the news via Twitter , where she told followers, “Really proud of Jack and his friend Tyler who saved a woman on the beach yesterday who’d had a heart attack and drown [sic].” She later followed with another status update, adding , “They resuscitated her until the ambulance came. We just found out she’s in a stable condition! Awesome!” Earlier this year, Jack revealed that the shocking news that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis . It was then reported that NBC subsequently fired him from its reality series ‘Stars Earn Stripes’ shortly thereafter, but if anyone deserves a reality show, it just might be Jack. All the excitement also happened to take place around the same time Sharon Osbourne was celebrating her 60th birthday on her daytime show ‘The Talk.’ Jack appeared on the show with his baby Pearl via a video message, while Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne made surprise appearances in the flesh. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-son-jack-osbourne-weds-in-hawaii/” title=”Next: More on Jack Osbourne’s Wedding” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Those who’ve followed Serj Tankian since System of a Down first went on hiatus have seen the singer follow a variety of muses, including a growing love of orchestral music. Tankian is now ready to take his biggest step yet in the orchestral direction by recording his first-ever full symphony record, and he’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to make his musical dream come true. Tankian first ventured into symphonic territory during support of his ‘Elect the Dead’ album when he invited several orchestras to help translate some of the tracks live. That resulted in the ‘Elect the Dead Symphony’ CD and DVD, and the project only enhanced his thirst for more, leading him to work on his first four-act symphony. The vocalist also intends to utilize an Austrian orchestra from his past tour with the idea that they will record Tankian’s work, as well as play it live for an audience. The singer makes his plea as follows: I am very excited to share my most personal, compelling musical project to date: my first-ever full symphony called ORCA. I have an incredible opportunity to record and perform ORCA live with the world renowned Das Karussell Orchestra (featuring members of the Bruckner Orchester) at Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria on Oct. 28th, 2012 and with your involvement and support, we can make it happen! While I have rearranged some of my past rock compositions to be performed as orchestral pieces, such as the Elect The Dead Symphony in 2010, ORCA is the first 4 act symphony that I have composed, a mix of early 20th century compositional styles combined with the powerful range of film scoring. I decided to name my symphony ORCA because orcas “appear to have no parallel outside humans” in terms of their cultural faculties. An orca is really a dolphin with much darker tendencies. I see this dichotomy as a great metaphor for humanity. Last year, I wrote and recorded a professionally sampled studio version with the goal of being able to record it properly with a full orchestra … this was not something I could capture in a small home studio. I was able to play with The Das Karussell Orchestra at Brucknerhaus during the ‘Elect The Dead Symphony’ world tour, which was an amazing experience. I shared my sampled recording of ORCA with them, and together we made plans for the live performance and recording to fully bring the work to life and share and distribute it to as many people as possible. We have put together many different ways for fans to get involved and be a part of ORCA from the ground up, all of which are outlined in this Kickstarter campaign. We tried to think of ways to give you every bit of music possible, and interactive, personalized experiences for those who can attend the show on Oct. 28th, and for those who can’t. Our goal is $25,000, which is the minimal cost for the recording. Any additional funds will be used to cover the expenses of mixing, mastering and promotion. We will keep you updated with news and progress so you are able to see what we do as this project grows. Please check it out and I hope to share this journey for ORCA with you all. Thank you for the support. Peace,??Serj At present, Tankian is attempting to reach the $25,000 goal, and he’s just under $15,000 shy with 19 days left to go. In order to help sell the idea, Tankian has come up with a number of rewards depending on how much fans donate to his goal. For a contribution as minimal as $1, fans will get a personalized email from the singer. Other tiers include such draws as CD packages, early downloads, autographed score sheets, t-shirts, album credits, meet-and-greet VIP tickets to the show, and lunch with Tankian. The top-priced package for those donating $10,000 or more includes all of the previously mentioned items, plus the opportunity to spend a portion of the recording day with Tankian and the Das Karussell Orchestra, executive producer credit on the disc, a professionally framed plaque with the ORCA score sheet, show poster, and personalized placard and the opportunity to join Tankian onstage at the show taking a bow after the performance. Watch Serj Tankian’s ‘ORCA’ Symphony Plea [button href=”http://loudwire.com/serj-tankian-harakiri-best-rock-songs-of-2012/” title=”Next: Serj Tankian – Best Rock Songs of 2012″ align=”center”]
Ebet Roberts/Frank Micelotta, Getty Images Alternative rockers Dinosaur Jr. have had a long and successful career, but things almost went another route when their frontman J Mascis was asked by Kurt Cobain to join Nirvana back in the day. In a new interview with Spin , Mascis remembers the invitation in July of 1989 at a club in New Jersey. “Nirvana was playing Maxwell’s and after the show I was talking to Kurt and [Sonic Youth’s] Thurston Moore,” Mascis recalls. “Kurt said, ‘You should join my band.’ I think he was sick of the guy Jason [Everman] who was in the band at the time, and thought I should play guitar. I didn’t think much about it. Later, there was also talk of playing drums on a single they were doing [‘Silver’], but it ended up being [Mudhoney drummer] Dan Peters.” After splitting up in the late ’90s, Dinosaur Jr have been back together since 2005. Their tenth studio album, ‘I Bet on Sky,’ was recently released. Nirvana, meanwhile, recently topped our list of the 10 Best Grunge Bands of All Time. See which other bands made the cut by clicking below: [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-grunge-bands/” title=”10 Best Grunge Bands of All Time” align=”center”]
Larry Busacca, Getty Images Frontman Dave Grohl has officially announced that Foo Fighters will indeed be taking an extended hiatus. There’s no word on when Foo Fighters will play a show or record an album again, with Grohl himself writing, “I was serious. I’m not sure when the Foo Fighters are good to play again.” As we recently reported , Grohl told a New York City crowd during his band’s set at the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday (Sept. 29) that Foo Fighters have no additional shows planned. “We’re not making a big deal out of this, but this is it,” stated Grohl. “We don’t have any more shows after this. This is it. We don’t have any ones after this. This is the show where we play as many songs as we can in a short period of time because honestly, I don’t know when we’re gonna do it again, but this is the perfect place to do it right now tonight.” Now, Grohl elaborates further in a post on Foo Fighters’ Facebook page: Hey everyone… Dave here. Just wanted to write and thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for another incredible year. (Our 18th, to be exact!) We truly never could have done any of this without you… Never in my wildest dreams did I think Foo Fighters would make it this far. I never thought we COULD make it this far, to be honest. There were times when I didn’t think the band would survive. There were times when I wanted to give up. But… I can’t give up this band. And I never will. Because it’s not just a band to me. It’s my life. It’s my family. It’s my world. Yes… I was serious. I’m not sure when the Foo Fighters are going to play again. It feels strange to say that, but it’s a good thing for all of us to go away for a while. It’s one of the reasons we’re still here. Make sense? I never want to NOT be in this band. So, sometimes it’s good to just… put it back in the garage for a while… But, no gold watches or vacations just yet… I’ll be focusing all of my energy on finishing up my Sound City documentary film and album for worldwide release in the very near future. A year in the making, it could be the biggest, most important project I’ve ever worked on. Get ready… it’s coming. Me, Taylor, Nate, Pat, Chris, and Rami… I’m sure we’ll all see you out there… somewhere… Thank you, thank you, thank you… Dave [button href=”http://loudwire.com/foo-fighters-best-of-you-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/” title=”Foo Fighters: Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs” align=”center”]
Kevin Winter, Getty Images Motley Crue shows are made even more entertaining by the antics of drummer Tommy Lee . For many male fans, tops on the list is the portion of the show where Lee encourages ladies to show a certain part of their anatomy on camera. Right behind that is Lee’s roller coaster drum solo. However, that drum design is now part of a lawsuit. As previously reported, an engineer named Scott King wrote a letter to Motley Crue’s lawyers, saying he pitched the idea for the drums more than 20 years ago and was turned down. He claims Lee used his design during Motley Crue’s 2011 tour, wants compensation, and threatened to sue. Lee’s lawyers responded to King’s letter by denying Lee stole King’s idea. Now, according to TMZ , King has officially filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. He is demanding at least $400,000 in damages. Meanwhile, Lee is about to turn 50, and apparently he made a pact with ex-wife Pamela Anderson that if they were both single at 50 they would remarry. But Anderson recently told Ellen DeGeneres that she doesn’t remember making that pact. So it doesn’t look like a reconciliation is in the cards. Anderson has been in the spotlight lately, being the first person to be eliminated in the current all-star season of ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ The couple divorced in 1998, but have two kids together and remain close. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/tommy-lee-wants-seaworld-to-stop-torturing-whales-with-loud-motley-crue-music/” title=”Next: Tommy Lee Looks Out for the Wellbeing of Whales” align=”center”]
BangerFilms.com Canadian film director Sam Dunn was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Dunn, who put together and starred in the ‘Metal Evolution’ series on VH1 Classic and is the co-founder of Banger Films, talked all about his effort to raise money in order to film the ‘missing’ episode of the ‘Metal Evolution Series’ which covers a sub-genre very near and dear to him, extreme metal. If you missed Jackie’s show, read the full interview with Sam Dunn: You’ve been very busy with Banger Films which you are the co-founder of — Grammy nominated and ‘Juno’ award winning Banger Films. Congratulations. Thank you, yeah it’s been a busy few years since we last talked, so we got to catch up. Last year Banger films released the biggest ever series on the history of metal and hard rock. It was called ‘Metal Evolution’ and featured over forty years of metal history from early metal and shock rock to thrash and nu-metal. The series followed Sam on an amazing journey, over 30 countries, four continents and you interview 300 of metal’s most respected musicians including the likes of Lars [Ulrich] from Metallica, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, Lamb of God, Slash, Bruce Dickinson who typically is not down for doing interviews so props to you on that and so many more. It’s a huge success on VH1 Classic and it broadcasts all over the world. Despite the success, we the metal fans and Sam, as well, all felt that there was definitely a series that was missing and that is extreme metal. Since the ‘Metal Evolution’ series was pretty comprehensive about the sub-genres of metal, what factors prevented there from being an exteme metal episode? When we initially approached VH1 Classic about doing ‘Metal Evolution,’ they were really excited about the series. They’ve always been supportive of us, three of our four featured documentaries have aired on the network so they’ve always been really good to us. When we pitched the initial series we did have the extreme metal episode in our initial proposal but I guess for their audience I guess they perceived their audience as being more geared towards the older stuff and not necessarily towards the heavier end of the spectrums. So Slash was as heavy as we could go and that was tough for us because we are fans of extreme metal but we were thankful that they could do 11 episodes on metal at all, no one else would really do that these days. So we did the series as you said and it did really well and it even went to number one on VH1 Classic and on Much More here in Canada but we always had this nagging feeling in the back of our brains that’s like, “We really should have done that extreme metal episode.” As it turns out we got hundreds of messages from fans saying, “We wished it was there, too,” so we decided to do something about that and launch this Indiegogo campaign. Anthropologically speaking, how important is extreme metal to heavy metal as a whole, more than some of its other sub-genres. It’s a great question, I think the popular conception is that extreme metal is kind of in this dark, obscure corner that is an irrelevant minority within the history of heavy metal music but that’s just not true. Extreme metal is the sub-genre within metal over the last 20, 30 years now that’s really pushed the genre in new direction. It’s kind of like the kamikaze guy out on the front of the battalion making sure its safe to go over the hill and looking around every corner to see where the genre could go. So we just think when we’re talking about a series that’s about the evolution of metal it seems crazy not to include that genre which really has pushed it forward. More recently I love Keith Kahn-Harris’s phrase; he’s a well-respected academic and writer in metal fan in the UK, he uses the phrase “Motor of Innovation” and I just think that totally captures it. It’s not an obscurity, it’s a style of metal that young fans, frankly are most excited about because metal is all about pushing things to the next level. What an amazing experience it must have been for you to travel the world and interview all the bands that you’ve loved. Did you ever in a million years imagine you would be able to do something like the ‘Metal Evolution’ Series? For Scot [McFadyen] and I — we produced and directed the series together – it was an amazing experience. I think with all the movies we’ve made, we’ve had a lot of success so far and we’ve always felt the comprehensive history of metal needed to be done and back when we did ‘Headbanger’s Journey’ in 2005 and we put together out heavy metal family tree – ever since then we’ve got this amazing response from fans saying, “Can I get a copy of the tree?” or even people critiquing the tree which we actually like which is all a part of the heavy metal culture. To go out and now explore the full history of metal was an amazing experience and I got to meet some incredible musicians that I didn’t get to meet making our previous movie. We’re really proud of it, we hope it stands the test of time as the definitive library of metal until someone – 15, 25 years from now should come around and do another one. [Laughs] But until then I’m happy to have this one out there for everyone. Sam, with several films and a television mini-series under your belt, how has what you envisioned for yourself as a filmmaker and Banger Films as a production company changed since your first film back in 2005? When we started out on the road to make the first film, we really just wanted to make the first in-depth, intelligent film about heavy metal, that was our goal and we were lucky. The film did really well, we realized that there were thousands of people out there whether they were metal fans or just general music fans that felt the same way. So since then we’ve had the opportunity to go on and do ‘Iron Maiden: Flight 666’ and ‘Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage’ and now ‘Metal Evolution’ so it’s been a great experience. I think what we’ve learned at the end of the day is that what’s most important is to tell great stories and now we’ve moved on to a new film we’re working on – the story of Alice Cooper’s career from the beginning of his life right up to his big comeback in the ’80s. I think there is a pretty remarkable story unfolding there, revealing some stuff about Alice and his life that people don’t really know about. We’re also doing a documentary on the cultural history of the Devil – looking at why the Devil has been such a pervasive character in film, literature, TV, music and popular culture over the last several decades. I think that’s a really interesting question that hopefully will get some interest. The Devil has always been kind to us so we’re trying to keep that going – I think what we’ve learned is we start out to make a film about metal and then realize that there’s still a lot of great stories out there to be told not only about hard rock and metal music but maybe some of the darker subject matters of our culture that tends to get ignored. We’re talking about the extreme metal episode that Sam is trying to put together for the continuation of the ‘Metal Evolution’ series, calling it the lost episode. Go to fullmetaljackie.com , I’ve got a link for you to check out the video where Sam is looking to raise funds. I’ll tell you what If there’s one thing metal fans are good at it’s getting together and doing the right thing and anytime anything has come about whether it’s Randy [Blythe] from Lamb of God or any topics – I feel like no matter which sub-genre anybody thinks is better or any opinions they have – metal fans unite. Yeah this is the first time we’ve tried something like this, we’ve always gone the traditional route where we’ve got broadcasters and distributors to finance our work but because our usual sources aren’t really going to get behind this – we’re having to do it a different way. I think that we’ve got a long way to go, it’s a lot of money to raise, we don’t cut any corners. We pride ourselves to taking people to all the important places that are part of metal history, to going to the source, to meeting the people who are part of the story not flying ten people into a room and claiming that’s the comprehensive history of extreme metal. So we’ve got a long way to go but because we’ve had such a great response from the fans, we’re hopeful we can do this all together for the first time. Like you mentioned, this is a sub-genre of metal that means a lot to us as fans and story tellers about heavy metal, not just the folks out there that have watched our movies and supported our work. We’re hoping we can all get together on this one and actually make it happen. The ‘Metal Evolution’ series aired on VH1 classic, super thorough 11 episodes including pre-history of heavy metal and shock rock to grunge and the greatest episode, the thrash metal episode – did you get a lot of compliments on that one? That one I feel like I heard the most chatter – it was not only entertaining but educational. [Laughs] Good, well like yourself, thrash is really close to my heart. That along with the extreme metal stuff that we’re trying to do now was really what excited me when I discovered metal as a teenager and still to this day is what excited me. To go to the Bay area and go to the rehearsal rooms where Exodus and Death Angel and Testament have played for all of these years and get to meet all of these bands it was a great experience. I think thrash is that important mix of the energy and attitude and speed of punk along with the real virtuosity and musicianship that came from bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in the UK and there’s also some interesting turns in that story. An album like ‘The Black Album’ obviously catapulted Metallica into a totally different sphere and you could argue or question rather “Were they still a thrash metal band at that point?” and we wanted to tackle that because I’ll be honest I love those guys and they’re friends of mine but ‘Enter Sandman’ was not my thing. [Laughs] When I turned up at high school and all of a sudden everyone that hated Metallica had Metallica shirts on, it was tough to take but from the perspective at looking at the history of this that was a real important turning point because I think it put a lot of pressure on the other thrash metal bands to produce a song like ‘Nothing Else Matters’ to produce a big hit like ‘Enter Sandman.’ It was great that guys like Gary Holt and Chuck Billy and the guys from Death Angel could really open up about that. We think that the thrash episode probably dug a little deeper than what people expected and that’s what we wanted the series to do. Sam, first and foremost like all of us, you’re a fan and metal fans are intense to say the least. Is it difficult to maintain professionalism when meeting some of your biggest musical heroes? [Laughs] Yeah, ever since I met Bruce Dickinson on the stage at the Hammersmith when we did ‘Headbanger’s Journey’ that was back in 2004 when we shot that interview – that was the beginning of a pretty exciting road. Guys like Dickinson and others were my heroes, they were my idols and they created music that made a huge impact on me and excited me and was music it was challenged by as a musician and it felt like it had so much more depth to it than so much of the other music that was going on back in the ’80s when I was a teenager. It’s been a fantastic experience and I think what’s even more exciting is that most of these guys are very respectful of what we do, know what we do and recognize that I think, we’ve brought a lot to metal and to the vitality of this music. It’s a little easier now to keep my professionalism in tact when I get to meet some of these musicians but I’m still meeting people I’ve always wanted to meet a guy like Arthur Brown in the shock rock episode in ‘Metal Evolution.’ A lot of people don’t know that he was really an early architect of combining spectacle and really over the top performance with rock music long before Alice Cooper and Kiss were doing it. Believe me I’ve had worse jobs, I’ve been a dish pig so I’m loving what we’re doing. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel to her show this coming weekend. Full Metal Jackie can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com .
Cindy Ord, Getty Images It’s never a surprise to see Andrew W.K . popping up in the most unexpected places with his ‘Party Hard’ mentality and endless source of party tips for friends and fans. However, his latest public appearance at the ‘My Little Pony’ convention was certainly a unique one. Each year the fans and followers of ‘My Little Pony’ gather for their annual ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’ Convention, and this year, Andrew W.K. served on a panel at the convention in Strongsville, Ohio. Andrew W.K. is never short on inspiring words and his message for the fans was one of individuality and joy, saying, “The amount of joy being conjured up in this room … it will spread through the whole universe. You should feel proud of that; that’s a real achievement.” He also commented on the inclusive nature of the event and the overall acceptance he felt right away. “It’s a humbling experience … to be a part of something, even if it’s like a neighborhood,” said Andrew W.K. “It doesn’t mean you’re giving up a part of yourself. We choose to get together and celebrate our uniqueness.” The ‘My Little Pony’ franchise began in the early ‘80s with the line of pony doll figurines geared towards young girls and has carried on with cartoons and animated features including the latest televised series ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.’ Strangely enough, according to Rolling Stone , a subculture of older teen men and adults who watch the show referred to as ‘bronies’ made up the majority of the attendees in Andrew W.K.’s panel. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/andrew-w-k-party-hard-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/” title=”Next: Andrew W.K.: Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs” align=”center”]