Today it's an all-rock & roll edition of THE FEED:
1) Legendary Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee is dead
Alvin Lee, the former singer and guitarist in Ten Years After, died on Wednesday after complications from a routine surgical procedure. He was 68. His band was very blues based – this historic performance at Woodstock pretty much sums up what the band was all about, although their biggest hit was the much tamer "I’d Love to Change The World" in 1971.
His family has posted a statement on his website saying, "We have lost a wonderful and much loved father and companion. The world has lost a truly great and gifted musician."
Lee started his professional career in 1962 in The Jaybirds, hitting their stride in the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, shortly after The Beatles achieved success there. The band relocated to London in 1966 and eventually morphed into Ten Years After. Their early albums were mainstays on U.S. progressive rock radio, and that support enabled them to tour the States 28 times in seven years stating in 1968, which was more than any other U.K. band. This success was further fueled by their appearance at Woodstock and its subsequent film.
Lee left the band in the mid-'70s and launched a solo career, and he was still making music right up until the end. He released his last album, Still on the Road to Freedom, last September.
2) The Big Man's family is suing his doctors
Clarence Clemons was in many ways the backbone of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. The sax player’s family is suing the doctors who treated him just before he suffered a fatal stroke in 2011. They say that the Big Man’s docs in Palm Beach, Florida, failed to make sure Clarence got a blood-thinning medication prior to hand surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome, and that led to the stroke that killed him. They’re also suing the Palm Beach Cancer Clinic – Clarence’s widow Victoria says she found him lying on the floor of the clinic, confused and unable to speak the day after that hand surgery. Clarence was 69 when he died . . .and this just makes you want to remember him in his prime, doesn’t it?
Check out this video tribute his wife posted after he died:
3) Dream On if you think Steven Tyler's giving up his fight against the paparazzi
Life can be tough when you’re a legendary rock star and you can’t even get a little privacy in your 4.8 million dollar vacation home on Maui. That’s why the Hawaii state senate just passed the Steven Tyler Act, which aims to protect celebrities from the paparazzi. Now the bill goes to the Hawaiian House. WIth support from fellow Maui homeowner Mick Fleetwood, Tyler suggested the law to his senator after he claimed photographers had caused undue emotional distress to his family by publishing private photos of him and his girlfriend, Erin Brady. As Steven testified, “Being a personality, no matter where we go we get shots — it’s part of the dealio. But when I’m in my own home and I’m taking a shower or changing clothes or eating or spending Christmas with my children ... it hurts.”
Here's some of Steven's testimony, with Mick at his side for moral support.
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