I’ve been working on The Rock Dose now for almost two months and things have been going pretty well. I honestly don’t know how man repeat offenders that I have reading or if it’s more of a come and go every now and then thing.

Moving in to August (yeah, holy crap it’s August already) I will be covering a bit more as far as rock genres go. Unfortunately small changes sometimes have to be made in order to focus on the bigger picture. If you’re a regular visitor of the b5Media music channel you may see some changes made and some blogs disappear. Great blogs like Smells Like Alternative and The Rock Relic will no longer be active in the b5Media music channel.  Albert from Smells Like Alternative knows the alternative scene as well as the modern rock scene better than me and Chuck from The Rock Relic is an amazing writer and knows the history of Rock and the business like the back of his hand. However you can still check out Albert’s writings as he heads over to Evolver.com and Chuck will continue writing The Rock Relic here, so check them out and keep checking The Rock Dose for your daily dose of Rock News, reviews and everything in between.

Lollapalooza ‘08 kicks off tomorrow in Chicago. I’m not going, it’s not my thing. However I am going to a huge metal show tomorrow in Virginia Beach (Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest).

If you wanted to go to Lollapalooza and can’t you can always get the experience via AT&T over the web. You can even listen to Lollapalooza ‘08 Radio. The AT&T Blueroom will be running a webcast of the three day event. Look at it this way. You won’t have to deal with the crowd, traffic and overpriced food and beverages.

Want to know more? Click on the link below to find out how you can view the Lollapalooza Web Cast from AT&T

Lollapalooza Live Webcast Brought To You By AT&T

Well there is a big difference between sounding like Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and playing like Joe Perry. But if you want to at least start out by learning how to sound like him (His tone), Gibson.com can actually show you how you can capture his tone when recording. While each guitar great has his signature tone that is almost impossible to re-create, here is your chance to make a good attempt in doing so. Check it out!

To create Perry’s tone at a home computer I’ll be using Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 to build Joe Perry’s tone. (Don’t have Guitar Rig at home? Click on the contest link at the bottom of this page, and you may win virtual amp and cab emulation from Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig—and a Les Paul Traditional, to boot!) I will also give you the settings for the tone, so if you’re using another software product, you can build the tone yourself. If you are using Guitar Rig, you can just download my tone at the bottom of this article and start using it.

Learn the rest here:

How to Capture Joe Perry’s Aerosmith Guitar Tone

Candlebox have landed at # 32 on the Billboard 200 charts for first week sales, selling over 14,000 copies. That is great to hear they deserve it. If you haven’t already checked out Into The Sun, the sales speak for themselves and you should give it a listen.

Check out their official webpage at http://www.candleboxrocks.com/

Image Source: Amazon.com

What the hell is ‘The Gravel Report’? Over at MetalMartyr.com I do The Scrap Metal Report. It’s basically one post with a round up of various news pieces from the day or past days, sometimes with a link to the original story. This is a rock blog so this is The Gravel Report. This will be an every other day or every now and then thing. Welcome…

The Butthole Surfers Brawlers? Gibby Haynes was carted off stage last night by security in an NYC show for pelting the soundman with a beer bottle. I’ve seen this before with The Misfitsin D.C. The sound man has his head up his ass and sometimes gets assaulted by a band member.

Cheech and Chong Back Smokin’ Again?After nearly 25 year Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have set aside their differences and figured they better do another tour before one of them dies. “We’ve gotten to the age where we don’t feel like fighting anymore because the end is a lot closer than the beginning,” Tommy Chong  said. Read more

Erica Ellyson, Penthouse Magazine’s Pet Of The Year is up for auction!!! Rockagainstdiabetes.org is giving you a chance to win a date with the Penthouse Pet and it’s all for a good cause. So break your piggie bank, whip out your check book and go to Rockagainstdiabetes.org to see if your pockets are deep enough to win a date with Erica Ellyson. Winner of the auction will get the following:

• Dinner at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone In Vegas
• Drinks and VIP treatment with Erica at The Penthouse Club
• 2 tickets for the Rock Against Diabetes preshow bash
• 2 tickets for the Rock Against Diabetes main show
• A massive Penthouse “Swag Bag” with magazines, DVD’s and more
• Autographed photos Penthouse Issues and more.

* If the auction reaches $2500.00 a hotel room for August 22nd and 23rd will be added to the package at a 4 star property in Vegas** If the auction reaches $5000.00 a travel voucher towards airfare (max 500.00) will be given to help the winner get to VegasFor more information on the auction and how to bid check out the following site

• www.rockagainstdiabetes.org
• www.ericaellyson.net

From PRNewswire:

STAIND To Launch Highly Anticipated New Album The Illusion of Progress August 19

ORLANDO, Fla., July 29 /PRNewswire/ — On August 19th, Hard Rock International will bring its global Ambassadors of Rock Tour to the “crossroads of the world” with a special performance by multi-platinum rock band STAIND. The Times Square event will celebrate the worldwide release of STAIND’s highly anticipated new album, The Illusion of Progress, which arrives in stores that same day. Hard Rock’s Ambassadors of Rock concert will see STAIND playing an electrifying mix of chart-topping hits and fan favorites, including brand-new single “Believe.” Dedicated to its “Love All, Serve All” motto, Hard Rock is also partnering with VH1 Save The Music to raise awareness and funds for this non-profit organization dedicated to serving elementary school children of all backgrounds and diversities. Read more

So where DID all the rock stars go? Did they all drown in a pool of excess or all go join Alice Cooper on the golf course? It’s not the excess that the world is missing out on………the world does not need any more hair sprayed bands in make up, and if you need a dose of excess past you can always go revisit chapters 1-30 of “The Dirt.” Where are the huge guitar riffs over multi layered walls of sound that drive you into sensory overload? Hallucinatory hard rockers Bigelf have solved this problem with their latest released “Cheat the Gallows.” Read more

Billboard.com reports that Bob Dylan will be releasing a 3 disc set of rarities called “Tell Tale Signs” on October 7 through Columbia Records.

“The track list goes heavy on the past 20 years of Dylan’s career, including a number of unreleased songs and alternate versions stemming from sessions for “Time Out of Mind,” “Modern Times,” “Oh Mercy” and “World Gone Wrong.”

A number of soundtrack contributions can be found here too, including “Huck’s Tune” from “Lucky You,” “‘Cross the Green Mountain” from “Gods and Generals” and the Ralph Stanley collaboration “The Lonesome River” from “Clinch Mountain Country.”

Live tracks from Bonnaroo 2004, London in 2000 and New York’s intimate Supper Club in 1993 round out the package.”

Check out the tracklist below. Read more

“Rise“, from Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack to “Into the Wild” is being used to raise awareness and resources to fight cancer. ”

Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder have always been known to rock for a cause and why should they stop now. Cancer has always been an issue in health and probably always will be. In a recent blog on Pealr Jam’s myspace they gave an overview of the efforts of Standup2cancer.org. You can read the overview below and click on the link for more information from Standup2cancer.org

Read more