On Saturday November 4th, I will be hosting a charity benefit for Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hair prosthetics to children with medical hair loss (cancer treatments, etc.) at The Colosseum/Pearl Room located at 191st and LaGrange Road in Mokena. We will have lots of entertainment including appearances by Survivor, Randy Jackson of Zebra, Paul Chapman of UFO, Kimberley Dahme of Boston among others. Tickets are $25 and are available at ticketmaster and at the door. Doors open at 6pm, show starts at 7:30pm. It's for a very good cause, so if you can make it by, it would great to see you! For more info see www.locksoflove.org

"It was bitterly cold and windswept as dusk descended on the frozen tundra of..." SOLDIER Field? Usually, those famous words would be attached to a description of a football game at LAMBEAU Field in the dead of winter, not an early October Rolling Stones concert in Chicago... but that is exactly what greeted the Stones and the thousands who braved the record cold to see the band in action this past week. The Stones gamely carried on their intended business despite the weather, and rocked the house with favorites as well as few surprises. Mick Jagger was as energetic as ever on stage (probably as much to fight off the freezing temperatures as to entertain the crowd!) and Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts bundled up and somehow managed to play with numb hands and fingers. Then again, Keith's handshake is cold and clammy to begin with, so I suspect he probably didn't even feel the cold! The previous day, the band invited me to come down to Soldier Field to check things out and get a sneak peek of what was to come the following night. Everyone was knowingly laughing about how glad they were that there was to be 470 individual pieces of pyrotechnics fired off during the show "to help keep us warm!" While there, I also chatted with the production crew to learn more specifics. The stage weighs 300 tons and is 204 feet wide, by 100 feet deep, by 92 feet high. The main big-screen is the biggest ever taken on tour, 50 feet by 50 feet. The inflatable lips/tongue logo is 30 feet high by 35 feet wide. In addition, 443 lights, 235 touring personnel, 152 trucks, 36 MILES of cable and enough generators to power a small city are used... and it usually takes a full WEEK (7 days) to set-up and tear-down. Because of the enormity of the production, there are actually THREE complete set-ups leap-frogging across the country to get set up in the next city in time for the next show. Stones ticket prices are near the top of the scale, but with the mind-boggling size (and expense) of a show they bring to town, one can see why. Precisely why the tour is called "A Bigger Bang." While in town, the guys took in the sites (as they usually do... Chicago is one of their favorite places), including Mick taking his son to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.

The "Bigger Bang" tour concludes November 22 in Honolulu. Some are again saying this could be the last time... let's hope not... since the Stones "Rock 'n Roll Circus" is a GRAND time. (And a rollin' stone gathers no moss, right?)

Aerosmith and Motley Crue deserve a lot of credit in my book. Their tour is called "The Route Of All Evil", but it might have been more appropriate to have titled it the "Brave-Heart" or "No Pain, No Gain" tour. Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler recently had throat surgery and admitted he has Hepatitis C, drummer Joey Kramer is recovering from major shoulder surgery, bassist Tom Hamilton has throat cancer, is off the road receiving treatment and has a stand-in. Did this stop them (or even hinder them a little) from delivering a spectacular performance for a capacity crowd at Alpine Valley with Motley Crue over the weekend? Not even in the slightest. The show's set-list (opening with "Toys In The Attic") was old-skool Aerosmith (pre-MTV) heavy with very few latter day songs performed. Back to the roots it was ... and it was an superlative example of a classic live Aerosmith show. When one realizes how many medical obstacles have been placed in their way lately, it's even more stunning. Steve Tyler's voice and command of the stage was crackling with kinetic energy, Joe Perry's guitar work was provocative and menacing, and Joey Kramer's work behind the kit was explosive. Having hung out with them in those bad 'ole days before they sobered up, it's a miracle they're even ALIVE, let alone this capable at this stage of the game. Amazing (pun intended)! Motley Crue (who aren't known for their placid lifestyle, either) opened the evening's show with a greatest hits collection that kicked off with "Live Wire" and continued at a breakneck pace with the audience joyously singing every last word with Vince Neil while Tommy Lee furiously pounded away. Motley Crue have their own unique challenges to overcome these days, too. Guitarist Mick Mars has a rare, incurable disease that slowly fuses all of the bones in your body together, until you are virtually a prisoner in your own body, unable to move. Think of eventually being trapped inside a suit of armor. Despite his escalating physical limitations and pain, Mick's guitar playing was note perfect. Impressive. I really admire the guy for going out there and giving it his all, in spite of his situation. Theatre of pain, indeed. It seems like just yesterday that a young guy named Frank Ferranna (Nikki Sixx) came to see me dressed in his suit (hair neatly tied back) and nervously gave me his sales pitch about his then new band called Motley Crue, hoping (pleading, actually) that I would consider playing them on my show. I let him finish his entire rehearsed speech before I smiled mischievously and told him I already knew about the band, liked what I had heard, and was already playing their first (independent) disc regularly. We roared with laughter and he swore he would deny EVER doing it, let alone in a suit! I still tease him about it to this day. He still denies it.

It sure has been a busy time in the Chicago concert scene lately, hasn't it? Eric Clapton, The Who, Tom Petty and Roger Waters have all played recently with Aerosmith/Motley Crue, Bob Seger, The Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, Steve Miller, and now Guns 'n' Roses amongst others all heading our way. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who dropped by the Loop this week while extending their stay in Chicago by several days to soak up our town and hang out. Chicago is a world-class city with a huge musical heritage and a deep appreciation for music that out-of-town musicians delight in absorbing... and returning to. Just as the Stones are coming back, look for The Who to announce a return visit to town in the near future. The first show was a sold out affair (complete with an ice cream bar backstage!) with rave reviews and the debut of new tracks from the first new Who CD ("Endless Wire") in nearly 25 years. Roger, Pete and John Entwistle had been talking about doing a new record for years, and it is finally seeing the light of day. Roger and Pete were jolted by the passing of John Entwistle several years ago, decided that time was short and wanted to get it done in memory of John. I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to get to know John Entwistle over the years prior to his death in 2002 in Las Vegas. Sadly, the day he passed away, he had scheduled to sit down with me and talk about the then upcoming Who tour over dinner. About 4pm that day, I received the sobering call that John had suddenly died a few hours earlier. Almost immediately, Roger and Pete announced that the tour would continue, which must have been a very difficult and emotional decision to make. Robert Plant confided in me later that he felt that The Who had made the right decision, and indicated that from time to time, he even wonders if Led Zeppelin should perhaps have tried to carry on when John Bonham died. If the reaction at the United Center was any indication, the fans backed the decision of The Who whole-heartedly. The Roger Waters show at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre was another slam-dunk success, since Roger and his crack band played the entire "Dark Side Of The Moon" disc, start to finish along with many other Pink Floyd gems. During conversations I had recently with Roger and Nick Mason (also of Floyd), the relations between the members definitely seem to be improving with both Roger and Nick stating that they were in favor of more reunion shows (ala "Live 8") in the future. Perhaps we may yet see a full Pink Floyd reunion tour. Even David Gilmour (the most reluctant of the members) admitted to me recently that more re-union gigs were not out of the question. You can listen to my conversations with them on my main page on the wlup.com website. And finally, if you missed me breaking the news Saturday afternoon on my show, Guns 'n' Roses (Axl Rose + his new backing band) will be playing a Loop show at the Allstate Arena November 27th in support of the still unreleased "Chinese Democracy" CD with my long-time friend Sebastian Bach of Skid Row fame opening up. Tickets go on sale Friday October 13th at 10am through the Allstate Arena box office, Ticketmaster and wlup.com.