Slaughter played for a rabid, sold-out crowd at Austin's in Libertyville this past weekend. Lead singer/songwriter Mark Slaughter and I have been friends for many a year now, so it was great to see them play a rare gig here in Chicagoland. They tore through their many hits with a contagious, enthusiastic fervor, and later in the set debuted a brand new, yet-to-be-released song entitled "Livin' Inside" for those in attendance. For the encore, Mark brought me up on-stage to sing their anthem "Up All Night" with him. Perhaps next time I can convince Mark to do the song in his Donald Duck voice... it's hysterical!

Many thanks to the folks over at Time Out Chicago magazine for the nice plug they gave my show a few weeks ago. Their magazine is an excellent read and a great resource to keep up with the plethora of entertainment options every week here in Chicago. I highly recommend it.

Heads up Ozzy Osbourne fans, this Monday night at 9pm on my show, Ozzy will be playing and discussing select new tracks from his first new studio album in 6 years entitled "Black Rain." On Tuesday night at 10pm, I will once again present a special extended "10 O'Clock News" during which I will spin the new Ozzy disc in it's entirety, start to finish and give you a chance to win a copy for yourself.

(See Ozzy Osbourne's video for "I Don't Wanna Stop" here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=n2My_yOPthg)

The Doors of The 21st Century (now using the moniker "Riders On The Storm") played last week at the Park West with new lead singer Brett Scallions of Fuel fame replacing Ian Astbury who has rejoined his band The Cult. Founding Doors members Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek invited me down to the venue prior to the show to catch their private (I was the only one in attendance) rehearsal/sound check and it was mesmerizing. Brett doesn't look like Jim Morrison as Ian does, but his vocal delivery and tone are actually even closer to Morrison's than Astbury. When the band ran through "Indian Summer", "Peace Frog", "Waiting For The Sun" among others with Brett, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The guys were able to effortlessly render these songs note-for-note live. If you missed their show this time, make sure you go next time around. It is a not-to-be-missed concert! In the meantime, many previously unreleased classic live Doors shows from the band's archives (featuring the original lineup w/Morrison) from New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Bakersfield and now Boston have been made available via their website www.thedoors.com. Robbie tells me that unfortunately no official recordings of their Chicago shows from those historical tours were made, and he is not aware of any bootlegs surfacing, either... and he would probably know since he has admitted to me that HE too collects Doors bootlegs, just like the fans do. Nonetheless, Chicago was certainly on Jim Morrison's mind in the late '60's, as the city was mentioned in the lyrics to the song Peace Frog which Robbie said started as a poem by Morrison called "Abortion." Coming full circle to the present, ever-proud-Chicagoan Ray Manzarek indicated to me that he would like Mayor Daley to know that the current incarnation of the band would be thrilled to add their support (via a live performance here in Chicago, perhaps?) for our 2016 Olympics bid. More of my conversation with Ray and Robbie will be available soon on my main page at www.wlup.com.

After several months of open casting calls and voting by Loyal Loopers, a new Loop Rock Girl has been crowned for the Loop's 30th anniversary. April of Chicago becomes the 2007 Loop Rock Girl, and the first brunette (to date) to hold the title. Congratulations, April!

Vocalist extraordinaire Paul Rodgers of Bad Company, Free, The Firm (with his pal Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin), The Law and now of Queen fame checked in with me the other night to update me on his recent activities. Paul has been a frequent guest on my show over the years and is a true pleasure to talk to. He and the guys in Queen are busy working up a new studio album and Paul will be releasing his first solo concert DVD shortly as well. He sadly informed me that there would likely be no more Bad Company reunions ever again attempted owing to the sudden passing of bassist Boz Burrell last September, and the recent retirement of guitarist Mick Ralphs from show business. Hopefully you were lucky enough to catch the astounding, but all-too-brief 1999 Bad Company reunion tour. They only played together again for 30 shows, but they were simply incredible performances.

Must be almost summertime in Chicago! How can you tell? The concert announcements are coming thick and fast now. Riders On The Storm (The Doors of the 21st Century) will be appearing at the Park West May 14th, Slaughter will play Austin's in Libertyville Saturday May 19th, Ozzfest 2007 will hit town June 10th at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre and June 12th at Alpine Valley, Tool June 27th at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Def Leppard/Styx/Foreigner will play the FMBA June 30th, , Poison/Ratt/White Lion July 17th at FMBA and Nickelback/Staind at Alpine July 21st. Other shows from Asia, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, 3 Days Grace, Jethro Tull, Shaw/Blades, Peter Frampton, Roger Waters, Michael Schenker, Pat Benatar and Dream Theatre have all been announced recently. Check the concert calendar at www.wlup.com for the complete info and tickets and keep it locked on the Loop for more breaking news.