Random Music News for Friday, October 31, 2014

I hate Halloween. If you end up at my place tonight, you’ll be dealing with The Wife and The Dogs. I have no use for parent-chaperoned extortionists turning up at my door in disguise with their threats unless I give them non-nutritious foodstuffs. It’s a stupid holiday. Shit, it’s not even a holiday.

There. I said it. And yes, I know that I suck. Boo.

1. Is there going to be a Van Halen tour with Sammy Hagar out front?
2. Look who’s participating in this benefit album for the people of Gaza.
3. Need a Halloween-themed podcast? Here you go.
4. Guitar Hero is back–and it’s had some interesting game play enhancements.
5. The “Blurred Lines” plagiarism suit is going to trial. As if Robin Thicke’s life weren’t shit enough…
6. Sabbath’s Tony Iommi has written some music just for CSI.
7. Not music related, but Family Guy‘s Lois Griffin has been hit with a divorce. (Relax: Lois and Peter are still together. But in real life, it’s a different story.)
8. Also not music related, but here’s the story behind the woman we hear at 200 airports around the world.  (It’s an old feature, but I’d never seen it–and it answers a lot of my traveling questions.)
9. Okay, back to music:  A Pirate Bay founder is going to jail on hacking charges. (Ah! Tom’s back!)
10. Sting wine.
11. Paul Stanley remembers his first impressions of Gene Simmons. Amazingly, they still formed a band. (Another one from Tom.)
12. 18 things you might never have known about U2. (Via Larry)
13. The touchscreen that works in mid-air. What could this mean for musical instrument design?
14. This is the kind of thing you can do with The Echo Nest data and Spotify. Cool.