TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: FUNK!

Two weeks ago, I returned to SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick after being on the disabled list for a while.  Last week, I had to miss it again (for scheduling reasons, not heath ones). Tomorrow I'm back, and I'm bringing the funk.

Well, maybe not funk by the strictest definition of funk purists. But all the music I'm bringing in will be funky.

First up, is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album, I'm With You. I wrote about it recently, and I wish I liked it more than I do. That said, it has some great moments, like "Monarchy Of Roses" and "Brendan's Death Song."  More importantly, the new lineup, featuring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, does show a lot of potential.

Primus is one of my favorite bands, and I really dig their new album, Green Naugahyde, which I just wrote about.  "Tragedy's A'Comin'" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Fishbone is one of the most underrated bands of the past few decades.  But I haven't enjoyed much of their new music since 1993's Give A Monkey A Brain... And He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe.  They've just released The Crazy Glue EP.  I like it.  I'm really looking forward to the documentary about the band, Everyday Sunshine. Anything that gets them to a wider audience is cool with me!

When it comes to Lenny Kravitz, I'm a singles guy.  I have his best-of, and I'm cool with that. But the songs I've heard from his new album, Black And White America (the title track and "Superlove") are pretty cool and very funky. I may have to check this one out a bit more.

I wrote about Trombone Shorty about a year ago, and now he's got a new album, For True. I recently filmed a performance by him at the SiriusXM studios, and he was great (see it here).

Sly Stone actually has a new album, but sadly, it's mostly his old hits re-recorded.  There's no point to doing that: they were perfect the first time, and frankly Sly doesn't sound as good as he used to. There's a good new original song though, "Plain Jane."

I think that a lot of today's funk music is done by DJs, not bands, and David Guetta is one of the biggest DJs. I produced this shoot at The Electric Zoo festival in 2009 and I kind of "got" it.  Although dance music isn't my thing as much as rock and roll, I get it.

I haven't written about Superheavy yet, but any band with Mick Jagger, A.R. Rahman, Damien Marley, Joss Stone and Dave Stewart is worth paying attention to. Also worth paying attention to is the Jay-Z/Kanye West album, Watch The Throne.  So, if time allows, we'll discuss all of these albums tomorrow on the show!

U2 NAMES OPENING ACTS FOR SUMMER TOUR

Unfortunately, those acts are Lenny Kravitz, Interpol and The Fray. Actually, Lenny Kravitz is pretty good live, I've seen him once or twice. Interpol, I think I saw them open for The Pixies, I can't even remember, and The Fray, I've never seen them.  I guess it would be hard to follow up having Muse open for them. U2 have had some pretty great opening acts over the years: I saw Primus, PJ Harvey and No Doubt open also, I usually like the bands that they choose.

AEROSMITH: PLEASE RETIRE

You know if you read No Expiration often that I'm not the type to tell a band to pack it up. And when they're good, Aerosmith are one of the best bands to hit a stage, anywhere. But the band vs. Steven Tyler thing is getting ugly and embarassing. I don't blame the band: a lot of this is Tyler's fault. He's erratic, no question about it. Recently, he was heard singing over the soundsystem at Home Depot while sucking helium, and also singing at a karoke bar (he probably shouldn't be anywhere with "bar" in the name - especially while in rehab).

But they shouldn't be thinking about replacing him, it just plain wouldn't work.  Rumors have had Lenny Kravitz, Billy Idol, Chris Cornell and Paul Rogers approached by the band. I thought the other guys with Lenny could be a good band that isn't called Aerosmith. Billy Idol would be awful for them, Chris Cornell wouldn't be right, and Paul Rogers, maybe but no. Meanwhile, Tyler's new management is threatening to sue the band if they use a different singer. I think they all need to take some time off. I'm not saying who is right or wrong, but if an Aerosmith tours without Tyler, the fans should sue. Get it together, boys.