BILLY CORGAN'S SKY SAXON TRIBUTE

Before Sky Saxon of The Seeds died, he was collaborating on a
project with Billy Corgan. Billy is now paying tribute to Sky with a new band called Spirits In The Sky, which also features Electric Prunes bassist Mark Tulin, Strawberry Alarm Clock keyboardist Mark Weitz, former Catherine drummer (and D'arcy's ex-husband) Kerry Brown, new Smashing Pumpkins drummer, 19-year old Mike Byrne, and Dave Navarro. Little Steven, take note! While Billy annoys me when he mouths off sometimes, one thing I've always respected about him (other than his great body of work) is how he gives lots of credit to artists that influenced him, even if they aren't necessarily considered "cool." I remember he interviewed Eddie Van Halen for a magazine (and wrote a tribute to Van Halen's Fair Warning), made a great speech about Tom Petty at the MTV Awards, did a great induction speech for Pink Floyd at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, wrote a great essay for a live Cheap Trick album, played guitar for New Order on one of thier tours, produced tracks for Ric Ocasek, collaborated on a song with Tony Iommi on his solo debut, and the list goes on and on.

SKY SAXON OF THE SEEDS, R.I.P.

Last month, Sky Saxon of The Seeds passed away. The Seeds were a big part of the 1960's L.A. garage rock scene, and were mostly known for "Pushin' Too Hard" and "Can't Seem To Make You Mine," both of which are on the Nuggets box set . Great songs. I think songs like those, which were undeniably cool, and probably not too difficult to play, inspired so many people to pick up instruments, start to sing, and/or start a band. Recently at SIRIUS XM, I caught some of The Bangles' performance for Artist Confidential, and at one point, they broke into "Pushin' Too Hard," it's just one of those garage rock classics. You should check it out if you haven't heard it.