THE LATEST LED ZEP RUMOR: CHRIS CORNELL?

Rumors have been circulating that Chris Cornell may be one of the guys that Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are considering approaching for their "Led Zeppelin" reunion tour. Cornell says he hasn't been approached. Well, he would be a cooler choice than the dude from Alter Bridge. Although I wonder if he could hit the notes - he is older now than Plant was when Zeppelin broke up.

Still the Alter Bridge thing would be so embarassing: not only would it make Page and Jones look lame, it also might lead to a Creed reunion. I've heard that they've also been jamming with Steven Tyler. Page toured with The Black Crowes a few years ago. I'm not a huge Crowes fan, but I think Chris Robinson would be a decent choice. But, as I've mentioned before, I think it would be better to just reunite The Yardbirds instead.

GENESIS: AND THEN THERE MIGHT BE FIVE AGAIN?

Genesis has just released thier third box set in recent years: this one contains the studio albums from the Peter Gabriel years. The band has always been talking about wanting to do a tour with Peter. Phil Collins has always said he'd be into just playing drums and having Peter sing; Steve Hackett has said he'd return to the band if Peter did. There was talk of such a reunion in 2004, and Peter decided against it because he was working on his next album (which hasn't come out, four years later). That led to a reunion of the trio version of the group. But Tony Banks, promoting the box set, has been talking about the band maybe doing some performances of their final album together, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Which would be cool - but my favorite album is Selling England By The Pound!

NIRVANA READING '92 COMING TO DVD

The Nirvana fan club reports that the band's legendary set from Reading '92 will be coming out on DVD later this year. I want to see that. I never actually went to see them in concert, which I regret of course. When I listen to Nirvana, it still blows me away, every time.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S "WORKIN' ON A DREAM"

This picture is from Backstreets.

Bruce Springsteen (along with Patti Scialfa) performed one last gig as Barack Obama's support act. I'm glad it worked out, last time he opened for someone (John Kerry), the results weren't as good! He debuted a new song, "Workin' On A Dream." Now, word comes - according to the cool blog Stories In High Fidelity - that his next album will come out in January, in time for Barack's inauguration. And the Super Bowl. That's pretty exciting. The mood for his Super Bowl performance will be pretty great. He's not the liberal complaining about the Republican President. He will be the friend of the just inaugurated and very popular current President.

Other Bruce stuff: his cover of Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream," which he closed his solo shows on the Devils & Dust tour, is now available on iTunes. Also, he released a free mp3 of a new Halloween song, "A Night With The Jersey Devil" (along with a well produced video, with more acting than I think he's ever done in a video) on his formerly lame official website.

But what I want to know: will we ever get to hear any of his recent Barack fundraiser concert, where he and Billy Joel played as one band? And will he actually put out a Darkness On The Edge Of Town box set, a la his Born To Run box set from a few years ago?

A GOOD TIME TO BE IN AC/DC

AC/DC's new album, Black Ice has sold a million copies in the U.S. already, and is at #1 for the second week in a row. It's their first #1 album here. They are also on the cover of Rolling Stone - also for the first time ever. How'd they do it?

A few years ago, I asked Tom Petty how he was still able to attact young crowds to his show. He said, "Because I don't pander to them." I think the same is true here. AC/DC never wondered if what they were doing was hip, they just do what they do.

I haven't heard the album, other than the first single, the instant classic "Rock and Roll Train." My copy of Black Ice is coming in the mail, I'm eager to hear it.

HEY, IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE I WROTE ABOUT A KINKS RUMOR

The latest in the saga of The Kinks reuniting (or not) is that Ray Davies told The NME that the band is working on a new album, and he'd like to tour if they can come up with some good new songs. I think he is referring to the original version of the band: Ray, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife and Mick Avory.

Ray is going on a U.S. solo tour: I hope to catch him in NYC in December. He also is planning another solo album with a choir, and an album of collaborations.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THE PRETENDERS, OASIS, THE CURE, LABELLE AND "QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS"

Tomorrow on OutQ, I'll be discussing new albums by some classic bands. The only one I really like, though, is The Pretenders' Break Up The Concrete. It's sort of a '50s rock and roll inspiried album. For some reason, it doesn't feature drummer Martin
Chambers - instead, Chrissie Hynde uses session legend Jim Keltner (who was in Neil Young's band when The Pretenders opened for Neil). But, The Pretenders are whoever Chrissie says is in the band.

There are also new albums by Oasis and The Cure. Neither moved me much, I'm sorry to say. Funk/disco/rock band LaBelle released their first album in 32 years, the stuff I heard sounds nice, but it didn't floor me. I'm actually most familiar with the least famous lady in the trio: Sarah Dash. I saw her in Keith Richards' backing band. She sang lead on "Time Is On My Side" and tore that s*** up.

Finally, there's the album by "Queen + Paul Rodgers." I'm more of a "greatest hits" guy when it comes to Queen than a die hard fan, so I don't take the album as personally as some die hard fans might, but it's really not good, and borders on the embarassing. I think Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul should have come up with a different band name.