On April 12th Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson will be taking part in a duet with US astronaut Colonel Catherine Coleman to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight in 1961.

While Anderson will be live on stage in Perm, Russia, Coleman will be in orbit in the International Space Station as she contributes to Ian’s truly out of this world concert.

Coleman’s part of the performance will be screened by video link to the audience in Perm from somewhere in the galaxy as part of this “space” gig.

The pair will be playing an excerpt from “Bouree” on Tull’s “Stand Up” album (at left).

Coleman has been practicing her Ian Anderson trade mark of playing the flute while standing (or in her case floating) on one leg. For 3 months, Anderson’s flute accompanied Cady Coleman and her own flute in orbit allowing her to perfect her Anderson stance ahead of the duet.

In the meantime, Jethro Tull is celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Aqualung” with a North American tour in June

The group features longtime members Ian Anderson (flute, vocals, acoustic guitar) and Martin Barre (guitars), Doane Perry (drums), as well as David Goodier (bass) and pianist John O’Hara.  The latter two joined in 2006 after working with Ian on some of his solo projects.

The group will be performing the Aqualung album in its entirety plus a range of their other favorites from the last 42 years.

In 2011, Tull will also tour in Australia, Ireland, and Germany. And Ian Anderson will perform solo shows in Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, Czech Republic, the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Finland finishing with his customary charity Christmas concerts at three UK cathedrals.

Jethro Tull North American tour:
June 8: Red Rock Amphitheater, Morrison, CO
June 10: Comerica Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
June 11: The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
June 12: TBA, Valley Center, CA
June 13: The Grove, Anaheim, CA
June 14: TBA, Saratoga, CA
June 16: Cuthbert Amphitheater, Eugene, OR
June 17: McMenamins Edgefield Concerts On The Lawn, Troutdale, OR
June 18: TBA, Woodinville, WA
June 19: Centre for the Performing Arts, Vancouver, BC
June 21: Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AB
June 22: Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, AB
June 23: Casino Regina, Regina, SK
June 25: Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
June 26: Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL
June 27: Rosemont Theatre, Rosemont, IL

By Carol Anne Szel

So since when has rock and roll ever played it safe?  And why is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame being so politically correct?

This year’s nominated artists into the 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are all, well, musicians who meet the criteria.  In one very calculatedly way.  They had their first hit in the music industry on or after 1986.  But rock and roll?  Really?

Let’s take a look at who is out instead of who is in.  How is it possible for Chic to even be nominated before KISS?  Are they nuts?  This makes The Grammy’s embarrassingly awarding Jethro Tull Best Hard Rock/Metal band in 1989 look like an ace-in-the-hole!

Okay, obvious and quite deserved in their own right nomination nods to Alice Cooper, Dr. John, J.Geils, and Bon Jovi.  Agreed.  They are rock and rollers.  They play rock music.

But LL Cool J.  Really?  Everything ever written about him, everything he has ever been about musically is rap.  My gosh, he’s a rap icon.  Actor.  Writer.  But rocker? I think not!

And after disco/funk/R&B Chic, whose hit song was “Dance, Dance, Dance,”  we hit upon Donna Summer.  WHAT?  When I was growing up I remember going to a Peter Frampton concert at Madison Square Garden where banner after banner draped the rafters with the now iconic “Disco Sucks” flags flying high and proud.  C’mon now.  We are nominating the rock and roll adversary into our hall of fame!

Now please do not get me wrong.  Donna Summer is a musical legend.  Hands down.  But rock and roll she is not.

So this begs to be questioned.  Since when has rock and roll become so politically correct that it has to somehow embarrassingly include all musical genres into the mix?  Either stick to rock or change the name of the Hall of Fame.  Don’t play us for a fool, don’t walk on musical eggshells, people.  Long live rock and roll !  (and bowing down to beg the forgiveness of KISS as you hand them the key to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be a nice follow-up while you’re at it!)

JIMI HENDRIX’S performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival came just a month before his untimely death. Courtesy Laurens Van Houten/Frank White Photo Agency

By Dave Thompson

With the exception of Woodstock, the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival is the most visible classic concert ever held. Full performances by many of the week-long event’s performers are now readily available on DVD… Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, The Who (a career-best outing), Miles Davis, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, Free and, most recently, The Moody Blues among them; while director Murray Lerner’s cameras were also responsible for a two-hour-plus documentary of the entire event, “Message to Love.” Taken together, they add up to an essential souvenir of a truly legendary event.

Located just off the south coast of England, the Isle of Wight was no stranger to festivals. Events had been staged there in 1968 and 1969, although the 1970 event was to be the biggest of them all — in fact, at the time, it was the largest festival ever staged. Running from Aug. 26-31, 1970, at Afton Down, the attendance has been estimated at anywhere between 600,000 and 800,000 people.

The fact that many of these visitors entered the grounds for free, breaking down the fences around the festival, was material only to the venue’s organizers, Fiery Creations. But Ron Foulks (one half, with brother Raymond, of that team) was adamant. “This is the last festival. Enough is enough. It began as a beautiful dream but it has got out of control and become a monster.”
The Isle of Wight’s residents agreed with him. Reeling from an unprecedented invasion of long-haired pop fans, it would be 2002 before the authorities again opened up their island to a pop festival.

Putting the festival wheels in motion in the first place, Fiery Creations knew they had a hard act to follow. The previous year, Bob Dylan broke a three-year concert silence to play the festival, and when the first plans were laid, it was hoped that The Beatles might be tempted to break their own live embargo to perform.

Of course they wouldn’t — the band broke up in February 1970. But Jimi Hendrix made a fabulous substitute, and with him on board, other artists were quick to add their own cachet to the bill. (See the sidebar for the list of performers.)

“Message To Love” paints a very thorough portrait of the festival itself, both the good (the majority of the featured performers) and the ugly. We see the audience booing Kris Kristofferson after his performance was reduced to sludge by sound difficulties; The Doors performing in near darkness after Jim Morrison refused to allow spotlights on the stage; and, most memorably of all, promoter Gary Farr attempting to restore order by taking the stage and howling the audience down. “We put this festival on, you bastards, with a lot of love! We worked for one year for you pigs! And you wanna tear down our walls and you wanna destroy it? Well, you go to hell!”

There’s no doubt that Rich Williams’ intricate guitar picking on the Kansas smash hit “Dust in the Wind” influenced a generation of up-and-coming guitar players.

More than 30 years and about two dozen albums later, Williams is still wowing crowds with the beautiful and complex guitar work that has earned him the nickname “meatwall” from fans. (If you want to hear the wonder of Rich Williams in person, be sure to catch Kansas on the road this summer and fall, often performing along with Styx and Foreigner; see www.kansasband.com for dates and venues.)

So, which albums changed Rich Williams’ life?

Chubby Checker: The Twist
I was 10 years old, and paid little attention to music, when this song hit the radio. I don’t know if it was my time, the song, the nasty saxophone, or the twist mania that swept the nation but this song/sound spoke to me. My first record purchase.

The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
When I first heard this album I was shocked. I hated it. What happened to my Beatles? Well, they grew up, matured, and made a record so progressive it went right over my head. I just didn’t get it. Then I did.

Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
I was a Tull fan, but this was different. Very progressive. Not a compilation of songs as in albums of the past, but one complete piece.

Spooky Tooth: Spooky Two
Great songs with some of the earliest examples of huge British balls. Eye-opening guitar sounds.

Genesis: Selling England By The Pound
Not being very familiar with Genesis, I went to a show in Kansas City. It was the “Selling England by the Pound” tour. Still to this day one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. This record was my official immersion into the band. Everything earlier soon followed.

Gentle Giant: Three Friends

Gentle Giant: In a Glass House

Gentle Giant: Interview

Gentle Giant: Free Hand
Yet another show in Kansas City. I went to see King Crimson for the “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” tour, and a band called Gentle Giant was one of the openers. I was absolutely blown away, and this started my non-stop listening to all things “Giant.”

Yes: Fragile
I remember being in the car and hearing this for the 1st time and saying “What is that?” It was the most different sounding thing I had ever heard up to that time; so much bass, too loud, so ballsy and aggressive. I loved it!

Yes: Close to the Edge
I can still listen to this and hear new things.

Jeff Beck: Truth
Jeff Beck is it … Period!

John Mayall’s Blues Breakers: John Mayall’s Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton
This was my official introduction to guitar. Until then, it was a twangy accompaniment instrument. This was different. It had a voice, an up front, thick, nasty, ballsy lead voice that changed everything.