January 20, 2019 – Welcome to 2019, the last year of this decade. I really don’t know if the upcoiming version of the Roaring ‘20s will actually roar, but given how the start of 2019 is going, it appears they might, just might … rock.

I haven’t been keeping up with news, other than I know we are in a very long shut down over a wall, so I really don’t know who’s playing or about to play. I get some kind of spam email that says shows in town. It usually features crazy things I’d never be interested in, rappers named Wiz, seriously don’t name yourself Wiz; it’s not flattering; and other people like that. This Wednesday though, and without notice, the list of bands in town included both Metallica and the Foo Fighters, playing that day at the Forum. How did I miss a double-bill of that? There you go, the price one pays for going out of town for so long.

I had to look this one up. It turns out, it was a one-off, a one-night tribute to Chris Cornell, the late Soundarden singer who tragically took his own life last year. Knowing Taylor Momsen to be obsessed with Soundgarden, I checked her Twitter. She has been fairly active for a few months, posting hints that The Pretty Reckless are recording. She hasn’t put up any snippets or musical treats, just pictures of amps. However, her tweets indicated she was in Los Angeles to sing that same day.

I didn’t see any advance press on her performance, and she wasn’t listed in the bands-in-town email either. I searched the day following the concert, and sure enough, she performed. In fact, that performance was with Soundgarden themselves. I really can’t imagine how she must have felt – performing as the singer for the very band you are obsessed with. And she did a fabulous job, not even one less-than-glowing comment anywhere I can read.

So my article writes itself this week. I give you performances by Metallica, doing what seems to me a bass version of Black Hole Sun, I like the bass though; Dave Grohl, with the Foo Fighter’s somewhere on that stage, doing a sweet version of Everlong; the Taylor Momsen-fronted Soundarden doing  Loud Love. And in the category of other genres also participating, how about Miley Cyrus performing Say Hello To Heaven. Honestly, if you ask me, Miley does a really good job too. I quite like Miley as a singer. She has a new song on the radio too, a pop song that’s a vocal departure from recent pop vocals. That’s not here, but perhaps I’ll get to it later. Here are some examples from the Chris Cornell tribute night.

Oh, and last but not least as far as rock news goes, Greta Van Fleet was on Saturday Night Live. I can’t find a bad comment on that either.

All of this in a week when I wasn’t even paying attention? If there’s this much rock news already, I’m going to have a really easy 2019. Heck, I might get so tired listening to all of this rock, I might have to start commenting on people named Wiz.

Or not.

Any way it goes this year, Happy 2019, y’all.