With the news that THE SMASHING PUMPKINS bassist Ginger Pooley has left the band to raise her new baby with her husband, BILLY CORGAN has announced that he will look for a new bassist in the same manner as he found new drummer Mike Byrne last year: via an open audition process (see below for details). CORGAN also says that auditions will be held (again, see below) for a new keyboardist who is a fan of–and can play in the prog-rock style of–Jon Lord and Rick Wakeman.

Until a new bassist is found, Mark Tulin of The Electric Prunes–with whom BILLY toured last year in Spirits In The Sky–will fill in on an interim basis. Look for The Pumpkins to soon announce a world tour including dates in the U.S.

Says Ginger, who toured the world with the band in 2007 and 2008: “With sorrow and yet with much thankfulness for the opportunity to have played in the Pumpkins, I am sad to say that I can no longer tour with the Pumpkins. Although I’ve been blessed beyond belief over the past few years through playing with the Pumpkins, my priority now is to keep our little family unit together, which includes my husband and my baby. Although I do plan on continuing to do music in different forms, my priority is for neither for my husband nor myself to be apart from our daughter so that we can raise her together. I wish Billy all the best and look forward to seeing the Pumpkins in the near future. I would also like to thank all of the Pumpkins fans for all of their support. I will see you at the Pumpkins shows!”

Says BILLY: “Although I am heartbroken that Ginger is leaving the group, I really respect her decision to put her family first. I appreciate everything that she has contributed to The Smashing Pumpkins, and I’m proud of her for being such a great musician and friend.

“We were lucky enough to find drummer Mike Byrne through an open audition process,” BILLY adds, “so why not open the doors again to anyone who might be interested for the bass or keyboard position. As you can see from our past and present, age, race, or a person’s background is not an issue. Everyone is truly welcome to audition.”

Audition Info:
Bassists and keyboardists looking to play with The Pumpkins should send their background info (including age, a resume of any bands/recorded work), photos and performance web links via email only, either to  pumpkinsbass at gmail.com or  pumpkinskeys at gmail.com. Note: only musicians with video clips can be considered. Youtube.com type posts are perfect–that’s how Mike was found. Final date for submission is March 31st.

There is a definate WOW factor when one watches this movie with the 3-D glasses on but once that fades you’re left with a movie that just, for me, didn’t live up to what I was wanting to see.

Now maybe, I’m a sucker for the older cartoon one. Maybe if I were to watch it again I’d have a better feeling for it. Maybe I’m just being old and grumpy, but for now I’m not a fan.

Rob Zombie’s Hellybilly Delux 2 Came out February 2nd
Slash April 6th
Sevendust drops Cold Day Memory on April 20th
Airbourne’s No Guts, No Glory is out April 20th
Ratt returns with Infestation on April 20th as well
Drowning Pool’s Self Titled Album April 27th
Long lost Jimi Hendrix tracks, Valleys of Neptune, come out March 9th
Saliva is putting out Moving Forward in Reverse: Greatest Hits and another album TBA titled Take That Society
Godsmack puts out The Oracle May 4th
Stone Temple Pilot’s are putting out their 6th Studio Album, which will be self-titled, on May 25th
Korn’s putting out their 9th Studio Album in April or May
Stone Sour’s 3rd album is tentatively scheduled for August
Disturbed sometime in the Summer
Red Hot Chili Peppers – TBA
Ozzy in June/July
Linkin Park’s putting the final touches on their 4th album
Alter Bridge with Alter Bridge III
Jackyl, Moonshine & Dynamite Collide, drops sometime later this year as well.
Seether
Filter
Vince Neil has released a working title on his solo album, Tattoos & Tequila

1.  Ghost (feat. Ian Astbury of The Cult & Izzy Stradlin)
2.  Beautiful Dangerous (feat. Fergie of Black Eyed Peas)
3.  Nothing to Say (feat. M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold)
4.  Crucify the Dead (feat. Ozzy Osbourne)
5.  Promise (feat. Chris Cornell of Soundgarden)
6.  By the Sword (feat. Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother)
7.  Doctor Alibi (feat. Lemmy of Motörhead)
8.  Saint is a Sinner Too (feat. Rocco DeLuca of Rocco DeLuca and the Burden)
9.  Watch This (feat. Dave Grohl & Duff McKagan)
10. I Hold On (feat. Kid Rock)
11. Gotten (feat. Adam Levine of Maroon 5)
12. We’re All Gonna Die (feat. Iggy Pop)
13. Starlight (feat. Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge)

It seems a Delaware man, Gerard Wall, is suing Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club in Manhattan alleging that after being “provided with two alcoholic beverages” a lap dancer took Mr. Wall into a private room. 90 minutes passed and Gerard has no clue what happened next, except for a credit card charge of $21,620.60!

Two things here:
1st) Wife found the charge on the bill, and this is the best defense he can come up with?
2nd) When did we start tipping dancers in change?
“Here ya go honey!  Here’s a $1.57!  Show daddy what you got!!”

Today, I’m saying, dive into the Sex Slaves from NYC. Found these guys via Myspace a few years ago and have thoroughly enjoyed what they’ve put out. Rumor has them coming into KC sometime in the New Year. I’ll keep ya posted.

One small step for man, one giant… SNNNOOORRRTTT!… WOW!!… FOR MANKIND!

Can you imagine what happens to the astronauts when they run out? What are they going to do, call their dealer? “Hey man, seriously, I’ll make it worth your while. Get a hold of a Richard Branson from Virgin Airlines, tell him we’ll meet you guys half way! C’mon man. Hook me up, I’m dying up here!”

I know in order to even conceive the idea of traveling into space someone or a group of people had to be hopped up on something, but this is just too funny. In fact the article I have from MSNBC states, “Discovery is slated to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in March to deliver supplies and spare parts to the Internation Space Station.” I want to be part of that party!