Taken directly from www.smashingpumpkins.com

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.

THIS monday, March 15th, is the day we’ve been waiting for! Johnny Dare will have all the details concerning……(drumroll)…………ROCKFEST 2010!!!!! Make sure to listen to the morning show this monday as Johnny will have ALL the details…when, where, who, ticket prices, ticket on-sale date AND the Rockaholic pre-sale details (hint, hint, make sure you’re a registered Rockaholic but I’m sure you already know why). Its going to be a great day, a great party and one that you won’t want to miss (are there really any that you do want to miss?…I didn’t think so).

Summer begins with Rockfest 2010 and the details are close!!!

R

As of right now. This very moment. March 8th, 2010 AD and less than 24 hours after viewing Alice in Wonderland at the Mainstreet AMC Theater I’m not all that impressed with Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic.

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.

Once again it is time to break  the bikes out and get ready for another season.

I have already heard of some of our fellow riders going down.

This time of year is very dangerous for riders.

First off we have not had as much saddle time and some of the reflexes may be a bit rusty.

Second, there is a ton of salt and sand still on the roads from all the snow we had.

Third, our four wheel friends have not seen us out much lately.

So as you get your bike all ready for the beautiful weather give yourself a reminder that is is a little risky out there and to be as safe as you can.

For me a ride is the best way to get the head clear.

If I have had a bad day or just need to escape that is the means in which I choose to do it.

But on the same hand nothing will jack up your day worse that a wreck!
So please be careful as you go out for your ride and for those of you on four wheels  please give us a little bit of space.

We may be able to miss you if you pull out in front of us but me personally…I dont want to have to.

And for those of you on two wheels…Be smart when you ride.

That is my dad speech for today.

Now get out there and have some fun!
Ill see you on the road!

M

That time of the year to fill out your brackets and find some way to catch the games at your place of business without the boss finding out. Already, people are talking smack but the reality is this….its anyone’s title to win. Just look at what happened back in 1988 (I’m sure you know by now I’m a big KU fan). The Jayhawks weren’t even ranked that year and no one gave them a chance to go past the first or second round let alone the whole thing, but the Cinderella story took place and Danny and the Miracles took home the trophy. I do think KU has a great chance to bring home another title this year but they are going to have to fight through some incredible teams and incredible games to get there. So good luck to all the teams that make the dance. I look forward to watching some amazing basketball….even the games which my team isn’t playing in. MARCH MADNESS BABY AND ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!!!!

So if you’ve been listening to me in the wee hours of the morning, chances are you’ve heard the new song “Dragon Fly” by a band straight out of Jeff City, Missouri. If you haven’t heard this song, check out the video below…It’s one of my favorite songs out there right now. Enjoy!

–F ‘Em Up

M

Ps. Nirvana will not be there.

Alright, man…ALICE IN CHAINS last night was AWESOME. Hands down one of the coolest shows I’ve seen in a long time. Nothing fancy, nothing extravagant…Just a night of killer rock and roll. I loved every second of it, and if you were there, I’m sure you did too. I got some video footage of the night and threw my 2 cents in with this video edition of my blog! If you were there, leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the show!

–F ‘Em Up

So I was perusing the world wide web of the internets and stumbled across this badass video. Check it out: Shadows Fall covering the Prince of Darkness’ “Bark At The Moon.” The coolest part of the video, besides the crushing cover, is the fact that the guys stayed very close to the original (albeit cheesy) feel of the video. Enjoy.

And you know what? Since it’s Friday, how about a LIVE version of this song? Sound good? That’s what I thought…

–F ‘Em Up