UNION BEACH, N.J. (AP) – Jon Bon Jovi is sponsoring a community restaurant on the Jersey shore near his childhood home.

The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation is giving financial backing to the church project Spoon Full of Hope in Union Beach, near Bon Jovi’s hometown of Sayreville.

It lost its funding last summer.

Patrons can either pay a donation for a meal or give an hour of time working off the cost.

It’s similar to Bon Jovi’s community restaurant JBJ Soul Kitchen, which opened in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 2011.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Cover photo: Rosana Prada

Coinciding with The Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary, the group’s founding drummer Bill Kreutzmann will be publishing a new memoir in the spring.

In Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with The Grateful Dead, which hits stores on May 5, Kreutzmann candidly delves into the many musical milestones and excesses he experienced with the legendary jam band over the course of its 30-year history.

Kreutzmann, who performed at every one of The Grateful Dead’s more than 2,300 concerts, recalls in uncensored detail his many exploits with the beloved group.

And what adventures he had, from taking part in Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests and performing at the Monterey Pop and Woodstock festivals, to attending The Rolling Stones’ infamous Altamont concert and touring with Bob Dylan.

Deal, which Kreutzmann co-wrote with music journalist Benjy Eisen, also features dozens of black-and-white photos and a 16-page insert of color images.

Meanwhile, Kreutzmann has a variety of performances lined up this year, among them The Grateful Dead’s previously announced Fare Thee Well reunion shows taking place June 3-5 at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

His itinerary also features several concerts with his new group Billy & the Kids, including a March 28 gig with special guest Robert Randolph at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, that will showcase songs the Dead played during its historic Europe ’72 tour.

Visit BillKreutzmann.com to check out other events on the drummer’s schedule.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Photos courtesy St. Martin’s Press

Eric Clapton and rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard are among the latest artists chosen for induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Clapton and Little Richard, along with a third inductee, veteran blues singer Tommy Brown, will be honored during a three-day celebration, May 6-8, held in conjunction with the 36th Blues Music Awards ceremony in Memphis, Tennessee.

The festivities will culminate with the May 8 grand opening of the physical Blues Hall of Fame at the Blues Foundation’s headquarters at 421 South Main St. in downtown Memphis.

The facility will feature a variety of interactive and educational exhibits, and will serve as a center for anyone interested in the blues to meet, celebrate and learn about the genre.

Clapton is being recognized for his many musical contributions and achievements, as well as for his role in popularizing the blues genre.

Little Richard is being honored for taking his early blues influences and building on them to help create rock ‘n’ roll, along with such previously inducted Blues Hall of Famers as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Bo Diddley.

Clapton, Little Richard and Brown, will join the 130 performers who have been welcomed into the Blues Hall of Fame since it was established in 1980.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Cover photo credit: George Chin

We’re not sure if founding Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora ever will rejoin his old band, but the 55-year-old rocker has revealed that he’s now focused on a new solo album.

He shared some details about the project while walking the red carpet at a recent Grammy event with his rumored girlfriend, rock-guitar whiz Orianthi, and producer Michael Bearden.

Sambora said of the album, “It’s coming,” while pointing out that Orianthi and Bearden are his main collaborators on the recording.

Calling Bearden a genius, Richie then listed some of the stars with whom the producer and arranger previously worked, including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Lady Gaga.

Sambora noted, “We started writing, and we just started putting the record down, and I think everybody’s gonna be very pleased.”

With regard to the sound of the album, Richie said it will be quite diverse.

“We cover a lot of genre[s],” he explained.  “You know, all of us love very many different genres of stuff, and we can take it everywhere from, like, acoustic intimacy to the heaviest heavy.”

Bearden then put his own two cents in, noting, “Somehow…it will have a consistent through line.  It won’t be genre-specific, but you’ll feel it…So it’s all about the song and the emotion.”

Sambora, Orianthi and Bearden all have been posting recent photos from the studio on their various social media sites.

Incidentally, Orianthi and Bearden both were working on Michael Jackson’s planned 2009 This Is It concerts when the King of Pop died in the midst of rehearsals for the London shows.

Richie’s last solo album, Aftermath of the Lowdown, was released in 20102.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Cover photo credit: James Minchin III

A collection of historic recordings Jimi Hendrix made from 1965 to 1967 as a sideman for the group Curtis Knight & the Squires will be released on March 24.

You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight & the Squires (Featuring Jimi Hendrix) — The RSVP/PPX Sessions includes 14 tracks and will be available on CD and as a 150-gram vinyl LP.

You Can’t Use My Name is the first in a planned series of releases by Experience Hendrix, the company that oversees the late guitar legend’s musical legacy, which acquired the rights to the recordings in 2014 following years of litigation with record producer Ed Chalpin and his company PPX Enterprises.

Chalpin had signed Jimi to a three-year contract in October 1965 while he was playing with Curtis Knight & the Squires, a Harlem-based R&B group.

Some of the songs featured on You Can’t Use My Name were the first Hendrix compositions that were ever released commercially.  Most of the recordings were made during 1965 and ’66, before Hendrix headed to England to find stardom as a frontman.  The final track, “Gloomy Monday,” was recorded in July 1967, after Jimi had released his debut album with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Also included is never-before-heard studio banter in which Hendrix comments to Chalpin, “You can’t use my name,” thus giving the album its title.

Longtime Jimi Hendrix Experience studio engineer Eddie Kramer worked on You Can’t Use My Name tracks to enhance their sonic quality and clarity.  He describes the mixing process as “a continuing archeological sound dig, which is to say you sweep away the dirt with a fine brush and find the gem hidden therein.”

Says Experience Hendrix CEO Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s sister, “We are extremely delighted to now be in a position to offer these rare, historic recordings.  What makes them so special is that they provide an honest look at a great artist during the pivotal time when he was on the cusp of his breakthrough…a time when Jimi’s number one priority was playing and recording, and this set captures him doing just that, both as a collaborator and an innovator.”

Here is the full track list for You Can’t Use My Name:

“How Would You Feel”
“Gotta Have a New Dress”
“Don’t Accuse Me”
“Fool for You Baby”
“No Such Animal”
“Welcome Home”
“Knock Yourself Out (Flying on Instruments)”
“Simon Says”
“Station Break”
“Strange Things”
“Hornet’s Nest”
“You Don’t Want Me”
“You Can’t Use My Name”
“Gloomy Monday”

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Photos courtesy: PRNewsFoto/Legacy Recordings

Jon Bon Jovi is working on new music.  The Bon Jovi frontman has revealed that he has about “a dozen” songs in the works for the new project, according to People magazine.

Bon Jovi shared the news during Fashion Week while he was curating a show at the Kenneth Cole clothing store in the Soho section of Manhattan.

He added that he had been in the studio “all day working on the new record.”

“I walked here from the studio,” he said.

The singer added that the new music he’s working on has been inspired by events in the news.

“I just read the paper, it gives you an opportunity to write something,” he explained.  “It’s early but I’m about a dozen songs in.  I feel good.”

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

Cover photo: Rosana Prada

Boston is heading back out on the road for a such long time this year.  The veteran rockers have announced a lengthy North American tour that currently consists of nearly 30 dates, and runs from an April 30 concert in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, through an August 9 show in Wichita, Kansas.

The band continues to support its 2013 album, Life, Love & Hope, which featured vocals by late Boston frontman Brad Delp on a number of tunes as well as various other singers.

The record was the group’s first studio effort since 2002’s Corporate America.

Meanwhile, a high-quality vinyl version of Life, Love & Hope has just been released, but Boston’s mastermind, main songwriter and lead guitarist Tom Scholz recently wrote a message to fans revealing that the disc was issued without his blessing.

Scholz explained that he had in the process of overseeing the mastering of the LP, but the test pressing he heard “was an unacceptable vinyl master that had clicks, static, and drop outs during many of the quiet segues between the cuts.”

He reveals that he put the project on hold to go on tour with Boston, and was surprised when he “was notified that in spite of the rejected test pressing, albums had been stamped and delivered by a company under contract with our record label!”

He added, “I want BOSTON fans to know that this vinyl reproduction of Life, Love & Hope does not meet my standards as producer,” although he notes that the LP version is still superior to the MP3 version.

Here are all of Boston’s confirmed North American tour dates:

4/30 — Tuscaloosa, AL, Tuscaloosa Amphitheater
5/1 — Orange Beach, AL, Amphitheater at the Wharf
5/2 — Clearwater, FL, Ruth Eckerd Hall
5/6 — Melbourne, FL, Maxwell C. King Center
5/7 — Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Live
5/15 — Simpsonville, SC, Charter Amphitheater
5/16 — Charleston, SC, Family Circle Cup Stadium
5/22 — Cherokee, NC, Harrah’s Cherokee
5/23 — Panama City, FL, Marina Civic Center
5/24 — Saint Augustine, FL, Saint Augustine Amphitheater
6/3 — Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, Fallsview Casino Resort
6/4 — Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, Fallsview Casino Resort
6/6 — Atlantic City, NJ, Trump Taj Mahal – Mark G Etess Arena
6/25 — Fargo, ND, Scheels Arena
6/26 — Fort Dodge, IA, Rogers Sports Complex – Shellabration
6/27 — Brainerd, MN, Lakes Jam
6/28 — Grand Island, NE, Heartland Events Center
7/2 — Kettering, OH, Fraze Pavilion for the Performing Arts
7/3 — Elgin, IL, Grand Victoria Casino – Festival Park
7/18 — Battle Creek, MI, Firekeepers Casino – Event Center
7/26 — Inglewood, CA, The Forum
7/27 — San Diego, CA, Humphrey’s Concerts
7/28 — San Diego, CA, Humphrey’s Concerts
7/30 — Saratoga, CA, Mountain Winery
7/31 — Paso Robles, CA, California Mid-State Fair
8/6 — West Allis, WI, Wisconsin State Fair
8/8 — Washington, MO, Washington Town and Country Fair
8/9 — Wichita, KS, Intrust Bank Arena

Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.

LONDON (AP) – Led Zeppelin in their heyday needed a bit of extravagance, according to Jimmy Page.

He says they got a reputation for excesses like private planes, but that had a practical side.

Page says they would base themselves out of New York and fly to the surrounding cities for concerts.

He says they’d play five nights a week and three hours a night, so with that schedule a private plane didn’t seem so excessive to them.

The deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” album comes out Tuesday, 40 years to the day since its original release.

Yahoo Live will stream the deluxe album today at 2 PM Eastern, and Page will answer questions from fans afterward.

“Like” KFIX on Facebook.