The Day in Rock Digest for 2/23/11: Tom Cruise is to star in the movie version of hit musical Rock of Ages. Cruise will play ageing musician Stacee Jaxx in the film and will perform several rock songs of the '70s and '80s, including Styx's 'Renegade' and Bon Jovi's 'Wanted Dead Or Alive'. moreSlash (Velvet Revolver, ex-Guns N' Roses) was joined on stage by Aerosmith's Brad Whitford in Charlotte, NC show on February 17th to perform 'Walkin' The Dog'. See it here
Dave Matthews Band said they were going to take the year off from touring, but nobody said the band wouldn't be playing live. It looks like DMB will stage four "mini-festivals" more
Only four days after the digital release of Radiohead's "The King of Limbs," rumors that a follow-up album or "second part" of the eight-song release exists have been growing among the band's fan base. more
A reinvigorated Stone Temple Pilots rocked Oklahoma's Winstar Casino with no lip-synching, no drugs (visible, anyway) and, after all these years, still something to prove. more
Former Paramore drummer Zac Farro has joined his guitarist brother Josh's new band Novel American. Tyler Ward was originally in the set-up on drums, but he has now been replaced by Zac. more
Def Leppard are set to release a brand new live album, "Mirrorball", this summer featuring a mix of live classics, three brand new studio songs and a bonus DVD more
The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato has posted the following brief update via his Facebook page: "Working on some guest vocals for Devin Townsend's new album, cranking out riffs for an album of thrash brutality with Max Cavalera (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, Sepultura), plotting DEP sh*t with Ben and Liam."more
Within Temptation has announced that the band has recruited a new drummer in the form of Mike Coolen. more
Dates have surfaced for Between The Buried And Me's spring tour of North America with Job For A Cowboy, The Ocean, and Cephalic Carnage. more
Riverboat Gamblers members will be releasing new material from side projects in March. Dirtnap Records will be releasing Welcome New Machine by High Tension Wires, which features Gamblers frontman, Mike Wiebe, along with Mark Ryan from Mind Spiders/Marked Men. more
Esp (Eric Singer Project) - featuring Bruce Kulick (Kiss, Grand Funk Railroad), Eric Singer (Kiss, Alice Cooper), John Corabi (Mφtley Crόe, Ratt) and Chuck Garric (Alice Cooper, Dio) - has scheduled some European tour dates more
The Crimson Armada, Legion, and Legacy will team up for a two-week tour in April more
The Used have re-entered the studio and are presumably recording an album with producer John Feldman. more
Azarath, featuring Behemoth drummer Zbigniew Robert "Inferno" Prominski, will release its as-yet-untitled fifth album on June 6 via Witching Hour Productions. more
Former Sylosis frontman Jamie Graham has joined Heart of a Coward. more
Cinderella have announced a one-off live date, on June 23rd at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, England. more
On this day in 1965, Filming began on The Beatles follow up to A Hard Day's Night on location in the Bahamas with the working title of Eight Arms to Hold You.
On this day in 1978, David Coverdale's Whitesnake made their debut at the Sky Bird Club, Nottingham, England.
On this day in 1995, American singer Melvin Franklin of The Temptations died of a brain seizure at age 52. His group had the 1971 U.S. #1 and U.K. #8 single "Just My Imagination" among many other hits. In 1978, Franklin was shot in the hand and the leg when trying to stop a man from stealing his car. Find out what else happened on this date in music history here
