Jukebox – Music News Cuts – 1/12

Jukebox – Music News Cuts – 1/12 – by Liam Sweeny.

Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy is the drummer for Dream Theater, but in 2022, the plan was for him to drum for Nickelback. But things don’t always go according to plan, as the festival during which this was to happen was canceled. When online drum education platform Drumeo asked Portnoy to play Nickelback’s, “Burn It To The Ground,” he noted that, based on his performance, he would’ve been ‘fired immediately.’

Portnoy, unlike most of us, had not heard much Nickelback, as he admittedly doesn’t listen to much radio, and when Chad Kroeger gave him the set list, and he gave it to his wife, her confidence in his knowing the songs was misplaced.

Something that Portnoy knows that you may not is that despite the diametrically mixed reception Nickelback has in popular culture, they are down with the metal band Pantera, which Portnoy saw as a definite plus.

Nickelback drummer Daniel Adair has suffered a chronic injury called radial tunnel syndrome, affecting the accuracy of his wrist.

Bad Brains

In 1997, Bad Brains put out an EP called The Omega Sessions. The EP is being re-pressed on clear vinyl with black and white splatter, and will be limited to 300 copies. This rare collector’s item features early versions of songs that would appear later, including a reading of “I Against I.” Side B features a custom etching.

This EP, though rare, exemplifies the broad artistic expanse of what can be done with vinyl. Explorations like this are not unprecedented if one remembers the pressing of Jack White’s Lazaretto album, which featured holograms, and different songs for forward and reverse play. But the rarity of the Bad Brains EP will have true fans and collectors scrambling.

The Omega Sessions were recorded in 1980 and released in 1997. “Omega” refers to the Omega Studio in DC, a popular and groundbreaking studio.

Pete Davidson

Actor and comedian Pete Davidson professed embarrassment over being under the influence of the drug ketamine during the funeral of Aretha Franklin. He described his condition as being “so high.” He revealed this on his Netflix special, Turbo Fonzarelli. He had attended the funeral with his fiancé at the time, Ariana Grande, and had been using ketamine for close to three years. He admitted to having attended many funerals high on the substance.

Just to illustrate how high he was at Franklin’s funeral, he said, “I’m so high, I thought it would be a good idea to go up to her family and go, ‘Hey, I’m just here to pay my R-E-S-P-E-C-T… S.’”

Aside from being a recreational drug, ketamine is used to treat depression. Davidson is known to struggle with borderline personality disorder, but it is unclear whether or not he was using the drug medicinally. Given his own description of the event and his embarrassment, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to conclude that we was using it at least in part recreationally.

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