Tonight’s (Nov. 19) celebration of the life of the great Les Paul promises to be one of the most momentous musical events of the year. Gathering at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium to honor the legendary guitarist will be a host of elite artists, among them Steve Cropper, Ace Frehley, Zakk Wylde, Charlie Daniels, and Wynonna Judd.

Serving as the house band will be the renowned Les Paul Trio, joined by guitar great Steve Miller (Les Paul’s godson). The evening will feature performances of Les Paul’s music, personal remembrances, video tributes, and testimonials to Paul’s wide-ranging impact. A number of surprises are planned as well.

Other renowned musicians set to appear include Jennifer Batten, Josh Kelley, John Rich, Emerson Drive, J.D. Souther, and Steve Wariner. Additionally, jazz artist Sarah Partridge will offer a special rendition of Paul’s version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” while Anna Wilson will perform a personal jazz remembrance.

The 90-minute event, which begins at 8 pm, will be co-emceed by Les Paul’s son Russ Paul, Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President Terry Stewart.

“My father always spoke of the Ryman Auditorium as a very special place,” says Russ Paul. “It is the place that helped form the early years of my father’s love of music and subsequently drove his passion for his many inventions. I am so thrilled to be back here for this very special tribute and know that Dad is smiling from above.”

Tickets for the Les Paul Tribute are sold out. For more information, click here.

Gibson Guitar is fully cooperating with agents of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service regarding an issue with wood procurement. Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO takes the issue of responsible wood sourcing very seriously. Gibson Guitar makes every effort to ensure that all its wood purchases are legal and is also working to increase the amount of wood purchased from certified sources, including FSC-certified wood. The company will continue to cooperate fully and assist our federal government with all inquiries and information.

"The Natural Resources Defense Council, one of America’s leading environmental advocacy organizations with 1.3 million members and on-line activists, has been collaborating for years with Gibson on environmental initiatives. Together with Gibson, NRDC has promoted protection of landscapes, endangered forests, and drinking water quality. We have also worked with Gibson to educate corporations, public officials and the public at-large about the risks we face from environmental threats, in particular those related to the risks posed by mountaintop removal coal mining and global warming. NRDC knows firsthand that the leadership at Gibson is committed to and informed about environmental issues and we look forward to continuing our collaborations with this good and upstanding organization for many years to come." -Allen Hershkowitz, Ph.D.

The Faces are “seriously talking about touring” in the spring, with or without original frontman Rod Stewart.

As reported by Billboard.com, keyboardist Ian McLagan intimated that the band has grown weary of waiting for Stewart to commit to a reunion.

“If we don't do it very soon,” McLagan told Billboard, “one of us is gonna check out. I'm 64, for chrissakes! We've been waiting and waiting for Rod to say yes; now he's finally said no. He's busy doing other shit. So we're gonna do it."

The format of the shows would likely be modeled on a performance staged recently by the band at London’s Royal Albert Hall. That show, staged as part of a charity event, saw surviving members Ron Wood, Kenney Jones, and McLagan teamed with former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and a variety of guest vocalists.

"I think it's more exciting, actually, with different singers, different bass players, maybe some other guests, another guitarist or whatever," McLagan said. "[Saxophonist] Bobby Keys would probably sit in. It's more adventurous. It won't be the same old shit."

Since Wyman does not like to fly, McLagan’s first choice for bass player would be original Sex Pistols member Glenn Matlock.

“[Glenn] started playing bass because of [late Faces bassist] Ronnie Lane,” explained McLagan. “He knows all his licks and really appreciates him as a bass player."

McLagan went on to say that Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall is on the short-list of guest vocalists, but that he and his Faces ‘mates will likely approach other singers as well. He also hinted that the door remains open for Stewart, who’s currently making plans to tour behind his new Soulbook album.

Amid talk from both Steven Tyler and Joe Perry that Tyler might be quitting Aerosmith, Tyler took the stage this past Tuesday to sing “Walk This Way” with the Joe Perry Project during its encore at New York’s Fillmore at Irving Plaza.

Tyler told the crowd, “I just want New York to know, I am not leaving Aerosmith. Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I, mother******, am the rainbow!”

Many Aerosmith fans took this as a sign that the band had mended fences and decided to forge on together. But Perry told Rolling Stone that the band’s problems are far from over, despite that its 40th anniversary isn’t too far off. 

Of Tyler’s cameo during his band’s recent encore, Perry says, “There was all this commotion during our encore break and somebody said, ‘Steven is here.’ And I was like, ‘What?’”

Tyler then asked Perry if he could join his band for a rendition of “Walk This Way.”

“Being an acquaintance of 40 years, I said, ‘Why not?’” Perry said. “So he came up and sang and that was the last I saw of him.”

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill wed longtime girlfriend Jessie Baylin on Saturday. The two were married in an outdoor ceremony at the Wolf Den Farm in Brentwood, Tenn., near to Followill’s Nashville hometown. The reception followed with dinner and dancing in a barn on the property.

On Sunday morning, Followill posted this message on his Twitter site: “I woke up with a married woman in my bed this morning. Luckily she was mine.” In return, Baylin Tweeted: “It’s official... Allow myself to introduce myself: Mrs Jessie B. Followill.”

Of the nuptials, a Kings of Leon spokesperson said, “It was a gorgeous 70 degree day and the wedding was beautiful. It was a very love-affirming wedding with lots of warmth and happiness.”

The ceremony was attended by fellow KOL bandmates, country crooner Billy Currington and Baylin’s childhood pal Scarlett Johansson.

The couple met at the music festival Bonnaroo in 2006 and was engaged in the summer of 2007. Together they’ve both seen their respective careers take off; Followill watched KOL’s fourth album Only By The Night experience remarkable commercial success while Baylin received critical acclaim for her major label debut Firesight.

Don’t call Them Crooked Vultures a supergroup, says Duff McKagan, who recently gushed about his love for the band in his Seattle Weekly column. (We already did — whoops!)

“When I first heard that John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme were forming a band last spring, I must say that I was jealous,” wrote McKagan. “Are you kidding me?! These three mega-talented and unique figures playing hard rock in a unified and focused group? I was excited, to say the least, from a player’s perspective AND as a fan. Then came the inevitable ‘supergroup’ tags.”

McKagan says his band Velvet Revolver had to battle against the same thing in its first year and that it undermines a band’s real intentions.

“I've heard this title being bandied about in reference to Them Crooked Vultures, and I think it is a cheap way out … To label an act a supergroup somehow suggests — to me, anyway — that they were formed to cash in on the members' superstar power … For these three guys to come together and form a real band — well, hell, it must be like some sort of fairy-dust s*** just being at a band practice! Can you imagine? Them Crooked Vultures have created something new and fresh with no obvious nods to any of their past bands. A hard feat, for sure.”

Them Crooked Vulture’s self-titled debut is set for release in the U.S. this week.

Them Crooked Vultures have posted YouTube streams of all the tracks from their forthcoming CD. The decision to stream the disc – which hits record stores on November 17 – was apparently made in response to an unauthorized leak of the album.

As has been previously reported, Them Crooked Vultures -- which consists of Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme – will perform their first-ever West Coast shows beginning November 17 at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. Other show-venues include the Fox Theater in Oakland (Nov. 19), the Paramount Theater in Seattle (Nov. 21) and the Roseland Theater in Portland (Nov. 22).

To listen to the album in its entirety, click here.

Joe Perry has confirmed that Aerosmith is indeed looking for a vocalist to replace Steven Tyler. On his Twitter page, Perry writes that he and his bandmates are “positively looking for a new singer to work with.”

As reported by Reuters, Perry said last month that Tyler has refused to write songs with him for the past decade. Tyler recently told Classic Rock magazine that he wants to focus on solo projects. The 61-year-old singer has reportedly stopped communicating with the band, and has hired his own manager.

Troubles within Aerosmith were ratcheted up at the band’s recent concert at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 1. A triumphant show by all accounts, the event was nonetheless marked by confirmation that turmoil was brewing. Guitarist Brad Whitford was the first to raise the possibility of a new vocalist, telling Classic Rock that if “the chemistry was right, why not?”

Eight years have passed since Aerosmith released a studio album of new material. It seems, however, that Perry believes the departure of Tyler may mark a new chapter for the band.

In an interview yesterday (Nov. 9) with Boston radio station WZLX, the guitarist said, “As long as we’re still kicking, it’s not over. We’ll probably get bored and come back.”

Slash says he’s gotten to work with everyone he wanted to on his forthcoming solo album (which he wrapped this week), except Jack White. And it’s not for lack of trying. Slash requested that White sing on his album Slash & Friends but White turned him down.

“I wanted to get Jack White to sing on something, but he didn’t want to sing,” Slash recently told MusicRadar.com. “He said ‘I’ll play drums, I’ll play guitar, but I don’t wanna sing.’”

White, who is in The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, has been concentrating most of his efforts lately on The Dead Weather, for whom he drums but rarely sings. The band is currently working on its second album.

Not to worry, Slash’s album will still be jam-packed with recognizable names like Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Flea and an assortment of former Guns N’ Roses bandmates. The album is expected out in early 2010.

Capitalizing on a continuing trend that proves that even rock stars use eBay to rid themselves of goods, original Metallica bassist Ron McGovney took to the auction site to sell the Fender bass he used in the late ’80s.

McGovney’s 1985 Fender Precision bass went to a winning bidder this past Friday for a final bidding price of $919.

“The bass is a 1985 USA made Fender p-bass ivory in color,” wrote McGovney on the listing. “The only things ever changed on it were the strings. It is all stock. It is in great condition, and has not been used very much at all since I was in Phantasm in 1987. I plugged it in yesterday, and it still has that great p-bass punch. It comes with a hardshell case that is kinda worn and the latches are a little rusty, but they still work.”

McGovney provided the winner with the original sales receipt for the bass, which included his then-address in Norwalk, Calif. He also notes, “The phone number on the receipt is the same as the one most Metallica collectors will recognize as being the same as the number on the original Metallica business cards.”

When McGovney left Metallica in 1982, it wasn’t on good terms. He reportedly had frequent rifts with both lead guitarist Dave Mustaine and drummer Lars Ulrich.

In a 1997 interview, McGovney explained, “The truth of the matter was that things just didn't click. I was a different person back then. I was a brash person that was always drunk and having fun and James [Hetfield] and Lars were withdrawn little boys. James hardly ever talked to people; we did that Saxon gig a while back and he was singing but it was I who talked in between songs. The whole thing was that I had too much to drink. But I f*** up one time and it costs me the band and they f*** up 100 times... There’s been times when I had to carry both James and Lars because they were so drunk.”