By Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES — Lynyrd Skynyrd pianist Billy Powell, one of the longest-serving members of the 1970s supergroup, has died aged 56, the band announced on its website Wednesday.

Powell, a survivor of the 1977 plane crash in Mississippi that claimed the lives of six people including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, died on Tuesday, the statement said without giving further details.

“Beloved pianist for the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, Billy Powell, passed away last night,” the statement said. “The family and band request your respect and understanding during this difficult time. Thank you.”

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WHO says students and teachers cannot jam together? In fact, some have decided to form a band.

Known as Jeez!, this band was formerly called “The Faculty of JLDDG.” It is composed of Reagan Maiquez, Giselle Hernandez, and Nicolo Masakayan –instructors from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Paul Fonte, an alumnus of UPLB and Kit Manlangit, a UPLB Civil Engineering student.

Maiquez started the band in September 2007 with Hernandez, Masakayan and Manlangit after being inspired by the song “Pero,” which Hernandez sang for him.

“Pero,” which Maiquez wrote, immediately became the band’s first song.

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By Agence France-Presse

CHICAGO — Punk rock pioneer Ron Asheton, the guitarist for the Stooges, was found dead Tuesday in his Michigan home, police said. He was 60.

Asheton was found on his living room couch after a friend who had not heard from him for several days asked police to check on him.

It appeared as though he had been dead for several days and foul play is not suspected, said Ann Arbor police lieutenant Angella Abrams.

“I am in shock. He was my best friend,” Stooges lead singer Iggy Pop said in a statement on his website.

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GOOD old rock music served differently.

Six years since last churning out an album (2001’s Black Mantra), Basti Artadi and the boys find themselves waking up to a digital age. Hence, their sixth installment rocking its way into mobile phones.

All ten songs in Villains (not at all related to the hit TV show Heroes, Basti says) will be available for download via Smart’s Music Store.

The album is released independently via Semenelin Music put up by the band itself, obviously referencing their 1996 major-label debut album.

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By Clarence Yu

APPARENTLY, gaming company Activision’s collaboration with rock legends Aerosmith has paid off handsomely for both parties. As reported on the Gamasutra website, the sales to date of the game Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, has netted the band more revenue than any one of its album releases.

In my opinion, the success of the Guitar Hero franchise is dependent on two things: artist name association and the technology employed to make the game highly entertaining to gamers. I am a big Aerosmith fan, but not into gaming myself — thus, I was never attracted that much to consider buying the game.

Of course, there are many exceptions to my theory. I’m pretty sure that a lot of gamers who weren’t familiar with Aerosmith bought the game: some were probably intrigued, some had nothing better to do with their money and most were probably challenged by the game. Good for them. They get to enjoy themselves, while learning the music of one of the best rock bands of all time.

How does this bode for the music industry in general? For one thing, I’m pretty sure that most big name bands will start to fall in line for their share of the revenue pie. Van Halen and Metallica are examples of the next bands to be featured on the franchise. Big money is in store for both the bands and Activision. But to boast of Guitar Hero’s “music selling power” is a bit of a stretch; by reversing the logic, you can say that Aerosmith enabled Activision’s “video game selling power.”

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