https://www.guitarplayer.com/news/watch-the-1996-city-of-hope-all-star-band?

Eddie Van Halen soloing on I Fought The Law, joined by John Mellencamp, Bryan Adams, Richie Sambora, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge and more?

"The show that was never supposed to be seen." Watch an all-star lineup perform classics by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and more in this little-seen show from 1996

(Image credit: Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images)

In the 1990s, the era of the super-jam had well and truly arrived, with million-selling musicians from different decades and genres regularly coming together to create memorable musical moments — be it part of a Grammy Awards broadcast, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, or even an iconic artists' birthday bash.

A lesser-known example of one of these events happened on 16 October 1996, when Eddie Van Halen, Bryan Adams, Melissa Etheridge, Richie Sambora, Steve Winwood, Don Henley, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, and an all-star backing band directed by Paul Shaffer (David Letterman's longtime house-band leader) rocked the classics for a good cause.

Appearing collectively as the All-Star Garage Band, the supergroup took to the stage in aid of City of Hope — one of the world's leading medical research centers specializing in improving the quality of life for those suffering from conditions such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes.

The story goes that every year, City of Hope's new Spirit of Life Award honoree is expected to put together a black-tie event to raise money for the non-profit organization. In 1996, that honor and subsequent task fell to the hands of John Sykes, who, as co-creator of MTV and then head of VH1, had one or two names in his phonebook that he could call upon for the job.

"City of Hope All Star Garage Band"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ZjKAROYNc

On the night, the All-Star Garage Band performed an array of early rock and soul classics, including tracks from Eddie Cochran (C'mon Everybody), Wilson Pickett (In the Midnight Hour), Faces (Stay with Me), and Sam & Dave (Hold On, I'm Comin', When Something Is Wrong with My Baby). As well as, Get Back and Bitch from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, respectively.

Although the star-studded event — held at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California — seems to have been largely forgotten in the annals of history, thankfully, the right people knew of its existence at the time, as the show generated five million dollars for the foundation through ticket sales and merchandise.

With the quality of the performances on show, you'd expect that weeks of preparation would've been in order. Especially with so many band members and moving parts; however, Shaffer confirmed during the broadcast that that wasn't the case. "We only rehearsed once for the whole thing," says Shaffer. "Melissa Etheridge didn't even make the one rehearsal. She was on the road performing. She came in on the day of the show with no rehearsal at all and killed it with Stay With Me by the Faces."

The guitar highlights of the event come courtesy of Van Halen's rookie year, white Peavey Wolfgang with mismatched headstock and black binding, Sambora's Lace Sensor-loaded Strat, and what appears to be a pre-CBS Fender in the hands of Bryan Adams for his contributions on the night.

Six months would pass before the live event was broadcast on Sykes' music network — going out on 8 March 1997, intercut with short song introductions from Shaffer. He kicked things off, stating, "This is a show that was never supposed to be seen. Why, you ask? I'm going to tell you why." Curiously though, he never does. Instead, he gives some insight into how he ended up involved with the charity event.

"[John Sykes] called me and said, 'Would you be the musical director of this thing?' He started to mention some of the names, 'We have Mellencamp, we have Henley, we have Sheryl Crow, we have Melissa Etheridge.' He went on and on." Shaffer would explain to the VH1 boss, the importance of having someone to handle the lead guitar, to which Sykes responded, "We got Eddie Van Halen." From that moment on, Shaffer was "all in" on the project.

Even the memorabilia associated with the event appears to have been overlooked. As recently as 2021, promotional material signed by just about every performer on the night, including Van Halen, Sambora, and Bryan Adams, sold at auction way below the estimate for $576.

To this day, the All-Star Garage Band performance for City of Hope has never been rebroadcast, with no official release on any format ever being slated. However, thanks to a VCR capture that day and YouTube, it can still be seen in its entirety.

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https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/73-pre-incan-mummies-some-with-false-heads-unearthed-from-wari-empire-in-peru?

Several dozen burials from the Wari culture, which prospered in the region before the Inca took over, were unearthed in Peru.

Two wooden staffs were found near the cemetery in the remains of a settlement. They have carvings depicting people wearing headgear. (Image credit: © Juan Tió Idrogo)

Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed the burials of at least 73 people dating to around 1,000 years ago, a few hundred years before the Inca took over parts of western South America.

Each of the 73 individuals was bundled in fabric — some of it colorful — and rope. Some of the male and female bodies were buried wearing masks of carved wood and ceramic, which are known as "false heads," Krzysztof Makowski, head of archaeological research at the site and an archaeologist at ​​the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, said in a post on Archeowieści blog, which is managed by the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw. Colorful ceramics were also found in some of the graves.

The burials, discovered near Lima at the archaeological site of Pachacámac, belong to the Wari culture. They were buried near the Wari's Painted Temple and date to between 800 and 1100, a time when the Wari Empire was expanding in the region, according to the post.

The Wari are known for their well-preserved mummies, elaborate art, including intricately designed ceramics and fabrics. They also practiced human sacrifice and made use of hallucinogens during religious rituals.

Newfound wooden staffs

Additionally, archaeologists found two wooden staffs near the cemetery in the remains of the nearby settlement. They were discovered in a deposit of "thorny oyster" (Spondylus princeps) shells that would have been imported from what is now Ecuador, which sits north of the Wari Empire, the blog post stated.

The two staffs have carved iconography that suggests the people at Pachacámac had some level of contact with people in the Tiwanaku kingdom, located to the south of the Wari Empire in what is now part of Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

Two wooden staffs were found near the cemetery in the remains of a settlement. They have carvings depicting people wearing headgear. (Image credit: © Juan Tió Idrogo)
Attached file:
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Remains of an individual wearing a carved mask. (Image credit: © PUCP Archaeology Program "Valley of Pachacámac"; (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED))


People at the archaeological site of Pachacámac were buried with ceramics. (Image credit: © PUCP Archaeology Program "Valley of Pachacámac")

I have several programs that check everything that I send out and a son who is a computer programming guru so I am well protected. For all the stuff I have sent out over UHH and my other personal email I have never had an instance where I sent out anything with a virus or other malware.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXQpDDcrN-w
Home Free is an American country a cappella group of five vocalists: Austin Brown, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, Tim Foust, and Adam Chance. Starting as a show group, they toured with approximately 200 shows a year across the United States.[2] The group won the fourth season of The Sing-Off on NBC in 2013. They sang an arrangement of Hunter Hayes' "I Want Crazy" as their final competitive song, earning the group $100,000 and a recording contract with Sony.[3]

The band released their first major label album, Crazy Life, in February 2014.[4] Their forthcoming, As Seen on TV, is scheduled to be released in November 17, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Free_(group)#Concert_tours

Thank you Jo!

Thank you.

First Camelia of the season. The plants are budding and this was the first flower of the season. Shot with my Samsung 22S+

First flower of the season.

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The Camelias a budding

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A few laughs for midweek.