Quick quips: Black Sabbath, Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Jim Reeves, Steven Tyler, Winston Riley

It seems that a cancer diagnosis is not keeping Tony Iommi from working on music for the Black Sabbath reunion. Bandmate Geezer Butler wrote on his website:

Today [January 19] we got the engines back up and running @ Tony's home studio. Far from being down and depressed about his lymphoma diagnosis, Tony had already written the music for two new songs, and I must say it has given us all a kick up the rump- it's great to hear him churning out those riffs again, assuaging the Demon C. Takes more than that to stop Tony. Can't wait for you all to hear our workings, it has been great working on this stuff.


Neil Young's LinkVolt LLC is being sued for $500,000 by Unigard Insurance over damages from a 2010 warehouse fire in San Carlos, CA. Unigard paid out to the owners of the building but allege that the fire was caused by Young's 1959 Lincoln Continental that he had converted to run on electricity and a bio-diesel powered generator.


Merle Haggard was released from the hospital on Friday after being treated for pneumonia. Doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
Haggard has postponed his remaining concert dates for January while he fully recovers.


A trial opens on Monday that will determine how the royalties for the late Jim Reeves' recordings will be split. Even though Reeves passed away almost fifty years ago, his work still generates $400,000 per year and Terry Davis, who married the singers widow, feels that he should receive part of them. Davis was married to Mary Reeves for thirty years until her death in 1999.
For the second year in a row, CMT will present a special edition of their long running Crossroads series during the festivities for the Super Bowl. Last year it was Faith Hill and the Pretenders and, this year, on February 4, it will be Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood.
The two previously performed together at last year's ACM Awards.


Jamaican reggae pioneer Winston Riley passed away on Thursday from gunshot wounds to the head he received in November. He was 65.
Riley had been the target of a number of unexplained attacks in 2011, including being shot in August and stabbed in September.

Riley was a founder of the Techniques while still a teenager and was still adapting and having hits into the 80's. He was also credited with introducing reggae to England.