I’ve often complained that these days, people  DRIVE like they’re in a video game…but I’ve never heard of a PEDESTRIAN acting like he was in one–until today.  On Monday, a 23 yr old man in South Carolina was hangin with his friends, discussing classic video arcade games–like Frogger (pictured).  Suddenly, this guy yells “Go!”, and darted into traffic on the busy 4 lane highway. He was hit by an SUV, and hospitalized with moderate injuries.  –Hey Einstein…next time you wanna impersonate amphibians…stick with the Budweiser frogs.–it might be a little “wiser.”

By Russell Hall

A man who tricked workers at a Massachusetts pizza restaurant into believing they were filling a $3,900 order for Bob Dylan has come forward, and says he’ll help pay for the prank. As reported byThe Amherst Bulletin, on Nov. 20, a 46-year-old East Brunswick, New Jersey, man entered an Amherst pizzeria a few hours after Dylan had performed at a nearby venue.

Flashing backstage concert credentials, the man then placed an order for 178 extra-large gourmet pizzas. Workers stayed up until daybreak slinging dough and spreading toppings. When the man failed to return to pick up the order, the workers phoned police. Dylan’s camp was initially blamed for the incident, but, thanks to a surveillance tape, the true perpetrator was tracked down. Now, the unnamed prankster, who had no connection to Dylan or his crew, will make partial restitution.

Sean Clary, an Amherst attorney, said: “There was a deal struck between my client and the pizza parlor. My client regretted what he did and thought he did something out of character for himself.” The attorney declined to say how much money his client would pay, or if he would be leaving a tip.

Brought to you by ThisDayinMusic.com.

Born on this day:

1942, Ray Thomas, The Moody Blues
1946, Marianne Faithfull, singer
1947, Cozy Powell, drummer, Rainbow, ELP (For more on this story, see the This Day in Music Spotlight.)
1951, Yvonne Elliman, singer
1961, Jim Reid, singer, The Jesus and Mary Chain
1966, Bryan Holland, vocals, guitar, The Offspring

1956, Elvis Presley made chart history by having 10 songs on Billboard’s Top 100.

1962, during his first visit to the U.K., Bob Dylan performed at The Troubadour in London.

1966, The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their debut on the U.K. TV show Top Of The Pops, performing “Hey Joe.”

1966, Pink Floyd appeared at The Marquee, Wardour Street, London, England.

1966, working at Abbey Road Studios, London, The Beatles began work on the new Paul McCartney song, “Penny Lane,” recording six takes of keyboard tracks and various percussion effects.

1967, The Doors appeared at The Family Dog in Denver, Colorado.

1973, Jim Croce scored his second #1 US single of the year when “Time in a Bottle” went to the top of the charts. Croce was killed in a plane crash on September 20, 1973.

1980, American singer-songwriter Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose. Hardin wrote the songs “If I Were a Carpenter” (covered by Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Small Faces, Robert Plant and Bob Seger) and “Reason To Believe” (covered by Rod Stewart). Hardin appeared at the 1969 Woodstock festival.

1982, sets of commemorative stamps in memory of Bob Marley were issued in Jamaica.

1984, Band Aid were at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and Madonna was at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Like a Virgin.”

1999, three ferrets named Beckham, Posh Spice and Baby Spice were used to lay power cables for a rock concert being held in Greenwich, London. Workers were not allowed to dig the turf at the Royal Park.

1999, U.K. music paper, The Melody Maker, published its Music of the Millennium poll of albums, placing The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead at #1.

2002, readers of Sugar magazine voted Pink as their #1 role model. The Top 10 was: 1) Pink; 2) Britney Spears; 3) Ms Dynamite; 4) Kelly Osbourne; 5) Kylie Minogue; 6) Victoria Beckham; 7) Avril Lavigne; Jennifer Lopez; 9) Sarah Michelle Gellar; and 10) Holly Valance.

2006, Burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, the wife of rock singer Marilyn Manson, filed for divorce after just a year of marriage. The couple married in December 2005 in a ceremony held at a castle in Ireland.

By Peter Hodgson

Bon Jovi’s The Circle tour was the top concert draw of 2010, followed by AC/DC, U2, Lady Gaga and Metallica, according to Pollstar.

Jon Bon Jovi and Co. grossed $201.1 million from ticket sales. AC/DC’s Black Ice tour grossed $177 million from only 40 shows, while U2’s 360° tour brought in $160.9 million across 32 shows. Lady Gaga’s tour grossed $133 million across 138 concerts, and the final year of Metallica’s extensive World Magnetic tour grossed $110.1 million.

The top 10 also included Michael Buble ($104.2 million), the Walking with Dinosaurs show ($104.1 million), Paul McCartney ($93 million), the Eagles ($92.3 million) and Roger Waters’ The Wall tour ($89.5 million).

Trade publication Pollstar says sales for the top 50 tours of 2010 slipped 12% to $2.93 billion, with sales for tours in North America down 15% to $1.69 billion. Bon Jovi earned $108.2 million of their total from North American dates, ranking as the ninth highest grossing tour of all time in North America. The Rolling Stones still hold the record at $162 million for their 2005 A Bigger Bang tour.

By Michael Wright

In a rather cheeky-but-morbid interview with ClashMusic.com, Alice Cooper revealed how he would ideally like to spend his final day. The newly-elected Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said that he would like to wake up that fateful morning in Maui and then take a mystical transport to the legendary golf courses of Augusta and Pine Valley, setting course records on each. The boa-wearing frontman would then dine with Mike Myers (presumably the Wayne’s World one and not the fictional slasher), Tim Rice, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sylvester Stallone, Rob Zombie, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney — with McCartney eating a “big thick steak” in his honor. All of this would be followed by a jam session with his dinner guests — to be made into a live album. And then? “I think you just go to sleep,” said Cooper. “I can’t imagine a long death.”

As for an epitaph, Cooper asks for something short and sweet:

“‘Here lies Alice. Since when he was teething, he never stopped talking ’til he stopped breathing.’”

And resurrection?

“I’m sure a lot of people have said [they’d like to come back] as Angelina Jolie’s dresser, but that wouldn’t be my answer. I’d come back as the guy that’s one stroke better than Tiger Woods at his best.”

1915, Roebuck Staples, singer, The Staple Singer
1943, Chas Hodges, singer, bass, Heads Hands And Feet, Chas & Dave
1946, Edgar Winter, singer, keyboards
1950, Alex Chilton, guitar, singer, The Box Tops, Big Star
1971, Anita Dels, singer, 2 Unlimited
1978, John Legend, singer, songwriter
1979, Akon, singer

1961, Danny Williams was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with his cover of the Oscar-winning song from the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, “Moon River.”

1966, Ike & Tina Turner appeared at the El Cortez Hotel, San Diego, California.

1968, Vanilla Fudge appeared at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada supported by Led Zeppelin (on their first U.S. tour).

1972, David Bowie appeared at The Hardrock, Stretford, Manchester, England on his Ziggy Stardust tour.

1974, Helen Reddy went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Angie Baby,” the singer’s third U.S. #1. The song was turned down by Cher.

1978, Chris Bell, guitarist with Big Star, was killed after his car crashed into a telephone pole. He was 27.

1983, after a heavy day’s drinking, Beach Boy Dennis Wilson drowned while swimming from a boat moored in Marina Del Rey, California. (For more on this story, see the This Day in Music Spotlight.)

1991, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Pearl Jam all appeared at Del Mar O’Brien Pavilion, San Diego, California.

1993, Canadian singer Shania Twain married record producer Mutt Lange.

2003, 50 Cent’s debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, was named the biggest-selling album in the U.S. in 2003, going platinum six times over. Outkast came second withSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below and Linkin Park’s Meteora was the third biggest seller.

2005, Pink Floyd were voted the greatest rock stars ever in a survey of 58,000 listeners from U.K. radio station, Planet Rock. Led Zeppelin were voted into second place, third were The Rolling Stones, fourth were The Who, fifth were AC/DC, sixth were U2, seventh were Guns N’ Roses, eighth were Nirvana, ninth were Bon Jovi and in tenth place was Jimi Hendrix. Listeners also named the 1970s as the golden age of rock, followed by the 1960s.

By Russell Hall

It’s been a long wait, but fans of Joe Walsh will at last be treated to a new Walsh solo album in 2011. The yet-to-be-titled disc, half of which is being produced by Jeff Lynne (with Walsh producing the rest), will be Walsh’s first since 1992’s Songs for a Dying Planet. “I’ve been working on it for a long time during the Eagles downtime,” the guitarist told Undercover.fm, in a recent interview. “It’s rock and roll and it’s new songs. Hopefully it will get out April [or] May.”

Walsh had a ready explanation for the gap between albums. “I finally got sober in 1994, and I had to learn actually to write and play and do everything sober,” he says. “I just didn’t write for quite a while. Also, the Eagles have really been busy. During downtime I can work on doing an album and I just decided that however long it took would be okay. It’s nice to do one because I want to, and not because I have to. I’m really happy with it.”

Known for his wittily twisted album titles, Walsh said he’s yet to settle on an apt moniker for the new disc. “I’ve got a couple of [possibilities],” he said. “I went to this Whole Foods Market and the bags that they put the food in, it’s all recycled. On the side of the bag it says, ‘I used to be a plastic bottle.’ And I thought that’s a brilliant title. This may be a green album titled I Used to Be a Plastic Bottle.”

By Andrew Vaughan

It’s been another week of great music, crazy antics and some sad passings in the wild world of rock and roll. A Foo Fighters gig saw most of Nirvana back on stage together again for the first time since 1994, Radiohead’s OK Computer was voted best album of the past 25 years and Yoko Ono said that John Lennon would have loved Facebook. Captain Beefheart and soul singer Teena Marie made their way to rock and roll heaven while new American Idol judge Steven Tyler admitted he finds it hard to be mean like Simon Cowell and Bono came clean about having the “annoying gene.”

1. Foo Fighters Gig Sees Nirvana Members Reunion

2. Responses to Captain Beefheart’s Passing

3. Steven Tyler Struggles To Find His Inner Simon Cowell

4. Radiohead’s OK Computer is Best Album of Past 25 Years

5. Bono: ‘I Have an Annnoying Gene… I Even Annoy Myself’

6. Duff McKagan Says His Tell-All Book is ‘Story of Redemption’

7. Motörhead Announce New Tour Dates

8. Elvis Presley and The Beatles Top 2010’s “Most Dangerous Autographs”

9. Yoko: John Lennon Would Love Facebook and Lady Gaga

10. Creation Records Documentary Coming Soon

Simon Baker, the star of the TV show The Mentalist, just signed a new contract extension that will pay him $ 30 million.  Whoa!…I admit, I’m a casual fan of the series, because 1)Simon plays a character very much like a modern day Sherlock Holmes & 2)the show is set in Sacramento.   It’s cool seeing your hometown on the TV screen, and there ARE occasional shots of Old Sac (where the “CBI” office is supposedly located).  But most of  The Mentalist is actually  filmed in LA…and quite often, the locations referred to on the screen are fictional town names.  However, there WAS an episode that had a scene that  referred to  Citrus Heights.  I perked up as I saw that….and then thought, “Oh really? I didn’t realize there are MOUNTAINS in Citrus Heights!”  There goes Hollywood again..changing reality for the sake of a TV show…