Chris Cornell To Celebrate Johnny Cash

Chris Cornell will be taking part in 'Johnny Cash: We Walk The Line", a special concert to be held in Austin, Texas on April 20 2012 celebrating the life and work of the legendary musician. The event takes place at Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theatre. Tickets go onsale Wednesday February 29, 2012 - buy them HERE.

Chris Cornell sings Bob Marley for Muhammad Ali

Chris Cornell sang Bob Marleys's 'Redemption Song' as part of ' "Ali From Las Vegas", screened by ABC in the US on Saturday.  The televised charity benefit from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas celebrated Muhammad Ali's 70th Birthday as well as raising money for for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY.

Chris also posted some photos of his family's trip to the event, which can be seen in full  here.

Chris Cornell Brings 'Songbook' To Europe!

Photo by Deena Cavallo

Good news for all European fans - Chris Cornell has announced that he's finally bringing his acclaimed acoustic 'Songbook' show to their side of the pond this summer.  Starting with four dates in England  (Manchester, London, Birmingham & Newcastle) in June, Chris's official announcement warns fans to expect more shows across the continent to be announced soon.  Already confirmed - his appearance at the Parkern Festival in Sweden.

UPDATE: Eight more shows announced this morning - France, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium. Most have presales which start TODAY. See chriscornell.com for all ticketing details and info.

Chris Plays For Obama And Faces Down A Bully

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(Photo by C Flanigan/FilmMagic)

Chris Cornell played at the 'Obama for America' Campaign Fundraiser at Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium yesterday in San Francisco, California. The setlist included some of his most emotionally hard-hitting material, plus some well-chosen covers: 

Redemption Song (Bob Marley cover) 

Ground Zero (from Scream)

 Wide Awake (From Audioslave's Revelations) 

Black Hole Sun (From Soundgarden's Superunknown)

 Imagine (John Lennon cover) 

Peace Love & Understanding (Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe cover)

 I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston/Dolly Parton cover) 

His final song was a moving tribute to singer Whitney Houston, who died recently in Los Angeles. Check out video below!

In other news - whilst travelling, Chris had cause to intervene to defend another passenger who was on the receiving end of some homophobic bullying at Seattle Airport.  The aggressor was removed by staff at Alaska Airlines, who thanked Chris for his part in the incident.  Read more about what happened here. 

More Songbook Dates For Chris Cornell

photo by Jaye & Mike English

Chris Cornell has announced more Songbook dates for May, including rescheduling the four shows he was forced to postpone after a bout of flu/laryngitis last November. Tickets for the original dates will be honoured at these shows and a small number of tickets are still available for some of them. 

5/12/12 Tampa, FL Tampa Theatre       
5/13/12 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live  
5/15/12 Fort Myers, FL Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall
5/16/12 Miami Beach, FL Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater  
5/18/12 Gulf Shores, AL Hangout Festival – Gulf Shores Public Beach  
5/20/12 Nashville, TN War Memorial Auditorium  

Ticket links and further info are available at chriscornell.com where more US shows will be announced soon. From 25 May to 10 June, Chris will be on tour in Europe with Soundgarden.

Chris Cornell performs 'The Keeper' in Australia

Here's a video of Chris performing 'The Keeper' live on Triple M Melbourne recently, between dates on Soundgarden's current Australian tour.

Chris Cornell Sets Record Straight Re Kanye West & Big Day Out

What Chris says in the above video clip from Triple.com.au ought to set matters straight on this much-misreported topic. It's all been something of a storm in a teacup - but like Chris says, it made good copy.  Shame the press invariably need more to talk about than the music!

Soundgarden impress fans and critics Down Under

Photo from Gold Coast show by Mark Calleja

Soundgarden have started their tour down under with some well-received appearances at the 2012 Big Day Out in Auckland, New Zealand and Australia's Gold Coast.

The New Zealand Herald called Soundgarden's set "nothing short of thrilling" while 3news.co.nz said "Soundgarden were the standout act of the final Auckland Big Day Out, with frontman Chris Cornell proving he’s maintained his vocal prowess over all these years."

After the band's first show in Australia,  TripleM said "The hotly anticipated set from the newly reunited Soundgarden - featuring Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, Matt Cameron and Chris Cornell - was epic."

Meanwhile, fans who attended the events had their say at Soundgardenworld.

Chris Cornell at the Golden Globes

Chris Cornell & his wife Vicky on the red carpet [photo: Jason Merritt, Getty]

Chris Cornell attended the Golden Globes in Los Angeles last night with his wife Vicky. Although Chris's song 'The Keeper' from Machine Gun Preacher was nominated in the Best Original Song category, the award went to Madonna for her song 'Masterpiece' from her self-directed film W.E. A complete list of this year's winners can be found at the BBC and there are more photos of Chris and Vicky here.

'The Keeper' appears on the longlist for Oscar consideration; Madonna's song does not, apparently because it was placed too far into the end credits of the movie to qualify as a 'lead song' - see this Digital Spy news item. The list of Oscar nominations will be announced on January 24.

Soundgarden rehearsing for Australian Tour

Chris Cornell tweeted this Soundgarden rehearsal photo today with the message "Rehearsing with Soundgarden for the upcoming tour down under!"

The band appear to be in Pearl Jam's Seattle rehearsal rooms - and if you look at the photo full size, is that Mike McCready sitting down in the background there? 

Soundgarden start their run of dates in New Zealand and Australia on January 20 in Auckland. See the full list of dates at http://www.soundgardenworld.com or http://chriscornell.com.