Tonight Metallica joins the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame. Who will be there? Apparently a lot of the band's friends dating back to the begining. Jason Newsted returns for a couple songs along with Rob on bass guitar, and it's said that Ray Burton, Cliff's father will join the band onstage to represent his son. Who else is there? Folks spotted in Cleveland include Anthrax, Flea, Harald Oimoen, Brian Slagel...

Fuse TV will broadcast on cable television on on their website.

Live Design Online has an interview with Metallica lighting and production designer John Broderick. While it's fulled with the sort of info that might mean little to us laypersons, it is still wonderfully insightful and full of details - both large and small - it definitely helps one appreciate the work and workers that are behind the scenes at every Metallica show.

Aside from that, it contains one tidbit that might concern all Metallica fans: And it seems Broderick isn’t tired of the gig after 21 years. He’ll be back out with Metallica in the South of France in July for a DVD shoot of the tour.

APRIL FOOLS
From Reuters:

With a new Ozzy Osbourne album in the works and the new Osbournes: Reloaded television program set to debut, 2009 appears to be the year that Ozzy returns. Likewise, the Metallica machine is running on all cylinders and entering into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with a much hyped return of the "classic" black album line up. Both rock legends are set for the biggest years in recent memory.

To add more to the mix, current Metallica bass player Robert Trujillo is jumping ship and returning to his Osbourne roots. Trujillo, Metallica's four string wunderkid for the last six years will return to help finish writing and record the basslines for the new Ozzy Osbourne album and join the group for it's upcoming fall tour. After making his intentions known just weeks ago, the Metallica camp extended an olive branch to Newsted, their former bass player of 14 years with the intention that the Rock Hall Induction will serve as his audition.

Some interesting reports of Jason Newsted's participation in Metallica's performance at the induction ceremony for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Jason, Lars and Kirk have already been quoted as saying that Jason will indeed perform with the band.

Now, it seems that Metallica will perfom two songs during the ceremony... both with Jason Newsted on bass. Rob will not play with the band... but should be present at the actual induction, as will Cliff's father, Ray Burton.

Billboard states (about Lars' call to Jason) He said, 'We want you to rock with us,' " Newsted recalls. Ulrich told him that Robert Trujillo, Metallica's current bassist "'is not gonna play at all. we want you to play.' And my first question was, 'How's Robert with that? How does he feel about that? I don't want to create any kind of negative anything. I want this all to be proper.' and... The group plans a sound check/rehearsal for Friday night, then will play "something old (and) something new" on Saturday -- though both songs will be from Newsted's tenure with the band. "One louder than the next -- that's all I know," he says with a laugh.

Rolling Stone has a similar report, but adds... Does that mean Newsted likes Death Magnetic? “It was better than St. Anger.”

The Detroit Free Press reports that Metallica's appearance at the South By Southwest Festival was not all roses:

"It was the worst thing I've ever seen at SXSW," says Scott Hamilton, head of Detroit-based Smallstone Records. Hamilton and a handful of Smallstone bands, including hometown outlaw country boys Whitey Morgan, were showcasing right across the street from Stubb's at the time of the Metallica performance. "Not only did they affect my showcase, they drained every club," Hamilton says. "Why come down here and ruin a festival that's about breaking independent artists? A band that big has no business being at that festival."

X Box Live users can download a preview of the Guitar Hero Metallica game. You can play two Metallica songs in this preview.

Look for Broken, Beat & Scarred as the next Metallica video and single.

The Unforgiven 3 and Suicide & Redemtion are now the only Death Magnetic tunes not to be played live as My Apocalypse made its live debut March 25th in Birmingham (the band also played Black Sabbath's Hole in the Sky for the second time ever).

Comcast OnDemand subscribers can find the Heavy Metal In Baghdad documentary available for viewing. The band Acrassicauda gained their fame from this film - they're notable for their appearance in a MetOnTour video where James gave the band one of his guitars.