May 7th: Scantlin was stopped by police for speeding and when cops ran his info, they discovered two warrants out for his arrest. He was taken to a nearby police station and released a few hours later on $11,176 bail. The warrants stemmed from two separate cases -- one for driving on a suspended license and one for a recent cocaine bust. They were likely triggered by his having missed court dates in both cases.

May 15th: Police are called to a business in Hollywood after someone reported Scantlin had shaken his ex-wife and then tried to drag her by the arm or the shirt. After cops spoke with witnesses and the victim, they decided to arrest Scantlin for domestic violence. His bail was set at $20,000. 

July 24th: Scantlin is arrested for felony vandalism, allegedly using a buzzsaw to chop up his neighbor’s patio and took a sledgehammer to a brick wall.

August 7th: Scantlin’s neighbor gets a restraining order against him.

August 27th: Scantlin allegedly abandons his SUV, damaged and with a wheel off, on the side of a road in Hollywood Hills.

It wasn't a great year for 3 Doors Down bassist Todd Harrell, who is still awaiting trial, was arrested in April for vehicular homicide by intoxication. On April 19th, Nashville police found Harrell in his crashed Cadillac on I-40 after he allegedly clipped a pickup truck and sent it through a guardrail and down an embankment.  The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was killed. Harrell voluntarily checked into an undisclosed drug rehab center a week after the accident.In August, he was found guilty of a July 2012 DUI in Mississippi. He was fined and had his license suspended for an undisclosed length of time.

Stone Temple Pilots and Scott Weiland (aka - the new GNR vs Axl) added a few more chapters this year.In February, the band issued a statement saying Weiland had been terminated. Weiland issued his own statement saying, "Not sure how I can be 'terminated' from a band that I founded, fronted and co-wrote many of its biggest hits, but that's something for the lawyers to figure out."

In May, STP added fuel to the fire by debuting their new singer, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, at a festival in Irvine, California. Weiland issued an open letter to his former bandmates that stated they had no legal use of the STP name because "I'm still a member of the band. And more importantly, they don't have the ethical right to call themselves Stone Temple Pilots because it's misleading and dishonest to the millions of fans that have followed us for so many years." Around the time Weiland statement's was posted, the three remaining members of STP filed suit against him in a Los Angeles court. The action claimed that the band owns the rights to the band's name, songs, copyrights and trademarks, and that Weiland had no right to bill himself as a former member.  So Weiland countersued, asking that a judge formally dissolve the group's partnership. When the new version of STP eventually released an EP with Bennington on vocals in October, they billed themselves as Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington. This all gives me a headache just writing about it!

Of course, we also lost rockers this year. Most notable,Doors Keyboardist Ray Manzarek and J.J. Cale and Lou Reed. Reed's wife, Laurie Anderson, wrote her farewell in the East Hampton Star.

For Lou Reed

 

To our neighbors:

What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.

Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.

Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!

Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.

Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.

— Laurie Anderson
his loving wife and eternal friend

Ray Manzarek passed away in Germany suppounded by loved ones from bile duct cancer - which he kept quiet. 

J.J. Cale died of a heart attack on June 26th. Cale was not only an amazing musician, but has written some of the most recognizable songs in rock. Songs like "After Midnight" "Call Me the Breeze" and "Crazy Mama" (just to name a few) have been covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Tom Petty, Carlos Santana, Waylon Jennings and more.

Behind the scenes icons Phil Ramone, Andy Johns and Sid Berstein were also lost this year. These guys brought us the music of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Van Halen and way too many to count. They changed the face of Rock and Roll.

Speaking of the face of Rock and Roll, legendary album cover artist Storm Thorgerson was lost to us is 2013 as well. He designed the iconic covers of albums by Pink Floyd,  Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Genesis and more. This Pink Floyd fan page did a nice job paying tribute to Storm.

http://pink-floyd-fan.blogspot.com/2013/04/storm-thorgerson.html

Those are just a handful of 2013's memorable moments. Be well. Be happy. And here's to a good 2014!

- Sandra Miller