News Bytes For September

• A U.K. reunion tour in February/March 2010 is now planned with Jobson, Wetton, Marco Minnemann on drums (from UKZ) and Greg Howe (Victor Wooten, Vitalij Kuprij, Michael Jackson) on guitar.
• Opeth front man Mikael Åkerfeldt is planning to record a singer/songwriter styled solo album according to the Finnish rock mag Sound. He says that discovering Nick Drake has really expanded his musical world view and made him understand the power of such acoustic simplicity. He says he could well make it an Opeth album but this time he wants to do everything by himself and record the songs at home. There is no set date of release. (PA)
• On September 1, 2009, Livgren suffered a stroke early in the day. His condition was reported as "serious, but stable. By September 4, family members called his condition positive and said his progress in recovering was encouraging. Livgren underwent surgery and received two stents in his carotid arteries. The area of his brain in which the stroke-causing clot formed deals with language and other high-end skills. Livgren's family says his face did not have the "sagging" often found in stroke victims, he recognized family members, and would squeeze their hands in recognition. The family established the Kansas band website as the only authorized source for information on Livgren's recovery.