Bon Jovi will perform a free concert in New York City's Central Park on July 12th. Officials confirmed the performance on Monday (June 30th), billing it as a prelude to the July 15th All-Star baseball game, which will take place at Yankee Stadium.

Bon Jovi's current tour will end with concerts at Madison Square Garden on July 14th and 15th.

This is the last year MLB play will take place at the current Yankee Stadium before a new facility is unveiled next season.

Guitarist Richie Sambora said at the beginning of the band's tour that the staging was something people would remember: "We've got a bunch of HD screens that just morph into different things and it's gonna be one of those things I think that'll be a spectacle and people have never seen it. From what we know after 25 years of experience of these stages and stuff like that, it looks like kind of a 'holy cow' moment, you know what I mean, people are gonna walk away going 'wow, this is really cool.'"

Paul McCartney may not be the most athletic person, but the former Beatle enjoys watching sports and helping people in need. He recently signed on to support the British Paralympic team, and is featured in a new TV ad campaign highlighting the best disabled athletes. The cause aims to raise $4 million, which would go towards sending some disabled athletes to Beijing to attend the Olympics. McCartney told the Guardian he got involved with the British Paralympic team after meeting a disabled equestrian rider named Sophie Christiansen. McCartney said because he loves the Olympics he wanted to help out somehow, so that's why the Paralympics seemed like a good fit.

He said, "Most of us know the Paralympics exist, but I thought it was probably a good idea to raise awareness of it. Also to raise some money, because they are pretty underfunded and, of course, with someone like Sophie it takes quite a lot to get her and her horse and her support team to Beijing."

As for McCartney himself, he was never much of an athlete despite growing up in the sport-loving city of Liverpool, England. He admitted, "I was terrible, pretty hopeless, really. I used to enjoy football in the street, but by the time it got a bit more formalized, I wasn't very good at it. That puts you off, there are always guys mightily bigger or better than you are. And that's how it was with the Beatles; none of us was very sports-minded. I like watching the football on the telly, I go to the occasional match, but I'm not a massive fan."

McCartney said it's kind of strange that neither he nor any of the other Beatles were very passionate about England's most popular sport, soccer. He said, "Yeah, you would think we would be rabid fans, but we weren't. I think we had been those kind of guys who didn't really like sport at school. In cricket I was always happy when they stuck me in the outfield, the ball hardly ever reached me and I could just sit around dawdling about. It's not my idea of fun. And we were on tour the whole time and we never became mad sports fans."

He also said that another popular English pastime -- going out to pubs after work -- kind of passed the Beatles by because of their early success. He said, "We just didn't do that. They were a couple of things that we probably would have got into if we had stayed in Liverpool. We were sports wimps and proud of it."

And as for becoming famous at such an early age, McCartney says he does think about what it would be like to lead a more normal life, adding, "But of course the grass is always greener. So I crave that, but then I remind myself that I was really fed up that no one noticed me back then. And girls wouldn't go out with me. So I remind myself of that and I think: 'You are all right where you are, be happy.'"

When asked how English soccer player Albert Stubbins ended up as one of the people on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, McCartney said he thinks it was John Lennon's choice. McCartney said, "The idea originally was for all of us to name our heroes because we were going to become this fictitious group, Sgt. Pepper's, so we wanted to give ourselves some background... You give your character a story, and everyone came up with their favorites, who their character loved. Of course, being the Beatles this was only taken half seriously and I think John eventually came up with Albert Stubbins." Looking back, McCartney thinks they chose Stubbins more for the humor angle than anything else, adding, "It's just a funny name, isn't it?"

Neil Young has started playing the Beatles classic "A Day in the Life" as the final encore song of his summer European tour. It's a timely move, considering Paul McCartney just performed the track for the first time since the original studio recording 41 years ago, at a charity show in the Ukraine. There's footage of Young's recent show from Dublin, Ireland on YouTube.

"A Day in the Life" appeared on the Beatles 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Young's next show is on Friday (July 4th) in Werchter, Belgium.

REO Speedwagon will headline the Ridin' The Storm Out - Floods of 2008 Relief Concert on July 16th, to benefit Iowa flood victims. Along with special guest Little River Band and additional guests to be announced, they will perform at Prairie Meadows racetrack in Polk County, Iowa, and donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation.

Concertgoers must be 21 and over for admittance. Tickets are priced at $20 and go on sale tomorrow (July 2nd) at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster, which will waive the usual convenience and handling fees for this event.

Recent floods in the Midwest have devastated Iowa and surrounding areas, forcing thousands from their homes and rendering vast counties as disaster areas.

In other REO Speedwagon news, the band's recent performance in Chicago will air as part of PBS' Soundstage series, airing Wednesday (July 3rd) at 10 p.m. ET. Titled REO Speedwagon: Live in the Heartland (2008), it features such chart-toppers as "Keep On Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling" as well as the more recent "Find Your Own Way Home."

REO Speedwagon will take part in ESPN's Battle of the Bands, which requires them to create their own version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."

REO Speedwagon tour dates (subject to change):
July 1 - Muskegon, MI - Heritage Landing
July 3 - St. Paul, MN - Harriet Island Park
July 4 - Naperville, IL - Naperville Ribfest
July 5 - Elizabethtown, KY - Freeman Lake Park
July 9 - Lansing, MI - Common Ground Festival Adado River Park
July 10 - Interlochen, MI - Interlochen Center (Kresge Auditorium)
July 11 - Beloit, WI - Beloit Riverfest
July 12 - Merrillville, IN - Star Plaza Theatre
July 17 - Effingham, IL - The Rosebud Theatre
July 18 - Fond du Lac, WI - Fond du Lac County Fair
July 19 - Riverside, IA - Riverside Casino and Golf Resort
July 31 - West Allis, WI - Wisconsin State Fair
August 1 - Wausau, WI - Wisconsin Valley Fair (Grandstand)
August 2 - Sterling Heights, MI - Sterlingfest Dodge Park
August 7 - Trumbull, CT - Indian Ledge Park
August 8 - Cumberland, MD - Firefighters Sportsmens Bash
August 9 - Asheville, NC - Biltmore Estate
August 11 - Waldorf, MD - Regency Furniture Stadium
August 14 - Pittsburgh, PA - PNC Park at North Shore
August 15 - Lockport, NY - Moslon Canal Concert Series
August 16 - Columbus, OH - The LC Pavillion
August 17 - Greenville, OH - Darke County Fair
October 2 - Valley Center, CA - Harrahs Rincon Open Sky Theater
October 3 - Reno, NV - The Silver Legacy
October 4 - Wendover, NV - Peppermill Concert Hall
October 18 - San Juan, Puerto Rico - Roberto Clemente Coliseum

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is stirring political passion in the music world unlike any candidate in recent history. According to RollingStone.com, the list of artists who've come out in support of the Illinois Senator ranges from veteran rockers like Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, to alternative rockers Green Day and Fall Out Boy, to rap stars Jay-Z, Common and Lil Wayne, to neo-soul crooner John Legend.

Especially impressive was the endorsement from Dylan, who rarely makes direct political statements. Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz says, "What Dylan said was mind-blowing. It's like, I don't really need to talk about Obama anymore if Bob Dylan's talking about him."

Conor Oberst, leader of indie rock outfit Bright Eyes, notices a significant difference between this election and 2004, when he joined the likes of Springsteen, John Fogerty, Dave Matthews, David Crosby, the Dixie Chicks and others on the Vote for Change tour promoting the candidacy of John Kerry against incumbent George W. Bush. Oberst says, "Then we were campaigning and voting against something. Now we are campaigning and voting for something, which is a completely different dynamic." Crosby adds, "I worked for Kerry but with large reservations because I thought he was kind of a wooden Indian. You look at Barack, and you can't help feeling hopeful."

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, who's designed his own Obama T-shirts and worn them onstage, comments, "We are a country of ideas that have been squandered. With Obama, we have the possibility to have someone who represents what we are in the 21st century. My generation blew it, and for the first time in my life, I can vote for someone younger than me."

Rape charges against Poison drummer Rikki Rockett have been dropped. According to TMZ.com, Rockett, whose real name is Richard Ream, says an imposter named John Minskoff is going around and claiming to be him, among other musicians.

The charges stem from an alleged incident that took place September 23, 2007 at the Silver Star Casino in Neshoba County, Mississippi. Rockett was originally accused of forcing himself on an unidentified woman in a hotel room. She filed a police report days later. Now Rockett says a district attorney has called him saying they knew that they had the wrong person.

Rockett added, "What we believe is that there is an imposter that's using my name." Rockett says this imposter has been using other "rock star" names, including David Lee Roth and Brett Michaels, to commit crimes. Rockett said, "I guess he was claiming to be me. I'm not even sure about that. Somehow my name got in the mix." Rockett said that Minskoff got hit with a kidnapping charge after luring a girl in by saying she could model for Whitesnake.

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