Odds & Ends: Velvet Revolver, Coachella, Billy Dean & Beyoncé

Velvet Revolver will play a one-off engagement in Los Angeles this week; Billy Dean had a real “barn burner” of a holiday; looks as if Coachella will announce its lineup this week; and more information than you probably want to know about Beyoncé, Jay-Z and the birth of the couple’s first child.

Velvet Revolver Slots Benefit Show

Velvet Revolver will appear along with Maroon 5, Sheryl Crow and Tom Morello at West Hollywood’s House Of Blues Jan. 12 for a show honoring the late musician John O’ Brien. Other acts on the bill include Stephen Stills, Fishbone, Chantal Kreviazuk, and The Forest Rangers featuring Katey Sagal and Curtis Stigers.

In case you’re wondering, the Velvet Revolver appearance will include all members – Slash, Dave Kushner, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan – plus frontman Scott Weiland who left the band in 2008. Turns out Kushner was a good friend of O’Brien whose body was discovered in a Chicago hotel room last summer.

“I found out he passed away on Aug. 20, and it was like out of nowhere,” Kushner told Rolling Stone. “Next day I was in shock and my wife said to me, ‘You gotta have a benefit concert for his wife and you have to get Velvet Revolver back together.’ That’s how it started.”

Kushner also told the House-That-Wenner-Built that he approached Slash, Sorum and McKagan about the gig individually and then asked Weiland to join them.

“Because we haven’t played with Scott in a long time I said, ‘Look, let’s just do three songs.’ It’s not too much of a commitment,” Kushner told RS.

Tickets are on sale now. Click here for more information.

Photo: Rod Tanaka

Performance at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium.

Billy Dean’s Scorcher Of A Holiday

Things really heated up on the home front while country music artist Billy Dean was touring with Kenny Rogers during the holiday season. A fire at his Smithville, Tenn., farm dubbed “Deen Acres” resulted in his 1,500 square foot barn burning to the ground.

Along with losing his tractor and fishing boat in the blaze, Dean also lost many demos and master recordings dating back to before he signed with a label as well as several posters and photos.

Despite the loss, Dean was able to keep things in perspective.

“I lost a lot of things that were very meaningful to me but no one was hurt and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day,” Dean said. “We’ll rebuild but I’m really going to miss that tractor and fishing boat this spring.”

Surveys what’s left of his barn after it was destroyed by fire.

Coachella To Reveal Lineup?

Looks as if the folks who bring you the annual Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival are gearing up to announce their 2012 lineup.

A photo of the festival’s Empire Polo Club site in Indio, Calif., moved on Twitter last week with the caption “Next Week.” Coachella announced its 2011 lineup on Jan. 19 of last year.

This year’s Coachella will encompass two weekends – April 13-15 and April 20-22. The game plan calls for the festival to host the same lineup each weekend.

More News About Beyoncé Giving Birth

As we headed into the weekend, those who put food on their tables by reporting anything and everything about celebrities were saying Beyoncé was about to give birth.

Photo: AP Photo

MTV Video Music Awards, Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, Calif.

Sure enough, word began filtering out of NYC on Saturday that the singer and her husband Jay-Z were proud parents of Blue Ivy Carter. Jay-Z’s real name is Shawn Corey Carter.

In a song called “Glory” posted on Jay-Z’s website, the rapper calls his brand new daughter “the most beautiful girl in the world” and says she was conceived in Paris. Jay-Z also says Beyoncé suffered a miscarriage at one point.

“Last time the miscarriage was so tragic / We was afraid you’d disappear / But nah baby you magic.”

Beyoncé reportedly gave birth to Blue Ivy at the Lenox Hill Hospital on New York’s Upper East Side. We say “reportedly” because despite many of their friends and relatives tweeting news of the event, the power couple have yet to comment.

Although media reports claim the couple paid $1.4 million to rent a floor of the hospital for the blessed event, a hospital representative said “no patient has the ability to reserve an entire floor of the hospital.”

Photo: AP Photo

iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

And to remind us that the news biz is often celebrity-driven, an ABC News blog ran with the headline “Did Beyoncé Get ‘Posh Push’ Caesarian?” The blog states that scheduling births via c-section is now being called the “Posh Push” after Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and her soccer-playing husband David Beckham had four children by that method.