We sometimes wonder about those serious musical questions, whether they be real life events or infamous rumors…  what would Elvis be doing if he were still alive?  What if Eddie Van Halen had joined KISS?  Is Paul McCartney really Billy Shears?  Did Keith Richards really snort his dad’s ashes?  Did that scream in the middle of “Love Rollercoaster” really come from a woman that got killed in the studio?  Let’s take a moment and ponder an alternate reality of five truths, rumors, and(?) tall tales…

• Jimi Hendrix lives and goes on to record a couple of space age funk\jazz\fusion album with Miles Davis and nearly disappearing from the music scene altogether in the 80s until Michael Jackson invites him to guest on a new album. Hendrix is so inspired by the material that he goes on to revolutionize dance music as we know it.

• Jimmy Page convinces Jeff Beck, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle to form a new supergroup, effectively ending both The Yardbirds and The Who. Band recruits Steve Marriott for vocal duties and releases four albums of blistering hard rock before Moon leaves in 1970 to begin a lifelong career as game show host on the BBC.

• After the “Toot And A Snore” attempt a few years prior, John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet in a New York studio in 1976 to begin writing sessions for a secret project. Once writing is complete, they call in Ringo and George and lay down enough tracks for a triple album.  The Fabs are excited about the material and call it “our best work”, but unfortunately the record company refuses the masters, telling the band that it won’t sell as disco is the “hip new thing” and “the future of music”

• In 1981, MTV debuts with the goal of introducing the general public to music with “substance over style” focusing on musicianship, intelligent lyrics, and keen insight. The new channel is a hit with the older generation, and, surprisingly, the younger folks as they are introduced to artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Weather Report, Johnny Cash, and Bob Marley and newer stars such as former nun\now folk balladeer Madonna Louise Ciccone.

• After jokingly running for President of the United States in 1980, Joe Walsh gets serious about a career in politics and decides to run for office again in 1996 as a third party candidate. Although he loses, he is so loved by the public that President Bill Clinton creates a new position in his cabinet for Walsh as Ambassador of Good Will.  Walsh’s responsibilities include hotel room trashing seminars for visiting dignitaries, reading children’s stories on the White House lawn through a talk box, and lead environmental spokesman to save marine life called the ILBT initiative (I Like Big Tortoises).