The end of last year found the United States and Cuba meeting for the first time in years, setting the stage for diplomatic relations to be renewed. And while the show had been in the works since before then, The Dead Daisies, a band featuring members of Guns N’ Roses, Thin Lizzy and Ozzy Osbourne, will be playing in Havana at the end of the month. The “Cuba Rocks for Peace” concert will find the band being able to use American credit cards, can spend as much money as they’d like to while there, and bring back $400 worth of souvenirs from the island, all of which are a result of the new regulations.
The band is an all-star assemblage of musicians, featuring Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus and keyboardist Dizzy Reed, drummer Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne), bassist Marco Mendoza, who’s played with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, and guitarist David Lowy. In addition, Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, former Motley Crue singer John Corabi and the Stones’ Bernard Fowler will join them in Cuba. The band will play at a concert that will also include Cuban artists David Blanco and Anima Mundi. The Dead Daisies will not get paid for the show, Billboard says.. They’ll attend a cocktail party with Cuban cultural officials and give a press conference with Cuban media, which is a small price to pay for being cultural ambassadors. Mendoza says that he’ll take a couple hundred bass strings, amps, guitars and picks to Havana to be donated to music schools. It will be interesting to see what other bands follow suit and take advantage of the new regulations.
