MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine has issued the following update:

"Droogies!

Well, the holiday season is here and some of us are definitely getting coal in the ol' stocking, which is getting off easy. Me, I probably deserve a boxcar of the stuff, but again I look back and what looked like a topsy-turvy year, but in the end turned out to be one of the best years in my career yet.

From the gifts of Gigantour 2006 and all the bands, Gigantour Australia and all the bands (some from G2006), Gigantour Day in Tokyo (some from G2006), the new Megadeth record nearing completion, hiring my new bassist and very close friend James Lomenzo, changing management to the illustrious Azoff Artists group under the watchful eye of my new fantastic manager Mark Adelman, the same can be said about the changing of agencies to the perfect home for Megadeth with Scott Sokol and Pinnacle Entertainment, to the best gift of all – reconciling with my wife and family, . . . that is what Christmas is really about for me.

I thank every one of you for your kind words, prayers, positive vibes, and the cards, letters, and gifts, . . . as well as the insults, curses, bad blood, negative posts, threads, and just plain existence for being my inspiration, to have made what is a record I can't stop listening to. Even though it has taken a long time to make; this one needed to be this way. A "statement" is going to be made in less than four months.

I also just agreed to the first confirmed concert date next year in the summer in Europe in one of my favorite countries and as soon as I can say something, I will. It could be today, if we have permission to say.

Lastly, while I left ESP guitars as an endorser, I also left behind friends in the staff. To Matt, Jose, Allen, the girls in the office, and the guys in the shipping and back room, I miss you and happy holidays. I have a new guitar home and will be announcing it at NAMM 2007.

So long to Kevin Gasser and his lovely wife Lisa, and new born son Austin, to John Dee, and to his staff at Benchmark; Jenni and who knows who else, to Keith Sarkesian and William Morris Agency, and to anyone else that we worked with that we have completed our time together on this earth, I thank you and wish you the very best in all things and with all of your families.

And to you, my very special Droogs, where would I be without you? I would have all this music and no one to thrash to it.

Thank God thank you are all here and a part of my life. I am eternally grateful to my band mates and the special relationship the four of us have with you. I think about how to play for you night and day. Everything I read I turn into a song and everything I see I want to share with you, but alas that is garbage for a romance novel.

Until then, I, speaking on behalf of Megadeth, will see you again . . . real soon! (like maybe me and Glen next month in Birmingham)"

Source BBM

Norway's SIRENIA are the latest act confirmed for the 10th Anniversary of Germany's Summer Breeze Festival, which scheduled for August 16th - 18th in Dinkelsbühl, Germany. Acts now confirmed for Summer Breeze 2007 include: AMON AMARTH, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, COMMUNIC, CREMATORY, DARK FUNERAL, DIE APOKALYPTISCHEN REITER, DORNENREICH, DORO, EISBRECHER, FEAR MY THOUGHTS, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, HELRUNAR, HEVEIN, ILLDISPOSED, IMMOLATION, IN EXTREMO, KEEP OF KALESSIN, KRYPTERIA, MOONSORROW, NECROPHOBIC, SECRETS OF THE MOON, SIRENIA, TANKARD, TANZWUT. Stay tuned for further updates.

Source BBM

Louise Jury of the U.K.'s The Independent reports that "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp is being lined up to play a rock star for real in a biopic of the late QUEEN frontman Freddie Mercury .

Robert de Niro 's company, Tribeca Productions , is said to be behind the project, which Brian May , the QUEEN guitarist, confirmed was in development. "Discussions are at an early stage," he said on his web site.

May described Depp as "fantastic." "He would be a worthy counterpart for Freddie on screen. I don't think I can say any more right now," he added.

De Niro has known Brian May and QUEEN 's drummer, Roger Taylor , since they met at the Venice Film Festival in 1996 and ploughed his own money into their hit stage musical, "We Will Rock You" . The musical was originally going to be about the band but the surviving members decided that would be too embarrassing for all involved.

The proposed biopic would tell the life story of Mercury , who was born in Zanzibar in 1946 and died from complications of AIDS in 1991, the day after confirming he had the disease.

His real name was Farrokh Bulsara but he adopted the name he was best known by at school in India, where he grew up. His family settled in England when he was in his teens. He performed with several bands before co-founding QUEEN in 1971.

Source TheIndependent