Lookout, NYC midtown traffic:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, U2, Paul Simon, Metallica, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Friends and Simon and Garfunkel are among the legendary artists confirmed for a landmark two-night concert event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Sprawling across October 29th and 30th at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the shows will feature Hall of Fame acts sharing the stage with guests and collaborators, honoring their influences and essentially retracing the history of rock in the process. For example, Crosby, Stills and Nash will share the stage with California-based artists while Metallica will lead a hard rock portion of the concerts. Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin will also each front a soul revue with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra.

They're going to cram all these artists who could sell out Madison Square Garden in their own right into a 2 night event? Looking forward to the live stream. We'll keep you posted as acts get added.

Los Lobos is one of the many acts forced to cancel shows in Mexico because of the swine flu outbreak.

According to Billboard, East LA's finest and other artists that are popular south of the border like Alejandro Fernandez and Marco Antonio Solís are all canceling shows due to a ban on public events in Mexico City until May 6th, when schools reopen. Though some of the concerts are after that date, many promoters and artists are opting to stay on the safe side and are scrambling to reschedule. Undeterred, the Jonas Brothers and Metallica are not canceling their sold-out Mexican dates.

Canada's SARS outbreak in 2003 caused a massive cancellation of public events and a suggestion from the WHO to cancel all nonessential travel. In July of 2003 Canadian artists like Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, The Guess Who and Rush organized a 450,000 person benefit concert in Toronto to show the world that their city was safe. Will Mexican artists do the same when this has all blown over?

Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night (part of their acceptance is above) and predictably, new bassist Robert Trujillo and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett came across as having some semblance of class and humility, while ringleaders James "Hey everyone, I'm in AA!!!" Hetfield and Lars "No one's said 'no' to me since I was 18" Ulrich both came across like fidgety self-absorbed tweens. My jury's still out on Jason Newstead, but props are in order for the shout-out to his old band Flotsam and Jetsam.

Stunning, however, was the lack of recognition paid by the band to original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. After getting the boot from Metallica, Mustaine went on to form Megadeth and live a life of making brilliant metal records to critical and commercial success, but all the while stayed bitter and butthurt about his former band's megastardom. Someone should explain to him that it's cooler to be he leader of Megadeth than to be Lars and James' whipping boy, and that Countdown to Extinction totally destroys the Black Album. They should also explain to the world's biggest hard rock band that they should pay a little respect to Mustaine's contribution to their sound by taking three seconds to say thanks.