Tom Petty is putting the finishing touches on a new solo album, "Highway Companion,"
Expected to be released in June. Although Petty previously said the disc would be released by Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, confirmation of the deal is still pending at deadline.

"I'm reaching there to try and find a theme," Petty tells Billboard of the project, which he previously described as being about the passage of time. "It's just a really nice collection of songs. I think it does have an underlying theme of time and what it does to you."

In support of the album, Petty and the Heartbreakers will tour extensively in 2006, with dates concentrated in the June-July and September-October time frames. True to form, they will try something different.

"What we're trying to do is a bunch of shows with different artists that either we like or think would be an interesting show," Petty manager Tony Dimitriades tells Billboard. "One of the main things we're doing is a bunch of shows with Pearl Jam. We're also talking to John Mayer about doing some dates, as well as the Strokes."

"And maybe in the occasional show there will be a friend [to] come on the road with us for a few days," he continues.

As previously reported, director Peter Bogdonavich is also following Petty and company for a film due later this year. Why did the famously private Petty allow for such unfettered access? "I think it's a worthwhile project, and I think it's good that he's going to finally tell this story completely. Sometimes, giving up your privacy is a little like going to the dentist, and we have let him have access that no one's ever had."

Gone Gator Radio is a HIT!
Thank you, thank you!

Not even a week old and Gone Gator Radio is loved by Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker fans all over the world!

Here are some of the comments we've been getting:

Hometown Bluesman – "This is the best.. Tom Petty radio… already on a preset...GREAT MUSIC!!!

Normandi – "Man... can't wait to get home to do chores so I can listen to Gone Gator Radio !!!! "

Clarissa – "There are good things in life... this is one of them. Soooo happy I can play it at work. What a way to start the day! A TPATH 24/7 station"

Kemmitt – "Thanks so much Sean. This is awesome, finally some quality radio on the internet ."

GoodToBeKing2006 – "Hot Damn this is good stuff radio cant stop listening"

The Wild One Forever – "This radio station has inspired me to post on the BBS for the first time in years. Most things said on here belong in one of two categories: rumors without basis or people passing through just trying to stir the unknowing into defensive mode. .I just wanted to say that this radio stream is fantastic!!

If you haven't checked it out yet, click on the Gone Gator Radio banner. Come see what all the fuss is about. I will be doing live DJ shows from Atlanta and Bornarebel will be doing a show from LA. With a catalog of music as great, deep and as widely loved as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, we thought this band deserved their OWN radio station. Gonegator.com has always provided you the fans with dependable information regarding the band. With a summer tour being booked and a new album coming out, we plan to surpass anything we've ever done previously through our new radio station. Contests and live phone ins are in the works!

Tell all your friends to check out Gone Gator Radio! And let's make the band's 30th anniversary a memorable one!

Sean

Southern Man
Tom Petty, like rock ’n’ roll, was born in the South. He has created timeless music that surpasses most of his influences.
Philip Martin

Let me remind you that this ain’t the end. I can still kick some ass. — Tom Petty, accepting his Billboard Century Award in December Rock ’n’ roll belongs to anyone who wants it bad enough. It doesn’t much matter what you sound like when you open your mouth to sing or who your daddy was or what star you fell to earth from. If you’ve got aspiration and arrghh and a way of connecting with the boys and girls, you don’t need much talent. It’s a democratic form; all you need is a back story and something to bash on.

But we do have to insist that you acknowledge it started here, below America’s belt. Elvis and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins and Ike Turner and Sam Phillips and Dewey Phillips and all those wild Burnett boys who started the grass fire that would consume the world were Southerners. Rock ’n’ roll was born Southern. Rock ’n’ roll’s an equal opportunity employer, but facts are facts.

To understand the subject of this essay, a Floridian with Indianstraight corn-silk hair and a crooked grin named Tom Petty, it’s important to know that rock ’n’ roll — as opposed to the corporatized “rock” — is essentially a Southern thing and always has been. Whether it’s Jersey-boy Springsteen affecting the beat-down vowels and mumbled “sirs” of the sharecropper or Britishers Mick and Keef droppin’ their g’s or even Dylan — the boy from the Iron Range — trying to sound like Blind Willie McTell, the inflections and vernacular of rock ’n’ roll have always been Southern.

This is one of those years when people will talk a lot about Petty and how he fits into our cultural landscape. November will see the 30 th anniversary of the release of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, probably the greatest debut album ever by an American band. In December, Petty was honored with Billboard magazine’s highest honor, the Century Award. Last year, Petty’s first “biography” (actually an extended dialogue with writer / musician Paul Zollo titled Conversations With Tom Petty was published. In the foreword, Petty promised an autobiography at “another time” ). Later this year — possibly as early as this month — Petty will release his next solo album, Highway Companion. There is an often-told story about Petty meeting Elvis Presley on the set of a movie improbably titled Follow That Dream. Petty’s uncle Earl Jernigan — “the only Northerner in the family” — worked a lot with film crews shooting in Florida. One day he brought 11-year-old Tommy with him to the set. “I didn’t know a lot about Elvis Presley,” Petty told Zollo. “I couldn’t get into my head who Elvis was exactly. I knew he was a rock ’n’ roll star. And I’d never thought much about rock ’n’ roll until that moment.” Elvis said hello and smiled and nodded. Petty doesn’t remember what he said. You can make it out to be like that moment when Bill Clinton shook JFK’s hand in the Rose Garden if you want to, a signal moment of torch-passing.

UNDERVALUED? People like Petty. They love the expansive jangle and grace of his singles. But they don’t necessarily consider him an important artist. He’s not Bruce Springsteen singing about the socioeconomic consequences inherent in the paradigm shift from industrial to service economies, and he’s not Bob Dylan muttering mad prayers. He works a vein of mainstream pop, singing mostly about girls.

If you’re going to make a case for Petty and his Heartbreakers as the pre-eminent American band of our time, you’d better prepare your case carefully. The same is true if you’re going to suggest that maybe the Heartbreakers are the direct descendants of Creedence Clearwater Revival or the American equivalent of the Rolling Stones — that is, if you don’t like Petty, you don’t like rock ’n’ roll.

Which goes back to the idea of rock ’n’ roll being essentially Southern and the existence of a specific genre known as Southern rock. It’s pretty much over now, although you still hear residual traces of it in bands like Drive-By Truckers and My Morning Jacket and in the truculence of country jingo singers like Toby Keith and cracker rappers like Kid Rock (who despite his Motown roots is pure d redneck trash ). Southern rock flashed across the empty skies of the 1970 s and was gone.

Southern rock could be provincial and reactionary, a stubborn regional sound with thuggish fans who didn’t for a minute buy into any of that hippie-dippy peace and love junk. It was a kind of “know-nothing” music, redneck rock that wrapped itself in the Stars ’n’ Bars as well as Old Glory.

Lordy, it could be some dumb music. Sometimes it celebrated getting drunk or getting stoned or getting into a fight or getting a gun. Sometimes it dealt in stereotypes, sometimes it encouraged mindless rowdyism as the answer to systematic exclusion from full economic participation in America.

Sometimes, though, it was better than that. Sometimes it offered up the concerns and attitudes of ordinary working-class folks as well as any form of pop expression. Sometimes — as when the clean lines of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts’ Gibson guitars snaked around each other, when brother Gregg Allman’s bluesy voice began to ripen and roar — Southern rock could be majestic, lyrical and sweet and beyond interpretation.

And while Southern rock is over — it ended violently, amid the torn rubber and twisted steel of various motorcycle and plane crashes — it isn’t dead. It got assimilated, just like the rest of us. Petty comes straight out of that tradition, although he’s an assimilator himself. Early in his career someone asked him what the major influence on his career had been. “The radio,” he replied.

That’s probably not an answer anyone could give now because the radio blew up and fragged into a thousand disparate demographically designed channels. But back in the day, young people, everybody knew the 40 songs on the radio — we all heard Wilson Pickett and The Turtles’ “Elenore.” It was a crowded house back then, everybody rubbing off on everybody else. Now you look at the charts in the back of the magazines and pick one or two or three streams you can sort of follow if you’re interested. (If not, you can just tune in the TV pap and diva shows and accept the manufactured vacuum-formed models the industry stamps out. ) But as late as 1976, when Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers broke out, it was still possible to see a folk tradition at the heart of American pop, to discern regional accents and country-gone-totown giddiness in the chime of a 12-string Ricky.

ECONOMIC AND URGENT When they first surfaced as a national act after years of woodshedding in Florida bars, the Heartbreakers were often mistaken for a “new wave” act, and their economical singles — songs such as the Byrds-like “American Girl” and the Stonesish “Breakdown” — and emotional urgency could have been read as a rebuke to the indulgences of the bloated, faceless corporate competence of bands like Journey and Styx rather than a continuation — and advancement — of the mainstream pop tradition. No wonder the Heartbreakers were booked with bands like the Ramones and Blondie. No wonder that high-school punk rockers were working out versions of “I Need to Know” and “Refugee.” “ It would have been real easy to say, ‘OK, we are new wave,’ and get the skinny ties, ” Petty told writer Dave Marsh. “But it never looked like much of a challenge to me. It looked like a bigger challenge to work in the mainstream, to play to everybody. I never understood being so cool that nobody heard it.”

Underpinning Petty’s most obvious influences — his ringing Rickenbacker 12-string and his nasal upper register are reminiscent of the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn — is a certain bluesy grit and the clean, muscular lines of the Allmans and Lynyrd Skynyrd. (Mudcrutch, Petty’s first band, occasionally shared the bill with pre-fame Skynyrd in Gainesville bars. )

While he is basically a rock ’n’ roll fundamentalist who turns to the Byrds (and to their antecedents Dylan and Nashville ) for melodic elegance and to the Stones for sheer power, Petty’s Southernness never prevented him from incorporating other styles into his music. He has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with Eurythmics’ techno-guitarist Dave Stewart (“ Don’t Come Around Here No More” ) and Jeff Lynne, the former guiding light of Electric Light Orchestra turned Beatles-esque producer who collaborates with Petty on Highway Companion.

For more than 30 years, Petty and the Heartbreakers have been amazingly consistent in commercial stature and artistic quality. There have been no obvious false steps, and even now none of the early songs sound anachronistic. His name may not be the first that comes to mind when talking about the bona fide first-tier rock ’n’ roll pantheon; perhaps it shouldn’t be too far down the list. Presley, Dylan, Springsteen, Berry... Petty ?

Petty has outdone most of his influences. His legacy is likely to outlast that of the Byrds or the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Petty’s openness to new approaches has helped his music retain a certain freshness, although it no doubt helps that he writes economical, punchy pop songs that sound timeless. Songs mainly about girls.

Tom Petty Videos
These will also be on the Videos page.

Tom Petty Tivo Alert
From Tom Petty MySpace

"All We Are Saying," Rosanna Arquette's new doucmentary on the music business, will premier on Showtime, Wednesday, at 8:00 PM. The actress-turned-filmmaker ("Searching for Debra Winger") probes the state of the music industry with this insightful documentary that features casual, intimate conversations about the state of the art. Along with Tom, Rosanna speaks to rock luminaries Chrissie Hynde, Peter Gabriel, Thom Yorke, David Crosby, Sheryl Crow, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Sting, Joni Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Willie Nelson, Stevie Nicks, Elvis Costello and many others.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Can't Stop The Sun" is the closing song.

Tom Petty Guitar at New Hard Rock Bar
The new Hard Rock Bar opening this week at the Valletta Waterfront will include a legendry guitar which belonged to America's rock icon Tom Petty. The guitar will be one of the many memorabilia hanging on the 300-year old walls of one of the vaults at the Valletta Waterfront. The new Hard Rock Bar opening this March will be an attraction, both for tourists and locals, offering a unique atmosphere where history meets contemporary.

The Gibson B2512 Acoustic, was one of Tom Petty's leading guitars used in his famous world tour with his original band 'The Heartbreakers'. Compared to the heavy metal and art rock that dominated mid-'70s guitar rock, Tom Petty's bracing return to roots was nearly as unexpected as the crashing chords of the punk revolution brought about by The Clash. After a decade of successful releases and tours, during 1988, Tom Petty became a member of the supergroup The Travelling Wilburys, which also featured the legendry Bob Dylan, ex Beatle George Harrison, soul master Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne.

Other guitars hanging at the new Hard Rock Bar at The Valletta Waterfront belonged to The 'Red Hot Chili Peppers', 'Radiohead', 'Dokken' and 'Ten Years After'. The list of memorabilia to adorn this third Hard Rock outlet in Malta cover a wide spectrum of rock heroes from R.E.M, Eurythmics, Michale Jackson, Simply Red, Skid Row, The Supremes, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, David Bowie, Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourn, Madonna, Billy Joel, Rod Steward, KISS and Aerosmith.

Built by Grandmaster Perellos in 1712, the vault within the Valletta Waterfront hosting the new Hard Rock Bar has been magnificently restored by the Viset Consortium, patrons of the Valletta Waterfront project which has shed new energy and light on one of Malta's most beautiful historical zones.

The new addition to Malta's Hard Rock experience will offer the basics of the Hard Rock Cafe' concept worldwide, where great music accompanies good food and drink. The new Malta bar will feature items from Hard Rock Cafe's menu, including appetizers, salads, sandwiches, desserts and famous classic burgers, with a focus on an incredibly well-stocked bar, where rock-star cocktails will be mixed and served by the stellar bar staff.

The Hard Rock Bar at the Valletta Waterfront will be open for patrons as of Thursday 2nd March, serving a large variety of beverages accompanied by a selective menu from the world renowned Hard Rock Cafe dishes.

Hard Rock Bar Malta will also feature a Rock Shop with authentic Hard Rock merchandise, as well as an area for special events and live music.

Furthermore, the bar will have a unique outdoor terrace, where guests can host private parties, while overlooking the Grand Harbour.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Myspace
It's official, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are now on Myspace.com. This is the only place on MySpace to get official and latest news, tour info, exclusive offers and more!

Go to www.myspace.com/tompetty and be a friend!

NOTE: Tom Petty or the Heartbreakers do not personally respond to emails at this site.

Tom Petty to Give Exclusive Interview at ASCAP "I Create Music" Expo - NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/17/2006 -- ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman today announced that Tom Petty will be a special guest at the ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 22. Given the unique nature of the first-ever conference devoted to songwriting and composing, Petty will be interviewed and then will answer questions from the audience of songwriters and composers.

Tom Petty is one of the most accomplished and respected songwriters in rock and roll history and has written some of the most memorable songs of his generation, including "American Girl," "Breakdown," "Refugee," "The Waiting," "You Don't Know How It Feels," "I Won't Back Down," "Free Fallin'," "Runnin' Down a Dream," and many more. Petty's music has been a fixture on the charts for three decades. He has received 16 Grammy nominations, and, along with his band the Heartbreakers, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ASCAP presented its prestigious Golden Note Award to Petty in 1996. Last year, Petty's first biography, "Conversations with Tom Petty," was released, and he was presented with the Century Award, Billboard magazine's highest honor for creative achievement. This year, Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers, who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut, will headline the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN, on June 16.

Marilyn Bergman commented: "Tom Petty is one of rock's consummate craftsmen, and his music is beloved by fans around the world. As a master songwriter with a long and distinguished career, he has achieved commercial success and maintained artistic integrity in the music business like few others. His conversation with fellow writers at the ASCAP 'I Create Music' EXPO will be an inspiration and a highlight of the event."

Petty joins an unprecedented lineup of songwriters, composers and producers who will be participating at the EXPO, including Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Glen Ballard, Desmond Child, Hal David, Mike Elizondo, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Jimmy Jam, Johnny Mandel, Mary Mary, Rudy Perez, Linda Perry, Stephen Schwartz, Jimmy Webb, John Rich of Big & Rich, Jill Scott, Timbaland, Jaci Velasquez, and newly announced panelists Eric Bazilian, Dan Foliart, and many more. For a complete list of panelists, and more detailed information, go to www.ascap.com/expo.

The ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO, which takes place April 20-22, 2006, is the first and only national conference dedicated to songwriting and composing that is designed to bring together music creators with music industry professionals who want to work together to achieve greater success. All music creators, producers, publishers and executives, regardless of affiliation, will benefit from this unique creative event, which will be presented in a stimulating format designed to facilitate personal interaction, education and networking. Programs will include panels, workshops, master classes, keynotes, song critiquing, product displays, state-of-the-art technology demonstrations, performances, and more.

Happy Birthday Mike Campbell!!! - Happy Birthday to the greatest guitarist in Rock 'N Roll! Mike turns 56 today. Born in Panama City, Florida, February 1, 1950. There's just something about Mike's playing that I've always admired, respected and strived to show other guitarists. Remember in th 80s when all the Heavy Metal guitarists were playing as many notes as humanly possible in the least amount of time? Mike Campbell can pick up a guitar and tell them all to f#$k off in 10 notes or less. Actually, I guess he has. On stage he's a humble guy who steals the show without stealin' the show. I just know I'd be embarassed to look at a guitar, yet alone pick one up anywhere near him.

Happy Birthday Mike and Thanks!

Atlanta Benefit donations I wanted to extend my deepest thanks to one very generous Tom Petty fan who has donated $5000 to my roommates' medical bills. Thank you very much Mel!!!

Bonnaroo Music Festival
Looks like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will be headlining Bonnaroo 2006! More info at the Manchester Times

I'm proud to announce the fist concert rumor of the season! I heard Bonnaroo Festival organizers plan to target Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to headline closing night.

Ok, I've got a little credibility and honestly, it's a pretty safe bet! Paul Zollo, author of Conversations with Tom Petty, has been quoted giving sometime in March as the release date for Tom Petty's Highway Companion. In America, all new releases come out on Tuesday. So, there's only four of them in a month, you do the math.

So if the album comes out in Spring, guess what usually follows... that's right, a Summer Tour! Bonnaroo is in June in Tennessee I think, so keep checking out gonegator.com for updates!

Atlanta Benefit
On an unrelated note, A good friend of mine was hurt in an accident last May. I sent out an email to the mailing list earlier today. I have received several emails asking how to donate from outside Atlanta. Please click on the button below!

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Tom Petty is working on a film about his last three decades with The Heartbreakers.

Petty has teamed with director Peter Bogdonovich (Paper Moon, Mask) to put together a comprehensive feature film covering his career.

Bogdonovich has been shooting live performances in recent months to mix with vintage interviews and music videos.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers released their debut self-titled album in 1976. This November will mark the 30th anniversary of the album.

Those were the good 'ole days

Daniel Brock, Opinion Columnist

I continually bemoan the state of modern music. I despise rap music, Greenday is a bunch of hacks and Emo kids just bring me down. The incoherent mumbling of Fifty Cent, the grating screams of Thursday and the rudimentary chords of Gavin Rossdale leave me wondering what happened to eight minute guitar solos and strutting front men. Give me Bad Company ahead of Bad Religion, and Led Zeppelin instead of Lloyd Banks. I don't know why music is terrible, and why people's musical taste is terrible but it certainly wasn't that way in 1976.

There weren't just a few good albums in '76 there were a plethora. And while '76 wasn't the monster that some of years earlier in the decade were, it still held it's own. Let's take a look back at some of '76's biggest hits

Peter Frampton- Frampton Comes Alive: Hands down the greatest live album ever, this record epitomizes 1970's rock. Rock, ballads and pop are all crafted perfectly, and the three big hits "Baby, I Love Your Way," "Show Me the Way" and "Do You Feel Like We Do?" were a perfect soundtrack to the centennial summer.

AC/DC- High Voltage: As the mellow sounds of Frampton wafted across parks and parades, Bon Scott and crew came thunderin' from down under. With Malcom and Angus Young shredding guitars and a drummer pounding his kit with tree trunks, the Australian quintet was indeed electric. This record is TNT, dynamite.

Stevie Wonder- Songs in The Key of Life: Stevie Wonder's high water mark was a breathtaking effort in scope. The double LP's range of style and mood shows a vision that makes up for his lack of sight. Hit's like "Isn't She Lovely" were weighted by cold tunes like "Village Ghetto Land." Coolio even based his song "Gangsta's Paradise" on "Past Time Paradise."

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: This record continues to be a classic. Upon its release, this record was well received by ... well, everyone. "Breakdown" and "American Girl" are poetic garage-rock music. Using different guitar styles of the day, and a rocking attitude Tom Petty and Co. established themselves as a band of the future.

Fleetwood Mac- Fleetwood Mac: When the remaining members of Fleetwood Mac joined forces with Lyndsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, few new the fireworks that would ensue. With three tremendous songwriters, a searing guitarist, and solid rhythm section, not to mention the sultry Nicks, the Mac lit the fuse on an explosive career to come.

Those were the top five of '76, but that was merely the tip of the iceberg. The following list is mind blowing, and makes me wonder why I couldn't have been living then. All of these albums were released in 1976: AC/DC- High Voltage, Aerosmith- Rocks, Blondie- Blondie, Boston- Boston, David Bowie- Station to Station, Chicago- Chicago X, Alice Cooper- Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, Kiss- Destroyer, Bob Dylan- Desire, The Eagles- Their Greatest Hits, The Eagles- Hotel California, Foreigner- Foreigner, Jennings/Nelson- Wanted! The Outlaws, Journey- Look Into the Future, Led Zeppelin- Presence, One More from the Road- Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley- Rastaman Vibration, Wings- Wings at the Speed of Sound, Steve Miller Band- Fly Like an Eagle, The Ramones- The Ramones, The Rolling Stones- Black & Blue, Rush- 2112.

With albums like those, no wonder 1976 is now, and will forever be, known as the greatest year in music there ever was.

Atlanta -- (GoneGator Wire) -- Did that look official? In best Eddie Murphy voice from the movie Trading Places,

Meddy New Year!!!

I hope everyone has a safe New Years Eve! 2006 marks the 30th anniversary of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers self-titled release. Stay tuned for an exciting year to come from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers! New album, tour and many other surprises! Who knows, maybe they'll finally hire me! Yeah, that's a dream I'm having a hard time letting go of!

Question... Since Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was not released until November of 1976, are we supposed to wait till Thanksgiving for the celebration?

Ah, HELL NO!

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2005--Tom Petty received his sixteenth Grammy nomination this morning, just two days after being presented with Billboard's prestigious Century Award at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. Petty's "Square One," featured in Cameron Crowe's film "Elizabethtown," was nominated in the category of Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. This is Petty's first nomination in this category.

Some of Petty's previous Grammy nominations include "Full Moon Fever" (Album of the Year), "Wildflowers" (Best Rock Album), "Learning To Fly" (Best Rock Song), "Into the Great Wide Open" (Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal), "Echo" (Best Rock Album), "You Don't Know How it Feels" (Best Male Rock Vocal Performance), "Free Fallin'" (Best Male Rock Vocal Performance), "Traveling Wilburys, Volume One" (Album of the Year), and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, with Stevie Nicks).

In 2006, Petty will release a brand-new solo album, "Highway Companion," and along with his band the Heartbreakers, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut album.

Asked early in his career who his influences were, Tom Petty replied "The Radio". What a great answer. And now he is the influence of so many bands who are becoming popular today.

During last night's acceptance speech, Tom mentioned that people come up to him and say that he has been the soundtrack to their lives. I'm sure that is as true for many of you as it is for me. Tom Petty has been my "Elvis" (Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Insert Generation Icon Here") since I bought Damn the Torpedoes in '79. It was great to see my favorite song writer honored in such a way last night. Congrats Tom! Here are some more blurbs from last night...

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong was additionally charged with presenting the Century Award, Billboard magazine's highest honor, to Tom Petty.

"I love music, I love rock and roll, therefore I love Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers," Armstrong said. "If you're going to come up [on stage] and thank God, thank God for Tom Petty."

"We haven't always been boy scouts, but we never lost sight of the music," Petty said in accepting the honor. After thanking many who have been involved in his 30-year career, he added, "Let me remind you that this ain't the end. I can still kick some ass."

Still Kicking Ass!
Acknowledging that awards shows aren't exactly his cup of tea, Billboard Century Award winner Tom Petty said of his storied career: "I've had to think about it more today than I've had in years. It has been a big long blur."

"This is nothing I've ever done before," he continued. "[But] I do feel honored that somebody has gone to this trouble to notice the work we've done all this time. In the world of gimmicks and sound bytes, it's nice to be noticed and honored this way."

The artist will continue to have to put his memory to the test next year, as work progresses on a comprehensive Petty and the Heartbreakers documentary that will be directed by Peter Bogdanovich ("The Last Picture Show," "Mask"). "There's probably some new music we'll do for that," he said.

Tom Petty will be handed the Century Award by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong in February (Pretty sure it's this TUESDAY 12/6).

Petty will receive the award for his consistency in having Billboard hits over the last 30 years. He has had 16 Top 40 hits and ten Top 10 albums.

The Century Award salutes excellence from an artist’s body of work while their career is still unfolding.

Petty will release a self-titled album early 2006 (Again, actually called Highway Companion. How did Paul Cashmere GET this job?)

Interestingly, Petty presented the first ever Century Award in 1992 to his buddy and Traveling Wilburys co-star George Harrison.