Being on the road this summer with ZZ Top puts Aerosmith in a unique position for the Boston rockers. As guitarist Joe Perry rightly told us of the little ol' band from Texas, "They've been together longer than us." Not many acts can claim to have outlived Aerosmith, and even fewer can last so long with the original lineup. Therefore, it's that much more amazing that 2009 marks the 40th anniversary for bandmates Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill.

Let that digest for a second -- 40 freaking years! Obama is the eighth president ZZ Top has recorded under, the Beatles hadn't broken up yet when they formed, most of today's pop stars hadn't been born yet, there was no hip-hop, it's their fifth decade of touring, and on and on. As most bands are celebrated for a decade together, we decided to ask Gibbons the secret of a happy band marriage. "I think first and foremost is the fact we still enjoy getting to do this more than anything we could imagine and somehow that translates into the nightly performance," Gibbons says. "Those two hours on stage, that's the real payoff. That's when we get together and we may not know what each other is gonna do. Some of it is because we're trying to outguess the next guy, trying to think of what he's gonna do next."

As ZZ Top enter into their 40th year of making music together, the little old band from Texas have a lot of secrets to their incredible staying power. One of them, for guitarist Billy Gibbons, is keeping up on new music. To that end, the rockers will get a hand from the Black Keys on ZZ Top's next album.

"They're couple of really fresh blues-based rockers that truly say it," Gibbons tells Spinner of the Keys.

The forthcoming album is being produced by Rick Rubin, and Gibbons believes the pairing should result in a pretty raw sound. "We've enjoyed a friendship with Rick, which now includes an opportunity to focus our collective energy in a studio setting, which is actually more like bringing the live show into the room," Gibbons says. "The art of capturing the maverick rogue called 'live in the studio' is what Rick does so well -- better than anyone."

On This Date in 1949: ZZ Top singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons is born in Houston.

The Almanac Advises for December 16: "In certain religions, such as Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and Rastafarianism, men grow beards in a pact with the Almighty. To this day, a long, flowing beard gives the bearer the appearance of a wise man."

When 'The Daily Show''s John Oliver tried to boogie with conventioneers at least week's Democratic National Convention, he lampooned one of the most glaring weaknesses in supporters of either party. Almost by definition, political conventioneers couldn't clap on the beat if the fate of the free world depended on it.

The Democrats tried mightily to put some sway in their persuasion, at one point trotting out Stevie Wonder. This week, the Republicans have countered with ... Mike Huckabeee.

The former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate's band, Capitol Offense, rocked a convention party with some of the preacher man's favorite family values numbers, including the Stones' 'Honky Tonk Women' ("she blew my nose and then she blew my mind") and Eric Clapton's 'Cocaine,' which was recast, naturally enough, as a campaign song: "He's all right, he's all right, he's all right -- McCain!"

According to the Star Tribune, Huckabee and friends also reworked ZZ Top's naughty swamp-crawl 'Tush' into a blues-rockin' ode to the outgoing president. "I'm just looking for some Bush" -- now there's a sentiment that could make Bill Clinton cross the aisle.

• Marc Ronson is teaming up with Duran Duran for the band's show in Paris on July 2.

• The Breeders, MGMT, the Hold Steady and Deerhunter are among the performers slated for this year's JellyNYC Pool Parties.

• Wolf Parade have revealed the cover art for their forthcoming album, 'At Mount Zoomer.'

• ZZ Top will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their landmark album, 'Eliminator', with the release of an expanded CD/DVD Collector's Edition on August 12. Bonus content includes alternate and live versions of the disc's classic singles, including a dance mix of 'Legs.'
  

• Jazz legend and New Orleans resident Dr. John has spoken out against the governement, criticizing their interference with the city's sacred institutions. "The tradition of the second-line brass bands is right there in Treme, that neighborhood," he told Newsweek. "And now politicians want to charge people [for parade permits] to have a second line. They have to have a police escort -- all that crap. This is a spiritual thing, You don't put spiritual things in politicians' hands."

'Mexican Blackbird' (1975)
--ZZ Top

This is without a doubt the most socially insensitive hooker song ever written. The Texas blues-rock trio sounds like a pervy tourist board, claiming that if you find yourself in Acuna, "and you ain't up to being alone," you should procure the services of a certain half-black, half-Mexican dancer/prostitute. Because nobody knows her real name, she goes by a tag we can't bring ourselves to print.

While we've all heard the members of ZZ Top offer up evidence of the effect a sharply dressed man has on the average woman, we've always been more convinced that gals are far more likely to go crazy over a well-made, deeply discounted bedroom set.

Well, one lucky lady and her hubby-to-be won't have to make the agonizing choice between the two -- since Top guitarist Billy Gibbons has agreed to perform their wedding ceremony deep in the heart of Texas's most swinging Ikea store. The rocker, an ordained minister, will join the couple in holy matrimony this coming Thursday -- which, for the Hallmark-challenged, happens to be Valentine's Day -- at a Houston outpost of the meatball-vending furniture store.

Being closeted romantics ourselves, we'll wish Patricia Chalmers and Paul Burgess nothing but the best, and keep our fingers crossed that Gibbons dishes out a line or two of an appropriate Top tune -- maybe something like "she's got legs ... and she knows how to attach 'em to a cherry armoire."

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