Joe Walsh once asked to be a part of The Who?  Petty & The Heartbreakers...and friends. Van Halen & Super Bowl XLVII?  Janis Joplin to be honored. Top 10 rock ballads. Richie Sambora solo album due in September. Real men eat meat. Being smart makes you stupid? Is U.S. life expectancy stagnating. Site matches singles that look alike. What you favorite ice cream flavor says about you on a date.

THE WHO

The Who's 1989 25th anniversary reunion tour would've been a lot cooler if Joe Walsh hit the road with them as originally planned. Walsh, who's out on the road now behind his new Top 20 comeback album, Analog Man, shed some light on the offer by old friend Pete Townshend to supply lead guitar on the historic celebratory trek.

Walsh was asked how close he came to actually joining the Who on tour: "They were real serious. It almost happened. I remember a phone call where Pete (Townshend), and (John) Entwistle, and Roger (Daltrey) were on that end -- and probably Bill Curbishley, their manager. And they asked me if I would seriously do it. They wanted to make sure that I had the right perspective."

Ultimately though, to the great disappointment of their fans, the Who went with the stylized and generally unknown Steve "Boltz" Bolton to supply lead guitar on the U.S. and UK dates. Walsh recalled how the Who gig slipped away: "It would be a job for a specialist to back up Pete. You'd have to be there where he needed ya and stay, stay the hell outta his way at the same time. And I said, 'Yeah, if you guys decide to go that way -- I'm in. I'm honored and I can do it. I know you guys as friends and I know your music backwards and forwards and I think I'm your guy.' They had one more go around in the decision making process. Yeah, so it almost happened. I'll always wonder where that would've gone."

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are welcoming some old friends to take the stage with them during their current European trek. On Sunday night (June 24th) in Amsterdam, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder joined the band for two songs over the course of Petty's show, with Vedder taking most of the lead on "The Waiting" and the pair trading off vocals on "American Girl." Steve Winwood joined Petty & The Heartbreakers onstage on June 20th at London's Royal Albert Hall. Winwood, who had opened for the band on tour during 2008 and 2009, took the lead on his Spencer Davis Group hit "Gimme Some Lovin'" and the Blind Faith classic, "Can't Find My Way Home." (Gibson.com)

VAN HALEN

Is Van Halen top of the list to perform during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLVII in 2013? That's the rumor going around following the news that Pepsi is returning as the halftime show's sponsor and is interested in having the reunited foursome appear as part of the festivities. This could be what Eddie Van Halen meant when he told USA Today earlier this month that "in the new year, we'll possibly do something special, but I can't talk about it." (ProFootballTalk)

JANIS JOPLIN

The late, great Janis Joplin will be among the recipients of a 2013 star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. Joplin, along with R&B legend Luther Vandross, will be posthumously honored next year, along with Jane's Addiction, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, and Thalia. Other celebrities on the 2013 list are Ron Howard, James Franco, Olympia Dukakis, Helen Mirren, Ellen DeGeneres, Mathew Perry, Javier Bardem, Steve Harvey, and Penn & Teller, among others. (Music-News.com)

TOP 10 ROCK BALLADS

The editors at Ultimate Classic Rock have listed their picks for the "Top 10 '80s Rock Ballads." Coming in at Number One was Motley Crue's 1985 track, "Home Sweet Home," Poison's 1988 power ballad "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" came in at Number Two, with Journey's 1983 weeper "Faithfully" rounding out the Top Three

"The Top 10 '80s Rock Ballads" according to Ultimate Classic Rock are: 

1. "Home Sweet Home" - Motley Crue (1985) 

2. "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" - Poison (1988) 

3. "Faithfully" - Journey (1983) 

4. "I Remember You" - Skid Row (1989) 

5. "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" - Cinderella (1988) 

6. "Heaven" - Warrant - (1989) 

7. "Never Say Goodbye" - Bon Jovi (1986) 

8. "Love Bites" - Def Leppard (1987) 

9. "Love Song" - Tesla (1989)  

10. "Patience" - Guns N' Roses (1987)

RICHIE SAMBORA

Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora's latest solo album, Aftermath Of The Lowdown, will be released on September 24th, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. The album, which is the follow-up to 1998's Undiscovered Soul, was produced by Luke Ebbin, who along with Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi, was behind the boards for Bon Jovi's Crush and Bounce collections from 2000 and 2002, respectively.

Sambora talked about the album to RollingStone, saying, "I think they don't see me as a singer, and I was the lead singer in every band I was in before Bon Jovi. I hope I get to change people's minds on this record. That's what I'm gonna try to do."

Sambora was asked who at this point he now personally considers Bon Jovi's true peers and contemporaries: "I don't think there's any kind of time limit or anything like that on contemporaries, y'know? I think you move in a contemporary position because of your success, your relevancy, your fans, and what's happening in the marketplace at the time and how you're doing. For me -- it would be anywhere from, y'know, the Rolling Stones, to Aerosmith, to U2, to the Foo Fighters -- and bands that are out there today that are workin' hard."

There's been no word as to whether Sambora will hit the road in support of Aftermath Of The Lowdown.

REAL MEN EAT MEAT, NOT VEGGIES

A new study found that "macho men" don't eat vegetables -- and instead chow on so-called masculine foods like steak and burgers. Researchers found that men and women perceived meat and meat-eaters as being more masculine than veggies and vegetarians, which could explain why fewer men choose to live a meat-free lifestyle. (Everyday Health)

BEING SMART MAKES YOU STUPID?

Being smart makes you more prone to mental errors. study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology set out to study the "bias blind spot," the inclination to think, in short, that other people are stupider than you are. The study described various cognitive biases to 482 participants, then gave them several questions with seemingly obvious, but wrong, answers. Various measures of intelligence, including SAT scores and cognitive test scores, found that smarter people were more likely to answer these questions incorrectly. Greater cognitive ability resulted in a greater bias blind spot. (AskMen.com)

IS U.S. LIFE EXPECTANCY STAGNATING?

The author of a new study, Justin Denney of Rice University, said the average life U.S. expectancy for a person born today is 78.49 -- significantly lower than for people born in Monaco, Macau and Japan, which have the three highest life expectancies at 89.7 84.4 and 83.9 years, respectively. In addition, the poorest U.S. citizens tend to live five years less than their more affluent countrymen, Denney said. The study found average life expectancy in the United States rose from 59.85 years in 1930 to 77.1 by 2000 -- but has pretty much stagnated over the past 12 years. (UPI)

SITE MATCHES SINGLES WHO LOOK ALIKE

A new dating site called Find Your FaceMate matches people who they believe look good together. While sites like eHarmony use a 100-point check system to match couples based on "legitimate commonalities," Find Your FaceMate makes matches based on people with similar looks. The theory behind the match-making is not without precedent. In 2010, psychologist R. Chris Fraley had subjects evaluate a stranger's attractiveness in random photos. When the photos were digitally morphed to partially mesh the subject's face with the stranger's face, the subjects noted higher levels of attraction. (AskMen.com)

WHAT YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR SAYS ABOUT YOU ON A DATE (TheFrisky.com)

Butter Pecan: You're a little old fashioned and maybe a little conservative. You're a hard worker who is detail-oriented at work and in your social life. (And very respectful to your date.) So while you are kind of conservative, you also are a decadent person. Sure, you can be all business. But when you're ready to unwind, you unwind with the best of them.

Chocolate: Chocolate is for kids at heart. You know how kids say the darndest things? Well, yousay the darndest things. And since you get bored easily and don't have a filter, you will tell people you are bored. Or that you don't like them. Or that you aren't having fun on your date. At least you're honest. And when you do find someone, you'll be really happy. You're also really creative and talented, though, and very enthusiastic.

Neapolitan: Make up your mind! You have a trouble making decisions. You're also kind of immature and like people to baby you.

Chocolate Chip: You're all about fun. You're into sports and like to compete. You laugh a lot and are really generous. Total extrovert -- you're the life of the party. But you are also pretty classic.

Double Chocolate Chunk: You share many characteristics with the chocolate chip lovers, but you're way more extreme. You do whatever you want and just don't give a damn. You're like the chocolate chip lover . . . on crack.

Mint Chocolate Chip: You're smart and kind of quiet. Your tastes are refined. And you are stubborn.

Rocky Road: You're the boss of everyone and are used to people doing what you say.

Strawberry: You're young at heart and very thoughtful. You don't jump into unknown situations and love tradition. You're committed in your relationships, although it takes you a long time to get to that point because you are kind of shy.

Vanilla: You my friend, are not vanilla. You are daring and experiment with a lot of new things, taking high risks and setting huge goals for yourself. You are sure of yourself and don't fall for trends just because they're trends. And you're stubborn. 10,000,000 people could jump off a bridge and try to convince you to stop liking vanilla ice cream and you won't do it.

Coffee: You're lively, passionate, and pretty impulsive. You start things all the time and don't finish them because you get bored easily and sometimes have a hard time focusing.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: You are really indulgent and party your ass off. You do what you feel like doing basically all the time, regardless of what your work schedule is or what other people think. You plan stuff for your friends and get them psyched to follow your lead. Your philosophy is, Why not? And you'll try anything once. Or twice, depending on how drunk you were the first time.

Thanks for listening to The Eagle while you work. Keep it fabulous, Houston!

xoxo,

Jennifer Tyler

Fabulous Mid-Day Diva