Playlist

Current.com will stream a free pre-recorded Radiohead concert Tuesday at 7 a.m. and again at 8 p.m. The band will perform the entire In Rainbows album, as well as other songs. Share your thoughts.

Music plays a huge role in the new film Juno, especially the witty folk songs of Moldy Peaches co-founder Kimya Dawson. Like the film itself, her music is sweet but off-kilter: She’s 35, but her voice and lyrics belong to a whimsical 12-year-old. Dawson has seven tunes on the Juno soundtrack CD -- you can also sample her tunes and videos here.

Reader Alan emails to ask where in the Hades was Robert Plant and Alison Krauss'
Raising Sand on my year-end Top 10 list? Well....I agree it's a really good CD, and if i was doing a Top 20, it would have been on there. By the way, Mario Tarradell did have it on his year-end Top 10 country CDs list.

Our year-end series takes us to pop music and its best in CDs, shows, quotes and awards. Check out Thor's countdown, then comment below and tell us if you agree.

Attention rockin' old fogi- ... er, I mean, alumni of Dallas rock and roll's old school: Has the Lakewood Theater got a show lined up for you on Dec. 29.

The Hippie Circus concert is a now-annual event that grew out of late 2003's Legend of Texas Rock and Roll Reunion show, which featured somewhat of a who's-who of 1960s rock bands that came out of North Texas. This year's lineup is pretty noteworthy. It includes area mainstay Kenny and the Kasuals as well as Billy Joe Shine and the Nightcaps (one of Dallas' first blues rock acts; ZZ Top covered its "Thunderbird" on Fandango!), Marc Benno and the Nightcrawlers (he's most famous for writing the Doors' "L.A. Woman"), Denny Freeman (a Dallas native who's now Bob Dylan's guitarist) and several other way-back-when outfits.

Tickets through Ticketmaster are $20 in advance ($50 for a VIP table spot) and $25 and $60 on the day of the show.

Mary performing at the AMAs on Nov. 18 (my birthday, haaay) (AP)

• Growing Pains review
• Hear the tracks yourself

Looks like hip hop's American Gangster wants to be a hit man again.

Rap mogul Jay-Z has had enough with being one of pop music's most powerful shot callers. He announced earlier today that he will not renew his contract to head Universal Music Group's Def Jam Recordings after it expires in, oh, seven days and seven hours. He will remain in charge of Roc-A-Fella, an imprint of Def Jam, but he plans to record more and "take on new challenges."

Could one of those challenges be facing the fact that he's now less famous than girlfriend Beyonce, who was recently described by our hip hop/R&B writer, Lorrie Irby Jackson, as being "everywhere but on a roll of toilet paper" in 2007? Hmmm ... discuss ...

Mario lays out the top 10 Latin CDs of the year, along with commentary and quotes in the next of GuideLive's end-of-year roundup series. Check it out, then tell us what you think by commenting below.

According to an Associated Press bulletin about 25 minutes ago, the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson died of kidney failure on Sunday at age 82 at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He was among the last century's finest North American pop pianists (if not the quickest) and during the course of a 60-plus-year career, he'd played with nearly all of the 20th century's great American jazz musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. He'd earned a Lifetime Grammy and the Order of Canada, our neighbors to the north's highest civil honor.

Swing, bop and boogie were defined by this man. What are your fondest memories of Oscar Peterson? Let us know and share them here.

Granted, there are TWO on our list, for Christmas day-proper. That proves how things get a little dry on the local music scene on the days immediately around Dec. 25, but there's still plenty to catch throughout the next week.

• Mike's live local music list

I'll have a glass of Miranda, please. (Courtesy of www.mirandalambert.com)

• For ordering information, go to her website.

Lots of TV series rely heavily on pop music, but few take it to the delightful extremes of The Gilmore Girls. The WB series – which ended its seven-year run in May and just came out as a 42-DVD box set – had a dizzying amount of music as it referenced everyone from Brian Eno to the Beta Band and featured recurring roles by Sebastian Bach, Carole King and Grant Lee Philips (as the town troubadour). There were also cameos by the Shins, Paul Anka and cult folkie Sam Phillips, who provided the show’s infectious background music: Never has the phrase “la la la” been the source of so many great 20-second pop ditties.

Mario rounded up the best of the best in country music for 2007. Read it, then tell us what country concerts, news or albums stood out for you this year.

Also, take another look at the winners of this year's Country Music Association Awards from November.

He hasn't been forgotten. (Courtesy photo)

One reader, Betty Dirosse, wrote something particularly powerful:

Oddly enough, on this past Sunday while decorating my Christmas tree I felt compelled to put on the "Netherlands" CD. Then I played it again immediately and wondered why I did. Only the following day did I learn that Dan Fogelberg had died on Sunday and wondered if somehow I was getting a message from the ether that he was leaving earth. Wish he could write the sequel to "Part of the Plan " from the other side and clue us all in.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Not that this is accessible to most ... but the marquee names and event at the 2008 South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival in mid-March in Austin were announced this morning:

Lou Reed -- yep, he of the Velvet Underground, "Walk on the Wild Side" and the "Play more rock!" demand at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards that was nearly swept by rock acts -- is this year's Keynote Speaker. He'll talk around a screening of Julian Schnabel's documentary, Lou Reed's 'Berlin', and hopefully won't dole out too many stares of death to too many conference-goers.

Among the interview subjects will be pop and soul musician Daryl Hall (who'll also play a showcase set), punk-new wave pioneer and Sire Records founder Seymour Stein, composer Steve Reich with Sonic Youth front man Thurston Moore, Ticketmaster CEO Steve Moriarty, and PACE Concerts founder Louis Messina.

One more caveat: the 2008 bands-to-showcase count is about 1,500 (more than 8,000 applied), up from about 1,300 in 2007. As if we needed more to try to see ... and those won't be announced until early February, folks.

(mariva.com)

• Mr. Dallas: Dive into New Year's Eve
• Holiday planner

What's the deal for that last night of '07? Got plans yet? Share.

KEGL-FM (97.1) is once again rock station “The Eagle.”
In May 2004, it flipped formats to “Sunny 97” and played music from the’70s through the ’90s. In August of 2005, it became “La Preciosa,” which played regional Mexican oldies.
“It’s a return to our roots for the station,” says J. D. Freeman of Clear Channel Radio, which owns KEGL. Mr. Freeman says the station will have folks on the air in January. Expect to hear artists such as Metallica, Nirvana and Ozzy Osbourne.

Kanye West's Graduation makes our list of 2007's best hip-hop albums. (The New York Times)

• Lorrie's Year in Review 2007: Hip-hop & R&B

Dan Fogelberg at Bass Hall in 2002. (Cheryl Diaz Meyer/DMN)

• Column

Josh Venable (John Zak)

When I got Josh Venable's text about a couple of "going-away parties" this week, I immediately texted back. "Where are you going? Did you get another job? WTF?" That kind of thing. Ya see, fans of KDGE-FM's longtime indie rock show 'Adventure Club' are still reeling from Venable's budget-related firing and the show's untimely end. I knew the other shoe would drop sooner or later, that the guy would be snatched up by some other station. But I didn't get a text back. I figured he was waiting to spring the bad (but good for him) news on everybody in his own way. And he did — he let his best friend break the news on Frontburner this morning. Yep, ol' Jahsh is headed to El Lay to work the afternoon drive shift for an as-yet-unnamed station. If you wanna say your goodbyes, he's DJing Tuesday at Milo's in Arlington, and there's also a big Barley shindig in the works. Man, it's truely the end of an era now — the era in which I and many others still bothered with the local FM dial. Good on ya, Josh.

A high point of Marcia Ball's show Saturday at the Granada arrived during "Sea Cruise," the Big Easy classic that was a hit in '59 for Frankie Ford. It was a fitting encore: On January 26, Ms. Ball hops aboard the Sandy Beaches Cruise, the annual floating music party featuring Delbert McClinton, Raul Malo and dozens of others. The rockin' sea cruise leaves from San Diego and stops in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. For more info, visit http://www.delbert.com/index2.htm.

For the second year, How the Edge Stole Christmas was split across two nights: Friday for the indie kids, Saturday for the hard rockers. Which show did you see? Was it worth the price of admission? Share your thoughts on the best and the worst and everything in between at the annual Edge holiday show.

Check back Saturday and Sunday to see Mike Daniel's take on both shows.

More proof that the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame is as much of a joke as the Grammys are: Brit Invasion lightweights The Dave Clark Five got in this week, while true pioneers like the Stooges, the Meters, The MC5 and Captain Beefheart are still waiting (and probably not holding their collective breath). Other acts that deserve to be in more than the DC5: Lou Reed and Jeff Beck (as solo artists), Peter Gabriel (with or without Genesis), the Moody Blues, T. Rex, Tom Waits, Randy Newman....hell, i'd even put Kiss on the list before the Dave Clark Five.

How to dress for a funeral: Slim Thug and LeToya Luckett (Destiny's Child) (AP)

Then at the end, things apparently got real classy:

"Bishop Don Magic Juan, a former pimp turned rap celebrity, arrived just before the ceremony ended, causing a stir as he sauntered down the aisle with an entourage of women who were scantily clad in gold and red. He wore a foot-tall crown and a blue velvet cape."

How to look a fool at a funeral: Bishop Don Magic Juan (AP)

An entry titled "Disrespectin'" has already made it onto the "Bishop's" wikipedia entry.

• Funeral report
• More Pimp C