some stuff...

and speaking of the Drifters....I just saw that The Temptations (down to just one original member, Otis Williams) have recorded 15 old Motown songs for their new album Reflections. Jeez, Otis, just what we need. And, of course, they will be touring to support the album with a stop scheduled for the Stardust in Las Vegas, which, it was recently announced, will be torn down to make way for a new mega-complex called The Echelon. Let's hope, for Otis's sake, that the demolition is scheduled for after his run there. - Reuters story by Jonathan Cohen

At dinner last evening at Emilio's (good food, ghastly service), Sister Mary Agnes informed that she, hubby, daughter and beau are looking forward to seeing Billy Joel in Boston in March. Let us hope that the ex-Mr. Brinkley doesn't decide to drive to Beantown.

on a sad note....The body of Barry Cowsill, singer-bassist for the '60s pop act the Cowsills, has been discovered in New Orleans, more than four months after he went missing when Hurricane Katrina hit the city. He was 51. complete article. His sister, Susan Cowsill, is a highly respected alt-country singer based in New Orleans.

Over the years, I've had a casual interest in country music, tending toward Texas country rather than Nashville, so the news that Jesse Colter, 70's Outlaw singer and wife of Waylon Jennings, released a new album, Out of the Ashes, that was influenced by Ben Harper's music, piqued my curiosity. Reuters article by Chris Morris (Interesting tie-in: Sarah Borges recently opened for Jesse's son Shooter Jennings at the Paradise in Boston.)

The Strokes' First Impressions of Earth keeps getting glowing reviews. Eric Danton of the Hartford Courant is the latest - here. You can grab a listen to the entire album on AOL Music (for how long, I do not know). I'm still evaluating, not yet sure how much I like it.

Year-end music lists (or Who is Sufjan Stevens?)- "What's longer than the holiday shopping season, and even more relentless? The end of the year. It's an interminable period - beginning sometime after Thanksgiving and ending sometime after Martin Luther King Day - when music magazines and Web sites, not to mention newspapers, go list crazy." - NY Times article by KELEFA SANNEH