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The unemployment rate may top 10 percent, but there is an opening at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for a Deadhead. The library is advertising for an archivist to handle the library’s Grateful Dead collection. A master’s degree in archives management is required, as is “expert knowledge in the history of and scholarship of contemporary popular music, or American vernacular culture, preferably the history and influence of the Grateful Dead.”

Guitars, keyboards and drums did not topple the Berlin Wall. But for the young people who helped bring down Communist regimes across Eastern Europe in the fall of 1989, pop music was a profoundly subversive force, inspiration and vital tool of protest for challenging and undermining a totalitarian state stricter than any parent. Now middle aged, some of the musicians who played in ostracism during those last gray years of Communist rule gathered in New York over the weekend for the festival Rebel Waltz: Underground Music From Behind the Iron Curtain. Performing at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village......

As a kid in New York, Kenny Vance was captivated by the magic of rock'n roll. At the age of fifteen, he was hanging around the famed Brill Building, meeting other singers and songwriters. Eventually he formed the successful group Jay and The Americans, who had the distinction of opening for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for each of their first U.S. performances. As a kid in New York, Kenny Vance was captivated by the magic of rock'n roll. At the age of fifteen, he was hanging around the famed Brill Building, meeting other singers and songwriters. Eventually he...

Meet the grooviest groupie of the '60s. She shagged Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger -- all married men -- at the height of their stardom. Starr and George Harrison wrote songs about her, while singer-songwriter Leon Russell penned the tune "Pisces Apple Lady" for her.

Drummer Bobby Graham, who played on some of the best-known hits of the 1960s, has died at the age of 69. Graham was heard on number one singles by The Kinks, Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield, and said he appeared on a total of 40 UK top five hits. Graham also claimed The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein asked him to join the band after Pete Best left in 1962... Graham's website said he performed on songs including Petula Clark's Downtown, Englebert Humperdinck's Release Me and The Kinks' You Really Got Me. Other notable appearances included Dusty Springfield's I Only Want...

The Adler posse knows a thing or two about the concert business. Lou Adler, the patriarch, is responsible for some of the great American cultural touchstones of the past 40 years, and a few of these moments are showcased on the wall of his home office in Malibu. There's the movie poster for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a film he introduced to America as an executive producer. Next to it is a framed poster for Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke, another production deal he spearheaded. He oversaw the production of Carole King's Tapestry, one of the best-selling albums...

German researcher Peter Jäger revealed earlier today that he's named a new Malaysian species of spider after David Bowie – the fetchingly titled Heteropoda Davidbowie. But what other animals have been named after famous music stars?

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British police are reviewing the death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, 40 years after the hard-living rocker was found dead in a swimming pool. Police in Sussex, in southern England, have confirmed they are examining documents given to them by an investigative journalist who has been researching events surrounding Jones' death. Scott Jones, who is not related to the musician, has spent four years reviewing the evidence and speaking to key witnesses in the case.

Boston’s WBCN is throwing itself a “Farewell” event on the air—it’s a four day Tribute to the station and its legacy as “The Rock of Boston.” The on air event kicks off Saturday, August 8 at 10 AM. WBCN is going away on August 13, when CBS moves the Hot AC WBMX “Mix 98.5” to the 104.1 frequency, to make room for a new FM Sports Talk at 98.5. WBCN has been on the air as a Rock station for over 40 years, and was the home for such legendary radio personalities as Charles Laquidara, Howard Stern, PD Oedipus, and...

In 1979 the disco industry was worth an estimated $4bn - more than movies, television or professional sport - and accounted for up to 40% of the singles chart. But that same year on 12 July, the actions of one disgruntled rock DJ sparked a revolution that some believe signalled the death of disco. Steve Dahl had left his radio show in Detroit in protest when it adopted an all-disco play list. He found a new home at Chicago's WLUP Loop radio - it was the station "where Chicago rocked". With fellow DJ Garry Meier, they tapped into a growing...

Here he goes again on his own. Going down the only road he’s ever known. OK, David Coverdale isn’t totally on his own. The 57-year-old singer has a new Whitesnake lineup behind him. But he is going down the only road he’s ever known on an old-fashioned, heavy-metal double bill: Whitesnake and Judas Priest play the Comcast Center on Tuesday. As Coverdale pointed out in a phone interview from his Lake Tahoe home, “You’re not going to listen to Whitesnake for environmental songs or to change your life. You’re going to listen to Whitesnake for hard rock.”

DALLAS (AP) -- NFL offensive linemen bang heads all the time. A trio of Dallas Cowboys linemen are now professional head-bangers, too. Leonard Davis, Marc Colombo and Cory Procter have signed a recording contract as part of a heavy metal band called Free Reign. Their debut album for Australia's Riot Entertainment will be released this fall.

Bob Bogle, lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band The Ventures, known for 1960s instrumental hits including "Walk, Don't Run," has died at age 75. Don Wilson, the band's other co-founder, told The News Tribune of Tacoma that Bogle became ill over the weekend and died Sunday. The band sold millions of albums and heavily influenced other rock guitarists. It was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. The hall's Web site hailed The Ventures as "the most successful instrumental combo in rock and roll history." "Walk, Don't Run" reached No. 2 on the Billboard...

<p>Geddy Lee and Neil Peart of Rush arrive at the Dreamworks' premiere of "I Love You, Man." And while Paul Rudd and Jason Segel may love the band, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sure doesn't.</p> <p>When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame holds its annual induction ceremony April 4, there once again won’t be any progressive rock artists amongst its five honorees. The Rock Hall’s snubbing of the once-popular genre hasn’t gone unnoticed by its supporters.</p>

Bruce Springsteen isn’t the rock ’n’ roll Obama. U2 is. The Boss tried to sell “Working on a Dream” as the flip side to “yes we can,” but Springsteen’s latest is W.-style art - blunt, burgers-and-fries, stay-the-course-through-diminishing-returns rock. It’s U2’s new “No Line on the Horizon” - now streaming for free on U2’s MySpace [website] page and in stores March 3 - that personifies No. 44. U2 was Obama before Obama was: political sloganeers of hope, from “Beautiful Day” to “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

Anyone who's strolled through a record show or taken a cursory glance through eBay knows there's a flourishing, recession-proof market in rock 'n' roll memorabilia out there. Rare vinyl albums and singles, autographs, promotional discs, posters, books, backstage passes, concert programs, you name it. Even if you had the same bank balance as Bill Gates, you could spend eight hours a day collecting it and still not hope to get it all. Sometime soon, it's been reported, there's going to be a piece of rock 'n' roll memorabilia going up for sale on eBay that's certainly unique. No one would...

Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave star Tom Morello has been declared a soldier for peace by a group of Iraq War veterans. The rocker has been presented with one soldier's medals for fighting for an end to war back home in America.

He's one of our most beloved rock stars famous for his huge mouth, snake hips and distinctive vocal style. But Mick Jagger has come only ninth in a poll of the greatest voices in rock. It was the high-pitched rough-edged wail of Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant that won the title after he came first in a vote organised by digital radio station Planet Rock.

The man whose resume remains one of the best among early rock musicians continues to spread his love of the genre Kenny Vance has got it right. There is an intangible quality to doo wop music that isn't found anywhere else, and that quality, though it can't necessarily be named, is worth fighting for. "I'm in this genre, and I'm probably one of the only guys left that's making new music in this genre," says Vance, 64. "To me, the truth is, over the years this music is trivialized, by the press, by WFUV, whatever. But if you really listen...

A 16-year-old guitarist with Italian gothic metal band Soul Cry is in hospital after bandmates allegedly stabbed him for not playing well enough. Police in Genoa say they have arrested the band's 18-year-old female singer and her 16-year-old brother. The singer has been charged with attempted murder. Police official Alessandra Bucci told Italian media on Friday the victim had been stabbed about 50 times, mainly in the back and head. The attack occurred after a rehearsal in Sestri Ponente, a town near Genoa, in which other band members accused him of playing poorly. The singer allegedly told the guitarist he...

"We found this fascinating series of photos from the archives of LIFE magazine, giving readers a peek inside the homes of the parents/grandparents of some of the most influential musical artists from the 1970's, including the likes of Frank Zappa [above], Grace Slick, The Jackson Five, Elton John, Eric Clapton and many more previewed below..."

LONDON (Reuters) - An unreleased, experimental track by The Beatles could be made public 41 years after it was recorded at Abbey Road studios, ex-member Paul McCartney has said. McCartney, one of two surviving members of arguably the most successful pop band in history, told BBC Radio that "Carnival of Light" was The Beatles at their most free, "going off piste." "I said it would be great to put this on because it would show we were working with really avant-garde stuff," McCartney told Radio 4's Front Row culture show in an interview to be broadcast on Thursday. He confirmed...

..and now for something completely different..OK, I'm tired of all the woe is me vanities, so I'm posting a thread for fun. Who do you think are the hottest female rockers (rock, not pop), not just in appearance or voice (IMHO, vocals are key here). Have At It!

CINCINNATI (AP) - Rocker Peter Frampton is wishing someone would show him the way to keep his Barack Obama yard signs from getting swiped. The Grammy winner is complaining that signs showing his preference for the Democratic presidential candidate have been stolen repeatedly at his home in the upscale and predominantly Republican Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill.

Aerosmith has generally left the politics to bands like U2 and the Dixie Chicks, but axeman Joe Perry says national security and economic woes have prompted him to split from the rest of the entertainment world and throw his support behind John McCain. “We pretty much stay out of it, but seeing so many people come out for Obama, I just felt like ‘What the hell, I might as well raise my hand for this side,” Perry said from his Duxbury home. The Bay State rockers have done a few fund-raisers for the Kennedy family over the years, but Perry’s...

Memorabilia from some of punk rock's biggest acts and seminal moments -- including a scrawled flier for one of the Clash's first shows and publicity photos signed by the Sex Pistols -- is headed for a November 24 Christie's auction. The event, announced Tuesday, includes more than 120 records, photos and promotional pieces for such punk, garage rock and new wave legends as the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, the Ramones, David Bowie, Blondie, the Cure and the Smiths. The auction is Christie's first to focus on punk mementos, signaling the collectible status of a brash, anti-authoritarian rock movement that largely...

Since the song was released in 1967 the identity of the "pretty nurse selling poppies from a tray" has remained a mystery. But a schoolfriend of John Lennon's, who has written a book about growing up in Liverpool, claims to have the answer. Lennon will have known Beth Davidson (left) from childhood According to Stan Williams, she is Beth Davidson, who Lennon would have known from childhood. The moment which provided the inspiration came when Miss Davidson was selling poppies on Penny Lane, dressed in a cadet nurse's uniform. Some boys, including Lennon, saw her near Bioletti's barber's shop -...

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008 AT 10:54 AM "Punk Rock Republicans" POSTED BY MEGHAN I am often asked what my favorite band of all time is, and for me it is an incredibly difficult decision - almost impossible. However, if I had to pick a band, it would probably be The Ramones. I have been a fan since around sixth grade when I first heard the song "I Want To Be Sedated" on the radio and was immediately hooked (I even had my first kiss while "Beat on the Brat" was playing in the background). The power, impact and influence of...

PRETENDERS star CHRISSIE HYNDE hates talking about politics because she's convinced Americans are not ready to elect a black president. The singer admits she is a fan of Democrat Barack Obama, but doesn't think her fellow countrymen will vote him into the White House when they go to the polls on 4 November (08). She tells Blender magazine, "To be honest, there's nothing I want to talk about less than politics. I'd rather vomit and lick it up. "I like Obama, but he's not gonna win. Trust me, I know my people."

Legends of Doo Wop

Earl Palmer, the New Orleans drummer who largely defined the beat of rock 'n roll on thousands of recordings from the late 1940s on, died Friday in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 83... ...Mr. Palmer's distinct back beat, built on a heavy bass kick and New Orleans second line shuffle, was also informed by bebop jazz... Mr. Palmer provided the pulse on scores of Fats Domino singles, including his 1949 debut "The Fat Man" and his hits "I'm In Love Again," "I'm Walkin" and "My Blue Heaven." He backed Little Richard on "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti...

Ted Nugent, who calls himself “Dirty Harry with a ponytail,” is offering to provide personal security for rock ’n’ roll animal rights activist, Sir Paul McCartney. Apparently, the Beatles icon has been threatened by Muslim extremists if he plays a concert in Israel to celebrate the country’s 60th birthday.

The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees list was just released this morning and the nominees are: Metallica Jeff Beck The Stooges Run DMC War Bobby Womack Wanda Jackson Little Anthony and The Imperials Skipped over again: Rush Boston Kiss Journey Yes Chicago Genesis Phil Collins The Moody Blues Kansas Alice Cooper Deep Purple Abba Neil Diamond Styx Thin Lizzy Heart Hall and Oates Cheap Trick ETC....ETC...

The original artwork for The Rolling Stones' iconic lips and tongue symbol has been bought by London's Victoria and Albert Museum. The logo, originally designed in 1970 and used by the rock band ever since, sold in the US for $92,500 (£51,375). Half the cost was met by charity The Art Fund, which called the work "one of the most visually dynamic logos ever". Artist John Pasche, who sold the artwork, was originally paid £50 for creating the design. The Stones were so pleased with the logo that, in 1972, they gave him a bonus of £200. Pasche was studying...

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- The end is near for a bitter legal dispute between the three surviving members of The Doors now that the California Supreme Court has refused to take up their case. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger are on the hook for more than $5 million after they were found by lower courts to have improperly invoked The Doors' name and images during a 2003 concert tour. After the high court declined to hear their appeal on August 13, they'll have to pay up to drummer John Densmore, the parents of the deceased lead singer...

Our formerly industrial cities are in desperate need of fresh blood. We aren't having enough babies, and the counter culture spawned in the 1950s and 60s and the music most associated with it is coughing its lungs up... in Spanish retirement villas, old folks homes, indie blogs, dad-rock mags and other urine-reeking bolt-holes where the living dead gather to conspire against the young... Meanwhile, the developing world is bursting at the seams with babies, toddlers and teenagers, many of whom would love to come to the West but can't because of bizarre racist immigration policies and the absurd and morally...

Too Cool! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Q9zYuFQms

The music staff at AOL Radio and AOL Music's "Spinner" has come up with a list of the 20 worst songs of all time. In the No. 1 spot: "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by the Baha Men. Other tunes that made the list include "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes, "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith, "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion and, in the No. 2 spot, "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice.

LONDON (Reuters) - A film enthusiast has discovered a long lost interview with The Beatles from 1964 which has not been broadcast since. Richard Jeffs came across 64 canisters of film stored in a damp garage in South London, and when he started to go through them he stumbled across a piece of pop history. The conversation with Scottish television dates from April 30, 1964, according to the BBC, which played excerpts from the nine-and-a-half minute interview on the radio on Tuesday. It came shortly after the Fab Four's trip to the United States during which they were besieged by...

There was black, there was white, and then there was black and white: jazz and rock and electric blues and stuff so new you couldn’t categorize it. All along, there was wondrous pandemonium, fevered mingling, one tribe swapping their pretty beads and shiny mirrors for the pelts and dried fish of another. For that we should be grateful, or at least resigned, because American culture has one great theme—race—and one great art form—pop music—and the two will always be inseparable. Race and pop music will always be the twin helices of America’s cultural DNA, or so I would like to...

Swedish tax authorities have informed a couple in Stockholm that they may not keep the name Elvis for their five-month old daughter.

It's post-Memorial Day, which means it's also supposed to be the start of summer. Maybe the season shift doesn't directly effect the percentage of air guitars, but the nicer weather feels like a good enough reason to believe so, to have faith in good riffs and well-oiled six strings. Rolling Stone fulfills the need -- or at least provides the blueprint for a guitar-centric mixtape -- with a list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time." As they write: This is what makes a great rock & roll guitar sound: an irresistible riff; a solo or jam that...

Bo Diddley has died...details upcoming

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The Kiss Army fan club has an enthusiastic new recruit: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a departure from her normally staid diplomatic duties, Rice met the legendary glam rock quartet when they happened to share a hotel in the Swedish capital. Rice was in Stockholm on Thursday for an international conference on Iraq. Kiss had a sold-out gig to play on Friday. "I was thrilled," Rice said of her late-night encounter with frontman Gene Simmons and bandmates Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the executive lounge of the Sheraton Hotel where they signed autographs...

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Sub Pop Records, the indie label that gave the world Nirvana, will celebrate its 20th birthday with a weekend of concerts in a Seattle park in July. Among the groups reuniting or breaking long hiatuses for the July 12-13 event at Marymoor Park are Green River, Red Red Meat, the Fluid, Beachwood Sparks and Seaweed. Current label acts confirmed to appear include Mudhoney, comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, Fleet Foxes, Foals, Grand Archives, the Helio Sequence, Iron & Wine, Kinski, Low, No Age, Wolf Parade, Pissed Jeans and the Ruby Suns. Additional bands will be...

WASHINGTON - Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday, saying "he speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years."

Never-before-seen photos have surfaced of Elvis Presley rocking Madison Square Garden in all his jumpsuited glory. The images were taken in 1972 by George Kalinsky, the official photographer of the famed arena, the singer's estate said Wednesday. Kalinsky came across the photos while working on a campaign for a billboard company called "Great Moments in New York." Now one of them is on display as part of the campaign on a three-story billboard atop the Virgin Megastore in Times Square; it shows The King glancing up, his outstretched arms holding the cape of his glittering jumpsuit. Kalinsky needed to get...

Legendary rockers Journey have hired a Filipino fan to front the band after parting ways with Jeff Scott Soto earlier this year. The band discovered Arnel Pineda, from Quezon City in the Philippines via YouTube, when they saw footage of him singing Journey songs in his homeland with his band The Zoo. Original frontman Steve Perry was replaced in 1998 with Steve Augeri who was forced to leave the band due to health problems. But Pineda almost missed his dream job after initially assuming emails from guitarist Neal Schon were a hoax. “My friend Noel picked up the message on...

Was 2007 a good year for live music? Please list and/or discuss any music acts you attended this year.I never get to as many shows as I'd like, but here are the ones I saw this year: Alejandro Escovedo Nick LoweThe National Hacienda Brothers Charlie Louvin T-Bone Burnett Buddy Miller Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, Fats KaplinGuy Clark, Verlin Thompson

The drummer for The Police has apologised to the Chilean president after apparently implying that he found her less attractive that her Argentinian counterpart. Stewart Copeland's coarse remark risked overshadowing the Santiago leg of the band's comeback tour of South America, after his comments were picked up by the local press. In an interview given to a Chilean magazine he reportedly said: "Look, the future President of Argentina would be good for one beer; yours (would be good) for four."