Band reunites behind reissues and live performances. The massive, mighty, exceptionally influential proto-grunge that was the original Dinosaur Jr. is back: J Mascis (guitar/vocals), Lou Barlow (bass) and Murph (drums). Mascis’s wah-wahed and fuzzed guitar assault on fairly straightforward rock songs returned the guitar hero to a position of underground …

The reality show fixation, and in particular that with American Idol, has been going too long and too strong to dismiss as a fad or a fluke. Idol’s Tuesday performance segment and Wednesday’s repeat performance segment — necessitated by a misprint at the end of the show of three of …

Michael Jackson was interviewed by Jesse Jackson yesterday, Easter morning, on his syndicated radio show “Keep Hope Alive with the Rev. Jesse Jackson.” The reverend and the pop star have known each other for 36 years since the Jackson Five performed at Operation Push’s first Black Expo Chicago in 1969. …

The Michael Jackson case took a pivotal turn today when Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville — after hearing arguments by District Attorney Tom Sneddon and heated opposition by defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. — ruled in favor of the presecution, allowing testimony about alleged sexual offenses and a pattern of …

Our Tom Johnson reported this in September ’03: Pete Townshend’s main creative work will be songs for a new Who album. These will be based on his story, now complete, The Boy Who Heard Music. He and Roger plan to demo the new material before the end of the year …

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the status of several international concerns, notably the state of U.S. alliances, the Administration’s push for greater democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere, and relations with China and Asia (among many other topics) in an exclusive interview with the Washington Post. She strikes …

Penetrating, fascinating, revealing and coruscating study from Edison Media Research and Arbitron, “Internet & Multimedia 2005: The On-Demand Media Consumer.” Summary of Findings 1. Americans are changing the way they access video programming. Video programming is no longer the exclusive domain of broadcast television, and network schedules no longer completely …

The Apprentice 3: The Donald, the squirrel on his head, street smarts, book smarts. Scott Pepper and Eric Berlin, Patfish: on a mission: You’re Hired! You’re The Apprentice! Now Get in the Commercial! Kendra won. She’s the Apprentice. Which is nice – I’m happy for her. She deserved it. But …

American Idol 4 has reached the finals. We are chronicling every twist and turn: American Idol: Winning, Losing and Cher-ing Like the never-ending Cher Farewell/Retirement/I Still Need the Money tour, I find that I keep coming back for one last gig on American Idol, Season Four. (Except that I don’t …

After the bizarre phone number foul-up on American Idol Tuesday night — where the numbers given to vote for Mikalah Gordon, Anwar Robinson, and Jessica Sierra were incorrect — last night we were treated to an utterly redundant “encore” presentation of Tuesday night’s performances, along with some additional “live” commentary …