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The Science Fiction Book Club celebrate their 50th anniversary by selecting “The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002” 1 The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien 2 The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov 3 Dune, Frank Herbert 4 Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. …

Let’s say you’re a talented unknown singer. What’s the best thing that could happen to you? You get precious face time on American Idol as both a singer and a personality. Then, after making the semi-finals, you get kicked off the show, which leads to a public outcry and very …

You would think having your winkie severed and tossed off the side of the road would be enough to make you see the error of your ways, but not John Wayne Bobbitt, who is being sent to prison or parole violations: John Wayne Bobbitt is headed to prison after a …

Singer, songwriter, producer, actress, model, label owner, now children’s book writer: Madonna and Callaway Editions are creating an original series of five illustrated storybooks for young readers in association with Penguin Group. The English language rights to the five books, each of which will feature a different celebrated illustrator, have …

Elvis Costello is very deservedly going into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next Monday. Jon Friedman has an interesting profile in CBS MarketWatch: What separates Costello, who records for Vivendi Universal labels, from the pack is that he has endured so admirably. He has had a real career, …

The NY Times’ “The Music they Made” series continues with profile of B.B. King: B.B. King is tired. The last of the great bluesmen, Mr. King sits slumped in a chair in a Manhattan hotel room. It is early afternoon, and Mr. King, sipping water, is resting before a sold-out …

Greg Beato says Internet devaluing music: Given the music industry’s current woes, it is no wonder so many artists are beating the drums of peace these days. In the same way that aspiring missile-sharers believe that the best way to “liberate” Iraq is to thoroughly destroy it, millions of music …

Producer-songwriter Antonio “L.A.” Reid doing well as head of Arista: When Mr. Reid succeeded Arista’s founder, Clive Davis, in July 2000, becoming one of the most powerful blacks in the music industry, questions almost immediately began swirling about him in the press. Though he had had success with his own …

Can you name an airline after a euphemism for breasts? Do the virtues of a sports bar apply to an airline? Will they have bouncers? Will women fly it? Does it matter? Hooters Air begins flying Thursday, when it will make its inaugural flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach, S.C. …

Bo Diddley told a high school crowd that rap is disrespectful toward women: The 74-year-old bluesman says rap “is not a thing that’s going to last as long as I have.” “First of all, you can’t understand what it is and it has no meaning,” Diddley told an audience Thursday …