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  • Avril and The Dinosaur

    What an inspired choice from the producers of the movie Eragon to use an Avril Lavigne power pop ballad, Keep Holding On, as its theme.

    Speaking of the Sk8r Grrl, she announced on MySpace Saturday that her new album will be called The Best Damn Thing with a lead single, Girlfriend, out in February, hot on the heels of Keep Holding On, which has Academy Award nominee written all over it.

    Lavigne said she hoped to finish her work on the album today to wrap for the Christmas holidays.

    Spinning in the CD Today:
    Fergie. I still don’t get her. Didn’t like her in the Peas. Don’t like her now, and I’m one of the few apparently, so I’m trying to figure out why. I hear someone like Gwen Stefani or Madonna and think, “Ah, original.” I hear the Fergster and say, “Don’t see it, sorry.” But I’m still trying because I’m apparently missing something.

  • Chinese Democracy To Arrive In March

    The long awaited Chinese Democracy, one of rock’s great mystery albums now that Brian Wilson has released SMile, will arrive in stores in March, according to Axl Rose.

    Rose, who led Guns N’ Roses to prominence in the 1980s as the apparent successors to Aerosmith, saw the band blow apart much like Aerosmith itself did a decade earlier. Like Aerosmith, GNR had a world class guitarist in Slash, a tight rhythm section and a front man who could create waves through charisma — good and bad.

    The Sweet Child O’ Mine guys haven’t released a studio album in 13 years, rendering them virtually irrelevant to today’s music scene. Yet Rose, despite the occasional foray into a party debacle, has kept the band’s aura top of mind. The multi platinum Appetite for Destruction, one of rock’s seminal works, has helped.

    Now Chinese Democracy, long rumored and reportedly costing millions to produce is set to be released. Expect a huge sales push from the merely curious. The question is whether will Chinese Democracy can take root and relaunch the band.

    Spinning In The CD Player Today:
    The Genius of Ray Charles, in honor of legendary record exec Ahmet Ertegun, the best R&B and rock producer ever. His list of accomplishments, discoveries and signings is legendary and usually known by one name: Ray, Aretha, The Stones, Zeppelin, CSNY and on and on. A brilliant songwriter, he wrote classics such as Chain of Love and many other. The guy was 83 years old and fell backstage at a Stones concert. 83. How cool is that? And how strange is it that one of his earliest superstars, Ruth Brown, died in Vegas the same day he fell?

  • Blige and Underwood Make Unlikely Duo

    If the Billboard Music Awards are any indication, Mary J. Blige should sail through the Grammys in February. These are not the popularity awards, but the actual tallies — you know, sales and money and airplay and the things that really matter.

    Blige won NINE Billboard Awards yesterday in Vegas, but somehow Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts won Album of the Year. I’m simply trying to figure out how you win every award but the big one.

    As far as critics go, neither would typically be hailed for producing the best album of the year, but it was a strange, singles-oriented 2006 that let the ladies slip past the soft alt-rock bands and puppy Chris Brown, who is one day going to walk away from one of those shows with nine of his own awards.