David Wild is one of those people who has the dream job that he imagined when he was a kid. His childhood was spent worshiping rock music and he grew up to find himself interviewing his icons and writing about their work. His new book, "He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond" salutes Mr. Coming to America with a part tribute part personal memoir.......

This Sunday, the wishes will be separated, or "harvested," from Yoko Ono's Wish Trees, but the 21 crape myrtle trees will stay in Pasadena. As the 80,000 wishes make their way to Iceland, the trees will find a new home at the Arlington Garden, a demonstration Mediterranean climate garden in Pasadena. Since August, visitors to One Colorado have written over 80,000 wishes in Yoko Ono's project. They will soon find their home Videy Island, off......

The new Neiman Marcus slated to officially open this Friday in Canoga Park is expected to be a big one. It's the "centerpiece of the final phase of a $500 million renovation of Westfield Topanga," it will have "couture salons" (something not even the the NM in Beverly Hills has) and more than 100 pieces from the "The Art of John Lennon" will be on display this weekend at the store. "I'm proud of every......

Ringo Starr and his 10th All-Starr Band wrapped up a 31 date tour with a nostalgia-drenched set Saturday night at the Greek. The concept for the evening is simple: In between Beatles and Ringo solo tracks, most of the All-Starr band members - Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, Colin Hay, Stuart Hamish, and Gary Wright - get to take turns performing their own solo material. Gregg Bissonette, thankfully, seems content to just play drums. The evening......

Christmas Eve is here. And today is no time for cynicism, irony or nastiness of any sort. Time instead to make something nice to eat, clink your glass with a loved one, and count your blessings with total sincerity. Preparation is over. The moment to let it go and be happy starts now. To help set the mood, we offer twenty of the most joyous, uplifting, totally Christmasey of all Christmas songs known to man.......

The Mods and Rockers invite all Beatles fans, Anglophiles and latent mods and rockers to attend A Holiday Rave-up: A Very British Sixties Christmas! tomorrow night. This celebration of sixties music will feature The Ravers, the premier sixties cover band. Special guests performing with The Ravers will be Stephen Bishop (On And On, It Might Be You) and Spencer Davis (Gimme Some Loving, I'm A Man). I saw Spencer Davis perform with The Ravers......

Today is the 27th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Like the JFK assassination before it, his murder became a touchstone for a generation. Everyone remembers where they were when they found out Lennon had been shot. I was sitting on my bed doing homework, and I stayed glued to my little black-and-white TV all night as the events unfolded. My friends and I wore black to school for an entire week and......

It seems unlikely that I actually saw it, but I’d swear to you that I was up on the night that Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics destroyed a car on the Tomorrow Show. I would have been nearing the end of eighth grade and I can’t imagine that my parents let me stay up, but it sure feels like I did. That’s the problem and the beauty of current technology. We can’t really remember......

I still want a hula hoop. But I'll settle for a sweet stash of new music and reissues. Here are the newbies for this festive holiday week. [via All Music] Rock America - Silent Letter/Alibi (Beat Goes On) Bananarama - Really Saying Something: The Platinum Collection (WEA International) Beloved, The - Platinum Collection: Sun's Rising/Halcyon (WEA International) Bronski Beat/Communards - Age of Consent/Platinum Collection (WEA International) Emma Bunton - Life in Mono [Bonus Tracks]......

. 1. Kurt Cobain ($50M) 2. Elvis Presley ($42M) 3. Charles M. Schulz ($35M) 4. John Lennon ($24M) 5. Albert Einstein ($20M) 6. Andy Warhol ($19M) 7. Dr. Seuss ($10M) 8. Ray Charles ($10M) 9. Marilyn Monroe ($8M) 10. Johnny Cash ($8M) 11. J.R.R Tolkien ($7M) 12. George Harrison ($7M) 13. Bob Marley ($7M) Top Earning Dead Celebrities, Forbes, 2006 -- h/t stereogum......

- Yes on Prop 89, and not just because the LA Times and other Big Businesses are against it. - Some people still don't believe, even after a jury says he did it on purpose, that an old man would plow through a crowd of youngins on purpose. - Michael J. Fox wants Missouri to get their heads out of their asses. - "Marie Antoinette" probably sucks - While everyone else has to schlep......

Sean Lennon Friendly Fire Capitol (2006) Instead of being looked at as the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, famous for being famous like so many other celebrity kin, Sean Lennon has taken his birthright and talent passed on to him, and has used them to his advantage. Eight years after releasing 1998's Into the Sun, he's written yet another album which allows you to enter the world of Sean Lennon, not the......

John Lennon fans and political activists everywhere will rejoice with the forthcoming film The U.S. Versus John Lennon. The September release will capture Lennon’s push for world peace through his progression from being a part of the fab four to becoming an anti-war activist. The film focuses on Lennon’s life from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, and also captures Lennon’s fight with the Nixon administration. The film will be distributed by Lions......

Larry King in remembering Mike Douglas said that he thinks "nice guy" when he remembers the former talk show host. LAist remembers someone who loved stars so much that he let them be themselves. He let John and Yoko take over his show for a week, he let Sly Stone be Sly Stone, he even let Tiger Woods (as a child) demonstrate his putting skills. But you tell us, who was featuring Tom Waits......

Rock & Roll Heaven Theater 68, Hollywood thru August 27 Book, Music, Lyrics: Jason Mershon Directed by Jason Mershon The premise for the musical "Rock And Roll Heaven" is pretty simple: what happens when hedonistic musicians (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morisson, John Lennon, Janis Joplin et al, and rather inexplicably, Judy Garland) end up in heaven? It seemed likely to impress me when I first heard about it- me, whose first love was musical theater,......

+ Apple to staff Best Buy? The electronics giant has a lot of things going for it -- decent prices, good selection, excellent extended warranties -- so imagine if the computer sales staff was trained and managed by Apple? If it's anything as good as the Genius Bar at the Grove's Mac store, it could run Circuit City right out of town. + The LA Times are in Greenland covering global warming and the......

The LA-based, music production/management company Xperimental Entertainment is trying to break the William Hung stigma attached to Asian American pop singers by conducting its own American Idol-type contest on its website. The site features live performances of 10 Asian American singer/musician finalists. Voters can cast ballots once every 24 hours for their favs. Unlike its AI counterpart, there isn’t a Ryan Seacrest in sight, and some of the contestants choose to accompany themselves with......

Sly Stone gets on stage for the first time in 19 years. That made the Grammy Awards worth watching. Was there anything else that did? U2 and Mary J. Blige singing "One" together — that woman can put it all on the line. Matt Dillon saying that they were a tough act to follow. Kanye winning. Dave Chapelle. Jay-Z's John Lennon t-shirt. Bruce Springsteen. Sam Cooke. What could we have skipped? The cheesy black-and-white-ification of......

Today the late Notorious B.I.G. and Bob Marley released a new duet (with the help of technology and questionable morals). The song, titled "Hold Ya Hand" was produced by Clinton Sparks and contains sample of Marley's "Johnny Was." The track is available now on AOL Music. It's part of a larger effort called "The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter." This is hardly the first time an artist has been involved in a posthumous......