Such a trainwreck. But I bet it took a lot of pressure off Russell when Kanye stepped in and stole the show right at the beginning. (Douchebag.)

New Lego: One shot: Iggy Pop, plastic passenger

Sporting a heroin-chic-weathered 'body' decal that likely won't be working its way backward into the company's toy line, French game news site JeuxVideo gets the first look at Iggy Pop's appearance in TT/Harmonix's upcoming Lego Rock Band -- click through for the full plastic performance of The Passenger.

NY PEOPLE! If you like jazz, Billy Holiday, etc. you need to go see my friend play! [link]

I think she's got some shows coming up in CA too. You can click the cd link and then a cd to listen to samples.

So sad to hear about Mary Travers dying of cancer. Peter, Paul & Mary were a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

Peter, Paul & Mary were a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

Seriously. PP&M and Joan Baez were the only 20th-century albums my parents had. Although, occasionally, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and the Royal Tahitian Dance Company got thrown into the mix.

Of course, in the car, it was pretty much all Johnny Cash all the time.

My childhood soundtrack was the Carpenters, the Kingston Trio, the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, other show tunes, all my dad's jazz (Stan Kenton especially), and whatever was on AM radio in the car.

Then Mom got into Manilow and it all went downhill ...

My parents had maybe 40 or 50 LPs (Jim Neighbors comes to mind) but I don't recall a single time they ever played any of their records around us. I remember my Aunt mailed us an Elton John tape when my parents got a car with an 8-track player back in '75, so that got played a lot. But it was always us kids picking 8-tracks. Then we got an 8-track stereo so we would make our own tapes.

My parents played music all the time, but it was generally either Bach (my mother) or Beethoven (my father). Common ground was found with Gilbert & Sullivan. Most importantly, Mozart was for sissies.

I would think that Amy and I had the same parents until you mentioned your dad's jazz records. My dad's favorite group is the Kingston Trio, so I was raised on all of their albums. He also loves John Denver, PP&M, Willie Nelson, and Simon and Garfunkel.

My mom thought that show tunes were more appropriate for us kids (and I know she likes them herself, but she doesn't seem to listen to them much on her own), so we grew up with the movie soundtracks for everything from Sound of Music to Jesus Christ Superstar (Sis and I would argue over who got to sing along with Judas--the loser got stuck with Ted Neeley's Jesus; we split the other songs).

But, since I'm the youngest and my oldest sib by five years, my brother, is the music freak of the family, I mostly grew up listening to his music or Top 40 stations before I started buying my own. Chicago, ELO, Queen were all widely heard from bro's bedroom, and sis and I would be singing along with whatever was on WLS.

Albums my mother owned that I remember listening to before I was 10: Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell, early Beatles, Peter Paul & Mary, Pete Seeger (mostly kids' stuff), John Denver, and Joan Armatrading. I've been hearing Mary Travers' voice like a bell on "If I had a hammer" all day. She was really a striking woman, so tall and sharp-featured, not at all a typical early-60s beauty (but beautiful).