Yesterday afternoon, a full 19 minutes after the Associated Press confirmed Michael Jackson's death, a former publicist for the singer sent an e-mail blast to media outlets offering to spill firsthand details of Jackson's "impossibly difficult and often self-destructive journey." And really, who better to sit in judgment of the man's scruples and morals?

In the days to come, you will hear a lot of negative stories -- some true, some not -- about Michael Jackson. His squandered fortune. His strange health history. His failed marriages. But I can remember a time when "Michael Jackson" only meant good things.

Surf, sun, and babes -- it's the California Dream. But its soundtrack was born in a much uglier place: a used car lot in rainy Tacoma, WA.

On the scale of Rockingness, Broadway's Tony Awards generally register somewhere between Golden Girls and Hannah Montana. But at Sunday night's show (which I had the privilege -- yes, privilege! -- to attend) devil horns outnumbered jazz hands.

Always unpredictable and never less than interesting, Jack White has cut a unique swath through modern rock. Here’s how:

In case you missed the MTV Movie Awards last night -- or only half-watched it, like I did -- here's our verdict on the night's hot topics:

A few Sundays ago I hosted a Wilco listening session in my apartment.

The only guest was my husband, a casual listener more conversant in Jeff Tweedy's migraines and squabbles with sidemen than the band's actual musical catalogue. As a longtime Wilco fan -- who first heard A.M. on a dorm boombox freshman year at college in Chicago -- I took it upon myself to school him.

Eminem has every right to portray the character of a serial killer, as he does in his new "3 A.M." video. But does he bear any artistic responsibility to explore, in even the most remote way, why that character is doing what he's doing? Motivation? Context? Anything?

On May 8, JJ Abrams' Star Trek will introduce a new generation of fans to Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise. Featuring a young, sexy cast -- and a decided lack of Shatner -- Abrams' franchise reboot will attempt to entice moviegoers to boldly go where they may never have gone before: a Star Trek film.

Backstage at Long Island, NY's Nassau Coliseum Friday night, 20 minutes before the Dead take the stage, guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir is pacing the hallway, fingering his electric guitar and singing to himself; bassist Phil Lesh is standing idly, solemn; and drummer Mickey Hart is chewing gum... rapidly. "In the end it will be the cockroaches and us," says Hart.

Rock of Ages — the arena-rock jukebox musical that mixes songs by the likes of Bon Jovi, Foreigner, and Journey with a story about "dreaming big, playing loud and partying on" — just opened on Broadway.

In honor of the second annual Record Store Day on April 18, we talked to SPIN contributors and trusted friends around the country to come up with the best general-interest music shops that America has to offer. Because, let's be honest, spending too many hours on the Internet fizzes your brain and dims your eyesight. But devoting

On May 27, Carlos Santana begins an exclusive engagement at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. He'll perform about 36 concerts a year at the 4000-seat Joint, backed by a full band, including trumpet, trombone, congas, and timbales.

Chalk one up for boring guys:

The weirdest thing to me, so far, about Eminem's rather bewildering new single/video "We Made You" (an apparent effort to defibrillate "The Real Slim Shady") is that when I clicked over to watch it this morning on the blog of Em's manager, Paul Rosenberg, the first thing that popped up was an awkwardly comedic a

Adventureland is set in 1987, the same year that John Hughes released his last coming-of-age drama, Some Kind of Wonderful, which is a total coincidence but an appropriate one. While Hughes never again delivered a classic on par with The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller's Day Off, it's possible that with Adventureland, writer-director Greg Mottola has.

If you happen to stop into a Target this weekend and see a preponderance of people clad in purple, don't be alarmed -- they're just Prince fans.

On Sunday, three albums from rock's reigning funk genius will go on sale exclusively at the retailer (though you can also get them by buying a membership to the artist's Lotusflow3r.com website).

For years, there have been Austin shadow parties and festivals in opposition to SXSW's corporate juggernaut -- the best, known affectionately as Fuck by Fuck You, booked local (and international) punk bands to squall and scream and spill beer all over the backyard of a venue called the "Typewriter Museum" (the 2009 event was redubbed Type by Type Writer).

Of all the taglines coming from current reality TV -- "Make it work," "Pack your knives and go," "Your shot at love is over" -- by far the fiercest and most resonant is RuPaul's pump-stomping command, "It's time to l-l-l-lip-synch for your lives!"