Chronicler of Heartbreak Gets Happy

Guitarist Lou Rogers, 67, survives 4 days in trapped car after shortcut goes wrong

(NEWSER) - Country guitarist Lou Rogers has survived to play another day after spending four days in a car stuck in a snowbank. The 67-year-old was taking a shortcut down the remote Gold Creek Road on his way to a gig in Idaho on Thursday when his car became trapped. His cell phone had no signal and his multiple health problems meant the 9-mile walk back through rough country wasn't an option, Rogers says. More»

Hollywood composers, lyricists form alliance with Local 399

(NEWSER) - A group of composers for movies and TV seeking a better deal now have the Teamsters in their corner. The musicians, who complain that their pay is shriveling as studios expect them to absorb more costs, were one of the few groups of Hollywood workers not covered by union contracts. The unlikely alliance was made at the suggestion of the Writer's Guild of America, which declined to handle the musicians' grievances. More»

Bob Dylan's Christmas album is just the latest in a long line

(NEWSER) - Bob Dylan’s decision to record a Christmas album is certainly ill-advised—“fans may have stuck by him throughout the musically self-destructive late '60s, the God-bothering late '70s, and the Grateful Dead-collaborating-Madonna-imitating mid '80s, but surely even Bob's fans have a limit,” writes John Matthew Hall for the Independent. But Dylan’s not alone; Hall offers up the worst disasters in rock and roll careers, from John Lennon to Michael Jackson: More»

Beyoncé, Swift should hear Lucinda Williams

(NEWSER) - Beyoncé and Taylor Swift ought to get real and hear 55-year-old songstress Lucinda Williams, David Hajdu writes in the New Republic. Reviewing albums by all three, Hajdu dismisses Beyoncé's "bipolar" attempt to drum up musical personas, and warns Swift against such concoctions as her star rises. Williams' album, Little Honey, however, offers “an object lesson in how to be a grown woman in popular music." More»

(NEWSER) - In the mood for upscale Halloween chills? If a plain old haunted house isn't swanky enough for your tastes, consider checking into a room from Travel and Leisure's list of hotels that come complete with a resident celeb spook:

1. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Los Angeles: Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift
2. Las Vegas Hilton: Elvis Presley
3. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Florida: Anna Nicole Smith