Beck

Among potential Grammy nominees for the album of the year award, one name seems certain: James Blunt. His "Back to Bedlam" CD was a breakout smash that probably can't be denied, even though many music critics (you know, the nasty kind who attack pretty...

NEW YORK - In a B-plus year for music, the Grammy voters did a C-minus job of reflecting that energy and passion in nominations announced yesterday. In the top three categories alone, the reaction to the nominees is likely to range from hurrah to "huh?"...

In a bohemian stretch of Sunset Boulevard that winds through Silver Lake, there's a stereo repair shop with an exterior that seems, for some, oddly familiar: The coiling red and blue lines on its external wall served as the cover for an album by a...

Bill GRAHAM, the man who turned concert promotion into an art form, knew above all what it took to get people to buy tickets. "You could announce that the proceeds from tonight's concert will give us a cure for cancer and that tickets are only $10,"...

Mark Kates boarded a train in Philadelphia on Sunday that brought him here for the 45th annual Grammy Awards, but the journey covered far more mental terrain. He reflected on his "ultimate experience" as a music executive -- the 1996 edition of the...

Concert promotion — the business of hiring an act, booking a venue, selling the tickets and counting the money — is one of the music business' most lucrative enterprises. It's also one of its most faceless. How many fans at Prince's recent...

Coming this fall: The Drama of the Troubled Diva. For the next four months, many of pop's juiciest plot lines will feature female singers struggling back from the brink. They include Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera and TLC, all of whom have spent far...

Will the Grammys get in touch with commercial reality at the 43rd annual awards on Feb. 21? And, if they do, will this gang of industry professionals be able to look at itself in the bathroom mirror the morning after? The National Academy of Recording...

If you're trying to predict the winners of this year's Grammy Awards, you'd better reach for your good-luck charm. After the easily forecast sweeps by Lauryn Hill and Santana the last two years, the key races this time are so puzzling that even the most...

Maybe the pop world is finally ready to believe what Calendar predicted nearly four years ago: that by concentrating on cutting-edge rock and rap music, upstart Interscope Records would become the envy of the music industry. The Westwood-based company,...