Music is virtually universal in human society: it serves many crucial social, cultural, and emotional purposes, it even has its own place in the brain. Researchers at Dartmouth have mapped the area: The study by Petr Janata, Research Assistant Professor at Dartmouth’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and his colleagues is …

The segregationist senator would do well to listen to the new Freedom: Songs From the Heart of America collection to understand the full implications of his philosophy.

Koch will release Songs From the Material World: A Tribute to George Harrison in February, which will include contributions from former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, the late Who bassist John Entwistle, Todd Rundgren, the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn, the Kinks’ Dave Davies, and former members of the MC5 and the …

A REALLY avid American Harry Potter fan bid $45 large for a handwritten card from J.K. Rowling which reveals answers to the forthcoming book number five: The unidentified buyer made the winning bid Thursday for the card, handwritten by author J.K. Rowling as a charity fund-raiser. The money will be …

As she would have been even if she shouldn't have been. What are they going to do, dump their biggest star and the symbol of the show?

I really like Moby as an artist and dude: he may be a geek, but he’s a cool and sincere one. He’s also very intelligent and talented, and he’s been around. I was very sorry to hear he was assaulted Wednesday night in Boston – quoting his site: Curious, Why? …

Just about everyone loves “White Christmas,” Irving Berlin’s beautiful, longing ode to snow and the Christmas spirit that captures both the celebration and underlying melancholy present for many at the holiday. While Bing Crosby’s version is the biggest-selling single of all time (temporarily elbowed aside by Elton John’s Diana-tribute remake …

With the headlong race to the lowest common denominator (and below) in reality TV programming, you knew this was just a matter of time: [Showtime] has greenlit a half-hour latenight reality series chronicling the life of adult entertainment producer, director and occasional performer Adam Glasser, aka Seymore Butts. The currently …

Last Saturday’s SNL was neither very smoothly performed nor memorably written, but with Robert De Niro as the (somewhat reluctant) guest host, it was certainly watched: The Robert De Niro-hosted Dec. 7 edition of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” drew the largest audience for the latenight series since a Britney Spears-fronted …

Speaking of sound loops, I have indicated on several occasions that I am fascinated with ambient music: music designed to create a mood environment without resorting to elevator banality. Brian Eno’s Music For Airports is one of the seminal works of the field. Norm Friesen has created a site that …