As for the song itself, it adds credence to the argument that "Idol" viewed Cook as a way to make amends for Chris Daughtry's early ouster in season five. Which is to say that it sounds like a candy-coated version of Daughtry's "Home" crossed with Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You," its 6/8 time signature giving it an arm-waving sway as one last gift to the annoying pit girls in front of the stage.

Then again, Daughtry never had to sing about a magic rainbow. Cook barely flinched, which seems about right for a guy who may have chuckled at the cheese that "Idol" served up twice weekly but who always embraced it with "what the hey!" enthusiasm. Sure, the lyrics to the single that introduces him to the world is a jumble of mixed metaphors (one of which, running along a river's edge and failing to fly, is a little more literally earthbound than the typical coronation song), but Cook certainly knew what he was getting himself into, and he was ready for it.

As coronation songs go, "Time Of My Life" is a middling entry. Cook would have actually been better served by his Tuesday selection, "Dream Big." Emily Shackelton's original is a moderately sparky (if generic) country-pop number that has the unprecedented advantage of not being mind-numbingly dumb, but the word "stars" in the chorus seems to have inspired Cook to rearrange it as a Switchfoot knockoff. Making it sound like the quietly Christian band not only fit the singer, it suited the second verse's veiled religious references, though Cook was smart enough to edit out the part with the line "I loosed the reins, then let them go." One "Jesus Take The Wheel," it seems, is plenty.

Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favoured classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive. "I am in disbelief," Dylan fan and fellow Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz said of Dylan's award. Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," a tragic, but humorous story of desire, politics and violence among Dominicans at home and in the United States, won the fiction prize. Diaz, 39, worked for more than a decade on his first novel - "I spent most of the time on dead-ends and doubts," he told The Associated Press on Monday - and at one point included a section about Dylan.

"Bob Dylan was a problem for me," Diaz, who has also published a story collection, "Drown," said with a laugh. "I had one part that was 40 pages long, the entire chapter was organized around Bob Dylan's lyrics over a two year-period (1967-69). By the end of it, I wanted to throttle my like of Bob Dylan."

He worried about how his 1977 song "All I Want Is You" would be featured in the then-newly released "Juno" -- and whether more than 30 years as a children's author and entertainer would be tarnished by a momentary mocking of his work on the big screen.

As it turns out, that "Juno" spot has garnered the Silver Spring, Md., resident more mainstream attention than any previous milestone, which included playing at the White House and hosting a nationally syndicated children's show.

Polisar's MySpace page, which had 15,000 hits before the release of the film, has had about 150,000 since. Visitors have downloaded "All I Want Is You" from the page nearly 30,000 times. His song is referenced on Google 7,900 times and has been featured on YouTube.

What's more, eight couples from around the country have contacted Polisar requesting permission to use his song during their wedding -- including two couples from California who offered to fly him out to sing it.

"It's a real eye-opener what national exposure can do," said Polisar, 53, still amazed at how one motion picture has made a contemporary hit of a song that he released when Jimmy Carter was president.

The Lebanese-born 24-year-old, who looks certain to get a Best British Male nod in next week's BRITs nominations, is a songwriting powerhouse. The singer told me: "I don't necessarily write things to meet quotas on albums."

"It's part of the plumbing of my daily life."

"Then I curate a few songs into an album."

"I was working on my second album before I had even finished making my first."

"While no guild decision has yet been made regarding the Grammys, if a waiver is requested for the Grammys, it is unlikely to be granted," said WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell.

The Grammys are produced by John Cossette Productions in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions, and are written by Ehrlich and author/journalist David Wild. Mitchell says there's been no decision yet as to whether or not the WGA would picket the Grammys, which air on CBS. Mitchell notes that there have been "no discussions yet" with the production companies involved with the Recording Academy's awards show.

Since the Grammys honor musicians, not actors, it is unclear how much impact the WGA's decision will have on the show, though the dozen or so actors who typically present awards would not be involved. Last year, Quentin Tarantino, Luke Wilson, Nicolas Cage, Terrence Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, and David Spade appeared on the show. This year's nominees also include a number of musicans who have appeared in movies or TV, among them Justin Timberlake, Queen Latifah, Tim McGraw, Beyonce, Jack White, Jon Bon Jovi, and Fantasia. Among the Grammy nominee musicians who have historically refused to cross a picket line are Bruce Springsteen, the Beastie Boys, Joni Mitchell, John Mellencamp, and Steve Earle. And, obviously, writers would not contribute to the ceremony's script, though compared to other awards shows, the Grammys are a performance-heavy event.

Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56. His death was announced Sunday in a statement released by his family through the firm Scoop Marketing and also posted on his Web site.

Mr. Fogelberg learned he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. In a statement then, he thanked fans for their support. "It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years," he wrote. "I thank you from the very depths of my heart." Mr. Fogelberg's music was powerful in its simplicity. He did not rely on the volume of his voice to convey his emotions; instead, they came through in his soft, tender delivery and his poignant lyrics. Songs like "Same Old Lang Syne," in which a man reminisces after meeting an old girlfriend by chance during the holidays, became classics not only for his performance, but also for their engaging story lines. Mr. Fogelberg's heyday was in the 1970s and early '80s, when he scored several platinum and multiplatinum records fueled by such hits as "The Power of Gold" and "Leader of the Band," a touching tribute he wrote to his father, a bandleader. Mr. Fogelberg put out his first album in 1972.

Mr. Fogelberg's songs tended to have a weighty tone, reflecting on emotional issues in a serious way. But in an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 1997, he said it did not represent his personality. "That came from my singles in the early '80s," he said. "I think it probably really started on the radio. I'm not a dour person in the least. I'm actually kind of a happy person. Music doesn’t really reflect the whole person.

Carrie Underwood is used to seeing crowds at the Ryman Auditorium. For three days in February, though, she had the former home of the Grand Ole Opry pretty much to herself, as she and a dozen Nashville songwriters worked on new tunes. "We just ruled the Ryman for a little bit," the 24-year-old singer says. "We kind of hung out there. We ate on the stage. We thought it would be a nice place to get inspiration from."

After the release of her 2005 debut, Some Hearts, which has sold nearly 6 million copies, Underwood committed to developing her songwriting skills for her new album, Carnival Ride, out Tuesday. "I'm the kind of person that, if I got in there and wrote and it was bad, I'd be, like, 'I'm not a writer; I'll let the professionals handle this,' " she says. "But it was something I definitely wanted to see if I could do."

*****

The three-day retreat at the Ryman offered Underwood such a pause. In a place where Hank Williams and Patsy Cline once sang, where Johnny Cash taped his ABC variety show, Underwood got to write with such top tunesmiths as Craig Wiseman, whose credits include Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying.

"The goals were twofold," says retreat organizer Chris Oglesby, who runs OWM/19 Entertainment, the Nashville office of the company that manages Underwood's career. "One was to continue to get Carrie more comfortable writing and writing with different writers. The other was to create an environment where we could build some camaraderie, as well as find some great songs to put on a record."

The British government rejected a plea to extend copyright laws for sound recordings to beyond 50 years on Tuesday, prompting the music industry to accuse it of not supporting musicians and artists. The music industry had won support from opposition politicians and a parliamentary committee in its bid for a copyright extension that would allow veterans such as Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney to carry on receiving royalties in later life.

The government would have had to push the European Commission for a change in the law but said such a move did not seem appropriate as it would not benefit the majority of performers and could lead to increased costs. "The UK is a world-beating source of great music, so it is frustrating that on the issue of copyright term the government has shown scant respect for British artists and the UK recording industry," John Kennedy, head of the IFPI body which represents the international recording industry, said in a statement.

"Some of the greatest works of British music will soon be taken away from the artists who performed them and the companies that invested in them." The issue of copyright has become a hot topic in Britain as early hits from ageing acts approach the cut-off point, just as downloading music sparks a revival for back catalogues.

Under current rules, performers can earn royalties for 50 years from the end of the year when a sound recording was made. In comparison, novelists, playwrights and composers enjoy copyright protection for their life and 70 years afterwards. Cliff Richard, whose first hit "Move It!" from 1958 is approaching the cut-off point, has led the campaign to highlight the issue, with support from the likes of McCartney, Robbie Williams and The Who's Roger Daltrey.

To my dear media, friends, and fans,

You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the "Rubinoos" are trying to sue me. They have a song called "I Want To Be Your Boyfriend" that has no musical similarities to the song "Girlfriend" that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on 5 words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language.

Off the top of my head, two other songs that I can immediately think of with this type of lyric are "Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud" by the Rolling Stones and "Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend" by the Ramones. Simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off. Luke and I have done nothing wrong and there is no merit to their claim.

And slap in the face #2

I was going to be the bigger person and not reply when I read Chantal Kreviazuk's article in Performing Songwriter magazine. Now that all the media have caught on to her little interview, I need to speak. Chantal's comments are damaging to my reputation and a clear defamation of my character and I am considering taking legal action. Chantal has accused me of taking a song idea from her because I happen to have a song on my new record with the same title.

For the record, I wrote a song with Evan Taubenfeld which coincidentally has the same title as a song Chantal had sent me a few years ago. Our songs have no similarities and opposite meanings, i.e. different lyrics, different melody, different genres. In Chantal's own words "the only similarity is in the title." I originally wrote this with Evan for his record and I ended up with it. Funny enough when I decided to put "Contagious" on my album we had to change the words from "she" to "he" in order for it to work on my record. There are hundreds of songs out there with the title "Contagious," 75+ on iTunes alone.

Chantal has also made false accusations about my writing skills. I am so over this topic. This letter is not about this. I am not going to sit here and defend my writing skills. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I know who I am and what I have done and accomplished and no one can take that away from me.

My decision to discontinue working with Chantal after co-writing together on my second record was simply based on the fact that we had no hits together. That is why her name is not on this record, despite her numerous attempts to be included, which were always denied. From my perspective this is a clear case of bitterness. Chantal is upset that she didn't get to be a part of my record. She did email me after the article came out apologizing and I forgive her but I have to put the truth out there so my fans are not confused by these false accusations.

Let it be crystal clear that I have not ripped anyone off or done anything wrong. I have never had to deal with anything publicly like this and surely never wanted to. I do not deserve this negative press and attention. I take pride in the songs that I write and appreciate the opportunities to work with some great writers and musicians.

My fans have been so dedicated to my music and it is because of them that I have this amazing career. Thank you again to my fans for continuing to be so supportive. This is a very positive time for me in my life. I have a very successful career and I feel very lucky to have accomplished all that I have. I am so thankful every day.

I would like to say more but my lawyers have advised me not to. Why is it when you get to a certain level people want to attack you?... and now I have said my piece.

Avril

Canadian punk princess Avril Lavigne is being sued by U.S. songwriters who claim that her smash hit "Girlfriend" sounds suspiciously like a track they took up the charts in the 1970s. Lavigne's manager, Terry McBride, says the pop starlet is one of several people named in a lawsuit filed July 2 that alleges striking similarities to the Rubinoos song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."

The group's founder, Tommy Dunbar, filed the suit in California's Northern Federal District Court and also names Lavigne's publishing company Avril Lavigne Publishing and Lavigne's songwriting partner Dr. Luke as defendants. McBride says from Vancouver that the claim is baseless, noting that a musicologist he hired to study both tracks has deemed them completely different songs.

Still, McBride, also CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, admitted that he is considering settling the suit out of court if the costs of defending the case prove too high. The suit comes on the heels of a jab at Lavigne by fellow Canuck songstress Chantal Kreviazuk, who recently suggested to Performing Songwriter magazine that Lavigne stole one of her songs for the disc "The Best Damn Thing."

The Brooklyn-based songwriter set out to change the musical landscape for mobile frozen treat purveyors with new tunes -- and ringtones -- like "Ice Cream Yo!" and "Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go in the Winter?" Independent ice cream vendors across the country are already taking notice.

*****

"I had no hard and fast rules as to how to make an ice cream truck song," said Hearst, who also plays in indie duo One Ring Zero. "They had just better make people want to buy ice cream." And Hearst's 13 tracks -- short, whimsical tunes that use melodica, organ, theremin, guitar, keyboards and a children's choir -- appear to be doing just that. "Having something other than a nursery rhyme makes grown-ups not mind approaching the truck as much," said John Thibodeau, owner of single-truck operation Thibby's Ice Cream in Green Bay, Wis.

"You can't blast low-end music coming from a horn speaker, so the music has to have a certain tone. Michael nailed these great mid- and high-level sounds. Lots of people ask me about it, where I got it," said Matt Allen, popularly known as the Ice Cream Man, who gives out free ice cream at major music festivals across the country. Other vendors -- from a startup in Southern Pines, North Carolina, to a small fleet in Portland, Oregon -- are catching on as well.

"We're excited to add EMI Music's stellar roster of artists' content to our site and make it available to our community," said Chad Hurley, chief executive of YouTube.

Eric Nicoli, chief executive of EMI Group, said the deal would "offer consumers the best possible entertainment experiences" by using "innovative business models that will generate revenues for our business and our creators".

"Through this agreement EMI Music and its artists will be fairly compensated for their work," Mr Nicoli said.

EMI and YouTube have agreed to work together to develop ways in which EMI-owned recordings can be incorporated into user generated content by YouTube users.

....Marvel Studios is putting the pieces together for a musical on the Great White Way starring the popular superhero, which will be directed by Tony winner Julie Taymor, with U2's Bono and the Edge creating new music and lyrics for the project. Auditions are taking place, and a reading is scheduled for the summer. No dates for a Broadway opening have been set.

Producing are Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment. In addition to co-producing the show, Hello Entertainment is arranging all financing for the project.

While the Spider-Man musical marks the first time a Marvel character has been the subject of a Broadway show, it's not the first time a superhero has hit the stage. Superman was in the spotlight of "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman," which opened at the Alvin Theatre in 1966. Despite fairly positive reviews, it closed a few months later.

Before becoming Marvel chairman, David Maisel spearheaded the 1999 best musical Tony winner "Fosse." Taymor won two Tonys for direction and costume design for the Broadway production of "The Lion King."

Kudos were presented to the composers and songwriters of the top box office film music and the most performed television music of 2006. Film nods went to Jon Brion, Erran Baron Cohen, Chris Cornell, Ramin Djawadi, Paul Westerberg, Michael Giacchino, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Andrea Guerra, Mark Isham, Henry Mancini, Randy Newman, Douglas Pipes, John Powell, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri and Hans Zimmer.

TV gongs went to J.J. Abrams, Giacchino, John Adair, Paul Bessenbacher, Lee Aronsohn, Grant Geissman, Sean Callery, Jeff Cardoni, Adam Cohen, Steve Franks, John Robert Wood, Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin, Catherine Dennis, Julian Gingell, Barry Stone, Rob Duncan, Marc Fantini, Steffan Fantini, Scott Gordon, Elizabeth Fraser, Matthew Gerrard, Robbie Nevil, Alex Greenwald, Jason Schwartzman, Matthew Hawkins, Maurice "M.O." Jackson, Neil Martin, Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, John Keane, Russ Landau, David Vanacore, Michael Levine, Franz Vonlichten, Helmut Vonlichten, Richard Markmann, Daniel Pinnella, Daniel McGrath, Josh Phillips, Blake Neely, Newman, David Porter and Mark T. Williams.

Drawing honors for most performed TV themes were Joel Beckerman, Michael Karp, Russ Landau, Branford Marsalis and Vanacore. Most performed underscore nods went to Callery, Landau, David Nichtern, Mark Snow and David Vana.

Marissa Jaret Winokur performed "Good Morning, Baltimore" from the musical "Hairspray" to honor Shaiman. He accompanied her on piano and then performed "Fifty Checks," from his new musical, "Catch Me if You Can."

Duran Duran have confirmed Justin Timberlake's involvement on their new album. The pop veterans explained that they have also worked with producer Timbaland on three tracks on the record.

Speaking to the BBC, Simon Le Bon said: "We've got some good stuff happening. We've done three tracks with Timbaland. We've collaborated in a writing and production manner on one of those tracks with Justin Timberlake." The singer also revealed they have a host of other producers keen to work with them.

Le Bon added: "We've got a lot of really hot producers who are hotly interested in working with us at the moment. We are in a very good space." As previously reported by NME.COM, Duran Duran announced they were in talks with Timberlake in September regarding a possible collaboration.

Everyone has heard the requiems sung for classical music or at least the reports of its failing health: that its audience is graying, record sales have shriveled and the cost of live performance is rising as ticket sales decline. Music education has virtually disappeared from public schools. Classical programming has (all but) disappeared from television and radio. And 17 orchestras have closed in the last 20 years.

All this has of late become the subject of countless blogs, news reports, books and symposiums, with classical music partisans furrowing their brows and debating what went wrong, what can still go wrong and whether it's too late to save this once-exalted industry. Moaning about the state of classical music has itself become an industry. But as pervasive as the conventional wisdom is, much of it is based on sketchy data incorrectly interpreted. Were things better in the old days? Has American culture given up on classical music?

The numbers tell a very different story: for all the hand-wringing, there is immensely more classical music on offer now, both in concerts and on recordings than there was in what nostalgists think of as the golden era of classics in America.

In the record business, for example, it can be depressing to compare the purely classical output of the major labels now with what the industry cranked out from 1950 to 1975. But focusing on the majors is beside the point: the real action has moved to dozens of adventurous smaller companies, ranging from musician-run labels like Bridge, Oxingale and Cantaloupe to ambitious mass marketers like the midprice, repertory-spanning Naxos.

50 Cent has been named 'songwriter of the year' by top industry names. The US rap star was awarded the coveted title by the respected American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) at a star-studded ceremony on Monday (22.05.06). The 'gangster' lyricist raps about enjoying a 'pimp' lifestyle and growing up in the 'hood'. Last year his album 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin'' - a soundtrack to his debut film of the same title - sold 7.5 million copies.

Other artists to pick up top Pop Music Awards included Annie Lennox, Green Day and Mariah Carey. Lennox was given the Founders Award for her inspirational contributions to music as a solo artist and with The Eurhythmics.

"Music is subordinate to what's happening on the screen," Wang explains. "I used to rent Charlie Chaplin silent movies, and would play the piano when I was 11 or 12, accompanying Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. That's still my same process of composing." While he tends to keep a low profile, Wang is actually one of the most successful composers in Hollywood. Prolific and versatile, he's written music for Jackie Chan movies, Steven Spielberg documentaries, animated cartoons, opera, symphonies and more.

*****

Andy Fickman, director of the film[She's the Man], says Wang was his first and only choice for composer. "Any time I have needed a musical partner in the last eight years, it's been Nathan," says Fickman, who worked with Wang on "Reefer Madness" (the stage play and Showtime film) and the independent teen comedy "Who's Your Daddy." "He has a classical heart, but if I say, 'Let's take this into rock 'n' roll, or 1930s jazz,' he's got the ability to dive into that world easily. He's just a genius. I know I'm smarter than him, and a better dresser, but I admit that he's a genius."

*****

"I've always had this entrepreneurial side to me," says Wang, whose maternal grandfather owned the No. 1 Department Store in Shanghai, the first commercial building to have escalators in China. "I just have a joy of going from one project to another."

*****

"I've gotten great opportunities to work on both Asian and American projects," Wang says. "Music is such an emotional part of me. It's so easy to express myself when I'm playing the piano. I really enjoy writing orchestrally because you interact with great musicians. As real as computers can sound, they can't replace live music."

Mr. Levine, who also leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, fell onstage at Symphony Hall in Boston on March 1 and tore the rotator cuff of his right shoulder. He is expected to have surgery to repair it on March 20. That is the opening night of a run of "Fidelio" at the Met that he was supposed to conduct.

The loss of Mr. Levine for the remaining 10 weeks of the Met's season, as he recuperates, is a major setback for the house, where he was scheduled to lead a slew of performances through mid-May. They include six nights of "Fidelio," nine of a new production of "Don Pasquale," six of "Lohengrin" and three of "Parsifal." The injury will also keep him from going with the Met on a three-week tour in Japan, where he was to direct four performances of "Die Walküre" and four of "Don Giovanni" as well as an orchestra concert with the soprano Renée Fleming.

Mr. Levine, in a statement released by the Met, expressed "enormous disappointment and frustration." "The music I make with my wonderful colleagues at the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony is absolutely central to my life," he said. "I look forward to taking up the baton again as soon as humanly possible." He added that he expected to be back in time to conduct the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood this summer.

Met officials set to work on Friday when they heard the news, embarking on a search for conductors who would be available, know the scores and have the stature worthy of the Met. The blow was heavy, given Mr. Levine's steady presence at the house in an era of house-hopping conductors. "This has never happened before at the Met, where all of a sudden you lose 35 performances," said Joseph Volpe, the general manager.

"We rewrote the song," said Mafia's Jordan "Juicy J" Houston. "We took out all the cuss words, dotted some i's and crossed some t's, and it's gonna be a clean show. You can let your kids watch it, and they don't have to wear earmuffs."

While this is Three 6 Mafia's first Oscar nod, their music previously surfaced in writer/director John Singleton's 2001 flick, Baby Boy. When Singleton needed a song to fit Hustle & Flow -- he served as the film's producer -- he turned to Houston. "John was like, 'Man, I need you to write this song for my movie. It's about a pimp having a hard time … His life is miserable, he's trying to get his demo tape heard and he's having a hard time with that,'" Houston says on the phone from New York, where he's having a suit made for Sunday's festivities. "And then they gave me a copy of the script, so we just read the script and we wrote the song."

*****

So does that mean Houston could return to the Oscars? "You never know," he says. "That's why I'm gonna do this clean, positive show, so they can maybe (say), 'Hey, this guy's not violent like we thought. We're gonna bring him back next year to do another song.'"

Barry Manilow is back in a big way. The 70s crooner, whose hits started to dry up two decades ago, is this week having the biggest comeback since Rod Stewart and doing it the same way. His new album Love Songs of the 50's is a sure bet to debut at number one in the USA this week. Manilow is expected to selling more than 140,000 units this week and push out Il Divo, Mary J. Blige and Jamie Foxx.

It is a marvelous feat for Manilow whose last major hit, coincidentally also a cover, was "Let’s Hang On" back in 1981. Manilow started his career writing and performing advertising jingles. He once sang the ads for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dr Pepper and McDonalds. In 1971, he accepted a job as musical director for Bette Midler and toured New York’s gay bathhouses with the Divine Miss M as well as playing on her first two albums. In 1973, he signed with Bell Records, then the home of Tony Orlando & Dawn and the Partridge Family. Bell folded and became part of Arista Records which is how Manilow became involved with record guru Clive Davis. It was Davis who suggested he cover the song "Brandy" by Scott English. Manilow changed it to "Mandy." It became his first global hit.

By 1978, Manilow was a superstar. His album Even Now sold more than 3 million units that year and featured the hits "Can’t Smile Without You" and "Copacobana."

Lazy Sunday, wake up in the late afternoon,
Call Parnell just to see how he's doin.
Hello? What up Parn? Yo, Samberg what's crackin?
You thinkin what I'm thinkin? NARNIA, man it's happ'nin.
But first my hunger pangs I'll stick it like duct tape.
Lets hit up Magnolia and mac on some cupcakes.
No doubt that bakery's got all the bomb frostings.
I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling.

Two no six no twelve — baker's dozen!
I told you that I'm crazy for these cupcakes cousin.
Yo where's the movie playing? Upper West Side dude.
Well let's hit up Yahoo Maps to find the dopest route.
I prefer Mapquest. That's a good one too!
Google maps is the best. True dat, double true!
68th and broadway, step on it sucka!
What ya wanna do Chris? Snack attack, mutha-f**ka!

The chronic-what-cles of Narnia!
Yes, the chronic-what-cles of Narnia!
We love the chronic-what-cles of Narnia!
Pass the chronic-what-cles of Narnia!


Yo stop at the deli, the theater's over-priced.
You got the backpack, gonna pack it up nice.
Don't want security to get suspicious.
Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious!
I reach in my pocket, pull out some dough.
Girl acted like she never seen a 10 befo'
It's all about the Hamilton's baby!
Throw the snacks in a bag, and I'm ghost like Swayze.

Roll up to the theater, ticket-buyin what we're handling,
You can call us Aaron Burr, from the way we're droppin Hamiltons.
Now parked in our seats Movie trivias the illest.
What friends alum starred in films with Bruce Willis?
We answer so fast it was scary.
Everyone stared in awe when we screamed Matthew Perry!
Now quiet in the theatre or it's gonna get tragic.
We bout to get taken to a dream world of magic.

The chronic-what-cles of Narnia!
Yes, the chronic-what-cles of Narnia!
We love the chronic-what-cles of Narnia!
Pass the chronic-what-cles of Narnia!

Against what the New York Daily News' Lowdown column calls "a crude beat," Federline – the father of three, including his son with Spears, Sean Preston Federline, born in September – says during the chorus of the song: "Back then they called me K-Fed/ But you can call me Daddy instead."

As the rap's refrain goes: "Go ahead and say whatcha wanna/I'm gonna sell about 2 mil, oh, then I'm a goner ... I know you all wish you was in my position/Cause I keep gettin' in situations that you wish you was in, cousin ... Steppin' in this game and y'all ain't got a clue ... Getting anxious? Go take a peep/ I'm starrin' in your magazines now every day and week ... But maybe baby you can wait and see/ Until then all these Pavarottis followin' me."

The Daily News suggests that Federline means to say "paparazzi" instead of "Pavarotti," who is a famed opera singer. (Other Web sites say it's not a mistake, but Federline's nickname for the ever-present photographers.)

Still, claims the Post, the beats of the song stick in the ear – even if they're not terribly original – and the sound effects may remind you of a pinball machine, albeit one submerged in water.

A hidden song (also known as a "ghost track" or "easter egg") is a song on an album which is not listed on the album sleeve or jacket. On a CD, usually the song is accessed by playing the final track through then going through a brief moment of silence.

An unlisted track is different because the hidden song has its own track and can be directly accessed without having to go through the previous song, it just not listed with the other songs on the album on the back of the sleeve.

The Wyrd Sisters, who allege that Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire contains a scene with a musical group bearing their name, have secured a Nov. 4 court date to apply for an injunction barring distribution of the film.

The application for an injunction is part of a lawsuit the Wyrd Sisters filed in September against the Warner Brothers movie and music empire and three famous British musicians - Jarvis Cocker of the group Pulp and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway of Radiohead.

The lawsuit alleges the musicians appear in the film under the Wyrd Sisters moniker, and seeks $40 million plus punitive damages, interest and other costs. The band's lawyer, Kimberly Townley-Smith, was unavailable for comment Tuesday. In an earlier interview, she said the Wyrd Sisters would suffer from public confusion over the name. Warner Brothers is fighting the lawsuit, saying the movie contains no reference to a "Wyrd Sisters" group.

Although the company first approached the Winnipeg group and offered $5,000 to share the name, it says it eventually made the film with an unnamed musical group. "There is absolutely no name for the band that is playing," Warner Brothers spokesman Scott Rowe said from Los Angeles. "They are never identified by name."

The 80-page working manuscript of the composer's "Grosse Fuge" was found in July by Heather Carbo, a librarian at the Palmer Theological Seminary, while she was cleaning out an archival cabinet, according to Thursday's edition of The New York Times.

The score is expected to fetch $1.7 million to $2.6 million when it is auctioned by Sotheby's in London on Dec. 1. Before that, it will be on view at Sotheby's in New York from Nov. 16 to 19.

West never embraced hip-hop's overriding thug motif. The Atlanta-born, Chicago-raised son of a college professor and a pastoral counselor doesn't have the 'hood credentials of most rap stars, and he never bothered trying to fake it. Even though he produced music for Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel and others, he had a hard time convincing record executives that he could rap as well. He never doubted it, but he knew his rhymes would be about something other than hustling on the streets.

"Don't I have the right to write about how things are affecting people?" he says. "But rap has always had this premise that if you didn't do it, you can't rap about it. I'm more of a writer or poet than a rapper. A rapper is all about image. Being a writer, I have the right to be a person."
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"I like to educate people," says West, who Time magazine this year named one of the 100 most influential people in the world. "I like to be the one that can reach people who don't like to pick up a book. I like to say something that might change someone's life."

"Now that my album is finally finished, I am very, very excited to have people hear what we did," Apple said in a statement. "I am so proud of it, and all of us who worked on it."

Apple began recording the follow-up to 1999's When the Pawn with producer Jon Brion (Aimee Mann, Kanye West) in a Los Angeles studio in 2003. After When the Pawn, Apple took a two-year hiatus, during which she spent time with family and friends, read, worked on her visual art, rode around on her bike and listened to very little music. Finally, she told Rolling Stone in 2003, "I started to get the itch." Sessions with Brion and drummer Matt Chamberlain led to the bulk of the Extraordinary tracks, which the singer-songwriter described at the time as "all over the place." "But I'm too close to the songs," she added. "You'll just have to decide for yourself."

Though eleven songs from Extraordinary surfaced online, Apple stayed mum and continued work on the set with producers Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg) and Brian Kehew (Beck, Eels). The twelve-track CD will include a brand new song, "Parting Gift," as well as re-recorded versions of nine of the songs previously leaked online.