Blog Posts by Chris Willman

There are three collective-memory questions almost every baby boomer can quickly answer: Where were you when you heard JFK got shot? Where were you when you heard that planes hit the twin towers on 9/11? And, representing a mid-point between those two tragedies: Where you were when you heard John Lennon got killed?

Three decades on from December 8, 1980, here's a snapshot of some of the key players in Lennon's life (and death), and how they've dealt with some of the thornier issues surrounding his legacy over time.

THE BEATLES

Lennon's former partner Paul McCartney received considerable scorn when, shortly after Lennon's killing, he responded to a query on the street with the understatement, "It's a drag, isn't it?" But, as if in perpetual apology mode for that remark, McCartney has gone out of his way to pay affectionate homage since, starting with the 1982 ballad "Here Today," about which he explained, "I'm talking to John in my head. It's a conversation we didn't have." He continued

Prime-time television is about to be visited by a fourth major annual country music awards show: the American Country Awards, which will be broadcast for the first time Monday night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. 

Welcome to country's own version of alphabet soup. The ACAs are of course not to be confused with the ACMs, which are held at the very same Vegas venue, albeit in the spring—or the CMAs, or the CMTs, or the all-genre AMAs (seen on TV just a week prior), or CMT's Artists of the Year show (telecast a scant three days before this show).

Some might call it overkill. But the show's producers can offer a list of reasons why the ACAs have come into existence, and why in December, and why in Vegas, among other questions being begged. We talked with executive producer Fletcher Foster to pin down a few factors that might set the ACAs apart from the rest of the cavalcade of country kudocasts. 

1. Fox wants in on that Nashville action. "They've always wanted to get into the country

On paper, it was Carrie Underwood's night at the American Country Awards, as she led the pack by earning six awards at the brand new music kudocast. But if you were watching the show on Fox, or even live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, you might have blinked and missed her. She didn't sing, and there were so few awards given out during the performance-heavy telecast that Underwood wasn't even a presence on the show until the closing moments, when she picked up her sole on-air trophy.

What viewers did see: a parade of country stars and up-and-comers that was mostly youngish and mostly male. The poster boy for the event might have been freshman Easton Corbin, who performed his breakthrough hit "A Little More Country Than That" on top of coming away with three awards.

If three trophies sounds like a lot for a guy with only one album out, consider that the ACAs determined to up the freshness quotient by having three categories expressly for new artists instead of the one traditionally doled

The Band Perry have one of the unlikeliest No. 1 singles in the recent history of country music with "If I Die Young." It's a feel-good song about mortality, which, in the trio's hands, is not quite as oxymoronic as it sounds. Far from being a bummer, it's the song that's taken them to the top of the charts and very possibly established them as the genre's next real stars. Here's an act you can truly hope you get to see grow old in the country music limelight.

Currently they're out on tour opening for Alan Jackson, but if you don't have tickets for those dates, you can see them this Monday on the American Country Awards on Fox, following their appearance on the American Music Awards and the CMAs just before that.

We caught up with the family act—Kimberly Perry, 26; Reid Perry, 21; and Neil Perry, 19—before a show in L.A. Here's our interview with the threesome: 

Q: If I were going to guess the song that would put you over the biggest, I would have guessed "Hip to My Heart," your

Just call them the little rascals. On second thought, don't. But if they're not quite kids again, there's no mistaking that superstar country trio Rascal Flatts are feeling a renewed vigor in this, their 10th anniversary year. They've moved over to a new record label (Big Machine, the home of Taylor Swift and Reba McEntire) and feel like they have a new attitude to go with it on Nothing Like This, their just-released seventh studio album. 

The band came by Yahoo! Music's west coast studio to offer exclusive live performances of three brand new songs and a pair of popular oldies for Ram Country. After their set, the threesome also sat down to talk about what the last decade has brought about for them. Check out their video interview, here:

The first song they performed for the Yahoo! cameras was, inevitably, their current single, "Why Wait." In one sense, the song represents a slightly new wrinkle for Rascal Flatts, if the difference may be subtle to most listeners. "We've never cut a

You've got to love the annual Grammy nominations concert/telecast, if only because, at one hour, it's the shortest and most digestible "awards" show of the year. Five categories announced, seven performances offered, 2,000 CBS shows plugged...and then off to an early bed, with no after-parties!

Surely more than a few viewers were up past their bedtime, as the 10 ET/PT show had, as its chief ratings draw, a live performance by Justin Bieber. (Maybe "live," anyway—it was past 3 a.m. in London, the location from which he'd earlier bantered awkwardly with host LL Cool J.) If Bieber was the prince of the hour, the designated kings were B.o.B. and Bruno Mars, each of whom was awarded a coveted two performing slots (one of them shared).

At the program's start, it was like deja vu—or decolletage vu—all over again. Katy Perry kicked off the proceedings, just one night after appearing on the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and a scant nine days after the American Music Awards. (At this

Well, if this relationship with Julianne Hough goes anywhere, that's going to be one heck of a pre-nup.

Ryan Seacrest is the $60 million dollar man, having just signed a three-year renewal with his radio sponsor, Clear Channel Communications. His expiring deal with the media conglomerate was worth a mere $35 million. That may seem like mad money to be paying someone whose principal (some would say only) talent is a gift for genial gab. But if Clear Channel had lost Seacrest, there would have been no nearest-runner-up for them to go after and build up. As the only game in town when it comes to pop hosting ubiquity, Seacrest can set his own price. And, apparently, he did.

Even allowing that there might be some common business sense in this deal, though, there's still been some risible hyperbole when it comes to justifying his rising price tag.

Robert Pittman, Clear Channel's chairman of media platforms, led the brigade of laughable statements. He told the New York Times that Seacrest

Was the big story of the CMA Awards Brad Paisley's first win in the top category, Entertainer of the Year? Or was it Miranda Lambert finally getting her first three wins all in one night, including the prestigious Album of the Year contest? The nation's headline writers couldn't quite agree which of these was the real news flash.

It was both, of course. Long live Braranda! (With apologies to Kimberly and Blake.)

Yahoo! Music and Ram Country's cameras were on the scene backstage at the CMAs to get Lambert's and Paisley's immediate reactions from their respective triumphs. Click on the video to see and hear what these two had to say: