Blog Posts by Chris Willman

Where is Rick Springfield now? That question isn't hard to answer: The 63-year-old rocker-actor's new album, Songs for the End of the World, comes out this week.

Where is Jessie's girl now? That one is still a mystery for the ages. We still know as little about the real "girl" in 2012 as we do about the model for the Mona Lisa... speaking of great pop art.

"Jessie's Girl" was riding at No. 1 on the charts the week that MTV came into existence. As Springfield recalled in his 2010 autobiography, Late, Late at Night: A Memoir, "MTV calls to say they'd like to interview me and play the video. 'What is MTV?' I ask. Nobody seems to know, but it's press, so next time I'm in New York I find myself in a tiny hole-in-the-wall in a not-great neighborhood talking to a kid named Martha Quinn who looks like she's 12…. I believe she is the first to ask the questions I've answered more than any other: 'So, was there really a Jessie's girl?'"

It's no surprise that John Lennon harbored some ill will toward Paul McCartney in the aftermath of the Beatles' breakup. In the new book The John Lennon Letters, a previously seen handwritten 1971 note from John and Yoko On0 to Paul and his wife Linda (whom Lennon sarcastically addressed as "you noble people") confirms what everyone already knows about that enmity, as Lennon chides McCartney to "get off your gold disc and fly!"

What's not so well known: the tiff between Lennon and producer George Martin, a beloved figure not usually known for his participation in Beatle beefs.

"The John Lennon Letters"In one of the angrier missives included in The John Lennon Letters, the then-bitter ex-Beatle lays into Martin for supposedly taking too much credit for the group's sound. He also smacks the producer down for giving McCartney too much credit for some of the songwriting.

"When people ask me questions about 'What did George Martin really do for you?,' I have only one answer, 'What does he do now?' I noticed you had

Tommy Lee in 2005 (Getty Images)Eternal bad boy Tommy Lee is definitely a bad man now: His October 3 birthday finds him hitting the half-century mark. Coincidentally enough, 50 isn't just his age but also the number of tattoos he's estimated to have accumulated, give or take a few garishly colorful dragons, skulls, cheetahs, or ex-wives.

But even Lee doesn't know exactly how many tats he has, because they do tend to blend together, especially when there's so little unlinked skin left to work with for a canvas. When a tattoo magazine asked him in 2009 just how many inkings he had, Lee answered, "One! One big one." He elaborated in his 2005 autobiography, Tommyland: "My tattoos were done at separate times in many places, but I don't think of them as individual pieces anymore. They've become one big work of art."

LBT at the RoxyCountry fans do like their outdoor leisure lifestyle anthems, and while there'd been (and still are) a million songs about trucks, watercraft songs have mysteriously been in non-existent supply. How is it no one got to this particular no-brainer any sooner than Little Big Town?

"Pontoons are sexy, people!" declares Karen Fairchild, making an assertion no chart-watcher should dispute, since "Pontoon" became the country anthem of the summer.

"I think people call it 'The Motorboatin' Song,' too," points out Jimi Westbrook. "I was doing some (radio) interviews and they were like 'Yeah, they were calling it for that motorboating song.' So maybe that helped it, too," he says, alluding to the song's slightly risqué connotations.

Adds Kimberly Schlapman, "It certainly didn't hurt." Enough said. Or enough, um, suggested.

"Pontoon" is one of seven songs Little Big Town played at an exclusive Ram Country gig at the Roxy, which is now up in its entirety at Yahoo! Music. On their bus before the

Pistol Annies, Crystal Gayle, and Lee Ann Womack join LynnBefore she went on stage at the Grand Ole Opry Tuesday night, someone asked Loretta Lynn a stock question about the secret to her career longevity. Her answer wasn't so stock.

"I'm good!" she blurted out. Moments later, she changed her answer to "hard work," but we think she had it right the first time.

Loretta Lynn, MIranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, and Crystal Gayle (Photo: Chris Willman)Lynn might even be the greatest still-living figure in country music. Which made Tuesday's celebration of her 50^th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry feel like not just any old Opry 50^th anniversary celebration. (And there have been a few; "Whisperin' Bill" Anderson noted on-stage that he'd had the honor a couple of years earlier.)

Even if you aren't willing to accede her that ultimate top honor, she doesn't have many peers among country's pioneer women. "The founder of women in country music is sitting right there on the front row tonight," said Miranda Lambert. And while the late Kitty Wells might be surprised to learn that Lynn came first, Lambert's point was still well taken.

Her

It's not just politicians who seem to be flip-flopping this season. Add Lynyrd Skynyrd to that category, as people curious about the flap over their Confederate flag stance: Were they against it before they were for it (again)?

Lynyrd Skynyrd with their once- (and future?) favorite flag (Getty Images)After making statements that indicated the band was no longer using the Confederate flag on stage, and suffering a huge backlash from much of their Southern fanbase as a result, Skynyrd has moved to staunch the bleeding. "We still utilize the Confederate (Rebel) flag on stage every night in our shows," guitarist Gary Rossington proudly—or fearfully?—declared in a public statement on the band's website and Facebook page.

Brad Paisley may have provided the biggest highlight of the second night of the iHeartRadio Music Festival. And it took all of five seconds.

Brad Paisley at iHeartRadio Festival (Photo by Christopher Polk:Getty Images for Clear Channel)"One minute? Are you kidding me?" he blurted, mock-testily, not long into his half-hour set. As anyone who'd watched (or read about) the previous night's proceedings knew, Paisley was wryly echoing Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong, who'd set the Twitter-sphere abuzz Friday night by controversially spending the last third of their scheduled half-hour on stage profanely complaining about the countdown clock. He did not smash his guitar in homage to Armstrong's meltdown; when you're as esteemed a guitarist as Paisley, celebrity impressions have their limits.

Billie Joe Armstrong does bill himself as a punk-rocker. So swearing, ranting, cussing out Justin Bieber, cussing out the audience and organizers, and smashing guitars are pretty much par for the course. Right?

Billie Joe Armstrong smashes his guitar at the iHeartRadio Festival (Getty Images)Still, there was something about Armstrong's tantrum on Friday night—which was either a meltdown or classic piece of rock & roll theatricality, depending on your viewpoint—that went above and beyond the call of punk duty and should go down in Green Day history. It'll certainly be long remembered by anyone who was attending the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, as well as plenty of the millions who were watching Yahoo!'s live webcast.

The Friday night bill was full of superstars allotted 25-to-30 minute sets, including No Doubt, Usher, Jason Aldean, and Bon Jovi. The exception was Rihanna, whose post-midnight closing set, full of elaborate, Egyptian-themed production values, was slotted for 45 minutes. But at 11:55, 21 minutes into their half-hour, Armstrong, looking at the Teleprompter that counted down Green Day's remaining time, started in on his nuclear-level freakout. ""They say we got nine minutes left! I say boo to that f---ing s---!"