I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned this must be the most exciting week in music history!

Why? Well, because the recently televised award show by the Academy of Country Music featured an array of guests that proved to be the most enthralling ever!

Why? Because in the tradition of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and other celebrated country greats, America was blessed with a batch of guest stars that finally put country music on the map of American popular culture!

And thus--if you'll forgive me for breaking with a layout tradition that this blog has maintained for 186 consecutive posts--I'd now like to introduce a special guest star that may make this the most widely-read blog in New This Week's history! Ready?

This week's special guest star: Rihanna!

Next week? Rather than focus on new album releases, I've decided to devote next week's post to the best carwashes in California's San Fernando Valley! And I don't want to promise anything I can't deliver...but I understand

I'm pleased to announce that this week's New This Week post comes to you courtesy of a Starbucks in North Miami, Florida, is being written Monday night at roughly 9 pm Eastern Daylight Time, and--unlike every post you've ever seen by me--is being composed under the influence of two very large black coffees!

The result? You'll never read anything by me that's more clearly reasoned!

Sadly, neither will I!

Rise Against: Endgame(DGC/Interscope): "It's about a dangerous time in civilization, the end of life," says vocalist/guitarist Tim McIlrath in this album's product description. "What if the life that we're living right now is this unsustainable bubble that cannot go on and perhaps does not deserve to go on? What if the world we created is a place that is so unnatural and ugly that it is a world that needs to come to an end, so that we could have a world that is better for everybody? It sounds very utopian, but it's not about a perfect place, but maybe some of these things we're doing,

In case anyone is wondering why this blog appears live on the Y! Music pages a day later than usual today--and, in fact, a day later than usual every week no one has to work on a Monday--it's because, er, I didn't have to work on Monday!

And while admittedly I could spend the final night of an extended vacation sitting in front of a computer and writing a blog about the week's new album releases, I could also sit on my couch, sip a drink, think about all the humorous things I might mention if I can still remember them, and fall asleep while Chuck plays on my TV and my cat continues her mad quest to lick my forehead for God knows what reason!

Or I could trip and fall while bending over to insert the DVD from the Used's marvelous 2007's Berth package into my Playstation 3 and simply glare at the ceiling in resentment for hours on end!

Or, perhaps most realistically, I could get up off the couch, be momentarily puzzled because I know I'm supposed to do something and I don't know what, and

If you're like me, you may have watched the Grammys last night and asked yourself a few very serious questions!

First of all, who the heck is Esperanza Spalding? And how can she be "best new artist" over Justin Bieber, for gosh sakes?

Secondly, who the heck is Arcade Fire--and how can he be better that Eminem?

Thirdly, Lady Gaga doesn't really expect us to believe to she was just hatched from an egg, does she? She's been around for a couple of years now!

Fourthly, why did I just spend $862 fixing my Cadillac's right-rear electric window this afternoon when I never asked for electric windows?

Finally--and most importantly--where the heck are my pants? I know I was wearing them a few minutes ago!

Outside, clouds gathered in the sky, the night grew still, and a man drinking coffee and eating a donut sat outside the 7/11, watching the exit door patiently!

Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots (ATO)  The eleventh album by fab rockers the Drive-By Truckers looks likely to be a commercial triumph,