Garrison Keillor plans to keep spinning tales of Lake Wobegon's Norwegian bachelor farmers for at least a couple more years, but the host and creator of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion" is dropping more hints that his retirement may be on the horizon.

In an interview posted Wednesday on the AARP Bulletin's website, the 68-year-old Keillor said he plans to retire in the spring of 2013. But Keillor said he first has to find his replacement.

"I'm pushing forward, and also I'm in denial. It's an interesting time of life," Keillor told the publication.

Keillor told The Associated Press in a follow-up e-mail Wednesday that he'll be 70 in the spring of 2013, "and that seems like a nice round number."

"The reason to retire is to try to avoid embarrassment; you ought to do it before people are dropping big hints. You want to be the first to come up with the idea. You don't want to wait until you trip and fall off the stage," Keillor told the AP.

For the first time this season, "A

Kid Charlemagne is dead.

That would be Owsley Stanley, the highly eccentric counterculture figure who was the inspiration for songs by the Grateful Dead and Steely Dan... and who particularly inspired the Dead in all sorts of ways, some of them even legal. Stanley, 76, was killed instantly in a crash in Queensland, Australia after losing control of his car Sunday.

Among the reasons his name is legend to Grateful Dead cultists: The man known as "Bear" in Dead circles was "the band's first patron," as San Francisco journalist Joel Selvin put it—providing the upfront cash that gave the band its start and serving for brief periods as both manager and sound engineer. He co-desiginging their iconic skull-and-lighting-bolt logo. He recorded many of the Dead shows that eventually became live albums, starting with the 1973 release History of the Grateful Dead, Volume 1: Bear's Choice. Stanley was a sound pioneer, creating the first PA systems specifically tailored for rock shows, and he went on

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Retirement may be beckoning music legend Phil Collins to its paradise.

The 60-year-old musician reportedly plans to end his music career due to hearing problems, a dislocated vertebra and nerve damage in his hands -- all caused by a lifetime spent hunched over a drum set.

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"I don't think anyone's going to miss me," he reportedly told FHM magazine in a recent interview, according to the UK's Daily Telegraph. "I look at the MTV Music Awards and I think, 'I can't be in the same business as this.' I don't really belong to that world... I'm much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely."

The former Genesis frontman, who has sold over 150 million records, reportedly plans to focus on raising his two sons, Nicholas and Matthew.

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"I'm not worried about not being able to play the drums again, I'm more worried about being able to cut a loaf

Christina Aguilera once made $1 million to perform for an hour

Artists can bring in big bucks even when they aren't headlining a major world tour.

Nelly Furtado and Beyonce scored a cool $1 million for performing for family members of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi (both handed their money over the charity).

The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at the shocking amounts of money other musicians have made off private performances:  

Mariah Carey raked in $1 million to sing just four songs at a Gadhafi bash on the Caribbean island of St. Barts after New Year's Day 2009, The New York Times reported. Carey's rep, Cindi Berger, would not comment on how much Carey was paid, but the singer said in a statement: "I was naive and unaware of who I was booked to perform for. I feel horrible and embarrassed to have participated in this mess." (She plans to donate royalties for the song "Save The Day," which she has written for her upcoming album, to human-rights charities.)  

Last year,