Over his shoulder, the City and County Building is aglow in morning sunlight, but the smiling man with the fringe of beard and the Dixie Chicks T-shirt doesn't notice and just hangs near the teenagegirl with pink lipstick, gel'd hair and a mouth full of braces.

"Covers records" ? albums where singers perform songs written by others ? have been popping up all over the place lately. Still, it's likely to strike some as odd that Darrell Scott, an award-winning songwriter who has supplied major hits to everyone from Tim McGraw to the Dixie Chicks, also has gotten in on the act.

Lars Ulrich and bandmates have a new CD due out in September.

Edmund Tijerina: The voice of Bambi ? yes, the famous animated deer ? is from San Antonio and he's coming back home this weekend.

Triple A WXPN /Philadelphia will debut the "Power Of Song" in September, a radio and Web based series highlighting songs and artists who have impacted society and culture. In interviews and other profiles, "Power Of Song" will "explore the intersection between music and politics."

Imagine the smell of barbecue and methamphetamine under the Texas summer sun.

DALLAS -- Backstage at Ozzfest earlier this month, the four members of Metallica, the headline act for the celebration of heavy metal, seemed calm.

Movie soundtracks don't normally stand the test of time as unique pieces of music, but I think Christopher Hedge's composition will be an exception to that rule. Ninety percent of the time the music for a movie soundtrack really has nothing to do with the story of the movie. Most of the time, it seems they use the music in a movie to manipulate the audience's emotions. Just in case you didn't ...

Thursday 28 Seattle sludge-rockers the Melvins merge with Big Business and overtake Canes tonight. Mainstay Mels Buzzo and Dale joined L.A. duo Big Business for ?06?s (A) Senile Animal, a two-drummer assault on the band?s Zeppelin-meets ?Spinal Tap sound.

Good quality rock - no need to ask. Question: Does Starbreaker?s new album Love?s Dying Wish fit into the Eurorock category? Too right it does, I say. Okay figurehead and singer Tony Harnell was born in San Diego and the last time I looked that wasn?t anywhere near Europe. However, half of the band is from Europe and as this album is band driven rock ?...