The James Logan Courier

By Glenn Gamboa
Newsday (MCT)

These days, even Beatles get the blues.

Despite good reviews and a decent publicity push, Ringo Starr's latest album, "Liverpool 8" (Capitol), sold only 7,000 copies in its first week of release in January, landing it at No. 94. Its release even managed to generate a bit of controversy for the laid-back Beatle and the equally controversy-averse "Live With Regis and Kelly." (When producers wanted Starr to cut the performance of the title track from 4 minutes, 15 seconds to 2.5minutes, Starr reportedly responded "God bless and goodbye" and walked off the show.)

By Annie Holub
PopMatters.com (MCT)

Even before the temperatures started their creep toward the 90-degree mark, the signs were everywhere: Another summer-music-festival season has begun. The e-mails, the colorful banner ads on Web sites, the news flashes with recently added headliners — it all gives the impression that we should be completely obsessed with every little detail about the festivals if we care at all about music. The festivals tout themselves as being important cultural experiences and irresistibly fun musical escapes: mini-Woodstocks designed to make a community of music fans feel like a part of something larger than themselves.