Here & There …

American Idol losers aren’t always, well, losers – Chicago Sun-Times (registration may be required)

Grammy producer recalls past highs, lows – New York Daily News

Brit singer Russell Watson says five weeks of radiotherapy treatment for recurrent brain tumor “no walk in the park” – BBC News

Not all scientists are happy with NASA beaming a Beatles song into space. Some are worried that space aliens might not care for the music – Daily Mail U.K.

Aretha Franklin looking forward to MusiCares honor – Associated Press

Catching up with Sheryl Crow – The New York Times (registration may be required)

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

A really nice club tour for Bury Your Dead is starting to take shape. Right now we’re looking at March dates for the band from Worcester, MA, and cities include Rockford, IL, Albany, NY, Muncy, PA and Tampa, FL.

But BYD isn’t the only Massachusetts band to update today. Out of Boston, Smoke Or Fire has several new dates for this month. A sampling includdes Feb. 20 in Tampa, Feb. 24 in Chicago and Feb. 27 in Cleveland.

The newest dates for The Unseen are for March and April. Cities include Virginia Beach, Oklahoma City and San Diego.

During the past couple of hours we also updated the schedules for State Of Shock, The Waking Eyes, DevilDriver, Danko Jones, Daniel Wesley, Gaslight Anthem, Hifi Handgrenades and Daggermouth.

But don’t walk away thinking that’s all there is to life, the universe and tour dates. Another fresh dose of concert info coming up in your last update of the day – The Closing Bell – scheduled for around 5 pm (PST) from Pollstar.com!

This Day In Music History … (from Associated Press)

In 1981, Yoko Ono released “Walking on Thin Ice,” the song on which she and John Lennon were working the night he was killed – December 8th, 1980.

Also on this date in 1981, the New York Post announced that the surviving Beatles would reunite to record “All Those Years Ago.” The session did not take place.

In 1987, restaurant owner Sonny Bono, formerly of Sonny and Cher, declared he would run for mayor of Palm Springs, California. His candidacy was sparked by a dispute over a sign for his restaurant. He won the election two months later and moved on a few years later to the U-S House of Representatives, where he was still serving when he died in a 1998 skiing accident.

In 1988, police in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, used tear gas and rubber bullets to control about 10-thousand rioting fans at a concert by reggae star Gregory Isaacs. The fans complained that the Jamaican musician’s one-hour performance was too short. It was the second riot at an Isaacs concert within a week.

In 1990, punk rocker Billy Idol suffered a severely broken leg and a broken arm when his motorcycle hit a car in Los Angeles. In 1992, Bob Dylan made a rare TV appearance on David Letterman’s 10th anniversary special.

In 1998, Beach Boy Carl Wilson died in Los Angeles of lung cancer. He was 51.

Also on this date in 1998, Austrian pop singer Falco, who topped the charts in 1986 with “Rock Me Amadeus,” died near the resort of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic when his sport utility vehicle collided with a bus. He was 40. Falco, whose real name was Johann Holzel, was a classical music child prodigy who turned to pop.