Working For The Weekend …

Our writers worked hard all week preparing the following items scheduled to post during the next 72 hours. That is, they worked really hard on their Halloween costumes. We really don’t know how much time they spent writing the postings. But then, neither do they.

Saturday: West Goes East – A Nov. 3 Shanghai Grand Stage concert in China will be a sort of homecoming gig for hip-hop superstar Kanye West.

Dar Williams’ Promise – The singer/songwriter is out on the road in support of her first set of new material in more than three years, Promised Land. Free download!

Sunday: Another Smiths Rumour – While the Sun was running a story about The Smiths being paid a fortune to play a show in America in 2009, a couple of the U.K.’s more serious papers were reporting that guitarist Johnny Marr is busy with more academic pursuits.

Monday: Gojira Invades North America! – The kick-ass French thrash-metal quartet is headed for the shores of the U.S. and Canada.

Next week’s HotStar is Metro Station

Link-O-Rama …

Led Zeppelin has often been described as the epitome of 1970s rock star debauchery. But how much of that was true? – The Times Online U.K.

Is Britney planning a two-week residency at London’s O2 Arena? That’s what an unidentified source says – The Sun / Gordon Smart’s Bizarre

Critics all over the country rise up to defend classical music critic who was fired from his newspaper job for being too critical – Associated Press

There was a time when Sony was cool and Apple was just a computer company. Now Apple is cool while Sony is locked into playing perpetual catch-up – BusinessWeek

Why is the Colorado Symphony playing all that “Star Trek” music tonight? – Rocky Mountain News

Sharon Osbourne does the Q&A – TV Guide

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

British singer / songwriter James Hunter updates this afternoon with new listings for February. New on Mr. Hunter’s schedule is February 2 in Atlanta at Smith’s Olde Bar; the 4th in New Orleans at House Of Blues; the 6th in Houston at House Of Blues and the 10th in Santa Fe at Lensic Performing Arts Center. Other new stops include Dallas, West Hollywood and Tucson.

Blues lady Susan Tedeschi also adds a considerable amount of February dates today. New dates are for California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Colorado, and details include the 15th just north of San Diego in Solana Beach at the Belly Up, the 17th in San Francisco at The Fillmore, the 19th in Sparks, Nevada, at John Ascuaga’s Nugget Hotel/Casino and the 22nd in Seattle at Moore Theatre.

And we have a string of new December dates for The Celtic Tenors. December 1 puts the vocal group in Galion, Ohio, at the Crossway Assembly Of God; the 4th is Richmond, Ontario, at Richmond Hill United Church, the 6th is Belleville, Ontario at Empire Theatre and the 10th is Brampton, Ontario, at Rose Theatre.

Okay, before we check out of here we want to remind you of two things you need to do this weekend. First, for those of you living in the land of Daylight Savings Time, you need to set your clocks back one hour on Sunday morning. The second thing is making it a point to catch some live music. Think you can handle that? We know you can. See ya!