And for your reading pleasure, Eagles go country, R. Kelly goes to court, Johnny Depp sings! (and he’s good!), aging rock stars hit the bookstores, the truth about what goes on backstage gets exposed and really annoying Christmas music gets its comeuppance in your “Midday Update!”

Here & There …

Eagles At The Grand Ole Opry? – Chicago Sun Times

Johnny Depp: Victorian Rock Star? – The Seattle Times

Hope I Die Before I Get Old…Too Late! – Yahoo! News/Associated Press

Sure you wanna go backstage? – The Chicago Tribune

The most annoying Christmas songs of all time? – NBC 11

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts have begun to flesh out their itinerary for 2008. Stops so far include Michigan, Nevada, California, Virginia and Iowa.

Smooth-jazz stalwart Kenny G‘s calendar is also beginning to fill up. Cities on the list so far include San Diego, Denver, Phoenix, Honolulu, and Miami Beach.

Ozomatli is all over the place in the New Year, with stops as far flung as California, Florida, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Australia.

Collective Soul will start the year in Canada, hitting places like Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and London, Ontario, before heading for warmer climes in Peru and Columbia.

Perpetual Groove appears to be buckling down for a perpetual tour with dates on the books through April. Cities in the band’s sights include Denver, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Dallas.

This week’s Pollstar Hotstars Avenged Sevenfold lead the lineup for the 2008 outing of the Rockstar Taste Of Chaos Tour. Other acts on the bill include Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine, Blessthefall, a trio of J-Rock bands and more.

Just For Fun

Here are a few little known facts about the holidays you can use to amaze folks at the office Christmas party.

“Hot cockles” – a game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow – was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times and remained a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans buy 37.1 million real Christmas trees each year – 25 percent of them from the nation’s 5,000 cut your own farms.

Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday in 1836.

Before settling on the name of one of his most famous characters in “A Christmas Carol,” three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens. They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam. (We think he made the right choice with Tiny Tim.)

Talk about hot plastic! During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times a minute in the United States.

Speaking of credit cards, we’ve got some last minute shopping to do (what do you get a one-armed, Belgian beekeeper with Tourette’s?). Here’s hoping we survive the crowds and get back in time to provide you with more dates and more shows in “Your Latest Update,” scheduled for around 3 PM (PST), from Pollstar.com!