Everybody’s favorite rehab refuser, Amy Winehouse, seems to be doing what she does best; the rambunctious singer was arrested for allegedly assaulting the manager of an English theater.

Athens Blur rings in the new year with our 13th issue on January 15…here’s a sample of some tunes from artists that will be spotlighted:
(Sorry, folks. No downloads. But stream away!)
Timi Conley
Yeasayer
Beach House
Galactic
Daphne Willis
Editors
Happy 2010!

Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder, who covered the band Indio’s “Hard Sun” on the acclaimed 2007 “Into The Wild” Soundtrack is facing a lawsuit from the song’s original writer. Gordon Peterson claims Vedder’s lyric changes to the song grossly undermined the integrity of the song. In the lawsuit (which also names Universal Music Group for failing to obtain proper permission for the song’s usage), Peterson seeks all royalties from the cover version.

With ticket revenue of $123 million for 20 North  American dates on their “360 tour,” Irish rockers U2 have been named the year’s most popular touring act in North America. The tour is still ongoing internationally and will revisit the states in 2010.

If you’re like most iPod owners who have a 30 gig player or higher, more than likely you have it filled to the brim with songs and chances are half of those songs rarely get listened to unless you press shuffle. And even then, you’re still leaving many tracks out, because getting through 8,000 songs is quite a chore.
University of Georgia graduate Adam Wexler had the same problem, but he turned this complication into a creative website called Rank ‘em.
What is Rank ‘em? Wexler, the CEO and creator …

Looking for some tunes to ring in the new year? Here’s a rundown of Athens music on the 31st:

Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 “Thriller” video is officially a national treasure. The video is one of 25 films in the 2009 addition to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress – the first music video to be honored in such a way.
Steve Leggett, coordinator of the National Film Preservation Board, said “Thriller” had been considered in the past but Jackson’s June death made the timing seem right.
“Because of the way the recording industry is evolving and changing, we thought it would be good to go back to the development …

Now that we can officially begin counting down 2009 in a manageable amount of hours, let’s take a look ahead to 2010 and some expected record releases for the first few months of the new year:

The Orange County Coroner’s office will run further toxicology tests on Avenged Sevenfold drummer James Owen Sullivan after the initial autopsy report was inconclusive in pinpointing a cause of death for the 28 year-old drummer. Sullivan died unexpectedly at his home on Monday.

Vic Chesnutt, one of Athens most beloved singer/songwriters, has died, his record label confirmed Friday night.
“In the few short years that we knew him personally, Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about. Our grief is inexpressible and Vic’s absence unfathomable,” Constellation records founders Ian Ilavsky and Don Wilkie said in a statement. “We will make more information available according to the wishes of Vic’s family and friends.”