On This Date in 2004: Britney Spears weds childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander in a Las Vegas chapel. The marriage is annulled after 55 hours.

The Almanac Advises for January 3: "Marriage between two people who consider themselves soul mates often last longer than average due to the already established bond between the couple."

Artist: F---ed Up
Songs: 'No Epiphany'
Album: 'The Chemistry Of Common Life' [iTunes]
Sounds Like: Kill Your Idols, Posion Idea

Download:'No Epiphany'(MP3)

[Get Winamp] [Download Help]

Artist: Little Joy
Video: 'No One's Better Sake'
Highlight: The Strokes' Fab Moretti and his new bandmates play sunny beachside pop with '60s style animation added for extra retro appeal. Buy 'No One's Better Sake' on iTunes.

Which tours made the most money in 2008? [Brooklyn Vegan]

Did you know that Andrew W.K. writes an advice column ... in Japan? [Smartass Radio]

P. Diddy is treating the Obama inauguration like a night out at Marquee. [Socialite Life]

2009 will be a good year for pop music. [Idolator]

Music's d-list is gearing up to enter the Big Brother house for your viewing pleasure. [NME]

U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. is speaking out in criticism of frontman Bono over his bandmate's relationship with politicians. Mullen says he is specifically distressed by the singer's relationship former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"My biggest problem really is sometimes the company that he keeps," Mullen says in the new issue of Q magazine. "And I struggle with that. Particularly the political people, less the financial people. Particularly Tony Blair -- I mean, I think Tony Blair's a war criminal. And I think he should be tried as a war criminal. And then I see Bono and him as pals, and I'm going: 'I don't like that.'"

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons will lend his animated likeness to a new stop-motion comedy series that will debut next summer as part of Nickelodeon's 'Nick at Nite' programming. The show will follow a dentist and his family as they hit the open road in a toothbrush-topped "dental mobile."

"Michael Eisner is producing. I was asked to play me," Simmons writes of the series -- which will also star 'Weeds' veteran Kevin Nealon -- on Kissonline. The show is about a family whose house burned down, so they get into their motor home and travel the country. The script is very funny."

In related news, Simmons' bandmate Paul Stanley will put his artwork on display in two New Jersey galleries in late February. Stanley will participate in VIP receptions at Wentworth Gallery's Hackensack and Short Hills locations on February 27 and 28, respectively.

The Grateful Dead will embark on their first concert tour in five years when they kicks off an arena tour on April 12. After months of fan speculation prompted by the band's performance last October at the 'Change Rocks' concert/rally for Barack Obama in State College, PA, the group -- consisting of original Dead members members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart -- will start its nineteen date, month-long trek in Greensboro, North Carolina.

"We've got some unfinished business," guitarist/singer Weir said in a statement. "Everybody has a whole new bag of tricks; we have the body of material we worked up over the years and we have a mind meld going on here and it would be a sin to let that just wither and die."

Prince plans to release three new albums in 2009. The Purple One is now final negotiations with "a major retailer" to distribute physical CDs and is readying an interactive website where fans can buy the music.

"The gatekeepers have to change," he told the Los Angeles Times this week, explaining his decision to sidestep the major labels. The new discs are tentatively titled 'MPLSOUND', 'Elixir' (his collaboration with new protégé Bria Valente) and 'Lotus Flower.'

'MPLSOUND' is "an electro-flavored solo effort" of "trippy, experimental pop songs" according to music scribe Ann Powers, who was invited to Prince's Los Angeles compound. It was recorded at Paisley Park Studios and includes a rap from one-time A Tribe Called Quest frontman Q-Tip.

"I keep hearing Ashton Kutcher say how he was responsible for trucker caps. I was wearing them [at] seventeen." --Justin Timberlake

Apparently, the former *NSYNC-er is prepared to take credit for much more than bringing 'SexxyBack'.

Paul McCartney has allegedly expressed interest in working with the Killers on a musical project after seeing them perform in London last month.

Eric Clapton, Jack Johnson and Ani DiFranco are among over 150 artists who have donated guitar strings for the Wear Your Music Artist Bracelet product line. The bangle-style jewelry is crafted from the guitar strings, and all profits from their sales go to the charity of the artists' choice.

Songwriter Vincent Ford, who penned the 1974 Bob Marley song 'No Woman No Cry,' died due to diabetes complications at age 68.