Blender Magazine

Batteries Not Included: How many Nevadans does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, but it costs $15,462. According to Premiere Radio, the Nevada Department of Transportation has been swamped with complaints that an emergency telephone booth on a desolate stretch of U.S. Route 50 is impossible to see or use at night because the state won't install a lightbulb. But Nevada officials have their reasons.

Courtney Love beat Diana Ross, whipped Jack White, pummeled 50 Cent and crushed Suge Knight. Now she's in the finals of Blender magazine's "First-Ever Ultimate Fighting Championship." It's a battle for the coveted title of "The Ultimate Rock & Roll Psycho," and for Love to win, she has to face Jerry Lee Lewis, a man who shot his bassist, stabbed a magazine editor and married his 13-year-old cousin. Lewis defeated rappers C-Murder and DMX and heavy metal's G.G.

Courtney Love beat Diana Ross, whipped Jack White, pummeled 50 Cent and crushed Suge Knight. Now she's in the finals of Blender magazine's "First-Ever Ultimate Fighting Championship." It's a battle for the coveted title of "The Ultimate Rock & Roll Psycho," and for Love to win, she has to face Jerry Lee Lewis, a man who shot his bassist, stabbed a magazine editor and married his 13-year-old cousin. Lewis defeated rappers C-Murder and DMX and heavy metal's G.G.

Batteries Not Included: How many Nevadans does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, but it costs $15,462. According to Premiere Radio, the Nevada Department of Transportation has been swamped with complaints that an emergency telephone booth on a desolate stretch of U.S. Route 50 is impossible to see or use at night because the state won't install a lightbulb. But Nevada officials have their reasons.

Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera aren't exactly in the same Mickey Mouse Club anymore. The pop stars are trading insults about each other's careers and personalities. In the December issue of Blender magazine, Aguilera said Spears was distant during rehearsals for the MTV Video Music Awards in August. "Every time I tried to start a conversation with her -- well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time.... She seems to me like a lost little girl, someone who desperately needs guidance."

Starship may have built this city on rock 'n' roll, but Blender magazine is tearing it down, naming the band's "We Built This City" as the worst song ever. Some tunes on the "50 Worst Songs Ever!" list were selected for their melodies, others "are wretchedly performed" and "quite a few don't make sense whatsoever," the magazine said. The list, which appears in the May issue, includes songs by New Kids on the Block, the Doors, Lionel Richie and the Beach Boys, among others.

Blender magazine's September issue runs down -- literally -- what the editors and writers have judged the 50 worst pop-rock acts ever. The '80s- and '90s-heavy list covers a gamut from predictable targets of rock-critic wrath -- Michael Bolton (No. 3), Kenny G (4), Kansas (6), Creed (23) -- to irrelevant (rapper Benzino, No. 17; rock band Japan, No. 25). But some Rock and Roll Hall of Famers show up as well. The Doors turn up at No. 37 because frontman "Jim Morrison ...

A long way from Dick Dale Saturday night's 2003 Orange County Music Awards proved that the O.C. sound doesn't mean what it did when the Offspring and No Doubt took over in the mid-'90s. Punk and ska were only an afterthought in a four-hour, 26-award show honoring local talent in a multitude of Grammy-like categories.

A man walked onstage in a crowded nightclub during a rock concert Wednesday night and opened fire on the band, killing at least four people and wounding at least two others. The gunman then began firing into the crowd before he was shot to death by police, authorities said. Members of the heavy metal band Damageplan had just begun their first song at the Alrosa Villa when the man opened fire, initially targeting guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, a witness said.

For many Jewish people in America, Christmas day has long meant wide-open freeways, Chinese takeout and "It's a Wonderful Life" on a loop on TV. If perchance you find yourself invited to a Gentile household for the holiday, however, Rob Tannenbaum of the spectacularly uncouth comedy-rock duo Good for the Jews has some advice for you. "Go easy on the alcohol and don't expect much in the way of good food," he joked. "Don't get defensive or paranoid. If you think that cousin Heinrich is checking for horns on your head, it's probably just your imagination."

At 6,900 feet above sea level, common sense is the first thing to go. All notions of time and space soon disappear. Eventually, only those who are leaving or retrieving an e-mail or voicemail are truly real. This syndrome is known as Sundance Film Festival fever and it usually dissipates after the first 48 hours. Which means the event's inaugural weekend is often the most entertaining.

The Sundance Film Festival, like other so-called lifestyle events, has become an increasingly popular venue for emerging bands. Performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI hold showcases here, as do some record labels, in the hopes that their artists will connect with music supervisors -- the people who put music in films, TV shows and commercials. The New York-based rock band Elefant was among dozens of bands that performed during the festival in January.