The merger of AOL and Time Warner has cleared its final regulatory hurdle, receiving the OK of the Federal Communications Commission. The New York Times reported that "the commission laid down conditions intended to make America Online's popular instant-messaging service compatible with the systems of Internet rivals."

According to the Washington Post, "Instant messaging ... is widely expected to become a broad technology platform for trading music, video and other data."

Robi Draco Rosa, songwriter of the Ricky Martin [ tickets ] song "The Cup of Life," had this to say: "Singing 'The Cup of Life' at George Bush's inauguration is like playing the fiddle while Rome burns."

From the L.A. Weekly:

Marilyn Manson [ tickets ] got George W. Bush elected. The real ballot-box Satan isn't Ralph Nader, an idealist trying to influence politics from within. It isn't the variety of Floridian GOP vote benders, who were just carrying on their old-time traditions. And it isn't the U.S. Supreme Court, which no historian expects to be objective. No, the force that established this very special scion in the Oval Office penetrated from outside the system, when Marilyn Manson declared that he would vote for Bush.

LiveDaily Briefly voted for Nader, and we keep waiting for someone to shift some of the blame for Bush's victory to the shoulders of, like, actual Bush voters.

Soul singer James Carr died at age 58 on Sunday (1/7), the Boston Herald reported.

Bryan Gregory, former guitarist for the Cramps, died at age 46 on Wednesday (1/10), according to the Associated Press.

Powerman 5000 [ tickets ] will release "Backstage and Beyond the Infinite"--a "retrospective home video and DVD"--on Feb. 27.

From a Village Voice article on Ken Burns' PBS documentary "Jazz":

Some 60 years ago, jazz accounted for nearly 70 percent of the American market, whereas today it's more like 2 or 3 percent. The ironic flip side to the notion that jazz is "America's indigenous music" is the fact that most Americans don't listen to it.

From staff reports, compiled by James Woster.