Hank Williams

Walk, don't run, to your nearest post office: The Elvis stamps have not left the building -- not entirely anyway.Early yesterday morning, one had to wonder whether 500 million stamps of the young Elvis could feed this nation's hunger. One man reportedly began waiting at the main post office downtown at 9 a.m. for a sale that didn't begin until noon.Signs at most postal stations alerted customers to a 400-stamp daily limit ($116 worth); if you wanted to spend $200 for Elvis stamps, you'd have to return another day. Mail-order brochures advertised the sale of the program from the "first day" ceremony at the Presley mansion, Graceland, for $6, but only if purchased with another Elvis stamp memorabilia, priced at $12 to $20. We hadn't seen anything like this since the Camden Yards Opening Day program riots.

Helen Burnham, 81, a pioneering judge who relied on homespun common sense as much as the law, died Thursday. In her 22 years as a town justice in Salina, N.Y., she performed more than 3,000 marriages, and it was not uncommon for her to conduct nighttime arraignments in her kitchen.Jacques Robert, 83, head of a French Resistance network that played a key role in World War II by secretly informing the Allies of Nazi naval movements, has died, officials in Paris said Friday.Mark Anthony, 80, business agent and personal manager for Bob Hope for the past 50 years, died Friday in his office in Los Angeles, apparently of a heart attack.

PBS ushered in 2001 with Ken Burns' lavish 18-hour exploration of Jazz. And, beginning tonight, the network offers up American Roots Music, a four-part series exploring such unique American music forms as blues, gospel, country, bluegrass, Cajun, zydeco and folk. "It was just quite accidental that both" - Jazz and American Roots Music - "happened around the same time," says executive producer and director Jim Brown, an Emmy Award winner responsible for the acclaimed music documentaries The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!

Hank Williams Jr.leaves in a huffAn apparently intoxicated Hank Williams Jr. swore at his audience and walked off stage after stumbling through parts of four songs in Bonner Springs, Kan., Saturday night.Some people at the abbreviated show demanded ticket refunds. And some threw beer cups and other objects after the country singer left the stage, said Graham Phillips, secretary for Sandstone Amphitheatre."He was a little bit drunk, you might say," Mr. Phillips said. "He started calling people names.

'Grease'Grab your poodle skirts, slick back your ducktails and take a rock and rollin' trip down memory lane when "Grease," one of Broadway's longest-running musicals, roars into town this weekend. You can take a lighthearted look at growing up in the '50s at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; and Monday-Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. Tickets are $19-$45. Call 410-481-SEAT.Tribute to Hank WilliamsJoin an all-star cast in "A Tribute to Hank Williams" at 8:30 p.m Tuesday at the Ram's Head, 33 West St., Annapolis.

Hank Williams Sr. gem unearthedGrand Ole Opry star Boxcar Willie is recording a long-lost song written by the late Hank Williams Sr.The song, "If I Didn't Love You," was found recently by Hillous Butrum, one of Williams' band members in the early 1950s."

Homage to Hank WilliamsCountry-music legend Hank Williams will be honored Tuesday at the Ram's Head Tavern in Annapolis. Musicians Bill Kirchen, Robin and Linda Williams and John Starling have put together a tribute show that recognizes the legacy of the singer-songwriter, who died at age 29 on New Year's Eve 1953. Listen for such timeless Williams hits as "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Your Cheatin' Heart." Show time is 8: 30 p.m., and tickets are $16.50. Call 410-268-4545.Christmas in the countryCelebrate the holidays country-style at the seventh annual Christmas in the Country Church Tour.

In the days before he became Kid Rock, little Bob Ritchie used to stand in front of a mirror pretending he was Michael Jackson in sequins and a white glove, working out his dance routine to "Beat It." "Everybody has their little corny stage, and that was mine," Rock says with a laugh. "Now I realize what really got me was that beat, and it was an 808 drum machine - the most prominent instrument in rap music during the '80s. It was on everything from the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill, the Run-D.

In the shade of the wide, arched veranda of the Luray courthouse, a notice for a senior basketball league is posted on the same bulletin board as petitions for divorce.In Luray, the seat of Page County, Va., it seems folks have better things to do than spend their days in court. The white brick courthouse has only a part-time chief prosecutor and a single criminal courtroom. There, last month, was held the first murder trial in town in five years. During the most recent term, court stayed in session the entire three months without need for a single jury.

Rams Head Live will greet the new year with a blast from the long, long ago past: a performance by Dru Hill, the Baltimore R&B group that's better known these days for their clips on "I Love the 90s. " The group will be on the road promoting their back catalog. Sisqo, Jazz, and Nokio haven't released a new album since last summer, when "InDRUpendence Day" came out. It seems they haven't worked on anything else since;  their official Twitter page is still plugging the 2010 album.