Paul Mccartney

Happy 12/12/12! Enjoy the quirky numerical day while it lasts because it won't happen again for another hundred years. (Or never if the Mayan Apocalypse actually happens) Possibly fueled by this unique bit of numerology, the Internet is buzzing with news this morning. Beatle's guru Ravi Shankar is dead, the pope is an overeager Tweeter and  North Korea is making everyone mad again. And in a lunch time update, Paul McCartney is reportedly fililng in for Kurt Cobain as Nirvania reunites for tonight's huge Hurricane Sandy benefit concert.

Happy 12/12/12! Enjoy the quirky numerical day while it lasts because it won't happen again for another hundred years. (Or never if the Mayan Apocalypse actually happens) Possibly fueled by this unique bit of numerology, the Internet is buzzing with news this morning. Beatle's guru Ravi Shankar is dead, the pope is an overeager Tweeter and  North Korea is making everyone mad again. And in a lunch time update, Paul McCartney is reportedly fililng in for Kurt Cobain as Nirvania reunites for tonight's huge Hurricane Sandy benefit concert.

When Hunter Hayes, the 20-year-old sensation just nominated as the Academy of Country Music's Best New Artist, has a day to himself, the first thing he does is find a music store. "I'm obsessed with gear," Hayes said recently on the phone. Look at the liner notes of his 2011 self-titled album and it's clear to see why: Hayes can play everything in the store. On the album, the self-taught Hayes plays 22 instruments, including the clavinet (an electronic keyboard) and the accordion. After opening for Taylor Swift last summer, Hayes hit the road for his own headlining venture, the Most Wanted Tour, which stops by the Recher Theatre for a sold-out show tonight.

The Library of Congress is full of wonderful treasures, and today it released a new chestful: a collection of interviews on topics such as sex, drugs and rock and roll. Included is Paul McCartney relating how pot and other drugs boosted the Beatles' creativity: “Sgt. Pepper owes a lot to drugs, to pot. That was us getting into that. It was rather innocent compared to what you talk about these days. It was very innocent. It was never seriously heavy stuff. Things got heavy later with one or two of us. Then, it was quite mild.

The Library of Congress is full of wonderful treasures, and today it released a new chestful: a collection of interviews on topics such as sex, drugs and rock and roll. Included is Paul McCartney relating how pot and other drugs boosted the Beatles' creativity: “Sgt. Pepper owes a lot to drugs, to pot. That was us getting into that. It was rather innocent compared to what you talk about these days. It was very innocent. It was never seriously heavy stuff. Things got heavy later with one or two of us. Then, it was quite mild.

dTC Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now," by Barry Miles. Henry Holt. 654 pages. $27.50.At 55, Paul McCartney still has the star power to make people scream, as witnessed last month when he played a new classical piece in New York.McCartney apparently felt he needed another forum for his Beatles-era memories, hence this 650-page biography. "Many Years From Now.""Many Years From Now" is as close to an autobiography as we'll likely get from McCartney, and much of the outpourings are interesting and enjoyable, particularly the details of his early life, how he met the pals who would become the world's most famous pop group and his days in '60s London, living in the big house of girlfriend Jane Asher's parents.

IT WAS two days before Christmas when Jay Vance blew the bottom of his face off with a shotgun still slippery with his best friend's blood. He went second. Ray Belknap went first.Ray died and Jay lived, and people said that when you looked at Jay's face afterward it was hard to tell which of them got the worst of the deal. "He just had no luck," Ray's mother would later say of her AnnaQuindlenson to a writer from Rolling Stone, which was a considerable understatement.Jay and Ray are both dead now. They might be only two of an endless number of American teen-agers in concert T-shirts who drop out of school and live from album to album and beer to beer, except for two things.

Extra! Extra! Dog bites woman! That's one subplot on this week's "Seinfeld" (9-9:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2), which has Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) fearing she's gotten rabies from a dog bite. NBC.* "Frasier" (9:30-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- John Mahoney, as Frasier's dad, gets to snarl overtime when his sons (Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce) take him to dinner at an expensive restaurant. NBC.* "Dateline NBC" (10-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- On tonight's show, Jane Pauley is scheduled to do a profile on Paul Simon, that soft-spoken, bespectacled senator who -- no, wait.

I WANT ONE!" That's Nicollette Sheridan, the blond bombshell of Desperate Housewives. What does this beauty want? Not a handsome, talented man - she already has that in the fine form of singer Michael Bolton. Not success - she's had that since she sexed up the old cul-de-sac on Knots Landing. What Nic says she yearns for is a baby. The star revealed this while chatting with ubiquitous writer and show biz historian Hal Lifson in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel. She was a knockout in sweats, no makeup and seemed so down to earth that Lifson pulled out pictures of his own child, Sofia.

The Annapolis Chorale, the area's premier vocal ensemble, has announced the details of its 1995-1996 season.Under the baton of conductor J. Ernest Green, the Chorale, Chamber Chorus, and their affiliated Annapolis Chamber Orchestra will offer a diverse repertoire stretching from Handel's "Messiah" to the "Liverpool Oratorio," the crossover work crafted by former Beatle Paul McCartney."

When Hunter Hayes, the 20-year-old sensation just nominated as the Academy of Country Music's Best New Artist, has a day to himself, the first thing he does is find a music store. "I'm obsessed with gear," Hayes said recently on the phone. Look at the liner notes of his 2011 self-titled album and it's clear to see why: Hayes can play everything in the store. On the album, the self-taught Hayes plays 22 instruments, including the clavinet (an electronic keyboard) and the accordion. After opening for Taylor Swift last summer, Hayes hit the road for his own headlining venture, the Most Wanted Tour, which stops by the Recher Theatre for a sold-out show tonight.

I don't have time for a full review, but I do want to alert viewers to the premiere tonight on HBO of director Martin Scorsese's "George Harrison: Living in the Material World. " This is one of the most ambitious and daring biographical films that I have ever seen on TV. I am not a big Beatles fan. And of the Beatles, Harrison was my least favorite. But Scorsese helped me understand, appreciate and ultimately care more than I expected to for Harrison and the challenging journey the guitarist chose to make of his life.

I will be honest, I don't know which of these two I like less -- Piers Morgan or Christine O'Donnell. Here's video of her walking off his show Wednesday after he questioned her about gay marriage and then asked why she was acting "so weird. " Call it mutual exploitation by two low-level pop culture hustlers. After a disaster of a Senate run, she needs to do something to cut through the clutter and try to get some attention for a new book that no one in their right mind should want to buy. He needs to do something besides spending every other day trying to knock down new allegations about what he knew and/or approved when it came to phone hacking and other unethical acts while he was a tabloid editor in the UK. The latest allegation involving a phone message from Paul McCartney is far from being put to rest despite Morgan's latest bursts of bravado and denials.

TODAY DAVY KNOWLES & BACK DOOR SLAM: Davy Knowles is a Brit with an American-sized case of the blues. Hear live renditions of popular Back Door Slam singles "Heavy on My Mind" and "Come Home" when he and the band perform at Recher Theatre, 512 York Road. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12. Go to rechertheatre.com. OTTOBAR'S THANKSGIVING POTLUCK: Music fans living the rock lifestyle in Baltimore pack Thanksgiving leftovers to share with friends at The Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. DJs Dave Tedder and Tonie Joy spin acid rock, punk, metal and rock beginning at 9 p.m. This 21-and-older event is free.

The South County Community Concert Association closed its season with a concert that rocked the walls of the Southern High School auditorium. Revolution: The Beatles Tribute packed in a large audience, some of whom were major Beatles fans while others concluded they were fans only when they realized how many of the songs they knew. "I loved seeing the joyful response to familiar Beatles music that the performers played and sang so capably. It seemed we were really hearing the Beatles play and appreciated the music even more from hindsight," said longtime SCCA volunteer Betty Knupp.

TODAY, WHILE many are out returning gifts or catching year-end bargains, let's muse on Robert Redford's words in his most recent Sundance catalog of merchandise: "Holidays again. Forgive me while I dodge the rumble of the million-footed throngs that have succumbed to the marketing ether for Christmas and its days. Can we, without disappointing the children and others who long for the surprise of gift giving, just look to a different value to digest?" One might say -- if in a jaundiced mood -- that this is a little holier-than-thou, appearing in a catalog of things to buy!

Concert promoters are singing the blues as an off-key summer looms. The concert business is trying to head off another rained-out season by lowering some ticket prices and sending out baby boomer favorites and touring vets like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith partnered with Kiss. Concert organizers, who depend on the summer to generate as much as two-thirds of their annual take, are also looking to cut costs by writing smaller checks to artists. But persuading acts with big appetites to take less hasn't been easy.

Television 1.America's Got Talent, NBC 2.So You Think Can Dance (Thursday), Fox 3.NBA Finals on ABC -- Game 4, ABC 4.NCIS, CBS 5.CSI, CBS FILMS 1.Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fox 2.Ocean's Thirteen, Warner Bros. 3.Knocked Up, Universal 4.Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Disney 5.Surf's Up, Sony SINGLES 1.Umbrella, Rihanna featuring Jay-Z 2.Party Like a Rockstar, Shop Boyz 3.Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin'), T-Pain featuring Yung Joc 4.Big Girls Don't Cry, Fergie 5.Makes Me Wonder, Maroon 5 ALBUMS 1.Epiphany, T-Pain 2.Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna 3.Memory Almost Full, Paul McCartney 4.Double Up, R. Kelly 5.It Won't Be Soon Before Long, Maroon 5 DVDS (SALES)

I WANT ONE!" That's Nicollette Sheridan, the blond bombshell of Desperate Housewives. What does this beauty want? Not a handsome, talented man - she already has that in the fine form of singer Michael Bolton. Not success - she's had that since she sexed up the old cul-de-sac on Knots Landing. What Nic says she yearns for is a baby. The star revealed this while chatting with ubiquitous writer and show biz historian Hal Lifson in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel. She was a knockout in sweats, no makeup and seemed so down to earth that Lifson pulled out pictures of his own child, Sofia.

He had neither the grace nor the repertoire of his rivals, but Luciano Pavarotti had that voice - a distinctive, sonorous sound that could enchant and seduce - and he had a showman's personality that popularized opera beyond the great houses and stages where he sang. That may be his most endearing gift, both to the classical art to which he came late and to the world of popular culture he so robustly embraced. Mr. Pavarotti, 71, who died this week after a year's battle with pancreatic cancer, was an Italian tenor whose performance in a French opera earned him the moniker the "King of the High C's" (one signature aria had nine of them)