Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition

Riverboat pilot, journalist, failed businessman (several times over): Samuel Clemens -- the man behind the figure of Mark Twain -- led many lives. But it was in his novels and short stories that he created a voice and an outlook on life that will be forever identified with the American character.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Alcoholic Character in "Country Strong" Inspired by Brittany Spears

Gwyneth Paltrow may be perceived by most as a macrobiotic, health-savvy New Yorker, but it seems she stepped quite outside herself to play Kelly Cantor, a self-destructive, alcohol-addicted music superstar in her latest drama “Country Strong.” But you might be surprised to learn of one of the inspirations behind the tragic Cantor – who returns from rehab early in an attempt to revive her career. Why, it’s Britney Spears y’all.

“You see a lot of these themes in real life, while I was writing the script a lot of those things that were happening with Britney Spears were very public,” writer/director Shana Feste revealed to FOX411’s Pop Tarts. “She was shaving her head, and I saw how fixated we are as a society in building people up to see their downfall and then the pleasure we take in building them up again.

“Right when I finished the script, Michael Jackson had just passed away so it felt like it was a very timely story just borrowing from what I had seen in the media,” Feste added.

“Yet, when it came to morphing herself into a super-famous singer, Paltrow turned to someone other than Spears as a source of inspiration, and she didn’t even seek out words of wisdom from rocker husband, Chris Martin.

“I picked the brains of my girl singer friends more.  I obsessively watched Beyonce perform, she is ‘it’ in terms of a performer – if I could just get a little bit of that abandon she has on stage, that’s what I was really focusing on,” Paltrow explained. And it was her super famous friend who helped her conquer the fear of her own voice.

“The only reason I go through (a live performance at the recent CMA’s) was because of her,” she added. “Beyonce was in London and got me through it, then I got to Nashville and Faith (Hill) was so much help. All these things she told me I would never have known.” But given that Paltrow’s public persona is as far removed from Spears as one could imagine, as it turns out, the actress was initially dissed by the studio behind “Country Strong.” As she tells us, Screen Gems President Clint Culpepper initially balked when he found out Paltrow was attached to the project.

“He thought everyone was so crazy because I was so wrong,” she said. ‘When you think ‘country superstar drink addict’ maybe you don’t think of me, but it’s in there… I haven’t been macrobiotic for a long time now, drinking country singer is much closer to the real me!”

The 38-year-old was so eager to prove such a point, she even granted Feste’s request to “get rid of those yoga arms” and join the rest of the cast and crew by indulging in copious amounts oil-smothered foods while filming in Tennessee.

“I ate lots of fried food, fried chicken and there is this restaurant that makes a slider out of a biscuit with fried chicken – it is really, really good,” Paltrow reminisced. And her longtime trainer and good pal Tracy Anderson’s response? “She was like ‘don’t tell me! I don’t want to know!’ Unfortunately for me her method works so well that it took me until the end of the movie for everything to fall apart,” Paltrow added. “I still looked like myself for most of the movie, right at the end I looked at myself and went ‘what the f**k?’ but it was too late.”

Thanks to Fox 411

Jarrod Gorbel Announces Fan Set List Contest to Kick Off Upcoming Tour

Jarrod Gorbel, formerly of The Honorary Title, will embark on a national headlining tour beginning later this month and running through February.  Including a hometown show January 28th at the Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY, the tour will launch January 20th at World Café Live in Philadelphia, PA, and take the singer/songwriter throughout the midwest, west coast, southwest, and back, before wrapping up February 26th at Club Café in Pittsburgh, PA. Gorbel released his debut solo album, Devil's Made A New Friend, on August 31st, 2010, and recently completed fall tours with Fun and Steel Train, and Hanson.

Throughout the tour, fans can email JarrodGorbelSetlist (at) gmail (dot) com to request any five songs from The Honorary Title catalog that they'd like to hear Gorbel perform at their city's tour stop.  The five songs that receive the most votes in each city will then be added to that night's setlist.  All votes must be sent in by January 20th.  For more information, please visit www.JarrodGorbelMusic.com.

The lush Devil's Made A New Friend is piloted by Gorbel's passionate vocals and steeped in warm arrangements, with influences that range from classic soul to traditional folk and Americana. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Blake Sennett (of Rilo Kiley and The Elected), Devil's Made A New Friend also features guest appearances by Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Mystic Valley Band), Orenda Fink (Azure Ray), Adam McDougall (Black Crowes), and Nate Wolcott (Mystic Valley Band). AOL Music Blog premiered the official video for album track "Ten Years Older" in November; the heartening Blake Behnam and Nic Hill-directed clip can now be seen here, while the soaring, soulful track can be downloaded as a free MP3 as well.

Gorbel is currently working on a new EP to be released in the next few months.

Jarrod Gorbel Tour Dates

JAN. 20         PHILADELPHIA, PA             WORLD CAFÉ LIVE
JAN. 26         NEW HAVEN, CT                BAR
JAN. 28         NEW YORK, NY                  BOWERY BALLROOM
FEB. 2           GRANTHAM, PA                 MESSIAH COLLEGE(Larsen Student Union)
FEB. 3           CLEVELAND, OH                GROG SHOP
FEB. 4           CHICAGO, IL                     SCHUBAS
FEB. 5           MINNEAPOLIS, MN             7TH STREET ENTRY
FEB. 8           PORTLAND, OR                  THE WOODS
FEB. 9           SEATTLE, WA                     SUNSET TAVERN
FEB. 11         SAN FRANCISCO, CA          HOTEL UTAH
FEB. 12         LOS ANGELES, CA              THE ECHO
FEB. 15         SCOTTSDALE, AZ               MARTINI RANCH
FEB. 17         SAN ANTONIO, TX              THE TEN ELEVEN
FEB. 18         AUSTIN, TX                        THE CACTUS CAFÉ
FEB. 19         HOUSTON, TX                    FITZGERALD'S
FEB. 20         DALLAS, TX                       THE LOFT
FEB. 22         LAWRENCE, KS                  JACKPOT MUSIC HALL
FEB. 23         ST. LOUIS, MO                   CICERO'S
FEB. 26         PITTSBURGH, PA                CLUB CAFÉ

Nashville Deal of the Day!

Nashville Deal of the Day Everyday!

Those Dancing Days: Sophomore Album Daydreams and Nightmares

Sweden's Those Dancing Days will release their sophomore album Daydreams and Nightmares in the US on March 1st, 2011 via Wichita Recordings.

Today "Fuckarias," Those Dancing Days' first video off Daydreams and Nightmares, premiered exclusively on SPIN.com. Directed by Mats Udd, the clip for the defiant, hard charging anthem can now be seen here. Fans can also head to the band's website for an advance free download package that includes: the "Fuckarias" MP3; single artwork; song lyrics; and a baseball card-style photo of each band member, complete with a quote from the song. A Fuckarias single is also available now via all major digital retailers.

Daydreams and Nightmares was recorded over the past spring, summer, and fall with producer Patrik Berger (known for his recent work with Robyn) in Stockholm. The 11 tracks show a distinct evolution in sound from the charming indie pop of Those Dancing Days' 2008 debut LP, In Our Space Hero Suits. While maintaining the evocative vivacity of that debut, the five young women (all aged 20-22) of Those Dancing Days have added broadened dynamics and a playful ferocity to the songs on Daydreams and Nightmares. Filled with soaring choruses led by singer Linnea Jönsson's honeyed vocals, the songs are in many ways about all kinds of dreams, nightmares, and wishes. Angular guitars and thundering drums lead the charge on album bookends "Reaching Forward" and the winsome "One Day Forever" (a duet with The Maccabees' Orlando Weeks), while elsewhere the songs range from the blissful pure pop of "I'll Be Yours" to the New Wave-tinged, starry-eyed "Dream About Me", and from the hook-laden, glistening "Can't Find Entrance" to the wistful, reluctant build of "When We Fade Away." Those Dancing Days' musicianship shines through across the album, honed over the past two years of touring all over the world.

Rodney Atkins Autographed Guitar Sweepstakes!

Rodney Atkins is Coming to the Opry for

TWO Special Shows

Win an Autographed Guitar

Friday, January 7

7:00pm

Ryman Auditorium

&

Friday, January 14

7:00pm

Ryman Auditorium

The Opry has a chance for you to win an "If You're Going Through Hell"-themed guitar autographed by Rodney.  To enter to win, visit here.

Tyler Ramsey's "A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea" is Re-Released

Tyler Ramsey's sophomore album A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea was re-released today, January 4th, 2011, via Brown Records/Fat Possum.

A well-established and praised figure in the burgeoning Asheville music scene, Ramsey - who joined Band Of Horses as guitarist in fall 2007 - wrote A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea while living in a log cabin in Swannanoa, NC, in late 2006-7.  Recorded at Asheville's Echo Mountain Studios with the help of Bill Reynolds (also of Band Of Horses; who's worked with The Avett Brothers and Lissie) and Danny Kadar (My Morning Jacket, Band Of Horses, Grizzly Bear), the album is a collection of haunting and atmospheric songs that exude a markedly fluid, easy grace.

Ramsey's warm vocals and intricate finger-picked guitar playing lead the way throughout A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea, the expressive guitar lines often telling as much of a story as the lyrics. "A Long Dream" opens with a rolling and ruminative cadence, while the ethereal "Night Time" and the gorgeously languid "Once In Your Life" rise to gentle and varied crescendos.  Other standout tracks include the bluesy waltz of "No One Goes Out," the elaborately layered instrumental "Birdwings," and the mesmerizing, strings-laced "When I Wake," each song reinforcing the album's fine, hypnotic brilliance. Championed by NPR (World Café - "Heartwarming, delicate, and comforting, Tyler Ramsey's music showcases a thoughtful approach to his craft."), Stereogum ('Artist To Watch'), WNYC's Soundcheck, and Popmatters, among others, A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea was originally released by Echo Mountain Records in 2008.

Ramsey is currently working on a follow-up album to be released later this year.  He will also head overseas for a Band Of Horses tour at the end of the month that will run through February.

Nicole Kidman to Attend Belcourt Theatre Special Screening of Rabbit Hole

The Belcourt Theatre is pleased to announce a special screening of RABBIT HOLE with the film's star & producer Nicole Kidman in attendance for a post-screening Q & A

Saturday, January 8 at 3:00 pm

ABOUT RABBIT HOLE: Director John Cameron Mitchell (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, SHORTBUS) has given us sweet, genre-breaking, euphorically naughty films with a bright, all-encompassing worldview, and RABBIT HOLE marks a significant progression: a pitch-perfect drama about mourning with exacting performances all around. Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman, who doubles as the film’s Producer, play a couple trying to mourn the death of their young son, but unsure how to do it. Becca (Kidman) spats with family members as Howie (Eckhart) makes genuine efforts to connect. As she starts to reach out to the boy who killed her son, a teenaged driver whose life was irrevocably changed by the incident, their relationship, full of curiosity, suppressed rage and a surprising mutual recognition, forms the fascinating counterpoint to the discordant notes of a marriage in crisis.

Post-screening discussion moderated by WSMV Anchor & film-maker Demetria Kalodimos.

True Grit by Charles Portis

Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America's foremost comic writers. True Grit is his most famous novel--first published in 1968, and the basis for the movie of the same name starring John Wayne. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory.

True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself. From a writer of true cult status, this is an American classic through and through. This new edition, with a smart new package and an afterword by acclaimed author Donna Tartt, will bring this masterpiece to an even broader audience.

Save $20-$40 on Sirius and XM Radios

SAVE $20-$40 on SIRIUS RADIOS

SAVE $20-$40 on XM RADIOS

The New Virago in Nashville

The New Virago at 1126 McGavock Street. 615-320-5149. New sushi restaurant now serving dinner. Virago has relocated from its previous location on Division Street to the developing M Street in The Gulch, next door to Whiskey Kitchen. Hours are Mon - Sat, 5 pm - midnight.

Grimey's 50 Top-Selling Albums of 2010

1. The Black Keys — Brothers [Feature] [The Spin]
2. Mumford & Sons — Sigh No More
3. Arcade Fire — The Suburbs [Feature] [The Spin]
4. Metallica — Live At Grimey’s [The Spin]
5. The National — High Violet [Feature] [Interview] [The Spin]
6. Vampire Weekend — Contra [Feature] [The Spin]
7. Justin Townes Earle — Harlem River Blues [Feature] [The Spin]
8. Band Of Horses — Infinite Arms [Feature]
9. She & Him — Volume Two [Feature] [The Spin]
10. Beach House — Teen Dream [Feature] [The Spin]
11. Broken Bells — Broken Bells
12. Spoon — Transference
13. The Dead Weather — Sea Of Cowards [The Spin]
14. Dr. Dog — Shame Shame [Feature] [Interview] [The Spin]
15. The Rolling Stones — Exile On Main Street
16. Ray Lamontagne — God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise
17. The Avett Brothers — I and Love and You
18. KORT — Invariable Heartache [No. 3] [Feature]
19. Deerhunter — Halcyon Digest [Feature] [The Spin]
20. LCD Soundsystem — This Is Happening [The Spin]
21. Jonsi — Go
22. Anberlin — Dark Is The Way: Light Is A Place
23. Kings Of Leon — Come Around Sundown [The Spin]
24. Broken Social Scene — Forgiveness Rock Record
25. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros — Up From Below
26. Local Natives — Gorilla Manor
27. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings — I Learned The Hard Way
28. Sufjan Stevens — The Age Of Adz
29. Sleigh Bells — Treats [Feature] [Interview] [The Spin]
30. Surfer Blood — Astro Coast [Feature] [The Spin]
31. Grinderman — Grinderman 2 [Feature] [The Spin]
32. The Walkmen — Lisbon
33. The Greenhornes - **** [No. 8] [The Spin]
34. Robert Plant — Band Of Joy [Feature]
35. Best Coast — Crazy For You [The Spin]
36. Belle & Sebastian — Write About Love
37. Yeasayer — Odd Blood [Feature] [The Spin]
38. Various — Twistable Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute To Shel Silverstein
39. The XX — The XX [The Spin]
40. Charlotte Gainsbourg — IRM
41. Ryan Adams — III & IV
42. Gorillaz — Plastic Beach
43. Karen Elson — The Ghost Who Walks
44. Patty Griffin — Downtown Church
45. Jimi Hendrix — Valleys Of Neptune [Feature]
46. Jason & The Scorchers — Halcyon Times [Feature] [The Spin]
47. Dave Rawlings Machine — A Friend Of A Friend
48. Menomena — Mines
49. The Morning Benders — Big Echo [The Spin]
50. The White Stripes — Under Great White Northern Lights

CD Release Party and Concert by Sandra Piller

With nominations in two country music categories at the New Music Weekly magazine annual awards, Sandra Piller has multiple reasons to be celebrating, including the release of her third album. Los Angeles music lovers are invited to share in an evening of fun, food, festivities and a mini-concert on Wednesday, January 12 at The Mint nightclub in Hollywood.

Best of all, this very special one-time event is free.

Piller's new album, "Days Like These," is her third collection of what can only be called new country classics. Working with some of Nashville's most-respected writers, the songs explore life's wide variety of joys, passions and triumphs over adversity.

Songs from "Days Like These" are already receiving airplay on terrestrial and online radio, with giveaways and interviews also taking place on country, gospel, and Christian country stations nationwide. The title track reached #11 on the New Music Weekly Indie Chart and #23 on the Main Chart. It also made it into the Top 100 on the Music Row country charts. In addition, her holiday song, "Mistletoe and You," also went into the Top 30 at New Music Weekly.

Working with her new music director Loren Gold (Melissa Etheridge, Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff), Piller and her band are reaching new heights of success in her live show, and attendees at The Mint will hear the results on a selection of songs from the new album.

"Days Like These," the album and single, are available for purchase on the Shady Hill Records site and retail outlets such as Amazon and iTunes.

RSVP FOR THE PARTY

To be added to the guest list for the Sandra Piller "Days Like These" CD Release Party on the evening of 1/12/11, send an e-mail to: info@shadyhillrecords.com or phone (323) 938-6042. The Mint is located at 6010 West Pico Blvd. (between La Cienega and Fairfax) in Los Angeles.