Can you imagine Mariah Carey being the mother of Vanessa Hudgens? Well why not? After all Mariah is 40 years old and Vanessa is 21 years old. However, that’s not really the point.

As the year comes to a close, Snow Patrol has something to celebrate about aside from the coming of a new year. Their hit single, ‘Chasing Cars’, was named as UK’s most played song of the decade. Despite not reigning atop the UK charts since its release, only peaking at no.6 at the height of [...]

This week Daily Mirror, the British tabloid, reported that it had been requested that Rihanna dress more conservatively when she performs her show on New Year’s Eve in Abu Dhabi at Emirates Palace Hotel. However organizers are insisting that isn’t true. According to Daily Mirror, the singer from Barbados along with her production team have worked around the clock in order to make her stage costumes more appropriate for Abu Dhabi’s local tradition, which appears to be more conversative than their Dubai neighbors.

The London Indie rock outfit xx must be blushing four shades of red at this point. They’re self-titled album has earned best of 2009 accolades from NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and the Guardian UK. It is quite a feat for a group’s debut album to bowl over the most prestigious music publications. The group is making the most out of their new found notoriety by mapping a tour of North America in support of their latest album. Swedish group jj will provide support. Any other double letter band is asked to contact the band’s management for the chance to join this alphabet soup tour.

Will Stevie Nicks and Don Henley share the limelight and stage, as the rumored Fleetwood Mac and Eagles co-headlining tour of classic rock appears to be close to being official? With Nicks and Henley as the most recognizable faces and names from their respective rock super groups of the 1970s, the pair also share a history which is both well publicized as well as shrouded in mystery.

Taylor Swift is set to be featured on People magazine’s cover for “25 Most Intriguing People of 2009,” a year end special issue. Swift has won many different awards and this year has dominated the world of entertainment, from her Saturday Night Live appearance following the controversial situation with Kayne West, to her CMA outstanding performance, to her “Fearless” tour and sold out concerts.

During next year’s Bon Jovi tour don’t expect that you will hear a show full of their greatest hits. Jon Bon Jovi said when the band heads out on the road in February the mix will include some rare tracks. He talked about having a conversation recently with a reporter suggesting that they break more of the obscure tracks out that Bon Jovi sometimes plays while in Europe or rarely performs. Bon Jovi says they will play their hits but will also mix the set list up. Yes we will always want to do those, but what if one night we don’t end up playing “Always?” It was a ballad and monster hit for us. What if one night you just aren’t in the mood to play ballads so you don’t. Personally I think that we have earned our right to have the freedom to do that.

R&B queen Alicia Keys will be spending her winter out on the road supporting her latest album “The Element of Freedom.” The tour will start in Montreal, Quebec on February 2 and continue through Las Vegas, Nevada on April 9. Some of the major markets Keys will be visiting on the Freedom tour include Miami, Atlanta, New York, Toronto and Los Angeles. European dates are still in the planning stages and are slated for late April. A full listing of Alicia Keys tour dates are listed below.

Venerable jazz man Harry Connick Jr. will be spending his January on the west coast and his February on the east. He’s mapped out a 13-city tour starting in Indio, California on January 23 and extending through February 19 at Virginia Beach, Virginia. Full Harry Connick tour dates are outlined below. Tickets went onsale via Ticketmaster and the venue websites on Monday (12/21).

Today we take a break from our usual concert reporting to hand the mic over to the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. to talk about a very pressing matter facing the concert business — the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. This combined company looks to have a complete monopoly over the entire concert food chain from the venues, artist promotions, ticketing and ticket resale, basically allowing them to charge whatever “convenience fees” they choose as well as continue to hike the face value of tickets which has risen a baffling 82% since talk of the merger originally began. You think you’re getting taken to the cleaners now just wait until you see what it will cost to see your favorite band when they have no one to provide the checks-and-balances that are inherent with competition. With that said I’ll turn it over to the 9:30