Michael Jackson proved time and time again that he was both master and victim of some of popular culture's most serious control issues.

Six weeks before the October release of Phrazes for the Young, Julian Casablancas' wonderfully familiar (that voice!) and far-out (those synths!) solo debut, the erstwhile Strokes frontman is sitting in his publicist's downtown Manhattan office, gently disagreeing with the notion that he's been keeping a low profile.

Never get high on your own supply. Last July, haze-rock conjurer Kurt Vile learned that lesson the hard way. "I was fired for having a beer on the job," says the 29-year-old former forklift operator at the Philadelphia Brewing Co. "Well, that's not the only reason, but my boss was a hard-ass. It turned out for the best, though.

U2 will let freedom ring… with their music.

Some things are more important than rock'n'roll -- even for Bruce Springsteen. The E Street Band's Monday night concert in Kansas City, Missouri, was canceled after the unexpected death of Springsteen's cousin Lenny Sullivan.

DJ and super-producer Mark Ronson has teamed up with luxury giant Gucci to design four types of Gucci Ronson sneakers that will be sold exclusively through traveling pop-up shops and a new Gucci iPhone app.