Last Christmas Eve, singer Amanda Palmer posted a message on her blog: "If you hadn't noticed, all of the Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer official videos have been taken off YouTube. I loved my videos. Now they are gone...Did I mention that being on a major label is starting to seem like...not such a grand idea?"

Dave Gahan may be the voice and snaky hips in front, but it's Martin Gore, with his choirboy vocals, perverse stage getups, and hyper-emotional songwriting, who provides Depeche Mode with its dark heartbeat.

From N.W.A. to Eminem, rap has never had much truck with taboos. But despite a history of pushing the edge to the center, there's one boundary the music is still struggling to cross. "I've stopped thinking about reaching straight people," says Captain Magik, 28, a self-described "young, gay, and proud" Cleveland MC with a raspy, Nas-like flow.

To a certain age group, Lionel Richie may have more cred for being the adoptive father of Nicole Richie than as a musician -- which, like many things related to Paris Hilton's BFF, makes no sense whatsoever. After all, the 59-year-old has sold more than

If you're hankering to see a low-budget sci-fi movie featuring a suicidal Santa that very loosely concerns the fate of the first baby conceived in space, then by all means, check out Christmas on Mars. That such an offbeat film is the directorial debut of Wayne Coyne, frontman of psych-rock oddballs the Flaming Lips, should surprise no one.