PHOENIX DMX rapped for reporters outside a Phoenix courtroom Thursday after pleading not guilty to felony charges of theft and identity theft.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - A typical day in the life of Johnny Mathis begins with an early-morning trip to the gym -- he used to be a track star, as you may recall -- continues with time at home preparing food for the evening (he knows his way around a kitchen, too) and then moves on to an afternoon at the golf course.

In September 2007, folk singer and songwriter Ani DiFranco experienced something that many solo musicians and bands can only dream of - headlining at her own venue.

Back in April, when Rhino Records revamped the Replacements' sonically slovenly first four albums (recorded for the Twin/Tone label), I held out hope that the reissue house would do likewise to the remainder of the band's catalog. Its Sire Records releases, that is: college-rock classics "Tim" (1985) and "Pleased to Meet Me" (1987), the slicker though not entirely emptier "Don't Tell a Soul" (1989) and the group's back-to-basics swan song, "All Shook Down" (1990).

Philadelphia native Amos Lee, who just released his third album for Blue Note Records ("Last Days at the Lodge"), has been quite a busy man since he stopped teaching elementary school and started playing and singing songs professionally. "I haven't had a regular place to live since 2004," said Lee when he recently spoke to the Detroit Free Press. "I've been traveling and recording and bumming around for the last couple of years."

DETROIT Buffy Sainte-Marie. If you're a baby boomer, the name surely rings bells. There's probably a picture attached, circa the early-'60s folk music explosion, of a young American Indian girl with an acoustic guitar and a strange, singular vibrato as she performs protest anthems "Universal Soldier" and "Now That the Buffalo's Gone." If you're a pop scholar, you think of her as the writer of "Until It's Time for You to Go," a hit for both Elvis Presley and Neil Diamond, and as coauthor of the 1982 Oscar-winning song "Up Where We Belong."

ARLINGTON, Texas Sammy Sadler survived.

Amy Ray talks the talk - her lyrics fearlessly nail issues of violence, environmental issues and other pressing topics; her Indigo Girls concerts often serve as fundraisers for various deserving organizations. And she walks the walk as a human rights activist on many fronts, including co-founder of the human rights / environmental organization, Honor the Earth. While on a flight from New York to her hometown in Georgia, she penned these sometimes poignant, sometimes playful responses to "PopMatters 20 Questions."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Sheryl Crow is putting the "Rumours" to rest: She's not making a record with or joining Fleetwood Mac - not anytime soon at least.

Due in stores Tuesday:

Kevn Kinney -- no "i" in there -- the frontman for Southern rockers Drivin' n' Cryin', performs a solo show tonight at the Big Bamboo, 1 North Forest Beach Dr., No. 210, Hilton Head Island.

LOS ANGELES It was more than 50 years ago but Ry Cooder remembers it like it could have been last week; he was 8 years old and Johnny Cash came on the radio singing "Hey Porter."

NEW YORK Not every musician will make a film that features a fan facing him from a concert audience with two arms raised, middle fingers extended - more than one fan, in fact.

NEW YORK Marvin Sapp's single "Never Would Have Made It" is a record-breaking phenomenon far beyond the world of gospel.

Top 10 albums on iTunes Music Store for July 23:

LOS ANGELES A business management and accounting firm sued Courtney Love for nearly $1 million on Tuesday, claiming she failed to pay them a share of profits from the sale of Nirvana's publishing catalog.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Foreigner's Mick Jones says the band's new career retrospective "No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner" is a signal that new material is on the way.

NEW YORK Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and Rihanna will perform at the fifth annual Fashion Rocks concert celebrating the relationship between music and fashion.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. After Sugarland's first two albums, singer Jennifer Nettles kept hearing how their records were good and all but somehow ... not.

MINNEAPOLIS Tad Kubler says it happened backstage at England's mammoth Glastonbury Festival last summer, when 177,000 attendees were introduced to the Hold Steady.

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec Paul McCartney churned out a Beatles-laden song list to a pumped-up crowd gathered Sunday for a free concert as part of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebration.

PARIS Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt took the stage and shook her hips to a Colombian superstar's guitar riffs, leading the crowd in chants of "Freedom for all!" at a concert Sunday dedicated to captives held by Colombia's FARC rebel group.

NEW YORK Billy Joel bade a stirring farewell to Shea Stadium on Friday during an electrifying, sold-out final show at the same ballpark where the Beatles famously ushered in a new era in rock 'n' roll four decades ago.

NEW YORK As Chris Finegan watched Heath Ledger's stunning portrayal of the Joker on Friday in "The Dark Knight," he couldn't help but think of another actor who wasn't on the screen: James Dean, who also died prematurely and tragically, nearly 53 years ago.

NEW YORK James Brown mementoes ranging from his signature capes to a medical bracelet fetched thousands of dollars Thursday at an auction, which the soul icon's children protested.

Chicago vocalist Lisa Roti, who last performed at the Jazz Corner in the Village at Wexford almost a year ago to the day, returns for a weekend engagement at the venue at 8 p.m. today and Saturday.

The long-running Southern rock stalwarts, based just up the road in Spartanburg, continue their never-ending tour with a stop at the Shoreline Ballroom at the island's Ocean Center at 7 p.m. today. Local blues-teen Luke Mitchell opens. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door and available by calling 843-842-0358 or going to www.shorelineballroom.com.

Due in stores Tuesday:

NEW YORK What's black and white and red all over?

BOSTON A biopsy will be performed on the kidney that was removed this week from Boston Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Orchestra music director James Levine, his brother said Wednesday.