Music

The RZA is one of the founding members of the kung-fu-meets-hip-hop group the Wu Tang Clan. He has also written film scores, including 'Kill Bill' and 'Ghost Dog'. Now he has turned his efforts to a new book, 'The Wu Tang Manual'.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us the story of the pop group the Chairman of the Board.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new solo effort Happiness in Magazines, from Graham Coxon who was the lead guitarist for the British band Blur.

Cake has five albums to their credit. The band includes trumpeter Vincent DiFiore, bassist Gabriel Nelson, and guitarist Xan McCurdy. The popular alt-rock group combines caustic lyrics with pulsing guitar music and is influenced by many different styles: rock, funk, synth-pop, mariachi and cuban. Sometimes they shoot for a cheap, lo-fi sound, says McCrea. Their new CD is Pressure Chief.

James Brown is also known as the Godfather of Soul and the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, among other titles. The 71-year-old singer is still touring, despite having prostate surgery in December. He's written a new memoir, James Brown: I Feel Good.

Ed Ward reviews Goodbye, Babylon, a six-CD anthology that culls strange, rare and fiery finds of American gospel and other religious music from the early 20th century. The box set is produced by maverick label Dust-to-Digital.

Before he played guitar for Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was a session musician in London studios. Rock historian Ed Ward looks back at Page's early career. Led Zeppelin will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy next month.

Bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died Dec. 29 at the age of 94, apparently of natural causes. In the 1930s and '40s, Shaw's band ranked with the Goodman, Dorsey and Miller bands in popularity. But he largely rejected pop tunes and stuck with music by composers like Porter, Gershwin and Berlin. We remember Shaw.

The multi-talented Mos Def plays a police officer in the new indie film The Woodsman, also starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, about a pedophile who moves into a suburban neighborhood. He also has a new rap album, The New Danger. Mos Def has appeared in the films Bamboozled, Monster's Ball, and Brown Sugar. He made his Broadway debut with the play Topdog/Underdog, and has also won an Obie Award. Mos Def will be in the upcoming films A Confederacy of Dunces and A Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy.

Music critic Ken Tucker gives us his top picks in pop for 2004. He runs down his 10 best albums, and then talks about some trends of 2004, such as the return of punk, the year of the hip-hop producer, crunk music, and the potential end of an era as iPods and single song downloads replace album purchases.