THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED.  It's the anniversary of the passing of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, IA, and it is still bringing people to the historic Surf Ballroom (now a National Historic Landmark), as well as the Riverside Ballroom, where the Winter Dance Party made its penultimate stop. So it's worth linking to an MPR audio feature on the Winter Dance Party and a Weekend Edition piece on Buddy Holly's old classmates.. We'll start with some video of Buddy Holly playing "That'll Be the Day," and "Peggy Sue."  There's even less video of Valens, outside this lipsync of "Ooh, My Head!", but there's rare live audio of "La Bamba" and "Donna" on the Tube. And no survey would be complete without the Bopper's signature song, "Chantilly Lace."  The tragedy has echoed through the years in movies like The Buddy Holly Story and La Bamba.  The latter featured Los Lobos, who would make "La Bamba" a hit again almost 30 years later, with Marshall Crenshaw as Holly, who can be seen here covering "Crying, Waiting Hoping", introduced by Wolfman Jack.

TORI AMOS plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

CRUMB lays KEXP.

LUCY DACUS shares "Kissing Lessons."

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE shares "We Go Back."

BIG THIEF: Learning to Loosen Up.

THE FIRST RULE OF ENCANTO: "We Don't Talk About Bruno" tops the Billboard Hot 100.

KEN JEONG & ROBIN THICKE reportedly walked off 'The Masked Singer' set.

THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME nominations went to everyone fron Dolly Parton to Devo to Dionne warwick to Duran Duran.

HITPIECE: A website turned artists' songs into NFTs without asking them.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS: Four people have been arrested on federal charges stemming from the actor's overdose death.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG is telling co-workers she is going to quit The View after being suspended for two weeks.

CHANNING TATUM has ended his break from acting.

SIMON COWELL injured himself in an e-bike crash. Again.

CNN PRESIDENT Jeff Zucker resigned after acknowledging that he had failed to disclose a romantic relationship with another senior executive at the network.

CILLIAN MURPHY, on Peaky Blinders and losing co-star Helen McCrory.

BRIAN COX breaks down his career, including Troy.

DAVID LETTERMAN launched a Tube channel of vintage clips.

BRITISH BULLDOGS are banned in Norway.

DUCK Curling.

A DOGGO, sledding.

A ROOSTER battles a hawk to save a hen.

First D.J.: "Rise and shine, campers and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today."

Second D.J.: "It's cold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?"

First D.J.: "Not hardly. So the big question o­n everybody's lips..."

Second D.J.: "O­n their chapped lips..."

First D.J.: "...their chapped lips is, 'Does Phil feel lucky?' Punxsatawney Phil! That's right, woodchuck chuckers, it's...

(IN UNISON): GROUNDHOG DAY!!!"

Saturday, Punxsutawney Phil ---  the Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary will predict whether we will have six more weeks of winter.  According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Phil has seen his shadow 103 times, and hasn't seen it (predicting an early spring) only 18 times.  Phil's track record is hotly disputed. In general, Groundhogs Do Not Make Good Meteorologists. Nevertheless, thousands will await the sunrise and the groundhog at Gobbler's Knob in the tiny Pennsylvania hamlet that has become known as the "Weather Capital of the World," due in no small part to the movie that makes every day Groundhog Day.

This is o­ne time where the Internet really fails to capture the true excitement of a movie about a large squirrel predicting the weather. However, you can see the trailer as a refresher (while BuzzFeed compiles trivia).

In 2005, Roger Ebert revisited Groundhog Day, declaring that the film "finds its note and purpose so precisely that its genius may not be immediately noticeable. It unfolds so inevitably, is so entertaining, so apparently effortless, that you have to stand back and slap yourself before you see how good it really is."

At the other end of the political spectrum, Jonah Goldberg's equally effusive movie meditation grabbed the cover of National Review: "When I set out to write this article, I thought it'd be fun to do a quirky homage to an offbeat flick, o­ne I think is brilliant as both comedy and moral philosophy. But while doing what I intended to be cursory research -- how much reporting do you need for a review of a twelve-year-old movie that plays constantly o­n cable? -- I discovered that I wasn't alone in my interest. In the years since its release the film has been taken up by Jews, Catholics, Evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and followers of the oppressed Chinese Falun Gong movement."

Indeed, a 2004 article mentioned by Ebert (but not linked) from London's Independent observes that the Harold Ramis comedy has been hailed by some religious leaders as the most spiritual film of all time. More examples can be found at the NYT and the Christian Science Monitor.

As Phil Connors ultimately observed: "When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter."

ACCORDINGLY, we conclude:

...with Sonny & Cher o­n Hullabaloo and famously o­n Letterman years later, plus UB40 with Chrissie Hynde, not to mention The Cynics (from the Bonograph tribute CD), and David Bowie & Marianne Faithfull.

PAUL SIMON gets over three hours of discussion and analysis on Political Beats, with guest Rory Cooper.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Elvis Costello reflects on his decades-long life in music, from his earliest childhood memories to the artists who shaped his work and what his own songs have meant to others.

CALEXICO shares "El Mirador." Oh yeah.

THE LINDA LINDAS share "Growing Up."

GRAHAN NASH leaves Spotify,and what's up with David Crosby?  BTW, this isn't an option for most musicians.

CAT POWER is profiled by NME.

EELS' Mark E Everett, on wanting to "bury the hatchet" with Colin Firth.

KEITH MOON: The long-awaited biopic about The Who's legendary drummer is set to begin shooting this summer.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG is in trouble at "The View" after controversial Holocaust comments. UPDATE: She's suspended for two weeks.

BENNIFER: J-Lo on her second chance with Affleck.

SHIA LaBEOUF & MIA GOTH are expecting a child after filing for divorce in 2018.

THANDIWE NEWTON calls SEAN PENN a "gibbering fool."

JACKASS FOREVER: There's more to it than nut shots.

KILLING EVE: Season 4 has a trailer online.

AFTER YANG has a trailer online.

THE OFFER, about the making of The Godfather, has a trailer online.

A PUPPER, with butterflies.

BOB THE NEWFY isn't having it.

A TURTLE: Empowered or embarrassed?

R.E.M., playing "Radio Free Europe" and "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" for their network TV debut ... and Twofer Tuesday.

COLIN HAY (Men at Work) plays Mountain Stage.

STING visits World Cafe.

BIG THIEF shares “Simulation Swarm.”

CATE LE BON talks about her lockdown album.

HARGUS "PIG" ROBBINS, a legendary Nashville pianist who played on hit records by countless country stars as well as Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde, has died at age 84.

SAM LAY, a legendary Chicago blues drummer Sam Lay - known for his work with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and Bob Dylan among many others - has died at age 86.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle)'s version of the Aladdin ballad "A Whole New World."

RHIANNA & A$AP ROCKY are expecting a child.

THE BATMAN dropped a funeral scene online.

JENNIFER BEALS, currently recurring in The Book of Boba Fett, will be recurring on NBC's Law & Order: Organized Crime.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: The latest iteration has a trailer online.

UNDERRATED OFFBEAT ROMANTIC MOVIES, according to Slashfilm.

THE TOP 12 PIXAR MOVIES, according to Paste.

THE 100 BEST SCI-FI MOVIES, also according to Paste.

A DOGGO and a dinner.

RATATOUILLE? Seems like.

A BISON is on the lam in Wauconda, IL.

RICHARD THOMPSON: The culmination of 1000 Years Of Popular Music.

NEW RELEASES: Paste will point you to Anaïs Mitchell, Pinegrove, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has Urge Overkill, David J & Victor DeLorenzo, and more.

U2: Bono and The Edge unplugged "Sunday Bloody Sunday" for the 50th anniversary of the event.

STEELY DAN: The second piano demo for "Black Cow."

JONI MITCHELL and NILS LOFGREN pulled their music off Spotify, which announced  plans to take to combat COVID-19 misinformation.

ANAIS MITCHELL, on her first solo album in a decade, the upcoming Bonny Light Horseman LP, how crafting the Broadway smash 'Hadestown' changed her approach to songwriting, and much more.

IS OLD MUSIC Killing New Music? (nah, it was the internet.)

THE NUMBER ONES looks at looks at Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," one of the biggest and most overwhelming hit songs of all time.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: With no new releases and a nor'easter, Spider-Man: No Way Home again tops the chart with 11MM on a mere 21 percent drop.  Scream places with 7.35MM on a 40 percent drop.  Sing 2 shows with 4.8MM on a 17 percent drop.

HOWARD HESSEMAN, a prolific character actor who became a beloved TV mainstay through his roles on sitcoms “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Head of the Class,” died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles of complications from colon surgery he had undergone last summer. He was 81 years old.

MEGXIT: It's been a year since Harry and Meghan announced their reported $25 million deal to produce a podcast series for Spotify - and since they produced their only 34-minute episode. Meawhile, the Queen launches her own ketchup.

ADELE canceled her concerts in Las Vegas because of problems with her boyfriend?

TOM CRUISE promoed Top Gun 2 for the AFC Championship.

FLORENCE PUGH is back to cooking on Instagram.

JASON MOMOA is reportedly in talks to star in the next instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise.

PEYTON MANNING on the NFL playoffs, sort of.

THE SHOCK of Recognition.

THE 3-D CATQUARIUM probably stresses the fish.

WINTER OLYMPICS Preview.

TOM MORELLO visits Word Cafe.

GARCIA PEOPLES covers Jerry Jeff Walker, The Waterboys, and Neil Young for a Lagniappe Session.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE shares “Strung With Everything.”

SUPERCHUNK shares “This Night.” 

BILL CALLAHAN & WILL OLDHAM talk to The New Yorker.

TELEVISION: The Genius of... Marquee Moon.

MARTY ROBERTS,  one half of the irrepressible, crowd-pleasing lounge duo Marty & Elayne — the beloved L.A. partnership that serenaded everyone from Frank Sinatra to Nicolas Cage and stole the 1996 film “Swingers” out from under Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau — died from cancer on Thursday. He was 89. Eff cancer.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Sir Mix-A-Lot's eternal big-butts anthem "Baby Got Back."

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER has an announcement video.

BRITNEY SPEARS has accused her father of paying a security team to track the locations of those close to her.

GASPARD ULLIEL, star of “It’s Only the End of the World” and Marvel’s upcoming “Moon Knight” series, has died following a ski accident in the French Alps on Wednesday. He was 37.

SEBASTIAN STAN & LILY JAMES on Pam and Tommy and the talking penis.

THE HOUSE OF MOUSE reorganizes its streaming biz.

SCREAM and the rise of self-hating sequels.

BRIAN COX knows how to end an interview.

THE SEASON where frozen iguanas fall from the trees.

A PIGEON, showing off.

ANIMAL SACRIFICE Sees Drunk Priest Allegedly Behead Man Instead of Goat.