EARTHA KITT, known for songs like "Santa Baby" and for playing the Catwoman on the Batman TV series, died Christmas Day of colon cancer at 81.

YO LA TENGO performed their eight nights of Hanukkah at Maxwell's.  You can read their diary (w/ pics) at the band's official site and download audio for December 23rd, 24th and 27th via nyctaper.

WOXY is offering a freely downloadable double-CD featuring the Best of their Lounge Acts from 2008.

ERIC CLAPTON is a fan of shooting trips in the countryside, and collected guns as he did guitars. But he's still in denial about the deputy.

THE OLD 97s: Murry Hammond talks about the band's most recent album and his solo LP with My San Antonio.

PINK FLOYD: Old and busted? Syncing Dark Side of the Moon to the Wizard of Oz.  The new hotness? Syncing it to extinction-level event CGI from the Discovery Channel.

MY MORNING JACKET had a pretty good year, as chronicled at the Louisville Courier-Journal.

BETTY LaVETTE had a pretty good year, as chronicled at MLive. Embedded videos at the link, too.

THAO NGUYEN talks to the Washington Post as part of a Best of 2008 series.  Embedded video there as well.

LOCAL H gets some local lvin' from the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Marley & Me takes it with 37 million over the weekend, and 51 million since opening on Christmas.  Team Aniston has to be happy that it beat out Team Pitt for biggest Christmas opening, though this movie -- like the recent Beverly Hills Chihuahua -- is more evidence of the power of a cute dog to bring people to the multiplex. Over the weekend, Disney's Bedtime Stories (28 million) ascended to the second slot while The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took the third slot (27 million), though Button won by a million over the entire Christmas period (39 to 38 mill).  Bedtime Stories will probably be Adam Sandlers second 100 million dollar grosser this year.  Button has a reported 150 million production budget, but an opening this big may boost its Oscar odds. Valkyrie debuted in the fourth slot with 21 million (30 since Christmas) -- not bad considering the bad buzz surrounding the flick.Yes Man dropped from the top to round out the Top Fve, with 16.4 million.  Below the fold, The Spirit opened in ninth place with 6.5 million (10.3 since Christmas).

TOM-KAT are living in fear after receiving death threats believed to have come from groups opposed to Scientology.

GISELE BUNDCHEN & TOM BRADY engaged? Brady's dad says he hasn't heard anything about it.

MARIAH CAREY: Another pregnancy rumor.

AMY WINEHOUSE: A truckload of dirt from her ex-personal assistant in the uber-reliable News of the World.

WATCHMEN: In a surprise ruling, a federal judge in Los Angeles said he intended to grant 20th Century Fox's claim that it owns a copyright interest in the highly-anticipated superhero saga shot by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures and set for release in March.

DREW BARRYMORE & JASON SEGEL sing "Rainbow Connection."  Let's go to the video.

JAY MOHR is adding the last name of wife Nikki Cox to his own. Yes, really.

ASHLEE SIMPSON & PETE WENTZ: Even more TMI from the latter.

LAURA ZUNIGA, a reigning Mexican beauty queen from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa, was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled with guns and ammo, police say.

RUSSIA has thrown down a new gauntlet to Barack Obama with an announcement that it will sharply increase production of strategic nuclear missiles. Shocka.

AFGHANISTAN: The CIA is winning the hearts and minds of tribal chieftains with little blue pills

DOG takes the five-fingered discount on a rawhide bone at Smith's Food & Drug for Christmas.  Video at the link.

A CONFUSED SEA LION that approached the west end of the main runway at Oakland International Airport was taken to an animal sanctuary in Sausalito.  Video at the link.

SQUID: Rough Sex at 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It's a whale of a tale, lad.

THE SNUB-NOSED MONKEY makes Ugly Overload.

CAN BOTTLENOSED DOLPHINS survive a winter near the Jersey shore?