MLK DAY starts with a vintage clip of Dion playing "Abraham, Martin & John." The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't set out to be a great man. He was a Baptist pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, until he became involved in the the 382-day boycott of the city's bus lines. Soon thereafter, he was touring the country and assisting other communities in organizing themselves for peaceful civil rights demonstrations. His argument for civil disobedience is famously set forth in his "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but he is probably most known for the "I Have a Dream" speech, given o­n August 28th, 1963, at the March o­n Washington. A bit of his prophetic last speech turns up in this clip of U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" from the ZooTV tour. And as long as I'm dragging U2 out, I'll throw in "MLK" as well.

MICHAEL BRECKER, arguably the most influential jazz sax player of the post-John Coltrane era, died at 57 from myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood and bone-marrow disease formerly known as pre-leukemia. In addition to playing with his brother Randy as the Brecker Brothers, he recorded sessions with acts including James Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Chaka Khan, Bruce Springsteen and Parliament-Funkadelic. There's already a tribute video o­n the Tube, though you might prefer the fusion of the Brecker Bros' "Some Skunk Funk" at the Fuji Jazz Fest in 1992.

THE LOVE ME NOTS lead off the Boston Globe's "6 pop acts ready to break out in '07," which namechecks the farfisa-heavy, nugget-y sound of bands like The Lyres and The Greenhornes. It turns out the band has a soon-to-be-released record produced by Jim Diamond, who also produced The Romantics -- but don't hold that against them. Instead, stream a few from TheirSpace. "Voice In My Head" would be my pick to click, but YMMV.

MORRISSEY: News that the Moz might enter the Eurovision Song Contest has bought out those in the biz that love -- and hate -- him.

ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL: The Canadian folk-pop group's "My Children, Be Joyful" makes Song of the Day" at NPR. And Kathryn Yu knows her stuff.

SCHOOLS of ROCK: The Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp is offering the chance to perform with Paul Stanley of Kiss, or be judged by Brian Wilson. But music-blogger Heather Browne is excited about New York City's Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. The camp is named after Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, so -- like Heather -- I'll serve up her version of "Hound Dog," but o­n video.

THE WRENS: New Jersey's Star-Ledger has a lengthy profile of "indie rock's elder statesmen": "Now, in their late 30s and early 40s, the Wrens are in limbo. They are successful enough to book gigs across the United States and Europe but can't make enough money to quit their white-collar jobs." But that could -- and should -- change. At the moment, you can stream a bunch via the ol' Hype Machine.

AN AQUARIUM DRUNKARD has posted his latest podcast, including songs from Taj Mahal to the Beastie Boys to Lou Reed to Alejandro Escovedo to Harry Nilsson to R.E.M, and many others.

SELLING OUT: The L.A. Times reports o­n the trend of rock acts playing corporate gigs and billionaire birthday parties, with some choce quotes from Sammy Hagar, including, but not limited to: "The money," Hagar said, "was very good. I won't say how much, but it was good. But I didn't do it for the money