Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip each day.
SPIN magazine turns 25 years old this month, and as part of its anniversary issue the magazine's editors have compiled a list of the 125 best albums of the last quarter century. Check out the whole countdown, from Moby's "Play" to U2's "Achtung Baby."
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Shel Stevenson, the prolific illustrator and children's poet who created the classic "Where the Sidewalk Ends," was also a songwriter. A new compilation of his music, performed by Silverstein fans like My Morning Jacket and Andrew Bird, is due out later this year, according to Pitchfork, which has a taste of the tunes.
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The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival got off to a rocking start this weekend, coming to a climax with the dueling guitars oh bluesman Jonny Lang and the Allman Brothers Band's Warren Haynes and Greg Allman. The festival's second weekend should be just as heavy, with sets from Jeff Beck, Van Morrison and Pearl Jam.
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Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlitt are still basking in the glory of the release of their third Gorillaz album and performances last week at Coachella and on "The Colbert Report," but they're already at work on a new project -- an opera they're creating with comic book titan Alan Moore. The project is based on the life of John Dee, an alchemist who created the concept of the British Empire.
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