Rolling Stone, America's most frustrating magazine (yay, Matt Taibbi; boo, excruciating music coverage) has been having some trouble selling ads lately. So to help revitalize its "iconic and revolutionary brand," the magazine has slapped some of its classic covers on t-shirts. They're for sale at Macy's for $36 each. Eh, not really worth it. Oh, wait: each shirt comes with a free subscription to Rolling Stone. Eh, still. Better idea: make the magazine better so it sells. "The new collection of Rolling Stone tees appeals to today's cross-channel lifestyle, bringing together the influences of fashion, music, celebrity and entertainment," says a Macy's exec. "Macy's is honored to be exclusively bringing back these covers in a new, wearable way." OH NOW I GET IT. [via Ad Age]

As I've long feared, a zombie menace will soon stalk my beloved home city of Boston. Not the snarling, bloodied kind you see in movies, thankfully. Rather it will be a snarling, boozy Judy Garland (famed singer/actress/complete basket case) zombie. Long dead from the drugs and the drink and the sadness, Garland (who begat ol' herpes McGee, Liza Minnelli) will be featured "live in concert" with the Boston Pops this summer. The press release for "Judy Garland In Concert" promises "Judy herself returning to the stage for the first time in 40 years." Shiver! What could they possibly mean?

The one-man-band that calls himself "Nine Inch Nails" but is really just freaky Trent Reznor has low self-esteem. "Fear has governed my life, if I think about it," he tells Today's New York Times. "I don't even know why I'm saying this in an interview situation, but I always feel like I'm not good enough for some reason. I wish that wasn't the case, but left to my own devices, that voice starts speaking up."

Would you like to hear New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones sing the hits of Kelly Clarkson? Sure, we all would! Thankfully, The New Yorker has us covered. Sasha wrote an entertaining piece on auto-tune (the software that corrects pitch problems and can also be used to make wacky robot vocals), and then went to Hoboken with a sound crew to get auto-tuned himself. Attached, a clip of Sasha singing "Since U Been Gone." Click through to the whole piece to hear him get all T-Pained out. [New Yorker]

Did you know that there's an annual competition of NYC street performers to determine who gets the right to the lucrative spots in the subway system? There is, and you can listen to it here. These are the musicians you will feel the urge to assault in a few months. [Time]

Music superstar R. Kelly's criminal trial for taping himself having sex with an underage girl has been so bland and subdued, we've just been waiting for a newsworthy reason to cover it. And now we have it: there's a legal issue in the case that affects a member of the media in some way! Why, this is almost as exciting as a music superstar's kinky child sex tape scandal!

The question that has kept an anxious nation on tenterhooks for the last two days—"Did stoner movie star Seth Rogen light up a real spliff on stage at the MTV Movie Awards last weekend?"—has finally been resolved. According to the AP, the stunt was a big fake; but they also say that Rogen and Pineapple Express costar James Franco weren't supposed to do it at all! Is anyone here telling the truth? Such a web of deception!

Expelled, the wacky new intelligent design movie produced by "Bueller"-droning actor and financial clod Ben Stein, has won the right to use the John Lennon song "Imagine," triumphing over Yoko Ono in court yesterday. "Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion too." Well, Lennon appreciated irony. [WSJ]

Here's an idea that was only clever the first 20 or 30 times someone did it: "The Worst Album Covers Of All Time." Ha, look at the ugly people! The first person who dug through crates and crates of old records to find the funniest 1973 dulcimer trio was a genius; pretty much everyone since is just a copycat. Blogger 33 1/3 points out that every freaking list like this just draws from the same pool of Google-able bad album covers already out there. Like AM NY and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel did this week. And the most popular bad album cover is a fake! A Photoshop joke! A years-old joke, which media outlets can't stop falling for. Like Very Short List, which marvels today, "Someone at VSL Headquarters was convinced that these were all elaborately executed jokes, fake records concocted the day before yesterday. But they are definitely real." No; here's the real version of "Can I Borrow A Feeling?":

Sears is a company that has become almost entirely redundant, is outflanked by competitors on all sides, and stands ready to poison the reputation of the financial genius who last bought it, Eddie Lampert. The store is not as cheap as Wal-Mart, not as good as Macy's, and not as convenient as Amazon. It's an old retailer desperate for a revolutionary change to resurrect it from the grave. So how is Sears going to claw its way back into the competitive fashion market? By hiring LL Cool J to start a clothing line for it, of course! This is such an appropriately crappy idea:

Hip hop, as a business, is on the slow downward slope of its peak of several years ago. The traditional music industry as a whole is crumbling under assault from online distribution. And print magazines, of course, are one of the most perilous business ventures in all media. So the launch this month of the print-based Hip Hop Business Journal is truly an idea that takes after one of its cultural heroes; it combines Tupac Shakur's heedless, go-for-it bravery, his headstrong pride, and his inevitable tendency to die young.

Muxtape is a beautifully straightforward site which allows users to upload their favorite tracks to share with friends through an elegant web interface. No special software is necessary. Now another developer has provided a search engine for Muxtape. Just type in the name of a favorite band or track and browse other tracks on playlists which show in the results. It's an easy way to discover new music-and free, which means the record industry will soon strangle the service in its cradle. (via Fimoculous)

Summer at last! So what songs does this glorious time of year bring to mind? You know, music appropriate for beach parties, pool parties, long drives in convertibles, non-ironic rooftop barbecues, or just fooling around with some cutie under the cool comforting whir of your trusty air conditioner? My video pick's after the jump. What's yours?

Alanis Morrissette is gorgeous and genius, if a tad needy, and her ex Ryan Reynolds is a vapid lump of bad actor who never deserved her. Which is why what happened at her listening party the other night is so awesome. "'Every time I go through something difficult, I think, this is the mother load. I'm not going to get through this one,' Alanis Morissette said last night during an intimate performance in New York. 'And then six months later I'm like, what's his name again?' And with that, the journal-spewing Queen of '90s Rock quashed any rumors that she was heartbroken over her ex-fiancé Ryan Reynolds' recent engagement to Tom Waits admirer Scarlett Johansson."

Here's how a writer on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website decided that Courtney Love might front a reunited version of her late husband's band Nirvana this summer: First, a writer for the local alt-weekly received a random text message saying it might happen, then blogged about it. Then, the co-founder of indie record label Sub Pop, which was supposedly hosting the pioneering grunge band's reunion, posted a comment on the alt-weekly post saying "it's 100% true." A shocked music blogger blogged about the apparent confirmation, and a blogger at the Post-Intelligencer — a reader in the "Reader Blogs" section, mind you, not a newspaper staffer — followed with his own post. Since this post was on the Post-Intelligencer website, it had enough credibility to be forwarded to our tips email address. The only problem?

Also-ran music channel Fuse is looking for some aspiring musicians, for a reality show, but it definitely isn't interested in your squeaky-clean, David Archuleta-from-American Idol types. According to a flyer (left) spotted last night in SoHo by an email tipster, Fuse wants someone who is interested in being the next — WINK WINK — Amy Winehouse. A "wild party girl." Someone who can handle being filmed smoking something mysterious (ahem) and then being questioned by police in connection with said film. Or, alternatively, the channel is open to landing a more serious type who models herself after a certain female rapper who was incarcerated for a year in connection with a shooting involving two associates. Whatever, either way is fine, as long as you are female. But, either way, hurry! Interviews began yesterday. Email and phone contacts are after the jump for those who "live the rock & roll lifestyle:"

Metafilter is trying to compile a list of all the great drug-themed songs. A fool's errand. The Peter Tosh catalogue alone is too great to fathom. [MF]

In the wake of former entertainment industry exec Terrance Dean's gay-blind-item-filled book Hiding In Hip Hop, the hip hop community was split. Some reacted by saying, essentially, "Ew. That is so gay." But others basically yawned, and pointed out that of course there have always been gays in hip hop. Have you looked at some of these album covers lately?