Britney Spears’ gradual return to the spotlight continues next year with a 27-date tour—her first in five years—that stops March 24 in D.C.  The perky performer unveiled her new album, “Circus,“ earlier this week ) and will bring her live act to the Verizon Center with The Pussycat Dolls opening.

I’ve heard a lot of confessions this week.  Confessions from guy friends whose musical tastes usually tend toward rugged, manly stuff, like Springsteen and AC/DC.  Confessions from girl friends whose only use for flirty pop music is the thundering mix used at the gym.  They’re all sheepishly acknowledging the same thing: their re-ignited infatuation with Britney Spears.

LOS ANGELES—Lil Wayne—the most prolific, ubiquitous and successful performer on today’s music scene—was the most rewarded by the Recording Academy tonight, receiving eight Grammy nominations including album of the year for “Tha Carter III.“ Following close behind was Coldplay, whose “Viva La Vida” is one of the year’s best-selling CDs.
Check out Times-Dispatch Music Critic Melissa Ruggieri’s blog for the latest on the Grammy nominations: Popculture Blog

SAN FRANCISCO—Blockbuster Inc. will begin selling concert tickets at about 500 of its video rental stores, bolstering its effort to create a one-stop shop for entertainment. Under a three-year agreement announced today, Blockbuster’s stores next month will become the primary brick-and-mortar sales outlet for music concerts staged by promoter Live Nation Inc. in the United States.

WASHINGTON Tomorrow, Tina Turner turns 69. Yet, she somehow has the stamina of a teen, the gams of an athletic 25-year-old and the confidence of a woman who knows that, despite an eight-year sabbatical from the stage, her Queendom is intact. At a sold-out Verizon Center on Sunday—Turner played a second show last night—she blitzed through the type of career-retrospective performance that has become commonplace in Las Vegas.

The James River Singers chamber choir is presenting its fall concert “Words and Music” on Saturday and Sunday.  The program includes music that spans more than 250 years and explores the interaction of words and music. It features composers including Franz Josef Haydn, Johannes Brahms, Samuel Barber and George Gershwin, among others.

Umphrey’s McGee, 7 p.m. at The National Bo Bice and The Grinding Stone Band, 8 p.m. at Alley Katz Back Alley Hoodoo, 5 p.m. at downtown Capital Ale House Music Hall; at 9 p.m., Simplified Southern Culture On The Skids, Demolition String Band and Gojira-X, 7 p.m. at Alley Katz

“Bolt” and “Twilight” at the movies. Concerts from Mos Def, Lamb of God and Jason Mraz. All that AND Tacky Lights.

#=cm DSQ=#tick, tick…BOOM!#=cm DEQ=#
##MC##1Theater review
At: Stage 1 Theatre,
9130 Dickey Drive,
Mechanicsville
Through: Nov. 22
Tickets: $18#-#$22
Info: (804) 427#-#7548 -RD> tick, tick . . . BOOM!“ is the sound that Jonathan, a composer/lyricist in Manhattan, hears as his 30th birthday approaches. He fell in love with musical theater as a kid, he has spent years writing songs, but he’s working a day job as a waiter and living in a dump. His girlfriend, Susan, wants to move into a more conventional life; his best friend, Michael, has gone into marketing and acquired a BMW and a fancy apartment.

For Dave Matthews, Barack Obama was always his candidate of choice. “I’ve admired his worldview for a while and the inclusive way that he speaks,“ Matthews said Friday in a telephone interview from Seattle, where he lives with his family. “I know politicians always say they don’t want to be divisive, but then in the same sentence usually are. I think it’s important that someone can speak eloquently in ways that unite, rather than divide”

What does it take for a song to make the campaign playlists of both the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets? It should be a little bit country and a little rock’n’ roll. It should have a beat you can groove to and a dash of patriotism. And hold the controversy. Mix it together and what do you have? You might hear “Only in America,“ a Brooks & Dunn country song that crosses party lines.

Not all artists want politicians rocking out to their songs. Several major artists, many of them supporters of the Democratic Party, have asked the McCain campaign to stop playing their songs at rallies. Among the artists and songs: The Foo Fighters’ “My Hero,“ John Mellencamp’s “Our Country” and “Pink Houses,“ Heart’s “Barracuda,“ and Bon Jovi’s “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.“

Unless you’re listening to an 11th-century monk cant hymns, or an extraordinary pianist pump out a Chopin nocturne on a really good piano, the best way to hear music is by string quartet. And when it’s the Shanghai String Quartet—as it was Wednesday night at Camp Concert Hall at the University of Richmond—that’s about as good as it gets.

For the 2008-09 season, the Virginia Opera has scheduled Italian works for all of its major productions. Artistic director Peter Mark says that was not intentional on the part of the company. “It just happened that way,“ Mark said. “In essence, Italian is the most musical language in the world. So it’s not unusual to think of Italy as the birthplace of opera,“ Mark said. “The general Italian personality is so expressive and volatile. Spend some time in Italy, and you will find that the Italians really know how to live. The people, the music, the food. The Italian people do not hide their feelings. If they have a complaint about something, they voice it, and then it’s over and done.

Festival helps more than 1,000 marching musicians practice, develop their craft.