It's easy to forget about Katrina and New Orleans, since it was almost six years ago. But actor/comic/filmmaker Harry Shearer has not forgotten. As a part-time resident of New Orleans he's lived it from the beginning.

The BMI Pop Music Awards, while star studded, may not be handing out awards to household names unless you're one of the people that hit the "Get Info" button on the track or are an aspiring singer/songwriter.

For 37 years residents of Long Beach have started many an April day with the sound of roaring race car engines, helicopters and planes overhead and tens of thousands of people descending on the city for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Perhaps the new era doesn't need a new musical to explain the frustrations, the fears, the hopes of the youth of today; perhaps it already has it in Hair.

I first found Teena in 1981, when I was a year out of high school. She was a little white girl from Venice Beach making all kinds of R&B, the first little red headed white girl to be signed by Motown Records in 1976 -- the woman that would become the Ivory Queen of Soul.

The new film the Social Network is as good as everyone says. In fact, it's better. It's a brilliant mix of pop culture and eternal themes, from love and rivalry to classism or the simple need to be accepted.

Here's my story, the story of how I'm making it in front of, and behind, the scenes in the world today. Maybe some will be inspired to continue to reach for their goals. Maybe others will understand that it's tough all over.

"Is she the one that sounds like Tracy Chapman?" That's a question often posed when explaining the musical wonderment of Joan Armatrading.