James Brown's admirers mourned his Dec. 25 death at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Ga., and at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Of course, if you're James Brown, death doesn't mean you have to sacrifice flair, and Billboard.com reports Brown was dressed in a "diamond-studded blue suit and silver shoes" in his casket at the Apollo.
In other death news, a woman who once stalked George Harrison apparently died in a murder-suicide, BBC News reports, and the viral-video circuit predictably spread footage of Saddam Hussein's execution. And don't pretend you're above admitting that this Saturday Night Live sketch got a bit funnier.
Record labels and musicians have continued to struggle to turn a profit from digital music, and Billboard has a roundup of the year's shortfalls; meantime, a New York Times piece claims more musicians are performing entire albums live to offset the dropoff in album sales.