Happy Birthday to

Kiss bassist/singer Gene Simmons (1949)

A muscular clatter of pulsing guitars, head-spinning percussive thuds, and harmonic, brotherly vocals provide the backbone to a rich throng of giddy, excited ideas and ageless, wry lyrical themes. Truly, Young Knives are a band for our times, and all times.

Rhino will release the soundtrack for Juno, a comedy from Fox Searchlight Pictures directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) and written by Diablo Cody.

The final entry in the 40th anniversary restoration campaign of the great album discography of the first golden decade of Sly & The Family Stone - which kicked off with the spring release of the expanded editions of their seven original studio albums

Happy Birthday to "The O.C." actress Rachel Bilson (1981), "Kenan & Kel" star Kel Mitchell (1978), German supermodel Claudia Schiffer (1970), "All My Children" actor Cameron Mathison (1969), Powerman 5000 singer Spider One (1968), Belle & Sebastian singer Stuart Murdoch (1968), Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy (1967), actor Blair Underwood (1964), country singer Billy Ray Cyrus (1961), "The Corpse Bride" director Tim Burton (1958), English musician Elvis Costello (1954), Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes (1952), Judas Priest singer Rob Halford (1951), Kiss bassist/singer Gene Simmons (1949), "Alien Lockdown" actor John Savage (1949), actress Anne Archer (1947), actor Anthony Heald (1944), actor Tom Skerritt (1933), musician Wayne Shorter (1933), tv host Regis Philbin (1931), original "James Bond" Sean Connery (1930), American conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918; d. 1990), and silver screen star Van Johnson (1916).

Voted "best up-and-coming indie band" by SF Weekly, San Francisco's Scissors for Lefty has been setting off radars in both the US and UK, inciting NME to boast: "ambitious, sarcastic sophisto-pop; quirky, promising, and quite possible awesome."

From Arctic Monkeys to Zutons to Britney's divorce to the most overplayed song of the year (hint: it's not James Blunt's You're Beautiful), 2006 was unmatched in musical diversity. There were albums we didn't even realize came out and artists we didn't even realize were still around. There were reunions and breakups too. Here's a brief summary of 2006: The Year in Music... The new year kicked off somewhat quietly; however, it was the debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, from the Arctic Monkeys, the band that U.S. critics bashed despite storming to the top of the charts in England.

Happy Birthday to "The O.C." actress Rachel Bilson (1981), "Kenan & Kel" star Kel Mitchell (1978), German supermodel Claudia Schiffer (1970), "All My Children" actor Cameron Mathison (1969), Powerman 5000 singer Spider One (1968), Belle & Sebastian singer Stuart Murdoch (1968), Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy (1967), actor Blair Underwood (1964), country singer Billy Ray Cyrus (1961), "The Corpse Bride" director Tim Burton (1958), English musician Elvis Costello (1954), Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes (1952), Judas Priest singer Rob Halford (1951), Kiss bassist/singer Gene Simmons (1949), "Alien Lockdown" actor John Savage (1949), actress Anne Archer (1947), actor Anthony Heald (1944), actor Tom Skerritt (1933), musician Wayne Shorter (1933), tv host Regis Philbin (1931), original "James Bond" Sean Connery (1930), American conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918; d. 1990), and silver screen star Van Johnson (1916).

Willie Nelson and Tom Jones are set to make their debuts at Los Angeles' live music mecca Hollywood Bowl. Country legend Nelson will perform two nights at the famous venue and will be accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in September.