NEW YORK - When cast members of "The Sopranos" convene Thursday to read through scripts for the HBO series' final season, none of the major players will be missing.

As drummer in a forgotten New Jersey band in the 1960s, David Chase never got close — never even got close to close — to making it in music. Yet from a sound check of his rock-infused HBO series "The Sopranos," it's clear the music never faded away.

NEW YORK - In the summer of 1975, Bruce Springsteen was nobody's Boss. His nascent career was crumbling, just another over-hyped "new Dylan" about to get dumped by his label. Two of his band members had recently quit.

NEW YORK - Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday. He was 58.

NEW YORK - The next-to-last episode of "The Sopranos" found one member of Tony's crew meeting a bloody end, another in critical condition and even Tony getting terminated by his therapist.

NEW YORK - Even as "The Sopranos" returns Sunday with its first new episode since June 6, 2004, long-deprived fans can be pardoned for wondering: What took David Chase so long?

After performing about 80 three-and-a-half-hour shows, including a three-month European leg on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Wrecking Ball Tour during the past year, Nils Lofgren is getting ready to crash at home and have a break from what he describes as the “greatest musical job in the world.”

NEW YORK - The final chords reverberated off the black, sticker-covered walls of CBGB as the grungy, iconic club toasted the end of its 33-year residence in New York. Rock poet Patti Smith headlined the Sunday night concert, CBGB's last before eviction by its landlord - the Bowery Residents Committee, a homeless advocacy group that owns the property.

New Year’s Eve is the biggest party night of the year, and television is among the most youth-obsessed media, so guess who will be the top hosts this weekend when the ball drops in New York City’s Times Square?

NEW YORK -- The sultry jazz sound of newcomer Norah Jones seduced the music industry on its biggest night, beating out crowd favorite Bruce Springsteen as the Grammy Awards returned to his home turf.

NEW YORK -- The sultry jazz sound of newcomer Norah Jones seduced the music industry on its biggest night, beating out crowd favorite Bruce Springsteen as the Grammy Awards returned to his home turf.

NEW YORK - There was no decisive moment, no seismic shift, no ceremony when James Gandolfini put "The Sopranos" behind him. But he has. Comfortably. "I was told that it would be a transition," he says and shakes his head. "Not much. It's very calming to move on."