Jay-Z's 'Empire State of Mind' the latest in a long tradition of sports anthems

The history of music at sporting events dates back at least to the 19th Century, when the Spiros Samaras-penned Olympic theme was performed at the 1896 games in Athens. More than 110 years later, music and sport continue to share the spotlight. Witness the New York Yankees' adoption of Jay-Z [ tickets ]'s "Empire State of Mind" as their theme song on their recent championship run. Not only did Jay-Z and Alicia Keys [ tickets ] perform the track live at Yankee Stadium before Game 2 of the World Series--the MC offered a reprise performance (with Bridget Kelly pinch-hitting for Keys) a week later at the Yankees' victory parade. / Read more

Album Review: Neil Diamond, "A Cherry Cherry Christmas" (Columbia)

Neil Diamond [ tickets ]'s entry into the holiday album sweepstakes isn't nearly as shocking or surprising as labelmate Bob Dylan's. In fact, Diamond released two previous Christmas albums in the '90s (1992's "The Christmas Album" and 1994's "The Christmas Album Volume II"). What is surprising is that eight of the 14 tracks on this effort are remastered versions of recordings from those sets. / Read more