South African singer and apartheid activist Miriam Makeba has died at 76, after performing a concert in Italy. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. Makeba was an internationally known star, often referred to as “Mama Africa,” who spent 31 years in exile after protesting agains South African apartheid. The BBC has the story.

The October cover story for Louisville Music News is the Troubadours of Divine Bliss. Check that out, along with all the latest columns, performance and CD reviews in the print edition.

The deadtree copies will be on the street beginning today - later than usual, due to the problems caused by Hurricane Ike.

It’s dueling weekly pubs on music time - LEO’s Music issue is out and Velocity has a sampler for the cover. LEO gets the call, though, as they have a cover story on none other than Travis Meeks, a feature certain to cause some disturbances in the ether. Seems Meeks’ has Asperger’s Syndrome. It’s in-n-n-n-terresting reading.

There’s a lot more about music in the town - LEO devotes the whole issue to various aspects, so pick up a copy on read it at leoweekly.com

J.L. Puckett plugs the Kentucky Reggae Festival, happening this weekend at the Water Tower.

We overlooked this item several days ago; Joe Lord picks it up on his blog: the Terrastock organizers are looking for volunteers for the event. If you’re interested in helping out during the event’s run June 19-22, contact Erica at TheFuzzBoutique@Yahoo.com

Ron Whitehead has resurrected his Insomniacathon, a 29-hour marathon of poetry and music, as an alternative to “Thunder Over Louisville.” The event is happening at the Rudyard Kipling today and tomorrow. The lineup is is at www.tappingmyownphone.com/. J. L. Puckett also has a preview in the C-J

J. L. Puckett has a review of the “Tribute to Andy Palacio” by the Garifuna Collective in today’s C-J. Palacio had been scheduled to headline the show but died of a stroke in January, age 47.

Over at the delayed C-J, J. L. Puckett has a preview piece on the Garifuna Collective and Umalali: A Tribute to Andy Palacio. The Belizean group will be at the Bomhard on April 10.

Puckett also has a review of sorts of Van Morrison’s latest, Keep It Simple.

MTV.com has the list of Grammy winners, in case you missed some of it.

J. L. Puckett certainly has brass - check his picks for the Grammys, if you care.