Music Notes: Jay-Z, Kanye and Rihanna to perform during Leno premiere

- Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West will take the stage during the premiere of The Jay Leno Show on Sept. 14. The three will perform the newest single from Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3, "Run This Town." This also marks the first time Rihanna will perform onstage since the February incident with Chris Brown. [Rolling Stone]

- This may sound like a joke, but apparently it's not — Bob Dylan is recording a Christmas album. [Pitchfork]

- Marc Spitz of SPIN has written a nice piece on John Hughes and the music/characters in his films. [SPIN]

- The Sounds have announced a North American tour, which will kick off in Quebec on Sept. 11. Dates are here. [NME]

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Retrovideo Friday: Remembering John Hughes

As reported yesterday, director/writer John Hughes — famous for the "Brat Pack" movies of the 1980s — died while taking a walk in Manhattan. Since his movies were well-known for their music, I'm doing something a little different for this week's Retrovideo Friday by posting some videos for songs that played a prominent part in John Hughes' flicks. Some classic, poignant... and straight-up strange clips can be seen below.

This Week's Picks:

1. "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds (Year: 1985, Movie: The Breakfast Club)




2. "If You Leave" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Year: 1986, Movie: Pretty in Pink) Embedding is disabled on this one, but you can watch the video/listen to the song here

3. "Oh Yeah" by Yello (Year: 1985, Movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off)



And last but not least, here's a fun Brat Pack mashup someone put up on You Tube. The song is Phoenix's "Lizstomania," so it's not exactly retro. But it includes some classic scenes from John Hughes movies, so I thought I'd include it here:

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RIP John Hughes

John Hughes, the writer and director behind movies like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, died today in Manhattan.

His publicist said Hughes was taking a walk when he suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 59 years old. [E! Online]

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