Make-Believe Maverick A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty • VIDEO: Five Myths About John McCain • The Double-Talk Express • Mad Dog Palin: The Full Story • Karl Rove's A-Team At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the...

The Easygoing Patriot Jackson Browne on Obama's chances, what he learned from Dylan and living off the grid Making music is one of the greatest pleasures I've ever experienced — and I'm one who sought pleasure," Jackson Browne says with a quiet laugh on an early-autumn afternoon in a New York hotel room. But, he adds, "the heart of my activism is the belief that these pleasures are for everybody. If we continue what we're doing as a country . . . " He pauses. "We're all in the same boat. That's always been the subject of my songs. We only have a little time. It's a mess, so you do everything you...

Q&A: Chrissie Hynde The Pretenders singer on moving back to Ohio, opening a vegan restaurant and her rootsy new record • Video: Behind the Scenes of the "Boots of Chinese Plastic" music video After her 2007 tour with the Pretenders, frontwoman Chrissie Hynde vowed not to return to the stage until she wrote some new material. "Frankly, it was just embarrassing that I hadn't had a record out in so long," she says. Now, after recently resettling in her childhood home of Akron, Ohio — she has lived primarily in London for the past 35 years — Hynde can hit the road and draw from a brand-new batch...

The Surreal Life Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes is obsessed with Prince, suicide, and borrowing his wife's tights. Meet rock's newest damaged genius. • Download music from Skeletal Lamping and watch Of Montreal perform live There are many things that Kevin Barnes' wife might prefer he not talk about. For instance, when she became pregnant a few years ago, the idea of becoming a father so terrified Barnes that he considered committing suicide. Or that after his daughter was born, his misbehavior on the road nearly destroyed their marriage. Or that he suffers from chronic depression, which he treats with the powerful antidepressant...

Carlos' Cosmic Bummer Santana prepares for a tour and struggles with the pain of his divorce • Santana: The Essential Album-By-Album Guide • Video: Ask a Rock Star — Santana On a recent sunny morning, Carlos Santana steps out of a shiny black Mercedes at his headquarters in an industrial part of San Rafael, California. He looks pretty much like he's always looked, sort of gnarly, sort of groovy and not all that far removed from the soulful snaggletoothed 22-year-old Mexican man-boy who tore it up at Woodstock before he'd released a single album. He's timeless...

MySpace Music Takes on iTunes Social-networking giant's new service streams millions of songs for free From Lily Allen to My Chemical Romance, MySpace has made its name as a career booster for rising acts. But can the social-networking site now do the same for the beleaguered music business? On September 25th, the company launched MySpace Music, which will allow fans to stream millions of hits and classics for free — as well as buy downloads of songs or albums. Other sites, legal and otherwise, have offered free streaming in the past, but MySpace's goal is much more ambitious: to create,...

Otis Redding - Live in London & Paris Artist: Otis Redding Review: Otis Redding didn't simply "play concerts." The soul giant was a human Mount Vesuvius: He erupted. Redding was at the height of his fame in March 1967, when he played these two brief shows in London and Paris. (He would die in a plane crash in December that year.) And the audience's reaction is ecstatic — it's a fair bet that few of these Europeans had ever witnessed a spectacle quite like Redding and the all-star Stax house band, Booker T. and the MG's and the Mar-Key horns, tearing into... Rating: 4 Stars

T.I. - Paper Trail Artist: T.I. Review: "Facing all kinda time/But smile like I'm fine," T.I. crows on "No Matter What." The Atlanta rapper recorded his sixth album while under house arrest for weapons possessions charges, and he faces a year-long prison sentence beginning in 2009. But as the plodding "existential" concept album T.I. vs T.I.P. (2007) showed, he is a far better braggart than brooder — smiling like he's fine is good for business. On Paper Trail, T.I. mostly dispenses with the Tupac-wannabe gangsta-confessor... Rating: 3 Stars

Graham Nash - Songs For Beginners Artist: Graham Nash Review: "How do you write about breaking up with Joni Mitchell?" asks Graham Nash in the liner notes to his first solo album. Good question. His 1970 split with the willowy Canadian singer-songwriter was the seed of this modest 33-minute solo debut, which proves the cliché that unfortunate events can generate excellent art. The stripped-down piano ballads "Better Days" and "Simple Man" ("I just want to hold you/I don't want to hold you down") and the majestic "I Used to Be a King," spangled with Jerry... Rating: 3.5 Stars

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition Artist: Johnny Cash Review: After years of dwindling sales, Johnny Cash walked into California's Folsom Prison on January 13th, 1968, and reinvigorated his career: At Folsom Prison, the live album he cut that day, went platinum and shored up Cash's outlaw image with jailbird anthems that vividly evoked prison life with a country-folk sound that became roughly as enduring as the Bible. This two-CD, one-DVD reissue includes the set that followed the original recording, plus songs from openers Carl Perkins and the Statler... Rating: 4 Stars

The Clash - Live at Shea Stadium Artist: The Clash Review: In late 1982, the greatest punk band of all time was in the midst of a swift, sad decline: Though the Clash had just released their most commercially successful album, Combat Rock, they had also just booted longtime drummer and then-smack addict Topper Headon — a move that, according to late, great frontman Joe Strummer, sent the band "limping to its death." The following year would see the departure of singer-guitarist Mick Jones, and the classic Clash lineup would never cut another... Rating: 4 Stars

Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher Artist: Old Crow Medicine Show Review: Old Crow Medicine Show aren't revivalists. They're anachronists. On their fourth full-length, produced by Don Was, the Nashville quartet mash up a well-nigh 19th-century sound — hopped-up folk, bluegrass, country and gospel — with lyrics that are firmly planted in the 21st century. "Huff paint, cocaine, playing chicken with a train/Smack dab, meth lab, mellow out, rehab," hoots Ketch Secor in "Alabama High-Test." Several songs cast a journalistic eye on hard partying, from the countr... Rating: 3.5 Stars

Showdown Set for McCain and Letterman Sen. John McCain launched his presidential campaign on the Late Show with David Letterman. Will he end it there as well? After canceling an appearance last month and causing...

The Jonas Brothers Cowboy Up The Jonas Brothers just scored. The singing siblings are set to provide the live halftime entertainment for the Dallas Cowboys matchup against the Seattle Seahawks on Thanksgiving Day,...

Which Sci-Fi Series Should Return Next? Now that it's been announced that V is coming back to join other recently revived sci-fi franchises such as Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who and the upcoming J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot,...

J.Lo & Marc: Magic and Marriage Redux in the Air Friday night, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony mugged with Criss Angel following his show in Vegas. The following day, the twosome worked their own magic. The superstar couple completed...

Quarantine, Chihuahua Shut Down DiCaprio, Crowe Leonardo DiCaprio? Russell Crowe? Nope. If you wanted a movie star that turned on—and turned out—the young audience this weekend, then your best option wasn't DiCaprio or...

Travis Barker From Hospital Bed: "Every Step's Huge" Three weeks after narrowly surviving a Learjet plane crash, Travis Barker has taken to his MySpace blog to thank fans for their support and to update them on his condition. "Like the...

Cheryl Burke: Weighty Issues Dancing with the Stars hoofer Cheryl Burke certainly doesn't sidestep the heavy issues about her weight that have been swirling through the news lately in this exclusive interview with E!...

Poll: Name Britney's Next Fragrance Now For Britney, fragrance is the sweet smell of success. Witness the fact that she just realeased her seventh scent: Hidden Fantasy (read all about it here). The other six being, of course: Curious,...

Lisa Marie Presley Welcomes Twin Girls Lisa Marie Presley has doubled her pleasure. The rock 'n' roll progeny and her hubby, Michael Lockwood, celebrated the arrival of twin girls this week, E! News has...

Jay-Z Fee to Par-tay Crashes in U.K. The economic crash has made life tough all over. Stocks are sinking, jobs are scarce and folks' retirement accounts are dwindling. Now, the downturn is even affecting the vital...

Leapin' Lizards! V Gets Rebooted Hide the hamsters...the Visitors are baaack! Hoping to do for V what the Sci Fi Channel did for Battlestar Galactica, ABC has given the go-ahead on a reboot of the hit 1980s franchise...

New Video: Britney Calls Out the "Womanizer" Sticking it to the dawg in your life has never looked like so much fun. The brand-spanking new video for Britney Spears' "Womanizer," which had its world premiere tonight on...

Does Zac Have Naked Ambition? A lot of kids go a little crazy after graduation, so maybe that's what's happening to High School Musical 3 hunk Zac Efron, who is reportedly considering following in Harry Potter's...

Docs Scrap Janet Jackson's Concert Comeback The Rhythm Nation will have to carry on for another weekend without its leader. Needing more time to recuperate from what ails her, Janet Jackson will not be returning to her Rock Witchu...

Britney Sees the Forest for the Perfume If we were that airbrushed, we wouldn't have anything to hide, either. We can't offer you an advance whiff, but here's the ad for Hidden Fantasy, the seventh addition to the...

Khloe Kardashian Does the White Thing NYC fans of Keeping Up With the Kardashians can dash on over to Chelsea Saturday and steal a peek of Khloe Kardashian who, a little bird tells us, will be hawking wedding dresses at 125 West...

Gossip Girl Sneaks: Blair and Serena, College Rivals? Check it out: Our favorite Upper East Siders are heading out of town again, but instead of the Hamptons, next Monday Serena, Blair, Chuck, Nate and Dan head to New Haven, Conn., to check out Yale...

Travis Barker Tees Off for Lost Friends Travis Barker is still sounding the beat for the pals he lost in the Sept. 19 plane crash that killed four and left him and DJ AM critically injured. Barker's Famous Stars and Straps...

O.J. Gunning for New Trial The Juice is putting the squeeze on the justice system. The attorney for O.J. Simpson has unsurprisingly requested a new trial for the NFL Hall of Famer, citing judicial errors and...

Keanu Shutterbug Tries to Avoid Pap Smear The photographer suing Keanu Reeves is playing the name game. Alison Silva, who has filed a lawsuit against the Matrix star for allegedly bumping into Silva with his Porsche and knocking...