Former Ramones manager and most recently a real estate agent "to the stars," Linda Stein, was found murdered yesterday. The character who shows Charlie Sheen apartments in the movie Wall Street was reportedly based on her, and Michael Gross published a profile on her in NY Mag in the early '90s. Mrs. Stein was also the ex-wife of music industry mogul Seymour Stein. The NY Sun reports her body, which had "blunt impact injuries," was......

American counterculture and literary idol, Kurt Vonnegut, died yesterday at the age of 84. He was in Manhattan, and his death was the result of brain injuries from a fall several weeks ago. Vonnegut came to New York in 1947, moving to Schenectady and taking a job with General Electric Company. Three years later he sold his first short story, “Report on the Barnhouse Effect,” to Collier’s magazine and moved with his family to Cape......

Last night, recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Patti Smith played an intimate show at the new Star Lounge in (her old residence) the Hotel Chelsea. The low-ceilinged bar was packed, hot and filled with old fans, friends and major label folk. Patti Smith got up on a small stage with her old band members and her son to play a few songs from her new release 12. The album is a......

Last night at the Waldorf Astoria, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - the first hip-hop act to receive the honor! The South Bronx group pioneered the genre, being the first to incorporate deejaying and emceeing. Melle Mel told AllHipHop.com: “We are going in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to represent exactly who we are and what we did. Nas saying that......

Van Halen is back, and will rock the city. At least, those are the rumors that accompany news the band is hitting the road for the first time in 20 years with original lead singer David Lee Roth. We suppose if Mick Jagger is still at it - Roth can probably still "jump" at the age of 53 (though we hope he leaves the assless chaps at home). With Genesis, Rage Against the Machine, The......

Ahmet Ertegun, the man who founded Atlantic Records, died yesterday at the age of 83. Ertegun, along with a partner, Herb Abramson, founded Atlantic Records in 1947. They started up in an office in a hotel on West 56th Street in Manhattan. The initial investment of $10,000 was borrowed from his family dentist. 48 years later, in 1995, at the Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Dinner, it was announced that the museum's......

Torontoist throws down the gauntlet and challenges all comers: pillow fight, bitch. They also stand up for a fellow blogger taking heat from the TTC and welcome city-wide WiFi. SFist can finally admit it: It's possible that Bary Bonds juiced. Is Bay Area artist (tempted to put quotes around that) Thomas Kinkaid "kinda crappy" or "explosively crappy" or does he just like marking territory? SFist wonders. Technology comes in the form of new Mac goodness......

- The Country Music Association broke even with the CMAs in NYC - Junior Olympic boxer was killed in Brooklyn - Fliers on cars are now illegal - how that will actually be policed is another matter - Basement apartments are the new, uh, above ground apartments! - Blondie is among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees - And the police officer who was shot (with the bullet missing his bulletproof vest) in......

Whatever one says about Courtney Love, Gothamist must say she makes good copy. After her antics Wednesday night in New York, the local papers have fun. The Times' Sheila K. Dewan gives great dimension to the story: The drama began during the day on Wednesday when Ms. Love invited the paparazzi to photograph her in the window of her SoHo apartment, where she strummed the guitar like a tranquilized Rapunzel.Dewan also wrote that the whole......

In coolfer's post about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees last night at the Waldorf-Astoria, he notes Prince's wisdom, "And a word to the young artists a real friend and mentor is not on your payroll." This is not to be confused with the family that one puts on one's payroll, who later squanders said money (see: Aaron Carter's parents). Minneapolis Star-Tribune is proud of their boy, even if they make fun of......