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Google enters the already crowded field of instant messaging, with a new service, Google Talk. Integrated into Google's e-mail program, the tool allows users to type messages and speak to each other over their Internet connection. But it currently does not work with AOL, Yahoo or MSN instant message services.

It's been 25 years since comedians Dan Akroyd and John Belushi took a skit they made popular on Saturday Night Live and turned it into a feature film. Many critics hated the Blues Brothers movie, but it made enough of an impression to lead to a sequel. And this summer's 25th anniversary brings the inevitable anniversary DVD.

The great soul singer recorded his new album, Lay It Down, with some of today's biggest R&B artists and hip-hop producers. But he says the music is still about "love, love, love."

Los Angeles-based singer Maia Sharp may be on her fourth album, Echo, but she's mostly made her living writing songs for other performers, including Cher, Dixie Chicks and Bonnie Raitt. After a few brushes with success, this time around, Sharp feels like she's ready to break through.

Brooks officially retired in 2001 to raise his three daughters. That retirement ends Friday night in Las Vegas, courtesy of a new business deal with Steve Wynn's Encore Hotel. Brooks' extended run is the first of any kind for a country musician in Las Vegas.

One of the most soaring voices in the world has taken a dive, but we don't mean that unkindly. This fall in Berlin, Placido Domingo, the great tenor, is singing the title role in Simon Boccanegra as a baritone. It's a testament to his ambitious spirit.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood explores the resurgence of blues in America, thanks to an ongoing interest in British blues-rock bands like The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac — which is touring again after a five-year hiatus. Fleetwood says he hopes to bring the group back to its blues roots.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) made a musical splash Memorial Day weekend in a performance with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra; it was later posted in a video clip on YouTube. Alexander performed a few tunes at the piano in NPR's Studio 4A.

Last spring on its MySpace page, the Brooklyn experimental rock band Parts & Labor asked fans to send sound samples to put on the group's new album. Parts & Labor used every single one, often blurring the line between instruments and samples.

With an exotic fiddle, a viola, a classical guitar and a drum kit, the quartet called QQQ creates something like Appalachian folk music — albeit filtered through Brooklyn experimentalism and rural Norwegian flavor. The band plays a special session in Studio 4A.