Heart Rips Republicans, Grateful Dead for Obama, more

It looks like there's one word the Republicans need to learn this year. Permission.

Heart is the latest artist to take on the McCain campaign for using one of their songs. At issues is their song Barracuda being used in relation to Sarah Palin. Barracuda was the VP candidate's nickname in high school.

A cease-and-desist letter has been issued to the party. According to a band spokesman, "The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission."

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It's now official. The Grateful Dead (minus Jerry Garcia, plus Warren Haynes) will play in support of Barack Obama on October 13 at Penn State.

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Patti Austin and Wynona Judd performed Thursday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington as part of the festivities celebrating AARP's (American Association of Retired People) 50th Anniversary. Sally Field hosted.

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A live album by B.B. King previously unreleased in the U.S. will be part of Acrobat Music's U.S. label launch. B.B. King & His Orchestra Live was recorded in January 1983 in Cannes. Look for it October 21.

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The paperback edition of Motley Crue member Nikki Sixx's memoir, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, will be released on October 28.

The group's catalog of eight studio albums will be rereleased on September 30 via Motley Records/Eleven Seven Music.