Musical interlude

On Aug. 29, The New York Times published a dispatch by United Press International, reporting on the sentencing. A friend of Mr. Dylan showed the singer the article. Some accounts say he wrote the song ["The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll"] at an all-night coffee shop on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, others that he wrote it at the singer Joan Baez’s house in Carmel, Calif. —NYT

That she’ll now be best known for her work in front of the camera is a turnabout not lost on Ms. DioGuardi, whose recent flirtations with fame have been short-lived and unsuccessful. In 2004 she formed the band Platinum Weird with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, after Jimmy Iovine of Interscope had asked them to write songs for the Pussycat Dolls. Platinum Weird was introduced slowly, with a confusing marketing plan involving a fake documentary about the band’s fake history. —NYT