Homer Simpson proudly displays his Grammy Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word or Barbershop Album.

​Adele could soon become a Grammy paper champion. Oh sure. 21 is a worthy entrant for the coveted Grammy for Album of the Year. "Rolling in the Deep," after all, topped the 2011 Pazz and Jop Poll by a pretty substantial margin. And in an era where physical releases don't sell particularly well, 21 is a remarkable outlier. The album -- which has spent an astounding nineteen non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart -- sold at least seventeen million copies across the globe.

Those are impressive attributes for any contender for the Grammy's biggest award. And there's little question that Adele deserves praise if she ends up winning big during Sunday's award show. But there's just one problem: For some reason, the hoosiers that control the Grammys forgot to include Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in the Album of the Year category. Instead, Adele's masterwork got lopped in with Rihanna's Loud, Foo Fighters' Wasting Light, Bruno Mars' Doo-Woops & Hooligans and Lady Gaga's Born This Way.

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​Say what you will about the Catholic faith: It has inspired, over the centuries, some haunting and beautiful Christmas melodies, and our city's faithful know how to do them justice. Here are four masses where you can sample the sounds:   

St. Margaret of Scotland [map]

Best mass for music: 10 p.m., Christmas Eve (music starts at 9:30)

Components: Choir of 40 adults, woodwinds, strings, brass, piano, organ, percussion

Highlights: According to music director, Peter Hesed, "O Holy Night" will be a high point, and his version of "Joy to the World" will be among the most "rousing" folks have heard. Also listen for "Ave Maria" and the traditional Scottish lullaby, "Balulalow."

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Phenomenal Multimedia

​Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island group are at the center of a copyright and royalty lawsuit filed by the St. Louis-based production group StarStrukk.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York by Aleric "Rick Tha Ruler" Banks and Monique Hines says that they created the music that became the basis of the popular SNL sketches "Shy Ronnie" and "Like A Boss." The pair says they never received royalties for their work, according to the lawsuit.

Banks told The Riverfront Times in May that he and Hines met Samberg through a mutual friend and gave them some tracks as Samberg prepped the release of his first album. In addition to Samberg, the lawsuit names the group itself, members Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, NBC Universal and Universal Republic Records as defendants.

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​This week, ten public schools hosted the I Lead Empowerment Tour run by the St. Louis non-profit organization Get Free. The group seeks to connect with young students and encourage them to make good decisions, including abstaining from bullying and drug use.

"Everything with mentoring comes down to trust," Get Free founder Marvin Blake says. "If the kids don't trust you, then they're not going to listen to what you say and they're not going to follow your lead. What we're doing is coming in as leaders and creating neutral territory and neutral ground to build a relationship through music and entertainment. In doing so we're able to impart a very important message to them while having a great time."

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​It would take something major to slow down the ultra-prolific Tory Z Starbuck or his band, the aptly titled Tory Z Starbuck Project. Pregnancy qualifies. Starbuck and his wife/bandmate Venus Slick are expecting their first child next January and consequently are not planning any Project concerts after this Sunday's 3 p.m. performance at Vintage Vinyl. "After January 9, which is the due date, I'm thinking I'm going to be busy," Starbuck says. "Also, I don't think we're going to be able to rehearse at night. Things are just going to change."

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​Alt-country mainstay Jay Farrar will be performing at The Sheldon on October 21, at 8 p.m. as the first installment of The Sheldon Sessions in collaboration with KDHX 88.1.

The Sheldon Series is presented and funded by the PNC Arts Alive initiative from the PNC Foundation, which granted the Sheldon $45,000 in funding to "increase arts access and engagement in innovative ways," according to the press statement.

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​​Even with the instant gratification of social media, there is still something about the art of the show fliers that cannot be replaced. This week, we ventured along Delmar Boulevard to bring you this week's shows in fliers hanging on the walls, counters and windows of Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, Vintage Vinyl, Iron Age Studios, Sunshine Daydream and Snarf's.

A couple highlights: Pop's Nightclub is hosting a benefit for Joplin tomorrow nigh, featuring Greek Fire and Evans Blue, and Rum Drum Ramblers will be having their vinyl release show Saturday night at the Gramophone.

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​Earlier this week, Gavin DeGraw was hospitalized after he was attacked during a walk home from his club in New York City, and, while staggering away, bleeding, was hit by a taxi cab. He canceled several upcoming shows, and for that we don't blame him at all. But on the grand scale, where Kings Of Leon occupy one extreme , there have been plenty of good reasons to cancel tours. Does DeGraw's assault enter the top five?

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​​Each Tuesday, record-store clerks unpack boxes of albums and restock shelves with the latest releases. This week brings many notable releases, including the much-anticipated collaboration between Kanye West and Jay-Z, British shoegaze punks the Horrors and Pepper Rabbit.

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​It's official. This morning's announcement that Union Tree Review will be covering Marvin Gaye at the fifth annual An Under Cover Weekend, completes this year's line-up of the two-day show series on Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10. The series finds some St. Louis groups paying tribute to a wide range of artists including AC/DC, ELO and Stevie Wonder. Some of the choices are surprising.

Read the full lineup after the jump:

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