The Wall Street Journal names the best reissues from the revitalized Stax;

Something Else! looks back at XTC’s “Playground”;

Ickmusic whips up a bitchin’ old school mix;

The Lefsetz Letter publishes an essay from Bob Ezrin;

Culture Bully previews “Prom Queen,” the leadoff single from Lil Wayne’s upcoming rock album, The Rebirth;

Topless Robot compiles a list of its readers’ most traumatic videogame experiences;

China rings in the Year of the Ox, and Boston.com’s always-stellar Big Picture is there;

Mott the Hoople announces plans to celebrate its 40th anniversary with a reunion tour;

Brooklyn Vegan writes up Andrew Bird’s January 26th performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg;

WFMU’s Beware of the Blog points you at some recent faves from the New Bin;

The New York Times discusses a study linking coffee drinking to lower dementia risk;

The Doves stream a cut from their upcoming album, Kingdom of Rust;

Looking for a job? Fortune lists 10 companies that have never laid off a worker — ever;

The A.V. Club catches up with Mayim “Blossom” Bialik;

Largehearted Boy kicks off the seventh year of his 52 Books, 52 Weeks project;

The Telegraph relates the story of a town that, in an effort to curb crimes against punctuation, abolished apostrophes on road signs;

Our friends at Ickmusic are giving away the two-DVD set The Who at Kilburn 1977;

A Canadian professor is using math to determine whether Lennon or McCartney wrote “In My Life”;

…and Katie Couric meets Lil Wayne in one of the most surreal interviews ever:

Rotten Tomatoes has announced the winners of the 10th annual Tomatometer Awards, celebrating the best-reviewed films of 2008;

Bullz-Eye inducts five more comedy legends into its Stand-Up Comics’ Hall of Fame;

Topless Robot finds the downside in 2008’s increase in comic book and trade paperback sales;

Something Else! spins the new one from the Derek Trucks Band;

Steve Earle talks to Rolling Stone about the music that moves him;

Tower of Power is celebrating its 40th birthday with a new album and DVD;

Guitar World lists the stupidest band names of all time;

Brooklyn Vegan relives the week in music marketing;

Jeff Vrabel is taking his young, night-wandering son to Disney World;

Bill Janovitz’s Cover of the Week project enters its 10th week (thanks for the tip, Mr. Lifton);

Bob Lefsetz heralds the return of American Idol;

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announces its next class of inductees;

Kinder Trauma offers a most unusual tribute to Ricardo Montalban;

Culture Bully interviews Chastity Brown;

…and Durex goes viral with 2009’s first best ad of the year: