Now, here's a sad report the day after Michigan rock fans learned that guitarist Ron Asheton, a founding member of The Stooges along with Iggy Pop, was found dead in his Ann Arbor home earlier this week.

Randy Kohrs will perform once on Friday and twice on Saturday for the 2009 Cooper's Glen Music Festival at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, 100 W. Michigan Ave.

KALAMAZOO -- Randy Kohrs is a dobro player, songwriter, band leader, studio owner, producer and session musician.

He might as well declare himself an excellent juggler as well. As Kohrs spoke recently via cell phone, he was struggling with a debit-card reader at a Nashville, Tenn., Kroger as he was thinking about an upcoming appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," where he was to play with Little Big Town, one of the many country/bluegrass/Americana groups who grab him when they need a supreme dobro talent.

Of the late-night shows, "I've done them all, except Conan, with Dolly." Kohrs has been a regular player with Dolly Parton in the past decade. He's also played for Dierks Bentley, Cowboy Troy, Hank III, Tom T. Hall, Hank Thompson, Continental Divide and others. Kohrs has been on more than 500 albums since he moved from his home state of Iowa to Nashville in 1994.

Liz Carroll

KALAMAZOO - Liz Carroll does original but traditional-style Irish tunes, even though she was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago.

"I used to get that when I'd go to Ireland: 'How can you do it?' Well, this isn't that big a stretch, guys," Carroll said from her Chicago home.

She proved how well she did it by winning the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle Championship when she was 18 in 1975. Carroll, who will play at 8:30 p.m. Friday as part of the Cooper's Glenn Festival, further made her mark by composing new reels and fiddle tunes -- something that wasn't typical to do when she was beginning her career, when tradition meant memorizing the old tunes of Ireland.

Her composing and playing talents have earned Carroll recognition from the pubs of Ireland to the White House. Honors include former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton giving her the National Heritage Fellowship in 1994.

Carroll's parents came from Ireland; Chicago has long had a big folk scene; and she has played fiddle since she was a child, so it should be no big surprise that she can burn up a reel as if raised in a Dublin pub.

Friends and fans of influential rock guitarist Ron Asheton reacted with shock and sadness Tuesday as they learned that he had been found dead at his Ann Arbor home.

Asheton, 60, was a member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band formed here in 1967 and headlined by another former Ann Arborite, Iggy Pop. Asheton's buzz-saw guitar riffs on the band's first two albums helped build the foundation for punk rock.

A key part of a legendary Michigan rock band is gone. Word comes today that guitarist Ron Asheton, who with his brother, Scott, formed The Stooges with Iggy Pop in Ann Arbor back in 1967, is dead. The body of the 60-year-old Asheton was found this morning in his Ann Arbor home.

In the Stooges' own words, this is "No Fun" and "Not Right." Here's the Billboard story.

• The 2007 interview with Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton of Ann Arbor

• Ron Asheton's MySpace page

• The Stooges MySpace page

Famed rock-and-roll guitarist and longtime Ann Arbor resident Ronald "Ron" Asheton was found dead in his home on the city's west side this morning, police said.

Asheton, 60, was an original member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band headlined by Iggy Pop and formed in Ann Arbor in 1967.

AP File PhotoRihanna promises no wardrobe malfunctions for Malaysian show.

The good girl gone bad has promised to be good for one night.

R&B sensation Rihanna will shun skimpy outfits when she performs in Malaysia next month, the concert's organizers said Tuesday, becoming the latest international star affected by the Muslim-majority country's strict rules on performers' dress.

Recent concerts by Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne faced protests by conservative Muslim Malaysians over immodest clothes. Stefani eventually made what she called "a major sacrifice" at her show by donning attire that revealed little skin.

Under government guidelines, a female performer must be covered from the top of her chest, including her shoulders, to her knees.

Now that it appears the Rothbury Festival will maybe possibly perhaps happen in 2009 after a judge's ruling this afternoon, all sorts of names are being bandied about for the three-day outdoor music festival on the placid but financially beleaguered grounds of the Double JJ Ranch.

So, in the name of unsubstantiated rumor-mongering, here's a look at some of the big acts being discussed, and some that would be perfect for the second coming of Rothbury.

I have to believe that at this point no one really considers the current decade to be a period of "great" music. Maybe a period of "fun" or "entertaining" music, but not great, in an artistic sense. It's been a decade dominated by teen pop and ringtone rap.

www.shelbylynne.comShelby Lynne's 2000 album "I am Shelby Lynne" is the first entry in my Albums of the Aughts feature.

My point is that every decade has stupid music, and it's only in hindsight that we start to associate that decade with the great music. Well, today I'm kicking off the hindsight process for the '00s. Looking through my music collection, I've identified 50 great or near-great albums released since Jan. 1, 2000, and I'll be featuring them here for the next 50 weeks.

I'll be going through the 50 "Albums of the Aughts" in the order of their U.S. release dates, with five from each year. There will be a new one posted every Sunday.

This singer-songwriter has plenty to recommend him: thoughtful acoustic folk songs with a touch of country.

The Canada native's EP includes the title song "Start Over," that I'm featuring in "Sound Check" today.