MONDAY MOURNING POST-MORTEM

Happy October. While your humbled reporter is still sitting shiva over the demise of the Mets and Jets over the weekend, not to mention our colleague Bud Scoppa crying in his green beer over his beloved Fighting Irish (well, at least they beat the spread), the guys from Rascal Flatts are feeling no such pain. Fresh off their performance at Bob Cavallo’s City of Hope dinner last week in L.A., their Still Feels Good will top this week’s HITS Top 50 Album chart with what looks like 550k, give or take, replacing fellow country artist Reba McEntire at #1. Last year, their one-week total of 722k was 2006's biggest.

The big story of the week, however, will be Geffen chanteuse Keyshia Cole, who will bow at #2 with 290-300k, followed by RCA’s Foo Fighters at 175-185k and Hidden Beach’s Jill Scott, who will duke it out with Reba for #4 at 135-145k. Island/IDJ’s Jagged Edge appears the only other Top 10 newcomer with 75-80k.

At the movie office, Disney’s PG-rated comedy The Game Plan, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as an NFL quarterback who discovers he has a 7-year-old daughter, topped the weekend box office with an estimated $22.7 million, followed by Universal Pictures' thriller The Kingdom, starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner, second with $17.7 million. Last weekend's top movie, Sony’s science-fiction saga Resident Evil: Extinction, plunged 66% to finish third with $8 million. Julie Taymor's romantic Beatles musical Across the Universe cracked the top 10 in its third weekend with $2.1 million, despite showing at only 339 theaters. Industrywide receipts were down from 2006 for the second straight weekend, though year-to-date revenue is up 7.3% and attendance is up 2.6%.

Saturday Night Live bowed this past Saturday, hosted by basketballer LeBron James, with a pair of incendiary performances by Kanye West, who also acted in a pretty funny skit about his award-show antics.

Here’s more information on the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, produced once again by Nigel Godrich. Track listing:

15 STEP
BODYSNATCHERS
NUDE
WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
ALL I NEED
FAUST ARP
RECKONER
HOUSE OF CARDS
JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
VIDEOTAPE

The extra songs on the second CD of the Discbox are:

MK1
DOWN IS THE NEW UP
GO SLOWLY
MK2
LAST FLOWERS
UP ON THE LADDER
BANGERS AND MASH
4 MINUTE WARNING

Tonight’s Music on TV: Ben Harper on David Letterman (CBS, 11:35 p.m. ET/PT), Tori Amos on Jay Leno (NBC 11:35 p.m. ET/PT), Juliette Lewis on Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. ET/PT), Clay Walker on Carson Daly (NBC, 1:35 a.m. ET/PT)

The L.A. Times’ Ann Powers gives a four-star review to Bruce Springsteen’s Magic here and has good stuff to say about Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes, M. Ward and Yo La Tengo at Hollywood Bowl here.

The L.A. Times’ Claudia Eller says the rift between Viacom’s Sumner Redstone and daughter Shari may still be ongoing here.

The L.A. Times’ Steve Appleford visits with John Fogerty and measures his Revival here.

The L.A. Times’ Oliver Wang considers the new album by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who back Amy Winehouse, here.

The L.A. Times’ Michelle Quinn ponders how SanDisk is trying to undercut Apple’s iPod market here.

The N.Y. Times’ Kelefa Sanneh checks out a public rehearsal of Bruce and the E-Street Band here.

The N.Y. Times’ film critic A.O. Scott takes a trip to Asbury Park with his wife to check in on the Boss here.

The N.Y. Times’ pop critic Jon Pareles finds out how Annie Lennox is holding up on the eve of her new album’s release and U.S. tour here.

The N.Y. Times’ Ben Sisario ponders the injustice of Brooklyn soul diva Sharon Jones’ obscurity here.

The N.Y. Times’ Pareles ponders the phenomenon of neo-hippie folkster Devandra Banhart here.

The N.Y. Times’ Ben Ratliff checks in on jazz guitar great Jon McLaughlin’s new group here.

The N.Y. Times’ Pareles digs Steve Earle sans band at the Town Hall here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Jim Farber ponders the legacy of T. Rex’s Marc Bolan here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Gene Santoro gets the lowdown on psychedelic jam band Animal Collective here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Farber assesses Herbie Hancock’s love Letters to Joni Mitchell here.

The N.Y. Post’s Dan Aquilante weighs in on a Bruce Springsteen rehearsal show here.

ON THIS DATE:

In 1962: The Beatles signed a revised contract with their manager Brian Epstein.

In 1967: Traffic made their live debut at London’s Saville Theatre.

In 1967: Pink Floyd arrived in New York to begin their first American tour.

In 1970: In Milan, 2,000 fans rioted when they were denied entry to a Rolling Stones concert.

In 1970: Jimi Hendrix was buried in Seattle. He died in his London apartment two weeks earlier.

In 1973: Riding high on the success of Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd began sessions for their new album and declared they only intended to use household objects to make the music. They later ditched the idea to make Wish You Were Here.

In 1977: The Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame inducted its first rocker, Elton John.

In 1979: Two years after being made a member of Madison Square Garden’s Hall of Fame, Elton John played the first of eight nights at the venue.

In 1980: Paul Simon’s directorial debut One Trick Pony opened in New York. Simon starred as a rocker trying to keep his marriage going. Other rockers in the film included Lou Reed and The B-52’s.

In 1999: Lauryn Hill appeared in court in Newark, NJ, and heard claims by four musicians who stated they wrote a considerable portion of her album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, without receiving credit.

In 2000: In Sydney, Australia, Men at Work and the Michael Hutchence-less INXS performed at the Olympics closing ceremonies.

In 2003: New York police refused to give Bruce Springsteen an escort from his Shea Stadium gig after “The Boss” performed "American Skin (41 Shots)," a song about the shooting of Amadou Diallo.

In 2003: OutKast topped the album charts with their double-disc release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Dave Matthews' solo debut bowed at #2, while Limp Bizkit's Results May Vary entered the charts at #3.

In 2004: Bruce Palmer, former bassist with West Coast folk rock legends Buffalo Springfield, died of a heart attack at 58.

In 2004: Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., John Fogerty and Bright Eyes kicked off the Vote for Change tour in Philadelphia. As part of the musical assault on swing states, Dave Matthews Band played in State College, PA, and The Dixie Chicks performed in Pittsburgh.

In 2006: George Michael was arrested and charged with drugs possession after he was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car in London.