TOMORROW ON OUTQ: DIVAS

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUSXM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Divas -- talented female singers and artists -- always go over well on the show, and tomorrow we are going to be talking about some really cool ones.

My favorite of the bunch is Alicia Keys. I am a big fan, she is one of my "Artists of the '00s." But last time I brought her up on the show it was for her duet with Jack White for their duet of the James Bond theme "Another Way To Die." Larry and Keith let me have it, they weren't feeling it. I am unrepentant. I love the song. Her new album, The Element Of Freedom, is great. It's really heart-felt... or maybe heart-broken is a better way to put it. Without going too into her personal life, she's very private, something hasn't gone right with a guy. Hopefully she's feeling better these days, but damn, it led to some great songs and some great performances.

Mary J. Blige: she's just one of the best singers around, I think. I wouldn't mess with her, though. 'Nuff said. I recently filmed a performance by her at SIRIUS XM for an episode of Artist Confidential, and it was incredible. I hope to post some video soon. This woman feels her music and isn't able to keep her cool sometimes. Whatever else that may cause, it does result in some great music. I dig her new single "I Am," and also her song from the film Precious, "Color."

I have always liked Shakira. I don't always like her music, but I like her. A few years ago when I worked at VH1, her label flew me down to her place in the Bahamas for a day to interview her about her live DVD. I watched the DVD and was pretty impressed, and when I interviewed her, she was great. I've had some pretty annoying experiences with pop stars, but she was great. She had great taste in music, cares about the world, and wants to use her position for good. I've liked a lot of her singles, and the new one, "She Wolf," is fun.

Queen Latifah, like Will Smith, is now more of a movie star than musician. It is hard for her to get people to pay attention to her music these days. I filmed an Artist Confidential with her recently, and she tore it up. Don't believe it? Watch this video:

BEST OF THE 00's: RICK RUBIN

I have often expressed admiration of Rick Rubin 's production skills. If I were a producer, I'd like to be like him: hip-hop, metal, funk, punk, country, singer-songwriters, nothing is off limits, and he proved that again in the '00s.

He remained close collaborator of Johnny Cash, producing American III: Solitary Man and American IV: The Man Comes Around in the early years of the decade. I would argue that Cash's American series of albums are nearly as good as anything he'd ever done, obviously American IV's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" was one of the greatest moments of an incredible career. Rick also curated the incredible Unearthed box set, allowing fans to hear some of the incredible things that didn't make the American albums. He's also been the keeper of the Cash flame, releasing American V: A Hundred Highways, which featured "God's Gonna Cut You Down" (and now there's word that 2010 will see the final album from the American sessions, American VI: Ain't No Grave.

Rick started working with Tom Morello, who certainly was paying attention to Rubin's rap/rock/metal hybrids in the '80s. Rubin produced Rage Against The Machine's final album, the all-covers Renegades, as well as their posthumously released live album, Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium (which turned out to be the band's final shows before reuniting years later). Rubin hooked Morello and Rage mates Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk up with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and produced the first Audioslave album.

One of Rick's supposed talents is to discover new talent, and I don't know how much he's done that in the past decade, but one band he did work with early on is System Of A Down, who are one of the best metal bands around (even though they seem to be on hiatus at the moment). Rick signed them to his American Recordings, and has produced their albums, including (this decade) Toxicity (which, bizarely, hit #1 on 9/11), Steal This Album! and Hypnotize and Mesmerize.  Another younger band in the heavy guitar category he worked with The Mars Volta on their De-Loused In The Comatorium album.

He remained the go-to guy for The Red Hot Chili Peppers (having worked with them ever since 1991's BloodSugarSexMagik), producing the excellent By The Way and the maybe-too-long double album Stadium Arcadium. I really hope they work with him on the next one, which will be their first since guitarist John Frusciante quit (again).

He briefly returned to hip-hop, producing a cover of Ice-T's "99 Problems" for Jay-Z's "final" record, The Black Album. It may be Jay's finest moment. Less successful was his "Better Than I Ever Been" track that he produced for Nike, featuring Kanye West, Nas and KRS-One (DJ Premier later did a better remix which also featured Rakim).

Rubin also veered closer to the mainstream, producing Shakria's Oral Fixation albums, which included her huge hit collaboration with Wyclef Jean, "Hips Don't Lie." There was also The Dixie Chicks' album Taking The Long Way featuring the classic "Not Ready To Make Nice." And he tried to give Neil Diamond a new credibility by doing some American Recordings type stripped down albums with him. He also worked with Weezer, Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan on his first solo album, a new-ish Americana-type band called The Avett Brothers who I need to write more about, and The Gossip. And of course, Metallica's triumphant comeback album, Death Magnetic. He also produced some tracks with U2, but the full album he worked on with them remains in the vaults.  And he is apparently working with Crosby Stills & Nash and ZZ Top at the moment. Will he discover more LL Cool J's, Run-D.M.C.s, Public Enemys, Slayers and System of a Downs in the '00s? That's what will be interesting to see.

*NEXT* WEEK ON OUTQ

Longtime No Expiration readers know that on Tuesday nights, I post the topic that I will be discussing the following morning on the SIRIUS XM show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on OutQ. Tomorrow, however I won't be on the show because Larry and co-host Keith Price are on vacation.  But next week, on December 30, we'll be back. I'll be continuing the same topic I discussed two weeks ago on December 9 - great overlooked albums of the '00s. I have a few albums in mind by Ray Davies, George Harrison and even Bruce Springsteen.  But one I will definitely cover will be Cyndi Lauper's Bring Ya To The Brink, as requested by OutQ listener and No Expiration reader Mel. I'm not that familiar with the record (I actually worked on the press campaign on her standards album, At Last, a few years earlier) so I'll have to check it out!

Then, in the first week of the new year, I'll return to the ever-popular divas topic, as there are new albums by Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Shakira to discuss. In the meantime, keep an eye out for more of my "Best Of The '00s" posts. There are several more on the way.  Who are your favorite artists of the decade?

BRUCE, STEVIE, BONO AND OTHERS TO PLAY INAUGURAL CELEBRATION

I wonder if Washington D.C. has ever seen anything like the excitement for Barack Obama's inauguration. Certainly the concert that will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial this Sunday for the We Are One celebration is kind of unprecedented: Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, James Taylor and will.i.am are among the artists who will be performing at this historic event. The show will be open to the public: I think it is supposed to be freezing that day, but who cares? I wish I was going.