George jonesing for real country

Country Music Hall of Famer George Jones isn't a big fan of where the genre has moved in recent years.

When asked about what he thought about music by today's top country stars, such as Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift, the 78-year-old said while they are good, "they've stolen our identity."

"They had to use something that was established already, and that's traditional country music. So what they need to do really, I think, is find their own title, because they're definitely not traditional country music," he said.

"It's good to know that we still do traditional country music. Alan Jackson still does it, so does George Strait. We still have it, and there's quite a few of us that are going to hope that it comes back one of these days."

And Lucia makes 8 for daddy Mel

Mel Gibson and his girlfriend are welcoming the birth of the couple's first child - making the Oscar-winner a father for the eighth time.

Gibson's publicist Alan Nierob said Monday that Oksana Grigorieva, a 39-year-old Russian musician, gave birth to a girl named Lucia on Friday at a hospital in Los Angeles.

Gibson has seven children with his ex-wife, Robyn.

Leno would take 'Tonight' job back

Prime-time newcomer Jay Leno says he would have rather stayed put at "The Tonight Show" - and if NBC offered him that job again, he'd take it.

In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable magazine published online Monday, Leno hastily added that such a decision isn't his to make.

Conan O'Brien, his successor as "Tonight" host after 17 years, is "doing fine," Leno said.

"Conan is in the same position I was in when I took over. It takes a while. Some will like it; some will leave forever and not come back."

"The Jay Leno Show" displaced several prime-time scripted dramas when it started at 10 p.m. weekdays in September, for which Leno has taken the heat.

Today's Birthdays

Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is 76. Singer Lulu is 61. Comedian-actress Roseanne Barr is 57. Actress Kate Capshaw is 56. Comedian Dennis Miller is 56.

Source: The Associated Press