AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: The good...

AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: The good news is that KROQ is one of five stations nominated for best album-oriented rock station by the Gavin Awards. The even better news, at least for the station’s bedraggled deejays, is that after nine raucous years at its tiny studios in beautiful downtown Pasadena, KROQ is moving to beautiful downtown Burbank. (The station will be based at parent company Infinity Broadcasting’s West Coast offices, at 3500 Olive Ave.).

“We’re going from the worst to the first, at least in terms of studios,” explained program director Rick Carroll, who said the transition will be completed Feb. 16. “We’re already working on a going-away party.” KROQ has never been the kind of station to give away a flotilla of Porsches, but Carroll jokingly said that the station may award fans with portions of the studio’s old carpeting, which he noted bears the “foot imprints” of such beloved rockers as Billy Idol, Duran Duran and other visitors over the years.

Meanwhile, how ‘bout Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Wilson Pickett--all on the same stage? That was the lineup recently at Detroit’s Taboo Club, where the trio of R&B; legends (plus guests Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker and Billy Vera) got together for a “Soul Session,” an hour “Cinemax Sessions” concert special due to air later this spring on the cable channel. It’s still unclear which performances will make the final cut, but highlights included Franklin and Brown’s duet on a medley of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” as well as Brown and Pickett on “Cold Sweat” and Brown and Cocker on “I’ll Go Crazy.”