Marlon James, a professor at St. Paul's Macalester College, has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for a novel that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. Though the novel is a work of fiction, the assassination attempt that inspired the book actually happened, when gunmen stormed Marley's house in 1976 and shot the reggae legend, his wife, and his manager in an attack that's thought to have been politically motivated. James's novel A Brief History of Seven Killings explores the aftermath of that attack, and has been optioned for an HBO miniseries. (MPR News)

Jenny Lewis, Phoenix, and Miley Cyrus will make appearances on a Bill Murray holiday special directed by Sofia Coppola. A Very Murray Christmas will debut on Netflix on Dec. 4. (Pitchfork)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf_dgbBK25o

Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean lead the winners' list at the 2015 BET Hip-Hop Awards, which were presented on Tuesday night. Each of the two won three awards, though Drake scooped the "MVP of the Year" prize. (Billboard)

Damon Albarn has confirmed that a new Gorillaz album is in progress, though in the "very early" stages. "So far, it's really fast, and it's got quite a lot of energy," he tells Rolling Stone.

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast is the latest in a long line of indie music stars to offer advice to teen girls in Rookie Magazine's "Ask a Grown Man/Woman" series. (Pitchfork)

https://vimeo.com/142177677

On Wednesday, Jay Z took the stand in the "Big Pimpin'" trial. Speaking for an hour and a half, the rapper asserted that he believes the rights to a 1957 Egyptian song have been properly secured for the 1999 hit he says he still enjoys performing. The continuing legal struggle apparently hasn't caused any tension between Jay Z and Timbaland, the producer who discovered the sample: in his testimony, Jay Z repeatedly praised Timbaland's musical talents. (Billboard)

On Monday night, a one-time tribute concert to 1960s California folk-pop featured Beck (covering the Byrds with Jakob Dylan), Fiona Apple (covering the Beach Boys), Cat Power (covering the Turtles), and others. The artists will also appear on a related tribute album, to be released next year. (Pitchfork)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFak1lGL8U8

Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday would have been Dec. 12, and Ol' Blue Eyes is being celebrated with an all-star TV tribute being recorded in Las Vegas on Dec. 2 and broadcast four days later on CBS. Among the announced performers are Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, and Alicia Keys. Additional performers will be announced later; will they include Bob Dylan, who's just released an entire album of Sinatra covers? (Billboard)

The Chicago Cubs are in the Major League Baseball playoffs, and Illinois native Eddie Vedder says he's so bummed that Pearl Jam are heading down to South America on tour, he might just have to stop scheduling October performances in coming years. (Rolling Stone) In the meantime, on Tuesday night he helped the team celebrate their win over the St. Louis Cardinals, visiting the locker room to sing "All the Way," a song he wrote about his Cubs fandom. (Consequence of Sound)