It was a weekend in which a lion of American letters, Norman Mailer, passed away, while Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie stung Denzel Washington’s American Gangster. Ohio State’s reign at #1 was upended by the Fighting Illini in college football, with LSU and, of all teams, the Oregon Ducks, now reigning 1-2 in the BCS poll. In the Sunday Night game on NBC, the San Diego Chargers withstood a late rally by the Indianapolis Colts, led by Peyton Manning, 23-21, thanks to a last-minute blown field goal by the usually reliable Adam Vinatieri.

The Gangster movie may be #2, but Jay-Z’s new Roc-A-Fella/IDJ album of the same name inspired by the film, will debut this week at #1 with between 425-450k, if retail estimates hold up, besting last week’s chart-topper, The Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden.

Tomorrow, a pair of dueling divas get set to go head-to-head on the sales front, when new albums by Alicia Keys and Celine Dion, As I Am and Taking Chances, respectively, hit retail.

Meanwhile, DreamWorks’ Bee Movie overtook Universal’s American Gangster in its second week, scoring $26 million ($72.2 million overall) to the latter’s $24.3 million ($80.7 million overall). WB’s holiday comedy Fred Claus nabbed $19.2 million, considered a disappointment, while Robert Redford’s Iraqi anti-war manifesto Lions for Lambs, the first film released by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s United Artists, finished fourth with a disastrous $6.7 million. Steve Carell’s Dan in Real Life was #5 with $5.9 million and $30.7 million overall. The Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, for Miramax/ Paramount Vantage, grossed a week’s best average of $43k per theatre, in a limited run, for $1.2 million at just 28 theatres. Box-office revenue year to date is up 5.5% over this time last year, though weekend totals were down 11.6% compared with the same weekend last year.

The N.Y. Times’ Jon Pareles considers the legacy of Czech’s legendary Plastic People of the Universe in the wake of Tom Stoppard’s new play Rock ‘n’ Roll here.

The N.Y. Times’ Kelefa Sanneh holds forth on a Toronto punk band with a name not suited for family newspapers (Fucked Up) here.

The N.Y. Times reviewers sample new releases by Alicia Keys, Cam’ron, Seal and Kihlstedt/Fujii here.

KT Tunstall shares her current listening faves with the N.Y. Times here.

The N.Y. Times’ Nate Chinen attends a tribute to Fats Domino with the man himself here.

The N.Y. Times’ Jon Pareles assesses a Bob Dylan tribute tied in to the upcoming release of Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There here.

The N.Y. Times’ Pareles weighs in on the Broadway tenancy of Duran Duran here.

The L.A. Times’ Ann Powers has fun trying to decipher the puzzle of Todd Haynes’ elliptical Dylan biopic I’m Not There here.

The L.A. Times’ Richard Cromelin gets some quality face time with current red-hot odd pop-rock couple Robert Plant and Alison Krauss here.

The L.A. Times’ Mikael Wood gets lost in the strange land of Ween here.

The L.A. Times’ Randy Lewis gets an earful about the making of the Beatles’ Help! from director Richard Lester here.

The L.A. Times’ Natalie Nichols gets to hear Rod Stewart perform at the intimate Key Club in a benefit for his longtime guitarist Don Kirkpatrick here.

The L.A. Times’ Ann Powers gives it up for singer/harpist Joanna Newsom’s performance at Disney Hall here.

The L.A. Times’ Natalie Nichols enjoys hearing Ben Harper shoot the breeze and more here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Jim Farber considers the unsinkable Celine Dion here.

The Daily News’ Jim Farber rediscovers ex-Green on Red keyboardist Chuck Prophet’s latest music here.

ON THIS DATE

In 1957: Hollywood witnessed the premiere of Jamboree, the first film starring Jerry Lee Lewis. Other guest stars included Fats Domino, Frankie Avalon, Slim Whitman and Carl Perkins.

In 1966: The Grateful Dead performed at a Hell’s Angels dance held at San Francisco’s Sokol Hall.

In 1967: Jerry Lee Lewis’ career started anew as a country artist. He recorded “To Make Love Sweeter For You,” a song that went on to be his first #1 country hit since “Great Balls of Fire.”

In 1970: The Doors performed live with Jim Morrison for the last time in New Orleans.

In 1971: Led Zeppelin IV landed in stores. The much-anticipated record had been delayed due to problems with the final mixing and cover artwork, which didn’t feature a title or the band’s name.

In 1979: San Francisco witnessed the premiere of Rock Justice, a rock opera penned by Jefferson Starship’s Marty Balin. The show ran for four nights at the Old Waldorf nightclub. Balin starred as a rock star on trial for suffering a career nosedive.

In 1984: Madonna released Like a Virgin, which became her first #1 album.

In 1990: Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood was hit by a car in England and broke both his legs.

In 1999: Eddie Van Halen announced he was undergoing hip replacement surgery.

In 1999: Lauryn Hill won three awards at the Billboard Music Awards.

In 2003: Sarah McLachlan debuted at #2 with her sixth album Afterglow.

In 2003: Country star George Strait, blues legend Buddy Guy and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir received National Medals of Arts at the White House.

In 2003: A New Jersey radio station pulled all Jethro Tull music from its playlist after frontman Ian Anderson criticized excessive displays of the American flag.

In 2003: Courtney Love pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of drug possession at a court in Beverly Hills.

In 2003: Phil Collins revealed that he had lost nearly 60% of his hearing in his left ear.

In 2004: Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, The White Stripes, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackay and The Undertones' Feargal Sharkey were among the attendees at the funeral of British DJ John Peel.

In 2005: "Rock and Roll, Part 2" singer Gary Glitter vanished from his home in Ba Ring Vung Tau after Vietnamese authorities discovered a 15-year-old girl living there.