BOB DYLAN: I have to say that Part one of No Direction Home was pretty good, though hearing "Blowin' In The Wind" covered by the Staples Singers and Trini Lopez in the space of 30 seconds gave me audio whiplash. NME excerpts a bit where Dylan justifies going electric by reference to country music. Part 2 is on PBS tonight. Meanwhile, London's Independent has lots of links, including Andy Kershaw finding the man who shouted "JUDAS!" And you should click if you don't know what that means, too. ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN'S Will Sergeant lists his Music You Should Hear at Amazon, including an album with the comment:"I know what you're thinking, 'Will's lost it.' Give it a whirl--you may just like it." ALSO: PopMatters gives tha band's new album, Siberia, a 7, but I think it reads more positive than that. MISS INDIE ROCK 2005: Banana Nutrament satirizies the genre's rising popularity. WHO WILL REPLACE THE DINOSAURS? Concert promoters would really like to know. THE KAISER CHIEFS are profiled in the Guardian. THE BLISTERS: Jeff Tweedy's kids rock out in a Quaker's Oats commercial. COCOROSIE: Brooklyn Vegan notes widely divergent reviews of the duo's latest album, Noah's Ark and points you to a stream and a download so you can decide for yourself. It's not my cup of tea, but it's unique... sort of like an imaginary volume of Verve Remixed. TANYA DONELLY has belly news, but it has nothing to do with her band. ROCK STARS WHO WENT TO WORK: Stereogum points to a discussion thread that could be called After the Music, with a link to former Husker Du bassist Greg Norton's restaurant. WOLF PARADE: Apologies to the Queen Mary scores a 9.2 on the Pitchfork. Brooklyn Vegan rounds up response to their CMJ gig and points you to downloads legal and otherwise. PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled duo may be eroding standards of journalism. Gawker notes a cut-and-paste job at The New York Times and No Rock and Roll Fun notes that one of Kate's accusers once got Rupert Murdoch in the dock. PLUS: H. Stern drops Kate Moss -- that's the jeweler, not the DJ, natch. But Rimmel keeps Moss to promote a product called... "Recovery." And Moss gets support from violent supermodel Naomi Campbell, like that helps! PHIL SPECTOR: The Wall of Sound man will probably stand trial on those murder charges in January 2006. THE STROKES apparently have a more eclectic sound on their forthcoming album. A SMALL VICTORY has started a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Craig O'Neill should note its charter member. THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA-HAA! Twenty-one variations on a theme posted at the WFMU's Beware of the Blog. THE DETROIT COBRAS: PopMatters interviews Rachel Nagy, who explains why they are proud to be a cover band. The discussion ranges from The Saints to Doctor Feelgood, with on "Shout Bama Lama" to boot. DON ADAMS has passed away from a lung infection. Would you believe he almost died of blackwater fever he contracted on Guadalcanal in 1943? Now, only the 3-D BB knows where he is. VINCENT PASTORE: The big...ex-Soprano cops a plea to the attempted assault of his girlfriend. No word on whether he'll enter the witness protection program. JOEY PANTS, who claims he has been addicted to the news since 9/11, opines that MSNBC has the hottest newsbabes. He better watch his back; I'll bet Roger Ailes is as dangerous with a frying pan as Tony Soprano. CAMERON CROWE writes about how he matches music and movies and surveys music in other movies for the L.A. Times. KIRSTEN DUNST, junketing for Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, blurts out casting news for Spider-Man 3. BTW, "Dunst" means "stench" in three languages. BRADGELINA channels Tom-Kat? I must respectfully disagree. Jolie already knows how to ride a bike. And doesn't need a cult to make her wacky. DASHTON: Us magazine details its Kutcher-Moore Kabbalah weding scoop. Some people obsess on the "May-December" angle. I prefer to think of it this way: In 30 years, he'll look older than she will. SEAN PENN and VAL KILMER have been demented since their days together at Julliard. Who'da thunkit? AFI's 25 GREATEST FILM SCORES is topped by Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars... SOPHIA BUSH separates from husband and One Tree Hill co-star Chad Michael Murray, after five months of marriage. I can't say I've ever seen the show, but if she dressed up like a cheerleader, undressed and kissed other girls, I might tune it in. MARCH OF THE PENGUINS: Proving that "Idiots" is the same in two languages, France decided not to submit the French version of the hit documentary as France's entry in the Foreign-Language category at next year's Oscars. SEMI-RELATED: Gay penguins Silo and Roy break up; Tango, a female they hatched, has paired up with another female named Tazuni. IRAQ: American Special Forces killed a key lieutenant to terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. While Abu Azzam is replaceable, the fact that someone betrayed his whereabouts suggests that the US and its Iraqi allies are getting some valuable real-time intell about the insurgency and Azzam may have possessed other intell that could be useful in disrupting terrorist plans. Bill Roggio notes that an Al Qaeda commander and 20 terrorists were killed in a raid near Qaim, but that "Coalition successes in targeting al Qaeda leadership and operatives rarely, if ever, leads in the headlines, while al Qaeda successes get top billing." Army Pfc. Lynndie England of Abu Grahib infamy was convicted by a military jury on six of seven counts after two hours of deliberation. Heh; she shoulda taken the plea. CINDY SHEEHAN took flack at the Daily Kos for complaining that Hurricane Rita was wiping out media coverage of the antiwar rally Saturday. HURRICANE KATRINA: Louisiana Sens. David Vitter (R) and Mary Landrieu (D) are proposing a 250 billion dollar Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief and Economic Recovery Act. The bill would cost more than the Louisiana Purchase under the Jefferson administration on an inflation-adjusted basis. ALSO: The N.O. Times-Picayune reports that the the vast majority of reported atrocities allegedly committed by evacuees at the Superdome have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence. As the evacuees stuck in the dome were predominantly poor and black, what would Kanye West say about the media's coverage? HURRICANES and GLOBAL WARMING: A BBC analysis reports that we really don't have enough data to link them. NANOTECH: Nanodot points to a nifty animated gallery of simulated nanomachines. DOZENS OF PUPPIES (and a few kitties) snapped with fisheye lenses. Awwwww... COMMUNIST GERMAN KITTIES dance to Laibach. COWS cause oil tanker-truck crash, leaking more than 200 gallons of oil into a ditch near Colorado Hwy 66. PETS and their C- or D-List star owners raise money for animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina as well as Linda Blair's World Heart Foundation for Animals.
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