WRAPPED DETECTIVE: The DJ who brought you "Paperback Believer" now delivers a monster mash-up of Elvis Costello, The Police, Lionel Richie, Peggy Lee, Bob Marley, The Hollies and Led Zeppelin.

BRENDON BENSON is profiled by the Detroit Free Press. Unsurprisingly, he had problems with his label. Check the Benson links I posted Friday if you missed them.

STEVE WYNN: Pitchfork has a review of his post-Dream Syndicate retrospective, the wonderfully titled, What I Did After My Band Broke Up.

FREEBIRD! The Wall Street Journal (by way of the Naples Daily News) tries to clear Chicago as the source of rock's oldest joke.

"I AM A GOLDEN GOD!" Jim DeRogatis recaps Robert Plant's keynote at SXSW. To his credit, Plant paid his respect to Pinetop Perkins.

SEX JUST ISN'T A BIG DEAL ANYMORE: The Chicago Sun-Times kicked off a series with this headline o­n Friday. Of course, if it was true, it would be news, but would not be a page one headline. Rather, sex still sells, so there it is, a series on sex in college replete with sentences like, "Jeans hang precariously below shiny belly rings winking from firm, flat midriffs." Moreover, a glossary provided as a sidebar to the story describes a return home the morning after as the "stride of pride" or the "walk of shame," depending o­n whether a male or female is doing the walking [ though I admit the term "Cincinnati Bengal" is a funny twist o­n a familiar concept.] So it would appear that college has not turned into a judgment-free zone. Indeed, it would appear that college hasn't changed much since Claude Pate was an active band, given that Part Two of the series examines group dating. SEMI-RELATED: The dark underbelly of Spring Break.

DIRTY CHEERING: Legislation filed by Texas State Rep. Al Edwards would put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions.

MEN AND WOMEN: Two new studies suggest that the female "inactive" X chromosome may eventually explain some of the behavioural and biological differences between individual women, and perhaps, between women and men. Clearly, Bill Gates should be working o­n new components.

JUST IN TIME FOR EASTER: Candles that smell like Jesus.

LARRY SUMMERS UPDATE: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted that they lack confidence in the Harvard president. Now they don't know what will happen and it is slowing university business. That's a little tardy with those thinking caps, professors.

WARD CHURCHILL UPDATE: The University of Colorado professor whose book blaming the U.S. for 9/11 is titled, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens is finding out for whom the bell tolls.

ERNESTO ALMONTE manages to recall both Hannibal Lechter and Lorena Bobbitt.

ROCK FOR KIDS: The Associated Press notices rockers making albums for kids. But aside from They Might Be Giants and former Del Fuego Dan Zanes, it's mostly the rock equivalent of movie stars doing voices for animated flicks.

TOM WAITS makes a Top 20 Favorite Albums list for The Observer.

BECK: Sasha Frere-Jones writes that Guero "sums up everything Beck is good at, like an imaginary greatest-hits album."

ADAM DURITZ: The Counting Crows singer and Sideshow Bob lookalike was hitting o­n Mary-Kate Olsen. He should be more careful; he could have snapped her like a toothpick.

JACKO JUSTICE: Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon told Howard Stern Thursday that when Michael Jackson was a guest star o­n the animated series, he demanded the script be changed so his character could spend more time with Bart.

NO CLOTHES FOR XTINA: Christina Aguilera's multi-million contract to start a fashion line was terminated after she called celebrity lines "tacky."

CULT OF THE iPod: Not everyone is joining.

BLOGGERS AS JOURNALISTS: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Rocky Mountain News come out in favor of granting bloggers the same privileges as journalists. Now if they figure out that this means everyone should have the same rights...

IRAQ: The top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, according to The New York Times.

KYGYZSTAN: Protests over the parliamentary elections spread, in some cases erupting into riots. The interior department building in Jalal-Abad has been practically burned down. The government said it was ready to negotiate with the protesters who have demanded President Askar Akayev's resignation.

CANADIAN HEALTH CARE: A letter from the Moncton Hospital to a New Brunswick heart patient in need of an electrocardiogram said the appointment would be in three months. It added: "If the person named o­n this computer-generated letter is deceased, please accept our sincere apologies."

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: How's the rehab going for the troubled singer? On St. Patrick's Day, he was joined o­n stage by former Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan. According to the New York Post's Page Six, "the two Guinness-swilling hellraisers sang incoherently together for 10 minutes, according to a witness, before McGowan stumbled offstage." Doherty galpal-fiancee-whatever Kate Moss fought with bouncers at the bar. And Doherty is inexplicably teaming up with Ocean Colour Scene. Well, maybe not inexplicable, just bizzare.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: The Killers' Japanese hotel hijinx were interrupted by ex-Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

THE "WHERE ARE THEY NOW?" FILE: The London Sunday Times covers Teenage Fanclub as they go indie to release their first disc in five years.