PATE frontman Jon Pratt e-mailed the other day, and noted in passing that his daughters are digging the site, which is very cool. I've probably embarrassed them by mentioning it, but I think friends of Pate will think it's cool also. (For that matter, friends of Pate know that embarrassing people -- myself most of all -- is what I do.)

ROBERT POLLARD played Chicago's Abbey Pub Friday night; Ken King and I went, solely as a service to Pate visitors. Ken thought that Uncle Bob was about as drunk as we've ever seen him. Granted, he started hitting the Cuervo Gold about three songs into the set, but I think he just seemed more drunk because his backing band -- unlike Guided by Voices -- tends to stay relatively sober. And that's still a pretty good combo.

Ostensibly touring in support of Normal Happiness, he played a load of stuff from his upcoming Silverfish Trivia -- "We're always o­ne tour ahead, kids!" But the more conventional tone of Normal Happiness seemed to color the setlist, which favored poppy solo tracks like "Supernatural Car Lover," "The Accidental Texas Who" and "Dancing Girls and Dancing Men." The set also included songs from Pollard side projects like The Takeovers' "Fairly Blacking Out." Ironically, Bob was a bit sloppy by the time they got to "Top of My Game," but he pulled off a top-notch take o­n "The Right Thing." There was also the the usual plowed Pollard patter about college football and other bands, including a more profane jab at the Hold Steady than the o­ne he made in the Wilmington News-Journal recently. And the crowd went wild for the GbV material, which included some of the lesser-known songs from Under the Bushes, Under the Stars during the main set, and roaring versions of classics like "Motor Away" and "Game of Pricks" during the encore.

The evening closed with "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory," which is a great segue to noting that ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead recorded a wicked cover of that song.

THE HOLD STEADY: Pollard ought to consider that the band has plenty of drinking songs. Maybe he considers them competition.

DAVID BOWIE joined ALICIA KEYS o­nstage at the Black Ball in NYC November 9th. Here's a little clip of "Changes."

GRIZZLY BEAR wuz robbed! In Brussels! If you stream their stuff and dig it, you might help 'em out by buying their album.

PETE TOWNSHEND talks to the Salt Lake Tribune about rock operas by Pink Floyd and Green Day, noting that The Who's are intentionally vague. So it's not a bug, it's a feature!

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Some 36 actors and musicians appear in the video for Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down." Stereogum has posted a list of 37, so you can play "Which o­ne of these is not like the others?"

MICK JONES talked to the Twin Cities' City Pages about his late bandmate Joe Strummer, as well as his current project, Carbon/Silicon. He talked about The Clash's ever-evolving sound and rock as an attitude with Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times.

BILLY BRAGG tells Scotland o­n Sunday that he was inspired by The Clash, but frets that people miss out o­n the love songs that he's written.

THE DECEMBERISTS: YouTube video clips show the band covering REM's "Begin the Begin" and the Clique's "Superman" in their Halloween Costumes in Northampton and starting a dance contest in Toronto. You can stream and download the band's mini-set for the Interface via AOL.

ART BRUT frontman doesn't just encorage the fans to start their own bands. There are over 100 Art Brut franchises, which is raising issues of quality control of the brand.

JOANNA NEWSOM is getting loads of press in advance of the release of Ys tomorrow. Carl Wilson identifies the interview highlights, including a bit of Joanna talking about her wardrobe.

BRITNEY BREAK-UPDATE: The uber-reliable News of the World claims that Spears is facing a mega divorce payout because Fed-Ex is touting a four-hour sex tape for sale and has already been offered