PANDA BEAR:  For whatever reason, I had been glossing over the buzz for the solo efforts of Animal Collective's Noah Lennox at some of my go-to music blogs, like Gorilla vs. Bear and Stereogum.  I'm not sure why, as mid-period Beach Boys kept getting mentioned, and regular visitors here know I'm a sucker for that.  I finally gave in after a rave post at Aquarium Drunkard... and I was all set to link to the oh-so-trippy "Bros." when the 'gum posted the video for "Bros."  Kismet!

THE 2007 ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES -- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, R.E.M., The Ronnettes, Patti Smith and Van Halen -- get the royal treatment at Spinner, with photos, interviews, and streaming "Best Of" albums from each.  BONUS:  An article in the New York Post sadly suggests that Ronnie Spector may give her ex Phil competition in the crazy department.

CAT POWER:  Chan Marshall has some live video up at Rolling Stone, including a cover of Buddy Holly's "Crying, Waiting, Hoping."

GENESIS is carrying through its threatened reunion and will tour North America this fall, destroying all life in favor of its new matrix.

RYAN ADAMS is playing Stonehenge.  Not the Spinal Tap song, but the actual Stonehenge.

THE BIG BOPPER suffered massive fractures and likely died immediately in the 1959 plane crash that also killed early rock 'n' rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, a forensic anthropologist said Tuesday after exhuming the body.  The exam was requested by the Bopper's son to settle long-standing rumors a gun might have been fired on board the plane and that the Big Bopper might have survived the crash and died trying to get help.  The Bopper's big hit was "Chantilly Lace," natch.

TONY VISCONTI:  The famed record producer has a new autobiography out, so he talked to the UK's Metro about working with Marc Bolan and David Bowie.  He tells Billboard that today, he and Bowie exchange e-mail and YouTube clips.

WILCO:  Another day, another leak.  This time, Idolator has posted "Impossible Germany," on which the blog thinks the band "are clearly nicking Television."  To which I would say, "a little."

OASIS frontman Noel Gallagher and gf Sara MacDonald are expecting a baby.  It's her first child; Noel has a seven-year-old daughter, Anais, with ex-wife Meg Mathews.

OF MONTREAL frontman Kevin Barnes (who recently gave new meaning to the term "frontman") talks to Express about the Cleveland Indians and Gilbert Arenas.  But it's a nice excuse to relink to the goofy video for "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse," anyway.

BRADGELINA:  We now know that Jolie is adopting a 4-year-old boy from Vietnam... and it appears to be on the fast track.  In the meantime, she's taking advantage of her residence in N'awlins to study voodoo, according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer.

BRITNEY SPEARS is refusing to take anti-depressants in rehab or to to go to family therapy.  The first part is really odd, given rumors that she thinks she's suffering from post-partum depression, not substance abuse.  The pop tart has been reprimanded for making cellphone calls, has left the facility to shop, and now wants to leave rehab for good.  At least she has reformed Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx rooting for her, not to mention hit producer Timbaland and ex-bf Justin Timberlake.

ROSIE O'DONNELL says she has been getting treatment for depression since the Columbine school shootings and hangs upside down for up to a half-hour a day to improve her mental state.  Y'know, like a bat.  She feels the most important thing to do when you're feeling depressed is to get up and move -- all visual evidence to the contrary.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Cruise has reportedly has called the producers of Holmes's new movie and told them he will be on set every day.  Holmes's agent supposedly chose the role for her because -- unlike the Batman Begins sequel she bailed from -- Holmes wouldn't be kissing anyone or have a sex scene.

RALPH FINNES - already under fire for a recent romp with a stewardess in an airline toilet - has sparked a second storm by frolicking naked at 5 a.m. with four young women in a hotel pool.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON tells Parade magazine that she looks like a boy, somehow avoiding mention of anything below her neck.

LINDSAY LOHAN is still having some bad days out of rehab.  According to the ever-reliable In Touch Weekly, she recently turned up to the set of her new movie hours late, napped in her trailer for five hours, then threw up and immediately went home.

STING'S STAFF live in a climate of fear because his wife subjects them to gratuitous abuse to make her "feel royal", an employment tribunal has heard.

REESE & RYAN BREAK-UPDATE:  Those rumors about Reese Witherspoon and new co-star Jake Gyllenhaal are re-ignited after folks spotted them visiting each other's pads in NYC, after Witherspoon tried to squash rumors from the set.  Meanwhile, Ryan Phillippe and Ashlee Simpson were seen getting cozy at a Hollywood club, though he reportedly beat off her advances.

BILL MAHER denies he "advocates the whacking" of Vice-Pres. Dick Cheney.  He just supports the rights of those who do.

300:  Zach Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel (based on the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae) arrives in theaters tomorrow.  Prepare for glory by watching the latest trailer, or peruse iFilm's collection of 300 clips and extras.

IRAQ:  US and Iraqi forces originally planned for setting up 35 or 40 joint security outposts in Baghdad, but now it appears there will be about 70 such posts.  Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said that there has been an increase of citizen-provided tips to Iraqi and coalition authorities in the three weeks since the new security plan got started.  Two of the five additional US brigades involved in the so-called "surge" have arrived in Iraq, with a third brigade awaiting deployment in Kuwait.  Wednesday saw more targeted attacks mounted against Shia pilgrims outside the capital.  IraqSlogger reports that some former Mahdi militiamen have begun to dissociate themselves from Moqtada al-Sadr and take up arms to try to defend their Baghdad neighborhoods from attacks.  Shiite extremist groups are also surfacing in southern Iraq.  At ITM, Omar reports on political parties realigning in a more secular direction.  The Iraqi government is also trying to influence the Syrian government to stem the flow of foreign jihadis into Iraq by subtly raising the prospect of reopening the Iraq-Syria oil pipeline.

IRAN will attend the international conference on Iraq in Baghdad on Saturday.  The co-author of an upcoming book on Pres. Ahmadinejad reports that the recent disappearance of a former deputy defense minister has created panic inside Ahmadinejad's administration.  It appears that the former minister is cooperating with Western intell agencies.  Russia is threatening to drag its heels on construction of the Bushehr nuclear plant over purported payment problems.  Coincidentally, the state-run press carries claims that Iran will not need anyone's help to build the next nuke facility.  The parliament approved rationing and hiking the price of gasoline, which is another reason why Hashemi Rafsanjani is openly challenging Ahmadinejad, especially on the economy.  The large-scale protests staged by teachers over the past week would be another reason.  And Ahmadinejad reportedly got into a spat with Syrian Pres. Assad over the establishment of an international tribunal on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

AFGHANISTAN:  Afghan soldiers have captured a Taliban leader who tried to flee a security operation in the south dressed in a burqa, NATO said on Wednesday.

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:  A piglet with two faces.

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:  A Terrier with no ears.  Vets hope they will be able to let the tiny dog hear properly for the first time by making tiny openings where his outer ears should be.  Pics at the link.

GREY PANTHER POWER:  A 61-year-old British great-grandmother landed a 100 lb. shark on vacation... in Florida.  A 73-year-old British retiree helped save a man from the jaws of a 7-ft-long alligator while on vacation... in Florida.

SNAKES on a PLANE:  Workers at a northern Malaysian airport cargo complex found 2,400 snakes of a protected species in crates bound for Hong Kong sent by smugglers in Thailand, news reports said today.

COWS stare unamazed as they take the rap for eating dozens of chickens that went missing from a remote village in eastern India.