SPOON has released the video for "The Underdog," which is the official single from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which you can stream in full from Spinner this week.

CROWDED HOUSE:  You can stream the new Time On Earth album in full, via VH1.

DEBBIE HARRY talks to Pitchfork about making music then versus now, what made Blondie unique for a punk band, and the end of the CBGB's era.

STARS hopes to battle Internet leaks from their upcoming album by selling the downloads now, before the official September release date.  You still may be able to stream and download "The Night Starts Here" for free.

GENE SIMMONS of KISS talks about the death of rock stardom, originality, the Mideast and more with Spinner.

ST. VINCENT, a/k/a Annie Clark, is Paste magazine's "Band of the Week."  You can see takes on "Paris Is Burning" and "Your Lips Are Red" via the 'Gum.

DEAN & BRITTA spent time with The New York Times; Dean talks about Britta's cartoon voice-over work and kissing Justine Bateman in the 80s.

WILSON PICKETT:  A Deeper Shade of Soul has posted a short set from Stockholm, Sweden in February 1969.  You can jukebox it  (and more) via the ol' HM.

THE CURE:  Robert Smith has agreed to sell the band's upcoming double album at a single album price, because it "almost impossible to get a double album nowadays."  Yet there will likely be a single album version as well.

SLY STONE actually showed up for a set with Little Sister at Summerfest '07 in San Jose.  Unfortunately, he was reportedly as underwhelming as his last ill-fated cameo at the Grammys.

HARRY POTTER and the ORDER of the PHOENIX:  This is the moment when Emma Watson, who plays Harry's sidekick Hermione, saw Daniel Radcliffe turn from the innocent Harry Potter into a sultry magazine model.  Before my spoiler-free review of the latest installment of the HP franchise -- currently scoring 74 percent on the ol' Tomatometer -- I have an observation about going to the midnight showing.  As you might expect, some people show up in Potter garb, but it's summer, when Hogwarts is out of session.  Thus, to adjust for the summer heat, the women tend to dress like naughty Hogwarts schoolgirls, which is not a bad thing.  As for the movie, I should note at the outset that I have not read the books, but do know a bit about them.  My main muggle Amber has read them, and has asked, "So is it just me or is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix going to be the new Empire Strikes Back?"  Having seen the movie, I can answer, "More or less, yes... though sadly, no Billy Dee Williams."  A lot of great stuff to chew on, some things unresolved, will probably be seen in a better light by the non-readers in hindsight.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  Why was she spotted sobbing at the Four Seasons hotel in 90210?  Because she walked away with the Biggest Celebrity Train Wreck award in the Washington Post, handily beating Li-Lo and the French Hotel?  Because Mama Lynne Spears has earned her own portrait at the Gallery of the Absurd?

THE FRENCH HOTEL, who told Larry King in her big post-jail interview that she'd never done drugs, emerged from an SUV in front of Hollywood club Teddy's the other night in what witnesses describe as a cloud of ganja smoke.

LINDSAY LOHAN says rehab has changed her life; she now relies on meditation, "serenity prayers" and Machiavelli to help her through troubled times.

DAVE MATTHEWS told the press at Live Earth that he and his wife "use cloth diapers for our new baby because I think diapers might be the No. 3 piece of garbage (in terms of environmental damage),"  The press nicely avoided mentioning that bust for dumping human waste on tourists cruising the Chicago River a while back.

DENISE & HEATHER & RICHIE & CHARLIE:  Charlie Sheen and girlfriend Brooke Mueller are engaged, while Sheen's ex, Denise Richards, is reportedly paying 50 grand to an exclusive matchmaking agency that specializes in the rich or famous.  To be fair, before he met Mueller, Sheen allegedly pretended to be a talent scout when using the dating site MillionaireMatch.com.

JOHN TRAVOLTA travels with two chefs and eats a pie a day, according to Marisa Tomei.

CATHERINE ZETA-JONES plasters her hair in Beluga caviar at £200 per treatment.  Her hair is washed with a truffle-based shampoo.  No, really.

RATATOUILLE seems like it was about food, but Ryland Walker Knight thinks it's about the movies.  I think it's actually about more than either.

THE SPINDLE you know and love from Wayne's World will be removed this summer to make room for a Walgreens, said Berwyn, IL Mayor Michael O'Connor.  There's still a possibility the Spindle -- also known locally as Eight Car Pileup -- could be moved to another location but an estimated 300K would need to be raised.  (Thanks, Dad.)

1-18-08:  The untitled trailer for a movie being produced by Lost co-creator and Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams is causing quite a stir.  I admit it It piqued my interest before Transformers.

TINY ROBOTS played nano-soccer for the Nano Cup, a competition hailed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as the world's first nanoscale soccer game.

PAKISTAN:  Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the cleric who led a standoff by militants at Islamabad's Red Mosque, was killed in the crossfire after Pakistani troops stormed the complex to end a weeklong siege.  BTW, the Red Mosque is a place where they mass-produced DVDs of US troops being shot by snipers.  There was little sympathy for the extremists in Islamabad.

IRAN has confirmed that a man convicted of adultery was stoned to death last week in a village in the northern part of the country.  Iran's judiciary spokesman didn't elaborate on how the stoning was carried out, but under Islamic rulings, a male convict is usually buried up to his waist while a female criminal is buried up to her neck with her hands also buried.

IRAQ:  Sunni tribal leaders, politicians, clerics and professors met in Ramadi last weekend, issuing a statement that they have agreed to "stand in one line against the terrorism and defeat it" and work united to return life to its previous nature in Anbar province.  US Marines recently completed another phase of Operation Allja, designed to provide stability and protection for the citizens of Fallujah.  Milblogger Badger 6 is there and reports that the mean streets of Fallujah are gradually transforming into the clean streets of Fallujah.  US and Iraqi forces in Diyala province are faced with Iraqi Army turncoats supporting al Qaeda-linked militants and Shiite militias.  Operations continue in Baghdad, with US and Iraqi troops clearing the Mansour neighborhood and opening a new police station in the Khadra neighborhood, both in the western part of the capital.

IRAQ in the MEDIA?  Events in Iraq stayed out of the top stories on broadcast and cable media for a second week running.

RIDICULOUSLY CUTE chihuahua puppy has been born in Japan with a large, clear, love-heart-shaped pattern in his coat.

FIRE-FIGHTING GOATS ignite debate anew about whether they do their job too well and harm the environment in Laguna Beach.  (Thanks, Dad.)

SEA MONSTERS "much bigger than cruise ships" spotted again in Kanasi Lake, China.  For hundreds of years there have been rumors about mysterious creatures that devour livestock near the 25-kilometer-long and 188-meter-deep lake.

MORE THAN 800 CATS were saved from becoming Chinese dinners, thanks to alert Internet surfers.

A STOLEN HORSE turned up in a Fourth of July parade in Streator, IL.