TWO MILLION PAGE VIEWS: Barring a tech meltdown, this site will probably break that mark today. Thanks again to Lance for keeping things running, and to y'all for stopping by!

TRIP SHAKESPEARE: Long before Dan Wilson and John Munson hit the charts as Semisonic with "Closing Time," they were in Trip Shakespeare with Dan's brother Matt and percussionist Elaine Harris. Their style was indie, but with really strong harmony singing and an attention to melodic songwriting that surely influenced Semisonic. I saw their first show outside their Twin Cities homebase (maybe you did, too) and was impressed particularly with "Pearle," which first appeared o­n the Applehead Man EP, later re-recorded for the band's major label debut, Across the Universe. You can watch the video -- shot at the legendary First Avenue -- at the last link and stream a few more songs o­n a fan-maintained MySpace page.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS: Vince Guaraldi's classic score -- and the story behind it -- get a streaming feature at NPR.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC PICKS: The critics of the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram compile playlists of songs. At NPR, Weekend Edition Sunday musical director Ned Wharton has streaming samples from his album picks, which range from Smoosh to Bootsy Collins. The latter also makes it o­nto an album list at PopMatters, which includes an embedded video from Twisted Sister.

THE LITTLE ONES have gotten good buzz over the past few months from music blogs like Good Hodgkins and *Sixeyes, but I didn't give 'em a listen until Frank at Chromewaves had some kind words the weekend before last. You can stream their hook-laden, pastel pop from MySpace.

THE PITCHFORK EFFECT: This story's been done and done, but the Guardian has good stuff from musicians o­n the impact of websites like Pitchfork and PopMatters o­n their careers, including a funny o­ne from Jof Owen of The Boy Least Likely To -- who had not heard of Pitchfork until they got reviewed in April 2005. There's also a recap of some classic Pitchfork reviews, so RTWT. Also, Slate has a new piece titled, "Die, Pichfork, Die!"

VAN SHE is classified o­n MySpace as "Black Metal/Powerpop/Techno." I'm not sure about Black Metal -- it would be more accurate to call them "the band that would be soundtracking the next teen comedy from John Hughes, if he still made teen comedies." Even the video for "Kelly" is chock full of 80s refs. You can also stream a few from the aforementioned social networking site.

JAY BENNETT talks to PopMatters about his solo career and the way his departure from Wilco is portrayed in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: "Strangely enough, I go back and forth as to whether I really am vilified in that movie. I have to admit."

NORFOLK & WESTERN blog the Thanksgiving traffic o­n I-40 in North Carolina, and more in their tour diary for Portland's Local Cut. You cans stream some of their eclectic folk-rock via the HM.

FIELD MUSIC is a British band I overlooked when I did the imaginary SXSW series, but Stereogum has posted two new tracks, "Give It Lose It Take It" and "Sitting Tight," that are pretty neat -- angular instrumental parts with nifty vocal harmonies.

THE FUTUREHEADS have been dropped by their label, but are ready to rawk.

DANNY FIELDS, who signed The Stooges, Nico, David Peel and the MC5 to Elektra, and later managed The Ramones, explains why he thinks the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is "kind of an evil institution."

BRITNEY SPEARS: The French Hotel is a bad influence o­n the pop tart, who is slacking o­n her comeback recording schedule and really, really needs to wear panties. (very NSFW.) She might also want to avoid pics of her carrying her wine glass to the car and getting behind the wheel. People -- and by "people," I mean "I" -- might start wondering whether this gives Fed-Ex some traction in child custody negotiations. New pals Lindsay Lohan and the French Hotel may have been happily hanging with Spears Monday -- so much so that they took a little nap in their car -- but London's Sun has video of the pair catfighting last Saturday night. BONUS: Sunday, La Lohan was snapped buying designer handcuffs.

PAM ANDERSON-KID ROCK BREAK-UPDATE: Friends say they're shocked by the split, but o­ne source told Page Six it was due to Rock's "male insecurity and major anger issues," with a blow-up at a Borat screening being the final straw. Speaking of Borat, the film's massive success may have Universal already feeling buyer's remorse about the 42 million laid out for Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno project, with fears of additional lawsuits and that Cohen's cover may be permanently blown.

THE McCARTNEYS: Sir Paul is swamped for autographs at rare public appearance in London, while estranged wife Heather Mills announces a celebrity auction to a couple of office workers eating their sandwiches. Mills also seems to be a recurring target for celebs at awards shows.

KATE HUDSON-CHRIS ROBINSON BREAK-UPDATE: Is Owen "The Butterscotch Stallion" Wilson planning to propose to Hudson before she's officially divorced?

MICHAEL RICHARDS CRACK-UPDATE: The Rev. Jesse Jackson called for a boycott of the latest Seinfeld DVD, a way of exacting economic punishment for the ex-Kramer's racist meltdown. Which would explain why Richards did a separate apology o­n Jackson's syndicated radio show. Huffington Post blogger Trey Ellis advised Richards to stop apologizing, especially to the likes of Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton (even while excusing Jackson's "Hymietown" remark as an "ill-chosen quip"). Meanwhile, Richards' crisis-management expert is busy explaining Richards' bogus claim of being Jewish. Maybe the Rev. Jackson would have accepted the apology if he had known Richards wasn't a tribesman.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Britains uber-reliable Daily Star claims that the couple may release a rendition of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," though record labels are allegedly loathe to have the money go to Scientology. That's about as believable as Holmes' dad really approving of the (non-Catholic) marriage. More believably, Giorgio Armani sewed a girdle into Cruise's undergarment for the wedding to cover up Maverick's recent weight gain. And it is believable that the couple may have lost that lovin' feeling -- London's super-reliable Sun claims the couple fought before and after the wedding, with Holmes upset to be yanked away from her parents to honeymoon with Cruise's Scientology-honcho best man.

MADONNA: How the mighty have fallen -- her TV tour special tanked in the ratings. Madge was beaten by a Fox rerun of Cheaper by the Dozen and Univision's telenovela, La Fea Mas Bella.

JESSICA BIEL and DEREK JETER took their canoodling tour to Vegas over the post-Thanksgiving weekend.

REESE & RYAN BREAK-UPDATE: Witherspoon is reportedly growing close to Jake Gyllenhaal o­n the set of their new movie Rendition. Jake has been her shoulder to cry o­n, according to US Weekly.

PETRA NEMCOVA says she is "very much in love" with singer James Blunt, dismissing rumors they had split and that she was with Def jam honcho Russell Simmons. I am so disappointed, I can't even post her picture right now.

HEROES MARATHON: If you regret not having tuned into this season's hit series, the Sci Fi Channel is airing the first six episodes tonight, starting at 6 p.m. ET. Sci-Fi also reruns the week's new episodes Fridays at 7 p.m. ET.

THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS nominees are announced, with Little Miss Sunshine and Half-Nelson leading the contenders with five noms apiece. Coming Soon has the full list.

WHO IS CAPT. JAMIL HUSSEIN, Pt. II: The AP calls CENTCOM's questioning of the legitimacy of o­ne of its sources "frankly ludicrous," apparently because the "police captain cited in our story has long been known to the AP reporters..." The AP is incurious as to why Capt. Hussein is apparently not known to the Iraqi government (even though the AP knows about infiltration of the IP). The AP ignores CENTCOM's point that the Interior ministry forbids anyone below the level of chief to be an Iraqi Police spokesperson, which is what the AP calls Hussein. The AP also ignores that "another AP-popular IP spokesman, Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq, supposedly of the city's Yarmouk police station, does not work at that police station and is also not authorized to speak o­n behalf of the IP" -- and is apparently wanted for questioning. The AP's non-response does not surprise me, as it's basically what they did in the case of Salam Daher in Lebanon.

IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed writes about the fear and organization in his mixed neighborhood during the curfew period in Baghdad. Bill Roggio examines claims by Tom Ricks of the Washington Post about the state of Anbar province, with his military sources "furious" that the story is being politicized. ABCNews reports that Pentagon officials are considering moving US forces out of Anbar province to join the fight in Baghdad. Hey, I wish I had thought of that. And if it happens, maybe Anbar isn't as bad off as the WaPo suggests.

IRAN, btw, is reportedly training members of Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in both Lebanon and Iraq. Because all the mullahs want to do is give peace a chance.

PANTHERS will take up the slack in Florida, should the gators be defeated.

RACOONS invade Brooklyn. Where they came from is anyone

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS is on ABC tonight. Or you can watch it now.

CAT POWER sings Cat Stevens to help out the diamond industry in this uncertain holiday shopping season. She previously covered The Nerves' "Hangin' o­n the Telephone for Cingular, which you can watch in glorious Quicktime or stream the audio via the HM. Thanks, Stereogum.) BONUS: Here's a little more o­n the Artist Formerly Known As Cat Stevens.

NEW RELEASES: Ouch! Gwen Stefani and Patti LaBelle are the o­nly two remotely interesting albums streaming from AOL this week. Okay, AOL is also streaming the Clipse album that got Best New Music o­n the Pitchfork, if you're into hip-hop. Midlake is reissuing its rare debut EP; it isn't o­nline but you can stream more recent tracks o­n the HM.

BETH DITTO: The Times of London thinks that media coverage of "the 15-stone lesbian from Arkansas" (and singer for the Gossip) by the Independent, the Guardian and others shows that the NME has re-invented itself for the Internet Age. LILY ALLEN, who also ranked high o­n the "cool list" with Ditto, think's putting a male goup o­n the cover shows the mag's lingering sexism.

TOM WAITS talks to the Pitchfork about California, his favorite instrument, his favorite sound, Scarlett Johansson doing an album of Waits covers and more.

THE BLACK KEYS are profiled by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. you can stream the raw, bluesy rock from their set at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club via NPR.

THE BYRDS' final appearance as a quintet seems to have been these performances of "Set You Free This Time" and "It Won't Be Wrong" o­n Where The Action Is, February 21st, 1966. BONUS: Roger McGuinn and David Crosby talk to the BBC about how The Jet Set became The Byrds.

THE EMBARRASSMENT: The pride of Lawrence, KS will be the subject of an as yet-untitled documentary. Harp magazine calls them "The Best Band You Never Heard," apparently unaware that people like me read Harp. I even played 'em o­n the radio. You can stream "Death Travels West" and more via MySpace.

PAUL WESTERBERG tells Harp that, after collaborating o­n Open Season, he would consider working o­n another movie soundtrack, "but after hearing strings and orchestras o­n everything for two and half years, I just want to get a guitar, a bass and some drums and make the most garagelike, nasty piece of crap I can."

SYD BARRETT: The late, tragic founder of Pink Floyd's stuff -- from a guitar to a plastic Christmas tree -- will go up for auction next week. David Gilmour announced an EP tribute to his former bandmate, which will feature a live version of "Arnold Layne," recorded by Gilmour and David Bowie at the Royal Albert Hall in May.

AN AQUARIUM DRUNKARD has a new streaming podcast posted, ranging from The Meters and Jean-Michel Bernard to The Animals and R.E.M.

THE TOP 20 SONGS of the last 20 years, according to Q magazine. Here we are now, entertain us!

PAM ANDERSON has filed for divorce from husband Kid Rock, and vice versa. The couple married in August, with multiple ceremonies. TMZ reports there was no prenup, but the two were married for such a brief period of time -- shorter than the Renee Zellweger-Kenny Chesney marriage -- that it will probably have little impact.

BRITNEY SPEARS, not content to make the French Hotel like her sister, has apparently added Lindsay Lohan to the posse. Is your survival kit packed near the shelter yet?

MADONNA has offered to help Britney Spears get through her divorce crisis

SUFJAN STEVENS got a good review for his Christmas box in the Boston Globe. CDReviews likes it too, while snarkily noting that Pitchfork managed to review it twice. You can watch the animated video for "Put the Lights o­n the Tree" and see a winged Stevens throw inflatable Santas like footballs into a Dublin crowd during a live take o­n "The Worst Christmas Ever!"

MORE HOLIDAY CDS are reviewed by the staff at The Detroit News.

THE KILLERS are releasing a Christmas single titled, "A Great Big Sleigh," o­n December 5th as a download o­nly through iTunes.

PETRA HADEN is interviewed and performs a capella covers of "I Can See For Miles," "Odorono" and "God o­nly Knows," plus an original for the World Cafe.

THE DISCERNING HIPSTER HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE, courtesy of Shots Ring Out.

ROBERT LOCKWOOD, JR., the stepson and apprentice of blues uber-legend Robert Johnson, has passed away. There's a video at the link, but "Everyday I Have the Blues" is good also. ANITA O'DAY, the "Jezebel of Jazz," died of cardiac arrest after a period of declining health at age 91. Among her best-known perfomances is this take o­n "Sweet Georgia Brown" at the Newport Jazz Festival.

NELLY FURTADO turned down a cool 500 grand (

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

... with BRENDAN BENSON. Before his songs helped propel The Raconteurs up the charts (with an assist from the Jack White brand), Benson was cranking out tunes that are Top40 hits in some other, cooler, dimension -- like "Tiny Spark," "Metarie," "Spit It Out" and "Cold Hands, Warm Heart."

TOM WAITS: The New York Sun reviews his Orphans box set: "And as the subtitle makes plain, the discs are divided by sound. 'Brawlers' boasts the blues shouters and abrasive rockers, 'Bawlers' contains the ballads, and 'B*stards' is a collection of tribute compilation tracks, spoken word pieces, and experiments. It's not a proper career summary, but the breadth of the music here reflects Mr. Waits's oeuvre during the last quarter-century, highlighting its best and worst aspects."

BOX SETS: Tom Waits is not among the boxes reviewed by the Thin Cities' Pioneer Press, but the article does gover goth, soul folk... and the Bee Gees.

CAT POWER and the Memphis Rhythm Band palyed DC's 9:30 Club o­n the 20th, so you can stream and download it now from NPR.

DEAN & BRITTA: The former Luna-tics talk to the Pitchfork about their upcoming album, featuring originals and covers of Donovan and Lee Hazlewood. you can stream "Words You Used To Say" from MySpace.

THE BEN FOLDS FAKE: Improv Everywhere was invited by the man himself to cause trouble at his recent NYC gigs. And yes, there's video.

THE NME "COOL" LIST is not o­n the mag's web site, but Stereogum has it. London's Independent interviews Beth Ditto of the Gossip, who tops this year's list. You can stream The Gossip from Myspace.

GRIZZLY BEAR has some free audio up o­n their site, including two acoustic tracks.

KRIST NOVOSELIC of Nirvana is coming out of retirement to play bass o­n the first tour in more than a decade by FLIPPER.

BOB MOULD talks to Billboard about his next album, which looks to be continuing in the pop mold.

THE CUTOUT BIN: This Friday's fortuitous finds from the Hype Machine include: Sufjan Stevens - Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time!; They Might Be Giants - New York City; Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind; Todd Rundgren - Hello Its Me; Fountains Of Wayne - Radiation Vibe; The Posies - Dream All Day; The Jesus & Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains; Julianna Hatfield and Evan Dando - It's a Shame About Ray; Hindu Love Gods - Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight; Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World; Eddie & The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do; Fairport Convention - It's Only Witchcraft; Richard Thompson - Oops! I Did It Again; Ohio Players - Fire; and Bob Seger - Ramblin' Gamblin Man.

MICHAEL RICHARDS CRACK-UPDATE: The ex-Kramer called the Rev. Al Sharpton to apologize for his racist rant at a Los Angeles comedy club, but Shrapton wasm't having it: "He called me yesterday to say sorry, but it's not my place to accept that o­n behalf of all blacks. I can forgive, but I'm not the victim here. What he said hurt a lot of people." It's not Al's place? I thought it was o­n his business card.

NOW SHOWING: Ire ported o­n this week's wide releases Tuesday, but I note that late-arriving reviews dropped Tenacious D to 53 percent and Deja Vu to 63 percent o­n the Tomatometer. I saw the latter, which was okay, though not great. I do give the picture credit for including the line, "I need more cowbell!"

HEIDI KLUM & SEAL are welcoming a baby boy with five names: Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel.

BRITNEY BREAK-UPDATE: Spears is searching for a new home in Miami, while estranged hubby Fed-Ex has been offered

EVERYBODY PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER for Sam & Dave o­n "I Thank You." What were you expecting? Dido? Alanis Morissette?

"I'M THANKFUL" by veteran soul singer Spanky Wilson (with British electronica soul producer Quantic) was recently NPR's Song of the Day, but they shoulda saved it for today! That, or Bing Crosby.

JOANNA NEWSOM talks in-depth with the Pitchfork about working with the legendary Van Dyke Parks o­n her new album, Ys: "He did make it clear that he didn't want me to settle just because he's so great. Of course the first draft he sent me was genius; it was brilliant-- it had his mark and compositional voice all over it. It would've been so easy to fall in love with those parts because of how great he is and how much I love his sound. But the effort to bring those things closer to something that resonated with me as my own and bound me closely to these songs was very huge and took a long time. He never made me feel like I was being unreasonable wanting things to work that way. He also did disagree with me sometimes, and sometimes he won our little arguments. And I'm very glad for the arguments he won, because he was right to have won them, and the whole work sounds better because of that..." The entire Ys album can be found o­n the HM: "Emily"; "Monkey & Bear"; "Sawdust & Diamonds"; "Only Skin"; and "Cosmia." My pick to click would be the o­ne with the animals, because who doesn't like animals?

FIELD MUSIC produces an angular, yet highly harmonic brand of pop -- think The Posies, with bits of The Futureheads and mid-period Beach Boys around the edges. Then stream 'em via the Hype Machine.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO(S): Redd Kross play "Annie's Gone" and "1976" from Third Eye, which may be my favorite album of theirs, maybe because it reminds me of the Hoodoo Gurus.

RIC OCASEK talked to the A.V. Club about his second career as a record producer and was asked whether he enjoyed going through his early home videos for a Cars DVD: "Enjoy? (Laughs.) It was kind of interesting, because I hardly remembered what I had. Certainly some of the home movies, I hadn't seen for so long. The footage was taken from VHS and Betamax... It dates everything in kind of a cool way. That's the way things looked, and that's the way things looked when you videotaped them. I kind of like that aspect of it..." I did a quick search for music to listen to while reading this and found "Just What I Needed."

SEASON of the LIST: Gorilla vs. Bear has a nice twist o­n the genre, with Chris and Garrison re-ranking their "Best of 2005" lists, as a measure of durability.

THE POLICE were a significant influence o­n the early Pate sound, so it's worth pointing y'all to this live 1980 Newcastle gig, posted at Post-punk Junk and streamable you-know-where. As a taste, here's a driving take of "Next To You."

ALUMINIUM is an album of avant garde orchestral recordings of music written by Jack White of The White Stripes, recorded between August 2005 and February 2006, using a specially assembled orchestra comprising many of the UKs finest young classical musicians.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The supposedly sober supermodel is forcing the troubled singer to choose between his junkie friends or her.

BRITNEY BREAK-UPDATE: Apparently, the main event at the American Music Awards was Jimmy Kimmel's comedic jabs at Fed-Ex. Spears is said to be upset because no o­ne told her beforehand about the skit, which immediately preceded her appearance o­n the show. Maybe she won't feel as bad about it after hearing the report that Fed-Ex may claim she is bisexual and begged him for three-in-a-bed romps as part of the custody proceedings.

MICHAEL RICHARDS CRACK-UPDATE: Two Los Angelinos now claim the ex-Kramer launched into an anti-Semitic rant at a comedy club in April. Richards' publicist confirmed to TMZ that Richards did make derogatory comments about Jews, but says it was part of his act. It would seem so.

LINDSAY LOHAN does something smart by issuing a statement o­n the death of director Robert Altman (I'm sure she wrote it herself). At least, it's smarter than overdosing at the Chateau Marmont, though that last bit is from the super-reliable National Enquirer.

THE McCARTNEYS: Heather Mills says she would rather lose the rest of her limbs than repeat the trauma of her marriage breakdown.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Faded Youth has a family photo from the wedding. Holmes is obviously slouching... just to get in closer to the kids, I'm sure. It appears that John Travolta was a no-show at the big event, prompting speculation that it was retaliation for not inviting Travolta's pal Oprah Winfrey. I wrote at the time that snubbing the Big O was a big mistake...

BRADGELINA: Jolie has made an unannounced visit to Cambodia, perhaps to check up o­n the nature conservation project she is funding, which has become the subject of a dispute over alleged accounting irregularities. Or maybe she's just a big fan of the Dead Kennedys.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON BREAK-UPDATE? Beau Josh Hartnett has gone into damage control mode after returning to the Auckland set of his new movie from his cozy weekend away in Sydney with a co-star. The best part of this story is Sydney Confidential citing the Wikipedia entry o­n New Zealand actress Amber Sainsbury for "having a massive rack." Did Hartnett's people have the entry scrubbed of that reference? And were they dumb enough to not know that it's cached?

ASHLEE SIMPSON is reportedly staying with big sister Jessica, where she's getting some adult supervision. That is, if you count getting publicly cozy with the married Taye Diggs as adult supervision.

HARRY POTTER and the ORDER of the PHOENIX has a trailer that has found its way o­nline. Enjoy!

THANKSGIVING has a lot of myths, both traditional and the new "Pilgrims were evil" o­nes taught in some public schools. However, if you read the journal of William Bradford -- who served some 35 years as governor of the Pilgims' colony -- you quickly discover that the Pilgrims' relationship with the natives was complex and that the colony was ultimately saved when Bradford started doing away with collectivism and granting property rights.

IRAQ: Oman's foreign minister thinks the US has handed Iraq to al Qaeda, but Bill Roggio surveys the sea-change occurring in western Iraq, where Sunni tribes continue to turn o­n al Qaeda. The Iraqi government disputes UN figures o­n civilian deaths in October. A bomb exploded in an armored car in the Green Zone -- a major security breach -- in a failed assassination attempt o­n the Speaker of Parliament. Special Iraqi Police Forces, with coalition advisers, captured 28 people during a raid near Mahmudiyah.

AFGHANISTAN: Terror attacks seem to have dropped dramatically in October, according to a NATO spokesman. Even so, Germany refuses to deploy troops in the violence-hit south of the country.

THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD RUBBERBAND BALL was certified Tuesday in the plaza in front of my law school. I can't tell you how proud I am.

CAT WITH PUPPIES UPDATE: Blood tests show it's a hoax! I must say that my co-worker Debbie had it called from the very start.

KICK-BOKING ORANGUTANS smuggled into the UK have been returned to Indonesia. I guess they don't wanna be like you-oo-oo... they wanna be like Steven Segal?

TURKEYS PARDONED by the President apparently retire to spots where PETA claims they don't get enough mental stimulation.

TURKEY RUN: Hey, who doesn't try to escape from New Jersey?

...AND THERE WERE TURKEYS all over the highway... in eastern Iowa!