Topic: Karl

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE SEVEN AGES of ROCK: PUNK!  This documentary from the BBC tells the tale of two cities -- NYC and London -- and the re-invention of rock at the end of the 1970's.  Bands featured and interviewed include the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Television, The Clash, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks and more.  Tubed in eight segments -- Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8.  There's some language, natch.

JOHNNY THUNDERS and the HEARTBREAKERS:  An Aquarium Drunkard has a guest post from a fellow blogger on the wreckage of Thunders' post-NY Dolls band and the band's fab 1977 demos -- two of which you can stream via the ol' HM.

JASON ISBELL:  The former Drive-By Trucker has an interview and mini-set for the World Cafe streaming from NPR.

WILCO:  Renowned avant-garde guitarist Nels Cline talks to the Winniped Sun about joining the band and Jeff Tweedy's post-rehab addiction.  (Thanks, LHB.)

THE PHIL SPECTOR TRIAL:  The jury is taking a field trip to the fmr pop producer's castle-style mansion in Alhambra, just outside Los Angeles.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO:  Looking for something to balance the classic punk?  Dee-Lite finds that "Groove Is In the Heart," with a little help from Bootsy Collins and Q-Tip.

THE EDMUND FITZGERALD:  Did a life preserver from the wreck fabled in song wash up 200 miles from the spot where it sank?

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS did an interview and mini-set of their "sweetly rustic, warmly melancholic folk-pop" for the World Cafe, streaming on demand via NPR.

THE TOP 10 ALBUMS of 1983, according to Andrew Womack, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Morning News.

THE CUTOUT BIN:  This Friday's fortuitous finds from the ol' HM are: Homer Simpson - Spider Pig; Steve Earle - I Feel Alright; The Police - Next To You; Wire - 12XU; Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer; Television - See No Evil; The Replacements - Favorite Thing; Soul Asylum - Sometime To Return; Husker Du - Makes No Sense At All; The Soft Boys - I Wanna Destroy You; R.E.M. - Time After Time (Annelise); The Velvet Underground - She's My Best Friend; The Searchers - When You Walk In The Room; The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow; David Bowie - Lets Spend The Night Together; 13th Floor Elevators - She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own); Jefferson Airplane - Plastic Fantastic Lover; Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth; The Broken West - Down in the Valley; The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend; Whiskeytown - Dreams (Fleetwood Mac); and M.Ward - Green River (CCR).

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE:  Booker T. & the MG's - Time Is Tight; Sam & Dave - I Thank You; The Four Tops - Standing in the Shadow of Love; Otis Redding - I've Been Loving You Too Long; Smith - Baby, It's You; Gloria Jones - Tainted Love; Rufus & Carla Thomas/Rufus & Carla Thomas - When You Move You Lose; Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground; Hot Chip - Sexual Healing; The Go! Team - The Wrath of Marcie; ABBA - Dancing Queen; Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight; Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science; Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl (acoustic); Meat Loaf - Anything For Love; Brownsville Station - Smokin' in the Boys' Room; Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me; Led Zeppelin - Black Dog; and Hans Zimmer - Spider Pig.

LINDSAY LOHAN:  Longtime former bodyguard Tony Almeida tells InTouch magazine that neither Dina nor Michael Lohan provided any structure for Lindsay when she was growing up and that both were wild, abusive, neglectful partyers who needed to keep their "cash cow" daughter working to pay their bills.  Meanwhile, a fellow patient who just completed treatment at the Cirque Lodge in Utah claims Li-Lo's arrival and stay has been disruptive to others in the program.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide releases are Rush Hour 3, currently scoring 27 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, the Neil Gaiman fantasy Stardust, which is scoring 73 percent (though only 54 percent among the "cream of the crop" critics) and the pseudo-sequel Daddy Day Camp, which is scoring 2 percent.

THE MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS nominees have been announced, but even Time magazine has figured out how irrelevant they are.

AMY WINEHOUSE was reportedly admitted to a London hospital due to "severe exhaustion," but London's Sun is claiming that it was in fact a "huge drug overdose."

REESE WITHERSPOON stashed JAKE GYLLENHAAL in a secret guest suite reserved just for her at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel and later spent the night at Gyllenhaal's Hollywood Hills pad.  That should put to rest rumors that Witherspoon was on the verge of reconciling with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

BRADGELINA have descended upon Chicago for Jolie's next project, Wanted -- and are staying in the same hotel suite Jennifer Aniston used when she was filming The Break-Up.  Sun-Times gossip Bill Zwecker goes provincial to offer tips to Bradgelina-spotting.  It appears that Pitt was in California for the day, narrowly missing jury duty.

LEO DiCAPRIO isn't planning to campaign for any of the 2008 presidential candidates just yet: "I have yet to hear a candidate that has clearly laid out their environmental policy in a way that is inspiring to me."

ANNE HATHAWAY tells Newsweek that  "about 95 percent of my friends are gay men," as is her brother -- but ducked questions about whether that complicates her relationship with her boyfriend, who works for the Catholic Church.  NTTAWWT.

IS THE PLAYBOY MANSION A CRIME SCENE?  LAPD detectives have begun an investigation related to a report of a possible sexual assault at the Playboy Mansion in West L.A.

STEPHEN BALDWIN broke a shoulder and rib less than 3 seconds into his career as a bullrider.  Let's go to the video.

BRIDGET MOYNIHAN:  When New England Patriots QB Tom Brady gets someone pregnant, he gets them unbelievably pregnant.

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN cooks chicken upright in the oven, with carmelized pears.  I'm sure it's tasty, but couldn't it use... more cowbell?

GLOBAL WARMING:  Ironically, the same week that Newsweek decided to paint all global warming skeptics as corporate stooges and "deniers," blogger Steve McIntyre forced NASA to revise US temperature data used for climate modeling to correct a Y2K bug.  The revised data shows that 5 of the 10 warmest years on record now occur before World War II.  The Y2K bug was not easy to uncover because NASA's  James Hansen had refused to provide McKintyre with the algorithm used to generate temperature graph data.  The National Climatic Data Center, a branch of the NOAA, also tried to suppress the locations of the surface temperature monitoring stations that collect the basic temperature data -- some of which failed to meet the NCDC's  requirements, or were revealed to be in ridiculously unsuitable locations -- on hot black asphalt, next to trash burn barrels, beside heat exhaust vents, even attached to hot chimneys and above outdoor grills.  Whether or not these factors affect the overall science remains to be seen, but we should make sure we have solid data, properly functioning computer software and transparent methodology before those who question them are not-so-subtly compared to Holocaust "deniers."

IRAQ:  Newsweek gets a look inside an Iraqi "un-brainwashing" program for teen jihadis outside Camp Cropper.  Up to 2,760 non-Iraqis are locked up in Iraqi jails, among them 800 Iranians, the Iraqi delegation to an international security meeting in Damascus revealed on Wednesday.  Iraqi gov't and religious leaders charge that Saudi Arabia is doing little to stem the flow of its nationals to Iraq to wage "holy war" on Shiites. But some Saudi Arabian analysts say this is a way for Baghdad's Shiite leaders to steer attention away from Iran's involvement in Iraq.  The WaPo has a piece on the wary relations among the US military, former Sunni insurgents and the Shiite-dominated national gov't.  The top US general in northern Iraq said Wednesday he was redistributing troops and predicted any pullout from the country would take at least two years.  And the latest CNN poll shows that most Americans think that the war is winnable -- but still don't think that the US will win.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  The New Republic's controverisal "Baghdad Diarist" gets covered by the Associated Press, which quotes Bob Steele, the Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at The Poynter Institute school for journalists, and Paul McLeary, a staff writer for Columbia Journalism Review who has written about the matter, pointing out the ethical problems raised by the dubious diaries... which is slightly amusing, given that McLeary used to be more interested in attacking TNR's critics in his own writing.  It's also amusing to the extent that the AP itself used a pseudononymous police officer as a source for over 60 stories in Baghdad without even disclosing that fact to its readers (indeed, the AP has never admitted it).  Meanwhile, the conservative blog Confederate Yankee contacted one of TNR's sources and got different answers than the magazine did.

IRAQ and the MEDIA II:  The US military dropped charges on Thursday against two Marines charged in connection with the 2005 deaths of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha.  Lt. Col. Paul Ware said murder charges brought against Sharratt were based on unreliable witness accounts, insupportable forensic evidence and questionable legal theories.  In April, murder charges were dismissed against Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz.  Time magazine, which broke the Haditha story and hyped it heavily, even calling it a "symbol of a war gone bad," has somehow neglected to inform its readers of these developments so far.  That's not surprising; in its "symbol" story, the mag predicted that "it's unlikely that even by throwing the book at the men responsible, the U.S. military will earn the goodwill of the civilian population" -- but somehow missed the Mayor begging the Marines to stay.  Of course, the remaining defendants may yet be found guilty of serious crimes, but it's a lesson about convicting our troops in the press before there has been any due process.

THE RACOON THREAT:  The furry little mask fits on this carpet thief caught on video.

A SEXUALLY SUSPECT PANDA once believed to be male gave birth to twin cubs this week in China.

A 700-LB. GRIZZLY BEAR escaped from a local zoo and is roaming Stevensville, Ontario, not far from a Lake Erie beach popular with Buffalo-area residents.

WHEN BEAVER ATTACKS:  A grandmother taking a leisurely swim in a Swedish river ended up in the hospital after a beaver attacked her with its tail, regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda reported Wednesday.

THE RAT THREAT:  Clearly the shock troops for the squirrels, these British rodents blew up a home, killing a grandmother, by chewing through the gas pipes.

DEVENDRA BANHART has released a mini-documentary on the making of his upcoming album, set to the song "Seahorse," which has touches of Van Morrison-esque jazz in parts.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS:  The closing track to the upcoming Challengers LP, "Adventures in Solitude," made NPR's Song of the Day.

LILY ALLEN:  Her manager is rubbishing reports that Lily lost her US work visa.

RILO KILEY is streaming "Silver Lining," the second advance track from the upcoming Moneymaker LP.

LEE HAZLEWOOD:  ChartAttack lists "10 Reasons Why Lee Hazlewood Was Cool."

PATTI SMITH stopped by The Current for an interview and mini-set you can stream on demand from MPR.

JOHN VANDERSLICE has been continuitng his tour of blog love, dropping live videos of "Numbered Lithograph" at *Sixeyes, "Central Booking" at the Catbirdseat, and "Tablespoon of Codeine" at An Aquarium Drunkard.

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS are teaming up on a new album of duets covering various blues, R&B, country and folk songwriters.  The pair have enlisted the help of famed musician-producer T-Bone Burnett.

SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS:  Brooklyn Vegan has the latest advance track from their upcoming album, "100 Days and 100 Nights."  This may be my fave advance track from them to date.

JACK WHITE and his wife, Karen Elson, are the parents of a baby boy, whom they gave the relatively non-crazy name of Henry lee White.

AMY WINEHOUSE was admitted to London's University College London Hospital for exhaustion, treated and released.  She won't go to rehab, no, no, no...

BRITNEY SPEARS:  Topless, drunk and lonely, the pop tart seduced a college student in a hotel pool hours after a disastrous photoshoot.  Does she have any other kind these days?  She needs Dean Wormer's advice to Kent Dorfman.  The ever-reliable Star magazine claims that in a fit of rage, Spears accused her mama of sleeping with Fed-Ex.  And friends believe her outrageous allegation is just more proof that Britney isn't well.  Fed-Ex has filed for primary physical custody of his two sons.  And I've heard that her alleged new manager has not taken the job.

MENA SUVARI, otoh, has gotten a buzz cut, but the former American Beauty has not "pulled a Britney" -- it's for an acting gig.

JOHNNY DEPP boards his two Rottweiler dogs at a posh pet resort at a cost of 48K annually.

KATE HUDSON was caught canoodling with former Punk'd hunk Dax Shepard.  Pic at the link.  She also talks about facing the dating scene as a single mom in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH is still dead, and someone is trying to sell video of her breast enlargement surgery.

DENISE RICHARDS & CHARLIE SHEEN:  She is denying his claim that that she wants him to provide a sperm donation so she can have another child.  Sheen's most recent court filing states that he wants to select his own nanny, which sounds like a great idea...for a reality TV show.

HOLLYWOOD heavyweights are hedging their bets and donating to both leading Democratic presidential candidates -- except for Kelsey Grammer, who gave to Rudy Giuliani.  Angelina Jolie denies endorsing John Edwards.

JONNY QUEST may be revived as a potential feature film franchise by Warner Bros.

JENNA FISHER (a/k/a Pam) fractured four vertebrae in May, but she's almost 100 percent as she returns to The Office, where she now has a choice of six chairs.

JESSICA BIEL is dreading posing nude in her next movie, Powder Blue, because she is terrified of stripping off in front of the film crew.

MODERATE MUSLIMS SING:  A Pakistan-born British man and his two sons have produced an anti-extremist song and music video called "Yeh Hum Naheen," Urdu for "This is Not Us."  Written and performed by top talent in Pakistan, it is No. 1 on the charts there, with plans to release versions in English and Arabic.

VENEZUELA is called a "pariah state"... in Doonesbury.  I guess Garry Trudeau won't be taking a vacation with Sean Penn and Hugo Chavez anytime soon.

NAGASAKI:  I've blurbed the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima before, but picked Nagasaki this time as a reminder that it took more than one atom bomb -- and perhaps the entry of the USSR into the Pacific theater -- to get Imperial Japan to surrender.  Film showing the effects of the attacks was classified for decades, as was the complete (unredacted) "Magic" military intercepts, which tend to show Japan was not about to surrender. Those interested in a relatively neutral view of the events leading to the bombing could do worse than 1995's Hiroshima, a joint Canadian-Japanese production for Showtime.

IRAQ:  The Iraqi government is imposing a curfew on vehicles and motorcycles all over Baghdad in preparation for pilgrims to the Shiite shrine of Imam al-Kadhim next Thursday.  The US military is conducting "accelerated" operations to arm Sunni tribes in the areas surrounding Baghdad, enrolling them in special brigades that report directly to the US military, according to a report in al-Melaf.  The Wall Street Journal reports on the ins and outs of the US strategy to buy off the Sunni tribesmen in Anbar province.  The Marines, recognizing the difficulty of convincing the Sunni sheikhs that they have a place in the national gov't, are trying to spread economic, political and security power around evenly.  A Saddam-era dam holding back the Tigris river north of Mosul is in danger of collapsing, due to fundamental and irreversible flaws in the foundation.  Iraqi and US forces conducted a raid inside Sadr City on Wednesday, killing 30 members of the Iranian-backed Special Groups cells and capturing 12.  Bill Roggio notes that the raid is but the latest in a series of operations against the Iranian-backed Shia terror groups over the past several days.  Bill Ardolino, who has embedded in Iraq, reviews recent think-tank analysis of the "surge," noting in part that it would be an error to assume political progress can only be made at the level of the national gov't, esp. in light of upcoming provincial elections.

ABBY the BEAR is much like a dog to the Friday family -- just a little bigger and with wild animal instincts.

CUDDLY PANDA mauls a zookeeper in northwestern China, but his life was not in danger... which I'm sure made him happy to get those 100 stitches.  (Thanks, Debbie.)

FAT CATS:  More than a third of British cats are overweight and the number of cases of feline diabetes has risen five-fold in 30 years.

A PYGMY MARMOSET triggered a health scare by sneaking into the US by clinging to the ponytail of a passenger from Peru on a Spirit Airlines flight that landed at LaGuardia Airport Tuesday afternoon.

A CROCODILE fell from a twelfth-story apartment in the Russian nuclear research town of Sarov.  Frightened passers-by called the emergency services and rescuers managed to lasso the stunned animal and take it to a shelter for stray pets.

MY MORNING JACKET frontman Jim James performs "Rainbow Connection" on the Kidzapalooza stage last weekend.

VAN HALEN will announce a 50-date American reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth during a news conference in Hollywood next week, sources said.

THE MISSISSIPPI KINGS tell ChartAttack that their sound "has been described as 'The Band meets Motown.'"  Based on the tracks they have streaming, I'd say that's in the neighborhood, which is a pretty good neighborhood.

LILY ALLEN has been denied a US work visa, after being searched and questioned by Los Angeles custom officers for five hours on Sunday night following her arrest and subsequent caution in London last March for assaulting a photographer.

THE WHITE STRIPES Heather Browne is streaming rarities and B-sides, including three songs from Jack White's stint in The Upholsterers.

ELVIS COSTELLO leads Difford & Tilbrook (of Squeeze), Nick Lowe and Gilson Lavis through Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo."

SONIC YOUTH frontman Thurston Moore tells Rolling Stone about the coolest person he ever met, and more.

STAX is BACK, and NPR is streaming three R&B classics with three from Soulive -- the first newly signed artist to release an album on the famed label, which is being relaunched this year in honor of its 50th anniversary.

LEE HAZLEWOOD:  the recently departed singer-songwriter-producer gets a tribute from Nancy Sinatra.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE:  The troubled singer escaped jail yet again, but was told by the court that he was banned from the streets of London.  Doherty was released on bail to give him a chance to stay clean with the condition he stays out of the capital for a month.

BRITNEY SPEARS crashed into a parked car while visiting a Hollywood pharmacy.  Twice.  And didn't leave a note.  Meanwhile, Allure magazine becomes the latest victim of the pop tart's erratic behavior.

THE FRENCH HOTEL was so spiritually changed by her time in jail that she attended a weekend bash at the Playboy Mansion in her lingerie.

LINDSAY LOHAN:  Her ex-con Dad's lawyer has fired off a letter to her enabling Mom, complaining she's shacked up with a boozing boyfriend in the family's Long Island home along with Lindsay's three younger siblings.

MADONNA is denying a report that her adoption of one-year-old David Banda may crumble.

CHRIS ROCK is not the father of a 13-year-old son, according to the paternity testing.  And he doesn't even know Billie Jean.

PAM ANDERSON & DENISE RICHARDS have settled a lawsuit filed by two photogs who accused the ladies of beating the crap out of them last year in a profanity laced, computer tossing tirade in Canada.

SIENNA MILLER & P. DIDDY still insist they are just "good friends," though the two were spotted sneaking back to Miller's villa in the mountains outside San Antonio on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza.

ULTIMATE STAR PAYBACK:  Forbes magazine claculates that Matt Damon and Jennifer Aniston offer studios the best return on their investment.  Comedians generally disappoint -- except for Vince Vaughn.

GREEN FAKERS:  At Radar magazine, Jeff Bercovici explains why celebrity eco-hypocrisy matters.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Cruise may have a cameo in the next Star Trek movie... and not playing Xenu.

AN IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER gets down to the sounds of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove Tonight" while on shore leave in Tokyo.  Don't ask, don't tell.

IRAN:  Moscow has warned Iran that it will not deliver fuel to a nearly completed Russian-built nuclear reactor unless Tehran lifts the veil of secrecy on suspicious past atomic activities, a European diplomat said Tuesday.

IRAQ:  After heavy losses, US troops in the 'triangle of death' say they're making progress, though slowly and subtly.  The US military says coalition forces have killed eight terrorists and detained 29 others, including a commander of the Mahdi Army.  The prime ministers of Iraq and Turkey have agreed to step up cooperation in the fight against Kurdish separatists in Northern Iraq.  A firefight with US military forces on June 23 near the town of Hawija in northern Iraq exposed the presence of Turkish al-Qaeda operatives and revealed their probable role in facilitating a flow of jihadis to AQI.  Attacks on US-led forces using EFPs said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the US military.  As British forces pull back in southern Iraq, Shiite militias in Basra have escalated a violent battle against each other for political supremacy and control over oil resources.  The notion of greed as a motive beyond sectarianism also turns up in Michael J. Totten's interview of an Iraqi interpreter, and even in Michael Yon's last dispatch.  AP Military Writer Robert Burns, on his 18th reporting trip to Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, writes that the current US strategy in Iraq is working, but cannot guarantee victory (the latter being news to no one).  Anthony H. Cordesman -- one of those who anticipated many of the post-invasion problems we see now -- remains pessimistic after returning from Iraq, but adds that "there is still a tenuous case for strategic patience in Iraq, and for timing reductions in US forces and aid to Iraqi progress rather than arbitrary dates and uncertain benchmarks."

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  The latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows a 10-point swing in the number of people who think the "surge" is making the situation better.  The New York Times, which was baffled by its last poll showing a drop in the number of people who said the war was going badly, can take comfort in the Gallup result -- though whether it will is another question entirely.

IRAQ and the MEDIA II:  The story of The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist" continues, with TNR trying to make something of the fact that Army spokesman Maj. Steven F. Lamb would not confirm an anonymously sourced allegation at the Weekly Standard's blog that PV-2 Scott Beauchamp had recanted his TNR articles in a sworn statement.  Apparently, TNR gets mad when someone else relies on anonymous sources.  The Weekly Standard is standing by its source and noting that TNR has not yet told its readers that that the Army has concluded its investigation and found Beauchamp's stories to be false, even though the public statement came from the very same Maj. Lamb.  And TNR editor Franklin Foer is now telling the WaPo's Howie Kurtz that "(b)efore going incommunicado, Beauchamp 'told us that he signed a statement that did not contradict his writings for the New Republic,'" -- something TNR apparently forgot to mention anywhere else.

PET HOARDING:  130 cats in a one small Moscow flat... and commenters cannot help but note how clean the apartment is.  Video of feeding time pandemoneum at the link.

A BLACK BEAR broke into Whitesnake singer David Coverdale's home in Lake Tahoe, NV last week.  And it wasn't the first time.  "I don't mind telling you I almost succumbed to an involuntary bowel movement," Coverdale told fans online.

WHIZZ the NEWFOUNDLAND has webbed paws and is being trained to rescue those in trouble at sea.  The huge three-year-old hound has the power to drag up to eight people from the water at once.  Pics at the link.

SHARKS are getting in the mood for love by listening to Salt 'n Pepa, Joe Cocker and more.

REX, a widoewed black-necked swan, otoh, is looking for love on Facebook.

LEE HAZLEWOOD -- producer, songwriter, and sometimes duet partner of Nancy Sinatra -- died peacefully on Saturday, August 4, in Henderson, Nevada, after a three-year battle with terminal renal cancer. He was 78.  Pitchfork's obit embeds several videos, while inexplicably excluding their most famous Hazlewood-Sinatra collaboration, the 1967 single "Some Velvet Morning," which reached #26 on Billboard's pop chart but has had a lasting impact through scores of cover versions by a wide variety of artists.  Apparently, Pitchfork only knows one video site.  BTW, the family have requested that those wishing to honor Hazlewood should make donations to the Salvation Army.

NEW RELEASES:  The new Okkervil River album is really the big release this week, but Sebadoh, The Brunettes, Flight of the Conchords and more are streaming from Spinner.  Peter Case has his first album in years streaming at YepRoc.  And Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are streaming previews of the Americana-tinged sophomore LP at their site.

LOLLAPALOOZA is recapped at USA Today's Pop Candy blog and in the Chicago Sun-Times.  I already knew Iggy Pop still rocks it harder than people a third his age, but it seems that Roky Erickson has made ana amazing comeback from schizophrenia.  You can stream some Roky via the ol' HM.

BETTYE LaVETTE & DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS:  Stereogum has an advance track from LaVette's upcoming The Scene of the Crime LP, titled "You Don't Know Me At All."

JIMMY PAGE, RON WOOD & ANDY SUMMERS pick the top ten guitar tracks in music history.  As you might guess, there is a conflict of interest... or two.

THE PIPETTES back Le Sophie Grande on the late Lee Hazlewood's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'."

SOUL SIDES:  Oliver Wang talks to the Daily Californian about his music blog and compilation album series.

HUSKER DU:  Captain's Dead is streaming a gig from June 1984 (likely the first part of the New Day Rising tour).

SPOON:  Gimme Fiction may have been the band's breakthrough LP, but frontman Britt Daniel tells Australia's The Age that it wasn't their best.

THE CLASH:  Berkeley Place has posted an "A to Z" of Clash covers, mash-ups and Joe Strummer tributes, which you can jukebox via the ol' HM.

LINDSAY LOHAN, last seen holed up at her mom's house, is now reportedly rehabbing at the Cirque Lodge in Sundance, Utah.  Meanwhile, at least one studio exec told Entertainment Weekly: ''Her films don't open. She's a pain to work with. I think she's done.''

BRITNEY SPEARS has hired uber-manager Jeff Kwatinez to help resurrect her dying career, thus ending the pop tart's attempt at managing herself. 

JAMES BROWN:  The Godfather of Soul was father to at least two more people, according to the latest DNA tests.

GWYNETH PALTROW uses snake venom to de- wrinkle.

DENISE RICHARDS & CHARLIE SHEEN have resumed hostilities over Sheen's visitation rights with their daughters, with Sheen's camp claiming Denise's nanny spies on Sheen and that Denise is jealous of Sheen's fiancee.

GEORGE CLOONEY and MATT DAMON wore extra-large shoes to stick in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre because of... shrinkage.

BRADGELINA and their biological daughter Shiloh are going to be recognized with an Australian postage stamp.

JESSICA SIMPSON is reportedly using a professional matchmaker to the rich and famous, according to the uber-reliable Life & Style magazine.

KOBE BRYANT is getting a divorce from stand-by-your-man-after-he-buys-you-a-ginormous-ring wife Vanessa?  That's the rumor...

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Rupert Everett is defending Cruise's devotion to Scientology, on the ground that it's no more wacky than other religions.  I'm sure Cruise is thrilled to hear that.

MIA FARROW has offered her freedom in exchange for that of a respected Darfur rebel figure, virtually imprisoned for more than 13 months, in a letter to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

SEAN PENN:  Even major Hollywood liberals are saying Spicoli "went too far" in letting himself be used by Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez to again bash the US.  BTW, last month, Chavez ousted Defense Minister Gen. Raúl Isaías Baduel -- who reinstalled Chavez after a coup -- causing Baudel to take a jab at Chávez's control of all government branches.

TERROR is the US?  Intelligence gleaned from last month's British "doctors plot" of car bombers suggests that an al-Qaeda cell is on the loose in the US.

IRAQ:  The US command says that some 25,000 followers of mostly Sunni tribal leaders have turned on the insurgency and at least nominally aligned with Iraq's Shiite-led government in the fight against al-Qaeda.  USN&WR reports on further progress in Ramadi, where abandoned buildings are being refurbished or torn down, the main marketplace is once again busy, most residents have electricity for as much as 17 hours a day, and the city water system is running again.  The US and Iran held a "frank and serious" first meeting on Monday of a new committee set up by the arch foes to seek an end to Iraq's sectarian violence.  Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno says that rogue Shiite militia fighters said to be armed and trained by Iran were responsible for nearly three-quarters of attacks that killed or wounded Americans in Baghdad last month.

IRAQ II:   Iyad Allawi, leader of the Iraqi National List, asked the five INL ministers not to attend the cabinet meetings and to boycott Prime Minister al-Maliki as "a first step to withdraw from the Iraqi government" in protest against its policies.  Az-Zaman claimed that Pres. al-Talabani received a message from the Pres. Bush that included criticism of PM al-Maliki.  The  pan-Arab al-Hayat reported that Maliki may be trying to circumvent the Iraqi Accord Front, which regards itself as the "legitimate" representative of Sunni Arabs in Iraq, by courting his allies among the clans of Anbar.  AT ITM, Omar covers the rifts in the political class and military leadership.  Michael Yon has a new dispatch on what it took to pry food shipments for Baqubah from the Iraqi gov't.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  The story of The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist" continues, with the Weekly Standard claiming that a military source close to the investigation says that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp -- author of the much-disputed columns -- signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in TNR were exaggerations and falsehoods.  If true, some may argue that he lied to investigators but he told TNR the truth... but if so, he will likely never say so while in uniform.  And if true, there may be some TNR staffers who never want to come back from vacation.

HUAHUA swims more than 4km every day to nurse her newborn puppies who are stranded on an island.

KANGAROOS  will be sent to live a life of luxury in air-conditioned accomodation after public outrage at plans to kill them backfired.

CORNWALL SHARK UPDATE:  The UK has been gripped by shark fever ever since a Great White was filmed off the coast of St Ives, with with costume suppliers Angels of London struggling to keep up with demand for shark-themed costumes.

MULES are four-legged bookmobiles in remote areas of Venezuela.

AN ACCUSED SHEEP MOLESTER in the Netherlands walks free because the animal was unable to testify.  No, really.

1990s add allusions to A Hard Day's Night bring their raw, garage-y rock in the clip for "You're Supposed to be My Friend."

PATTIE BOYD reveals intimate details of her emotionally fraught love triangle with George Harrison and Eric Clapton -- which inspired the latter to pen "Layla" (she also inspired Harrison's song "Something")  -- in her new book, Wonderful Today.  There are links to excerpts from the book and a video interview at the link.  There's more at the Sydney Morning Herald.

OKKERVIL RIVER:  The Stage Names LP is due tomorrow, but you can stream it all now.

THE EAGLES are planning to take flight with a long-awaited new album and a tour, according to Joe "The Bomber" Walsh, who says he made sure the band's first full-length studio set since "The Long Run" in 1979 isn't "too ballad-y."

THE FOO FIGHTERS:  The first single from the upcoming sixth LP Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace is called "The Pretender."

THE FORTUNES play their big hit, "You've Got Your Troubles" at the 1966 NME poll-winners concert.

STEVIE WONDER announced he will launch his first US tour in more than 20 years on August 23rd during an impromptu concert at a public park in the business district of Century City.

TEGAN & SARA played a gig for WXPN and World Café last Friday you can stream on demand from NPR.

AMY WINEHOUSE makes the front cover of American Vogue for September -- traditionally the highest-selling issue of the year.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE:  After spilling all the details of their break-up in a series of interviews and calling the supposedly sober supermodel a "nasty old rag," the troubled singer has penned "A Song For Kate" in a last-ditch attempt to win her back.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  Jason Bourne was unstoppable at the box office, taking in over 70 million -- the biggest August movie opening in history.  The Bourne Ultimatum is also the most expensive of the series, with a budget estmated between 110-125 million, but Bourne should be in the black when the flick opens worldwide next weekend.  The Simpsons Movie dropped almost 66 percent to make 25.6 million -- but has already made 236 million worldwide on a 75 million production budget.  Underdog debuted in third place with 12 million.  I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry took in another 10.5 million and will almost certainly turn a profit, despite an $85 million budget.  Hairspray rounds out the Top Five with 9.3 million.  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also came in with roughly 9.3 million -- it has made about 260 million in the US and shouyld finish just behind Goblet of Fire when all is said and done.  No Reservations slid into the seventh slot with 6.6 million.  Transformers made another 6 million in the US -- it has taken in 545 million worldwide on a 150 million production budget.  Andy Samberg's Hot Rod debuted in ninth place with 5 million, just ahead of the debut of Bratz, which made 4.3 million.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, btw, has about 4000 edits -- to reflect the disorientation of its protagonist.

THE SIMSPONS model haute couture with a cartoon Linda Evangelista in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar.  Pics at the link.

VING RHAMES:  Did his dogs maul his caretaker to death?  Or did the caretaker have a heart attack running for his life after a confrontation with the dogs?  Either way, the dogs have been taken into custody.

THANDIE NEWTON discloses she suffered from bulimia in her early 20s.

LINDSAY LOHAN, contra to reports that she was back in rehab, is holed up at mom Dina's place on Long Island.  So she has had the chance to read the interview she gave Elle magazine 36 hours before her arrest, proclaiming she would never drive drunk.   And a chance to read that Louis Vuitton will no longer even lend her clothes because she walked off with a number of items after a photo shoot (also for Elle).  She is rumored to have a photographer spying on sometime bf Callum Best.

BRADGELINA cancelled a family holiday to Lake Mohawk, NJ, further fuelling speculation of a rift.  Pitt's rep denies the rumors.

REESE WITHERSPOON & RYAN PHILIPPE have been spotted shopping, jogging and lunching together in L.A., fuelling speculation of a reconciliation.  Philippe's rep denies it.

MADONNA has lawyers fighting to stop the publication of love letters and intimate photographs as she tries to make her adoption of a Malawian baby permanent.  Madge's controversial adoption of an African baby may collapse amid accusations that the child welfare expert overseeing it has become too close to the case.

SEAN PENN had a love-in with Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez.  Cuban-born actress Maria Conchita Alonso, who grew up in Venezuela, said Penn is lending support to a "totalitarian" leader who wants increasing control of society - a charge Chavez denies, despite having recently shut down TV stations critical of Chavez.  I guess Penn defends free speech only when it is not attacking nascent dictators.

JESSICA BIEL was reportedly caught canoodling with ex-bf Chris Evans (a/k/a/ the Human Torch) while attending a wedding reception last Saturday, according to the ever-reliable Star Magazine.  Evans rep states the two are "just friends."

ISLAMISM in the UK:  The British branch of a world-wide radical Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, held a conference in London on Saturday, in which speakers called for the overthrow of Muslim governments and their replacement with a single Islamic state, known as the caliphate.  As many as one in 11 British Muslims agree with and proactively support terrorism, a Government adviser has warned police.  Haras Rafiq also told officers at Scotland Yard that up to 20 percent of the Muslim population "sympathise" with militants, while stopping short of being prepared to "blow themselves up."  Meanwhile, a teacher near the home of three of the 7/7 bombers had ten-year-olds copying Allah is the greatest" and "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah" as a hand-writing exercise.

IRAN:  Iranian police detained more than 200 people and seized alcohol and drugs in a raid on a "satanic" underground rock concert, media in the conservative Islamic state reported on Saturday.

AFGHANISTAN:  British military commanders believe they have turned a significant corner, pushing the Taliban back  in Afghanistan's most dangerous province, while popular support for the insurgents is eroding.

IRAQ:  Haythem Sabah al-Badri, who was reputed to be the leader of AQI in Salahuddin province and who planned the bombing of Al Askari mosque in Samarra earlier this summer has been killed in an air raid, the US military announced Saturday.  The US military has launched a new air campaign against militant safe havens and weapons smugglers south of Baghdad as it seeks to choke the flow of bombs and weapons reaching the capital.  Photos purport to show a parade by the "Islamic State of Iraq" in Baqubah, but it seems unlikely, given that the US is transtioning to "hold" status there.  Wesley Morgan blogs his embed in Northern Babil, where he ran into Michael Gordon of the NYT.  The Marines are sectioning Fallujah and building joint command centers, following the pattern set in other cities.  Michael Yon, who has spent roughly a 1½ years on the battlefields of Iraq since Dec. 2004, writes in the NYDN that "Anyone who says Al Qaeda is not one of the primary problems in Iraq is simply ignorant of the facts."

IRAQI POLITICS in the MEDIA:  The Washington Post and the L.A. Times -- among others -- are writing a lot about sectarian distrust and political stagnation crippling the Iraqi gov't.  Nibras Kazimi, who once directed the Research Bureau of the Iraqi National Congress and helped establish the Higher National Commission for De-Ba'athification, suggests that Sunni parties have left the gov't because the insurgency is losing, which is emboldening the Shiites to play political hardball.  He also suggests that the hard-line Sunni leaders who got elected to oppose Shiite hegemony are being replaced with new faces that are accepting the new realities of Iraq and can work with the ascendant Shiites.  Meanwhile, amid the sectarian violence, a new poll shows a dramatic swing in popular support for secular political rule over the past year.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  Col. Steven Boylan, Public Affairs Officer for General David Petraeus, announced that the Army's investigation into the allegations made by Scott Thomas Beauchamp as "Baghdad Diarist" for The New Republic found the allegations to be false; "members of Thomas' platoon and company were all interviewed and no one could substantiate his claims."  It also appears that TNR left out statements it obtained from the Army in its statement purporting to corroborate PFC Beauchamp's stories.

A TWO-LEGGED DOG that can fetch and play with the best of them is looking for a good home.

THE "BEAST OF DARTMOOR," which stoked rumours that the moor is haunted by a pack of spectral dogs known as the Hounds of Hell, turns out to be a two-year-old Newfoundland called Troy.

MANUEL the CHIHUAHUA rescued a disoriented beaver from the waters off Vancouver's Stanley Park.  Who wouldn't?

THE SQUIRREL THREAT:  A Canadian Bible camp is defending a counsellor who skinned, roasted and then ate a squirrel in front of a group of boys.

A CATNAPPING rocks the town of Westmere in New Zealand.