THE HOODOO GURUS were in my city last night.  Here's my review -- 13 years after their last US tour, they still got it!  David Faulkner's hair was the only thing missing.  It was one of the best Gurus shows I ever saw, which is as good a reason as any to start the week off with vintage live clips of "Like Wow, Wipeout!", "In the Wild" and "Middle of the Land."  Sorry, no live clip of "I Want You Back," which was their thundering set opener Sunday night.  The band ranged over their entire catalog, including "Miss Freelove '69" and "The Right Time."  The opening act was The Goldstars, which is made up of former members of The Service and The Slugs -- two bands familiar to Pate fans.  Saw Gary "Elvis" Schepers on my way out; he was looking much lighter than his old self, but it was good to see him out and about.

CORIN TUCKER, of the late Sleater-Kinney, broke out new songs and choice covers, including Prince's "When U Were Mine", Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man", and the Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait" at a recent benefit gig, raising hopes of a solo album.  Pitchfork will also link you to a video interview she did for the upcoming documentary Rock'n Roll Mamas, which is about exactly what you would think.

THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS, who incorporate the rich blues tradition of the area from legends like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough into their rock, played the World Cafe on Friday, so you can stream the gig via NPR now.

THE WATERBOYS frontman Mike Scott writes for London's Guardian about his experience with the Wikipedia,

SON VOLT got an audio review of The Search on NPR's All Things Considered, which includes a little background on frontman Jay Farrar.

BOLLYWOOD BEATLES:  A video to lift your spirits on a Monday Morning... or anytime, really.

DR. DOG co-founder, guitarist and singer Scott McMicken explains to JamBase why The Beatles are underrated.  You can introduce yourself to Dr. Dog's own brand of pop by streaming audio and videos via TheirSpace.

PHIL SPECTOR:  During the break between jury selection and the start of his murder trial, you may want to read the transcript of his tape-recorded statement via The Smoking Gun.  As someone who has read plenty of these, I can tell you that more people should exercise their right to remain silent.  For example, in this case, a jury is not going to like it when Spector refers to the late Lana Clarkson as a "piece of sh*t."

NEKO CASE recently was the guest DJ at the World Cafe, so you can hear her interesting introduction of a gospel song.

SxSW REDUX:  Largehearted Boy has compiled links to downloads and streams of sets from the big Austin music fest.  Some of the downloads, including Land of Talk, The Rosebuds, Bondo de Role and yes, The Pipettes can be streamed via the ol' HM, also.  PLUS:  Garagey blues-rockers The Black Lips talk to the Boston Globe about their SxSW experience.

MAD MEL UPDATE:  While speaking at Cal State University Northridge, Mel Gibson dropped the F-bomb on an expert on Mayan culture who accussed him of racially stereotyping the Mayans in the movie Apocalypto.  He's not apologizing for this one, either.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  It was a good weekend at the movies, which took in $120 million (as opposed to $90 million a year ago).  The weekend was improbably won by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which took in over million.  That's less than the original live-action version (after adjusting for inflation), but the Turtles were much bigger with kids then.  300 placed with $20.5 million on a reasonable 37.6% drop.  Shooter debuted in third place with $14,5 million, which is not great, but not bad, given the competition.  Wild Hogs continues to show legs with another $14.3 million on a mere 24.6% drop.  The Last Mimzy debuted in fifth with a $10.2 million take, followed by Premonition's $10.1 million.  The remaining new releases, The Hills Have Eyes 2, Reign O'er Me, and Pride, which brought in $10 million, $8 million and $4 million, respectively.  Dead Silence rounds out the Top Ten.

THE McCARTNEYS:  Sir Paul was spotted getting cozy with drinks heiress Sabrina Guinness, whose previous dates over the years have included Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas and Rod Stewart.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD, and the cause of death is to be officially announced today, but the tabloids are already reporting that she died of a lethal level of a potent sleep medication, but also had a raging blood infection that could have killed her had she not overdosed.  Meanwhile, the late model's diaries have sold at auction for over half a million dollars.

BRITNEY SPEARS was rushed to the hospital last night... for some emergency dentistry.

JOHNNY DEPP is set to resume filming Sweeney Todd today, now that seven-year-old daughter Lily-Rose is recovering from E.coli food poisoning, not a blood infection as previously reported.

BRADGELINA:  Jolie's brother, James Haven Voight, is responding to criticism of Angelina by blaming the bullying and manipulation of their father, Jon Voight, for blighting both their lives and driving his sister to create a huge and independent family.  Yeah, that's him French-kissing his sister.

DENISE RICHARDS & PAM ANDERSON are being sued by paparazzi over that incident where Richards threw their laptop computers over a hotel balcony, allegedly striking "an elderly woman in a wheelchair."

LEO DiCAPRIO and KATE WINSLET are reuniting this summer to film Revolutionary Road, a movie which will be directed by Winslet's husband, British filmmaker Sam Mendes after he finishes a documentary on Rufus Wainwright.  Winslet and Mendes are reportedly moving to the US because of the intrusive British paparazzi.  There are plenty of intrusive photogs in the US also, but maybe they figure those are all busy following the Jolie-Pitts, Tom-Kat and Britney Spears.

DAVID HASSELHOFF is hoping to stage a musical in Vegas:  "I'm leaning toward doing the hottest heterosexual show you've ever seen."

NICOLE RICHIE has recently been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, perhaps while she was at the trout pout shop.

GRINDHOUSE:  As expected, the upcoming Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez "double-feature" will escape an NC-17 rating by trimming a few of the more outrageous scenes.  It was screened this past weekend.  Hollywood Elsewhere just liked QT's half.  At Aint-It-Cool-News, C.J. Hollywood and the inimitable Neil Cumpston loved, loved, loved it (and it would have been guranteed awful had they not).  Time to watch the new trailer again.

CALVIN & HOBBES is rumored to be coming to the big screen, possibly with voices from Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.  Which as good a reason as any to link to the C&H searchable database, which brings up strips by keyword.

ISLAMISM in the TWIN CITIES:  At OpinionJournal, Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten writes about national Muslim organizations trying to pressure Minnsota Muslims into advancing an agenda that has nothing to do with Islam.

IRAQ and IRAN:  Time magazine has a progress report on the "surge."  The US military now says there's been a "dramatic" decrease in the use of the powerful roadside bombs known as EPPs.  Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver says the reasons for the marked drop in EFP incidents could include the detention of three Iranians in Baghdad in December.  Actually, there is now an unconfirmed report that US forces now hold some 300 prisoners tied to Iran's intelligence agencies,   Coincidentally, Iran has seized 15 British sailors and may charge them with espionage, as Al-Sharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned newspaper based in London, quoted an Iranian military source as saying that the aim was to trade the Royal Marines and sailors for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards detained in Iraq.

KNUT UPDATE:  The cute polar bear cub who survived calls from animal rights activists for his death made his public debut at the Berlin Zoo, and seems set to become a political tool of climate change activists.  Here's your awww...some photos and video.

VICIOUS RATS IN CARS are attacking pedestrians Johannesburg, South Africa.  Fortunately, they have not learned how to drive... yet.

COWS stare unamazed as German scientists invent a pill to cut bovine burping, which may cut greenhouse gas emissions by four percent.

PET HOARDING:  A Santa Cruz couple and their children shared a motel room with 20 domestic birds, a cat and a rabbit. There was one dead bird in a cage and three others stuffed in the freezer.

HUMAN-SHEEP CHIMERA is revealed at the University of Nevada, which is a good excuse to re-link to the trailer for Black Sheep.