BORN TO RUN:  The album was good, but it could have used a little more glockenspiel.  Via WFMU, which can hook you up with even more glockenspiel.

LOW and LONEY, DEAR played DC's 9:30 Club last night, so you can stream both sets, plus interviews from NPR now.

CAUGHT UP IN THE FABLE is a blog by pro guitar tech Tom Spaulding, who is currently headed to Brazil with Aerosmith.

POLKA FLOYD is... well, pretty much exactly what you think it is.

COVER SONGS, in all their varied forms, are defended in the Sydney Morning Herald.  But my fave part of the article may be Gloria Jones e-mailing from Sierra Leone to say she loves, loves, loves the cover of her 1964 hit "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO:  10cc sing about "The Things We Do For Love."

...AND IT BURNS, BURNS, BURNS:  Johnny Cash's longtime lakeside home, a showcase where he wrote much of his famous music and entertained US presidents, music royalty and visiting fans, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday.  The property was purchased by Barry Gibb in January 2006, so be glad I avoided the "Disco Inferno" joke.

THE PONYS get a twofer from the World Cafe you can stream from NPR now. 

ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. of The Strokes, now promoting his solo album talks about how his life was changed by Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Guided by Voices.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE:  The troubled singer sparked rumours of a Libertines reunion by hanging with Carl Barat over the Easter weekend.  The supposedly sober supermodel was snapped with Beth Ditto, the 15-stone lesbian frontwoman for The Gossip.

ELIZABETH HURLEY and her new husband Arun Nayar, have been accused of breaching Hindu customs with their Indian wedding -- an allegation that could technically put them in jail.  And to make matters worse, it appears that Arun's father Vinod is willing to testify against them.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD, and DNA tests show that Larry Birkhead is the father of her baby daughter, Dannielynn.  So if you had your money on Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, you are out of luck.  Another hearing is set for Friday to discuss the custody issue, which involves Birkhead, Smith's paramour Howard K. Stern, and her mother, Virgie Arthur.

DON IMUS:  The Rutgers women's basketball team blasted radio host Don Imus Tuesday for "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and abominable," but agreed to meet with the embattled radio host.  Rutgers' players and head coach C. Vivian Stringer said Imus' comments took the luster off an incredible season -- a comment which, imho (along with some of the players' comments) gives way too much weight and import to Don Imus.  These women are winners; acting like victims suggests that Imus is something more than a bitter old crank.

ROSEANNE BARR seems to be making a play for that Imus slot, saying on radio station KCAA, "Never once in my 54 years have I ever once heard a gay or lesbian person who's politically active say one thing about anything that was not about them... It's just, it's screwed. It's no different than the evangelicals, it's the same mindset. They want you to accept Jesus and you guys want us to all believe it's ok to be gay..."

THE GEICO CAVEMEN sitcom project is going to be helmed by the guys who brought you 3rd Rock From the Sun.

GIRLS GONE WILD creator Joe Francis was arrested Tuesday at the Panama City, FL airport on a warrant seeking his arrest for criminal contempt of court.  A judge ordered Francis's arrest last week after Francis reportedly changed the terms of a settlement deal stemming from a 2003 lawsuit in which seven women accused him of victimizing them by filming them in sexual situations while they were on spring break in Panama City.

GRINDHOUSE:  Harvey Weinstein is reportedly so disappointed in the Tarantino-Rodriguez double-feature's $11.6 million opening weekend gross that he's considering re-releasing Death Proof and Planet Terror separately in longer versions, the way they'll play in foreign markets and on DVD.  BONUS:  An Aquarium Drunkard dug the movie(s) and posted Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich's "Hold Tight" from the Death Proof soundtrack.  DOUBLE BONUS:  There are three more tunes streaming at the Death Proof website.

300:  The smash Spartan epic, otoh, has lessons for Hollywood, according to Business Week.

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is being remade, and the early news is not going to convince anyone that this is a good idea.

FELIX the CAT is suing the makers and sellers of the kitchy Kit-Cat Klock -- after 60 years of peaceful co-existence -- alleging the clock is a "blatant knockoff" violating 100 copyrights registered in the last century.  Bag of Tricks empty, ol' Cat?

SCARLETT JOHANSSON has topped a poll of women conducted by Glamour magazine naming the "world's sexiest body."  The top ten, with pictures, are at the link.  In no way should this list be confused with Double Viking's list of "Top 10 Celebrity Butterfaces."

I HAVE A GOOD IDEA, according to Amber Taylor.  It had to happen eventually, if only by chance.

IRAQ:  At ITM, Omar reports on yesterday's fierce fighting in Baghdad, Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army standing down in Diwaniya, and the Sadrists' "pitiful demonstrations."  IraqSlogger has more on the Baghdad battles and relays a report from Al Jazeera that locally recruited police are securing the city of Hit in Anbar province.

IRAQ in the MEDIA:  The BBC cancelled a 90-minute drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq.  The Atlantic Monthly runs with "The inside story of how the interrogators of Task Force 145 cracked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's inner circle -- without resorting to torture -- and hunted down al-Qaeda's man in Iraq."  However, if you're a subscriber -- or leaf through the mag on the newsstand -- you will discover that the threat of being sent to the Abu Grahib prison was used to get terrorists to talk.

ISLAMISM in the MEDIA:  The producer of a tax-financed documentary on Islamic extremism claims his film has been dropped for political reasons from a television series that airs next week on more than 300 PBS stations nationwide.

SAVE STERLENA!  Residents of Wauseon, OH have launched a campaign to keep Sterlina, the 14-foot bovine mascot of the locally based Sterling Store convenience chain, which is being sold to a Canadian firm.  The rumor is that the fiber-glass mascot is headed to the Wisconsin headquarters of the Sterling chain's soon-to-be ex-owners.  Pic of Sterlina with Shriners in those tiny cars at the link!

MOOSE and REINDEER at a Stockholm wildlife park have been invited to an unusual taste panel that will help decide which type of salt should be used to de-ice the country's roads in wintertime.

AN OCTOPUS down under has learned to use two of her eight tentacles to open a bottle containing a crab.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT:  Brits are concerned about detainees, but it turns out to be a hoax.

HONG KONG RACEHORSES need to learn to keep it in their pants.

AN 18-FOOT-LONG PYTHON is roadkill... in the North Yorkshire countryside?  Pic at the link.