THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: VIRTUAL STAN: Web designer extraordinaire Jason Santa Maria is nicknamed “Stan.”  As a gift, o­ne of his friends, Rob Weychert, created Virtual Stan.  Hear him sing “Roxanne.” DO…

BLUES LEGEND ROBERT JOHNSON may have been recorded at the wrong speed. CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN has its gear stolen…again. FUEL singer Brett Scallion dropped the f-bomb at Tuesday’s Inaugural Youth Party (albeit…

KINKY FRIEDMAN, the “best-selling author, country singer and friend to the stray dog,” will run for Governor of Texas in 2006. NEW JIBJAB CARTOON, just in time for Inauguration day. CATS AND DOGS are getting…

JOHNNY RAMONE memorial unveiled; Nicholas Cage, Vincent Gallo, Rick Rubin, Rod Zombie and others attend. THE RASPBERRIES: Ken King will kill me for not noticing they were coming to Chicago (Actually, Ken…

MLK DAY: The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't set out to be a great man. He was a Baptist pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, until he became involved in the the 382-day…

SEE THE REPLACEMENTS circa September 5, 1981, in glorious Quicktime, courtesy of Twin/Tone Records. There's even a clip of “Hey, Good Lookin',” which was o­n the flipside of the “I Will Dare”…

THE LAYAWAYS: A shameless plug for Sylvia's boss, but I've disclosed it and have received no compensation, avoiding any Armstrong Williams problem. Plus, I’m all in favor of cool bosses. The Layaways…

ONE DAY LEFT o­n that eBay auction of a near-complete set of 45s issued by the Sub Pop Singles Club. As you're reading this, Craig O'Neill's ears are burning.ON THE PITCHFORK: Modest Mouse announce…

BRAD AND JEN ARE SPLITSVILLE: A NATION MOURNS. People magazine rushes a full issue to newsstands four days ahead of schedule; Us Weekly is publishing a day early. Rumors of disagreement over…

LET'S KICK OFF the week with a few Pate influences:GANG OF FOUR: profiled in the Guardian.THE JAM: There's a limited edition of the non-compact Snap.X is profiled by the San Francisco Chronicle.GbV's…