FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS serenade the "Ladies of the World" for our Monday amusement.

DeVotchKa played DC's 9:30 Club Friday night; you can stream the whole gig on demand via NPR. Plus, the band is profiled by the Associated Press.

FINAL FANTASY: Multi-instrumentalist Owen Pallett talks to the New York Times Magazine about the liberation of limitations, the one-man band vs. the musical collective and much more...

THE BLACK KIDS and Does It Offend You, Yeah? played the World Cafe Friday; you can stream their sets on demand via NPR. 

THE REPLACEMENTS' deluxe Twin/Tone reissues are surveyed by Milwaukee's Express.

THE BLACK KEYS upped the tempo for "Strange Times" on the Peacock net last week.

THE HOLD STEADY frontman Craig Finn tells Billboard that the upcoming Stay Positive LP is influence by getting old.

THE TING TINGS knock Madonna off the Top of the Pops. The duo did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including the UK smash "That's Not My Name" and a previously unreleased track.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE is profiled in the New York Times: Amy Phillips, the senior news editor for the Internet music site Pitchfork said that Death Cab was fortunate to establish itself in the era just before blog buzz mattered and then benefit from Web credibility as respected establishment figures. "They were able to grow and generate interest from print press, from college radio, from the ‘OC' effect - the older buzz-building methods," she said. "It's a stronger, safer way to build up your band. You don't have to come running out of the gate, and everything is not based on one Coachella or South by Southwest performance."

THE CHELSEA HOTEL, fabled in song and story, is currently the subject of a power struggle, as long-term tenants are battling owners to keep its bohemian character intact.

ASHLEE SIMPSON & PETE WENTZ were married Saturday evening in an intimate ceremony performed by creepy dad-manager Joe! Pneumatic Maid of Honor Jessica Simpson dragooned ex-bf Tony Romo into appearing to stave off the pervasive break-up reports -- which have Romo tired of creepy Joe and Jessica moaning over ex-bf John Mayer hooking up with Jennifer Ansiton.

JEN & JOHN: Speaking of which, Jennifer Ansiton is like a schoolgirl these days. The NYDN claims that there is a certain feature of John that leaves Jen so pleased. The crooner's ex-paramours reveal he is hell to get over, not because he's a great guy, but because he's a "great" guy, if you know what we mean.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Prince Caspian takes the top slot, but falls short of projections with a 56.5 million haul. Coming in below the opening of the first Narnia movie is a huge red flag that will have Hollywood wondering whether it was due to: (a) Caspian's darker tone; (b) light marketing; (c) saturation of the fantasy film niche; (d) a possible trend of underperforming summer films. With Indy 4 and Kung-Fu Panda rolling out over the next few weeks, Caspian might have trouble making 200 million, let alone the 300 million some had hoped for. Iron Man dropped to the second slot, but held well enough that it will likley finish behind only the Spider-Man franchise to become the fourth biggest comic book movie evah. What Happens in Vegas is working as counter-programming in the third slot, while Speed Racer continues to crash and burn, down 60 percent from an awful start. Baby Mama held the fifth slot, while everyone else dropped a slot or two to make room for Caspian.  The exception is The Visitor, which snuck into the tenth slot from 13th last weekend.

BRITNEY SPEARS has denied that she is pregnant with her third child and says that her bloated tummy is simply down to new medication she is taking. Meanwhile, The National Enquirer claims that Adnan Ghalib, Britney's paparazzo ex-bf, is shopping a sex tape the pair made on their trip to Mexico.

JAMIE LYNN SPEARS,as a knocked-up 17-year-old, probabaly should not be riding an ATV without a helmet or seatbelt.

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM of the CRYSTAL SKULL premiered at Cannes and -- unlike three early Internet leaks -- has gotten generally good reviews.  You can read apparently spoiler-free-quotes from the Cannes reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.  Right now it's getting 77 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, but that may change as more reviews trickle in.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON stayed home in New York after a film studio refused to pay for the star's bloated demands to attend the Cannes Film Festival to launch Woody Allen's latest movie.

LINDSAY LOHAN, who turned 21 in rehab, is soliciting product sposorships for her birthday party via the web.

JOSS STONE promised her first ever film role would see her share a passionate smooch with a female actress and romantic comedy Snappers does not disappoint. Pic at the link.

WILLIAM SHATNER talks to New York Magazine's Vulture blog about his autobiography, Leonard Nimoy, his UFO sighting, TJ Hooker's politics and being propositioned by a gorilla.  As wacky as this interview reads, blogger Bill Quick writes that "this is pretty much the way he really is."

ELLEN DeGENERES announced her engagement to longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi in the wake of a California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriages in the state.

ITALY: A former showgirl who has become an Italian cabinet minister says that you don't have to be pretty to get ahead in politics, but it helps. Thirty-two-year-old Mara Carfagna, nicknamed Mara La Bella, or Mara the Beautiful, was made... wait for it... the minister for Equal Opportunities last week.

CARTOON JIHAD: A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday.

OSAMA BIN LADEN purportedly released a new message on Sunday denouncing Arab leaders for sacrificing the Palestinians and saying the head of the Shiite terror group Hezbollah did not really have the strength to take on Israel. The man clearly has never read Dale Carnegie.

IRAQ: Prime Minister al-Maliki offered members of armed groups in Mosul an amnesty in exchange for surrendering their weapons. Foreign fighters who entered Iraq won't qualify, and neither will Iraqis who have already committed terrorist acts. Iraqi forces have detained more than 1000 suspects in an offensive aimed at crushing AQI in northern Iraq. Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Mohammed al-Askari said scores of militants had already handed over their guns. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Iraq on Saturday, welcoming Iraq's progress in passing a budget as well as oil legislation, and a bill paving the way for the provincial elections in the fall that are expected to more equitably redistribute power among local officials.

ODD COUPLES: ABC News has a slideshow of cats and dogs, monkeys and pigeons, pigs and tigers, living together -- a disaster of Biblical proportions. 

BABY ZOO ANIMALS: Another awww...some slideshow, courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman.

ORANGUTANS break out of Zoos in Tampa's Busch Gardens and Los Angeles. The primates were quickly rounded up, but the possibility that this was a rehearsal for a later coordinated operation cannot be ruled out. Remember, it's the orangutans that want to be like us.

A RUTTING STAG will attack if you crash his party.

I CAN HAZ A GIANT MURAL?  Yes, in San Francisco.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE PAISLEY UNDERGROUND!  A two-part (Part 1, Part 2) feature from the Old Grey Whistle Test on L.A.'s psychedelic-flavored, West Coast scene in the mid-80s. Bands featured include the Long Ryders, Prime Movers, Thin White Rope, Pontiac Brothers and the Rain Parade with a 6 minute live version of No Easy Way Down. The Long Ryders get short shrift so I'll add in their later OGWT appearance to play "Looking For Lewis & Clark." The term "Paisley Underground" is believed to have been jokingly coined by Michael Quercio of the band The Three O'Clock, so I'll toss in the clip for "Her Head's Revolving" as a bonus. Other bands associated with the scene not featured include Green On Red -- sometimes likened to The Doors for songs like "Two Lovers" and "Change" -- and The Bangs, a/k/a The Bangles, because they recalled The Mamas and The Papas -- so here's a 2007 live cover of "Go Where You Wanna Go." DOUBLE BONUS:  The Guardian Music Blog has a link-rich piece on the Rain Parade and other Paisley Underground bands.

BEIRUT: Zach Condon has previously flavored his music with Balkan and French accents, but he tells Vancouver's Straight that he now wants to incorporate the spirit of indigenous music he recently fell for in Oaxaca, Mexico.

T-BONE BURNETT spins Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Charlie Parker and more as the guest DJ for All Songs Considered.

THE OLD 97s frontman Rhett Miller talks to the Dallas Observer about weathering storms, grumbling fans and his artistic development: "I'm sure there's musicians out there that say, 'I don't think about that stuff,'" he says. "But how can you not? You look at your life's work, and that's what it is: your life's work. This is it. I don't have a second career that I can fall back on."

THE TOP 20 SUPERHERO SONGS, courtesy of Hypeful. You can jukebox 'em via the ol' HM.

THE HEAVY: If you like the late 60'spsych-funk Motown sound, you'll dig "That Kind Of Man."

OKKERVIL RIVER frontman Will Scheff and departing member Jonathan Meiburg are the latest guests on Cooking with Rock Stars.  Past episodes have featured Jack Black, Robyn Hitchcock, the Raveonettes and more...

WOLF PARADE have a free stream and download for "Language City," due on June 10th on Sub Pop.

FROZEN ROPES & DYING QUAILS:  The Baseball Project, a new collaboration between R.E.M.'s Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck, Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Gutterball) and Linda Pitmon (Miracle 3) marries a love of America's favorite pastime with college rock for a disc due out July 8 via Yep Roc.

CUTOUT BIN: From Hot Butter to the Rolling Stones, from the Jackson 5 to Bob Dylan, from Dinosaur, Jr. to Jeff Beck, I'm From Barcelona The Knack, James brown and the Gore Gore Girls, this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed individually on the Pate page at the ol' HM.

PRINCE CASPIAN: My review will brief, as I find not much to write that you won't read or hear elsewhere.  The second Narnia film reunites cast and crew, who do justice to the book, much as they did The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  As with the first film, the action quotient is beefed up a bit from the book, and this time there is also a light dash of romance that (iirc) is also not in the book.  The tone of book and movie is a bit darker than the first; if compared to the Lord of the Rings saga, this one would be more like The Two Towers, though not that dark, and with a bit more closure. Not quite as good as the first (like the books), but still Crazy Delicious.

NOW SHOWING: This week's only wide release is the second film in The Chronicles of Narnia saga, Prince Caspian, which is scoring 69 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.

SHANIA TWAIN and her husband, producer Robert "Mutt" Lange, have split after 14 years of marriage.

ASHLEE SIMPSON & PETE WENTZ have sold off their wedding pics for over a million bucks to People magazine.

JESSICA SIMPSON: Star magazine has a pic of Dallas QB Tony Romo's mystery blonde from Chicago.

R. KELLY: How to get kicked out of his jury pool. 

BRITNEY SPEARS & MEL GIBSON are headed to Costa Rica where they will vacation with the singer's father and Gibson's wife.  I forecast a tsunami of crazy.

BRADGELINA: Jolie may have to stop talking to her co-stars. Jolie's Kung Fu Panda costar Jack Black spilled the beans and confirmed that Jolie and Pitt are expecting twins. Fellow costar Dustin Hoffman revealed her due date as Aug. 19 - and the Today show passed along the news Thursday morning - but it's more likely that Jolie will give birth prior. Video at the link.

JEN & JOHN: Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer were... wait for it... caught canoodling in New York Wednesday, complete with neck rubs and PDA.

SEAN PENN president of this year's Cannes Film Festival jury, tells the press he finds Barack Obama "inspiring," but went on to accuse him of a "phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional" voting record. Dude.

JOSS WHEDON who created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" and swore off the small screen after "Firefly" was canceled, talks to the L.A. Times about coming back for a new series, "Dollhouse," and other projects.

CHARLIZE THERON is profiled and interviewed in W magazine, noting that she has a surprising role in the upcoming Will Smith superhero movie Hancock -- secret enough that she is quite low-profile in the trailer.

COUNTER-INSURGENCY: An Army board headed by Gen. Petraeus has selected several combat-tested counterinsurgency experts for promotion to the rank of brigadier general, sifting through more than 1000 colonels to identify a handful of innovative leaders who will shape the future Army, according to current and former senior Army officers.

LEBANON: Lebanese factions took another major step toward calming a flare-up of sectarian and political violence by agreeing Thursday to immediately resume long-stalled talks on a new government. The deal, brokered by Arab League diplomats, appears to be a boost for Hezbollah.

IRAQ: A total of 833 people have been detained following the Iraqi military offensive in the southern city of Mosul targeting al-Qaeda militants. In an effort to capitalize on the recent security gains and ethnic reconciliation - achieved in part by the security council meetings, which commenced in January and other similar efforts in the Mada'in Qada - US forces there are poised to launch a major public works initiative. What distinguishes Operation Marne Dauntless from other past public works efforts is that local Iraqis down to the village level have had a say in what's to be built.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Chilli the Bull weighs well over a ton and is the same height as a small elephant. More pics at the link.

THE GETTY GOATS:  The herd, hired last month for the fifth consecutive year, is making hay out of the 750-acre thicket that surrounds the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Able to clear the equivalent of one acre of brush per day, goats save energy and cut waste. They have freed a dozen Getty brush workers from wielding heavy chain saws across precipitous, poison-oak-covered hills. (Thx, Lance.)

SLOTHS get a bad rap. In the first brain-wave study of any animal sleeping in the wild, scientists have discovered the three-toed sloth naps much less than commonly believed.

TWO GERMAN SHEPHERDS have been put in the care of animal welfare workers as authorities investigate a Palm Beach Gardens, FL man accused of sexually assaulting the dogs. Florida is one of about 20 states with no specific law prohibiting such acts.

LIZARD MAN cleared in attack on a Bishopville, SC family's van by DNA testing. Lizard Man became a phenomenon in the area 20 years ago when people began reporting a tall, big-eyed swamp creature.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS adds 25 selections to the National Recording Registry, including: "Oh, Pretty Woman," Roy Orbison (1964); "Tracks of My Tears," Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (1965); "Thriller," Michael Jackson (1982); "Call it Stormy Monday but Tuesday is Just As Bad," T-Bone Walker (1947) and more...

DESTROYER: Dan Bejar talks to the Calgary Herald, revealing a blase attitude toward a four-star review in Rolling Stone.

THE BLACK KEYS played DC's 9:30 Club the other night, so you can stream the gig and an interview on demand now via NPR.

BLONDIE drummer Clem Burke talks to Pitchfork about a deluxe reissue and two solid months of special shows on both sides of the Atlantic celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Parallel Lines album.

CASTANETS: Ray Raposa did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, three of which are previously unreleased.

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS bring "More News From Nowhere" from the "Dig, Lazarus Dig!" album. Possibly mildly NSFW.

OKKERVIL RIVER frontman Will Scheff talks to Tiny Mix Tapes about the band's higher profile, touring, and doing things that seem like horrible ideas.

NEIL YOUNG plans to finally release his comprehensive "Archives" of music, videos and other material dating back to 1963 on a series of interactive Blu-ray discs.  And he's got a promo video for it.

LAURA VEIRS answers five questions for Muzzle of Bees.

BON IVER: The Mps City Pages allows Justin Vernon to vent about doing inteview after interview as "that guy with the cabin."

JESSICA SIMPSON reportedly went binge drinking on the day that ex-bf John Mayer went public with Jennifer Ansiton. The pneumatic blonde's rep denies that she has split from Dalls Cowbows QB Tony Romo. E!'s Marc Malkin reports that Romo will be Simpson's date when little sister Ashlee marries Pete Wentz this weekend.

JEN & JOHN, meanwhile, were... wait for it... caught canoodling backstage at a mayer concert in Orlando, FL.

BRADGELINA: Jolie confirms she is carrying twins in an interview with the "Today" show's Natalie Morales.

BRITNEY SPEARS has sparked fresh pregnancy rumors after she was snapped cradling her swollen-looking stomach on a shopping trip, though she has been snapped smoking near her Los Angeles home.

AMY WINEHOUSE & PETE DOHERTY, in a scene recalling the famous face-off moment in Alien vs Predator, were snapped pressed up against each other for a goodnight kiss outside Winehouse's Camden pad the other night. Winehouse can breathe a sigh of relief; she won't be charged by police for a drug video that allegedly shows her using a crack pipe.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON & PENELOPE CRUZ are set to steam up screens with a racy scene, set in a red-tinted photography dark room, which features in Woody Allen's upcoming release Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The women later have a menage a trois with Oscar winning actor Javier Bardem, who is Penelope's real life boyfriend.  We already have a trailer.

HALLE BERRY is denying she's engaged to her boyfriend and baby daddy Gabriel Aubry, despite sporting a diamond ring on her left hand at an event over the weekend.

KATE HUDSON is denying she's engaged to Owen Wilson.  Indeed, E! and People claim the duo is dunzo and quite the bad break-up at that.

JODIE FOSTER has ended her 14-year lesbian relationship with film producer Cydney Bernard, just four months after she broke her silence about the relationship, which was long an open secret in movie circles.

GYLLENSPOON have "been talking marriage for a while," a source close to Reese reveals to OK! magazine.

MADONNA, following the lead of Oprah Winfrey, is making a "huge investment" in a girls' school in Malawi. Madge's investment plans come on the eve of a court ruling which is expected to grant her full custody of two-year-old David Banda.

MAXIM'S HOT 100 for 2008 is out with Sport Illustrated cover girl Marisa Miller in the top slot. The full photoset is online. Miller was followed by Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Eva Longoria Parker, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elisha Cuthbert, Eva Mendes, Christina Aguilera, Lindsay Lohan and Ashley Tisdale in the top 10.  There are some very wrong choices as well as rankings. The inclusion of barely legals from the cast of High School Musical at the expense of women like Katherine Heigl and Natalie Portman has a faint whiff of creepy.  And Britney Spears at No. 19?  Have they been in a coma for a year?

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG, pioneer of pop art, Monday of heart failure at his Florida home; he was 82.

NANOTECH: A new technique in paint making could soon make almost any surface germ-free.

LEBANON: The US-backed Cabinet on Wednesday reversed measures against Hezbollah that set off Lebanon's worst violence since the 1975-90 civil war. The decision was a major victory for the Iranian-allied Hezbollah and the latest sign that the Shiite militant group appeared to have gained the upper hand in the country's political power struggle after its fighters routed supporters of the government.

IRAQ: Prime Minister al-Maliki took personal charge Wednesday of a military operation to rout AQI in Mosul, which the US describes as the terror group's last major stronghold, even as a tenuous cease-fire took hold over Baghdad's Sadr City slum. US troops went from house to house on Wednesday in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold looking for bombs and arms ahead of an Iraqi army deployment in line with a new truce, witnesses and officials said. An eight-year-old girl strapped with explosives has blown up and killed an Iraqi army captain near Youssifiyah, south of Baghdad.

COLBY the LAB loves the sidecar of a 1957 Chang Jiang 750 motorcycle. Let's go to the video.

SNAKE MAN escapes from his Austrian jail cell by squeezing through a food hatch in the door.

POLAR BEARS were declared a threatened species Wednesday because of the loss of Arctic sea ice, but the Interior Department also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming. It turns out that the North Pole is becoming warmer and that the South Pole is becoming colder.

GIANT BEETLES - some the size of a child's hand - were seized by customs agents in Philly from an overseas package after postal workers heard the insects making scratching noises.

GIANT PANDAS at China's most famous panda park, the Wolong centre, were safe and well following a huge earthquake that struck the area, state press said Tuesday.

THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS:  Their debut video in the UK was the epic "The Age Of The Understatement," but their live take on "My Mistakes Were Made For You" on Later with Jools Holland is quite nice also.

CAMERON McGILL: The Champaign-Urbana born singer-songwriter stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.  With a full band, he's pretty Uncle Tupelo-esque.

MORE NEW RELEASES:  You can stream the new albums from Elvis Costello & The Imposters and Sloan via their labels. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

PETER MOREN of Peter Bjorn & John is blogging his solo tour at Billboard, including his recent gig at Schuba's.

GORDON LIGHTFOOT gets his own stamp from the Canada Post Corporation, along with Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka.

DUFFY talks to Canada's Globe & Mail about race, geography and looking forward to a gig at the Apollo Theatre.  Which is as good as an excuse to relink the title track from "Rockferry," and throw in her cover of Madonna's "Borderline" from the BBC's Big Weekend show (incl. a bit of "Someday, We'll Be Together").

MONITOR MIX: Townes Van Zandt, The Small Faces, The Undertones, The Libertines and more are in Carrie Brownstein's latest mix... but why not the Grateful Dead?

THE HOLD STEADY gets a rave advance review for the Stay Positive LP at Uncut.

CLINIC: The art-punk quartet stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.  Ade Blackburn talks to Drowned In Sound about the band's new album, their hometown of Liverpool, Radiohead's internet release of In Rainbows, and more...

OKKERVIL RIVER loses keyboardist Jonathan Meiburg, who will focus on fronting Shearwater.

ASHLEE SIMPSON & PETE WENTZ will wed Saturday, May 17 at a "top secret" location, a source close to the couple told Usmagazine.com.

JESSICA SIMPSON & TONY ROMO, otoh, are reportedly dunzo, though their reps deny it. More dish. Just don't let him sing.

JEN & JOHN:  Are Jennier Ansiton and John Mayer using each other for mutual PR?  Or are they longtime friends with benefits? Both? Neither?

RYAN ADAMS & MANDY MOORE were snapped shopping together at Meltdown Comics and Collectibles and Vintage Gear Guitar Shop in Los Angeles. Adams is looking extra wacky these days.

BRADGELINA: Pitt seems to have a map of the levees in New Orleans tattooed onto his back.

BRITNEY SPEARS hit a red Ford Explorer on Sunset Blvd. in Beverly Hills.  Oops, blah, blah, blah.

BEYONCE KNOWLES has reportedly gained a lot of pregnancy weight: "When she gains weight, she normally does the Def Jam detox, but not now."

SHIA LeBEOUF admits in the new GQ: "I've been in love with every woman I've ever worked with" - a list that includes Megan Fox, Sarah Roemer and Michelle Monaghan. But some weren't available, and "there's the three-month attention span that actors have. I don't know if it's mutual, but I really don't care. They have to kiss me when 'action' gets called, anyway, so I'll get what I want."

WILLIAM SHATNER tells Page Six his romantic partners would dramatically gasp, "So, this is what it's like to be in bed with Captain Kirk!" Shatner laughed, "You can't imagine how much of a downer that is in every sense of the word."

LINDSAY LOHAN has apparently made up with girlfriend DJ Samantha Ronson.

THE TOP 5 MOVIE STAR GAP ADS, courtesy of Armchair Commentary.

IRENA SENDLER, credited with having saved the lives of some 2500 Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII, died Monday at age 98.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS: To some, Saudi Arabia's first women-only hotel is a sign of progress, a place where women can conduct business without interference in a male-dominated society. But others say the new hotel simply reinforces gender segregation in a nation that still doesn't let women drive. ALSO: Al-Qaeda has sent a message over the Internet to its operatives in Saudi Arabia calling on them "to leave the country for Yemen, lest (you) be killed or arrested by Saudi security forces."

LEBANON: The Lebanese army, which has virtually stood by and watched Hezbollah militants take control of parts of Beirut unopposed, last night vowed to use force to impose law and order from 6am Tuesday.

IRAQ: Iraqi troops have begun operations in Qurnah north of Basra. Prime Minister Maliki denied the Basra operation is fully underway. Iraqi troops are operating in the Mahdi Army-controlled neighborhood of Shula in Baghdad. Despite a declared ceasefire, Shiite gunmen loyal to Moqtada al Sadr and Iranian influenced "special groups" are continuing to attack US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Sadr City. mostly along the three-mile wall US soldiers are building on al-Quds Street, which separates the southern Jamilla and Tharwa neighborhoods of Sadr City from northern sectors. Iraqi troops captured two senior AQI leaders near Mosul while five soldiers were killed and four wounded in a bombing in the city.

CAT & HORSE, plus creepy cute music.

HAIR of the DOG: Sold in a glass bottle with a contented German Shepherd pictured on the label, beef-flavoured Dog Beer is being pioneered at a Derby pet shop.

GREAT TITS are coping well with global warming in Britain.

HEY, is that an iguana in your pants, or are you... oh, it is an iguana.

A COW stares unamazed -- and unharmed -- after a head-on collision with a car in Switzerland. Cow!

THE MORNING BENDERS perform a live unplugged version of "Crosseyed" in the hills of Berkeley.

NEW RELEASES: Death Cab for Cutie, We Are Scientists, Tim Fite and Frank Sinatra are among the albums streaming in full this week via Spinner.  The Black Angels release Directions to See a Ghost (psychedelic). Duffy releases Rockferry. Vetiver releases Thing of the Past -- an album of covers of 1960s Americana, including tracks by Guthrie disciples Michael Hurley, Derroll Adams, Townes Van Zandt, and others. The Old 97s reunite and Blame It On Gravity.

FOREVER CHANGES: The increasingly-recognized classic LP from Arthur Lee & Love gets some appeciation in the Irish Independent: "It's impossible to reduce Forever Changes to a single soundbite such as "psycheldelia" or "rock". Mariachi horns, strings, intertwining guitars and folk and baroque elements fuse to produce one of the most singular set of songs recorded..."

THE KILLS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

SILVER JEWS frontman David Berman shares his top five musical moments with The Scotsman.  The first is well-known to Pate fans.

MY MORNING JACKET played "Evil Urges" and "I'm Amazed" on the Peacock last weekend, which makes a nice Twofer Tuesday.

THE BLACK KEYS talk to DC's Express about the recordings they made for the never-completed Ike Turner album, and adapting their newest material for their live show.

CURSIVE did three free songs for Daytrotter, including two previously unreleased tracks.

ANDREW BIRD blogs his four days recording at the Wilco Loft for the New York Times.

NEKO CASE:  An essay at PopMatters examines the "world" created by Case's most recent material.

LINDSAY LOHAN (Ugly Betty cameo aside) seems to have become a Hollywood pariah.  And she reportedly has a full-blown fight with her girlfriend, DJ Sam Ronson.

BEN AFFLECK blames starring in then-fiancee Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny From The Block" video for nearly ruining his career.  Which probably makes him feel better about himself than blaming a lack of talent or hideous choices in movie projects.

KATE HUDSON & OWEN WILSON engagement rumors are now rampant in the British press.

DENNIS FARINA, often cast as a foul-mouthed mobster or cop, was busted for bringing a gun to LAX.

JEN & JOHN: The papararazzi serve up more pics of John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston cuddling up at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Miami.

SPEED RACER: You can watch the first seven minutes of the big summer bomb at Yahoo! Movies.

BUCK ROGERS reportedly will return to theaters in a movie directed by comic book icon-turned-filmmaker Frank Miller.

BRADGELINA: Pitt helped Bono celebrate his 48th birthday in Monaco.

GWYNETH PALTROW:  People magazine has some video from her food & travel show, scheduled to air this fall on PBS.

HAYDEN PANETTIERE has been dogged by rumours she is a lesbian?  I haven't heard that, so it sounds like a PR gambit.

MEGAN FOX (Transformers), FHM magazine's Sexiest Woman in the World, was snapped topless on the set of her new movie, Jennifer's Body.  Call it Gratuitous Tuesday.

MILITARY RECRUITMENT: Every service branch in both active duty and reserves have made their April targets as well as the year-to-date goals.

MIDEAST MYSTERY: Syria went to extraordinary lengths to conceal its undeclared construction of a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor from spies in the sky and on the ground in recent years, according to a draft report by independent nuclear experts briefed by Bush admin. officials.  One author of the report said his conclusions were based not only on photographs of the Syrian site but also on interviews with government officials who closely monitored the facility while it was under construction. RELATED: At least 40 developing countries from the Persian Gulf region to Latin America have recently approached UN officials to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend that concerned proliferation experts say could provide the building blocks of nuclear arsenals in some of those nations.

IRAQ: Sadrists may be reneging on the new truce in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. Bill Ardolino goes on a night patrol through Shorja Market, the most famous market in Iraq with the Al Sadria Sons of Iraq and soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division. Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old. Just as in Baghdad, Iraqi and Western officials emphasize that the gains here are "fragile," but in interviews across the city, residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives.  Refugees returning to al-Bata and al-Hemidat are reconciling, but face the challenges of reconstruction after the devastation of war.

KITTIES on a TREADMILL: Let's go to the video.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A bee with three heads.

GREAT WHITE SHARK repelled by Stooge-Fu.

RESCUE DOGS working with Chinese firefighters have been given leather shoes. Pic at the link.

MARMITE the JACK RUSSELL TERRIER was rescued from a watery hole by a psychic pet detective.  Take that, Ace Ventura!