SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS: Though my weekend schedule was in flux, I was able to scurry down to the Double Door (where Barry Jive and the Uptown Five played at the end of High Fidelity) to see Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at the last minute Saturday night. Alas, no pics, though this o­ne from jvan01's Flickr account, taken 9/11 in Houston, is representative. That band puts o­n o­ne helluva hot, sweaty, funky soul extravaganza. Indeed, the Dap-Kings did an entire power-packed set before they brought Sharon Jones out. the set included not o­nly highlights from Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and Naturally (an Amazon Best of 2005 (so far) pick and one of mine too), but also several new songs that were equally smokin'. It's like finding a big stack of Stax wax that somehow never got released in the late '60s or early '70's. You can see video at the Daptone records site, but it really doesn't do the band's James Brown Live at the Apollo energy level justice. Ms. Jones may be built more like Aretha, but moves like Tina Turner. Suffice it to say the Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately" have never sounded funkier.

THE NEXT BIG THING: UK tastemakers suggeted to the Guardian that it will probably be The Arctic Monkeys. So the Guardian obliged with a profile: "Their forthcoming second single, "I Bet You Look Good o­n the Dancefloor," is a blistering, three-minute romp about trying to impress a girl at a club. Frontman Alex Turner talks it down, but I think Craig O'Neill would dig it the most.

ANTHONY AND THE JOHNSONS frontman Antony Hegarty is interviewed in the Chicago Sun-Times after beating out Coldpaly for the UK's presitigious Mercury Music Prize. It's not my cup of tea, but if you like Rufus Wainwright, you'll probably dig it. *Sixeyes is killing music, so you could listen yourself if you're an outlaw.

KEITH MOON to be played by Mike Myers. Blame producer Roger Daltrey.

THE GREAT DISC DEBATE: Pate bassmeister and Naked Hero Mike Kelly tipped me to this running feature at MSNBC, asking which is the best album by various artists and bands, including Prince, R.E.M. (where I think it should be against the rules to list a compilation), the Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond and more.

DAVID BYRNE and FATBOY SLIM are making a multi-media musical about Imelda Marcos.

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO is profiled by Carl Wilson for Canada's Globe and Mail.

LIKE SANDS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS, so are the Rolling Stones.

ON THE PITCHFORK: Rhino's Children of Nuggets -- Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996 box scores an impressive 8.6 from a reviewer who clearly knows the era.

NIRVANA DRUMMER FRONTS BAND: No, not Dave Grohl -- the other guy. Grunge's answer to Pete Best.

TEGAN AND SARA talk with the Hartford Courant about what it means to be "pop."

LOU REED tops a Q magazine poll as "the world's most pathetic rocker." Me-ow!

BOB DYLAN: At Slate, David Greenberg brings a Gen X POV as to why critics ignore the latter part of Dylan's career. Carl Wilson responds that Greenberg is firing the right arrow at the wrong target.

THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC is influenced by Stravinsky, Brahms and Brubeck. The band's debut, Underwater Cinematographer, is getting generally favorable reviews. You can stream is from their label.

KIM GORDON of Sonic Youth talks to London's Guardian about her plethora of projects.

DAWN EDEN, a blogger who has landed a gig with the New York Daily News has an amusing column about the goings o­n at another blog, the Vinyl Mine.

WHICH COVERS TOP THE ORIGINAL? Candidates are discussed at the WOXY forums.

TOP TEN incidental moments in Punk, courtesy of Stylus.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Doherty, who was just complaining about gaining weight from kicking drugs, collapsed at the end of a gig following a day-long booze bender. He was also questioned by police, then released after police raided a venue Babyshambles played; Pete claims he has an implant to help keep him off drugs. Moss, missed her daughter's third birthday party in rehab as detectives searched the recording studio where Moss allegedly snorted cocaine. Moss is recjecting gifts and messages from Courtney Love. And President Bush is featured o­n a cover of "White Lines" mentioning the superwaif.

SERENITY came in second at the box office to Flightplan, though it had a higher per-screen average, as did David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. I saw Serenity and thought it a very smartly written space opera. Daniel Drezner has a post o­n the blogger marketing campaign and a review of sorts.

BRADGELINA UPDATE: Pitt and Aniston's divorce became final o­n Sunday. Their Beverly Hills estate is o­n the market. The infallible Star magazine claims Aniston has taken up with 7th Heaven's Geoff Stults, who an uncanny resemblance to Brad. If true, it would be a case of life imitating Friends.

THE FRENCH HOTEL is officially unengaged to that Paris guy. And has bladder contol issues, allegedly.

MARIAH CAREY is happy to remain single and celibate after witnessing the damaging effects of sexual promiscuity. A nice message for the kids and in her case, a relief to society generally.

MICHELE WILLIAMS, expecting a child with boyfriend Heath Ledger, does seem to have gotten a reallllly deep tan, if Page Six is accurate.

JESSICA ALBA and the the whole crew of Into the Blue were high o­n seasickness drugs. Most movie critics would have liked some also. And the movie limped into fifth place at the box office. Her upcoming movie Awake launches Bob and Harvey Weinstein's post-Miramax company.

INTERNET KILLED THE RADIO STAR? A new study from Yahoo! and OMD Worldwide finds that globally, youths far prefer to get their music fix from the Internet than the radio. However, the researchers also point out that radio is still an important medium to introduce new artists.

YES, ICANN: The US rejects calls for the UN to become the Internet's principal traffic policeman. The EU prefers the multilateral approach, natch.

A LAPTOP IN EVERY LAP? Nicholas Negroponte, director of M.I.T.'s Media Lab wants to bridge the digital divide by producing 15 million laptops costing o­nly o­ne hundred bucks apiece, shipping most of them at first to children in Brazil, Egypt, Thailand and South Africa.

GOOGLE has offered to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet access at no cost to the city.

ROSE McGOWAN is leading the pack for a big role in Sin City 2.

SIENNA MILLER miscarried? Sienna's rep calls such talk "complete and utter balderdash!"

CLARE DANES had a wardrobe malfunction while rehearsing Christina Olson: American Model (third item).

TARA REID having a meltdown now that her E! show, Taradise, has been officially canceled and other offers of work have dried up, her friends say.

COURTNEY LOVE is mad at her mother for writing a memoir. Yeah, it's awful when someone financially exploits a family relationship.

CHARLIZE THERON was "discovered" going "nuts" in a Hollywood bank.

GLOBAL WARMING: At least ten to 30 percent of recent warming may be due to the Sun. Yet scientists know very little about how much sunlight is absorbed or reflected by Earth. Meanwhile Radiohead's Thom Yorke agonizes over whether to meet with British PM Tony Blair o­n the topic.

NANOTECH: Nanowires may enable magnetic microchips that do not generate heat and are simpler and potentially cheaper to produce. There's a post o­n molecular electronics at the Science Blog. PLUS: Instapundit offers a discount to the Foresight conference.

HURRICANE RITA: The untold story, for inquiring minds.

BALI BOMBINGS kill at least 25, injure over100. Suspicion immediately fell o­n the al-Qaida-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. They must want Indonesia to pull out of Iraq. No, wait, the linked story reports that JI "wants to establish an Islamic state across Southeast Asia." There's more o­n the group at the Counter-terror blog.

WHAT MOTIVATES SUICIDE BOMBERS and what they don't mention in their bios might surprise people.

SUICIDE BOMBER at the U of Oklahoma is believed to be a student named Joel Henry Hinrichs III.

GROUND ZERO: With the ousting of the International Freedom Center from the World Trade Center memorial site, the Wall Street Journal interviews the underestimated woman probably most responsible, Debra Burlingame.

IRAQ: Bill Roggio noted that with an operation in Qaim imminent, Al Qaeda has few good options. He then notes the start of Operation Iron Fist in Sadah, part of the larger Operation Hunter, which is a different type of operation from Operations Matador and Spear. Roggio also rounds up day two of the operation. Major K blogs the First Brigade's effort to train Iraqi Non-Commissioned Officers, which Major K notes "are the core of any competent military force." A new Zogby poll (Acrobat pdf) finds that Iraqi business are largely optimisitic about the future, but identifies areas that need improvement, including (obviously) security. The New York Times notes that the Iraqi forces stationed at Camp Normandy have become so efficient that they took the lead in military operations in their 1,200-square-mile area, but you had to find that news in the Sports section.

THE NEW YORK TIMES also got around to correcting a number of errors made by columnists Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich regarding the 2000 election and ex-FEMA director Michael Brown. And yet the paper now wants o­nline readers to pay extra for these columnists through its new "Times Select" service.

ARMY RECRUITING SLUMP worst in decades and not that big a deal yet, statistically speaking, particularly with an uptick in recruiting in recent months. The more serious problem is with recruiting reserves. A new GAO report (Acrobat pdf) also notes that 58% of age-eligible youths can't meet entry-level standards for health, education, aptitude, and other requirements for military service.

CAUGHT o­n TAPE: A teenager videotaped his own murder, cracking the case.

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES: At Slate, John Dickerson asks, "How much trouble is the GOP really in?" At MSNBC, Howard Fineman asks, "Why can't the Democrats capitalize?" Roll Call's Mor-TON Kondracke thinks it's the lack of a positive agenda akin to the GOP's 1994 "Contract with America," which the Dems are supposedly formulating now.

PANDA CUB at the National Zoo has grown two Tupperware sizes in the past two months. More cute photos at the link.

PIG calendars and toys have been banned from a British local council office after a Muslim complained about pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the council in the run-up to the Islamic festival of Ramadan. Until now, I didn't know that massaging pigs relieved stress, let alone toy pigs.

DOGS vs. COW: A Russian is claiming this battle took place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Then again, "drugoi" claims that it took place in Phoenix, Alabama.

DOG found with "FREE" sign around his neck. I was going to make a joke about the sign, but an animal psychic makes it for me.

BOB DYLAN: I have to say that Part o­ne of No Direction Home was pretty good, though hearing "Blowin' In The Wind" covered by the Staples Singers and Trini Lopez in the space of 30 seconds gave me audio whiplash. NME excerpts a bit where Dylan justifies going electric by reference to country music. Part 2 is o­n PBS tonight. Meanwhile, London's Independent has lots of links, including Andy Kershaw finding the man who shouted "JUDAS!" And you should click if you don't know what that means, too.

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN'S Will Sergeant lists his Music You Should Hear at Amazon, including an album with the comment:"I know what you're thinking, 'Will's lost it.' Give it a whirl--you may just like it." ALSO: PopMatters gives tha band's new album, Siberia, a 7, but I think it reads more positive than that.

MISS INDIE ROCK 2005: Banana Nutrament satirizies the genre's rising popularity.

WHO WILL REPLACE THE DINOSAURS? Concert promoters would really like to know.

THE KAISER CHIEFS are profiled in the Guardian.

THE BLISTERS: Jeff Tweedy's kids rock out in a Quaker's Oats commercial.

COCOROSIE: Brooklyn Vegan notes widely divergent reviews of the duo's latest album, Noah's Ark and points you to a stream and a download so you can decide for yourself. It's not my cup of tea, but it's unique... sort of like an imaginary volume of Verve Remixed.

TANYA DONELLY has belly news, but it has nothing to do with her band.

ROCK STARS WHO WENT TO WORK: Stereogum points to a discussion thread that could be called After the Music, with a link to former Husker Du bassist Greg Norton's restaurant.

WOLF PARADE: Apologies to the Queen Mary scores a 9.2 o­n the Pitchfork. Brooklyn Vegan rounds up response to their CMJ gig and points you to downloads legal and otherwise.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled duo may be eroding standards of journalism. Gawker notes a cut-and-paste job at The New York Times and No Rock and Roll Fun notes that one of Kate's accusers o­nce got Rupert Murdoch in the dock. PLUS: H. Stern drops Kate Moss -- that's the jeweler, not the DJ, natch. But Rimmel keeps Moss to promote a product called... "Recovery." And Moss gets support from violent supermodel Naomi Campbell, like that helps!

PHIL SPECTOR: The Wall of Sound man will probably stand trial o­n those murder charges in January 2006.

THE STROKES apparently have a more eclectic sound o­n their forthcoming album.

A SMALL VICTORY has started a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Craig O'Neill should note its charter member.

THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA-HAA! Twenty-one variations o­n a theme posted at the WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

THE DETROIT COBRAS: PopMatters interviews Rachel Nagy, who explains why they are proud to be a cover band. The discussion ranges from The Saints to Doctor Feelgood, with o­n "Shout Bama Lama" to boot.

DON ADAMS has passed away from a lung infection. Would you believe he almost died of blackwater fever he contracted o­n Guadalcanal in 1943? Now, o­nly the 3-D BB knows where he is.

VINCENT PASTORE: The big...ex-Soprano cops a plea to the attempted assault of his girlfriend. No word o­n whether he'll enter the witness protection program.

JOEY PANTS, who claims he has been addicted to the news since 9/11, opines that MSNBC has the hottest newsbabes. He better watch his back; I'll bet Roger Ailes is as dangerous with a frying pan as Tony Soprano.

CAMERON CROWE writes about how he matches music and movies and surveys music in other movies for the L.A. Times.

KIRSTEN DUNST, junketing for Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, blurts out casting news for Spider-Man 3. BTW, "Dunst" means "stench" in three languages.

BRADGELINA channels Tom-Kat? I must respectfully disagree. Jolie already knows how to ride a bike. And doesn't need a cult to make her wacky.

DASHTON: Us magazine details its Kutcher-Moore Kabbalah weding scoop. Some people obsess o­n the "May-December" angle. I prefer to think of it this way: In 30 years, he'll look older than she will.

SEAN PENN and VAL KILMER have been demented since their days together at Julliard. Who'da thunkit?

AFI's 25 GREATEST FILM SCORES is topped by Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars...

SOPHIA BUSH separates from husband and One Tree Hill co-star Chad Michael Murray, after five months of marriage. I can't say I've ever seen the show, but if she dressed up like a cheerleader, undressed and kissed other girls, I might tune it in.

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS: Proving that "Idiots" is the same in two languages, France decided not to submit the French version of the hit documentary as France's entry in the Foreign-Language category at next year's Oscars. SEMI-RELATED: Gay penguins Silo and Roy break up; Tango, a female they hatched, has paired up with another female named Tazuni.

IRAQ: American Special Forces killed a key lieutenant to terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. While Abu Azzam is replaceable, the fact that someone betrayed his whereabouts suggests that the US and its Iraqi allies are getting some valuable real-time intell about the insurgency and Azzam may have possessed other intell that could be useful in disrupting terrorist plans. Bill Roggio notes that an Al Qaeda commander and 20 terrorists were killed in a raid near Qaim, but that "Coalition successes in targeting al Qaeda leadership and operatives rarely, if ever, leads in the headlines, while al Qaeda successes get top billing." Army Pfc. Lynndie England of Abu Grahib infamy was convicted by a military jury o­n six of seven counts after two hours of deliberation. Heh; she shoulda taken the plea.

CINDY SHEEHAN took flack at the Daily Kos for complaining that Hurricane Rita was wiping out media coverage of the antiwar rally Saturday.

HURRICANE KATRINA: Louisiana Sens. David Vitter (R) and Mary Landrieu (D) are proposing a 250 billion dollar Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief and Economic Recovery Act. The bill would cost more than the Louisiana Purchase under the Jefferson administration o­n an inflation-adjusted basis. ALSO: The N.O. Times-Picayune reports that the the vast majority of reported atrocities allegedly committed by evacuees at the Superdome have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence. As the evacuees stuck in the dome were predominantly poor and black, what would Kanye West say about the media's coverage?

HURRICANES and GLOBAL WARMING: A BBC analysis reports that we really don't have enough data to link them.

NANOTECH: Nanodot points to a nifty animated gallery of simulated nanomachines.

DOZENS OF PUPPIES (and a few kitties) snapped with fisheye lenses. Awwwww...

COMMUNIST GERMAN KITTIES dance to Laibach.

COWS cause oil tanker-truck crash, leaking more than 200 gallons of oil into a ditch near Colorado Hwy 66.

PETS and their C- or D-List star owners raise money for animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina as well as Linda Blair's World Heart Foundation for Animals.