CAT POWER: Now that Chan Marshall is almost sober, she tells The New York Times that she's not sure what she wants to do next -- Her next album, Sun, is already written, and she talks of a second covers album, but she might auditioning for the cast of Saturday Night Live or have a baby. The rejuvenated Marshall recently appeared o­n Later with Jools Holland, playing "The Greatest" and "Lived In Bars."

KEITH RICHARDS, Lord of the Undead, has given up drugs: "I think the quality's gone down."

SOMEBODY STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN: Their self-titled debut is being reissued next month, with Chromewaves digging the "ultra-compact, mid-fi, 60s-were-90s indie pop replete with hand claps, jangly guitars and sweet melodies but with enough grit and scrappiness to not be overly saccharine or twee." There's audio and video at that link, and a short streaming set for The Current at MPR.

YO LA TENGO: The new album may be titled I Am Not Afraid Of You and I Will Beat Your A**, but frontman Ira Kaplan tought he might be beaten by someone wanting to use the payphone he was using for an interview with the AP. Kaplan also talks about early musical memories and gives recommendations to eMusic, ranging from Theolonius Monk to Eleventh Dream Day. (thx, Chromewaves!) The new album boasts "typical" YLT tracks like "Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" and poppier fare like "Beanbag Chair," with plenty more to stream via the Hype Machine, including YLT backing Ronnie Spector o­n "Baby, I Love You," during which she gives a shout out to the late Joey Ramone. BONUS: I've psoted it before, but I still like the the odd, Steely Dan-meets-Motown groove of "Mr. Tough," also from the new album.

WOXY, the indie internet "radio" station has gone offline USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson suggests alternatives.

BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY was o­n the N-network the other night, playing "Strange Form of Life" from The Letting Go album. See it before the lawyers do...

NIRVANA: Courtney Love claims that o­ne of the songs o­n the band's classic 1991 album Nevermind is about her - but she won't say which o­ne. What would Carly Simon say?

PET SOUNDS: Speaking of classic albums, Brian Wilson will be doing Pet Sounds 40th Anniversary concerts with Beach Boy Al Jardine. Also the anniversary podcasts are up through "God o­nly Knows" this week.

PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER for this week's Contrast Podcast, in which a group of music bloggers bring the handclapping.

THE POLARIS PRIZE: Canada's Globe and Mail takes you inside the jury deliberations for the inaugural ward for best Canadian album of the year. I had more o­n the nominees and winner yesterday.

WHITNEY HOUSTON and BOBBY BROWN BREAK-UPDATE: US Weekly reports that music mogul Clive Davis intervened at the urging of Courtney Love to help get Houston into rehab and back o­n the comeback trail. Bobby Brown tells People magazine that he's "really saddened" at Houston's decision to divorce him.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH made hundereds of thousands of dollars by selling pictures of her dead son. Classy!

GWYNETH PALTROW and Stella McCartney are reportedly trying to matchmake Paltrow's mother, Blythe Danner, with Sir Paul.

BRADGELINA: Star magazine reports that Jolie blew almost 400K o­n three pieces by in-your-face Brit artist Banksy. You can see the o­nes she bought among the pictures at Supertouch. With that kind of extravagance, it's good PR for Jolie and Pitt to give two million bucks to Global Action for Children and Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Holmes' former boyfriend, actor Chris Klein, says people have not asked him about the gossip that the Tom-Kitten looks like him. He then said, "It's definitely them, and they look so beautiful," which is an interesting answer.

JESSICA SIMPSON thought she was going to throw up or pee in her pants at Tuesday's premiere of Employee of the Month. It's not clear whether that was from watching the movie or looking in the mirror and realizing that trendy 40s hairstyle is not working for her the way it does for Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera.

THE FRENCH HOTEL dropped a Benjamin o­n a homeless dude with the cojones to ask for o­ne while the heiress was in a McDonalds drive-thru. Video at the link.

OPRAH WINFREY is threatening legal action against a retired teacher who has mounted a o­ne-man campaign urging the star to run for president in 2008. Meanwhile, gaydar-wielding TV oracle Rosie O'Donnell says that Oprah and her best friend Gayle King are "a tiny bit gay."

CINDY CRAWFORD is threatening to sue a French magazine Gala for publishing statements she never made about receiving Botox, but a renowned Manhattan plastic surgeon revieiwing photos of the supermodel says: "She's either had a brow lift or found an incredible new way to tweeze her eyebrows."

BEYONCE KNOWLES is wearing Britney Spears' hand-me-downs?

GEORGE CLOONEY called o­n the UN Security Council to stop the ethnic cleansing in Darfur. The president of Sudan undoubtedly considers Clooney a tool of the International Zionist Conspiracy, when he's really o­nly the first part.

IRAN: Pres. Ahmadinjad gave a speech to the UN in which he clained the world "longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood o­n the planet. Although this is a clear reference to his belief that the end times are near, it appears that most of the US media is not interested in asking him about it. Time not o­nly didn't ask, they ran a story suggesting the US may be preparing for war with Iran. A retired submarine officer explains what's really going o­n.

IRAQ: Top US generals warn that violence will increase in Baghdad during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan (think about that) and said al Qaeda in Iraq already has intensified its assaults. Iraqi police arrested 12 armed men, including members of Al-Qaeda, in Mosul. Meanwhile, Kurds showed their disabilities from a chemical attack by Saddam and his cousin, "Chemical Ali," who are being tried for crimes against humanity and genocide. Prosecutors say more than 180K people died in the campaign and thousands of villages were destroyed, some gassed.

AFGHANISTAN: European nations have agreed to provide more troops, as US Gen. James L. Jones reported that officials are not making headway o­n the opium problem, but recent military operations in the southern part of the country killed 1,000-1,500 Taliban, and forced others to retreat. BTW, while the AP claims that the troop commitment comes "after weeks of prodding," it was actually 18 months.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR FED TO THE SHARKS: I'm not going to beat that headline. You're gonna need a bigger shark.

A COYOTE bit a woman at a Conneticut rest stop along I-95. And another was captured sunning itself in an alley in Oak Park, IL. Former resident and Pate fan Sylvia Hauser will want to know that it was the 900 block of North Linden Avenue. Pics at the links.

PANDA BITES MAN? Not news; Man Bites Panda? News. It's o­ne of the oldest rules of journalism.

PET HOARDING: Today's case from Suffolk County in NY involves a tortoise, a five-foot python, an electric eel, lizards, iguanas, alligators and four emus.

DEEFER the BULL MASTIFF has a taste for women's underwear.

HEY, ARE THOSE PYGMY MONKEYS IN YOUR PANTS? Yes, according to airport customs agents. But the question I have is why it took authorities four years to arrest his traveling buddy, who had leopards in his backpack.

FIRST OF ALL, Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearties!

R.E.M. REUNION: I had the audio yesterday, but now you can see Bill Berry reunited with Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills as they are inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, playing "Begin The Begin," "Losing My Religion" (with backup from Scott McCaughey) and "Man On The Moon."

NEW RELEASES: It's a bit of a slow week. the largely instrumental The Big Sleep, the new Elton John and comps from Jane's Addiction and Alice In Chains are streaming in full from AOL. Hidden Cameras releases AWOO, which finds the band adding some 60s pop to their folk, for a bit of an XTC vibe. Bonnie "Prince" Billy" lets loose with The Letting Go. He's going to be o­n the Conan O'Brien show tonight, also. Pere Ubu explains Why I Hate Women, though you won't find any of it o­nline; the link has some Ubu classics. Winter Flowers gets their freak folk o­n, though sounding more trad than Devenda Banhart. Free gets a Live at the BBC release. And Rhino is reissuing expanded versions of most of The Pogues, which prompts this video link to "Sally MacLennane."

THE QUARRYMEN: Heather Browne used the news that The Casbah Coffee Club, created in the home of original Beatles drummer Pete Best, has been given protected status to post a bunch of tunes from the Pre-Fab Four.

THE AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIP: Pat Malone writes in London's Times about trying his axe-arm at the world championship in Finland. SPIN magazine has video of Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke's winning performance.

RICHARD BUCKNER stopped by The Current for a brief live set you can stream from MPR.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Primitive music video from Joe Walsh's James Gang, playing "Walk Away." Squeezing it in before the end of summer.

MISSION OF BURMA is swept away by molten magma from Mt. Hood in the latest entry for the band's Tour Diary. But I think Roger Miller is pulling our leg. Pics at the link, too.

SUFJAN STEVENS and THE RACONTEURS: Gorilla Vs. Bear has details of their Austin City Limits TV tapings. I want to see the Raconteurs cover Gram Parsons, Nancy Sinatra, and The Flamin' Groovies! For now, we have to make do with watching The White Stripes cameo o­n The Simpsons

M WARD: Post-War is Stereophile's Recording of the Month. He was also featured recently at Metromix. Indeed, I featured him earlier this month, but I'm mentioning him again because "Chinese Translation" is o­ne of my current faves in song and video.

U2: Having recently heard the band was in the studio with Green Day, The Edge tells Time it's rehearsals for a joint performance of The Skids' "The Saints Are Coming" o­n Monday Night Football (Sept. 25th) for the re-opening of the Superdome. And they're just gettting comfy with Rick Rubin. There's more at the link, including the songs The Edge wishes he had written.

INXS: A TV reality show, a tour and... dropped by Epic Records.

PRES. BUSH and LITTLE RICHARD: From The Daily Show. The Pres. could use a translator o­n occasion.

JESSICA SIMPSON: A blown chance at musician John Mayer, disappointing album sales and attacks by a Christian minister may have driven the pneumatic blonde to binge eating.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH: Forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht says the model's son was o­n prescription anti-depression medication when he died, but agreed there was no evidence that Daniel Smith died from a "suicidal overdose." Wecht, hired to conduct a second autopsy, is awaiting toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.

MAD MEL UPDATE: The embattled actor-director came out of seclusion Saturday to walk his 26-year-old daughter Hannah down the aisle, as she married blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

BRITNEY SPEARS has reportedly had a tummy tuck after the birth of her second child.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Holmes is reportedly having doubts about marrying Cruise. I am reportedly having doubts about that story, though it should be true.

KATE HUDSON and CHRIS ROBINSON BREAK-UPDATE: It seems that Hudson and Owen Wilson are not trying hard to hide that they're spending a lot of time together.

TARA REID: Hollywood's former favorite party girl has reportedly had a breast reduction and cosmetic surgery to correct her earlier funky liposuction.

MATT LeBLANC proved to be as dim as his Joey character by trying to represent himself in hs divorce. He eneded up consulting with and eventually hiring a big name LA lawyer.

ORLANDO BLOOM and KATE BOSWORTH: It's a good thing they have personal assistants to make sure they avoid each other.

WYNONA RYDER was almost denied entry at a club o­n NYC's Lower East Side because she didn't have ID. And she told the doormen she was older than she actually is -- which seems odd, but I've known this to happen. Anyway, she's looking pretty good wearing nothing but a slogan to raise awareness about skin cancer. This is a good thing as it's always better when a woman with an insatiable libido is attractive.

KEVIN COSTNER is not happy with the movie Death of A President, which uses CGI to simulate the assassination of Pres. Bush: "It's awfully hard if you're his children, his wife, his mother, his dad; there's a certain thing we can't lose as human beings, which is empathy for maybe the hardest job in the world. Whether we think it's being performed right or not we can't, like, wish... or think that's even cute." The film premiered to largely negative reviews at the Toronto Film Festival, which didn't stop the judges from awarding it the International Critics' Prize, while denying politics played a part in their decision. RELATED: Rick's Cafe Americain was closed by French authorities in Casablanca, Morocco. Said Capt. Renault: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going o­n in here!"

UNDERSTANDING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM: Sam Harris, the proudly liberal author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason, heaps scorn o­n Pop Benedict XVI's remarks o­n Islam, which have prompted rage in the Muslim world. Yet he also argues that the failure of liberals to understand the danger posed by Islamic extremism will ultimately empower "the religious lunatics of the West."

IRAQ: As-yet unsubstantiated reports have begun circulating o­n radical Arabic-language Internet chat forums of a possible merger of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army in Iraq and Al-Qaida's Mujahideen Shura Council. Better news, in light of recent reports of backsliding in Anbar province is that Nearly all the tribes in Anbar Province have agreed to join forces to fight al-Qaeda insurgents and other foreign-backed terrorists.

ELEPHANT POLO: The US is making its debut at the King's Cup Elephant Polo Championship in Thailand. And we're not above having our elephants spray dung in the path of our opponents.

WILD BOAR ATTACK foiled by playing opossum.

JIMMY'S DONKEY FUND: Would you give him a dollar so he can have donkeys at his wedding reception?

THE GOAT magically turned into my brother after I killed it, your honor. What? Like you've never heard of a were-goat...

A SHARK THAT WALKS on its fins is discovered off Indonesia's Papua province. Candygram...