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LUCINDA WILLIAMS news is briefly rounded up at Thrasher's Blog.

ALEXANDRO ESCOVEDO is writing and performing again, after switching to holistic treatment for his Hepatitis C.

WILCO: Jeff Tweedy talks to... wait for it... the Financial Times about filesharing: "I'm embarrassed personally for really big artists who whine about it. After all, you have to be pretty damn successful for people to consider pirating your music." Former Wilco-ite Jay Bennett has two discs reviewed o­n the Pitchfork.

NEIL YOUNG has left the hospital, is expected to make a full recovery and to return to Nashville next week to continue work o­n an album. Young's brain aneurysm was treated by state-of-the-art, minimally invasive surgery.

SCOTT McCAUGHEY of the Young Fresh Fellows and the Minus 5 has a "List of Music You Should Hear" posted at Amazon.

METHANE STUDIOS has a gallery of cool posters produced for cool bands.

GEORGE LUCAS, JAMES CAMERON AND PETER JACKSON are among the directors touting a new form of 3D to pave the way for digital cinema.

IRAQ: As a Kurd in Iraq's disputed north, Jalal Talabani spent a lifetime resisting Arab domination. Now he is interim president of Iraq, o­ne of the largest and potentially wealthiest Arab nations. ''Today Jalal Talabani made it to the seat of power, while Saddam Hussein is sitting in jail,'' said Mohammed Saleh, a 42-year-old Kurd in Kirkuk. ''Who would have thought?''

IT'S CARNIVAL SEASON year-round in the blogosphere. A new Carnival Of Education and Tangled Bank (Carnival of Science blogging) are o­nline.

DENVER VICE: A man out o­n bail after being charged with 33 counts of sexual assault while impersonating a massage therapist was arrested Monday for allegedly posing as a vice cop.

JOE STRUMMER: Unreleased tracks from his pre-Clash band, the 101ers, will be released next month.

AUDIOSLAVE guitarist Tom Morello is urging young Britons to vote in the upcoming general election. While slamming Tony Blair's involvement in the Iraq war, Morello admitted that he did not know which way he would vote as a British citizen: "I don't know what the slate of candidates is, I'd have to call my friend Billy Bragg. I defer to his opinion o­n that o­ne!"

QUEEN went ahead with a gig in Rome o­n Monday despite a plea from the Vatican to cancel out of respect for the Pope. Although a fan of the group, Guido Bertolaso, who is overseeing Rome's arrangements for Pope John Paul II's funeral, said: "I think that in this moment of pain and prayer, a concert should not be held in our capital - with all due respect to what others believe." If he's a fan, Mr. Bertolaso should have known what Queen would do.

POPE JOHN PAUL II is being reborn as a comic book superhero, battling evil with an anti-Devil cape and special chastity pants.

SHANNON ELIZABETH is already moving o­n from her husband, but Defamer notices her "party fingers."

CULT OF THE iPod: Office workers who share music via iTunes track their coworkers' comings and goings and form opinions about them based o­n their playlists. A new study, funded in part by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, finds the opinions are not always what the sharer intended.

VIKINGS: A Norwegian historical center is recruiting friendly, playful Vikings; axe-wielding vandals need not apply. Will the center have a telescope?

SOLDIERS OF LOVE? Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has called o­n the IRA to lay down their arms.

WAR o­n TERROR: A senior military officer serving in the Middle East e-mails Austin Bay about the definition of victory, noting in part: "Military action is a necessary, but insufficient component of the formula for victory." A University of Central Florida biology professor has given up his passport after spending nearly two weeks in jail for allegedly stealing eight vials of cloned DNA pieces from a tuberculosis organism.

TINY SPY PLANE: The Wasp robotic plane, designed for troops who need a peek at the enemy before going in, has a 13 inch wingspan and is launched by hand.

MS. WHEELCHAIR PAGEANT REDUX: A new Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin has been crowned after pageant leaders stripped the original winner of the title when she appeared in a newspaper photograph standing up. The runner-up refused to accept the crown out of protest. Lee's sister, who was named Ms. Wheelchair Minnesota, dropped out of the competition in that state. And the coordinator for the organization's Minnesota program stepped down from her job to "stand up for Janeal Lee," a high school teacher and muscular dystrophy sufferer who uses a scooter as her main way to get around but says she can walk up to 50 feet o­n a good day and stand while teaching.

KIRSTEN DUNST and Jake Gyllenhaal staged their break-up and plan to marry.

MORE WEIRD BURGER KING ADS: Visible through Screenhead.

THE UNITED NATIONS: In a meeting closed to the media, secretary-general Kofi Annan tells staff the scandals engulfing the U.N. would act as a catalyst for reform, while at the same time blaming the media for reporting them unfairly. Mr. Annan took eight questions and left to a standing ovation. One former senior U.N. official told FOX News those questions had all been planted by Annan's staff; Annan's spokesman denied that claim. But Annan's problems run deeper than the generally meager reporting o­n U.N. scandals. Last November, the U.N. Staff Union passed a resolution expressing no confidence in the senior U.N. staff. The London Observer, generally not aligned with FOX News politically, carries a column from a former U.N. human rights observer in Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and Liberia which asks, "How many more must die before Kofi quits?" Kenneth Cain also claims that when he visited the U.N. human resources office in New York to complain personally about child sex abuse case by peacekeepers in Liberia, "they laughed at my naive outrage: 'It happens all the time in the field,' they said. 'There's nothing we can do.'"

BRITNEY SPEARS and hubby K-Fed just spent time at a Santa Monica hotel, but Britney stayed in the main building and Kevin stayed in the bungalows. The New York Post's Page Six quotes a spywitness: "Kevin played a lot of golf at a nearby golf course and Britney was just roaming the hotel everyday in either a muu-muu or an oversized sweatshirt, sobbing. Her mother was with her, but not Kevin. Britney left the hotel [Monday], but Kevin is still here."

FASTER CABLE INTERNET: The industry's standard-settings unit plans to endorse technology that will let operators boost speeds 400% to 1,600%, over their existing lines.

SMUCKERS wants a patent o­n its sealed, crustless peanut butter and jelly pockets.

BIG P*SSY: Vincent Pastore, best known as The Sopranos' late mobster Big P*ssy, has been slapped with assault charges following a violent argument with his fiance Saturday in New York.

NEIL ARMSTRONG, MUDDY WATERS AND NIRVANA are among 50 recordings being added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The discovery of a previously unknown recording by jazz masters Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane was also announced Tuesday. Other inductees from the rock era include James Brown's 1965 Live at the Apollo, the Beach Boys' 1966 Pet Sounds, 1971's The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East and Public Enemy's 1989 Fear of a Black Planet.

THE BEES released their latest single, "Chicken Payback," o­n Monday. You can (and should) see their video to hear it. Would I steer you wrong? Yes; if I know you well enough, I probably already have. But really, what's to lose here? It's daffy fun, trust me.

ON THE PITCHFORK: Simon Rix lists Kaiser Chiefs' favorite albums and singles. Olivia Tremor Contol books two U.K. gigs and o­ne at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA. More, please.

DAVID LOWERY of CVB and Cracker gives a blogging friend advice o­n "How To Win Friends and Influence People in the Music Business."

COVERVILLE is always fun, but its latest podcast includes the Talking Heads' version of "Take Me To The River," which reminded me to recommend it here.

"SUPERFREAK!" It's hard to run for City Council if you are Rick James.

SIDEWAYS: According to Rex Pickett, the author of the book, the story is kinda autobiographical. BTW, kudos to the PR flack who got that story placed o­n the day the movie came out o­n DVD. And I must add that the DVD commentary by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church is quite fun.

SPEAKING OF DVD EXTRAS, The New York Times looks at those who have mastered the young art of turning the video edition of a film into a sui generis event, from menu design to bonus features.

SERIAL KILLER'S DAD sells DVDs of his son's confession, replete with details of of how he lured women to his house and strangled them. Now there's a guy intent o­n beating the fathers of Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson in the creepiness sweepstakes.

LINDSAY LOHAN may be trying to take our minds off of that ugly Bruce Willis rumor with a Christian Slater rumor. Doesn't work for me; sure, Slater is closer to Lohan's age, but Willis has more showbiz clout.

BRITNEY SPEARS: In another sign of the apocolypse, the pop tart and hubby Kevin Federline will star in their own surreality series o­n UPN. No word o­n whether Vegas-based VIP Hostess Vanessa Hulihan, who issued a non-denial of hijinx with K-Fed, or a Kabbalah rabbi will have guest shots o­n the show.

DESPERATE DIVAS REDUX: Teri Hatcher tells her side of the photo shoot disputes linked here yesterday. So does Vanity Fair contributing editor Ned Zeman. Reading these articles together, o­ne gets the impression that ABC does not want Hatcher to be getting more attention than the other Housewives (as she has been), and that Vanity Fair may have purposefully violated ABC's conditions to generate the kerfuffle and get pub for their mag. If I was really conspiratorial, I'd note that the show has returned for its big finale in sweeps season, too.

MADONNA has been cut out of husband Guy Ritchie's latest movie. A source is quoted by ContactMusic as saying, "Perhaps Guy did not want Madonna's kiss of death o­n his latest movie, or perhaps he just decided the scene wasn't quite right, but either way Madonna does not make the final cut." I vote for both of the above.

STARBUCKS is going to start selling CDs by new artists.

WEDDING LANTERNS sparked a UFO scare near Leez Priory in Britain.

GOOGLE will soon let the general public upload self-produced videos to its servers, according to co-founder Larry Page.

WHO DO YOU TRUST? Let's consult the brain scan.

JOHNNY GOSCH: If you attended Iowa State University at the time Pate was active, you probably recognize the name. The Des Moines Register has run a story about a wacky theory that the Iowa paperboy kidnapped in 1982 and never found is former White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, exposed in February as James Guckert, a man with no journalism experience and links to several gay escort addresses o­nline. Register staffer Erin Crawford notes that "The Gannon-Gosch conspiracy theory first appeared o­n the message board of a liberal political site called The Democratic Underground on Feb. 26." She also notes Sherman Skolnick's posts at Rense and Jeff Wells' blog, Rigorous Intuition. Anyone who visits these sites can figure out their politics, which makes Crawford's insertion of Rush Limbaugh into the story almost as wacky as the the Gosch-Gannon theory itself. The story says o­nly that he talked about Gannon (as did many others), not Gosch; the idea that Limbaugh would be claiming President Bush is involved with a government-run pedophile ring seems unlikely.

RELIGION AND JOURNALISM: There were 35,000 new major media stories o­n the Pope in the 24 hours after his death Saturday. Yet Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz told his weekly chat audience: "None of the networks has a fulltime religion reporter. Two of the three newsmagazines haven't replaced religion reporters who have left."

NPR's WHITE NOISE: Columnist Eric Deggans writes that "public radio - especially NPR's signature shows - just feels too darn white."

VIGILANTES AID ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: The Border Patrol and human-rights groups have criticized the monthlong Minuteman Project, which is described as a protest of the federal government's inability to control the U.S.-Mexican border. However, in the first documented encounter between the Minutemen and Mexican nationals sneaking across the border, volunteers gave aid to a lost, emaciated and dehydrated man. The Border Patrol is still unhappy.

FEMALE BOXER DIES AFTER K.O.: Becky Zerlentes, 34, died Sunday from a head injury sustained in a Golden Gloves competition. The story avoids any reference to Million Dollar Baby.

GREEN DAY was baffled that the Marriott Marquis rejected the Independent Film Channel's billboard featuring the heart-shaped grenade gripped by a bloodied hand from the cover of the band's American Idiot. IFC exec Evan Shapiro smells politics, dismissing the stated reason that the ad was "distasteful." Politics is possible, but this eyewitness account of people falling to their deaths from the WTC and "piling up o­n the Marriott Marquis" o­n September 11th might explain why the hotel might not be keen to be displaying the bloody grenade.

WHY DID THE WTC COLLAPSE? A new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology finds that the twin towers' design performed fairly well. The Village Voice provides the layperson's explanation: "The NIST, using computer models and mathematical analysis based o­n video and photographic evidence, says the fires were so hot they caused the outer walls o­n the impact side of each of the buildings to bow inward. Eventually the top of each tower began twisting and bending, and the columns were unable to hold the weight of the floors above."

BOYS AND GIRLS think differently from birth?

BILL GATES: wanted a drawbridge for his property in the Bronx, according gossip columnist Cindy Adams.

TONY BLAIR has asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament next week, setting a general election for May 5th. Current predictions are for a decent, but smaller majority for Blair's Labour Party, but opinion polls suggest Labour's lead over the Tories has slipped. American pollster Frank Luntz, who was a political commentator during the 1997 and 2001 elections, conducted a focus group and writes that "never have I seen voters so disgruntled as now."

A CHINESE FOOD DELIVERY MAN was found trapped in a broken elevator Tuesday, more than three days after he was reported missing. The Chinese community feared that Chen might have been a victim of robbery or foul play by immigrant smugglers. I'm sure he survived o­n the food he was supposed to deliver, but ten minutes later... Thank you very much; don't forget to tip your waitress.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE (NO FOOLING):

CARDSTACKER: Bryan Berg holds the Guinness World Records for the World's Tallest House of Cards and World's Largest House of Cards. He previously served as design faculty for three years in the Department of Architecture at Iowa State University, where he received his Professional Degree in Architecture in 1997. No glue was used to make the structures pictured above or at his site. No fooling.

KAISER CHIEFS break bad o­n Franz Ferdinand. Lotsa crabby rockers this week.

FRANK BLACK AMERICANA? Frank Black recorded his forthcoming disc, Honeycomb, in Nashville, with musicians like keyboardist Spooner Oldham, guitarist Steve Cropper, and drummer Billy Block. It's coming out o­n July 19th through Back Porch Records, a roots, rock, and Americana imprint of EMI.

VIC CHESTNUTT has started a song blog, with downloadable demos and such.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Jason Isbell and Michael Cooley talk to the Riverfront Times of St. Louis. Though Isbell says their music is more rural than Southern, Cooley says, "the 'Southern rock' label doesn't annoy me. When you put out a double album called The Southern Rock Opera, you can't b*tch."

PETRA HADEN SELLS OUT: You can stream another bit of her a cappella recreation of The Who Sell Out from NPR. If you missed my earlier post about her, scroll o­n down to Monday, March 28th.

SIN CITY OPENS TODAY: Roger Ebert gives it four stars: "It's a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising and extreme. Yes, and brilliant." But Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum gives it o­nly a C+: "Glued tightly from page to screen, Sin City is so seduced by the visual possibilities of sin that style becomes its own vice." Film Rotation has your boss A-B comparisons of panels from the the graphic novels and frames from the movie -- some mildly NSFW, BTW.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT SPREADS to Broadway, including Spamalot.

TROUBLE IN MUNCHKINLAND: Always is, once an agent gets involved.

DIGITAL CINEMAS: Maverick billionaire blogger Mark Cuban is building the first all-digital theater empire, according to Wired magazine.

A WOMAN GIVES BIRTH IN A GAS STATION, but that wasn't the weirdest part of her day.

NATIONAL TREASURE: Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified material from the National Archives, a misdemeanor, the Justice Department said Thursday. Berger removed handwritten notes by putting them in his jacket and pants and took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio. He returned most of the documents, but some still are missing.

PAT O'BRIEN thinks indie rock sucks. Not really, but it's pretty funny to consider. I'm sure the real Pat O'Brien isn't nearly as hip as the o­ne in this column.

POST-PUNK FASHION: Seeking to emulate their favorite music-makers, fans have helped propel retro eyeglasses into popularity, according to the Mpls. Star-Tribune.

BILLY CORGAN AND ROBERT SMITH sing the Bee Gees. No, really.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK: The Boston Herald reviews his live show which --unlike the o­ne Ken King and I saw -- featured a set of requests. And "Kung Fu Fighting."

NEIL DIAMOND is going to work with Rick Rubin.

OH, BROTHER! Big Brother and the Holding Company wants to audition replacements for Janis Joplin with a television reality show.

YAWNING IS CONTAGIOUS, even among animals.

TED KOPPEL intends to leave ABC News in December.

THE FRENCH HOTEL: While at a rock concert, She Who Must Not Be Named and Kim Stewart (Rod's daughter) ducked into a stall in the ladies room, prompting an impatient lass in line to yell, "At least save some for us!" The story gets worse from there.

IRAQ: Mammoth stockpiles of WMDs discovered buried in the desert outside Basra. April Fool! U.S. intelligence o­n Iraq was "dead wrong," a presidential commission reported o­n Thursday. Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. As many as o­ne out of four veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the past 16 months were diagnosed with mental disorders, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Mudville Gazette compares the statistics from that study to statistics for all Americans, with interesting results. Insurgent attacks have fallen dramatically since the election and the number of U.S. deaths reported in March dropped to the lowest in a year. The Associated Press hastens to add, "But the news isn't all good." Turkey is expected to give the go-ahead to the United States to use an air base in southern Turkey as a logistics hub for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

LEFT OF THE DIAL: Air America celebrates its first anniversary. Jon Sinton, president of programming, calls it a "smashing success." The Fall 2004 Arbitron ratings for listeners 12 and older showed the ''progressive talk radio network" lagging near the bottom but making notable progress over previous formats, said spokesman Joe Mazzei. Notably, the net has gotten a boost from Clear Channel Communications, o­nce a bete noire of the left.

CULT OF THE iPod: Euan Lindsay has targeted fellow students at Glasgow University with anti-iPod flyers. Mercedes-Benz is set to become the first car manufacturer to integrate the iPod, including free "Mixed Tape" music downloads. In a profile of Houston-based podcasters, the writer suggests that some corporations are geting into sposoring or advertising o­n podcasts.

NANOTECH: This o­ne is probably o­nly for Pate mastermind Jon Pratt, as it invovles thin-film shape memory alloys. I've also discovered Roland Piquepaille's blog, which had entries o­n: (1) fluorescent and stable nano-probes which can stay inside a cell's nucleus for hours or even days, which should help biologists to better understand nuclear processes that evolve slowly, such as DNA replication, genomic alterations, and cell cycle control; and (2) NASA's plans for robotic nanotech swarms o­n Mars... in 2034.

ZIMBABWE: PubliusPundit rounds up coverage of the beginning of the election, which international human rights organizations and the European Union already call phony. A blogger from the opposition party claims that electoral officers are being instructed not to publish the results of poll immediately following the completion of the vote count at each polling station. As noted by Publius, "The results of the vote will be announced (after) 48 hours, just enough time for the ballot to be falsified."

DEMOCRATIC DIAGNOSIS: In the American Prospect, Kevin Mattson argues that Democrats should rely less o­n 60's-style protest tactics and study how the GOP built its infrastructure over the decades. In the magazine's blog, Matthew Yglesias argues that there is a limit to that approach.

THIS JUST IN: He held grudges, couldn't stand criticism, craved attention and had a tendency to bully others, according to a re-discovered 1940s psychological profile of Adolf Hitler. The report said that if Germany were to lose the war, Hitler might kill himself. The full report is at the Cornell Law School.