THE FOURTH of JULY STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEACH BOYS!  Yep, 50 years going and time to "Do It Again."  Because folks my age will always remember their mammoth July 4th concerts at the Washington Monument -- as with this 1980 take o­n "Good Vibrations." Given the time of year, I have to include this 1964 clip of "Surfin' U.S.A." which I think is from the same gig that produced these takes on "Little Deuce Coupe," "In My Room," "Shut Down," "Surfer Girl" and "Fun, Fun Fun." Their take on "Dance, Dance, Dance" from Shindig! later that year is like a slice of Christmas in July.  There's also a nifty twofer of "I Get Around" and "'When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)" from their first UK TV appearance o­n Ready Steady Go!  The Andy Williams Show serves up "Help Me, Rhonda," while The Jack Benny Hour produced these quick takes o­n "Barbara Ann" and "California Girls."  There's a primitive video for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" that starts with a cameo from Brian Wilson's dogs (Banana and Louie), who appear at the end of the Pet Sounds LP.  And I'll finish with a live version of "God Only Knows" from the 1967 European tour -- one of the last Brian would do for a decade or so.

MORE BEACH BOYS: Observations from The New Republic and George F. Will. But leave it to the New York Times to be the most political.

RAY CHARLES performs "America The Beautiful" like no one else.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: Bruce Springsteen, circa 1978, before it came out on The River.

DAVE ALVIN: Hey, baby, it's the "4th of July."

JAMES LILEKS: Truth.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER: From 2008, Hidden Track serves up 12 video versions. And the only ones not working now are Jimi Hendrix and Whitney Houston.

THE UNITED STATES prepares to celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 4, 1776. As the Wikipedia notes, this is a little arbitrary: New Englanders had been fighting Britain since April 1775; the first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made o­n June 8th; and the Congress voted 12-0 for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain o­n July 2, 1776. Even so, the publication of the Declaration was momentous .  If you're not in DC, the best way to see and learn about the Declaration may be through the Charters of Freedom website. But you can watch Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas, Renee Zelleweger, Kevin Spacey, Wynona Ryder and other Hollywood folk read the Declaration, after a short introduction by Morgan Freeman.

Of course, the holiday more broadly celebrates the American Revolutionary War, and the Founders' unlikely victory. People with the highest standard of living and the lowest taxes in the Western World fought a sometimes unpopular war for our freedom. Early o­n, the Revolutionaries (also known as "Americans" or "Patriots") had the active support of about 40 to 45 percent of the colonial population. By 1779, there were more Americans fighting with the British than with Washington, which is why Washington needed help from the French, the Spanish and freed Blacks. You can separate fact from fiction regarding the sacrifices and fates of the Founders at Snopes. You can hear two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough read from the first chapter of his 1776 via NPR. Or watch a nifty clip on the passage and public reading of the Declaration from the John Adams miniseries.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN? Not really. The Fun Spider-Man? Mostly. Reboots are even more a matter of art and commerce than the typical movie.  The best, like Batman Begins, elevate themselves over their predecessors.  Others serve larger artistic and commercial goals -- like the Ed Norton version of The Incredible Hulk, which sought to integrate the character into the Marvel Universe that would reach full fruition in The Avengers. (Indeed, the Hulk rebooted even more quickly than ol' Spidey here for that reason.)  In this case, it does not seem like there was much more rationale than to continue the franchise after the prior iteration exhausted itself creatively.  This being a full reboot, we revisit Spidey's origin; this version plays fast and loose with the canon, again for reasons of both art and commerce.  The old skooler in me enjoyed the introduction of the mechanical web-shooters and was less thrilled with some of the other liberties taken.  Indeed, I fear this script limits the series in ways the first trilogy did, even though it could have avoided the biggest of them.  All of that said, this version was not only entertaining, but also superior to Spider-Man 3 (perhaps not the highest bar to clear).  Although director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) might seem like an odd choice, he does well with young and engaging actors like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, which is a key to its success.  Moreover, Webb does surprisingly well with the action sequences, which are generally well-planned and easy to follow, rather than the jumble of jump cuts you get from less thoughtful movies.  It's currently at 72 percent with a 6.8 rating on the ol Tomatometer, and that's about right, maybe a little low. 

STEVE DITKO, the co-creator of Spider-Man, has long been thought of as the J.D. Salinger of the comics world.

ANDY GRIFFITH, an actor whose folksy Southern manner charmed audiences for more than 50 years on Broadway, in movies, on records and especially on television - most notably as the small-town sheriff on the long-running situation comedy that bore his name - died on Tuesday at his home on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. He was 86. I just got "A Face in the Crowd" for my brithday, which still holds up; here's a Vanity Fair piece on the film.

TOM CRUISE & KATIE HOLMES: She gets vritually none of his fortune under the prenup, and that's fine with her.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson threatened his own 78-year-old step-mom, spit in her face and sabotaged her marriage, according to legal docs.

ANN CURRY was ousted from Today by Matt Lauer?

JENA MALONE is in talks to play snide tribute Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.

THE OLYMPICS: Officials deny reports of an al Qaeda threat.

FRANCE: Police arrested a 35-year-old Tunisian suspected of financing and recruiting for al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Fatah al Islam, and the Islamic State of Iraq.

IRAQ: Insurgents killed 36 Iraqis in bombings in Diwaniyah, Karbala, and Taji. Security forces captured a senior al Qaeda leader in Ramadi.

TWIGGY: Another Fourth of July tradition, the water-skiing squirrel. Great story. Compelling and rich.

A SOUTHERN FLYING SQUIRREL leaps 150 ft. through the night sky.

MOKELE-MBEME: Intrepid explorers hunt for the "African Loch Ness Monster."

THE WORLD'S UGLIEST DOG returns to British soil to promote his new documentary Mutt Ugly.