LEE HAZLEWOOD -- producer, songwriter, and sometimes duet partner of Nancy Sinatra -- died peacefully on Saturday, August 4, in Henderson, Nevada, after a three-year battle with terminal renal cancer. He was 78.  Pitchfork's obit embeds several videos, while inexplicably excluding their most famous Hazlewood-Sinatra collaboration, the 1967 single "Some Velvet Morning," which reached #26 on Billboard's pop chart but has had a lasting impact through scores of cover versions by a wide variety of artists.  Apparently, Pitchfork only knows one video site.  BTW, the family have requested that those wishing to honor Hazlewood should make donations to the Salvation Army.

NEW RELEASES:  The new Okkervil River album is really the big release this week, but Sebadoh, The Brunettes, Flight of the Conchords and more are streaming from Spinner.  Peter Case has his first album in years streaming at YepRoc.  And Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are streaming previews of the Americana-tinged sophomore LP at their site.

LOLLAPALOOZA is recapped at USA Today's Pop Candy blog and in the Chicago Sun-Times.  I already knew Iggy Pop still rocks it harder than people a third his age, but it seems that Roky Erickson has made ana amazing comeback from schizophrenia.  You can stream some Roky via the ol' HM.

BETTYE LaVETTE & DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS:  Stereogum has an advance track from LaVette's upcoming The Scene of the Crime LP, titled "You Don't Know Me At All."

JIMMY PAGE, RON WOOD & ANDY SUMMERS pick the top ten guitar tracks in music history.  As you might guess, there is a conflict of interest... or two.

THE PIPETTES back Le Sophie Grande on the late Lee Hazlewood's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'."

SOUL SIDES:  Oliver Wang talks to the Daily Californian about his music blog and compilation album series.

HUSKER DU:  Captain's Dead is streaming a gig from June 1984 (likely the first part of the New Day Rising tour).

SPOON:  Gimme Fiction may have been the band's breakthrough LP, but frontman Britt Daniel tells Australia's The Age that it wasn't their best.

THE CLASH:  Berkeley Place has posted an "A to Z" of Clash covers, mash-ups and Joe Strummer tributes, which you can jukebox via the ol' HM.

LINDSAY LOHAN, last seen holed up at her mom's house, is now reportedly rehabbing at the Cirque Lodge in Sundance, Utah.  Meanwhile, at least one studio exec told Entertainment Weekly: ''Her films don't open. She's a pain to work with. I think she's done.''

BRITNEY SPEARS has hired uber-manager Jeff Kwatinez to help resurrect her dying career, thus ending the pop tart's attempt at managing herself. 

JAMES BROWN:  The Godfather of Soul was father to at least two more people, according to the latest DNA tests.

GWYNETH PALTROW uses snake venom to de- wrinkle.

DENISE RICHARDS & CHARLIE SHEEN have resumed hostilities over Sheen's visitation rights with their daughters, with Sheen's camp claiming Denise's nanny spies on Sheen and that Denise is jealous of Sheen's fiancee.

GEORGE CLOONEY and MATT DAMON wore extra-large shoes to stick in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre because of... shrinkage.

BRADGELINA and their biological daughter Shiloh are going to be recognized with an Australian postage stamp.

JESSICA SIMPSON is reportedly using a professional matchmaker to the rich and famous, according to the uber-reliable Life & Style magazine.

KOBE BRYANT is getting a divorce from stand-by-your-man-after-he-buys-you-a-ginormous-ring wife Vanessa?  That's the rumor...

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Rupert Everett is defending Cruise's devotion to Scientology, on the ground that it's no more wacky than other religions.  I'm sure Cruise is thrilled to hear that.

MIA FARROW has offered her freedom in exchange for that of a respected Darfur rebel figure, virtually imprisoned for more than 13 months, in a letter to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

SEAN PENN:  Even major Hollywood liberals are saying Spicoli "went too far" in letting himself be used by Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez to again bash the US.  BTW, last month, Chavez ousted Defense Minister Gen. Raúl Isaías Baduel -- who reinstalled Chavez after a coup -- causing Baudel to take a jab at Chávez's control of all government branches.

TERROR is the US?  Intelligence gleaned from last month's British "doctors plot" of car bombers suggests that an al-Qaeda cell is on the loose in the US.

IRAQ:  The US command says that some 25,000 followers of mostly Sunni tribal leaders have turned on the insurgency and at least nominally aligned with Iraq's Shiite-led government in the fight against al-Qaeda.  USN&WR reports on further progress in Ramadi, where abandoned buildings are being refurbished or torn down, the main marketplace is once again busy, most residents have electricity for as much as 17 hours a day, and the city water system is running again.  The US and Iran held a "frank and serious" first meeting on Monday of a new committee set up by the arch foes to seek an end to Iraq's sectarian violence.  Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno says that rogue Shiite militia fighters said to be armed and trained by Iran were responsible for nearly three-quarters of attacks that killed or wounded Americans in Baghdad last month.

IRAQ II:   Iyad Allawi, leader of the Iraqi National List, asked the five INL ministers not to attend the cabinet meetings and to boycott Prime Minister al-Maliki as "a first step to withdraw from the Iraqi government" in protest against its policies.  Az-Zaman claimed that Pres. al-Talabani received a message from the Pres. Bush that included criticism of PM al-Maliki.  The  pan-Arab al-Hayat reported that Maliki may be trying to circumvent the Iraqi Accord Front, which regards itself as the "legitimate" representative of Sunni Arabs in Iraq, by courting his allies among the clans of Anbar.  AT ITM, Omar covers the rifts in the political class and military leadership.  Michael Yon has a new dispatch on what it took to pry food shipments for Baqubah from the Iraqi gov't.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  The story of The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist" continues, with the Weekly Standard claiming that a military source close to the investigation says that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp -- author of the much-disputed columns -- signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in TNR were exaggerations and falsehoods.  If true, some may argue that he lied to investigators but he told TNR the truth... but if so, he will likely never say so while in uniform.  And if true, there may be some TNR staffers who never want to come back from vacation.

HUAHUA swims more than 4km every day to nurse her newborn puppies who are stranded on an island.

KANGAROOS  will be sent to live a life of luxury in air-conditioned accomodation after public outrage at plans to kill them backfired.

CORNWALL SHARK UPDATE:  The UK has been gripped by shark fever ever since a Great White was filmed off the coast of St Ives, with with costume suppliers Angels of London struggling to keep up with demand for shark-themed costumes.

MULES are four-legged bookmobiles in remote areas of Venezuela.

AN ACCUSED SHEEP MOLESTER in the Netherlands walks free because the animal was unable to testify.  No, really.