OKKERVIL RIVER plays "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" for a late night host on the Peacock network.

HILLY KRISTAL, founder of legendary New York rock club CBGB, died Tuesday of complications from lung cancer at 75.  Kristal ran the club for 33 years and helped to launch the careers of the Talking Heads, Blondie, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television and countless other bands. CBGB, which stood for "Country, Blue Grass and Blues, closed last year.  Free Indie details his career.

GREAT LAKES MYTH SOCIETY singer Tim Monger tells the Chicago Sun-Times that "the regionalism in our material is more a tendency than an intention," and professes his love for the late Trip Shakespeare, an influence I can kinda hear in the tracks streaming from TheirSpace.  "Summer Bonfire" would be my pick to click.  BONUS: The most important links in my tribute to Trip Shakespeare from last November still work... and the fan-maintained page is streaming the band's cover of "Time of the Season."

"KINDIE" ROCK:  North Carolina's News & Observer not only surveys the secene from well-known kid-friendly rockers like Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Lunch Money, the Sippy Cups, They Might Be Giants and Jack Jonson, but also links up to local kindie artists. 

BAND OF HORSES has a a new track, "Is There A Ghost," to stream and download from TheirSpace.

GLEN CAMPBELL & STONE TEMPLE PILOTS play Jimmy Webb's classic "Wichita Lineman" in this high-quality bootleg video.

BO DIDDLEY was in stable condition at a Florida hospital after suffering a heart attack.  His publicist says "The situation is very serious."

CROWDED HOUSE architect Neil Finn answers five questions from the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, including one about fellow NZ rockers The Conchords.

GRACE POTTER and the NOCTURNALS gave an interview and in-studio performance of their earthy rock to David Dye at the World Cafe, streaming via NPR.

AMY WINEHOUSE texted an apology to her distraught father after he told how he wanted to kill himself because of her drug addiction.

OWEN WILSON:  Brit actor Steve Coogan denies claims that he got the suicidal Wilson into heavy drugs:"These accusations are unfounded, unhelpful and hurtful to all concerned. We are taking legal advice."  Wilson has dropped out of Tropic Thunder, a movie comedy he was set to begin shooting in two to three weeks with longtime pal Ben Stiller.  Elle magazine has pulled an interview with him out of respect for the troubled star.  A look at Wilson's collaborations with filmmaker Wes Anderson, which he has called his most personal films, are often comedic meditations on depression, alienation and suicide.

MADONNA has been given the green light to adopt a second orphan from Malawi - a 13-month-old girl called Mercy.

WHITNEY HOUSTON & BOBBY BROWN: All-new divorce papers obtained by Extra claim Bobby lived in his car while Whitney was in rehab.

GWYNETH PALTROW is putting Hollywood on hold to film her own TV cookery show, leaving hubby Chris Martin and kids Apple and Moses behind for two months as she tours Spain with chef Mario Batali for PBS.

DENISE RICHARDS was "disappointed" to learn of ex-husband CHARLIE SHEEN's statement complaining that Richards sent her assistant in place of a nanny for his supervised child custody, adding in her own statement that "This was and should still be a private matter that we as responsible parents settled privately."

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is disappearing into thin.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  According to Star Magazine, Tom Cruise's pre-Kitten kids, Isabella and Connor, are away at a Scientology camp in Oregon as part of a "get them while they're young' campaign."

MISS CONDUCT:  Miss South Carolina Teen USA Lauren Caitlin Upton - whose mangled answer to a simple competition question became an Internet sensation - is now hosting a geography quiz at People magazine's website.

INDIE ROCKIN' ACTRESSES:  The L.A. Times posts a photo-essay.

ELISHA CUTHBERT is reportedly back on the market, so I may not be here Monday.

THE DARK KNIGHT:  Some Joker blew up Gotham General Hospital (i.e., the abandoned Brach's candy building) on the West Side of Chicago (not the infamous East Side) yesterday.  Kris Habermehl of Chicago's WBBM-TV was over the scene and immediately went on the radio to assure people that the blast was all part of the script and not a terrorist act.  Video at both links, 'cause you can never get enough video of stuff blowing up.  BONUS:  Here's a Flickr photoset of shooting -- including director Chris Nolan, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Anthony Michael Hall -- down by the Chicago Board of Trade.  There are also shots of the extras having to wear fall clothes in our current steamy weather, and the helicopter that bases out of the lot across the street from my digs.

NANOTUBES:  Professor Nicola Pugno, of the Polytechnic of Turin, has worked out a formula for the adhesive power of the technology and he predicts that the first Spider-Man suit will be created by 2017.

DON'T FEAR THE REAPER, unless you belong to the Taliban or Al Qaeda in Iraq.  The Reaper is an upgraded version of the unmanned Predator drone, but twice as fast, with the bombing power of an F-16 and eight times the flying time without refueling.  Let's go to the video.  Of course, it could use a little... more cowbell.

PAKISTAN:  Pres. Musharraf has agreed to step down as army chief as part of a broad and once-unthinkable agreement being finalized with his chief political rival, Benazir Bhutto, officials on both sides said Wednesday.  The agreement, if completed, would likely permit Musharraf to continue as president and allow Bhutto to return to Pakistan after eight years of exile to try to win back her old job as prime minister.  More broadly, the deal would fundamentally alter the political landscape in Pakistan, a top US ally on counterterrorism but also a haven for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.  The guardian looks at the stakes and angles for Musharraf, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999.

IRAQ:  Radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered the Mahdi Army to stop attacks on US-led forces as part of a six-month suspension of the militia's activities after Shiite clashes during the pilgimage to Karbala leave al-Sadr with PR and leadership problems.  And the freeze doesn't extend to rival Shia factions -- gunmen believed to be from the Mahdi Army  attacked several Baghdad offices of the two major governing Shia parties.  Bill Roggio breaks down the internals of the Mahdi Army.  Prime Minister al-Maliki made an "emergency visit" to Karbala, accompanied by two government ministers, amid attempts to defuse tensions between the major Shia parties there after the armed clashes which marred the pilgimage.  Maliki sacked the local security chief.  The US military in Baghdad says a leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed after grabbing a soldier and attempting to detonate a "suicide vest."

BOBBY the BOB-TAILED RACOON outlasts a Southern Illinois cattle rancher.  Video at the link.

OWLS are taking calls from mobile phones in the UK.  It's about time Hogwarts joined the 21st century.

BIGFOOT:  A member of the Canadian Mounted Police has officially notified Parliament that he believes that Bigfoot should be added to the nation's Species at Risk Act, which is similar to the Endangered Species List in the US.

DOGS can now take swimming lessons at Manhattan dog spa houses.  Four months after his first lesson, Salty the miniature schnauzer is the envy of his classmates, who excitedly bark and sniff the water but don't dare jump in without the instructor's help.

325000 TROUT are skydiving into Aspen Colorado.