THE DECEMBERISTS frontman Colin Meloy cites a fairly obscure song by Robyn Hitchcock, "The Ghost Ship," as a major influence on his songwriting.  So it's no wonder that Meloy was all smiles when Hitchcock joined the band to play "Lost Madonna of the Wasps" last month.  If only the sync on the clip was better...

TOP TEN TRAIN SONGS:  At Stylus, Nick Southall has a list of his favorite train songs, mostly obscure ones (it is Stylus, after all).  IGN has a list which at least acknowledges upfront that "we've left off some obvious numbers ('Casey Jones' by the Grateful Dead" for example, songs by Roger Miller and Johnny Cash, too), but we went with our guts, our hearts, and the first 10 songs that popped into our brain with a subconscious sense of entitlement."  Though I might take a few from those lists, I don't know how songs like "Mystery Train," "City of New Orleans," "Train Kept A Rollin'," "Night Train," "It Takes A Lot To Laugh (It Takes A Train To Cry) (live)," "5:15" (live with an F-bomb, but the bass solo by The Ox rawks),  "I Often Dream Of Trains" (with a bonus), "People Get Ready," and "Downtown Train" made neither list.  And Johnny Cash has so many (including "Folsom Prison Blues") that I would be tempted to go with "I've Got A Thing About Trains."

REUNIONS:  Everyone from my Dad to Mother Jones has noticed the rash of rock reunions in recent months.  Guess which one linked here?  However, the rumored Neutral Milk Hotel reunion was an April Fool's joke.

TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS hit the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC last Thurdsay, so you can stream the gig (and an interview) from NPR now.

MUSIC LEAKS:  The Christian Science Monitor reports that -- brace yourself -- Indie record companies are using controlled (and sometimes uncontrolled) leaks of new music to generate buzz.  Who'da thunk it?  Idolator notes that the leak of the new Modest Mouse LP did not stop it from debuting at No.1 on the Billboard chart last week.  Both items just make BBspot's RIAA Lawsuit Decision Matrix all the more funny.

LILY ALLEN tells the San Diego Union Tribune: "I've never hesitated to say what's on my mind," and the paper provides plenty of examples... though they missed my fave, in which she says she not only wrote a nasty song about an ex, but also slept with all of his friends.  All of which is prelude to this clip of Allen covering Blondie's "Heart of Glass" last week at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR.

PAUL WELLER gobbed on a framed picture of Sting hanging at the Royal Albert Hall.  And it's not the first time that 55-year-old Sting has been subject to a mouthful by the former Jam frontman.

PETER BJORN & JOHN were interviewed by NPR over the weekend, but were not asked about the similarity between their best-known song, "Young Folks," and the asian riff that kicks off "Turning Japanese."

THE GENEAOLOGY OF POP/ROCK MUSIC is a wonderful print (be sure to use the "zoom" tool).  Artist Reebee Garafolo explains it a bit at that link and at this link.

THE 20 WORST ROCK LYRICS... but then again, no... courtesy of Spinner.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD, but we just found out that none of the 11 drugs that were found in her hotel room were prescribed to her -- though they were all written by her shrink.  And that the drug that killed her was stored in a duffel bag, though she supposedly was too sick to get out of bed without assistance.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  Blades of Glory skated into first place with million (Will Ferrell's second-best opening), followed by Disney's Meet the Robinsons with $25 million (about in line with movies like Open Season).  300 raked in another $11.1 million.  Last week's leader, TMNT, skidded into fourth place (probably due to Meet the Robinsons), but has made more than ins $34 million budget already.  Wild Hogs rounds out the Top Five with $8.3 million.  Shooter dropped from third to sixth, and will struggle to break even.  Premonition hung around in seventh place and has made almost twice its $20 million budget.  The Last Mimzy skidded from fifth to eighth, another likely casualty of Meet the Robinsons.  The Hills Have Eyes 2 also dropped three slots, but has broken even with its $15 million budget.  Reign O'er Me rounds out the Top Ten, while the near-wide release of The Lookout made $2 million, with an eighth-place per screen average.

HEATHER MILLS is still playing the "my leg might fly off card" this week for Dancing With The Stars.

JOHN TRAVOLTA -- who owns five private jets -- is concerned about global warming as only a Scientologist can be:  "I'm wondering if we need to think about other planets and dome cities." 

JACKO, denying reports that Jackson had been hospitalized with pneumonia, had his rep say that he is "a little bit under the weather," but hasn't sought hospital treatment.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Cruise has a hand-me-down stalker from John Cusack.  How the mighty have fallen.

ALEC BALDWIN has taken his share of criticism for his outspoken politcs, but he was so moved by the story of 18-year-old Pvt. Resha Kane's departure for Iraq that he's going to help pay for her college education after she leaves the military.

HOWIE DAY is  advertising he was in rehab with Britney Spears.

MIA FARROW wants to know: "Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games?"  The Nazi comparison is -- as usual -- overdone.  But Spielberg may want to look at the ethical issues raised by helping the PRC on the PR front.

GRINDHOUSE directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez' show Entertainment Weekly -- and the rest of us -- their ten favorite movie posters.

ROSIE O'DONNELL had a full-on 9/11 conspiracy theory meltdown on The View last week; she gets really wacky about four minutes into the clip.  Her particular rant has been debunked many times, but Popular Mechanics did a special debunking, just for her.

CHOCOLATE JESUS UPDATE:  An angry choir of outraged Catholics, including Cardinal Edward Egan, forced the cancellation of a planned Holy Week exhibition featuring a life-sized, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ.  The hotel and the gallery were overrun Thursday with angry phone calls and e-mails about the exhibit, reportedly including death threats.  Anyone making such threats should be caught and subject to appropriate legal action.  Those threats also have had some comparing this to the Danish Cartoon Jihad.  Those people forget that the cartoons appeared after film director Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamic fanatic, and a lecturer at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute in Copenhagen had been assaulted for reading the Koran to non-Muslims.  They also forget the hundreds killed and wounded in the cartoon jihad, not to mention the embassies, churches and businesses torched by extremist riots, the million-dollar fatwa and the jailing of some who published the cartoons.  Religions have their fanatics, but some religions seem to have a lot more of them.  BTW, the artist says offers to buy or exhibit the piece have been pouring in.

IRAN:   Britain is in "direct bilateral communication" with Iran over the 15 sailors and marines captured by Tehran.  British ministers are preparing a compromise deal to allow Iran to save face and release its 15 British military captives by promising that the Royal Navy will never knowingly enter Iranian waters without permission.  British options are limited because 48 percent of Brits are opposed to using force (even as a last resort) and the US is unlikely to back military action until diplomacy and possible sanctions have forced Iran to climb down over its nuclear program.  Indeed, the UK is a nation which is now dropping the Holocaust and the Crusades from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils.  At least the Telegraph's legal editor has figured out that the Iranian handling of the prisoners could have broken international humanitarian law.  The kidnapping appears to have caused a split in the Iranian military, according to a report in the Times of London.  Monty Python's Terry Jones thinks the Iranian treatment of the sailors is much better than how the US treats prisoners, managing to overlook the difference (recognized in the Geneva Conventions) between interrogating enemy combatants seized in battle and the unprovoked kidnapping of soldiers in uniform who did not fire on the Iranians.  Not to mention that when US soldiers cross the line, they are prosecuted and punished, as opposed to the official policy of Iran.  And that if this standoff continues, Iran may well resort to beatings, mock executions and such, just as they did after taking US hostages in 1979.  In Germany, Der Spiegel ran a piece outlining the big-picture differences between Iran and the US.  Jones should read it.  At the very least, he should consider what would have happened to him had he made a picture like Life of Brian, but using Islam as the backdrop for his satire.

IRAQ:  In Baghdad, radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for a mass protest on April 9th, while Pres. Talabani says the  Mahdi Army has stopped its activities on al-Sadr's orders.  ITM's Omar Fadhil writes about a US search of his Baghdad home.  James Wixted crunches the numbers on the effect of the "surge" so far, to mixed results.  The Kurdish rep to the United States says Iraqi Kurds are afraid they will again be left in the lurch if US troops are forced to leave next year.  So it's good news that the Iraqi govt has endorsed a decision to relocate and compensate thousands of Arabs who moved to Kirkuk as part of Saddam Hussein's campaign to push the Kurds out of the oil-rich city.

IRAQ at HOME:  Congress has gone on Spring Break without appointing people to work out the differences in the bills to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They will not return to DC until until April 16-one day after the Pentagon says it must get the emergency funding for troop operations to avoid cutbacks.  The differences between the House and Senate may not be quickly resolved.  The Congressional Research Service says that the Army could continue to wage war through July without additional funding from Congress, though not without affecting training and readiness, which could lead forces now in Iraq and Afghanistan to have their tours lengthened.  MSNBC had video of a Seattle-area sailor home from a seven month tour in Iraq surprising his six-year-old son in his classroom Friday.  Have the Kleenex handy.

OTTERS HOLDING HANDS:  More aww...some video.

SQUIRREL POWER:  Never underestimate the power of the North American Gray Squirrel.

KAMIKAZE GOOSE  smashes a Skoda on a British motorway.

PET HOARDING goes really arwy, as 30 dogs, 20 cats, seven doves, four finches, two parakeets and one parrot die in a fire at a hoarder's home in Southampton.

A BABY TAPIR makes its public at the Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland.  Here's what it looks like.

WILCO plans to stream the upcoming Sky Blue Sky in its entirety for most all of Sunday, so if you missed it before, here's another chance.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEAT FARMERS!  This more sober than usual, professionally-shot, early BF gig was recorded at Universal Studios, including "There She Goes Again" (VU); "Road to Ruin," "Bigger Fool," "Reason to Believe" (Springsteen), "Powderfinger" (N. Young), "Happy Boy," "Big Ugly Wheels," "Bigger Stones," "Gun Sale at the Church," "Dallas Blues," "I Wanna Be Free," "Lakeside Trailer Park," "Death Train," and "Seven Year Itch."  If you're new to the band, my picks would be "Bigger Stones," "Happy Boy" and the cover of your choice.  SUPER-SPECIAL BONUS:  Now how much would you pay?  But wait... there's more!  If you really want to see someone put the "bar" in "bar band," watch these NSFW clips from Houston, TX of the late Country Dick Montana leading the band through "Lucille" (K. Rogers) -- complete with his favorite beer bottle stunts -- followed by "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Wino," "Are You Drinkin' With Me, Jesus?" and "Mondo."

ART BRUT gave Spinner five unmastered tracks from the band's sophomore LP, It's a Bit Complicated.

FOUNTAINS of WAYNE:  Adam Schlessinger talks to UGO about writing and recording the new album, Traffic & Weather, for which the early reviews have been... uh, mixed.  (Thanks, Chromewaves -- even when painful.)

RICHARD BARONE:  The ex-Bongo's Cool Blue Halo is this week's "Shadow Classic" at NPR, including streams of his version of "Numbers With Wings" and Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World."

OF MONTREAL:  Kevin Barnes talks to the Gainsville Sun about getting bigger and more theatrical.  Bryan Poole calls into the Miami New Times from Detroit to say that crowds are digging their cowbell.

FORGIVE ME, IT'S FRIDAY:  It was (and is) a little bit frightening.

MIKE WATT:  Exclaim! has a timeline of the life and career of the Minutemen bassist and indie icon.

JOE BOYD compares producing tours and records to being "the guy with the broom in curling." 

GEDDY LEE of Rush talks fantasy baseball with ESPN, which should have me covered with both Craig O'Neill and Sylvia Hauser.

BONO has been named an honorary knight of the British Empire -- but don't call him "Sir," as he's not a Brit.

THE CUTOUT BIN:  This Friday's fortuitous finds on the ol' HM include: Art Brut -  Formed A Band; The Jesus & Mary Chain - April Skies; Teenage Fanclub - Take The Skinheads Bowling (live CVB cover); Kaiser Chiefs - Saturday Night (not the BCR); Hoodoo Gurus - Leilani, Pt. II; U2 -Out of Contol; That Petrol Emotion - Can't Stop; Seu Jorge - Rebel Rebel; Indigo Girls - Midnight Train to Georgia (live); Mama Cass Elliot - I Think It's Going to Rain Today; Eleni Mandell - You're All Bad (And That's Why You've Been Invited); The Grass Roots - Midnight Confession; Black Lips - Buried Alive; Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World; Fountains of Wayne -  New Routine; Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly; Beastie Boys - Sabotage; and The B-52s - Rock Lobster.

HALLE BERRY admits that she tried to gas herself when her fiery union to Atlanta Braves baseball star David Justice collapsed, but pulled out at the last minute.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide releases are: the futuristic Disney 3-D animation Meet The Robinsons, currently scoring 69 percent on the Tomatometer; the Will Ferrell ice capade Blades of Glory, which is scoring 64 percent (75 percent among the "cream of the crop" critics); and (semi-wide) the heist pic The Lookout, which is scoring 83 percent.

BRITNEY SPEARS & FED-EX settle all family business, without Moe Green taking one in the eye..

BORAT:  Sacha Baron Cohen and his Australian fiancée Isla Fisher are reportedly set to become first-time parents after blurting out the exciting news at a Los Angeles bar.  Actually, I'm pretty sure that if they are going to be parents, it was after something else, but people found out about it at the bar.

JACKO has been hospitalized in Las Vegas with pneumonia, sources tell FOXNews.com's 411 column.  I link, you decide.

CHRIS ROCK may be taking a DNA test, according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer.  If so, maybe we'll start hearing those rumors of marital woes again.

JESSICA BIEL:  I don't know whether I Now Pronounce You Chck & Larry will be funny, but it does have Jessica Biel in various states of undress, which is something.  Egotastic has Hi-Def screen caps and video.

TV'S BIGGEST MONEYMAKERS, according to Forbes magazine.  The list has some surprises.  For example, the season's smash hit, Heroes, is still a fairly cheap ad buy.

COURTNEY LOVE:  US Weekly has a flattering bikini pic,  but other angles show shows off her terrible lipsuction.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD and lawyer-companion Howard K. Smith is still trying to drag out the DNA testing of the late model's infant daughter.

MARY-KATE & ASHLEY OLSEN, recognizing how much of their empire rests on their twindom, are reportedly getting matching nose jobs.  And possibly not for the first time.  Pics at the link.

IRAQ:  Al Qaeda stoked sectarian violence in Tal Afar that included off-duty Iraqi police; IraqSlogger noted that the media portrayal of it as "revenge" killing is inaccurate.  The WaPo covers the splintering of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, while IraqSlogger notes the splintering of the Sunni 1920 Revolution Brigades and other splits emerging within groups affiliated with Al Qaeda.  Defense Tech relays a report that Al Qaeda itself recognizes its influence is currently waning in Iraq.  In Baghdad, Al Qaeda pulled off a major suicide attack at a largely Shiite market, the first in about a week.  Terrorists have been shifting to attacks outside the capital.  Just outside Baghdad, the Iraqi Army has entered the militant stronghold of Duwanim, which has been a  theater of open conflict and deadly raids between the Mahdi Army and armed Sunni groups.  In Diyala province, more than 40 people died and 80 were injured in three co-ordinated blasts in the town of Khalis.  US and Iraqi forces have been conducting a major clearing operation in Diyala against al Qaeda in Iraq and its political front, Islamic State of Iraq.  Friday seemed like the day to note that Gen. David Patraeus began forging his leadership skills in Little League.  And that Corporal Kermit has deployed with Company H, 121st Infantry, Georgia Army National Guard.  There's a photo gallery at the last link, or you can go straight to the video.

IRAN:  The BBC sums up the outrage in the British press about the Iranian kidnapping of 15 British sailors and marines.  Tehran reneged on a promise to release hostage Faye Tunney, and in a cynical new propaganda stunt, published a handwritten note perprotedly from Tunney calling for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. Austin Bay writes that the Iranian ploy smacks of the regime's desperation over problems foreign and domestic.  The European Union is mulling a general freeze on contact with Iran.  The UN Security Council finally expressed "grave concern" over the matter, though the statement wasn't as tough as Britain had hoped.  The UN "Human Rights Council," otoh, voted to end its examination of Iran, despite deteriorating conditions there.

EASTER is coming soon -- have you picked up your life-sized, anaotmically correct chocolate Jesus yet?  Only 485,460 calories!

TRIXIE, a 12-year-old service pony, may get evicted (along with her owner) from an apartment in White Setllement, TX.  No, I'm not making up that town.  Trixie's not just a seeing-eye pony, either -- she takes Tabitha Darling to work at the local Wal-Mart as well.  Video at the link.

RUH-ROH: Looks like Scooby needed a pacemaker. I blame the Scooby-Snacks!  Pics at the link.

ROBOT SQUIRRELS will soon be intercepting your telephone calls, if the MIT Media lab has anything to say about it.

RARE PARROT SMUGGLER nabbed as she arrived in Russia on a flight from China.

COWS stare unamazed as the Wisconsin Guernsey Breeders Association opens the nominations for Cow of the Year. Did last year's Cow of the Year ever get out of rehab?

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE play "Hanging Around The Day" at the blogger-curated Hot Freaks show during SxSW (via Stereogum).  It really picks up at about the 1:45 mark.  Here's their best-known track, "Light and Day," as a bonus.

WOXY, the reborn internet indie station, has started a blog called The Futurist.

TED LEO gets a lengthy feature in the New York Observer, covering the usual politics but also touching on his love for R&B music.  And that new WOXY blog can hook you up with free MP3s and live video.

THE 50 TOP ONE-HIT WONDERS countdown continues at Stylus.

NELLIE McKAY played the Birchmere music hall in Alexandria, VA, the other night, so you can stream the gig via NPR now, but be warned: "This unedited concert recording contains language that is not suitable for all audiences. Opinions expressed are solely those of the artist."

PAUL WELLER talks to Harp magazine about his career-spanning 4-disc box set, Hit Parade... while chatting upa ladyfriend on another line.

FEIST is premiering her third video "webisode," featuring "The Park," from her upcoming album, The Reminder, due out May 1st.

MAXIMO PARK:  The band's sophomore album comes out next week, but it's streaming in full from NME now.  Registration required, but I haven't noticed any junk e-mail coming from it.

TINA TURNER is coming out of retirement after seven years to be a private dancer for a charity gig in London.

AN AQUARIUM DRUNKARD has a new podcast posted including The Raincoats, The JBs, GbV, The Meters, Of Montreal and much more.  If you want to stream it, it may be easier to use the ol' HM.

SCOTT WEILAND UPDATE:  His wife Mary claims her bipolar disorder is mostly to blame for the couple's bloody fight at the Graciela Hotel in Burbank last weekend.

RYAN ADAMS, in contrast, has just plain gone b-a-n-a-n-a-s.  As if there had been any doubt.

BRADGELINA:  Jolie is taking heat from US Weekly for filp-flopping from her declared stay-at-home motherhood and short-lived wish to keep new son Pax away from the cameras.  US Weekly somehow fails to mention the role Jolie's cozy relationship with its main competitor, People magazine, has to do with this story.  Meanwhile, this week's Life & Style magazine is claiming that Jolie and Pax narrowly escaped a 100-million-dollar kidnap plot.

LINDSAY LOHAN, finally speaking to her estranged, felonious father, is still telling him to stay away form her mother.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Cruise may be starring in the planned movie on the man who tried to kill Adolf Hitler -- but the descendants of the would-be assassin are concerned that the movie will be financed by the Church of Scientology and be used to get across its propaganda.

NICOLE KIDMAN is getting another round of pregnancy rumors.

HALLE BERRY, otoh, is looking to become a mother.

JERRY HALL has revealed that she and all four of her children with Sir Mick Jagger suffer from dyslexia.

GRINDHOUSE:  Page Six claims that Rose McGowan had her co-stars warned not to wear red to the movie's premiere because she didn't want her own red dress upstaged... and that it backfired.  And what better reason to link to Egotastic's gallery of premiere pics?

DREW BARRYMORE got it on with ex-Jane magazine editrix Jane Pratt?  Page Six could not get a comment from Barrymore.

SPEAKING OF JANE -- the magazine, that is -- there's a funny gallery of celebrity mugshots and confessions taken at the Sundance Film Festival posted at the mag's website.

THE SOPRANOS have a photo spread in the new Vanity Fair magazine that caused Joe Pantoliano to blow his top.

THE SIMPSONS want to turn 7-Elevens into Kwik-E Marts, even selling KrustyO's cereal, Buzz Cola and iced Squishees.

JENNA FISHER:  Thursday brings us The Office, so it's a good day to note that Pam is the cover girl for the current issue of Wired magazine, which has a piece on how Dunder Mifflin takes on Staples and Office Depot with "radical transparency." (get it?)  Ms. Fischer is also looking good in the new Will Ferrell flick, Blades of Glory, which (iirc) opens Friday.

IRAN:  Britain has released evidence its sailors and marines were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when the Revolutionary Guard naval force intercepted and captured them.  The captives have been paraded on TV, including an apparent forced "confession" from Leading Seaman Faye Tunney, who was dressed in Shiite garb instead of her uniform.  While Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced the Iranian actions as illegal, and British officials fumed over the tape, calling it a violation of the Geneva convention, AP reporter Nassir Karimi -- without citing any source or authority -- states flat out that it does not violate the GC (though I found one defense analyst who agrees). It seems to me that if the British sailors were seized in Iraqi waters (which even the first Iranian coordinates showed to be the case), Iran may well have committed an act of war, or what is now generally called an act of aggression -- and that the only basis for arguing that there is no "armed conflict" under the GC is that the Brits chose not to risk being accused of starting the war by firing on the Iranians.  I would suggest that reading would only encourage the rapid outbreak and escalation of armed conflict, which is not the intent of the GC.  I would also suggest that if the US or UK had seized the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Iranian waters, the usual suspects would most certainly be loudly accusing them of violating the GC.  But there is almost complete silence on the issue now, because we do not insist that rogue regimes live up to the agreements they sign.

IRAQ:  As you might imagine, the residents of Basra are very concerned over the UK-Iran standoff.  Al Qaeda conducted another chlorine gas suicide bombing, this time directed at the Fallujah government center, in the very heart of the city.  In Baghdad, Prime Minister al-Maliki and Pres. Talabani announced plans to introduce a proposal that would allow thousands more former Baathists to serve in the government, in hopes of advancing sectarian reconciliation.  Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who has been skeptical of US efforts to date, recently returned from a trip to Iraq, and has written a lengthy analysis that paints a bleak picture, but expressed confidence in Gen. Petraeus, and concluded that "we can still achieve our objective of: a stable Iraq, at peace with its neighbors, not producing weapons of mass destruction, and fully committed to a law-based government."

CHUANG CHUANG the panda has been spending his days in front of a big screen television watching panda pr0n, but it hasn't done anything for him, according to the Chiang Mai Zoo's chief veterinarian.  Video at the link.

BRUNO was the first brown bear to have been spotted in Germany for 170 years before being shot by Bavarian hunters.  Rome is demanding the caracass be returned, claiming he is Italian state property, but despite a request from the German government, the Bavarian state environment minister is refusing.

WILD KINGDOM: Simon King, who presents the BBC's Big Cat Diary program, was attacked by a rabid cheetah while filming in Kenya.

PET HOARDING:  After receiving complaints from neighbors, Seattle Animal Shelter staffers found 110 parakeets in a cage in the living room of a one-bedroom apartment.

TRAINED ATTACK SHEEP are guarding the Gloucestershire village of Leighterton.  Time to relink the trailer for Black Sheep.

SHOW YOU HOW TO FAX IN THE MAILROOM, HONEY:  You've seen 'em play in the lobby.   You've seen 'em play in a crowd.  Now see The Arcade Fire in a freight elevator, then in the crowd again in Paris, courtesy of La Blogotheque.  Well shot, as always.  PLUS: The band's next single almost had a funny name.

BOB DYLAN:  The Current participated in the University of Minnesota's big three-day Dylan symposium, I mentioned a while back, so you can stream interviews with rock critics Greil Marcus and Dave Marsh and more via MPR now.

THE TOP 50 ONE-HIT WONDERS countdown continues at Stylus.

RBALLY continues its renewed run, posting gigs from The Jayhawks, and Giant Drag.  You can stream those and more via the ol' HM.

THAT OLD TIME ROCK & ROLL:  The Arizona Republic, in a piece about the "YouTube Generation," notes that: "If you search for footage of your favorite boomer band, you're likely to find that it was uploaded not by someone old enough to have attended the original Woodstock, but by a teenager or young adult too young to buy Neil Young a beer if he ran into him on the street."  London's Guardian reports that record labels are wooing younger listeners with back catalogue downloads. And it should not surprise us that Neil Young has achieved his highest debut on Billboard's album chart since 1995, with his Live at Massey Hall 1971 CD.

WIGS ON STICKS opened for the Scissor Sisters in DC?

NICK LOWE is releasing his first album in six years this June.  YepRoc will be throwing in a bonus disc for pre-orders.  You can stream some pure pop from the Jesus of Cool at HisSpace.

JACK WHITE may play Elvis Presley in an upcoming movie parody of rock biopics like Ray and Walk the Line.

A COUPLE of COVERS:  Stereogum has recently linked Sufjan Stevens covering Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris," and Blitzen Trapper covering Heart's "Crazy On You."

EXPLOSIONS in the SKY:  After I linked to the stream of their DC gig from NPR, the band has been getting a lot of press, which Frank Yang rounds up, along with the sad story of how his EitS concert experience was nearly ruined by an intoxicated buffoon (I sympathize.)  I note that the PopMatters feature Frank linked also has embedded audio and video of the band.

THORA BIRCH beats Jessica Simpson in the creepy dad-manager competition.  Page Six reports that Jack Birch insisted on watching the filming of her sex scenes for The Winter of Frozen Dreams.  His on-set behavior was so creepy that one girl on the crew broke down crying.  BTW, Jack met Thora's mom when they co-starred in Deep Throat.

THE McCARTNEYS:  Dancing With The Stars is still trying to draw viewers by dangling the prospect that Heather Mills might lose her leg doing the mambo.

BRADGELINA:  Although Pax Thien Jolie's biological mother is reportedly a long-time heroin addict and a "bag of trouble," she poses no legal threat to the adoption under Vietnamese law.  I cannot believe the uber-reliable News of the World did not catch that when they broke the story.

BRITNEY SPEARS, who reportedly lost 10 lbs. in rehab, is rumored to be wrecking the Motown classic, "You're All I Need To Get By," with ex-bf Justin Timberlake.  And a church security guard pulled a gun on a photographer trying to snap the pop tart; pics at the link.

STEVIE NICKS gives advice to Britney Spears and talks about what it was like to be under the influence of Klonopin, the same powerful tranquilizer found in Anna Nicole Smith's corpse.  Video at the link.

MARILYN MANSON & DITA VON TEESE BREAK-UPDATE:  While burlesque dancer Von Teese is not ready to date yet, Manson is saying his new material is "clearly written to seduce somebody" who offered to let Manson stab her, likely his reputed new squeeze, 19-year-old Evan Rachel Wood.

WYNONNA JUDD filed for divorce Tuesday from her estranged husband, less than a week after his arrest in Texas on sex charges involving a minor.  Judd cited irreconcilable differences as a reason for divorce.  You think?

SCARLETT JOHANSSON:  Having linked to her Vogue photospread yesterday, the mag has now posted the feature online, in which she talks about her upcoming CD of Tom Waits songs, among other things.

JACKO:  Run for your lives, Vegas -- it's The Attack of the 50-Foot Jacko!

EDDIE GRIFFIN:  The Undercover Brother crashed an ultra-rare and, as it turns out, ultra-expensive Ferrari Enzo at the Irwindale Speedway in preparation for a Race for a Cause charity run sponsored by his new movie, Redline.  Let's go to the video.  A review of the video leads TMZ to suspect that it was a pure PR stunt.

PETRA NEMCOVA is officially back on the market, as cringe-inducing singer songwriter James Blunt was again spotted flirting with Lindsay Lohan.  Of course, Lohan also looked chummy with Robbie Williams at the same party, even tough Williams reportedly went back to his partying ways after leaving rehab early, and may be sued by the clinic after he called it "worse than a concentration camp."

IRAN:  Britain hopes that diplomacy will win the release of 15 sailors and marines detained by Iran but is prepared to move to a "different phase" if not, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday.  Iran condemned the comments as as "provocative," even as Tehran's hardliners called for the sailors to be put on trial for an alleged "illegal" crossing of the Iran-Iraq border and Iranian students staged a mock trial, complete with chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Britain."  Although the AP did an entire story on the "murky" border at issue, the master of the merchant ship boarded by the Brits says the Royal Navy team were clearly in Iraqi waters when they were apprehended by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.  Iraq backs that claim, and French Pres. Chirac said Britain had the "complete solidarity" of all EU leaders over the sailors: "It seems clear they were not in the Iranian zone at the time."  OTOH, Rosie O' Donnell says the Brits were in Iranian waters and it's the Gulf of Tonkin all over again.

IRAQ:  ITM's Omar Fadhil reports that the new security op in Baghdad continues to gain more support among Iraq's political parties, including some that feared it would not be impartial.  Insurgent leaders and Sunni Arab politicians say divisions between insurgent groups and al Qaeda in Iraq have widened and have led to combat in some areas of the country; Counter-terror expert Dave Kilcullen has analysis.  Coincidentally, a suspected AQ bomb attack killed a military leader of one of Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab insurgent groups, the 1920 Revolution Brigades, which is believed to have given its tacit backing to Sunni Arab tribes who have formed the alliance against al Qaeda.  Outgoing US Amb. Khalilzad said talks between US and Iraqi officials and people representing insurgent groups have shifted from "unreasonable demands" by the groups for a US withdrawal to forming an alliance against al-Qaeda.  In Washington DC, however, the Senate narrowly signaled support Tuesday for the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq by next March, triggering an instant veto threat from the White House in a deepening dispute between Congress and commander in chief.

A MONSTER CANE TOAD has been captured by an environmental group that wants to kill it.  Video at the link.  Right now, that toad is wishing he was a cute polar bear cub.

KNUT UPDATE:  The Berlin Zoo denied media allegations that Knut the celebrity polar bear cub was responsible for the sudden demise of a 22-year-old panda who was found dead in her cage.

MAN'S BEST FRIEND:  Coco the Poodle saved a mother and her five children just before a pre-dawn fire spread through their house in Hallandale Beach, FL on Monday.  Even better, Toby the Golden Retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and saved her by jumping up and down on the woman's chest!

SUICIDE SQUIRREL took down the grid in Corvallis, OR, on Monday.

GOATS suffered a loss in court when criminal charges were dropped against a NY man charged last fall with animal cruelty and burglary for breaking into a barn and spray-painting the genitals of three goats.  The answer to your question is "Orange."