THE FRATELLIS are a British band that have been getting blog buzz stateside, particularly since they landed the latest iPod commercial.  But I prefer, the longform version of "Flathead" which features pin-ups as well as silhouettes -- so sue me.  More on them in the next item...

NEW RELEASES:  Neil Young, Amy Winehouse, the Fratellis and Rosie Thomas are all streaming in full via Spinner this week.  Stax Records also has its 50th Anniversary compilation out today.

ROCK HALL REDUX:  Patti Smith reflected on her induction into the R&R Hall of Fame in The New York Times and there's info on her upcoming covers album in the New York Daily News.  Also in the local love category is "R.E.M. in the Hall," filled with photos, videos, interviews and such at Online Athens.  The Gainesville times gets reflections on REM from Pylon's Michael Lachowski.  NPR has posted archival interviews with Patti Smith, Ronnie Spector, and REM , as well as an audio feature on Grandmaster Flash.  You can get the blow-by-blow account of the evening -- complete with REM's Pete Buck launching his busted amp into the crowd -- via Spinner, where you can also watch the show on demand, starting with The Ronettes (backed by Paul Shaffer and a Wall of Sound) on "Baby, I Love You," "Walking In The Rain" (one of my faves) and (natch) "Be My Baby." Shaffer then reads a congratulatory note from Phil Spector to a shocked audience.  That's followed by a video of Hall of Fame highlights that almost justifies the existence of the institution.  Which reminds me to mention that if you follow that last link, you can get hooked up to past performances also.

THE ZOMBIES:  Colin Blunstone does an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that begins with a discussion of the current popularity of zombies in general, but gets around to the subject of musical history.

GREGG ALLMAN, relaxing in Savannah, GA, tells PopMatters about how the Allman Brothers came to embrace improvisational jams, his distaste for how CDs and the iPod have affected music, and who he digs now.

THE BANGLES are "Going Down To Liverpool" to do nothing with Mr. Spock.  The song was written by once-and-future Soft Boy Kimberley Rew for Katrina and the Waves.  Add "Hero Takes A Fall," the single from their major label debut, and you have your Twofer Tuesday.

DEAN & BRITTA comment on a few of the fabled boy-girl pairs who came before them for the Boston Globe.  They cite Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg, whcih I think seals that the latest D&B video was inspired by ol' Serge.

THE PIPETTES are getting rave reviews for their first North American gigs in Toronto and Brooklyn, NYC.  Yummy pics at both links, too!  The ladies also score a "Song of the Day" slot at NPR with one of their lesser-known tunes, "The Burning Ambition of the Early Diuretics."  And you can stream their album from the official website.

CHARLIE LOUVIN:  The Phoenix thinks that the Country Music Hall of Famer's new self-titled album is a "missed opportunity," but you can listen to his rendition of "Great Atomic Power" with Jeff Tweedy to get a feel for it yourself.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE:  The supposedly sober supermodel whisked the troubled singer off in a helicopter for a spring time picnic for his 28th birthday; both were spotted sporting rings on their wedding fingers.  For someone dating Doherty, it's odd to read that Moss views her four-year-old daughter Lila as a "partner in crime."

THE McCARTNEYS:  Heather Mills has agreed to accept a million divorce settlement from Sir Paul, dropping her demand for sole custody of the couple's daughter, Beatrice, and getting one of the ex-Beatle's homes, according to the uber-reliable News of the World.  The Daily Mail, meanwhile, has pics of Mills practicing for Dancing With the Stars that hold out the promise that she will be wearing silly outfits.

MADONNA reportedly will be doing a nude scene when she appears on FX's Nip/Tuck.  Cue Claude Rains.

SNOOP DOGG was busted in Stockholm, Sweden for suspected narcotics use.  Cue Claude Rains.

ELIZABETH HURLEY'S big fat Indian wedding was marred by a scuffle between journalists and security guards.

TOM BRADY and GISELE BUNDCHEN, contrary to prior gossip, are not expecting a child.  The couple is buying a house in New York and building a nursery in it -- for his expected child by Bridget Mynihan -- according  to the National Enquirer.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  Did a nightclub's security cameras capture the pop tart partying hard with the club's female dancers?  The club says no, but a source tells NYDN's Rush & Molloy that "If that thing goes on the Internet, there's going to be big trouble. It might be what they need to take Spears' kids away from her."  The UK's super-reliable Daily Express reports that Spears  has confessed to doctors that she has been suffering from bulimia since she was 16.

SIENNA MILLER took on the stalkerazzi at NYC nightclub Plumm, seizing a photog's camera and deleting photos of her living it up at a performance by her new rocker boyfriend, Jamie Burke.

PAM ANDERSON & TOMMY LEE reuniting?  Or just french kissing each other goodbye?

OPRAH WINFREY'S newly-opened school in South Africa is so strict that it's freaking out the students' parents.

JENNIFER LOPEZ and MARC ANTHONY are rumored to be fighting over having kids and Scientology.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Cruise reportedly tried to convince CNN's Larry King of the virtues of Scientology and took King on a personal tour of a church exhibit that attacks psychiatry.

WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?  An elite group of Native American trackers called the Shadow Wolves may be joining the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other top terror masters.

ANDY ROONEY suggests that the US Army and Navy is increasingly comprised of "losers" from "the botton of the barrel."  In reality, the average reading level of new soldiers is roughly a full grade level higher than their civilian peers and enlistees' high school graduation rate is 17 percent higher than their civilian peers.  And despite issuing more so-called "moral waivers," misconduct by our troops appears to be declining in recent years as recruit quality has generally improved.  Rooney's rant does not seem to be motivated by antiwar sentiment so much as a personal hatred he had for serving in the Army during WWII.  Ironically, he notes that many of the people he served with -- now often called "the greatest generation" -- are people he thinks would have needed moral waivers today.

IRAN:  Russia announced indefinite delays to a joint nuclear power project and accused Tehran of abusing its goodwill.  Russia's main news agencies all quoted "an informed source" as complaining: "We are suffering losses in terms of foreign policy and our image while they stand their ground... If they do not respond to the questions of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), let them answer for themselves."  The state-run press claimed the family of missing former deputy defense minister Ali Reza Asgari visited the Turkish embassy in Tehran and accused the US and Israel of kidnapping him.  And they apparently produced photos of the family.

IRAQ:  At ITM, Mohammed writes that Iraqis weren't very tuned in to the Baghdad conference, while Omar writes about the IED fragment that landed in his yard.  Controversial Sunni Arab politician Salih al-Mutlaq talked to Radio Free Europe about former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's efforts to build a new nonsectarian, nonethnic political bloc.  Allawi's current party was one objecting to the debate of a draft law on oil and gas on the agenda of the Iraqi Parliament's session on Monday.  A senior figure in al-Qaeda in Iraq was arrested on Monday northeast of Baghdad, the official spokesman of the city's new security plan said.  The L.A. Times has a piece on how the new plan's round-the-clock security generates tips which lead to small victories that are the hallmark of classic counter-insurgency tactics.  One example in the story has a US spy drone surveilling a high-value target who was shacked up with a prostitute.  In a new tactic, the Islamic State of Iraq burned both Sunni and Shiite homes in a neighborhood of Muqdadiya, a city in Diyala Province.  Al-Mada claimed that the pro-government clans have completely expulsed Al Qaeda fighters from downtown Ramadi; if true, this would be extremely significant... but other outlets have not confirmed the story, possibly due to attacks on phone service in the city.

SUICIDE SQUIRRELS:  The threat is finally recognized in the USA Today.  Across the pond, folks are spearheading the European Squirrel Initiative to address the grey squirrel threat.

MAN SAVES BULLDOG with mouth-to-snout action.

PET HOARDING AS EDUCATION:  A kindergarten teacher known as the "Critter Lady" and her menagerie including a boa constrictor, turtles, frogs, small mammals and a monster toad were shaken up in a two-car collision while en route to a wildlife lecture in NYC.

DON'T BRING YOUR CAT to your child exploitation sting/arrest, please.  As it involves a 14-year-old, I'm skipping the obvious punchlines.