BEN GIBBARD of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service covers Nirvana's "All Apologies."  The fine folks at Stereogum can hook you up with video of new songs.

ARCTIC MONKEYS frontman Alex Turner talks to the Toronto Star about the heavier sound on the band's sophomore LP, Favourite Worst Nightmare, and says a third album is already partially written.  The lads stopped by The Current the other day, so you can stream a mini-set via MPR on demand.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT:  His Release the Stars album comes out next Tuesday, but you can stream the whole thing now via VH1.

TELEVISION:  Richard Lloyd says he will make his final appearance with the band June 16th at NYC's Central Park SummerStage.

JACK LOGAN'S homemade debut, Bulk -- comprised of 42 songs, arranged in nine LP-style "sides" on two CDs -- is this week's "Shadow Classic" at NPR.  And rightly so. Though I wish you could stream "New Used Car and a Plate of Bar-B-Que," it turns out you can download samples of every track from Logan's website.

CHART FLASHBACK:  Entertainment Weekly counts down Billboard's Top 10 for the week ending May 8, 1982.  It's the good, the bad, and the ugly, including "We Got the Beat" from the Go-Go's and Tommy Tutone's "867-5309( Jenny)," though EW's Whitney Pastorek puts in a good word for the Blink-182 cover.  Gotta say the live Go-Go's clip rawks, too.

CAT POWER:  Chan Marshall tells Paper magazine (among other things) about kissing Jude Law and how the movie V for Vendetta indirectly made her a face of Chanel.

COVERS:  My Old Kentucky Blog is streaming well over a dozen versions of the Beatles classic, "Come Together" as well as Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."  This combo seems to have caused hosting problems for Dodge; if you ahve problems at MKOB you can always jukebox the lot via the ol' HM.

ON THE PITCHFORK:  Stephen King likes the upcoming Ryan Adams album; Okkervil River's new album, Stage Names, is due August 7th; and The Go! Team has a new album due September 10th, though without a US label (how can that be?)

THE GRATEFUL DEAD:  The estate of Lawrence "Ram Rod" Shurtliff, the band's road manager, who died of lung cancer last year at 61, auctioned 115 lots of Jerry Garcia's treasure and junk for over a million bucks.

THE FRENCH HOTEL, who had retained famed criminal defense lawyer Howard Weitzman has hired famed DUI defense lawyer Richard Hutton, who is the likely author of her latest spin about not wanting to be treated worse because she's a celeb.  But here's piece of free legal advice -- stop driving your car after being handed a jail sentence for violating a driving ban.  IDLY has started a "No Clemency" petition to CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Gossip bloggers tell the Canadian Press that the celebutante may be more despised than O.J. Simpson.  I would not go that far in terms of intensity, but she probably does have fewer supporters.

BRITNEY SPEARS reportedly plans to boost her ailing career by performing with the late Marilyn Monroe on previously unreleased Marilyn song called "Down Boy" -- the rights to which were secured by former *NSYNC-er Lance Bass.  No, not that Lance.  Meanwhile, Fed-Ex is not impressed with the pop tart's new bf, musician Howie Day.

ROSIE O'DONNELL wants to host The Price is Right, but no one has offered it to her; sources say retiring host Bob Barker "is adamant that Rosie not get the gig."

NATALIE PORTMAN is touring around Silicon Valley in search of funding for a continuous video feed of her work and personal life.

JOHNNY DEPP seems set to finally wed longtime galpal Vanessa Paradis this summer; their daughter Lily-Rose's recent illness has "spurred them into action," a source tells the Daily Mail.

LINDSAY LOHAN'S love-hate relationship with the paparazzi must be on "hate" at the moment, if the June issue of Radar magazine is any indicator.  Lohan's mother, otoh, has almost joined the paps, as she landed a gig interviewing celebrities on the red carpet of Georgia Rules for Entertainment Tonight.  Li-Lo's lawyers are demanding that England's News of the World produce a videotape they claim shows her snorting cocaine.

PENELOPE CRUZ and JOSH HARTNETT, back from a tryst in Turks and Caicos, have been spotted with Lenny Kravitz and Helena Christensen, respectively.

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ is following Grindhouse with a return to the family market; the director is in talks to direct movie versions of The Jetsons and Land of the Lost.

CATE BLANCHETT, thankfully, seems to have been the victim of bad photography, not the Skeletor diet.

TIM ROTH and LIV TYLER have joined Ed Norton and his hair in the cast of the next Hulk movie.

TOM SIZEMORE, still on probation for a drug conviction, was arrested again after police found what seemed like methamphetamine in his car.

MICKEY MOUSE was used by Hamas militants to broadcast their message of Islamic dominion and "armed resistance" to children.  Here's a sample video.  However, publicity -- including Walt Disney's only surviving child calling Hamas "pure evil" for mocking Mickey -- has caused the Palestinian information minister to pull the program from Al Aqsa TV for "review."  BTW, this sort of brainwashing is nothing new for Palestinian Authority TV.

TERROR in the UK:  Four people have been arrested in connection with the 7/7 suicide bomb attacks on London, according to Scotland Yard.

IRAN:  The head of the parliament's Energy Commission wants to delay rationing gasoline until September, as the technology to enforce the rationing is not ready.

IRAQ:  The local papers are carrying reports on the Sadrist Current's plans to break from the governing Shia bloc, distance itself from sectarian killings, and  "cleanse" the ranks of the movement from members who committed criminal acts, who have double loyalties, or who do not commit to the political agenda of the central leadership.  Grain of salt, at least about clenaingup their act.  The Sunni bloc led by Iraq's VP is also threatening to bolt unless the gov't makes swift progress on barring partition of the country and cracking down on the Shia militias.  Coalition Forces detained 13 suspected terrorists Monday and Tuesday during raids around Iraq targeting al-Qaeda, foreign fighter facilitators and a chemical vehicle-borne improvised explosive device network.  Iraq security forces captured 86 suspected insurgents during raids inside Baghdad.  Another 15 AQ operatives were captured during separate raids in Balad, Hillah, Fallujah and near Taji.  Iraqi soldiers captured 4 insurgents near Mosul who had placed over 300 pounds of explosives under an oil pipeline to Turkey.  Eli Lake of the NY Sun sits in on an Iraqi interrogation.

CHIMPS are being injected with a form of the protein called neuropsin, which plays a role in learning and memory, and is expressed only in the central nervous system of humans.  This will not end well.

GIRAFFES don't invade your home, so don't invade theirs.

ARCTIC SEAL UPDATE:  The bearded seal that made its way to Florida's Intercoastal Waterway has passed away at SeaWorld.

A BLACK BEAR triggers a school lockdown near New Haven, CT.  The staff at West Woods School on West Todd Street in Hamden saw the bear in a yard across the street, being chased by two golden retrievers.

A LIVE TOAD in your bag of salad?  Well, maybe if you're lucky.  Pic at the link.