BRIGHT EYES goes a little psychedelic in the video for "Hot Knives."

THE PIPETTES talk about the bonus tracks on the US release of their debut LP, fashion, and their disappointment that people didn't invite them out after their US gigs.  I was just trying to be polite, figuring they likely had a surplus of such offers... but I'll keep it in mind.

MORE-THAN-OK COMPUTER: Radioheadheads rejoice -- Stereogum is offering a song-by-song OK Computer covers compilation for free download.

SONG of AMERICA:  Former US Attorney General Janet Reno brings together Andrew Bird, Blind Boys of Alabama, Devendra Banhart, Martha Wainwright and more to reinterpret of beloved songs such as "Yankee Doodle" and "Home on the Range."  I think she's been looking to get back into the music scene ever since they canceled Janet Reno's Dance Party.

POGUES guitarist Philip Chevron will miss the band's North American tour in the fall, after being diagnosed in early June with "locally advanced" throat cancer.  Best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery.

WAR:  All. My. Friends. Know the "Low Rider."

COOL KIDS' MUSIC -- a recurring theme here given the age of original Pate fans -- is featured and streaming via NPR's All Things Considered.

DON'T GO BREAKING MY EARS!  It appears that Barry Manilow & Rosie O'Donnell want to prove that you could do worse than Elton John & Kiki Dee.

LIVE EARTH:  One theory as to why the concert event flopped is that the music was irrelevant to the target audience: "In fact, Pink Floyd's hit - 'The Wall' - is as contemporary today as 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo' was in 1969."

PHIL SPECTOR TRIAL:  Judge Larry Paul Fidler has ruled that a bodyguard for comedian Joan Rivers could testify before the jury that he heard Spector say all women "deserve to die" and then threaten a woman at a Christmas party in 1989.  Spector has been sporting yet another new hairdo this week, while his former lawyer got a stay of a contempt order entered for her refusal to testify against defense expert (and world-famous forensic scientist) Henry C. Lee, whom she reportedly saw remove potential evidence from the crime scene.

LINDSAY LOHAN:  It appears that a "pal" has shopped Li-Lo's private MySpace musings from rehab to the press, with Star magazine headlining them as "Lindsay's Lesbian Love Letters!"

BRITNEY SPEARS is "drinking heavily again, binge shopping and eating like there's no tomorrow," according to Star magazine. 

DENISE & HEATHER & RICHIE & CHARLIE:  Displaying her usual good PR sense, Denise Richards is congratulating ex-husband Charlie Sheen on his engagement to girlfriend Brooke Mueller.  She is also denying the recent report that she hired a matchmaker.  "But," she adds jokingly, "that's a great idea, maybe I should."

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  Cruise reportedly wants to build a whole production company around Holmes, who is said to be unhappy with the movie roles she's being offered.

CAMERON DIAZ has reportedly dropped magician Chris Angel for British environmentalist and banking heir David de Rothschild.  The pair were spotted in a near-canoodling incident two nights after Live Earth.

MARILYN MANSON'S appeal to 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood can be summed up in one word: "Eyeliner."

ROSIE O'DONNELL returned to attacking Elisabeth Hasselbeck -- her former friend and The View cohost -- in front of a 1,500-person audience on her cruise for gay and lesbian families, doctoring a photo of Hasselback and exclaiming, "Her only f--king credit was Survivor. Come on!"   This from someone with Exit to Eden, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Riding the Bus with My Sister on her resume.

JESSICA SIMPSON moved her 27th birthday party at a beach house Tuesday to flee the paparazzi.  NICK LACHEY had his satellite link go down coincidently when the press asked about those X-rated picks with Vanessa Minnillo.  Press avoidance symmetry...catch it! 

JENNIFER ANISTON:  The old gossip was that she had dumped British model Paul Sculfor; the new gossip is that she is prepared to leave L.A. for the UK because he's homesick.

DAVID HASSELHOFF is back on the singles scene, flirting with The Departed actress Sallie Toussaint at Playboy's Fourth of July bash.  She sounds like she's ready to jump in his car.

INDIANA JONES IV:  The official site has a short Quicktime clip of Harrison Ford going before the cameras as Indiana Jones for the first time in more than a decade.

SALMAN RUSHDIE:  Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, issued a new audiotape threatening retaliation against Britain for having knighted novelist Salman Rushdie.

IRAQ:  Iraqi security forces seized 200 explosive belts in a truck that crossed into Iraq from Syria on Wednesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.  Civilians helped coalition and Iraqi forces conduct a massive raid on an al Qaeda hideout in the town of Sherween, which may also help facilitate Sunni resistance fighting in the Muqdadiya area.  At least 11 people died after insurgents locked them into a house in Anbar province and blew it up, in a possible "vendetta attack" against people in the village of Karmah, for supporting the military.  Contrary to prior reports, Al-Hayat reported that Moqtada al-Sadr is in Najaf, not in Iran.  Stephen Biddle, senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in the Washington Post that the supposed "centrist" plans floating around Congress do not fit the military reality of Iraq.

IRAQ in the MEDIA:  The Associated Press finally reported on al-Qaeda atrocities in Baqubah reported by Michael Yon almost two weeks ago, though buried at the bottom of a long summary of Iraq news.  The AP gives it bigger play in this story, which for some reason is not by Robert Reid, who is embedded there.  BTW, Michael Yon's latest dispatch has an interview with Abu Ali of the 1920s Revolution Brigades -- an insurgent group now fighting al-Qaeda -- about why they turned and the extent to which AQ relied on local talent to foment sectarian violence.

IRAQ in the MEDIA II:  Related to the new Yon dispatch, The New York Times and some bloggers have been concerned that the media is buying Bush Administration and US military spin lumping all sorts of insurgent groups togather as al-Qaeda to buid support for the current operations in Iraq.  The crudest form of the argument is belied by the military's own press releases.  At the Small Wars Journal blog, author Malcolm Nance does a better job of noting the dangers for both hawks and doves of over-generalizing about AQI.  The Worldwide Standard blog transcribes parts of a conference call with Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner about AQ, AQI and their influence in Iraq.

IRAQ in the MEDIA III:  Throughout the week, major media outlets including NBC News, the Associated Press, and McClatchy Newspapers have run stories saying that an interim progress report on Iraq will conclude that the US-backed government in Baghdad has not met any of its targets for political, economic and other reform.  Looks like those stories were wrong.  I'm sure there will be prominent corrections issued.

IRAQ in the MEDIA IV:  ABCNews claims that the most recent military intell shows that the overall level of violence in the country -- measured as the number of "violent incidents" -- hit its highest level in June since the war began.  Completely missing from the story is the fact that Iraqi deaths nationwide were at an 11-month low in June, while US losses were the lowest since March.  So there are more attacks, but fewer deaths, which sounds like they are becoming less effective.  Personally, if there were a 1000 attacks daily and only a couple of people died, I would still consider that an improvement... but nowadays, it seems that even good news is bad news.

LEMMY the LOBSTER:  Yes, he is named after the Motorhead frontman.  This wll be devastating news to Fred Schneider.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT:  A suicide squirrel plunged the Sauk County Fair into darkness and left 800 to 1,000 Baraboo, WI homes without electricity Tuesday night.

FLORIDA GATOR WRASSLING on the decline.  It's the end on an era.

SNAKE IN THE BEDROOM:  And not in that good trouser-snake kinda way.

GIANT BADGERS are stalking the Iraqi port city of Basra by night. British troops are being blamed for it, but it may be why the Brits are keen to leave Basra early.

COWS stare unamazed as their mere presence terrifies seven schoolgirls, sparking a major search and rescue mission in Swanage, Dorset.