FOO FIGHTERS:  Dave Grohl gives a little power ballad -- but just a little -- before bringing the rawk on "The Pretender."

BECK -- appropos of nothing -- has a new single on iTunes and next Tuesday at other digital retailers, called "Timebomb."

AMY WINEHOUSE has quit rehab a second time after a string of furious rows with her hubby.

OKKERVIL RIVER got an audio feature with two numbers from the group's new disc, The Stage Names, at the World Cafe.

MARK OLSON talked to the Mpls Strib about his solo almbum, Salvation Blues, but notes he could still go to paramedic school.

GOLDENHORSE:  At Chromewaves, Frank Yang is digging this band from New Zealand, calling "Run Run Run" maybe one of the best singles he's heard this year.  Frank has more linkage.

25 BANDS THAT SHOULD REUNITE, according to ShoutMouth, with plenty o' video.

DARYL HALL:  Pitchfork wants to convince us he''s an indie artist.  He's enthusiastic about the "anything goes" attitude of the 00s, where pop, punk and soul rub elbows and nobody's too cool to dig "Rich Girl".

MARK KNOPFLER isn't trying to convince anyone he's an indie artist, but Stereogum is streaming two new tracks from the Dire Straits frontman anyway.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE:  The troubled singer walked free from court as he faced charges of breaching bail conditions following his latest drug arrest, because he had not been produced in court within 24 hours of his arrest.

BRITNEY SPEARS may not be opening the MTV Video Music Awards, after all... but ex-bf Justin Timberlake may perform there.  Also, the pop tart's reportedly departing lawyer may have missed the chance to stop Spears employees from testifying in the increasingly bitter child custody suit with Fed-Ex.

THE FRENCH HOTEL may literally become a cartoon; fmr. Marvel maven Stan Lee has a first-look deal with Disney.  Meanwhile, Entourage star Adrian Grenier is trying to get the heirhead to go Green.

LINDSAY LOHAN:  Rehab apparently involves taking you mind off drugs with bicycling and whitewater-rafting excursions.  And it appears that her Mom Dina has turned up in Utah.  And TMZ claims that there is a "strong possibility" the L.A. County District Attorney's office will NOT file felony charges against Li-Lo in connection with her two DUI arrests.

MARIA SHARAPOVA reportedly grunts much less in the bedroom than on the tennis court, according to slimy Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine.  The Sun's readers suggest the blame may fall on Levine.

LAURA LINNEY is engaged to her boyfriend, Marc Schauer.

YO GABBA GABBA:  I'm slightly bummed I forgot to mention the premiere of the show on Nickelodeon Monday, as it seems like just the show for my friends with kids, not to mention college kids on hallucinogens.  The show features hip animation, mind-bending sets, wacky characters and appearances by the likes of The Shins, Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, Rahzel of The Roots, Cornelius, and Elijah Wood (pictured).  Video at the links, plus more video and music at GabbaSpace.

SIENNA MILLER, romantically linked to co-stars Sean Bean and Matthew Rhys in the past week or so, has been spotted getting familiar with Notting Hill actor Rhys Ifans.

JENNIFER LOPEZ dresses like a dominatrix to rescue a baby from an S&M club... in the video for "Do It Well," the first single from her forthcoming CD.  M'kay...

HAYDEN PANETTIERE -- the cheerleader from NBC's Heroes -- turned 18, to the delight of pervy gossip columnists.  Not that she's discouraged such talk.  Asked by David Letterman what the big birthday means to her, the Heroes star answered: "I don't think much changes when you're 18 - maybe the way people treat you. But I think the only things I can do is buy cigarettes, porn and, if I get in trouble with the law, I'm kind of screwed."  Videos at the links.

JESSICA ALBA:  Emotionally unavailable, intuitive, and creatively unfulfilled?  The women at Jezebel have graphologist Sheila Kurtz analyze the September Cosmo cover girl's handwriting.

I'M NOT THERE:  A movie where Bob Dylan is played by Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Ben Winshaw and Marcus Carl Franklin?  Here's your trailer... plus a clip of Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan and David Cross as poet Allen Ginsberg.

BREAKING UP may not be hard to do, according to a new study.  Neil Sedaka was unavailable for comment.

THE CIA and other US spy agencies lacked a comprehensive strategic plan to counter Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11.  No comprehensive report focusing on bin Laden was written after 1993, and no comprehensive report laying out the threats of 2001 was assembled, according to the now-declassified executive summary of a report by the agency's own watchdog.  Yet the review team led by Inspector General John Helgerson found neither a "single point of failure nor a silver bullet" that would have stopped the attacks.

IRAN released detained Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari from a notorious Tehran prison Tuesday after spending months behind bars on charges of endangering Iranian national security-allegations her family vehemently denies.  She was released after her elderly mother used the deed to her Tehran apartment to post bail, but it was unclear whether she would be allowed to leave Iran.

IRAQ:  The Bush Admin seems to be subtly turning up the pressure on the Shiite-led gov't of Prime Minister al-Maliki in comments made not only by Amb. Ryan Crocker, but also Pres. Bush (even while seemingly playing down the comment made by Sen. Carl Levin, noted here yesterday).  Moqtada al Sadr denies giving an interview to London's Independent in which he admitted his Mahdi Army got training from Hezbollah in Lebanon (an admission that hurts his effort to be seen as a nationalist).  He also denied involvement in the killings of two southern provincial governors, seen as part of a brutal contest among rival Shiite militias to control parts of Iraq's main oil regions.  Villagers in Diyala province are protesting and planning to set up new roadblocks to pressure the authorities to come up with new measures against al-Qaeda.  Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" went on trial along with 14 others in Baghdad for the slaughter of up to 100,000 Shia Muslim Iraqis.  Blogger Michael J. Totten has a piece titled "How to Spy in Iraq" about the way US troops are gathering intell on the enemy now that they are out in the neighborhoods of Baghdad.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  I thought Richard Miniter's piece on The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist" was a little over-the-top, but I must note the irony of TNR trying to gag its former employee from dishing some dirt about the story.  Also:  At Salon, former Marine officer David J. Morris gently breaks it to readers that some conditions are improving in Iraq.

PORKER rescued from a drain near Curbridge, Hants.  Like Jessica McClure, but with a pig.

RABID BEAVER attacks two north of Loch Raven Dam in Towson, MD.  Video at the link.

CHICKEN BUSTERS: Who you gonna call? Pic at the link.

GIANT JELLYFISH that invaded the Gulf of Mexico seven years ago have made a "vigorous reappearance" this summer and threaten to devour native fish.  Gonna need a bigger urine sample.

THE LOCH NESS MONSTER cannot stop a duathlon in Scotland.