Karl 
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS! My one-word review of Naturally would be, “Whoa!” My two-word review would be, “Holy Crap!” My three-word review would be, “Oh. My. God.” Naturally came out at the end of January and I can't believe I cheated myself for three months. It's almost exactly like a classic Atlantic or Stax R 'n' B record that accidentally got left in the vault for 35-40 years. Instead, it's on Daptone Records, where you can download clips of the album and even see their performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Based on their cover of “This Land Is Your Land,” I may have to order the 45 of “I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In.” Yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
THE RAVEONETTES' Pretty In Black gets a review that reads better than the seven it scores from PopMatters. I’m listening to the album as I type and find myself agreeing with the text of the review, if not the number. Pretty In Black strips away the feedback and most of the distortion, recalling the Everlys, Buddy Holly or Johnny Cash more often than the Velvet Underground or the Jesus and Mary Chain (though you do get Ronnie Spector and Mo Tucker guesting on this one). I’m cool with that. Sure, it lacks the visceral sonic fist to the temple that you get from Chain Gang of Love, but now I can enjoy the band in quieter moments also.
ON THE PITCHFORK: A review putting In Case We Die, by Architecture in Helsinki in the Best New Music of 2005 category. The Ponys avoid a sophomore slump: “As with all great garage rock bands… the Ponys perform their shameless pillaging with such dexterity and stylish swagger that they've virtually rendered themselves immune to accusations of unoriginality.” Cobra Verde's covers album gets a mixed reaction.
DASH RIP ROCK is offering a weekly podcast, including unreleased songs and covers of Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones and more.
FRANK BLACK interviews legendary author Ray Bradbury. Truth is stranger than science-fiction.
TOM AND KATIE UPDATE: At the New York Daily News, Rush & Molloy aren't skeptical about the Cruise-Holmes hookup — not at all. However, they don't mind mentioning that everyone else is. And that a source tells them that Holmes and Josh Hartnett are “still totally in love.” Defamer notes that Richard Roeper is taking the story at face value… maybe. I can't believe Defamer forgot to mention it once referred to Roeper as “the new, seemingly-retarded one.”
JESSICA SIMPSON… AND FRED DURST? Have you prepared that Apocolypse Survival Kit you keep putting off?
IDOL GOSSIP: ABC News is fronting its PrimeTime Live piece on the web. Apparently, former contestant Corey Clark claims that Paula Abdul provided him with off-camera tips and assistance while he was a contestant, even helping him select some of the songs he would sing. Also, Celebrity Justice reports that at least one taped message from Paula to Corey does exist, patially confirming the Drudge Report about ABC News having such tapes (no surprise there, as I assume ABC News staffers are the leakers). Celebrity Justice also reports that a source close to Abdul says that “Clark illegally taped” the conversation with Paula and “edited it out of context to make Paula look bad.” Which is interesting, since I saw Abdul say on TV Tuesday night that she knew nothing about the ABC News piece.
J-LO wants to be the first female President of the U.S. Because that's a job where you never have to discuss your private life.
BRAIN-DAMAGED FIREFIGHTER makes an amazing recovery after a decade of silence.
THE EMILY POST INSTITUTE has advice on how to cancel your wedding. Page Six also noted less polite methods. Where were all these people last week?
BRENDAN BENSON gets interviewed and reviewed at PopMatters.
SPRINGSTEEN: At Slate, Stephen Metcalf suggests the Boss is full of it, but in a good way.
BOB DYLAN will be the subject of a movie, where he will be played by Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, Adrien Brody, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore, and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
USHER is planning an early retirement. So I can wait him out.
U.K. ELECTION: E-Day is Friday, so the BBC turns to some of the more unusual campaign promises being made by various smaller parties. For example, the Church of the Militant Elvis wants to place giant photos of celebrities such as Johnny Vegas, Graham Norton and Chris Evans in Heathrow and Gatwick airports, “to discourage undesirable foreigners from entering Britain”. Sadly, the article makes no mention of Tarquin Fin- tim- lim- bim- whin- bim- lim- bus- stop- F'tang- F'tang- Olè- Biscuitbarrel.
CANADIAN ELECTION? It's looking more like the Tories will seek a vote of no confidence in the Liberal government and a new election in the wake of the Adscam scandal.
RICHARD GERE: It's one thing if a celeb from time to time declines to meet disabled kids; otherwise, it's probably all they would do. But don't say “Maybe later. I'm hard of hearing and I have a bad hip. We all have problems.” The Dalai Lama needs to whack him with a golf club.
GOLDIE HAWN says her memoirs do not have a beginning, middle and an end. The New York Daily News says there are “no icky, tell-all details, either.” You have just saved $25.95.
PAGE SIX is suing Page SixSixSix for trademark infringement.
IRAQ: The first democratically elected government in the history of Iraq was sworn in Tuesday against a backdrop of surging violence, as has happened with each of these milestones. The U.S. military said Tuesday it has seized a letter from Iraqi insurgents believed to be intended for Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi complaining about low morale among followers and weakening support for the insurgency.
IRAQ II: Yesterday, I noted that The New York Times columnist Bob Herbert presented some serious but uncorroborated charges against U.S. troops by conscientious objector Aidan Delgado. I also noted some reasons why those charges might not be taken at face value. FWIW, a blogger by the name of “Sgt. Ted,” who claims that he was closer to the riot Delgado described and remembers it a bit differently. Do I know that Sgt. Ted is for real? No, although his writing suggests a military background. But I don't know that Delgado is for real, either.
IRAQ III: USA Today and CNN report: “Support for the decision to go to war in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level since the campaign began in March 2003, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll released Tuesday.” The problem is that they really don’t know whether that’s true. A look at the numbers shows a three or four point swing, which is within the poll’s five point margin of error. Plus, the poll was conducted April 29-May 1; weekend polling historically skews Democratic.
WELCOME TO CHICAGO: City Hall officials ordered the city's top water boss to marshal his political army of city workers for Mayor Daley, Congressman Rahm Emanuel and other politicians, according to a guilty plea-related federal court document released Monday and other sources. There is nothing in the plea agreement to indicate that Daley, Emanuel or other politicians knew the possibly corrupt nature of the help they were getting.
GERALDO RIVERA lives in a glass house. No, really. But the article is subscription only — jerks.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: one of the members of the trobled singer's new band, the Babyshambles has figured out that Pete's antics are stealing the show… and that member is the drummer! Ron, Jon H, I kid because I love — you know that.
FRANZ FERDINAND frontman Alex Kapranos says the band's next album is “music for girls to cry to.” Oh boy, I can hardly wait.
NASTY PETTY RADIO: NPR banned its Weekend Morning Edition host, Scott Simon, from appearing on Bob Edwards' new show for XM satellite radio.
HYBRID CARS are often more about feeling good than saving money or getting better mileage.
BEER GOGGLES without the beer. A variation on the placebo effect, apparently.
ONLINE CONSUMERS are more likely to comparison shop than buy on impulse.
JOHN BOLTON, President Bush's embattled nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. faced more claims of his alleged bullying and intolerance in Tuesday's New York Times, based on transcripts of Congressional staff interviews with three former senior government officials, leaked to the paper “by a Congressional official opposed to Mr. Bolton's nomination.” So Bolton's supporters leaked the transcripts to the Fox News Channel to show what the NYT left out of their story. Bolton is scheduled for a vote next week and the bottom line is that this is his month.
GREENPEACE CO-FOUNDER ROBERT HUNTER has died at 63 from prostate cancer. “Bob was an inspirational storyteller, an audacious fighter and an unpretentious mystic,” Greenpeace Canada Chairman John Doherty said. Interestingly, surviving Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore left the group to become a crusader against environmental extremism.
GOING TO CHURCH is good for your health, as long as you don't hold God personally responsible for it.
WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH LARA CROFT: ABC News is offering its content to PlayStation Portable users.
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE… in China.
