Karl 
BIG STAR, SQUEEZE, ECHO, CHEAP TRICK and more have been covered live by the Decemberists. My Old Kentucky Blog has the downloads, though I know you won't indulge because home downloading is killing music.
ON THE PITCHFORK: Sufjan Stevens nails a 9.2 — the highest score so far this year — for Illinoise, though it's largely unavailable due to Superman's lawyers. There's also a piece on Art Brut, in which Eddie Argos confesses he really doesn't hate the Velvet Underground, but that Jonathan Richman is his “absolute hero.”
THE REDWALLS, a band from my neck of the woods, gets profiled by the Associated Press. And while the writer calls their first disc “a straight-up blues rock album that riffed on the Beatles/Dylan folk sound,” I would have said late Beatles and CCR.
BAND REUNIONS: We love to see 'em live, but Chicago Tribune critic Mark Caro argues that when it comes to creating new works, reunited bands never approach the level of their prime. SEMI-RELATED: Big Star's upcoming album now has a title — In Space — and at Chromewaves, Frank thinks the track he heard is alright.
THE ANTI-HIT LIST is a site and a podcast with commentary, music clips and selected full songs.
THE JOHN LENNON MILITARY TUNIC which inspired the cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is set to go up for auction later this month.
THE BEST OF 2005 (SO FAR): More preemptive listmaking, courtesy of Chromewaves and Coolfer.
THE NEW YORK DOLLS are the subject of a documentary scheduled for October release. There's some interesting stuff about the Dolls' recently departed bassist, Art Kane, in the article.
BONO is getting his hat back.
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: With a dearth of Jordan-magnitude athletes, rappers are picking up the shoe money. Snoop Dogg had a sit-down with other gangstas to relay the message that “bangin' in the business ain't making us no money.” But a 50 Cent watch may actually sell for up to $3,500.
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN: Gene Kelly is remixed with CGI for a British Volkswagen commercial. (QuickTime)
LATE INDEPENDENCE DAY NEWS: iTunes is celebrated July 4th by posting a list of its 100 best-selling indie albums. Stereogum lists the top 21. Scott also nicely captioned some Live 8 photos for your amusement. RELATED: AOL is offering song-specific streamed replays of tons of Live 8 stuff. And The Mudville Gazette milblog has I-Day carnival photos (how could I pass that up) and links to more 7/04 photoblogging.
LIVE 8 AND THE G8: Yesterday, I pointed you to blogging from John Avarosis. Today, from the other side of the aisle, we have two posts by Josh Trevino. In The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof notes that “Mr. Bush has done much more for Africa than Bill Clinton ever did.” It's also worth noting an exception to the corruption and grinding poverty characteristic of many African nations… but you will have to click to find out which African country has had the fastest growth in per capita income in the world since it declared independence from Britain in 1966.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Two self-described computer geeks court legal action by launching TomCruiseIsNuts.com Tom-Kat jumps the couch at The View; Gawker has photos. And the couple kept an artist barred for an hour from the suite he rents by the month at the Essex House in NYC, while they prepared for the premiere of War of the Worlds. The artist was nearly an hour late to his own show opening due to the holdup.
JUST ASKING: on an entirely unrelated note, Page Six asks: “WHICH leading man landed his fiancée by giving her a five-year contract for $10 million? Now, she's giving an Oscar-worthy performance acting as if she's really in love with him…” fishbowl NY asks whether it's ten million, or only five. Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself.
BISEXUALITY MAY NOT EXIST in males according to a new study. But what I really liked about this NYT story is its later mention of the fact that by the 1990s, television series like Sex and the City had begun exploring bisexual themes, without mentioning that the lead character called bisexuality a stopover on the way to gaytown. Nttawwt.
BRITNEY SPEARS denies prior reports that she will pose nude for Vanity Fair, a la Demi Moore. Whew.
MARTHA STEWART: Just call her “M. Diddy.”
KATE HUDSON believes she is psychic. So she did all those money-losers on purpose. (And I love Almost Famous, but it lost money at the theater, too).
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: In The New Yorker, Margaret Talbot looks at why children love Roald Dahl’s stories—and many adults don’t. Page Six notes not only the bizzare trained squirrel story noted here previously, but also that the chocolate river running through the factory consists of more than 206,563 gallons of fake chocolate.
IRAQ: Several senior clerics of Iraq's disaffected Sunni Muslim minority will soon issue a decree calling on followers of the faith to vote in forthcoming elections and help write the new constitution, a prominent Sunni leader said Monday. Fifteen Iraqi Sunni-Muslim members are preparing to join a Shi'ite-dominated parliamentary committee drafting the new constitution. It is hoped that including more Sunnis in the political process will weaken the insurgency.
BIRD-WATCHING AFFECTED BY WAR: Bird-watchers are shocked to learn that their sneaking about in the woods around military bases, wastewater management plants and dams, carrying binoculars, telescopes and cameras, makes government-types nervous. Who'da thunkit?
SUPREME COURT NOMINEES FOR SALE at TradeSports.Currently Alberto Gonzales has the lead, followed by Judge Emilio Garza. But Judge Samuel A. Alito is younger than Garza; maybe people don't know he's Hispanic also. If the pre-nomination news interests you, I did a little bit on Sunday, or you can start with this post at the SCOTUSblog. And we should not forget that Chief Justice Rehnquist could yet resign. People quoted in the linked article think it's less likely now because they see it as too messy. These people seem to forget that Rehnquist was nominated Chief when Burger retired and Democrats (unwisely) focused on the already-seated Rehnquist, giving almost no scrutiny to the nomination of Antonin Scalia. So there's an argument (though not entirely persuasive) that the White House might like two vacancies at once.
SET PHASERS on STUN: The Departments of Energy and Defense are working on directed energy weapons to protect federal nuclear sites.
THE I.D. SNIPER RIFLE, used to implant a GPS-microchip in the body of a human being, is a hoax on international arms dealers created by Jacob Boeskov. However, Illinois soon will launch a pilot program that will enable parole officers to track dangerous sex offenders using global positioning system technology. And UK motorists face having their cars fitted with a satellite-based system that stops speeding.
ROBOT SHARKS: To detect submarines and mines, the U.S. Navy would like gadgets that duplicate what sharks do naturally: find prey from the electric fields they emit. And to have frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.
ROBOT BREAST EXAMS: Life-saving breast examinations could soon be performed by a robotic hand that combines ultrasound with an artificial sense of touch, enabling a medical specialist to examine women from a remote location. I would be with the Luddites on that one, if not for the obvious off-label uses to which it could be put.
EXCESSIVE SUNSCREEN may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents, some researchers think. Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich and director Baz Luhrmann were not reached for comment.
WARD CHURCHILL UPDATE: The University of Colorado professor who has compared victims of the 9/11 WTC attack and U.S. soldiers to Adolf Eichmann — and is currently under innvestigation for plagarism — just got a pay raise.
BAD HUMOR MEN: Mr. Ding-a-Ling ice cream vendors have been ticketed for violating local noise ordinances, after people have complained about music blaring from loudspeakers.
THE DOGS OF WAR: Military war dogs in Iraq help save lives by detecting bombs and traps and finding injured civilians, but their noses are getting chapped from the desert heat. The Happy Tails Dog Spa is collecting lip balm, flying discs, knotted ropes and treats to send to the hundreds of dogs serving in Iraq.
DOGS may be forced into seat belts in Pennsylvania.
A ROTTWEILER AND A HUSKY were shot in the head with a shotgun in Aurora, IL (Wayne's World). Alcohol apparently was a factor in the shootings, police said.
DOBERMANS, MASTIFFS AND GERMAN SHEPHERDS are disguising themselves as poodles.
RODEO HORSES PLUNGE TO THEIR DEATHS during the Calgary Stampede.
