KEITH RICHARDS, Lord of the Undead, has no idea what is in his hair: his kids and his friends like to decorate him while he's passed out.
SILVER JEWS' principal songwriter, David Berman, is interviewed on Pitchfork about the upcoming album and the Brian Billick theory of songwriting, among other things.
THE NEW RAMONES BOX, complete with DVD and comic book, scores a 9.6 at the Pitchfork.
SIRE BOX: Just Say Sire: The Sire Records Story, a three CD, one DVD set, is due September 13th. Label co-founder Seymour Stein talks to Rolling Stone about the label's history (and the Replacements are mentioned).
THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL is reviewed in the Boston Globe. Elvis Costello (stressing his rootsy material), Del McCoury, Richard Thompson, and Buddy Miller are among those garnering praise. So was Thompson's son Teddy.
THAILAND: Islamic extremists even manage to be extreme about casual Friday.
JUDE LAW AND SIENNA MILLER have reportedly rekindled their romance — but their wedding is still off. Miller has reportedly sought guidance from a top relationship psychologist about what this expert calls the “cheataholic.” Meanwhile, the nanny Law admitted to cheating on fiancee Miller with last month is lining up interviews on American TV to tell her side of the story.
HEIDI KLUM: The supermodel is pregnant and naked for an upcoming magazine shoot. (NSFW)
SCIENTOLOGY VS. KABBALAH: In the L.A. Times, Joel Stein tries to discover which would be better for his Hollywood career.
SCIENTOLOGY VS. KABBALAH II: Jeanette Walls asks whether Madonna has recruited David and Victoria Beckham for Kabbalah, while noting that Cruise ex-wife Nicole Kidman is set to play a heroic psychiatrist who discovers that people’s strange behavior can be attributed to extra-terrestrial activity.
MEL GIBSON has been asked by Catholic organizers in Australia to stage a live re-enactment of the crucifixion of Christ in the streets of Sydney if the city is picked to host World Youth Day in 2008.
IRAQ: Good news from Mosul — the U.S. military says there were fewer bombings and mortar attacks in July than any month since October. The military also says Marines discovered a car bomb factory Monday in a western Iraqi town near where 20 members of the American unit were killed last week.
THE HOLD STEADY gets a rave review from Newsday for last Friday's gig at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC (the photo is from their Chicago gig, natch).
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA is getting strange new respect on the Pitchfork.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: I thought I was kidding when I wrote that the troubled singer was slammed by a cartoon. It turns out that Blur & Gorillaz frontman Daman Albarn is attributing the slam to his Gorillaz alter-ego, Murdoch.
SAUDI ARABIA: Former CIA officer Robert Baer looks at last week's royal succession and lingering problems for the USA as well as SA.
SALMAN RUSHDIE thinks it's time for an Islamic Reformation. Well, you know, we'd all love to see the plan…
GITMO DETAINEES are falling under the spell of Harry Potter.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Dukes of Hazzard co-star Johnny Knoxville was hooked up to a lie detector on Howard Stern's show and asked about those rumors of on-set romance, to mixed results.
HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADERS help police nab a hit-and-run driver, as only cheerleaders could.
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE: Thieves tunneled under two city blocks into a branch of the central bank of Brazil and stole 68 million bucks, the biggest bank heist in the nation’s history.
EDU-BLOGGING: The real reason American high-schoolers have such dismal test scores? At Slate, Alexandra Starr argues, They're Not Stupid — They're Lazy.”
IRAQ II: Chester has interesting observations and speculation about Operation Quick Strike. Dave's World has Dispatch from Iraq about Iraqi Army training that's often as funny as it is informative.
OIL-FOR-FOOD: A former senior U.N. procurement officer pleaded guilty to money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy charges. Meanwhile, Paul Volcker, the head of the U.N.'s Independent Inquiry Committee, announced that Benon Sevan, the former head of the oil-for-food program, allegedly received about 150K in kickbacks from oil sold under the program.
TARA REID: It's image makeover time; Forget the party-girl label, she says. Because nothing says “not a party girl” like hosting the E! show Wild On. Yeah. Right. And a big Uh-huh.
LIZ SMITH, gossip columnist for the New York Post, says, “I can't get any scandal anymore. I'm more of a philosopher, nowadays, because nobody can compete with the bloggers.”
THE SEX SLAVE TRADE is the subject of a series running in the Chicago Sun-Times.
THAT'S BIG OF THEM: Malaysian Muslim men are allowed four wives under Islamic law, but a survey has found that the majority are satisfied with just one spouse. But did they ask about mistresses?
HOMELAND SECURITY? Experts debate, “Why haven't Muslim militants executed another suicide terror attack on the U.S. home front?”
RETIRING JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR is going to try to teach Americans about the separation of powers under the Constitution.
CULT OF THE iPod: Morningstar thinks Apple is overvalued. This site has a readership at Morningstar, so consider this shameless pandering.
PODCASTING: Space Shuttle Mission Specialist Steve Robinson posted a podcast from space.
METACRITIC, a site linked here occasionally, has been acquired by CNET Networks: “What the acquisition will enable us to do–and what we are most excited about–is to expand our current coverage beyond what it is today.”
BLOGS are now big media, according to a new marketing study by comScore Media Metrix. I think that's overstated, but there's plenty of interesting info on at the link; a medium that attracts the young and wealthy probably has a future.
EXTRA DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, part of the energy bill President Bush signed Monday, may require manual adjustments of some gadgets.
MIND-READING: Teams at University College London and UCLA are working on it.
ROBOTS could be major league catchers.
THE WORLD'S LITTLEST ICE CREAM TRUCK is rolling out Edy's Dibs bite-sized ice cream snacks.
CUDDLING can reduce heart disease, cut down stress and promote longevity. Unless you marry an alleged psychopath, that is.
FATAL ATTRACTION in Salt Lake City?
LONDON: Intelligence chiefs are warning Tony Blair that Britain faces a full-blown Islamist insurgency, sustained by thousands of young Muslim men with military training now resident in the UK. A controversial Islamic cleric has left the UK for Lebanon, amid speculation he would be investigated for treason. Two senior al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia made money transfers and used coded text messages to communicate with suspected terrorists in Britain before last month's attacks in London, according to officials in SA.
THE HOME FRONT: Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq says she is prepared to continue her protest outside President Bush's ranch through August until she is granted an opportunity to speak with him. However, what she told CNN about her prior meeting with President Bush has generated its own controversy, as it doesn't seem consistent with what she told her local paper at the time.
“WHERE ARE THE WAR HEROES?” asks Damien Cave in The New York Times (try bugmenot teste, teste). Perhaps Mr. Cave ought to ask the NYT, which (according to its own search engine) did stories on only two of the three soldiers he mentions. Mr. Cave could also look at the response when the White House suggested that the press write something positive about the military.
CATS AND DOGS are getting special rest areas along Italian highways, as part of an effort to stop people from abandoning them on holiday.
DOGS are prank-calling 911. Bad doggie!
CATS: The first entry in the “Cats In Space” competition at the Badly-Drawn Cats site struck me as very “Far Side.” (In case more entries are posted, the one I'm referring to has a Star Trek theme.)
CATS could find plenty of good eats along Interstate 80 in Cedar County, IA.
COCKROACHES: About 25 percent of the population is allergic to cockroaches. That is roughly the same percentage that is allergic to lawyers.