Karl 
GARY “ELVIS” SCHEPERS UPDATE: Pate frontman Jon Pratt and wife Naomi drove 14 hours and endured a Chicago snowstorm to attend one of the week-long series of benefit concerts featuring a veritable who's who of Chicago music scheduled to help defray Schepers' unwieldy medical costs following an attack from “flesh-eating bacteria” and a diagnosisof Type 2 diabetes. The Chicago Tribune also has a video feature on the artists and bands involved in the effort, with Scheper's phoned comment, “They're doing the cool thing. I'm just lying here with a hose in my foot.” The New Duncan Imperials put on a fine show and sold Service vinyl for Gary, with whom they played in The Service. NDI also dedicated “Pensacola 99” to Jon and Naomi.
The Gary Schepers Trust has been set up at National City Bank. Donations for Schepers, made payable to “Gary Schepers Trust,” can be made at any National City branch location or mailed to: National City Bank, 1520 N. Damen Ave., Chicago IL, 60622
Saturday, the Pratts visited Millenium Park, as Jon was keen to see the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP bridge. If you haven't been to the park, you might want to check out the interesting photos at Flickr, along with clustery goodness. It was wonderful to catch up with the Pratts, whom I hope will stop by to see the park again in warmer weather.
JENNY LEWIS of Rilo Kiley has her Americana-styled solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat out tomorrow. It's “consistently clever,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which also gives Cat Power's The Greatest a boffo write-up in an article using Dusty In Memphis as a touchstone. Lewis is interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, London's Independent and SPIN. You can stream two from the album at MySpace.
ROGER McGUINN, former leader of the Byrds, talks to the Bradenton Herald about the Folk Den McGuinn's music blog, through which he wants to preserve and perhaps popularize traditional folk music. McGuinn also hand-picked three downloads as a sampler.
BRITISH FOLK: London's Observer has an overview of the growing scene, along with a recommendation to watch A Mighty Wind.
BELLE & SEBASTIAN: Stuart Murdoch talks to Drowned in Sound about the increased role of the other members in writing and arranging the upcoming album, The Life Pursuit.
ISOBEL CAMPBELL: The former member of Belle & Sebastian has her list of music you should hear at Amazon, with bonus recommendations and some from new collaborator Mark Lanegan (ex-Queens of the Stone Age and Screaming Trees).
DEERHOOF drummer Greg Saunier insists that his experimental indie rock band is commercial because ''everything I do is for sale.” The Boston Globe reports that the band may not be mersh yet, but is trying to become more accessible.
LAURA CANTRELL plays and meets THE BOSS: Beware of the Blog has Quicktime video of Cantrell playing “Used Cars” at the Nebraska tribute show and Springsteen joining Cantrell, The National, ex-Del Fuego Dan Zanes and more playing some Woody Guthrie's “Oklahoma Hills.”
THE NATIONAL also played live for WOXY in September. So Much Silence is killing music.
NELLIE McKAY still seems a little miffed about her break-up with Columbia/Sony. The good news is that McKay and her mother/manager put up the money for her album's recording, which should make regaining rights to its 23 songs less problematic. There's talk about an initial Internet-only release and CDs in February or March.
THE ARCTIC MONKEYS top the UK charts for a second time with their latest single, “When the Sun Goes Down,” beating out singles from: Notorious BIG, Diddy and Nelly; Will Young; and Beyonce. Heh. ALSO COOL: Hard-Fi and Editors took numbers one and two respectively in the UK album charts. Stereogum has more on Editors.
BON JOVI discovers that Slippery When Wet is a better name for an album than for the condition of an airport runway. And Jon insists that working in the music business meant it was inevitable he would cheat on his wife.
WILSON PICKETT: There are two more audio pieces on the wicked Pickett up at NPR.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Model Jessie Leonard learned that her live-in lover Jamie Burke was having an affair with supposedly sober supermodel Moss from a television newsflash. Frustrated detectives waiting to question Moss in London about cocaine believe she has started behaving like a “fugitive” and may cuff her if she returns to England. British cops recently questioned former Clash guitarist Mick Jones in the matter. Meanwhile, troubled singer Doherty again pleaded guilty to possession of heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and cannabis. That was just a few hours after he started a donnybrook at a London gig.
BRADGELINA: Jolie is rumored to be expecting twins as the result of fertility treatments, according to the ever-reliable Sun. With Jolie, one wonders whether “fertility treatments” refers to something medical or supernatural. Meanwhile, Maddox and Zahara are officially Jolie-Pitts. And Wyclef Jean thought the pair would be the target of a kidnapping plot during their recent trip to Haiti.
NARNIA RAP REDUX: “Lazy Sunday,” the viral hit from Saturday Night Live (also viewble through sites like YouTube) is covered by a nine- and seven-year-old duo. And Andy Samberg loves it. BONUS: YouTube also has the follow-up video from Samberg, “Young Chuck Norris.” Not quite as good, but pretty funny, especially as I featured the Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator on Friday.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The heavily panned Underworld: Evolution tops the box office, followed by Hoodwinked and Glory Road. End of the Spear opened in eighth place, though its low budget means it may not be a loss. Brokeback Mountain moved up to fifth from ninth as it expanded to almost 1,200 screens.
BUBBLE: Steven Soderbergh's small film will be in theaters and on high-definition cable this Friday; a few days later, it also will be released on DVD. This is riling both independent movie houses and major studios, which makes it extra-cool that the soundtrack is by Robert Pollard.
THE WORLD'S BEST-PAID YOUNG CELEBS: Courtesy of Forbes magazine, natch.
DAVID HASSELHOFF blames his divorce on that ol' demon rum.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON says, “It's hard for actors to date each other, because they can be so damn moody.” This following her skepticism of monogomy, cannot be good news for Josh Hartnett. Woody Allen thinks Scarlett should dress younger. Why am I not surprised?
ISSAC MIZRAHI, the fashion designer-turned-interviewer who groped Scarlett on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, is warned against a repeat of his outrageous behavior at the Oscars, even though the E! channel has not received any official complaints from any of the actresses involved in Mizrahi’s Golden Globes appearance.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE star Jon Heder has scored a production deal for live action and animated projects. Sweet.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: The decrease in Cruise's popularity due to his wackiness is bringing out previously silent critics. Emanuelle Beart now complains that Cruise insisted her character in the first Mission Impossible movie be one-dimensional, lest the audience not like his character as much. Former nanny Suzanne Hansen says Cruise made his nannies sign confidentiality agreements so strict they couldn't even say for whom they were working.
NICOLE KIDMAN has reportedly broken off her engagement to country singer Keith Urban, fearing he has “not turned his back on his wild ways.”
SIENNA MILLER and JUDE LAW are on the rocks again.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY was snubbed by the BAFTA awards — have they no patriotism? She bribed security guards to let ticketless friends into the pre-Golden Globes Vanity Fair party. And she's a cruel heartbreaker.
IRAQ: The Shiite and Kurdish coalitions came up just short of the two-thirds majority needed to form a government on their own giving Sunni Arab parties a much stronger political voice than they had before. At Iraq the Model, Omar has the breakdown. Diplomats in Washington, Arab as well as American, said the US would lean hard on the government to be as inclusive as possible — no doubt US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad will be doing the leaning. Bill Roggio posts on insurgent groups declaring war on al Qaeda.
IRAN has secretly extended the uranium enrichment plant at the centre of the international controversy over its resumption of banned nuclear research earlier this month, satellite imagery has revealed. With Sens. McCain, Lieberman and Clinton getting hawkish on the issue, The New York Times looks at pros and cons of a military strike.
NANOTECH: The Science Blog notes that researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are making strides towards quantum computers, which if feasible, likely will have as large an impact on technology as the transistor.
LOKI THE SQUIRREL MONKEY loves his toy duck. Awwww…
RUSSIAN MONKEYS brave the arctic temperatures in Moscow with wine. I guess the vodka was taken by the elephants.
DONKEYS make good shepherds, with the right training.
THE THAMES WHALE: The charming story of a seven-ton whale that made its way up the Thames to central London (video) and the ensuing rescue effort turned tragic when the whale passed away on a barge towards deeper water in the Thames Estuary. Rescuers hoped worldwide public interest in the whale's fate would promote conservation of the endangered species.
PINK DOLPHINS are spotted near Hong Kong. What would John Cougar Mellenhead say?
