Karl 
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: The Canadian collective played the World Cafe, which is now streaming from NPR. DJ Monster Mo has YouTubed the video for “7/4 Shoreline,” which I really like for breaking up the collective into parts, with some great interplay between Kevin Drew and Leslie Feist. A TIP: If the video doesn't stream nicely for you, hit the “pause” button when it starts playing and let the video preload a bit.
ISOBEL CAMPBELL talks abouther musical chemistry with Mark Lanegan on Ballad of the Broken Seas, which comes out today. Campbell would “absolutely love to work with Leonard Cohen,” but Lanegan is Lee Hazelwood-meets-Cohen on the album, from which you can (and should) hear four songs and download one at MySpace.
MORE NEW RELEASES: In addition to the Campbell-Lanegan album: Buzzcocks release their Flat-Pack Philosophy (hear a bit at MySpace); Neko Case unveils Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (which you can and should hear in its entirety at AOL Music); Centro-matic opens Fort Recovery (hear a bit); Cheap Trick have remastered reissues of All Shook Up and Dream Police; Exene Cervenka & Orginal Sinners release Sev7en (hear the whole thing at AOL Music); James Hunter lays out old school soul on People Gonna Talk (dig him on MySpace); Impossible Shapes reissue Tum (hear a track or download two), which was briefly available as a free download a year ago; Mudhoney returns with Under a Billion Suns (download a track or stream a few, though the titles don't match the track listing at Sub Pop); Of Montreal reissues Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy, Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower, and Early Four Track Recordings; and Stereolab offers Fab Four Suture (hear the whole thing at AOL Music).
EDDIE VAN HALEN is showing his mileage.
THE LIGHT FOOTWORK talks to YANP about their songwriting, history and future plans. You can hear three of their tunes at MySpace.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: It's a Twofer Tuesday, with Kermit the Frog performing “It's Not Easy Bein' Green” and “Rainbow Connection.” Plus a bonus track.
JENS LEKMAN tells Xpress how he decided he wanted to be like Jonathan Richman, not like… hippie Johnny.
SUBSIDY ROCK: A Billboard article on government support for the music biz in Britain notes that the government is helping nearly 100 British music companies establish a presence at SXSW. More than 120 acts from the British Isles will perform in Austin, too.
ROD STEWART was ordered to pay a Las Vegas casino more than three million dollars for a canceled show in December 2000.
BECK has recorded two more Nick Drake covers, which are streaming from his website.
STEPHEN KING, an alt-country fan (who knew?), writes about the late and obscure Diesel Doug and the Long Haul Truckers.
NICK SYLVESTER: Coolfer Glenn rounds up reactions to the the critic-journo's dismissal from Pitchfork and suspension from the Village Voice in the wake of a plagarism scandal.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, who has replaced Kate Moss as the face of Chanel cosmetics, was spotted “getting cozy” with Jake Gyllenhaal? NTTAWWT. She has better prospects with Pride and Prejudice co-star Rupert Friend.
KATE MOSS UPDATE: A former friend of th supposedly sober supermodel has told London's Sun that Moss once snorted cocaine at the house of former South African president Nelson Mandela. Expect a surge in calls to the Kate Moss Intervention Hotline.
BROKEBACK MOPING: Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times implies Hollywood homophobia caused Crash to upset Brokeback Mountain. Brokeback Mountain producer James Schamus and Munich writer Tony Kushner think Tinseltown needs to be more openly gay.
JON STEWART'S Oscar hosting got two thumbs up from Ebert & Roeper, but thumbs down from others. With ratings for the Oscars down ten percent from last year, the Academy will probably blame Stewart, instead of recognizing that most of the country was unable to see many of the nominated films this year.
GEORGE LUCAS the death of big-budget movies by 2025. This schocks columnist Lloyd Grove, who seemingly doesn't know that computerized special effects (like those of Lucas's ILM) often save money for low-budget pics.
TARA REID and friends are accused by Page Six of swiping almost all of the pricey gift bags at Rose McGowan's pre-Oscars luncheon.
BRADGELINA finally makes the Gallery of the Absurd, which currently features Pitt as Jolie's subservient pull-toy.
HALLE BERRY: Working on X-Men: The Final Stand made her throw up. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the fact that Brett Ratner is directing it.
SPIDER-MAN 3 footage leaked to the Internet? Ummm… not really.
NEIL GAIMAN: The graphic novelist writes about making Mirrormask for the Jim Henson Company and wants to see V For Vendetta, even though creator Alan Moore has renounced it.
BRITNEY SPEARS and Spenderline are telling friends that they're expecting a second child — according to the infallible Star magazine.
JESSICA SIMPSON “thinks” that everybody’s always out to get her, but Jeannette Walls buries the real dish, which is a source saying that the pounds that Simpson is packing on lately may be from more than overeating.
CULT OF THE iPod: Stereophile asks: “iPod: Threat or Menace? The L.A. Times looks at the head-start Apple has over competitors.
NANOTECH: Buckyballs, among the most used and certainly the most celebrated of manmade nanoparticles, might damage or even destroy DNA.
IRAQ: At Iraq the Model, Omar is pessimistic about the Shia political bloc, while Mohammed finds his dad very down generally. Bill Roggio notes that Al Qaeda attacks are being masked as sectarian violence and on airstrikes launched on the “Triangle of Death,” where Iraqi forces are weak. Ali notes that some of the “unity” marches have a sectarian tone in Arabic. Centcom is podcasting. Opinionated B*stard looks at the stats and discovers the number of US soldiers killed in action or wounded has gone down for the 4th straight month. The number of Iraqi police and civilians killed dropped in February, too. US military and intell officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs coming in from Iran.
GITMO: Inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison are treated better than in Belgian jails, an expert for Europe's biggest security organization said on Monday after a visit to the controversial US detention center.
HOW UNPOPULAR IS AL QAEDA? After AQ number two Ayman al-Zawahiri calls on Hamas not to recognise past peace deals with Israel, Hamas publicly distances itself: “Our battle is against the Israeli occupation and our only concern is to restore our rights and serve our people. We have no links with any group or element outside Palestine.” Al Qaeda and Hamas are both branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, but even Hamas knows supporting AQ in public would hurt Hamas.
KILLER BEES continue to move northeast, turning up in Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida.
HIPPIE CHIMPS known for resolving squabbles through sex rather than violence are too tasty for their own good.
MONSTERS OF THE DEEP: A massive marine expedition has uncovered the secret sex lives of mysterious and seemingly monstrous beasts stalking the gloomy depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where virtually no sunlight reaches. And the ecosystem turns out to be far richer than thought.
NEWBORN LEOPARD CUBS: Awww…
HARVEY THE DOG crashed his owner's Maserati… and was not a named driver on the insurance policy.
