Karl 
SID 'N' SUSIE: We can probably be glad that Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs didn't know that Duran Duran, Rush and (soon) Def Leppard have done covers albums, as they might have decided to just have Sweet produce a Hoffs solo album instead of forming Sid 'n' Susie. Blogcritics may be right in saying that Under the Covers, Vol. 1 is never a bad listen nor is it ever a compelling one. But after that, the critics diverge. The selections Newsday liked are the ones the Washington Times disliked. FWIW, I tend to agree with the WashTimes and the camp that believes the duo did better with the more obscure covers, such as The Left Banke's “She May Call You Up Tonight,” The Zombies' “Care of Cell #44,” and the Bee Gees' “Run to Me” (a bit of a cheat, as it was written in 1971). Sweet is apparently to blame for the inclusion of more well-known songs that tend to suffer by comparison to the originals. (reg. req'd, try using ididntknow, whattodo.) Indeed, Pate did a better cover of “The Kids Are Alright” when they felt like it. The Palm Beach Post used the album to profile Hoffs and find out what's new in Bangledom: “I just turned 47, but I don't feel like I am. I feel like the music has kept me young. We play better now, or that's what our longtime crew tells us,” she says. “They say, 'Maybe it was the '80s fashions that were truly scary, but you guys look better now.'” Ken King and I saw them a couple of years ago and I tend to agree. While UTC v.1 is not in the league of The Lost Weekend by Danny & Dusty (made up of members from Green on Red, Dream Syndicate and Long Ryders), it's a pleasant platter. It's streaming in full this week at AOL Music; after that, you'll have to try the clips at the Sid 'n' Susie website and the three full tracks at MySpace.
BANGLES and GO-GOS are teaming with the new CW network for a reality show designed to launch America's next top girl band. The project will search for aspiring femme rockers who can also play their own instruments. “There aren't a lot of girl bands out there, and these women are determined to change that with this show,” said producer Anthony Dominici.
B.B. KING played his 10,00th show Monday night, despite burying his son on Sunday and learning one of his grandsons had been shot dead.
HEH: Stereogum compares reviews on the Pitchfork with those from fourth-graders.
INTONATION: Ken King and I are going to the Pitchfork Festival in July and I had not thought too much of the line-up for Intonation in June. But now they've added Roky Erickson, the reclusive former leader of the 13th Floor Elevators, and a reunited Blue Cheer. Pitchfork has added Os Mutantes, leaders of Brazil's Tropicalia movement in the early '70s. Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound is currently the highest scoring album of 2006 on Metacritic. I covered the Os Mutantes reunion, complete with vintage video clips, back on Feb 28th.
ROY ORBISON: Barbara Orbison, Roy's widow and former manager, talks to Billboard about the opening of the special Roy exhibit at at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and how she and Roy balanced their various relationships. I pointed everyone to Orbison video goodness on March 28th.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Given that we have Susanna Hoffs, 60s songs and Bangles news today, here's a video of a song covered by the Bangles the last time I saw them — “You Were on My Mind,” as performed by the We Five on Shindig in Sept. of 1965. Check the go-go dancers in the background.
MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES has a free compilation album for download through eMusic, with tracks from Blue States, Field Music, The Pipettes and more. If you try to “Download All,” you'll be asked to register for the free trial of eMusic, but you can download them a track at a time without registering. This is also a good excuse to recommend you check out The Pipettes on MySpace if you missed 'em when I last mentioned them.
EX-JAYHAWKS Mark Olson and Gary Louris have once again reunited for a brief West Coast swing starting April 28th. While there are no official plans for the two to record again, Louris does not rule out the possibility.
RHETT MILLER: The Old 97's frontman is profiled by the Tufts Daily as his tour swung through Boston.
SCOTT McCAUGHEY: The Minus 5 frontman talks to PopMatters about his bands and Paul Westerberg: “What else could we do? Even when (Westerberg) changed his own scene and quit being the rock 'n' roll mad man and started making records in his basement and hanging out with his little son, he still had to make records. I think I would do that too if I had to stop touring, which I don't want to do. I probably will tour until I'm 70 years old, as long as they can prop me up there.” The Music Works' Paul Miller and I (and a few more) saw McCaughey's Young Fresh Fellows open for the Replacements at First Ave. on the opening night of the Pleased To Meet Me tour, which was quite the show. McCaughey came on satge wearing the wig he liberated from the M-Shop in Ames, IA and heckled Paul during the guitar solos.
FRANZ FERDINAND rejected a 50 million dollar advertising offer from a mystery corporation because it would have involved effectively handing over their identity.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: London's Times reports that while the Tomkitten's name Suri means “princess” in Hebrew and “red rose” in Farsi, it also means “pickpocket” in Japanese. I heard on E! News Live that it does not mean “princess” in Hebrew. Perez Hilton points out that Suri is a homonym for Surrey, which is where the “deceased” L. Ron Hubbard's home is located. The irony deepens upon learning that Brooke Shields gave birth on the same floor of the same hospital as Holmes. USA Today chronicles the timeline for Cruise's crazy train to fatherhood. Cruise has cancelled initial promotional appearances for Mission Impossible 3, ostensibly to spend time with Holmes and the baby. Some are wondering why the PR was scheduled in the first place, with the planned arrival of Princess Tomkitten. Perhaps the answer is that Cruise's hyped ABC News interview last Friday placed 48th in the Nielsen ratings. And if these three M:I3 clips are still on YouTube when you read this, their leakage at the start of the official PR campaign for the movie will seem intentional.
TERI HATCHER has received a published apology from London's Sun, which claimed Hatcher indulged in steamy romps in a camper van parked outside her L.A. home. Why someone who claims trouble getting a date would complain about that story is beyond me.
BRITNEY SPEARS may sue over her baby’s fall from a high chair. At least talking about it helps blunt those stories about DCFS having to turn up at the house after the kid's skull was fractured.
CHARLIE SHEEN is picking up a younger woman online. (2nd item.)
BRADGELINA: The over-the-top security surrounding the couple is fuelling speculation they are about to marry in Namibia. Steppin' Out magazine's Chaunce Hayden dishes the dark side of former Calvin Klein model Jenny Shimizu's lesbian fling with Jolie.
ORLANDO BLOOM almost killed a motor scooter rider with his car.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Hubby Nick Lachey has choice words about his marriage in the Rolling Stone out Friday: “Jessica and I began playing these parts (on their MTV reality show Newlyweds) even when we were by ourselves. It became a really blurred line. There was a question about what truly was our reality…” The full Rolling Stone interview is already online. And it looks like the pneumatic blonde is doing damage control.
SNAKES on A PLANE: Internet interest in the movie forced the studio to keep the kitchy title and shoot additional footage to meet the expectations of Internuts. Star Samuel L. Jackson tells USA Today that he the homemade trailers, the suggested soundtrack tunes, the gently mocking T-shirts and fake movie posters.
JUDE LAW went wild when he spotted a photog filming him with his ex-wife and three kids, even threatening the cameraman with pedophilia charges. Video at the link.
JACKO is off the hook in a New Orleans sex-abuse case filed by a man who said he had a “repressed memory” that the pop star sexually molested him 22 years ago.
DAVID HASSELHOFF has revealed a “spiritual calling” to change people's lives for the better and claims that Baywatch is helping the women's movement in Iran. Which brings us to the obligatory link for the Hoff's cover of “Hooked on a Feeling.”
LOST: The show is on hiatus until May 3rd, so fans will have to tide themselves over with news that former castaways Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace are a couple and that Cynthia Watros, who plays Libby, has been cast in a CBS comedy pilot.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON and Josh Hartnett must still be an item. That's sorta newsworthy, given her attitude about monogamy. But the real reason to post pictures of Johannson in a bikini is best explained in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: “The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to b*tch about movies and share pornography with one another.” This item falls somewhere in the field generated by those two poles. But lest you think that I'm just facilitating the ogling of Johansson, let's all chuckle over the photos of Johansson wearing a bull ring.
IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed writes about the assassination of his brother-in-law, a doctor who returned to Iraq and was opening of a foundation that was going to offer essential services to the poor. Separate groups of gunmen entered two primary schools in Baghdad on Wednesday and beheaded two teachers in front of their students. Iraqi leaders abruptly scheduled a session of parliament for today amid indications that at least one key government post could be filled. Michael Fumento has returned to Iraq and finds the the IZ more secure, but Fallujah less so than on his last visit. Michael J. Totten has photos of how normal the Kurdish northern part of Iraq is.
IRAQ IN THE MEDIA: Reuters runs a story with this lede: “The United States has botched efforts to improve public health in Iraq and Afghanistan, missing a chance to gain support in those countries, an independent report released on Wednesday said.” Even a reading of the RAND Corp's press release shows that Reuters cherry-picked every negative aspect of the report and ignored every positive finding. Nor are Reuters readers told about the 60 percent drop in child mortality since Saddam was toppled, just one of many USAID health-realted accomplishments. Nor are readers told that between 2.4 and 3.3 million Iraqis who had no clean drinking water in 2002 now have access to safe, potable water.
IRAN: A regime-backed group claimed it was trying to recruit suicide bombers in Britain to carry out attacks against Israel. Russia's foreign minister urged Iran to halt all uranium enrichment, saying the international community is demanding “urgent and constructive steps” from Tehran to ease concerns about its nuclear program. Iran probably reads that statement, then looks at the fact that Russia is selling Iran an air defense system, then laughs.
DEUCE THE TERRIER was awarded a lifetime membership to a golf club in south Wales because of his uncanny knack of finding lost balls from wayward shots. But dogs are banned from the clubhouse.
SQUIRREL abandons his attempt at identity fraud.
BADGER vs. MOTORCYCLIST: Badger wins.
HIP SNAKE once had hip vertebrae, which likely allowed the critter to use its legs to dig and crawl.
DESTRUCTIVE DUCKS: Banned from a village duck pond in Wales.
CHICKENS: Banned from crossing the road in Key West, FL.
COWS: Pate's Jon Pratt thought they were staring unamazed, but they were actually showing off how well they groomed themselves with trees, branches, fence posts and stumps.
