Karl 
BONO was guest editor of London's Independent yesterday. He penned an editorial about celebrity activism and Product RED. Bob Geldof wrote a piece advocating trade over aid to Africa. The Edge was interviewed about helping rebuild New orleans, starting with the music scene, followed by churches: “We rely on politicians too much. They don't necessarily have the skills to deal with a situation like this, or the vision. So it's down to the artists and the musicians who understand what's at stake.” And Elvis Costello turned out a broader review of pop and politics.
PEARL JAM fans are worried that lead singer Eddie Vedder's girlfriend, model Jill McCormick, is becoming “the Yoko ono of the band.”
JOHNNY BOY: The London duo works a Spectorian vibe somewhere between the Ravonettes and the Pipettes on “You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve,” which made Song of the Day at NPR.
20 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: For example, No. 9: Bruce intended to give “Hungry Heart” to the Ramones, but manager Jon Landau persuaded him to keep the song for himself.
GUNS 'N' ROSES: Following up on the band's shows at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, Axl said: “In regards to our new record . . . hold your breath for a little longer for that..”
YO LA TENGO has a new track, “Beanbag Chair,” to download or stream it via the Hype Machine. As previously suggested, it's really upbeat for YLT. BONUS: From Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics, we have YLT killing on Iggy Pop's “Raw Power” and dying on Paper Lace's “The Night Chicago Died.”
PERE UBU: Ken King though that Lee Hazlewood-Nancy Sinatra duet posted last Friday was pretty strange, but give me Pere Ubu playing “Birdies” from URGH! A Music War.
BRENDAN BENSON is the subject of a *Sixeyes six-pack, with Alan pointing to even more via the Hype Machine.
BINGE LISTENING: “When you’re bingeing you don’t just listen. You absorb. You become saturated. The sound of the band becomes your sound; their ethos becomes your ethos. When you walk down the street, it’s their music that you hear in your head, even when you’re not wearing headphones. You begin to prize certain off-key moments in their songs, idiosyncratic chord changes, or fumbled lyrics.”
GANG OF FOUR: Dave Allen is blogging his various musical activities at the website for the label he founded, Pampelmoose.
WHITE RIOT: Camper Van Beethoven did a country version of the Clash classic on their first tour — and they played it when I saw them in March.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer singer squirted a syringe-full of his own blood at two MTV News cameramen after injecting heroin in view of the production team. And his mum intends to write a tell-all (3rd item.)
KATE MOSS: Although retail giant Philip Green bid 108K at a charity auction for a kiss from the supposedly sober supermodel, she ended up making out with Hugh Grant's girlfriend for a full minute instead. An eyewitness said: “We thought it was going to be a kiss on the cheek. It lasted just over 60 seconds. A few people were shocked but everyone was laughing after.”
DENISE & HEATHER & RICHIE & CHARLIE & DAVID: Sources connected with the couple tell TMZ that Richards and Sambora are “totally together” and that Richards is trying to arrange to travel overseas to be with Sambora during the tour. Also, Richards is developing a kid's clothing line one month after Sheen debuted his own collection of kidswear (coincidentally, the day Richards made her bombshell allegations against Sheen).
LINDAY LOHAN and the FRENCH HOTEL reportedly got into a bar brawl at a Hollywood hotspot last Friday night.
ASHLEE SIMPSON got a nose job, according to her rep. Someone should tell Ashlee, who, at last report, didn't know.
MANDY MOORE has finally denied that Wilmer Valderrama's claim that he took her virginity.
DAVE NAVARRO: After wrestling with his sexuality for years, the Jane's Addiction and RHCP guitarist tells a gay magazine that “I'm not gay, nor am I bisexual.” NTTAWWT. The cover of the magazine, however, is very gay. NTTAWWT.
NICOLE KIDMAN and KEITH URBAN are officially engaged, as confirmed by Kidman at the 30th Anniversary gala for the organization UNIFEM.
THE MAXIM 100 LIST of the most successful women in film, TV, music, sports and fashion, mentioned here yesterday, is published in full at ONTD.
THE SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE: Esquire magazine is running a multiple rounds of 20 questions as a teaser and inviting people to guess who it is. Round 1 is up now.
JACK BAUER and THE CREEPY BURGER KING invading MySpace. The premiere episode of 24 and the first episode of season five will be available for free to the more than 75 million registered MySpace users, while the rest of the first and fifth-season episodes will go for 1.99 per download through a MySpace page sponsored by Burger King. Actually, I don't know if the Creepy Burger King has an official role in th project, though it would be cool if they shot a promo of Jack Bauer threatening BK at gunpoint.
MADONNA was recently snapped in L.A. without her wedding ring. Her rep. says it's no big deal, natch. And it seems Madge will be crossinng a picket line to play the Forum in L.A. this weekend.
PAMELA ANDERSON marked National Orgasm Day by urging people to go vegetarian. Too. Many. Punchlines.
LOST: The season finale is tonight, so there were minor-spoiler-sprinkled stories in both Entertainment Weekly and Newsweek this week. They give away questions that will be answered, but not the answers.
CULT OF THE iPod: Audiophiles now have options for pimping their pods.
HURRICANE KATRINA: With the Hurricane season two weeks away, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Monday that residents of metropolitan New Orleans will see few changes in the state's phased evacuation plan. Absent from Blanco's announcement were specific shelters outside southeast Louisiana, a step much anticipated by local governments who plan to use public buses to send residents without transportation to state-approved locations. Ultimately, Blanco said, the state's best opportunity to save lives during future storms rests in the hands of individuals who must take the personal responsibility to get their families away from southeast Louisiana.
IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed writes about the quest for electricity in Baghdad as Summer approaches. Bill Roggio looks at Coalition strikes on “The Triangle of Death” — the apparent staging area for attacks on Baghdad. Sgt. Jeremiah Workman received the Navy Cross, the Marine Corp's second-highest award, for rescuing fellow Marines while under heavy enemy fire in Fallujah. Like a lot of soldiers, he declined to tell the story himself. And every major US press outlet declined also.
IRAN: Opinion Journal looks at what the Bush administration could do, short of launching air strikes, to persuade Iran's leaders that their bid to develop nuclear weapons will exact an unacceptable price on their regime.
NSA SURVEILLANCE: After USA Today reported last Thursday that three phone companies had assisted the NSA in collecting “call records of tens of millions of Americans,” two of those companies — Verizon and BellSouth — have denied it. USA Today says it's confident in its story and will look closely into the issues raised by the denials.
DALMATIAN RIDES A BICYCLE to the strains of “Dixie.” In Japan.
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DOGS: Pet owners now cite emotional support as a reason to bring pets to restaurants, spas, airplanes, offices and other public areas — a result of the 2003 ruling by the Department of Transportation stating that animals used to aid people with emotional ailments should be given the same access and privileges as animals helping people with blindness or deafness. The full story originated in The New York Times.
ANOTHER RECORD SHARK CATCH: A Miami doctor with a slew of world fishing records added another one to his collection when he caught a 385-pound lemon shark on fly tackle.
UNDERCOVER CAT UPDATE: Fred, the crime-fighting cat key to an undercover sting in February to get a man pretending to be a veterinarian, is in the process of being certified as a therapy cat.
