Karl 
THE REPLACEMENTS “best of” Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? arrives next week, complete with those two new tracks, but you can stream the whole thing now, courtesy of Rhino! There's a love letter to the lads, with some good 'mats trivia in Newsday. (Thanks, Frank!) Newsweek interviews Paul Westerberg. My fave part may be when he is asked if he's annoyed when people say that the Replacements gave birth to bands like Goo Goo Dolls: “I just wish there would be a newer one we could be blamed for…” But it's all Paul, so RTWT.
SOUL ASYLUM: While in a Mpls. frame of mind, Harp profiles SA as they prepare to release The Silver Lining, which Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy took out a loan to fund themselves with no label involved — though it's been picked up by Sony Legacy. Lotsa good history in the piece also. The album comes out in July, but you can hear two new songs and two old ones via MySpace.
GOLDEN SMOG: The alt-supergroup is releasing Another Fine Day in July, but you can hear some now via MySpace.
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH frontman Alec Ounsworth talks to PopMatters about songwriting and his role in the benefit concert for Love frontman Arthur Lee.
BECK has finished recording his next studio album and will release it this fall via Interscope.
OS MUTANTES: The seminal Tropicalia band's back catalog will again be available in North America, courtesy of Light In The Attic, which has a Q & A with Sérgio Dias about the band's career, their albums, and first-ever US tour. I hooked you up with some Os Mutantes video when the band was getting ready for their first reunion gig back in February.
STEVIE WONDER plays “Superstition” on Sesame Street. You'll have to click through to learn the identity of the guitarist behind Stevie, because I'm a stinker. BONUS: Stevie's original “Sesame Street” song.
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Slate thinks the band's 23 year ascension, culminating with the band's latest entering the Billboard charts at No. 1, is “an improbable achievement, and not just because the group has managed against the odds to preserve the centerpiece of its live act: washboard abdominals.” But what you really want to know is whether there's a tube sock photo… and there is, from a link in the article.
BUILT TO SPILL frontman Doug Martsch talks to Paste about the interplay of music and lyrics in his work: “To me music can be about anything. The lyrics might mean something very specific to me, but I wouldn’t expect anyone else to get it. That’s not the point. Music itself gives the words meaning.”
GLENN KOTCHE talks about his new solo album, Wilco, Loose Fur, Fillmore and more in a wide-ranging interview on the Pitchfork.
LUNA, now defunct, is getting an online-only release of Lunafied, which includes Luna's versions of songs by the Velvet Underground, the Talking Heads and others that were originally recorded for soundtracks or as bonus songs. It's the first in a new line of biz from Rhino.
MY SPACE: Some musicians, like Billy Bragg, think Rupert Murdoch wants control over their music. MySpace is rewriting its terms of service to clarify it does not.
BRADGELINA: As the couple continues to deny wedding rumors, worldwide sales of the rights to pics of the baby may top ten million. Lawyers are firing off cease-and-desist letters to sites running a leaked picture, but their case will not be helped by Alison Crombie, London press spokeswoman for GettyImages, who told Reuters: “Our legal team are looking into it and we will take it from there. But I really don't think it will devalue the pictures as everyone is dying to see the full set.” It really wouldn't help if the Enquirer is right.
JENNIFER ANISTON PREGNANT? Someone at ONTD is examining the photographic evidence.
BRITNEY SPEARS: Spenderline's pals claim that the couple is still together, while MSNBC's Jeannette Walls claims the buzz is that he's jealous of their baby's “manny.” The pop tart also plans to join the crowd of celebs in launching her own fashion line for babies.
ALANIS MORISSETTE and RYAN REYNOLDS are splitsville. Just thought you, you, you oughta know.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: At Slate, Kim Masters writes about “The Cootie Factor — Why Tom Cruise should disappear for a year.” We learn that Cruise's production deal with Paramount expires in a few weeks; negotiations to renew are not, as yet, under way.
DENISE & HEATHER & RICHIE & CHARLIE & DAVID: Sheen and Richards agreed Wednesday to extend a temporary restraining order requiring the actor to stay away from his estranged wife.
THE McCARTNEYS, denying a US television report, say Heather Mills McCartney has not gained full custody of Beatrice, her 2-year-old daughter with estranged husband Sir Paul. Meanwhile, it's day three of Heather-porn watch at London's Sun.
MISCHA BARTON dumped by Cisco Adler? I don't care how crazy she is, he's not going to do better.
HARVEY KEITEL is going to hate his ex-wife Lorraine Bracco's jolting, warts-and-all autobiography. The Sopranos' Dr. Melfi is calling the tome On the Couch.
VIVICA A. FOX certainly looks like she's had some awful plastic surgery.
PETRA NEMCOVA: Just Jared has snaps of the tsunami-surviving supermodel caught canoodling musician James Blunt. I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
OWEN WILSON is trying on a Versace. That would be Francesca Versace, the 23-yiear old niece of Donatella.
JESSICA ALBA hosts the MTV Movie Awards that airs tonight. Will Ferrell and his Talladega Nights co-star John C. Reilly came in character. Rolling Stone was less than impressed with with Xtina Aguilera's Busby Berkeley-era throwback number, but notes that Gnarls Barkley performed “Crazy” dressed as characters from the Star Wars saga. RS also had kind words for Alba's turn as hostess. And how could you not? Even chimps and dolphins want the Alba.
DIET COKE and MENTOS do not mix — or they mix spectacularly — depending on your point of view. It's a science experiment performed many times, but never, afaik, with 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos and captured in glorious Quicktime. (Thanks, Dr. King!)
IRAQ: While we were sleeping, it appears that terror mastermind Abu Musabd al-Zarqawi has been killed in a US air raid north of Baghdad, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area. At ITM, Omar has a bit of a conspiracy theory about the big abduction in Baghdad. While I would doubt the US would be involved with the type of scheme he describes (esp. now), the lack of Interior and Defense Ministers might make it possible within the local forces. Michael Yon has posted a piece with a provocative title, but a fairly level-headed look at the Haiditha incident. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces are taking control in Taji and western Ninewah, and Habbaniyah, with Iraqi police assuming control in Hillah, and Karbala to follow this week.
THE UNITED NATIONS: Secretary General Kofi Annan's deputy, Mark Malloch-Brown, lashed out at Washington's tolerance of what he called “too much unchecked UN-bashing and stereotyping.” He also seems to think that middle America has been brainwashed by Rush Limaugh and Fox News, despite the fact that the ratings for other media are much larger. Nevertheless, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan refused a US demand that he repudiate the comments. Yet Malloch-Brown himself was backpedalling a few hours later, even trying to make nice with Fox News. Perhaps someone figured out that with UN funding in front of the US Congress, now might not be the time to be discussing the rampant sex scandals in UN peacekeeping missions, allegations of torture that include roasting a boy on a spit, the enormous oil-for-food scandal which effectively starved tens of thousands of Iraqi children, and the UN's general inability to reform. In his original speech, Malloch-Brown accused the US of hobbling the new Human Rights Council — successor to the widely discredited Commission on Human Rights — by not running for a seat on it. Someone may have figured out that the US was likely to point out that the new HRC is just as bad, having seated five of the world's worst rights abusers on the panel. My response would be, “How dare you question our transnationalism? Don't you know that dissent is the highest form of commitment to the UN?”
RUSSETT the Jack Russell terrier miraculously survived running off the edge of a 450 foot cliff and plunging onto rocks on the Isle of Wight.
DWARF DINOSAUR fossils have been found in northern Germany. The new dwarf species, called Europasaurus, was a mere 1 ton and about 6 meters long — about the size of a small rhinoceros or a big buffalo.
PEACOCKS attacked a three-year-old boy at the Kansas City (MO) Zoo. The boy has fully recovered, but may never watch NBC again.
A SEAGULL was struck by a pitch during Sunday's Triple-A game between the Buffalo Bisons and the Durham Bulls, but later flew to first base.
A DEER that really needed to use the bathroom broke a window, injured a pit bull and flooded an apartment in Racine, WI.
