THE MAGIC NUMBERS were SPIN magazine's band of the day yesterday, with streaming audio and video.
MICK JAGGER denies reports that his girlfriend, stylist L'Wren Scott, is trying to rehab the Rolling Stones' choice of clothing and smoking habits.
PINK FLOYD: Roger Waters gets all misty over the band's Live8 reunion.
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE scores an impressive 8.5 at Pitchfork for the band's sophomore self-titled album.
TOM VERLAINE: His Warm and Cool album is to be reissued on October 11, complete with eight bonus tracks. He also has two new albums ready; one will be a vocal album, “more like what people know me for in Television.”
SEX PISTOLS guitarist Steve Jones thinks most Punk is crap and would rather listen to Boston, Queen and Slade.
JOHNNY CASH was a better actor than Joaquin Phoenix. However, Erik Childress of efilmcritic.com gives Walk the Line five stars.
MIXES: The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. Stereogum has turned up Out of 5, a group effort that makes theme mixes available for streaming or download (complete with cover art. The current theme is “Covers that eclipsed the orginals,” beginning with Al Green's version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
ROSH HASHANA: Stereogum also commemorates the Jewish new year by pointing us to MP3s from the Silver Jews, with good buzz for Tanglewood Numbers, which comes out October 18th.
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH have signed to Wichita Recordings in the UK, home of Bloc Party, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
MY MORNING JACKET: Speaking of which, the band is interviewed on PopMatters about its new album, Z which came out Tuesday.
DONOVAN is showing art inspired by Sappho, the lady poet, circa 600 B.C., from the Greek island of Lesbos. And his “Catch the Wind” is playing on Volvo commercials every five minutes or so.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Sharon Stone has kind words for the troubled model and wants to meet Jesus. Moss also gets a lift from Blow. Fish. Barrel. Gun.
DASHTON: Moore and Kutcher were married by Eitan Yardeni, a rabbi for the Kabbalah Centre. Rick Ross of Cultnews.com tells The Scoop that Yardeni doesn't seem to be an ordained rabbi.
MADONNA has her favorite ale delivered by the barrel load. If I was Madge, I would consider drinking heavily also.
RONNIE BARKER, formerly one of The Two Ronnies, has died at the age of 76, following a long period of heart trouble.
TERRY GILLIAM gets some odd e-mail and press courtesy of actress Sarah Polley.
ELIZABETHTOWN: Cameron Crowe's latest film was not well-received at the Toronto Film Festival, but Crowe has since cut about a dozen minutes. Peter Sobczynski at efilmcritic.com says the slimmer version is a “delight.”
EVANGELINE LILLY: The Lost lovely drools in her sleep. I don't have a link for that; you're just going to have to take my word for it. Okay, okay, here.
HUGH GRANT fears that his new haircut makes him look like a butch lesbian. Or should that be “hopes?”
LI-LO LOWDOWN: Lindsay Lohan and two other people were taken to a hospital Tuesday after the actress got into another car accident while trying to avoid the paparazzi. Lohan and her passenger were shaken up, but neither appeared badly hurt. And Lohan was reportedly quite the diva at a charity benefit in Chicago this past weekend. Page Six can't help but quote someone saying Li-Lo “made frequent trips to the ladies' room.”
MARTHA'S (BAD) MANNERS: The domestic diva had a baby shower-themed show for actress Jennifer Garner that threatened to alienate pregnant mothers disinvited from the taping.
THE FRENCH HOTEL has already moved on to a richer Greek shipping heir.
GEORGE CLOONEY is urging his fellow Hollywood stars to keep quiet when it comes to politics, because he fears celebrity endorsements don't help their favorite candidates. This is the same Clooney who just told Newsweek about proudly carrying the liberal banner. Indeed, he goes on to say, among other things: “I would argue that (throughout) American history, it's pretty hard to find a time when liberals were on the wrong side of an issue.” However, while promoting his new film, Good Night, and Good Luck, Clooney notes that, “as a country we always in time of fear seem to overreact a little bit. You know, Pearl Harbor happens and we round up all the Japanese-Americans and put them in internment camps.” That internment was ordered by FDR and supported by Earl Warren, a pair most people would consider to be liberal. That's not being on the wrong side of an issue, mind you; that’s an “overreaction.” Just sayin'.
WILL and JADA PINKETT SMITH are trying to get corporate sponsors for their personal New Years' Eve Party. Sadder still, the corps aren't nibbling. Ouch!
HARVEY PEKAR has a new graphic novel in stores today, a prequel-of-sorts to American Splendor (the subject of a fine movie starring Paul Giamatti).
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Jennifer Aniston doesn't want to be a rebound girl, but took a role in the upcoming Derailed after Juila Roberts told her Clive Owen was “dreamy.” Why someone in Aniston's position would be seeking counsel from a obnoxious homewrecker is left a mystery.
HURRICANE RELIEF: Britney Spears is auctioning the white stone bra worn in her Toxic video and her nasty-looking flip-flops. Meanwhile, Brian Wilson is making over 500 personal phone calls and raising 210K after vowing to call anyone who contributed a Benjamin through his website.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Those rumors of an imminent separation from hubby Nick Lachey are floating around again. Boots… start walkin'…
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? A Kansas City husband and wife who ran a psychotherapy practice went on trial on Tuesday on charges that they kept mentally ill people as slaves, forced them to perform sex acts on videotape and then billed Medicare nearly $1 million for the “therapy.”
SEX IS NOT A TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC BACK PAIN: Apparently, not everyone knows this.
LONGWANG BATTERS CHINA: Okay, call me Beavis.
IRAQ: Bill Roggio rounds up Operation Hiba (Mountaineers), a cordon and search operation in and around Ramadi, noting that an Iraqi Army patrol was attacked, and fought back effectively. Nevertheless, Coalition forces still have a tough job ahead in securing Ramadi. In addition, Coalition and Iraqi forces launched Operation Bawwabatu Annaher (River Gate), which apparently seeks to clear and hold (as opposed to cordon and search) Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana. Baghdad remains dangerous. Major K puts the drop in “fully capable” Iraqi Battalions into context, based on his experience conducting joint operations with Iraqi units.
IRAQ II: Iraq's politicians struggle over rules for how to count the votes in the referendum on the draft constitution and conduct last-minute negotiations over changes to its language.
SLICES, DICES, CHOPS AND MAKES JULIENNE FRIES! Isn't that amazing! But wait! There's more…
LOST IN TRANSLATION takes whatever you type and translates it through several languages, then back to English.
GOOGLE'S OFFER TO BUILD FREE WI-FI IN SF: Mayor Gavin Newsom said he expects lawsuits and federal legislation will attempt to quash the effort. ALSO: Google partners with Sun to challenge Microsoft Office.
MICROSOFT has pulled out of licensing talks with EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony-BMG, apparently unwilling to pay the going royalty rates, which is a big relief to iTunes and other online music services.
ONLINE TAXES: A coalition of 18 states, representing about 20 percent of the nation's population, hopes to convince e-tailers — but does not force them — to begin collecting state sales taxes. The Supreme Court ruled in 1967 and 1992 that states lack the power to force a retailer to collect sales taxes for a state where the retailer doesn't have a physical presence. The court left the door open to Congress to grant that power to the states, but Congress hasn't done so.
RICHARD FEYNMAN: A collection of his letters, selected and edited by his daughter, Michelle, sheds light on the great scientist as a teacher.
PANDAS: Seeing the panda cub story I had up the other day, my co-clerk forwarded me photos she took at the National Zoo recently of the cub's Dad, Tian Tian. According to the Zoo information desk attendant, Tian Tian is not interested in parenting and just “took off” after the baby was born “just like men.” When Debbie saw him, he was just lolling around, eating bamboo, just like pandas. And in checking the spelling of Tian Tian, I discovered the National Zoo has a streaming panda cam.
WILLIAM SHATNER lobbies LA Gov. Blanco to save pets abandoned due to Hurricane Katrina. Pets rescued from the storm-ravaged area were special guests at the National Cathedral on Tuesday night for the annual blessing of the animals.
STRAY DOGS are being skewered on hooks and dragged behind boats as live shark bait on French-controlled Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. WARNING: There's a nasty picture at the link.
CATS: The 80th Carnival of the Cats is online at Music and Cats.
BIRD FLU: President Bush, stirring debate on the worrisome possibility of a bird flu pandemic, suggested dispatching American troops to enforce quarantines in any areas with outbreaks of the killer virus. Areas like Devil's Tower?
