Joe Tex, Juliana Hatfield, Bulls, Dogs and Animal Videos

THE DECEMBERISTS: B-sides and rarities are up at Pure Volume.

RICHARD THOMPSON: With the new album in stores, the Associated Press covers his busy schedule.

BEN FOLDS may seem kinder and gentler on Songs For Silverman, but he claims he's the same sarcastic bastard he was before.

SUFJAN STEVENS, who has asked interviewers that the topic of religion not be discussed in interviews from this point on, says that he is always trying to reconcile folk and classical forms of music.

JOE TEX: Yesterday would have been the soul great's brithday, prompting a profile at Power Line.

MARC COHN may be “Walking In Memphis,” but he may want to start covering Bob Seger's “Get Out Of Denver” after getting shot in the head Sunday in the Mile High City. Joseph William Yacteen allegedly tried carjack the van belonging to the Grammy-winning singer after a concert, with a bullet grazing his tour manager in the driver's seat and lodging in Cohn's temple. Both were treated and released from the hospital.

JULIANA HATFIELD is “a confused, sloppy, childish, conflicted mess.” That's a quote from her.

BEATLE ENVY: John Lennon always wished musicians would cover his songs as much as Paul McCartney's, according to Yoko ono. But how many people are going to cover songs about Yoko ono?

SINEAD O'CONNOR, ordained as a priest by a splinter Catholic group, says she has found solace in Jamaican music and the Rastafarian faith after recording her first reggae album in Jamaica. I expect to see her sporting dreads pretty soon.

IRAQ: Christopher Hitchens writes that “those who supported regime change should confront the idea of defeat, and what it would mean for Iraq and America and the world, every day.” U.S. intelligence believes that a cache of manufactured bombs seized in Iraq about two weeks ago was smuggled into the country from Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Washington Post ran a piece on Zarqawi's use of the internet as a weapon.

AFGHANISTAN: Arthur Chrenkoff has a round up of good news, probably one of his last due to a promotion at work.

REDSKINS on the warpath against scalping.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: There was a time, say insiders, when Cruise almost left the Church of Scientology. Seems like Cruise missed the rock 'n' roll stomp (uh-huh) at the Celebrity Centre, including a set from Issac Hayes. Meanwhile, Holmes — contrary to prior reports — has been signed for the Batman Begins sequel.

JESSICA ALBA: Egotastic has hi-res versions of those bikini adjustment pics online.

XTINA thinks Britney Spears' career is over because “She's let herself go.” Xtina is either one of the few people on the planet who can make the very pregnant Spears seem smart by comparison or one of the few who can make Spears seem classy by comparison.

KIERA KNIGHTLEY is back on the market. So if I should miss a day or two here at the site, you'll know I'm busy comforting her.

REESE WITHERSPOON is stunned at how many actresses dumb themselves down, tart themselves up, and generally tear down the achievements of feminism. Asked about the French Hotel and Jessica Simpson, Witherspoon replied, “I think they're selling a personality that's very marketable … But creating a cultural icon out of someone who goes, 'I'm stupid, isn't it cute?' makes me want to throw daggers at them!”

JESSICA SIMPSON: “They’re like an accessory.” And real, she says. Of course, the wax figure is totally fake, though it's tough to notice any difference.

BRUCE WILLIS reportedly appeared unannounced on the doorstep of a German family asking to see the house where he was born 50 years ago.

OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL: Buried in the Volcker Committee report is the notation that new e-mails suggesting that Secretary-General Kofi Annan knew more than he had said about his son's involvement in the program “clearly raises further questions” that would be answered in the final report. Half the 4,500 companies that took part in the program paid kickbacks or illegal surcharges and are being given a chance to respond to the accusations, two top investigators told The Associated Press.

PETA VS. NAACP: The civil-rights group did not take kindly to having slaves comapred to cows.

HARRY BELAFONTE may be spending too much time with the bananas on that famous boat. Comparing the Bush Administration to the Third Reich alienates most listeners and readers, but claiming that “Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich” tends to make him sound like a raving lunatic. The Anti-Defamation League and the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies have called for Belafonte to apologize.

FILESHARING: The L.A. Times covers live music sharing, noting that the RIAA supports this kind of music trading as long as the artists approve.

ROBOTS are doing the Loco-Motion.

MALE AND FEMALE BRAINS: Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the autism research center at Cambridge University, argues that people with Asperger's syndrome exhibit what he calls an “extreme male brain.”

MATH AND READING ABILITY is largely genetic, according to a new study from the Institute of Psychiatry.

NANOTECH: A strain of bacteria has surprised researchers with its ability to build conducting nanowires. Genetic engineering and systems biology may be able to manufacture wires with predetermined properties.

IRAQ II: There's more analysis of Operation Quick Strike at the Fourth Rail and the Belmont Club. Tuesday's briefing had a couple of choice nuggets from Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For example: “In the last 24 hours, 29 of the 35 operations — these are the major operations — conducted in Iraq were combined U.S. and Iraqi operations.” Moreover, Gen. Myers said that Iraqis are now contracting for their own service support to five major training bases in Kirkush, Numiniyah, Umm Qasr, Rustamiyah and Tallil. And Gen. Myers referred to releasing non-public polling data showing that the insurgency is continuing to lose public support in Iraq. We'll see if it's ever released.

SAUDI ARABIA: on Monday, newly-installed King Abdullah ordered the pardon and release of three prominent political dissidents and their attorney who had been imprisoned for holding meetings and signing petitions advocating a new constitution for the kingdom.

BULL-FIGHTING IS OUT; Bull-jumping is in. Bull-slinging is timeless. Video at the link.