CAT POWER has a new album, The Greatest coming in January. Recorded at legendary Ardent Studios with a raft of longtime TN sidemen, you can legally download an MP3 of the title track from Matador Records.
TEENAGE FANCLUB is offering their latest single on iTunes and on 7-inch hunks of vinyl.
U2: A female fan loses 75 pounds, dances with Bono. ALSO: The band distances itself from fundraisers for Sens. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
SELLING OUT: Stylus argues in favor of it: “The cry of selling out assumes a kind of musical communism—that success is to be avoided, that expensive production values don't make a song any better, that more copies sold don't make a song any better—but does so in a way that assumes that listeners aren't equal, and that some listeners have inherently better taste than others, and are more worth reaching than others.”
FRANZ FERDINAND tells Newsweek that the band's sophomore effort has a huge Zeppelin thing going on: “When we were recording this record, we kept thinking, 'Does this sound too much like “Kashmir”?'”
THE STROKES have an album dropping January 3rd. You can stream “Juicebox,” the first single, or kill music by downloading “you only live once,” which most seem to prefer.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Sixteen-year-old performing arts student Natasha Ellis has been kicked out of “Fame” school after she sparked a nationwide police hunt by running off with junkie Pete, who allegedly seduced her on his tour bus three weeks ago.
INVISIBLE MUSICIANS: Photoshop phun at Worth 1000.
PORTLAND: The AP notices that the city is becoming a hub for the indie rock scene.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: TechWeb examines why everyone hates the industry.
AUDIOSLAVE helped a fan propose.
MP3 BLOGS: Harmonium compiles a list of the best indie rock MP3 blogs, to which people make additions in the comments. It's a fairly representative list of the blogs from which I steal.
BLACK MOUNTAIN, whose self-titled album rated an 8.3 at Pitchfork, joins the ranks of bands whose gear has been stolen in NYC. I think you can still get legal Black Mountain MP3s from the band's label.
DASHTON: OK magazine forks over millions for Moore-Kutcher pics that look less like wedding snaps than surveillance for shoplifting.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: A Holmes family friend thells Life & Style Weekly that Holmes' parents are concerned about her pregnancy: “It seemed like Katie was being controlled by Scientologists. Now they wonder if it’s a Rosemary’s Baby situation, where Katie is being groomed to provide Tom with a child.” Which would make Cruise…
KEANU REEVES: Cityrag reviews photos and concludes that he has not bathed or changed clothes in 13 weeks. To quote the man himself, “Whoa!”
CHARLIZE THERON: Marriage is not her bag, baby.
HUGH HEFNER is keeping it real at 79 years old. Would you bet the over or the under as to the combined age of his three galpals?
GEORGE CLOONEY is driving a tiny enviro car, though one observer found it a bit sad: “This is George Clooney for goodness sake – you expect to see him in the Batmobile.” That wouldn't be sad, just frightening.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY had a talk with director Tony Scott over the degree of her exposure in her new film, Domino: “He said, 'I want your bum'. And I said, 'You’re not having it, you can have my boobs'. And he went, 'I don’t want your boobs, I want your bum'. And I went, 'No, no, no, you can have my boobs but you are not having my bum.'” Given Knightley's recently-declared love of profanity, the talk may have been a bit more graphic. However, she assures us that her rear is in view in some shots, “So it could actually be a new game that you could play guess which one is Keira's bum and which one is the bum double!”
WHEN CELEBS ACT LIKE POLS, AND VICE VERSA: At Slate, Jacob Weisberg examines the Angie-Condi-Hillary axis.
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Pitt's mom ordered him to introduce Jen and Jolie face-to-face to help settle their long-running feud, according to a rag down under. Meanwhile, People reports another Vaughniston makeout session.
THE FRENCH HOTEL no longer has a TV gig, giving her more time to work on her pretend album.
KILL REALITY: It seems that E! will indeed put out a DVD of the TV show's scandalous outtakes.
MIKE MYERS threatens to make a fourth Austin Powers movie.
EVANGELINE LILLY: I regret not having done a Lilly item yesterday, to coincide with Lost, but I hadn't found any items about her drooling, or going to the bathroom in a garbage can to share. Then I remembered that she's rumored to be dating a Hobbit.
DOMINIC MONAGHAN: Speaking of which, the Hobbit castaway believes in The Beatles: “Lennon, for me is my guy.” There's one small problem with that.
THE HATCH INTERIOR: A Lost geek has mapped it.
CHEWBACCA is becoming a US citizen. I say we should give him that medal.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS' LOVE BOATS: A source says at least 17, but possibly as many as 25, Vikings team members were on the pair of cruise boats for a party that allegedly involved sex acts, heavy drinking, drugs, and possible prostitution took place. Stephen Doyle, the charter boat company's attorney, said behavior on the cruise included oral sex, masturbation and playing with sex toys. A source with direct knowledge of the case said Tuesday that accounts of Vikings players having public sex on at least one of the boats matched with what witnesses had reported. When reached for comment, Oakland Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss laughed until he wet his pants. Okay, I made the last bit up, but suspect I'm right.
CULT OF THE iPod: Cult leader Steve Jobs finally announces the video iPod and upgrades to iTunes, including next-day digital downloads of ABC prime-time hits for $1.99 per episode. Douglas Atkin, the author of The Culting of Brands, said Apple's secrecy about unannounced products is characteristic of cults, both brand and otherwise.
BLOGS: Nearly half of bloggers consider it a form of therapy? I must be in the half for whom it's not working.
REUTERS is outsourcing financial reporting to Bangalore.
IRAQ: Iraqi lawmakers approved a set of last-minute amendments to the draft constitution, gaining support from at least one major Sunni Arab party. Insurgents launched additional attacks on Iraqis ahead of Saturday's vote, but we now know that such attacks by al Zarqawi run counter to al Qaeda's preferred strategy. The 6,000-word letter from OBL's chief lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri, to Zarqawi is a striking critique Zarqawi's tactics and reveals that al Qaeda's leaders are unable to gather their own intelligence and are strapped for cash. Naturally, the Washington Post carried this story on page 13. CENTCOM has posted its analysis of the letter online. ALSO: Bill Roggio notes that Operation River Gate has uncovered twenty six weapons caches, some considerable.
TWO-HEADED RATTLESNAKE: Angelo State University is getting an unusual addition to its collection of reptiles and amphibians.
PYTHON vs. TURKEY: This time, it's an African rock python striking in Miami Dade.
DOGS lack reliable contraceptives.
BEARS: A Chinese man learns that if you tap their bile long enough, they may decide to eat you.
FERRET WORLD has designer fashion, but may be sued by Burberry.