Karl 
THE APPLES IN STEREO have a new animated video for "Can You Feel It?" Chock full of ad references; the Maxell man makes a cameo.
KEITH RICHARDS, LORD of the UNDEAD: His secret is revealed. Keef adds, "I was No. 1 on the 'who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list…" UPDATE: Keef says he was joking. Too late, my man; the cat is out of the bag!
THE HOLD STEADY frontman Craig Finn talks to MTV about recording "'Take Me Out to the Ball Game" for the Minnesota Twins. Video of the recording at the link. You can stream and download it at TheirSpace, which you should visit just to read their slogan.
ELK CITY: GvsB recently said this band "'sort of has a '60s girl-group-meets-the-Pixies feel,' which in fact sounds much better on record than on paper. Turns out the Village Voice thinks that frontwoman Renee LoBue sounds 'like a female Bowie engaged in a three-way with Hope Sandoval and Patti Smith.'" The band's album comes out later this month, but you can stream a few via the HM now.
SHEARWATER frontman Jonathan Meiburg talks to Things I'd Rather Be Doing about the band's relationship with Okkervil River and being Shearwater's sole songwriter: "Oh, I'm a control freak anyway, so I love it. Now everything bad is my fault, too, which is an added bonus." (Thanks LHB.)
LET'S GO SAILING has a twofer on the World Cafe featuring "sweet-but-sad pop" from their debut, The Chaos in Order.
RAY LaMONTAGNE & DAMIEN RICE cover "To Love Someone" by the Bee Gees. Lest you scoff, Pate covered "Nights on Broadway."
JARVIS COCKER talks to Pitchfork about a range of topics, such as the Brits' new obsession with monitoring their blood-sugar levels and music, including a funny song the title of which I will not repeat here (which is saying something). NSFW? You betcha! "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" is alright, though.
FIELD MUSIC: The Brewis brothers write crisp songs that conjure XTC, The Jam and other sharp, edgy '80s mod-pop, but David Brewis tells DC's Express that it's purely coincidence. "The '80s, for me, weren't about XTC or The Jam; we just wouldn't have heard them. The '80s, for me, were Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush and my parents' records." My picks to click would be "Give It, Lose It, Take It," "She Can Do What She Wants," "A House Is Not A Home" and "Closer At Hand."
YUSUF ISLAM, f/k/a CAT STEVENS reportedly refused to speak with the female guides at a recent German event because they weren't veiled — despite being there to accept an honor for building bridges between Eastern and Western cultures. Guess the bridge isn't a two-way passage.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: An intimate three-minute video of the troubled singer serenading the supposedly sober supermodel has made it on to the Internet. It ends with Moss calling Doherty "f***face." Video at the link or direct via the Tube.
THE McCARTNEYS: You can hear Heather Mills get all weepy on Ryan Secrest's radio show over all the media scrutiny arising out of her divorce from Sir Paul. Yet she has reportedly has stunned insiders on Dancing With The Stars with a string of diva-like demands. Meanwhile, a man was arrested after trying to force his way into Sir Paul's country mansion.
JESSICA SIMPSON stunned guests at a Rome hotel by romping noisily with her lover John Mayer, it has been claimed. I dunno… if I heard what sounded like a woman screaming from their hotel room, why should I assume it was Simpson?
SIENNA MILLER'S friends took on the paparazzi Sunday night — trying to stop them from snapping the actress after she hung out with Diddy. Video at the link.
BRINEY SPEARS: The pop tart's new producer, Sean Garrett, says the sound on her new disc "is like 'Toxic' times 10." I have no doubt of that.
SALMA HAYEK is stunned to find herself a sex symbol in the US, because growing up in Mexico she was considered "deformed." This is either the biggest load of BS ever, or Mexico has much bigger problems than I thought.
GRINDHOUSE: Page Six claims that production of the much-hyped Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez movie opening Friday, ground to a halt last year when Rodriguez fell for his leading lady, Rose McGowan, and his wife found out.
KIRSTEN DUNST: Radar magazine cites a source claiming that she abruptly split with Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti because she "couldn't persuade Moretti to have sex with her. When pressed to consummate the relationship, says the source, Moretti told her he wasn't over (Drew) Barrymore."
ROSIE O'DONNELL: The Queen of Nice's March 31st conspiracy theory about the West instigating war with Iran contradicts her March 28th conspiracy theory about the West instigating war with Iran.
THE GREEN HORNET appears to have the green light again, this time courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
KITT, the flame-throwing, river-jumping, talking muscle car from the '80s TV show Knight Rider, is up for sale. Just in time for my birthday. Just sayin'.
GEORGE CLOONEY has denied leaking clips of director David O. Russell and Lily Tomlin in a series of expletive-filled arguments on the set of the 2004 flick I Heart Huckabees, offering a cool million to anyone who can prove otherwise.
NANOTECH: US scientists, taking a tip from Star Trek, have used nanotechnology to create a theoretical optical "cloaking" device that can make objects invisible.
IRAN: British PM Tony Blair delares that the next two days are "fairly critical" to resolving the dispute over a seized British navy crew. An Iranian diplomat detained in Baghdad in February is reported to have returned to Iran. Iraq is pressing for the release of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard agents captured in Irbil. Iran is indicating it will not try the 15 captive British sailors. ITM's Omar Fadhil writes that while some pundits are comparing the situation with the US embassy crisis in Tehran back in 1979,the abduction of the sailors has more in common with the Bazoft case in Iraq in 1990. Work is proceeding on the logistic units of Bushehr nuclear power plant.
IRAQ: The proposal to reverse Saddam's forced Arabization of Kirkuk could prompt inter-ethnic tension and violence, analysts say… and right on cue is the truck bomb in Kirkuk. Also at that second link, an Iraqi government spokesman subtly challenges Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's opposition to the draft de-Baathification proposal pushed by PM al-Maliki and Pres. Talabani. IBM yesterday announced a donation of 1,000 two-way automatic translation devices and 10,000 copies of software to be used to assist US operations in Iraq. The LATimes has an article on the splintering of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. Are we shocked to learn that Iran is trying to recruit some of them? Nah.
GROMIT is filling in for Nipper as the RCA mascot for three months, as part of a unique marketing deal in which no money has changed hands. Which helps take the edge off the news that Nipper died penniless.
SNAKE in a SEARCH ENGINE: A python named Kaiser went missing over the weekend in Google's sprawling Manhattan office, prompting an all-out snakehunt that reportedly included a missing flier for the lost snake.
THIEVING SQUIRREL swipes eleven American flags from a Korean War veteran. Surveillance video at the link. I question its patriotism! Or did he just need a flag of his own?
THE SWARM attacks an expressway in Henan province, China.
CATS get drunk, pass out in wacky positions. Incriminating photos at the link.
