Karl 
THE NEW RAGS are “bluesy, jazzy and have a rockin' keyboard,” according to You Ain't No Picasso, which also points to MP3s and streaming from the band's MySpace page, which also lists the band's diverse influences, including Brian Wilson, Ben Folds, Tom Waits, ragtime and Rachmaninov.
BONO applauds a plan by World Bank And the IMF to cancel 40 billion dollars worth of debt for 18 developing nations. And he wants to take on the WTO next.
METRIC: The Caunuck combo's new album drops in the US next week, but Frank at Chromewaves links you up with plenty of press, downloads and streams. Give 'em a listen; don't cost nothin'.
ACL FEST 2005 was a dust bowl!
IRON & WINE'S Sam Beam talks about the new EP collaboration with Calexico in Paste magazine.
EDDIE VEDDER was Sammy Davis, Jr.
KISS' GENE SIMMONS talks about his TV show, Rock School, in London's Guardian: “I think the show's quite good, but then I'm delusional about almost anything I do.”
DAVID JOHANSEN answers a few questions about the New York Dolls tour, but doesn't stop there — Q: I may interview Aretha Franklin today — do you have any questions for her? A: Yes. I want to ask her how many recipes she has that use vanilla wafers. I bet she’s got like 20 of ’em.
THE RADIOHEAD BLOG has a few amusing items, including guitarist Jonny Greenwood's shocking Sept. 23rd confession that he's never heard the Stooges. Plus a bit on making a compilation disc.
WELCOME TO THE O.C., INDIE ROCKERS: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has turned the show down, but the Daily Refill discovers there are plenty of fish in the sea.
TED NUGENT may run for Governor of Michigan in 2010; until then, he's giving Ann Coulter a run for her money.
BOB DYLAN: Scotland's Herald runs a column by Melanie Reid titled, “The answer, my friend, is that it’s a load of old hype.” I think she starts with a false dichotomy, but it's funny anyway.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise will deliver a series of four lectures on topics related to “The Modern Science of Mental Health” beginning next month. Co-sponsored by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, the lectures will be held at Scientology's Celebrity Center International in Los Angeles. You really must click to read the titles of the lectures. Brooke Shields tells Oprah that she wants to have another baby. And feed it Ritalin, even if unnecessary, just to drive Cruise completely off a cliff. Okay, I made that last bit up. But I think there may be a subtle message in the fact that Shields appeared on Oprah's show in the first place.
DASHTON: Gamblers think it's more likely that Kutcher and Moore will have a child than get divorced, as though “all of the above” is not an option. Bruce Willis “strictly forbids” his children with Moore from being exposed to Kabbalah.
BENATOR AFFLECK? Virginia Democrats desperately seeking a big name to challenge Sen. George Allen next year, note that Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been shopping for real estate around Charlottesville. I'm guessing these Dems haven't heard about the “fruit basket.”
ALEC BALDWIN is making a trip to New Orleans to help with hurricane relief efforts. The Army Corps of Engineers plans to use Baldwin as a floating platform from which they can pump water out of the ninth ward back into the levee system.
SUGE KNIGHT wants to bag the gangsta rap and become a college football coach. The 325-pound Knight went to University of Nevada at Las Vegas on a football scholarship and briefly played for the Oakland Raiders.
COURTNEY LOVE: Her mother's memoir explains a decent chunk of why Love is so… Courtney. When she was 4 years old, her hippie father would dose her with “magic pills” and draw psychedelic squiggles all over her naked body, but that's just the tip of the dysfuctional iceberg.
JESSICA ALBA is launching a video game, though I suspect extreme sports are not what her fans would suggest. She was strangely more attracted to her Fantastic Four co-stars once they were in their muscle suits. There aren't many advance reviews for her upcoming flick Into the Blue, but those few are amusing. For example, Shadows on the Wall ledes: “There aren't nearly enough preposterous thrillers that involve gorgeous young stars wearing very little clothing.” Ain't-It-Cool-News: “No, Into the Blue is not a good movie; it’s not even a defensibly decent movie. But… there are things going on here that go beyond the scope of which this type of movie usually delivers, and for that, I have to give it its props.”
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Now that Jennifer Aniston is talking about her split from Pitt, Brad and Angie are walking down the aisle… at the Safeway.
THE FRENCH HOTEL: Finally, something makes her uncomfortable.
CHARLIZE THERON: Don't hate her 'cause she's beautiful!
DAVID CRONENBERG: The Scanners director found a new way to freak people out on the set of A History of Violence, using his wife to demonstrate sex scenes for Viggo Mortenson and Maria Bello.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is happy to be doing steamy topless scenes with Edgar Ramirez in her new movie: “In fact, to be able to do that in the middle of the desert was actually quite liberating. And to do it with a beautiful Venezuelan — well, let's just say I'm a lucky girl!”
EVANGELINE LILLY urinated in a car park trash can to win a 20 dollar bet with Lost co-stars Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia and Dominic Monaghan.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH is headed for the Supreme Court, but not to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The real headline at the link is “Playmate appeals to Supreme Court,” but I though some might think the story was about Justice Clarence Thomas.
CHRISTINA AGUILERA sent Ma Spears a corset and a diet handbook? I doubt it, but laughed anyway.
EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER, Big Easy Edition, will be hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.
HURRICANE KATRINA: The Congressional hearings look to be as likely to get at what happened as the bogus stories of local officials parroted by the media. Author Joel Kotkin seems to be one of the few keeping his eye on the big picture.
OTHER DISASTERS: Live Science has a Top 10 list of natural disasters that worry scientists.
ALBERT BROOKS' new movie, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, has moved to Warner Independent Pictures, because Sony wanted Brooks to change the title.
RELIGIOUS BELIEF contributes to high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according a new study. The World Health Organization seems to disagree. Plus, I'm pretty sure that atheistic nations like the USSR and China all scored well on the dysfuctional scale.
TERRORISM: A Syrian was convicted in a Spanish court of leading a terrorist cell and conspiring to commit murder in the 9/11 attacks. Sixteen others were convicted of belonging to or collaborating with a terrorist organization, but not linked to 9/11. One of the 16 was Tayssir Alouni, a correspondent for the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera. ALSO: Three men charged in a terror investigation were planning shooting rampages at L.A.-area military sites to retaliate for what they called the oppression of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. BONUS: French anti-terrorism police arrested nine people Monday suspected of planning attacks in France, including an Islamist previously convicted on terrorism charges and freed from prison. The terrorists probably wanted France to withdraw from Iraq.
IRAQ: At Slate, Bing West notes the progress made by the Marines in Fallujah in less than a year to show the import of improving Iraqi forces going forward. The Belmont Club comments further, noting the import of institutional memory to the war. Bill Roggio makes a similar point regarding dismantling the al-Ahwal brigade in the city of Hit.
THE GIANT SQUID, mythic and elusive, is caught on film in its natural habitat for perhaps the first time. I think this would have happened much sooner if more people knew about the secret and violent sex life of the giant squid. The males are smaller than the females, but not where it counts.
FISH STORY: You shoulda seen the 35,000 that got away down under. I blame Nemo.
OUCH: Philippine fisheries quarantine inspector Mario Trio discovered illegally imported piranhas — the hard way.
IGUANA: I've heard of cats getting stuck in trees, but an iguana?
BULL SEMEN makes the wheels of international diplomacy go 'round.
PANDAS: Chinese and American scientists will use GPS technology in an attempt to unveil the darkest secrets of the giant panda's sex life.
MOUSE GROUNDS AIRPLANE FOR 12 HOURS: I didn't know rodents were on the no-fly list.
