DAVE GROHL is going to be everywhere, releasing a Foo Fighters double-disc (half acoustic, half electric) and playing on forthcoming discs from Garbage and Nine Inch Nails.
LUCINDA WILLIAMS, who guests on one of the new Bright Eyes discs, will release a live double-disc set on May 10th.
ARCADE FIRE UPDATE: The hype around their NYC visit sent their guest list out of control. Martin Hall, the band's publicist: “If the president of MTV calls, I may have to cut somebody’s plus-one. I’ll get a writer in, but it’s not my responsibility to manage their social life.”
ON THE PITCHFORK: The Top 100 Albums 2000-04, plus the indidual writers' lists. ALSO: Details on the forthcoming disc from The Mountain Goats.
POST-ELECTION IRAQ: The New York Times (via the International Herald Tribune) reports that the election may have improved Iraqi opinion of the U.S. Daniel Drezner blogs coverage of the election's impact in Iraq and Europe. The Washington Post reports that the public mood appears to be moving more clearly against the insurgency in Iraq (though I take WaPo coverage from Iraq with a grain of salt. An op-ed piece in the WaPo notes that the reaction on the “Arab Street” is more diverse than some believe.
SAUDI ARABIA, OTOH, is fomenting hatred of the infidel here in the U.S.
PETA is thrilled with the new, leather-free cars from Mercedes-Benz.
SOCIAL SECURITY: Much like actual war, the political battle over Social Security is beginning with an air war.
THE CUTE ONE IS THE SAFE ONE: The Washington Post review of McCartney's Super Bowl gig is positive, but didn't the Beatles used to be symbols of rebellion?
MISS ANY SUPER BOWL ADS? You can watch them here. You can see the uncensored version of the GoDaddy “wardrobe malfunction” ad at its site.
CULT OF THE iPod: James Lileks explains why his his iPod Shuffle is his favorite iPod. Slate looks at audiophile options for the iPod. At the other end of the spectrum, Wal-Mart is dipping its toe into the iPod pool.
SPECIAL OPS CODY UPDATE: The action figure taken hostage by terrorists has become a star, fetching many times his regular price on eBay.
THE JOY OF PHOTOSHOP: Fishbowl NY imagines the Harper's edition of US Weekly. I would like to see the US Weekly version of Harper's.
BLOGGER ED DRISCOLL has an article up at Tech Central Station on the “long tail” of media.
DEEP THROAT of Watergate fame is not well. Plus, Washington Post media reporter Howie Kurtz chats online about how Watergate would play out in the internet age.
FOLLOW THE MONEY: The Financial Times reports that “Fatah, the leading faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has begun a hunt for millions of dollars in assets hidden by Yassir Arafat, its late leader.”
DON CHEADLE will be the guest correspondent when Nightline covers the Sudan on Wednesday or Thursday night.
KITES ON ICE: Some 80,000 people went to Madison, Wisconsin for North America’s largest kite festival on Lake Mendota. The fest included synchronized flying shows, kite boarding and an extreme form of skiing known as “power kiting.” I love this country.
FRENCHNESS IN CHICAGO: Having complained that the new lighting of the Eiffel Tower has been copyrighted, I must note — in the interest of fairness — that Cloud Gate (a/k/a The Bean), the centerpiece sculpture in Chicago's new Millenium Park, is copyrighted. But that hasn't stopped folks from photographing it.
A FOUR YEAR OLD BOY drove his mother's car to a video store in the middle of the night, Sand Lake (Michigan) police said. It was only a quarter mile, but took a while because the boy could not reach the gas pedal.
DEMOCRATIC DIAGNOSIS: In The New Republic, Ryan Lizza dishes the backstory of the race to chair the Democratic Party, which Howard Dean seems to have sewn up.
BIG BROTHER IN THE BIG EASY? New Orleans is installing a citywide security system with state-of-the-art cameras that can monitor an eight-block area around each one, as well as communicate with police, track crime in the area and provide proof in court.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Contrary to earlier reports, record companies failed to make timely bail for the maybe-Libertine and Babyshambles frontman. He may be released today.
MTV2 gets busted in its attempt to create grassroots buzz for its two-headed dog from astroturf.
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: Series creator and executive producer Mark Cherry notes there are outtakes too racy for broadcast, which could turn up on the inevitable DVD set.
THE MALTESE FALCON may be the stuff that dreams are made of, but an article in The San Francisco Chronicle argues that it's all about Bogie.
BRITNEY AND HUBBY have matching haircuts. Eww.