Karl 
BRENDAN BENSON talks to the Boston Globe about his new disc, The Alternative to Love, (which I dig) and his forthcoming project with Jack White: ''I hang out with people like Jack White, who's just full of eccentricities and fictions, to the point where it's almost annoying,” Benson said by phone from his Detroit home. ''And I wonder, is that why he's so successful? Is it because of that and why I'm not successful, because I'm too regular?”
BLUEGRASS: Jim & Jennie & the Pinetops get a pretty good review for Rivers Roll on By on the Pitchfork. On Tuesday, Rounder released Earliest Recordings: Complete Rich-R-Tone 78s (1947-1952) by the Stanley Brothers.
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS play a knockout gig in L.A., according to the Hollywood Reporter: “The long, loud show was a monster.”
ADAM SCHLESINGER: Somehow, I missed this profile of the songwriter with Fountains of Wayne, Ivy and The Oneders, which is filled with nifty trivia, such as the fact that he co-owns a studio with Ivy's Andy Chase and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha. But there is also a troubling tidbit: FoW singer-songwriter Chris Collingwood claims to still be “burned out” from the touring behind Welcome Interstate Managers.
CATS AND DOGS: In Hinesville, GA, the local animal control and humane shelter have been crammed to capacity with dogs and cats since Army troops from neighboring Fort Stewart deployed to Iraq. In America's Dairyland, the issue of whether to make feral cats an unprotected species, meaning they could be hunted and killed, was put before the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, an independent organization created by the state 70 years ago to take public input on conservation issues. In Omaha (listen my friends), two pit bulls rescued a woman who was being attacked by a red chow. And in Tampa, FL, a trusty dog sacrificed its life to save its owner from an alligator. If Cindy Hernandez had owned a cat, she would probably be dead today.
U.K. ELECTION: Billy Bragg is starting a tactical voting campaign to vote for Labour and Labour supporters in Dorset West and Dorset Mid & Poole North to go Lib Dem. Lady Margaret Thatcher worked a glitzy London lap-dancing club for the Tories.
IRAN: Ariel Sharon’s military attache presented aerial photos of Iranian nuclear installations during the Israeli prime minister’s summit with President Bush, Israeli public radio reported on Tuesday. The report said the images proved that the Iranian nuclear program was at a “very advanced” stage.
PRESIDENT BUSH has a thing for petting heads, especially bald ones.
AL GOLDSTEIN has gone from porn baron to homeless and back again, due in both cases to the Internet.
HIP-HOP MOGUL RUSSELL SIMMONS AND THE REV. AL SHARPTON tried to broker a truce between KFC and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but are now backing PETA.
BRITNEY SPEARS IS PREGNANT: She finally fesses up after reports that she was in the hospital last weekend, which she did not deny. Credit the ever-reliable Page SixSixSix with the exclusive that she was hospitalized because of complications to the pregnancy. And it was confirmed by the National Enquirer, so it must be true. Stereogum has scans of morphs done by Star magazine imagining what the demon spawn will look like. Also, when (as noted yesterday) the pop tart snubbed those “false tabloids” to give an interview to a ten-year-old girl, she probably didn't know the fourth-grader was the daughter of the former West Coast Bureau Chief of Star magazine. Heh.
k.d. lang, Canada's most famous lesbian, is not pregnant, just getting bigger.
BREAST ENHANCEMENT: A panel of federal health advisers decides against silicone-gel breast implants, because the saline implants look much more natural. Actually, it had something to do with lingering health issues, though the company that requested the review was only inviting a swarm of lawsuits down the line. Virginia Postrel rounds up links about the implant controversy. Slate has a slideshow of drawings from the U.S. Patent Office tracing the history of breast enhancement. And it looks more painful than sexy.
YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP: In San Francisco, a dominatrix hangs up her paddle and gets a job with the Treasury Department, where one of her bosses is a former client. Sexual harrassment ensued, allegedly.
YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP, EITHER: In Nashville, a man was beaten to death after catching his wife's lover living in a closet in their home. The wife had allowed her lover to live in a closet of the family home for about a month without her husband's knowledge. It being Nashville, is a country song far behind?
TEA LEONI AND DAVID DUCHOVNY grace the cover of Redbook magazine, which could mean their marriage is in trouble: “Of the last four couples to appear on the mag's cover, two are headed for divorce, one pair was (literally) defunct at the time they appeared and one set co-starred in Dodgeball.”
AMICABLE BREAK-UPS: The BBC's Great Debate is tired of them and wants bands to split acrimoniously. The article salutes Johnny Rotten’s last, defiant “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” and “Paul Weller’s decision to break-up The Jam at the absolute peak of their powers – without doubt, the best band split ever…”
TINY MIX TAPES has the complete list of recordings added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry, along with a link to the site where you can submit your nominations for the next batch.
NOT A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE between Robert Plant and Jimmy Page these days.
BILLY JOEL is movin' out of the Betty Ford Clinic. Drive accordingly.
MEL GIBSON is seriously considering making a biopic of Pope John Paul II. Mel dispatched a production crew to film the spectacle surrounding his death and funeral.
IDAHO: The legislature adopted a resolution commending Jared and Jerusha Hess and the City of Preston for showcasing the positive aspects of Idaho's youth, rural culture, education system, athletics, economic prosperity and diversity.” Moreover, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air quality and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transportation.”
THE SOURCE UPDATE: Raymond “Benzino” Scott, the co-founder, co-owner and chief brand manager of The Source magazine, vowed on Monday to stay on after abruptly resigning late last Friday, as two former high-ranking staffers filed claims of gender discrimination and sexual harassment against him and David Mays, the magazine’s CEO.
WAR ON TERROR: Iranian author Amir Taheri writes that majority opinion within the terror movement favors the al-Zawahiri strategy — to seize control of at least one Muslim country to provide the safe haven that the Islamists enjoyed in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Their target seems to be Saudi Arabia.
THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY of electricity is detailed in Electric Universe, a book briefly reviewed by blogger Jason Kottke. He was surprised to learn that “Alexander Graham Bell, in part, invented the telephone to impress a girl (well, acutally the girl's parents)?” Kottke ought to have figured out that that's why men do most things.
BASEBALL: At Slate, Noam Scheiber examines why, in almost every measurable physical activity, athletes show improvement over time except pitchers. And I meant to post a link to Greg Hall’s poem, “Baseball Is,” on opening day, but better late than never, yes? Pass it along to the baseball fans in your family.
SEN. RUSSELL FEINGOLD is getting divorced, which some think will end his 2008 presidential run almost before it began.
A SLAP IN THE FACE: Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times notices that “in our society, public support for the news media has all but evaporated.” Indeed, “the one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is that the news media are not trustworthy.”
MPLS wants to go wireless. I seem to recall that Philly has made similar noises recently.
FILIBUSTERS: At The American Prospect, Matthew Yglesias argues that Democrats should counter the GOP threat to end filibusters of judicial nominations by proposing that the Senate should end filibusters entirely.
SPAIN sold €539.603 worth of chemical warfare agents and radioactive materials to Venezuela. In the past, President Hugo Chavez, has pledged solidarity with Iran, called Saddam Hussein “a brother,” himself “the second Fidel Castro of Latin America” and Gaddafi’s Libya “a model of participatory democracy.” Chavez has also been accused of funding the Taliban after September 11th, as well as Marxist guerrillas in Colombia. So the sale might be a matter of some concern to the U.S.
M.I.T. UBER-GEEKS have designed an advanced disco dance floor.
WALKING, MAN-SHAPED ROBOTS go on sale in Tokyo. They are only 15 inches tall… now.
GLOBAL SEX SERVICE: The feds have busted a multimillion-dollar prostitution ring that allegedly dispatched call girls to cities across the United States and the world.
YET ANOTHER TEACHER is charged with having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student. And this one is just the substitute. Teacher, that is.
RUBE GOLDBERG: I missed Purdue University's 22nd annual Purdue Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. This year, students had create machines that would replace batteries in a flashlight using a minimum of 20 steps that employed principles of engineering and physics. You can see pictures of the finalists and a QuickTime movie of the winner — which took 125 steps — at the link.
