Karl 
BELLE & SEBASTIAN and the NEW PORNOGRAPHERS played Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club Monday night, but you can stream it from NPR now (in Real and Windows formats), as well as an interview with B&S frontman Stuart Murdoch. Guitarist Stevie Jackson talks to Pitchfork about a number of subjects, including his love of touring: “I love it, especially in America. It's such an interesting, diverse place. It has its faults, of course, but my first day in America was one of the happiest days of my life. I really mean that. I've never been so excited. I still get that feeling, especially in New York. It's so strong and so exciting, it's great.” Ken King and I see them this Friday.
ISOBEL CAMPBELL talks to PopMatters about making a duets album with Mark Lanegan on separate continents, thanks to the magic of modern technology. You can stream four tracks from Ballad of the Broken Seas — currently getting generally favorable reviews at Metacritic.
THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO “come off as the boys most likely to replace Belle and Sebastian in the hearts of frail indie folk for whom Belle's recent diversion into swinging T. Rex glam-boogie constituted treason,” according to Village Voice. You can hear ’em at MySpace, natch.
DAVID BOWIE is the secret identity of a superhero Ziggy Stardust in a bizzare old comic book.
SONIC YOUTH: Thurston Moore claims the band's upcoming album (due in June) is influenced by Blue Oyster Cult. We can only hope this means… more cowbell!
THE ROLLING STONES: Even without Jagger, the band has more security men than Pres. Bush. But Bush has Cheney.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: To get audiobiographical for a moment, this is the time of year when — during my high school years — we would have the Russian Banquet. And in 1981, when we had to prep the school for the banquet, the Talking Heads' “Once In A Lifetime” was atop the charts (though it came out a few months earlier). The breakthrough video, featuring David Byrne in full-on faith healing mode, was directed by movie choreographer Toni Basil, who would become a one-hit wonder on the strength of her video for “Mickey.”
NEKO CASE tells the Toronto Star that her new LP, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (currently getting universal acclaim at Metacritic), was inspired by Russian and Ukrainian folklore. You really should give the whole album a listen at AOL Music.
YANNI: Busted on a domestic battery charge, according to a police report.
DAVID GILMOUR: A writer for London's Guardian tells the Pink Floyd guitarist that having eight children is ridiculous. Gilmour replies: “I agree. I'm really sorry.” And he envies Neil Diamond.
AXL ROSE: With the fabled Guns N' Roses opus Chinese Democracy supposedly coming this month, Rose filed suit against Saul “Slash” Hudson, seeking a federal judge's confirmation of Rose's “ownership of his own creative works.”
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Tawdry tales from the supposed supermodel's past surface in London's Sun, including allegations that she used to carry cocaine, ecstasy and the date-rape drug Rohypnol in a £65,000 gem-encrusted Fabergé egg and indulged in a massive cocaine binge with fellow supermodel Naomi Campbell had a drug-fuelled lesbian romp with an American A-list catwalk queen during a charity trip to honor Nelson Mandela. Meanwhile, Babyshambles announces live shows for April, which might be difficult to do if the troubled singer is in jail.
THE SIMPSONS: This live-action version of the intro to The Simpsons, shot as a promo for British TV, is all over the Internet, but I'm linking in case you missed it.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY started to get paranoid after Jack Nicholson didn't make a pass at her during the Oscars. KK should be cheered to learn that while she sat on Jack's left, Jack's daughter sat to his right. Of course, Jack being Jack, would that deter him? Also, her Pride and Prejudice co-star Rupert Friend got to meet her mother last week, so I again doubt those Jake Gyllenhaal rumors. NTTAWWT.
JOAQUIN PHOENIX took his mother and sister to the Oscars to avoid angering his three girlfriends.
CHARLIZE THERON: The one near-unanimous verdict of Oscar-watchers was that Charlize's dress was ridiculous. If you didn't see the dress view it through a piece of cardboard with a pinhole punch.
AVA WITHERSPOON is keeping it real after her mom wins an Oscar.
BRITNEY SPEARS denies having a “highly sexualized public persona.”
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise bailed on Men’s Journal’s May cover after learning that the new Rolling Stone — another Wenner Media mag — includes an unflattering piece called “Inside Scientology.”
BRADGELINA are snapped wearing mathing rings, though neither is on the ring finger.
I AM SHOCKED, SHOCKED to discover that celebs are hiring their own photographers, tipping off reporters to their whereabouts and developing relationships of mutual back-scratching with magazine editors to manage their public images.
CHLOE SEVIGNY: The indie actress declares that she loves the New York Post's Page Six and that most everything they print is true. Which is a good way to get a glowing write-up in Page Six.
LOST: The New York Times thinks the grown-up love story unfolding on the show is between the South Korean husband-and-wife castaways, Sun and Jin Kwon, with all the dialogue rendered in Korean with English subtitles.
SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS had Hollywood with some fava beans and a nice chianti in an interview with the Radio Times: “Bulls***. It's a job, like any other, so don't make a big deal. Be polite, treat the crew with respect and don't think you're different…”
CULT OF THE iPod: A female jogger who was the victim of a hit-and-run is identified by her iPod.
IRAQ: In the wake of the mosque bombing, more than 300 tribal chiefs, politicians, clerics, security officials and other community leaders have “declared war” on al-Qaeda in Iraq. Ralph Peters talks to Lt.-Gen. Abdul Qadir (the commander of Iraq's ground forces) and his principal American adviser, Col. Tom McCool, about how local forces took the lead in keeping order after the mosque bombing. 24 Steps to Liberty sums up the problems inside the main Shia bloc that has led to the delay in forming a new government. And USA Today runs the headline “8,000 desert during Iraq war,” when the story itself shows the desertion rate has plunged since 9/11 and has not gone up since the invasion of Iraq.
GITMO: At the Daily Ablution, Scott Burgess reviews allegations of torture in the Guantanamo hearing transcripts, including the detainee who claims that he was distracted from his prayer by the “sharp intake of breath” of a female MP who'd been “sexually fondled,” not to mention having his peanut butter eaten by a guard “right in front of him.” Some Gitmo prisoners don't want to go home, fearing reprisals from militants or even their own governments.
A MISSING LINK? Scientists believe that a Turkish Kurd family who walk on all fours could shed light on the moment Man first stood upright. No, really.
POLICE HORSE FUNERAL: About 1,200 people, including police and civic dignitaries, attended a memorial at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto to pay their respects to Brigadier, the Belgian cross police horse that was killed in the line of duty Feb. 24.
BOB THE BUTTERFLY is getting matchmaking services from a bank in Montana.
WOULD-BE SHEEP MOLESTER is ratted out by Goats. No, really.
