ROBERT POLLARD: Newsday's Glenn Gamboa writes: “On his new solo album, From a Compound Eye, Pollard reconnects with the quirkiness of his earlier work without losing the musical momentum he generated with later incarnations of Guided by Voices.”
THE ROCK ROBOT is blogging its way through the voluminous Guided by Voices/Pollard catalog.
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE singer Zack de la Rocha turned down an offer to join rasta-punk legends Bad Brains, who are currently fronted by former Cro-Mags growler John “Bloodclot” Joseph.
THE BLUES MUSIC AWARDS nominations include several unlikely challengers who emerged from the fringes to take on the big boys.
DRIVE-BY TRUCKER Jason Isbell used to play in Bo Bice's band and comments on his success.
MORRISSEY is under fire after voicing his support for violent animal rights activists. And he's starting an extensive UK tour.
CAT POWER: More buzz for Chan Marshall and the Greatest in The Age and (with Beth Orton) The New York Times. Reminder — the whole album is streaming at MySpace.
PAUL WELLER will accept the Outstanding Contribution To Music gong at next month’s Brit Awards so that he can give an emotional speech in tribute to his seriously ill dad.
HARD-FI frontman Richard Archer wonders why the Brit Awards leave pop acts out of the pop category.
BUILT TO SPILL will have a new album, You In Reverse, out in April. There's an advance track, nine minutes long, up at MySpace.
WE ARE SCIENTISTS frontman Keith Murray talks about his unrequited love for heavy metal.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer has bought three Jaguars this past month, even as he was losing thousand of pounds for himself and others by failing to turn up for gigs.
LOVE MONKEY: The Orlando Sentinel, in looking at the growing influence of pop and rock on television (and vice-versa), notes that CBS's new Love Monkey, starring Tom Cavanagh as an A & R guy, will feature a number of little-known bands and performers. Despite the presence of Jason Priestley, I was persuaded by the promise of bands, Cavanagh, Judy Greer and Ivana Milicevic to watch. Like Tom Shales, I found it “easy to dismiss yet hard to dislike,” with “charm by the oodle, and some very beguiling tricks up its sleeve.” How many TV shows are going to show you the Hotel Chelsea and CBGB at all, let alone in the same hour?
GOLDEN GLOBES AFTERPARTY: There's plenty of backstage gossip from USA Today and the AP. Eva Longoria told the McPaper that she and Jamie Foxx are just friends, but that's not what a source told Perez Hilton. Are Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber still together? Page Six implied they are not, but Perez claims a very good source saw them together at the CAA afterparty. But one of my favorite nuggets is Defamer's screen cap of Russell Crowe chowing down on a burger from a telltale, off-the-menu Styrofoam container during the ceremonies.
RUSSELL CROWE also has confirmed reports his wife Danielle Spencer is expecting their second child.
HOLLY HUNTER gave birth to twins. No word on whether they have superpowers.
PARADISE NOW: The movie about two Nablus car mechanics who are sent to carry out a double suicide-bombing in Tel Aviv gets bad reviews on the West Bank: “This movie doesn't help the Palestinian cause,” said an armed Palestinian militant who would not give his name because he's on the run. “People who go to carry out bombings do not hesitate so much.”
LARRY WACHOWSKI: Rolling Stone has a lengthy piece on the co-director of the blockbuster Matrix movies taking up with a dominatrix, cross-dressing and hinting he's a candidate for gender-reassignment surgery.
HALLE BERRY may procreate with a random dude at the end of the Summer.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: Rumored to be dating the lonely Sean Lennon. Last month he told a newspaper he was looking for any woman from 18- 45 with an IQ above 130. So I'm guessing that doesn't last.
HOWARD STERN has had some work done. CityRag has the before and after shots.
WILLIAM SHATNER. Sells. His. Kidney. Stone. The money will go to Habitat for Humanity.
BRITTANY MURPHY is engaged again, this time to the man who hung her Christmas lights.
KATE BECKINSALE claims she has “fat ass” days when she is so insecure about her looks that she can't leave the house. Now there's a role model for young girls.
JESSICA SIMPSON is currently in talks for another reality show: “I like the idea as it could be empowering to women to show that life goes on after a marriage.”
IRAQ: At Iraq the Model, Omar posts that President Talabani insists on including the Sunni Arabs in the new government, while the main Shia party is suffering from internal conflicts over the nomination of the new prime minister. Bill Roggio, looking at the major security incidents reported over the past week, suggests that al-Qaeda wants coordination of jihadi groups in Iraq because al-Qaeda in Iraq may be having a problem in sustaining a mass-casualty campaign over time outside Baghdad. Baby Noor, the Iraqi infant who underwent surgery in Atlanta for spina bifida, will have to return to the hospital so fluid can be drained from her back.
IRAN: It's a tug-of-war over Russia. Britain softened its stance over imposing sanctions in an effort to maintain international unity regarding Tehran's nuclear program. Russia moved towards the US and European position, while coincidentally the Iranian ambassador in Moscow praised a proposal to move Tehran's uranium enrichment program to Russia. China remains a wild card.
PAKISTAN: Reason catches The New York Times and AFP misidentifying an artillery shell as the “remains of a missile.” Perhaps these media outlets simply don't know much about things military — which is a disadvantage when covering a war. Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities confirmed that four or five foreign terrorists were killed in the US strike that hoped to target al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.
NSA SURVEILLANCE: The Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU filed federal lawsuits seeking to end Pres. Bush's electronic eavesdropping program. Though the ACLU has a broad range of clients involved, they will probably have difficulties proving they have “standing” to bring their suit. The CCR suit seems stronger, as its lawyers represent enemy combatants, but those clients are not plaintiffs to the suit, which may be problematic. ALSO: FBI officials repeatedly complained to the NSA that the flood of tips led them to few potential terrorists inside the country they did not know of from other sources and diverted agents from counter- terrorism work they viewed as more productive. The differing views of the FBI and the NSA may reflect both bureaucratic rivalry and a culture clash. As the FBI seems to have a hard time finding spies in its own ranks, they might need to do a rethink on intell sharing.
ANOTHER TEXAS CHUPACABRA? Local animal experts are having a hard time identifying a strange looking animal killed in Angelina County, TX on Friday. Looks like a deformed coyote to me.
PARROT SQUEALS: A computer programmer found out his girlfriend was having an affair when his pet parrot kept repeating her lover's name, British media reported Tuesday. Usually, it's the girlfriend who makes that mistake. At least, that's what I've heard. From friends. Of friends.
CHINCHILLAS and BOA CONSTRICTORS were among the animals blessed in Spain to mark the feast day of Saint Anthony, patron saint of animals.
PETS: They're going to live forever… if they graduate from the fame academy for pets in Germany, where talented animals get the chance to sing, dance and play musical instruments.
