Karl 
THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MAY is a British psych-folk band, with the psychedelia sounding a little more American and the folk sounding a little more British. It seemed like this would be a good day to feature them. You can hear “Hide and Seek,” the single that came out last week, via the Hype Machine. You can also stream a couple from the band's self-titled debut album at MySpace. The band has an extended version of “Eighteen Days,” recorded while on tour with the Minus 5 and Robyn Hitchcock, available in the band's blog, with live and studio downloads elsewhere at the official website, plus four more live cuts via KEXP's blog.
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FEST has posted the initial lineup for 2006, including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, the Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, the Raconteurs, the Shins, Feist, Stars, Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band, the New Pornographers, Son Volt, Nickel Creek, Iron & Wine, Calexico and many, many more…
KEITH RICHARDS' fall from a coconut tree may cost the Rolling Stones 15 million bucks.
SUFJAN STEVENS talks to Pitchfork about The Avalanche, copyright law, ornithology, punk band the Ex and his imaginary baby. Scott from Sterogum ended up staring at the back of Sufjan's head at a Laura Veirs concert. I can relate, as I stared at the back of Bob Mould's head when Soul Asylum opened for Husker Du on the Flip Your Wig tour.
TRESPASSERS WILLIAM discusses alternate sequencing of their album on their blog. You can stream a couple of new and old tracks via MySpace.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: I am teasing you by telling you that the Mamas & Papas lip-synced “California Dreaming” really well on Hullaballoo, but not showing you the go-go dancers, who are worth the wait.
THE PRETENDERS: Chrissie Hynde's high school nickname was Bernice.
THE TOP 14 ROCK OPERAS AND CONCEPT ALBUMS, according to IGN.
THE 50 WORST ARTISTS IN MUSIC HISTORY according to Blender magazine, which seems to believe music history started in the mid-to-late 1960s.
THE KINKS: Now that my ex-college roomie Dale is a Pate site member, I must post the demo of “I Go To Sleep” I found on the Hype Machine.
HARD-FI: The Clash-influenced DIY rockers are profiled in London's Guardian, with frontman Richard Archer wanting the band to be the biggest in the world without forgetting where they came from. And railing against the rumor that he dated Scarlett Johansson. You can sample the band via MySpace.
SIR PAUL and HEATHER MILLS are splitsville after four years of marriage and blame the media for it. Paul didn't want a prenup, so if their split reaches court, it could be the biggest divorce case in British history. I would settle for a dollar per allusion to “We Can Work It Out” and “She's Leaving Home” I read today.
ISSAC HAYES and wife Adjowa announced the birth of their baby son. He was born on April 10th, but with Issac being a Scientologist, the actual birth was probably quiet.
THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS CAT STEVENS, a/k/a Yusuf Islam, is returning with a new album that he hopes will bridge the divide between Islam and the west. He has his work cut out for him. He expressed horror over the 9/11 attacks, but that followed his support for the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, his stated belief that Taliban-style extremism was a product of the media and Hollywood, his calling Judaism a “so-called religion” when he was the guest of honor at a fundraiser for a group identified by the Canadian government as a “front” for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, his support for Saddam Hussein, as well as his possibly funding blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Hamas.
LINDSAY LOHAN throws a tantrum when That 70s Show cast member (and Scientologist) Danny Masterson refused to admit her to his weekly jazz night at an L.A. club because he doesn't respect the way she lives her life. At least she can find consolation in her perfect breasts.
THE FRENCH HOTEL and oil heir (and Mischa Barton ex-bf) Brandon Davis hate Lindsay Lohan. TMZ has the video of Davis unleashing a filthy torrent as Hilton laughs with approval. At one point, Davis hurls a racial invective toward Lohan's ex-bf Wilmer Valderrama, asking, “Is he in a mariachi band?”
MISCHA BARTON, the OC hottie, has a hard time hailing a taxi in NYC. Taxi drivers have a hard time spotting the nearly two-dimensional.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Friends say that Holmes has been “constantly in tears” since the birth of the Tom-Kitten, sparking fears she has post-partum depression. Her fiancée Cruise, of course, publicly criticized Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants for post-partum depression, as psychiatric drugs are frowned on by Scientology. But what does Scientology say about karma?
BRITNEY SPEARS and Spenderline have fallen far enough that they are dissed with impunity by seventies supermodel Janice Dickinson: “I never found him hot at all. But she’s a hick anyway. She needs to get hot again. Stop clomping around in those Malibu flip-flops.”
JESSICA SIMPSON: The pneumatic blonde is miffed that her sister is stealing her look.
THE DA VINCI CODE: Although I will post “Now Showing” on Friday, it appears that the Code drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs at the Cannes Film Festival. The New York Times, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are among those panning the flick. The National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation is upset because it will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino.
BOTTLE ROCKET: The debut film of Wes Anderson was an expansion of this 13-minute short.
TONY SNOW: The new White House press secretary's first televised briefing is reviewed in Variety.
GREY'S ANATOMY: The ABC hit will go head-to-head with CSI next Fall. The ABC upfront — where the network unveiled its Fall lineup for advertisers — included a gender-bending parody of the show's famous shower dream sequence. Which was a good excuse to link to the latter again.
TX TEACHER MISCONDUCT: An English teacher at a Texas high school is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student, after asked an assistant principal if he could take a female student to the prom. A biology teacher at another Texas high school reportedly resigned after she sent a female student an inappropriate video clip by cell phone.
IRAQ: Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki told the AP that he would present the Cabinet to parliament on Saturday, with or without a decision on the critical ministries of interior and defense. Rep. John Murtha, an outspoken war critic, claims that Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood” after allegedly responding to a roadside bomb ambush that killed a Marine during a patrol in Haditha. The incident is still under investigation. “I do not know where Rep. Murtha is obtaining is information,” said Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Central Command. So much for “innocent until proven guilty” or even charged. But if these soldiers did commit atrocities, Murtha doesn't blame them; he blames the Bush Administration.
IRAN is shelling Kurdish villages in Iraq. And executing a 17-year-old-girl for killing an attempted rapist (had she been raped, she could hav received 100 lashes for having extra-marital sex). And Pres. Ahmadinejad rejecting the offer of a light-water nuclear reactor: “Do you think you are dealing with a 4-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him?”
CARTOON JIHAD: Harper's magazine has reprinted the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, with commentary by leading American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, who offers what he calls a “fatwa bomb meter” to rate their offensiveness. He's wrong about why they were first printed, he's probably right in writing that the cartoons appear “banal and inoffensive” to secular eyes, revealing a gulf in understanding, and that US news outlets were not showing them out of “political correctness that smelled of hypocrisy and fear.” The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance blasted the cartoons as provocative. Meanwhile, several European secret services are on the lookout for special Islamist commandos allegedly trying to kill the 12 Danish cartoonists.
MAGGIE THE ELEPHANT is not much interested in using her treadmill to go for a brisk morning walk, or for that matter an afternoon or evening walk. There are days where I can sympathize with that.
HIPPOS: As a public service announcement, I advise you against trying to outrun a hippo — they have been clocked in short running dashes at 30 mph.
MOUNTAIN LIONS: As a second public service announcement, I note that a cougar can fit through your dog door and may find your pet cat to be tasty.
FLORIDA GATOR ATTACKS: Three recent fatal attacks have caused the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program in Okeechobee to be swamped with calls — 225 on Monday alone, which is more than double the amount of calls answered last year. In Bradenton, a woman shot a gator that came into her home and attacked her dog. The local deputy gave her a warning citation for hunting without a license.
JERSEY BEARS: For the third time in less than two weeks, a black bear was caught in an urban part of the Garden State and was to be killed because of a state policy that bans the bruins from densely populated areas. Life imitates The Sopranos.
