Karl 
SXSW XX: Welcome to Day Two of my virtual visit to SXSW 2006. If I was going with Pate drummer Jon Hahn or Sylvia Hauser, we would probably spend most of the evening at Antoine's, checking out veteran Richie Furay, the bluegrass of Uncle Earl and the song stylings of James McMurtry, though I might want to skip closer Hank Williams III for acclaimed bluegrass band King Wilkie, which is playing at Maggie Mae's, or the blues-punk of The Gossip, ex-Wilcoite Jay Bennett, the alt-country of Drive-By Truckers or Bottle Rockets (There are even more good closers Thursday, as we will see). Alternatively, I could start at Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores with Spoon at 7 p.m., followed by Echo & The Bunnymen, who picked up where your precious Echo left off… Or I could just hang at Eternal for the dream pop of Guillemots, two sets by “Special Guests,” as well as ex-Libertine Carl Barat's new band, Dirty Pretty Things and Internet phenoms Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for the closer. Alternatively, that 8 p.m. slot could be taken by the indie rock of Margot & The Nuclear So and So's at Nuno's Upstairs, or the Orbison-meets-Cash classicism of Richard Hawley, at the Austin Music Hall, though I suspect it's a tough ticket coming right before Morrissey. I could follow that up with the psychedelia-by-way-of-The Cure of Film School at Club DeVille or at least part of a set from the tween duo Smoosh at the Parish II. From there, perhaps the sorta-glam, sorta Flaming Lips wierdness of Starlight Mints If I was Craig O'Neill, I would be torn at 11 p.m. between Chris Stamey at Whisky Bar and… wait for it… Translator at Elysium, where The Alarm (which has an interesting backstory) is closing out the evening. At midnight, I would want to be at the Molotov Lounge, seeing the lush pop of the Hidden Cameras — who have a rep for “making show,” often with dancers. However, former True Believer John Dee Graham or the unique mish-mash of Islands from Montreal would be good fallbacks. That would still leave the 1 a.m. slot, which — in addition to the choices mentioned above — could go to The Minus 5 (featuring Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey and REM's Peter Buck, with definite cameo possibilities from other bands), or the more floaty “minus” from Seattle, Minus The Bear.
THE HOLD STEADY switch labels to Vagrant Records, home of Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, Senses Fail, Alkaline Trio, Eels and (sometimes) Paul Westerberg. San Diego Serenade is killing music with downloads from the band's SXSW 2005 gig.
THE NEW YORK DOLLS: After a 30 year hiatus, David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain recently returned to the studio to record their first studio album since 1974's Too Much Too Soon. It's due in June.
DOES SONY OWE YOU MONEY for messing up your PC with that nasty CD copy-protection scheme? The Electronic Frontier Foundation provides easy links for finding out and submitting a claim for cash or music.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: The New Cars leave the lot without Ric Ocasek, David Robinson and the late Ben Orr, but with Todd Rundgren and (ex-Tubes drummer) Prairie Prince. The obligatory new video is for “Not Tonight,” which sounds kinda like The Cars. You can see them get outfitted with new skinny ties in a “behind-the-scenes” promo on You Tube.
THE RACONTEURS — a conglomeration of Jack White, Brendan Benson and the rhythm section from the Greenhornes — are streaming the video for “Steady, As She Goes” (directed by Jim Jarmusch) in glorious Quicktime. There's a mutant Joe Jackson riff in there.
FRANK BLACK will release a double-CD titled Fastman/Raiderman on June 20, with Al Kooper, the Band’s Levon Helm, Cheap Trick’s Tom Petersson, Bad Company’s Simon Kirk, as well as Spooner Oldham and others from Black's Honeycomb sessions.
JENNY LEWIS, touring with the Watson Twins for Rabbit Fur Coat, plans to return to record a new Rilo Kiley album in June. You might still be able to legally download 11/12ths of Rabbit Fur Coat from Team Love.
FAB SOUNDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST: Music critic John Brady has streaming audio of three newer Seattle artists up at NPR.
ROCK STAR: The new season of the reality show is searching for a singer to front a mystery supergroup.
WILCO is streaming Jeff Tweedy with Nels Cline playing at the U of Chicago from WilcoWorld in Quicktime.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: The National Enquirer claims the couple got hitched in a secret Scientological ceremony last July. Us Weekly is claiming that Tom-Kat are having a boy, which squares with a Freudian slip I heard by someone who sold them baby clothes.
NICOLE KIDMAN: Folks are noticing that Cruise's ex is starting to look like reputed fiancee Keith Urban.
JESSICA SIMPSON: While her future ex Nick Lachey is again spotted with Kristin Cavallari of MTV's Laguna Beach, Ted Casablanca from the E! channel is floating a trial balloon that the pneumatic blonde is pregnant. More solid is word that she is skipping a National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser tonight. She was going to be seated with House Majority Leader John Boehner, who won't have to remind folks that his name is pronounced BAY-ner.
GEORGE LUCAS is moving forward on Indiana Jones IV — which I imagine will feature Harrison Ford searching for the Fountain of Youth (or better box office receipts) — and a 100-episode Star Wars TV series, covering the years between Eps. III and IV.
BRUCE WILLIS begs for supermodel Petra Nemcova's phone number, then stands her up?
THE OLSEN TWINS insist they are not role models, though that isn't stopping Mary-Kate and Ashley from creating a new advice column on their website.
V FOR VENDETTA: Writer-producer Larry Wachowski showed up to the premiere in in full transgender mode with his dominatrix. The Comicon site has a lengthy interview creator Alan Moore, who says the movie gets the politics of the story wrong. USA Today profiled Natalie Portman, who is turning up everywhere, from TRL on MTV to SNL and the pages of Vanity Fair.
DENISE RICHARDS thinks her ex, Charlie Sheen, has a gambling problem? That's what a “friend” tells Star magazine.
BEN BRADLEE: The former executive editor of The Washington Post was caught on tape talking about a source of Bob Woodward? It's like the Bizzaro World version of All the President's Men.
CHARLIZE THERON plans to walk the line and sing her own parts in a Dusty Springfield biopic.
BRADGELINA: Pitt's rep denies the latest marriage rumor. Meanwhile, pictures of Jolie logging flying time on her plane cause some to wonder whether it's getting a bit late in her pregnancy for flying. I wonder what the couple thought about the real-life Mr. & Mrs. Smith?
GEORGE CLOONEY wants everyone to know that while he gave Arianna Huffington permission to use his quotes, he did not actually write the blog entry noted here yesterday: “These are not my writings — they are answers to questions and there is a huge difference.” But Clooney doesn't elaborate on what difference he thinks it makes, and Huffington claims Clooney approved the text “as is.” None of which seems particularly relevant to the substance — such as it was — of what he said.
ADRIANNA LIMA: the Victoria's Secret supermodel tells GQ she's a virgin: “Sex is for after marriage. (Men) have to respect that this is my choice. If there's no respect, that means they don't want me.”
IRAQ: USA Today reports on US soldiers serving in their 50s and Iraqi investigators busting a police abuse ring. Bill Roggio wonders why al Zarqawi seems silent. The Pentagon begins a declassified document dump from Saddam's regime. And the AP reports that electricity output has dipped to its lowest point in three years, when the latest Iraq Index shows output has returned to the levels of last Summer already.
CARTOON JIHAD: The editor of the University of Illinois’ student paper, the Daily Illini, has been fired for publishing the Danish Mohammed cartoons. London's Metropolitan Police arrested five of the demonstrators who waved placards threatening a repeat of the September 11 or July 7 terror attacks outside the Danish embassy in London last month.
CULT OF THE iPod: France is pushing through a law that would force Apple to open its iTunes online music store and enable consumers to download songs onto other music devices. PLUS: A recording engineer gives tips for getting the best sound out of iTunes and iPod.
NANOTECH: Caltech researcher Paul Rothemund is weaving DNA strands into smiley faces, which sounds silly, but “DNA origami” may one day be used to construct tiny chemical factories or molecular electronics.
TAMANDUA: Look at the baby anteater, only three months old! Awww…
MEERKATS: It turns out that Timon's circle of life probably includes infanticide and cannibalism.
HAMSTERS that took steroids when they were young remained aggressive into adulthood, according to a new study.
A RARE CHINESE FROG croaks in the ultrasonic range — making it the first non-mammalian animal known to have the ability.
