Karl 
FOO FIGHTERS performed an exclusive album-release concert in Roswell, NM for 500 winners of an online trivia contest. Foo frontman Dave Grohl said he is a huge fan of UFOs, as the band's name suggests.
ON THE PITCHFORK: The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello – The Videos, coming in September, is filled to bursting with videos culled mostly from Costello's untouchable “early” period. Billy Corgan's first true solo album, The Future Embrace, gets a 6.5 from an obvious fan: “forgive Corgan his infinite lyrical badness, but know that infinity's a lot to forgive.” There's also a hunk on his cover of the Bee Gees' “To Love Somebody.”
LO-FI INDIE FOLK: A new fan of the Mountain Goats (as some of you may be) asks MetaFilter for more recommendations and gets them, natch.
IRON & WINE, one of the “bands” mentioned at the prior link, is profiled in The State of Columbia, SC.
SMOG: Bill Callahan, a lo-fi forerunner to many of the aforementioned bands and artists, seems much happier in Austin than in Chicago and more comfortable talking about his music.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Elton John wants to help the troubled singer with his drug addictions and perform a duet with him at Live 8. You don't think EJ has heard about Pete's early days turning tricks with men, do you?
MUSIC BLOGS: Dawn Eden, a blogger who now also writes for the the New York Daily News, suggests a few music blogs and musicians' blogs. Kudos to her for avoiding most of the obvious choices and listing blogs like: “Home of the Groove”(homeofthegroove.blogspot.com) is described by proprietor Dan Philips as “hard-to-find New Orleans-related R&B and funk tracks with some semi-pithy commentary … for the delectation of hard-core jaded groove junkies, the virginal uninitiated, and everybody in between.” Also: Victor Lams (victorlams.com), who sounds like XTC crossed with They Might Be Giants, has earned a cult following among Catholics for his blog featuring his answer to “Schoolhouse Rock”: “Catechism Rock!” (catechismrock.com). Its ultra-catchy tunes include “Purgatory” and “Flying House of Loreto.” There's more, including a Love reference.
SPIN MAGAZINE lists its “Top 100 Albums, 1985-2005” in its upcoming 20th anniversary issue. You can see the bottom 15 for free at Spin's site. SoulShine has the Top Ten.
THE STROKES tell Rolling Stone a bit about their next album, due in January.
SECRET COPY-PROTECTION: Tiny Mix Tapes reports that Sony BMG has quietly slipped about a million discs by 10 different artists (unnamed, natch) with “sterile burning” technology that supposedly “stops you from making more than a few copies of a disc, and it also stops your friend from making a copy of his copy.” EMI is rolling out a similar scheme in the next few weeks. TMT predicts a backlash when people find out this technology also prevents transferring music to the iPod. Indeed, Stereophile reports that incompatible digital rights management schemes are hindering the development of the next generation of media devices.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: The pranksters who squirted water at Cruise at the British premiere of War of The Worlds were arrested, but later released on police bail. Personally, I like that when these guys did the same thing to Sharon Osbourne, she got a bucket of water and doused them. Oddly, while Cruise seems angry when you read about the incident, the video of his first reaction showed him seemingly unfazed about having some stange liquid squirted in his face. Radar magazine has a Tom-Kat animation inspired by an earlier Bradgelina clip that floated around the 'net. The New York Times claims that “Celebrities who for years watched as their hook-ups, both real and imagined, fueled dozens of magazines and televisions shows are figuring out that the right two hearts beating in unison can sound an awful lot like a cash register,” but Tom-Kat is not mentioned.
A BLIND ITEM by Ben Widdicombe in the NYDN describes a five-year, five million dollar contract signed June 7th regarding a relationship with no sex. OTOH, Ben recently ran a quote from disco diva Vicki Sue Robinson, who has been dead for years.
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN and Laurence Fishburne sign on for Mission Impossible 3.
KATE BOSWORTH may not be engaged to Orlando Bloom, after all.
CELEBRITY KABBALAH: Radar magazine's three-part series concludes with a focus on Madonna, the “aging pop icon who has funded the Centre to the tune of $18 million… and counting.”
SHARON STONE left her four year-old son in the car being looked after by her chauffeur for more than two hours while she had a late meal at one of London's most fashionable restaurants with a mystery male companion. So says the ever-reliable Daily Mail.
MORNINGSTAR founder and chairman Joe Mansueto is the front-runner in the bidding for Gruner + Jahr's business titles, Inc. and Fast Company, and is in late-stage negotiations to purchase the titles.
THE WAR on TERROR: Forbes magazine excerpts analysis by ndependent strategic consulting firm Oxford Analytica suggesting that the Bush Administration is developing strategies for the next phase of the war, which will encompass many fronts, but in which “regime change” is not high on the agenda.
CONDOLEEZA RICE: The Secretary of State used the bully pulpit to criticize the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia on visits to those countries and urged them to move further on the path to democracy. For example, in Egypt, she stated: “We are all concerned for the future of Egypt's reforms when peaceful supporters of democracy — men and women — are not free from violence. The day must come when the rule of law replaces emergency decrees, and when the independent judiciary replaces arbitrary justice.” Egypt's judges have been similarly critical of president Mubarak's reform proposals. Egypt's foreign minister responded at a joint news conference that the world was angry with America due to scandals involving prisoner treatment, without mentioning that Amnesty International — the group that first compared Camp X-Ray to the Soviet gulag — reports that torture is common and systematic in Egypt.
LEBANON: Opponents of Syrian domination claimed a stunning majority victory in the final round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections on Sunday night, winning at least 21 of 28 contested seats in northern Lebanon, which gives the alliance a majority in the next parliament. The New York Times reports that “It was a startling change in the way politics have usually been carried out here – along strict clan and religious lines and long under the control of Syria – and perhaps an example of a greater yearning for democracy in the Arab world.”
BATMAN BEGINS: Feminist icon Gloria Steinem is begging her stepson Christian Bale not to take on any more roles where he has to gain or lose large amounts of weight. Bale put on 100 lbs. in four months to paly Batman, which has raised some eyebrows around the internet. Meanwhile, the Seattle Times asks, Why do we love Batman?
VICTORIA BECKHAM (a/k/a Posh Spice) lands a role in a movie about a fictional British radio DJ. Doesn't sound like Tom Cruise got her this role (and here he claimed he was going to make her a star)!
CELEBRITY LANDLORDS: The Los Angeles Times reports that in Malibu, some of the most private movie and pop stars turn landlord in July and August, when rates are at their highest. Der stingle may charge 100K monthly, but that looks like a bargain per square foot compared to other celeb landlords.
MR. SPEARS: K-Fed was included in a Child magazine online poll asking, “Which celeb dad-to-be — or celeb who is rumored-to-be a dad-to-be — do you think will make the best father?” He got zero votes. Ouch.
THE da VINCI CODE, PART II: Researchers now believe the cryptic words “Cerca, trova” – seek and you shall find – painted on a fresco in the council hall of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio could be a clue to the location of a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting and are pressing local authorities to allow them to search for the masterpiece of Renaissance art.
UNDERDOG IS NEAR: Disney and Spyglass Entertainment are putting the final touches on a deal to bring the classic TV cartoon to the big screen as a live-action feature. “Anything where you have a dog in that superhero context, that's appealing on a global basis,” producer Gary Barber said. “We want to keep many elements from the classic cartoon,” said co-producer Roger Birnbaum, including mad scientist Simon Bar Sinister and Underdog's love interest, Sweet Polly Purebred. Unlike Scooby-Doo, another toon favorite that was made as a live-action feature, this pic will use a real dog for the title role, though with CGI enhancements. Just promise Freddie Prinze, Jr. won't be in it.
NANOTECH: NanoBot has posted a couple of photos of nano-art.
PHISH TALES: Sadly, not about the jam band, but a look at the world of internet scammers. one bizzare note: “phishers have a reputation-monitoring system much like eBay's.”
SALLY MIGHT FOOL HARRY, but not a brain scanner.
GONZO PORN: In NYC, pornographers are breaking the law by making “gonzo” porn videos in public places, under the noses of the authorities.
LIFE IMITATES THE SIMPSONS: Scientists have genetically engineered tomato and tobacco plants to produce a vaccine against the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, the disease that killed nearly 800 people in 2003. Shades of the tomacco!
WHAT WOULD DR. LECHTER SAY? A South African man choked to death minutes after killing his wife and eating a part of her face following a domestic argument. That would not have happened with a nice chianti.
MUSKRAT LOVE: Muskrat Susie and Muskrat Sam would serve about eight people, according to some wacky Danish zookeepers.
COUCH POTATO PROTEST: The British Potato Council is protesting the Oxford English Dictionary's inclusion of “couch potato” because they believe the expression is damaging the vegetable's image.
IRAQ: Saddam Hussein loves Doritos, hates Froot Loops, admires President Reagan, thinks Clinton was “OK” and considers both Presidents Bush “no good.” He also likes collecting records and exploring the cave of the unknown.
THE UNITED NATIONS may have another conflict-of-interest scandal on its hands.
THE SWARM: Africanized “killer bees” have been spotted in Arkansas and Florida.
DOGS AND GIRLS! A South Carolina teen is accused of raping one neighbor's dog and another neighbor's two little girls. Now the dog has died and charges against the teen have been upgraded.
SMELLING LESS LIKE A PIG: Sure, pigs are filthy animals. But Purdue University scientists are making progress taming hogs' smell by attacking the source of the problem, namely the feed gobbled up by swine.
CHUCK E. CHEESE MELEE: An aspiring cop stepped in to end a bloody melee at a Chuck E. Cheese in Brooklyn after hotheaded parents unleashed punches – and knives – during a weekend party at the crowded restaurant, police and witnesses said yesterday. Anyone who has been to C.E.C. must wonder why this doesn't happen more often.
