Back From Samoa

• Band graffiti stopped being cool after Black Flag broke up; give it up, bro.
  
  
• My boy Neil deGrasse Tyson schooled me to a term he coined;"Manhattanhenge". Apparently, tonight's sunset will be perfectly aligned (Postal Service?) with the east-west grid of Manhattan streets. However, my boy Tyson is saying Manhattanhenge '07 doesn't occur until tomorrow night and he's the one who made this shit up so I'll take his word for it. Viewing the phenomenon is best from the east side, which takes advantage of the long fetch of streets, from 14th Street and above. But, remember, staring at the sun, even a setting sun, is not a smart thing to do. I'd say go check it out tonight and if not, go tomorrow, too. What the hell else u gonna do?
  
  
• How the fuck is a married millionaire NYC baseball player hanging with a Vegas stripper in Toronto somehow front page news?! I guess when celebs are falling over themselves to apologise to their public for not wearing their seatbelts, anything goes?
  
  
• LAPD admits making "mistakes" during May Day riot; such as... oh, leaving behind living witnesses; y'know things of that nature.
  
  
• Sundance Institute at BAM: Films from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival: This Saturday at 11:30pm Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten and again Fri, June 8 at 8:45pm. Holla.
  
  
• Interpol (featuring Carlos D. and his wacky new nose broom) have added a NYC date at the Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are on sale for the June 5th show. Password = gaius
  
  
• World oil prices jumped briefly today after a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma -- the No. 62 U.S. media market -- posted an erroneous story about a refinery fire on its Web site. At 10:14 EDT, CBS affiliate KOTV reported that a lightning strike had caused a fire at an Oklahoma refinery -- sparking a flurry of excitement among energy traders and boosting U.S. crude prices 40 cents. The refining company announced the story was "completely wrong" and the station withdrew the story. "All it takes is a screw-up on a Web site to move the market. It just goes to show how tense this market is," said a Houston-based oil trader. Yeah, thanks. Maybe tmrw you can post that the U.S. is withdrawing from Iraq, effective immediately because a giant meteor is on its way. See what happens.
  
  
• So "The Ronald Reagan Diairies" outsold Al Gore's new cookbook "Salt with Reason" book "Assault on Reason" in opening week action. Naturally everyone is trying to turn this into something symbolic.
  
  
• Interview with an Ape? Awwwww.
  
  
• I guess Matt Lauer is being punished for the seatbelt scandal; NBC announces its sending the "Today Show" to Cuba.
  
  
• Prince is releasing a new "fragrance" and will play a Minneapolis mall to celebrate. If you buy the eau you'll get a free ticket to the show in the food court; Oh, thing is, the eau will run you $250 a bottle "plus service fees and taxes".
  
  
• The Po wants to talk to Fat Joe; Joe Crack The Don was riding in his black Escalade (holla) with a guy and a girl who were both shot at & killed; the girl died on the scene and the kid died a few hours later in the hospital. I guess the fight started in the parking lot and carried over into the street after everyone got in their cars. South Beach, Miami draws large crowds of hip-hop heads for concerts and parties over the Memorial Day weekend. More than 700 people were arrested over the 3 days this year and over 1,000 were arrested during the same weekend last year.
  
  
• Bonus Fun Fact: The year on a wine doesn't mean when it was bottled & corked but when the grapes were actually picked. However, this is a pretty dumb fun fact because you'd assume that if the grapes were picked in 1998, the goddamn thing would be bottled within the same YEAR, no? Ugh. Fuck whoever told me this.
  
  
• Kylie Minogue spent her 39th birthday in London with sister Dannii. The pair (Oh my) spent most of the rainy day indoors but did manage to skeak out to the movies that evening. Low-key and lovely. Happy belated bday Kylie!