WORTH YOUR EYEBALLS

"Ah," as Ed Peaco is known to say — something good to read. Ed's blog, The Wine-Jazz Nexus, is outstanding. Give it a whirl and see if you don't concur.

And when you do, don't forget to yell "Bem!" Ed would approve.

LED ZEPPELIN II, 64

He was born George Blackburn, but he changed his name after a divorce last year to honor the band, and to get a fresh start.

Wasn't much of a start. Blackburn died in Illinois of a heart attack. He was 64.

EMBROIDERED KANYE

Two words: FREAKING FABULOUS. Get your favorite Kanye West tweet embroidered. Hat tip to Carrie, so follow her on Twitter (you'll find her @tatgalqueencity). The CHATTER Fourth of July (screw waiting for Christmas) wish list is now complete.

ROBIN GIBB, 62

Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, dead at 62. There goes that Bee Gees reunion.

PAGING BONNIE TYLER

The partial solar eclipse is Sunday. We lucky few in the Ozarks get clouds and a peak that happens after sunset, so ... meh.

Console yourself with some Bonnie Tyler and those weird kids with glowing eyes. Further proof that the 1980s spawned some fucked-up ideas. Turn around, bright eyes.

BURYING THE LEDE

The Associated Press reports Loretta Lynn was 15 — not 13 — when she got married, "an age change that undermines the story she told" in "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Egads.

We're more upset The AP waited nine grafs before including this scary factoid:

The Grammy-award winning singer recently announced that ("Coal Miner's Daughter") will become a Broadway musical starring actress and singer Zooey Deschanel.

Lynn's spokesperson told The AP the singer said it's "none of their business" how old she is. By most accounts, she's 77. The new documents show she's 80.

The AP also helpfully notes that Lynn is not "the first celebrity of a certain age to be less than forthcoming about a birthday." Imagine that.

ELVIS PRESLEY, PART II

Michael Jackson's death has the cable pundits speculating on parallels between the King of Pop and the Queen of Pulp, Anna Nicole Smith. Both so sad, the talking heads say. Both so alike.

Gah. Let the heads blather with their short-term memory. Jackson's death is simply Elvis Presley, Part Two. We have a Memphis newspaper from Aug. 17, 1977, the morning after Presley literally left the building. The early word then was that Presley died of a heart attack. Heart just stopped. Nothing to see here, so take care of your own business and move along.

Hindsight gives us the real story -- Presley keeling off the toilet, colon clogged from too many years relying on a bad diet of fatty foods and tasty prescription pills. "Cardiac arrest" was only the technical cause of death, and there was nothing natural about why Presley's heart stopped after a brief 42 years.

Michael Jackson died Thursday of cardiac arrest at 50. Another ticker technicality. In recent years, Jackson admitted under oath that he'd replaced Bubbles the Chimp with a new monkey, this one biting into the back of his neck thanks to doctors willing to write 'scripts to a musical genius. No useless filler, like those pesky street bags of smack. Only the best legal high for pop-culture royalty.

Friends say Jackson was clean and working hard, preparing for his ironically named "This Is It" concert tour. The tox reports may show nothing acute. The damage was chronic.

The thirty and fortysomethings are freaked out tonight, just like our older siblings and parents were when Elvis died. And like Godfather II, EP2 is better than the original. Elvis could sing and swivel, but he couldn't write a decent song. MJ walked around with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" percolating in his head. He was the most magnificent entertainer in the last half of the last century, and maybe that's why he was such a freak. Great genius, great madness. A thinner line than the one separating love and hate.

Elvis Part II is a story so massive, MTV broke format on Thursday and started playing Michael Jackson videos. Imagine -- videos on MTV. If that's what it takes, get Madonna on an experimental plane, stat.

WINEHOUSE BEING WINEHOUSE

Singer Amy Winehouse has made it back to her natural habitat. As Reuters reports:

The 25-year-old Grammy winner was admitted to a clinic after falling ill on Sunday and has been kept there for tests. Winehouse was taken to hospital for a similar complaint in July.

Winehouse reportedly "reacted badly to medication." We like the sound of that.

HE'S SUCH A MASH

Just in time for trick-or-treaters, the bad-ass known as Desdinova has re-posted his list of the Top 50 Halloween songs.

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, it's time to put on some BOC and mourn the loss of Tokyo. Happy Boo Year's Eve.

FEAR AND LESBIAN LOATHING

The strokers at Fox News are consistent, give them that. They toe the conservative line and decry the baser parts of the world while filling your phiz with lurid images and stories about sex.

This week's big Fox News push: Why is America tolerating a song about lesbians?

We suspect they're hyping about "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry, a slip of a song with an insanely catchy chorus:

I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chap stick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight

Fox insinuates the song will make straight girls rush off and join the lesbian brigade -- further proof that today's world is debauched beyond belief.

Yep. Thank God the black-and-white days were only filled with songs about straight, missionary-position sex (done in the dark, of course, 'cause with the lights out, it's less dangerous). No one sang about disgusting things like masturbation, right? Just ask Leo Sayer:

Miles and miles of empty space in between us
The telephone can't take the place of your smile.
But you know I won't be travelling for ever.
It's cold out
But hold out
And do like I do.
When I need love
I hold out my hands
And I touch love. I never knew there was so much love
Keeping me warm night and day.

So much love. No one could ever accuse Sayer of being modest. And let's not even get into Devo.

HOOKALICIOUS

We're suckers for ear candy. Few things in life are as satisfying as a delicious pop song -- jingle-jangle guitars and sharp harmonies, a driving bass beat, a drummer doing more than just keeping time.

And a hook that sinks deep and sticks around for life. A catchy chorus? Nice enough, but it's the hook that survives. Here are 35 for your brain:

Baba O'Riley
The Who

No chorus necessary -- just the words "teenage wasteland."

Copacabana (At The Copa)
Barry Manilow

At the Copa.

The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You)
Waylon Jennings

Catchy chorus overpowered by Jennings' tear-your-heart lament: "I don't want to get over you."

Zombie
The Cranberries

Dolores O'Riordan yelps her way into our brains.

Freddie's Dead
Curtis Mayfield

That's what I said.

Come As You Are
Nirvana

Sometimes the aural delight is a stretched-out word -- in this case, Kurt Cobain's "memory-ah."

Be My Baby
The Ronettes

Whoa-oh-oh-oh.

Perfect Situation
Weezer

Perfect, wordless singalong hook.

Five O'Clock World
The Vogues

Ditto.

Laid
James

Falsetto yelping can be good.

The Break Up Song
Greg Kihn Band

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.

Runaway
Del Shannon

I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder.

Flathead
The Fratellis

Boisterous burst of voices making noise.

Crazy In Love
Beyoncé

She owes it all to the blast of horns first heard in The Chi-Lites' "Are You My Woman?"

Material Girl
Madonna

A material ... a material ... a material ...

I Want You Back
Jackson 5

Oh baby, give me one more chance.

Take On Me
A-ha

Slip of a song, but the dude can flit through the octaves.

The Adventure
Angels & Airwaves

I cannot live, I can't breathe, unless you do this with me.

Lullaby
Shawn Mullins

Everything's gonna be all right.

Maps
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

They don't love you like I love you.

I Miss You
Blink-182

Don't waste your time on me you're already a voice inside my head (or is it yed?).

Song 2
Blur

Whoo-hoo!

Baby One More Time
Britney Spears

Oh baby baby.

Lit Up
Buckcherry

I love the cocaine, I love the cocaine.

Le Freak
Chic

Freak out!

Hey Ya
Outkast

Shake it like a Polaroid picture.

Rock On
David Essex

James Dean.

Epic
Faith No More

You want it all but you can't have it.

Mmmbop
Hanson

The worst song, the best killer hook.

Doll Parts
Hole

Someday you will ache like I ache.

Holiday Road
Lindsey Buckingham

Buckingham's stretch on the word "road."

We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions
Queen

Stomp stomp clap. Everyone's done it.

Jessie's Girl
Rick Springfield

Why can't I find a woman like that?

Buddy Holly
Weezer

What's with these homies, dissin' my girl?

Hotel
R. Kelly featuring Cassidy

Checking out six in the morning.

These are our favorites. Yours?

JULY EAR CANDY

Now playing on an iPod near you:

Funk #49
James Gang

Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television
George Carlin

Love Bomb
N.E.R.D.

Navajo Moon
Ana Popovic

Uninvited
Alanis Morissette

Radio Radio
Elvis Costello

I Let a Song Go Out Of My Heart
Thelonious Monk

Rocky Raccoon
The Beatles

21st Century Schizoid Man
King Crimson

Curtis 187
50 Cent

When my name in your mouth / Better watch how you talk ...

BO DIDDLEY, 79

From The Associated Press:

A spokeswoman says Diddley died of heart failure. He had suffered a heart attack in August 2007, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa.

DOTTIE RAMBO, 74

Gospel songwriter, singer. Died Sunday when her tour bus wrecked on Interstate 44, just east of Mount Vernon, Mo. Severe storms could have contributed to the crash. The Associated Press reports:

Rambo, of Nashville, Tenn., was on her way to a Mother's Day performance in Texas, according to her Web site.

"She was a giant in the gospel music industry," said Beckie Simmons, Rambo's agent. "Dolly Parton recorded some of her songs."

Parton sent condolences to "everyone involved in this terrible tragedy."

"I know Dottie is in heaven in the arms of God right now, but our earth angel will surely be missed," Parton said in a statement. "Dottie was a dear friend, a fellow singer, songwriter and entertainer, and as of late my duet singing partner."

Rambo was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame last year and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Rambo wrote the 1982 Gospel Music Association Song of the Year, "We Shall Behold Him."

IN OUR EARS

Sexual Eruption
Snoop Dogg

For You
Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife
Glen Campbell

I Will Possess Your Heart
Death Cab For Cutie

Always Be
Jimmy Eat World

Supernatural Superserious
R.E.M.

Friday I'm In Love
The Cure

Living For The City
Stevie Wonder

Remember: You can't keep safe what wants to break.

ZIG WAS RIGHT, OF COURSE

The great editor and mentor Lou Ziegler used to tell us that Bob Dylan was the greatest American poet of his lifetime. Being much younger and wiser, we thought Zig was goofy.

In the three years and three months since his death, Ziegler's words about Dylan have rolled around in our head. He knew we would grow up and listen.

Tuesday, Dylan was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for his "lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

If you're not yet into Dylan, read his poetry.

Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must ...

IN OUR EARS

Chopin for tumult, Zeppelin for sanity, Aimee Mann for reflection. And old-school Meat Loaf for laughs.

Wise Up
Aimee Mann

Ludacrismas
Ludacris

Four Sticks
Led Zeppelin

Run Rudolph Run
Keith Richards

Nocturne In E Flat
Frédéric Chopin

Thrash Unreal
Against Me!

Paradise By The Dashboard Light
Meat Loaf

Do You Love Me Now?
The Breeders

Well Thought Out Twinkles
Silversun Pickups

No Loot, No Booze, No Fun
The Tossers

It's not
What you thought
When you first began it ...

IKE TURNER, 76

A big deal in St. Louis before he became a big deal as a brutal Svengali to wife Tina. Knew enough not to get in Phil Spector's way during the making of River Deep - Mountain High" in 1966.

The Associated Press reports:

There was no immediate word on the cause of death, which was first reported by celebrity Web site TMZ.com.

Turner managed to rehabilitate his image somewhat in his later years, touring around the globe with his band the Kings of Rhythm and drawing critical acclaim for his work. He won a Grammy in 2007 in the traditional blues album category for "Risin' With the Blues."

His middle name was Wister.

PIMP C, 33

Belonged to the rap duo UGK, straight outta Houston. Found dead Tuesday in what The Associated Press calls an "upscale hotel" in West Hollywood.

Given name: Chad Butler.

From the AP story:

Butler and his partner, Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, were pioneers of Southern rap, and hit the mainstream with their cameo on Jay-Z's smash "Big Pimpin'." Though they never enjoyed the pop-chart success of some other rappers, their 1996 CD "Ridin' Dirty" is considered a rap classic, and their laid-back sound, complete with gangsta tales of creeping through humid streets gripping wood-grain steering wheels, was influential in shaping the Southern rap movement.

The Houston Chronicle reports that detectives from the homicide division are investigating. But cops found no signs of foul play at the scene.

HANK THOMPSON, 82

Honky-tonker with an instantly identifiable voice. Sang "The Wild Side of Life." Died of lung cancer. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Mr. Thompson died at his home in Keller, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. "He was battling aggressive lung cancer," said his spokesman, Tracy Pitcox.

His career stretched more than 60 years, and he charted 79 hits in five decades, from his first, "Humpty Dumpty Heart" in 1948 through "Once in a Blue Moon" in 1983. But even after the hits stopped, Mr. Thompson maintained an intensive tour schedule, playing upward of 250 shows a year for most of his career. He performed as recently as Oct. 8 in his native Waco, a day that was declared "Hank Thompson Day" by Texas Governor Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy.

"He was a stalwart of the honky-tonk and Western swing traditions," John Rumble , senior historian for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, said yesterday. "He stayed right with that through all of country's various experimentations with pop sounds and rock sounds and folk or what have you."

Mr. Thompson, however, moved beyond traditional venues by embracing new performance opportunities, being among the first country stars to host a TV show, to perform in Las Vegas, and to record a live album. He also recognized and nurtured young talent, mentoring the careers of Merle Travis and Wanda Jackson among others.

"The Wild Side of Life," written by Arlie Carter and William Warren and one of the few hits Mr. Thompson had with a song he didn't write, held the No. 1 spot in 1952 for 15 weeks. It shocked listeners for its unvarnished portrayal of a woman who leaves her husband for a life of good times in the honky-tonks: "I didn't know God made honky-tonk angels/I might have known you'd never make a wife/You gave up the only one who ever loved you/And went back to the wild side of life."

He is survived by his wife, Ann.