News Of The World: A Wrap-Up Of The Week That Was

Sadly, David Fricke did not win a Grammy this week, but Ike Turner, Bob Dylan and Rick Rubin did. The High Llamas & Lucinda Williams put out new records, and Neil Young is streaming two songs from his new Live 1971 album on his Myspace.

Have Mercy, the new LP from those once-upon-a-timers The Mooney Suzuki, is caught in legal limbo after the dissolution of the label they just signed to, V2. Which may be a good thing, according to the vapid suckness of these leaked tracks posted on the I Rock Cleveland blog. The White Stripes, another band affected by the V2 breakup from record label vultures Sheridan Square, are reportedly signing to Warner Brothers (and with them The Raconteurs, we imagine, who released their debut on JW's Third Man imprint last year).

The White Stripes also confirmed for this June's Bonnaroo, along with Gillian Welch, Richard Thompson, Ween and Tool, as well as predictables Ben Harper, The Flaming Lips and yes, The Police, the latter of whom reunited last week and are to embark on a world tour that promises to net them $175 million. In a non-typical move, Sting has agreed to split up those profits in an equal three-way, according to Page Six. In non-Sting news, a California judge ruled on Friday that the Phil Spector murder trial will be televised, Elliott Smith fans get a new double discer in May, and the House did something, while the Senate did nothing.

On the blogs, Captains Dead has some live soundboards from The Twilight Singers (Nov '06), Hüsker Dü (1987), and a barely listenable taped radio broadcast from Pavement in 1989. A new Nine Inch Nails leak is making the rounds, and a slew of early Fugazi demos are up for grabs over at Runout Groove. PureMania has a kickass 7" posted from the modern-day Buzzcock-worthy The Briefs, as well as some catalogue from The Pagans & The Modernettes. Idolator's got the Travelin' Whilbury's, and NPR (!) has the last night of The Arcade Fire's 5-night residency at a NYC church available here. Speaking of The Arcade Fire, they'll be performing on this Saturday's SNL, hosted by Rainn Wilson, aka Dwight from "The Office"/sketchball mortician-in-training from "Six Feet Under," and speaking of NPR, Terry Gross spent her Valentine's Day hilariously interviewing John Waters about a new love song comp he's putting out, A Date With John Waters, again demonstrating Terry's superhero ability to cut her chops in the most bizzare interview scenarios her producers can dream up.