News …

Lily Allen thanks police for foiling plot to kidnap close friend – BBC News

Related: Elton John and Lily Allen go at it in verbal dust-up during GQ Awards – The Times Online U.K.

The latest Apple rumor? New iPods! – Reuters

Company that cancelled Cornish music festival, Killiow 2008, goes into liquidation – Cornish Guardian U.K. / ThisIsCornwall.co.uk

Looks as if Stevie Wonder will have to clear some space on his mantle for another award – the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song – The Washington Post

Juliana Hatfield talks about her book “When I Grow Up” – The New York Times (registration may be required)

Did you know there is a “Battlestar Galactica” Strat for sale on eBay? But time is running out – Modern Guitars Magazine

Views …

Toby Keith in the Twin Cities – ” … booming, lively and brimming with cocky swagger.” – Pioneer Press / TwinCities.com

Liz Phair in Boston – “… she was chatty and flirty between songs; at one point she asked how many people used Guyville as a breakup album and raised her own hand.” – Boston Herald

Squeeze in Illinois – ” …here’s to the power of rock ‘n’ roll to extend adolescence, even if only for a couple of hours.” – Chicago Sun-Times (registration may be required)

Vince Gill in Cohasset, Mass. – “This time out, Gill has put the accent on the intimate and the informal.” – The Boston Globe

Jonas Brothers in Pennsylvania – ” … could do no wrong in front of the crowd of adoring fans that packed the BJC for the University Park leg of the Burning Up Tour.” – The Daily Collegian Online

Death Cab For Cutie at Bumbershoot – “Hearing the band’s sublime songs under a dark, cloudy sky with the Space Needle overlooking Memorial Stadium during the last night of Bumbershoot created the perfect Emerald City scenario. It doesn’t get much more Seattle than that.” – Seattle Post-Intelligencer

They Say It’s Their Birthday … (Or so says Associated Press)

Tompall Glaser is 75

Al Jardine (The Beach Boys) is 66

Donald Brewer (Grand Funk Railroad) is 60

Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) is 53

Todd Lewis (Toadies) is 43

Jennifer Paige is 35