» PETA has screamed at Aretha Franklin for wearing furs to the Grammys. Although PETA's humble imitation of STARZ magazine is endearing, they have failed to realize that Aretha has three times as much soul than all the animals that have ever been killed for her enjoyment, which means, of course, a net gain in soul. And soul, I think, should be our main concern. Also in pets: In New Zealand, a song called "A Very Silent Night," a track that can only be heard by dogs, causing some of them to attack radios, is on top of the charts.

» Lawrence Lessig, whose book I mentioned last week, looks like he might be sent off to congress, replacing Tom Lantos (D-CA) who recently died of cancer. The movement is looking to Lessig to help out with alternative approaches to copyright law in congress. The man himself hasn't yet said what he thinks of the idea, but he is at least running it over in his head. Update 2/27/08: Lessig explains why he will not be running.

» TVT/TNT: New York-based record label TVT has filed for bankruptcy, but plans to continue on. The label, which has been suffering through a handful of legal battles in the recent past, has a diverse line-up between The Polyphonic Spree, Lil Jon, and The Crunk Hits series. It looks like, if nothing else, the TVT Music Publishing arm will stay intact.

» American Idol plans to let contestants bring their instruments all the way with them and to change some other things around. They plan on adding more "where are they now" scenes to the show, perhaps letting the audience know how temporal this all is. Or maybe all the old stars are still doing brilliantly. Also in American Idol: German gov't officials are unhappy about American idol making fun of their talentless contestants. The case is made on the behalf of a specific teenager who had a breakdown after his mental "I've got skills" bubble was burst on television. American Idol will also be uploading their jams to iTunes.

» All-star pop plantiffs: Prince, The Village People, (and potentially ABBA and Van Morrison, if the Prince/Village People coalition has its way) are looking to sue Sweden's Big Pirate, The Pirate Bay. The folks at the Pirate Bay seem to think that the funkiest short man in existence has sent suits in scary black cars to watch over them. How thoughtful.

» First off, such thing as the "Tiger Jam" exists, and has, if I can read my roman numerals correctly, been going on for 11 years. Secondly, this year, Tiger Wood's benefit show will sport Van Halen. Super Badass! Woods describes Van Halen as only a golf-player would: "I'm thrilled to have this amazing group of diverse musical talent coming together for such a great cause. Van Halen is one of my favorite bands, and I can't wait to see them perform on the Tiger Jam stage." Does "diverse musical talent" just meant that they play different instruments?

» World Peace, please.: Some cats have decided to finally get around to world peace, which, for the past handful of millenia has been sadly neglected. Thank goodness a concert has been put together--it's about time, no? Peace group World Peace One has a simple plan; [their] mission is to bring peace to the world through a 10-year global campaign of concerts, education and government initiatives." It's the plan that always works!: Bono, Books, and Bureaucracy.

» The Rest, in short: Ars reviews the collaboration between the RIAA and the DA in producing some type of "Piracy Madness" (The video here); Eminem begins his memoir; Andre 3000 launches preppy clothing line, so you can look as good as he does; U2 break new sonic ground, begin work on new album, &c.; Madonna mistaken for Marilyn Monroe by Monroe expert; EMI, already doing poorly, released an Art Brut song without letting the band know; Pew Research reports about people's conceptions of rap; MySpace is perhaps on its way to having its own music service.

» Obits, in short: Russian punk Yegor Letov, 43.