Entire Hold Steady Album Streaming Now

We reported yesterday that NME had N*E*R*D’s new album streaming.  Well, turns out that Stay Positive, the latest LP from our favorite bar band The Hold Steady, is streaming there as well.  It does require you to register with NME, but a small price to pay (free! in fact) for a great new album.

MP3: Chips Ahoy!

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News Beat, Citizen Spaceman Edition

(And that’s not pronounced “spah-che-men” for those of you 30 Rock fans out there.)

Google co-founder books Russia flight to space station

Space tourists are getting their own ride. Space Adventures, an American company that arranges passage for wealthy explorers to ride on Russian rockets to the International Space Station, plans to buy a Soyuz flight all its own in 2011, with the option of buying more.

One person likely to occupy one of the two available seats on that flight is Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. He made a $5 million investment in the company that will serve as a deposit on such a journey.

The company, Space Adventures, planned to announce the flight and Brin’s participation in a news conference Wednesday morning at the Explorers Club in New York.

Brin, who is president of technology at Google, said in a Space Adventures statement, “I am a big believer in the exploration and commercial development of the space frontier, and am looking forward to the possibility of going into space.”

Commercial development of the space frontier? Yikes!

MP3: Elton John-Rocketman

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“1 2 3 4 Get your stomach on the floor…”

…and your hands behind your head.  ’90s hit rapper Coolio was not living in any gangsta’s paradise last night when he was arrested in Hollywood for an outstanding traffic warrant. He was released this morning on $10,000 bail.

Full article at the LA Times.

MP3: Gangsta’s Paradise

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News Beat, Monkey “Sea” Monkey Do Edition

Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) – Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food – whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist.

Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.

Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.

The species had been known to eat fruit and forage for crabs and insects, but never before fish from rivers.

“It’s exciting that after such a long time you see new behavior,” said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study on fishing macaques that appeared in last month’s International Journal of Primatology. “It’s an indication of how little we know about the species.

Is it a monkey? Or is it a man? Or is it a…

MP3: Monkey Man? (Toots and the Maytalls)

All we know is that, as far as the scientist is concerned…

MP3: Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey (The Beatles)

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New N*E*R*D Album Streaming

Everyone should scurry over to the wonders at NME who are streaming the new N*E*R*D album, Seeing Sounds. Pharrell’s group has, from first go-around, very solid record. It’ll take a few more listens to lob it into greatness. Most impressive tracks thus far: Sooner or Later, but for now, check out the first single:

MP3: Everyone Nose

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