Not sure if this is true or not, but we like to think it is: ---------------------------------------------

The music industry STILL owes you $20! Man, this is disappointing. Every US resident who bought a CD in the US between 1995 and 2000 is entitled to up to $20 from the music cartel as part of a court-mandated settlement over the labels' illegal price-fixing, which is one way that the music industry has ripped off the public.

All you need to do is sign up here and the RIAA will mail you a check. If so many people sign up that the settlement ends up getting spread too thin, the RIAA will mail charitable organizations the checks instead. You can't lose!

Unless you don't sign up. Despite notices of the settlement in TV Guide and throughout blogistan, the cash remains unclaimed. What are you waiting for? Claim it!

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If it's not true, it sure oughta be ; )

NME reports: "Ex-Lemonheads singer Evan Dando has signed a new record deal and will release his first studio album in seven years in 2003. Dando, whose last official studio album was The Lemonheads' 'Car, Button, Cloth' in 1996, has signed to Setanta Records. A new album, titled 'Baby I'm Bored' is finished, and set for release in early 2003. The tracklisting is:

'Repeat' 'My Idea' 'Rancho Santa Fe' 'Waking Up' 'Hard Drive' 'Shots Is Fired' 'It Looks Like You' 'The Same Thing' 'Why Do You Do This To Yourself?' 'All My Life' 'Stop My Head' 'In The Grass All Wine Colored'

A spokesperson for Dando told NME.COM: "It's him with a band, who feature members of Giant Sand and Calexico." Tour dates are also being finalised to coincide with the release."

An MP3 file of the song "Happy Birthday" performed by the popular alt-country darlings Wilco has been making quite a stir in file-sharing world and getting rave reviews from the record reviewers who have downloaded it.

Critics everywhere — from Rolling Stone, Spin, Alternative Press to Ebony, Rosie and Newsweek — are hailing this version of the sing-along classic, "The Best Song of 2003."

"I realize we are only in the first week of the new year, but I find it hard to believe any subsequent release will be as good as this," said Greg Holsapple of the alt-rock magazine, No Depression. "It's an elegant yet heartfelt low-fi masterpiece. Like most Wilco songs, it seems uninspired at first listen, but upon future spins, you realize and feel the sublime beauty of it."

The "live" song was performed after a recent Wilco show. Jeff Tweedy, the main singer-songwriter for the band, called his mother to wish her a happy birthday. He and the other band members picked up their acoustics and performed an impromptu, yet expertly crafted 47-second rendition of the party favorite. Everyone backstage within earshot was floored by the hauntingly poignant paean to a mother from a loving son. Many listeners broke down and sobbed.

Well it's not a brand new CD as such but Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is being re-released in Australia with a limited edition bonus CD containing 6 previously unreleased bonus tracks. Available from Monday January 20th, we've been directly contacted by online Aussie music retailer Sound World who will ship the CD worldwide. Head over to www.soundworld.com.au to pre-order and support independent music retailing 22,000 km away. In the meantime, here's the bonus disc track list:

1. Camera
2. Handshake Drugs
3. Woodgrain
4. A Magazine Called Sunset
5. Bob Dylan's 49Th Beard
6. More Like The Moon