by Paul V.

Kudos to Heart, and their forceful cease & desist notice to John McCain and Sarah Palin. Their iconic “Barracuda” song was used twice during the Republican National Convention, without their permission, and the feisty Wilson sisters responded: “Sarah Palin’s views and values in no way represent us as American women. Our song was written as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. There’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to use of it.” Talk about pitbulls with lipstick, yeah!

Speaking of VP candidate Sarah Palin, while she’s Wasilla, Alaska’s. best known resident, right behind her is Portugal the Man band member John Gourley. He’s been blogging about his hometown politician, and he’s definitely not a supporter. “We don’t need drilling in some of our most beautiful and untouched land. We need new energy options, and to show love and respect for one another and respect for the world we live in.” For more of Gourley’s thoughts, check out portugaltheman.net.

Henry Rollins has his share of passionate fans (including horny gay men), but his craziest fan would definitely be Charles Manson—and the two corresponded via letters in 1984. “I’d tell him about our new record and he’d send back some semi-lucid responses,” Rollins explains. “The woman at the post office would give me an awful look, ‘cuz his letters always had swastikas drawn on them.”

Elton John recently proved you shouldn’t mess with a queen. At GQ's “Men Of The Year” awards recently, a very drunk Lily Allen was onstage with John, slurring her intro for Tony Bennett, claiming she’d “still f--k him” despite his age. John made a quip, she told him to “f--k off” twice, and that he was old, too. To which John retorted: “I could still snort you under the table.” It turns out John and Allen are good pals, and there’s no hard feelings.

The MTV VMA Awards wrapped last week with some great McCain-Palin-Bush bashing from host Russell Brand. But the biggest shocker was Britney Spears winning three Moon Men statues, and looking and sounding fantastic. Conversely, Christina Aguilera looked very odd, and it appears she’s been listening to a lot of Goldfrapp and Kylie for inspiration on her forthcoming disc. But the winner of the night was Pink, who seriously kicked ass in her fiery, backlot performance.