Music Box: Sam Phillips

Hard-core fans will cringe when I admit this, but I only discovered Sam Phillips a few months ago when this song called "Baby, I Can't Please You" was playing at my local drugstore every time I went in to buy something. I was instantly mesmerized -- it was as if John Lennon and Paul McCartney had mixed their sperm together and inseminated Rickie Lee Jones and out came this brilliantly talented singer/songwriter. It turned out the song was 14 years old (from 1994's unfortunately titled "Martinis & Bikinis"), so I've certainly got a lot of catching up to do (it seems Sam also used to record as Leslie Phillips for a Christian label before turning more mainstream). But trust me, one listen (video above) and you'll be as hooked as I was. (Her brand new album is "Don't Do Anything" and can be purchased here.)

Family Men

Brilliant, via PatriotBoy, who is hoping "to get Concerned Women for America to run these ads for the Senate sponsors of the Marriage Protection Amendment."

Birthday Blonde

Here's wishing the beautiful and talented Debbie Harry a very happy birthday! If you haven't seen her on Blondie's "Parallel Lines" 30th anniversary tour (below) then you're really missing out on something special. Deb is really "on" this time around. You won't be disappointed.

(Photo by Matthew Rettenmund)

All the Right Moves

I know these smokin' hot pictures of Robert Buckley shootin' hoops in Manhattan made the rounds last week, but just in case you missed them (you're welcome!). Some of my friends have speculated that this cutie, who plays Kirby Atwood on "Lipstick Jungle," might be gay because he's given speeches at various GLBT and AIDS events recently. But now that I see how well he moves on the basketball court I'm not so sure. (What gay guy can play basketball? It makes your hands way too dry.)

A (New) Rod for Madonna?

Alex Rodriguez has made "numerous" late-night visits to Madonna's Central Park West apartment, according to a published "report" in Us Weekly, including one on the night his second child was born (classy!). While Madonna was seen at a Yankees game recently and ARod does have a history of bedding older blond women (and she, Hispanic sluggers), I'm not sure what to think of this one just yet. But either way, Guy Ritchie's in town now, so I hope she's got a big enough bed to accommodate everyone. (NYDN)

UPDATE: The rumor mill pot has finally boiled over and Madonna's publicist has just issued a statement, denying both the impending divorce and the ARod affair (and the Lil Wayne affair that I'd never ever heard of!). (People) Meantime, ARod tried throw the press off the Madonna trailer by emerging from his apartment today with a kid from the Make-a-Wish Foundation. (Jossip)

A Federer-Nadal Final?

Not if sexy Marat Safin has anything to say about it. (Telegraph)