Scottish boy band Bay City Rollers got their name by throwing a dart at a map of the United States. The first shot landed on Arkansas, but they didn’t care for “Arkansas Rollers”. Their second shot landed on Bay City, Michigan. During the height of “Rollermania”, the band played arenas worldwide which were filled with screaming teenage girls waving the …

Insiders speculate that Laura Bush will get an advance for her First Lady memoir that will match or better the $8M that Hillary got for hers. First lady Laura Bush has sealed a deal worth millions with Scribner to publish a memoir that will encompass her recollections of personal and historical moments, including her eight years in the White House. …

If you follow the tech blogs, you’ll know that for weeks they’ve been buzzing about Apple head Steve Job’s health and that he won’t appear at this year’s MacWorld, which begins tomorrow. Apple’s PR flacks have been insisting that Jobs is fine, but Apple stock has suffered from the speculation. Today Jobs came out with the truth. As many of …

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters jammed Times Square this weekend to decry the Israeli/Hamas conflict. Chanting “Free Palestine,” thousands of Palestinian supporters demonstrated in Times Square Saturday to protest Israel’s punishing military offensive in Gaza. The wave of protesters stretched across three blocks, dwarfing the dozens of boisterous supporters of Israel assembled across Seventh Ave. “What’s happening in Gaza is something …

“I believe I understand Obama’s choice here. I believe that Barack Obama wants to be the President of the entire United States. Pastor Rick Warren reached out to him, brought him into his church during the campaign, which outraged many members of his church. Yet he reaches across and I think this is Obama reaching back and going, ‘I think …

The litany of woes for New York Senate Democrats continue. After his arrest last month for slashing his girlfriend with a broken glass, a resolution is being circulated to prevent Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) from taking office this week. Hiram Monserrate’s first day in the state Senate this week is shaping up to be a nasty one, with political opponents already …

Playing right into the hands of wingnuts nationwide, some idiot vandalized the gay-friendly Most Holy Redeemer Church in the Castro. Vandals spray-painted swastikas on a Catholic church in San Francisco’s Castro District Saturday night. It appears the vandals are upset about the Catholic church’s support of Proposition 8, which made same-sex marriage illegal in California. But, the Most Holy Redeemer …

It looks like the long count/recount may be finally over as today Al Franken is scheduled to be formally declared the winner of his bitter Senate fight with Norm Coleman. Democrat Al Franken will be declared the winner of the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota, emerging from a ballot recount with a slim margin over Republican Norm Coleman, state …

The MTA is letting people on the 6 train know that overcrowding will be abated in a mere six years when the Second Avenue line begins to run. The city’s most used line, daily ridership on the 6 train exceeds the daily ridership of the entire rail transit systems of San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago combined. However those of us …

Geez, this is a shocker. The Alaska State Troopers’ union says that “political meddling” delayed their arrest warrant against Sarah Palin’s co-grandma, Sherry Oxycontin Johnston, until after the November election. Palin’s office denies it all, of course.

Citing the unfolding investigation of a company that had business dealings with his New Mexico administration, Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name as Barack Obama’s Secretary of Commerce. “Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact,” he said Sunday in a report by …

The video for Olivia Newton-John’s career-defining 1981/1982 smash, Physical, often had its ending cut by MTV and other video channels because its buff men were revealed to be gay as they exited the gym hand-in-hand. Nonetheless, the clip won one of only two Grammys ever given for Video Of The Year, until the category was discontinued after the advent of …

The Czech Republic took over the six month rotating presidency of the European Union from France last week. The EU’s new figurehead leader, Czech President Vaclav Klaus, believes that global warming is a myth, prompting Prague to scramble to keep Klaus as far away from Brussels as possible. The European Union’s new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous …

On Fox News Sunday today, Bush I said he’s all for Jeb as Bush III some day. Bush/Palin 2012?

The Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders are working on a plan for marriage equality in all of New England by 2012. “We can make New England a marriage-equality zone by strategically combining existing legal, electoral and on-the-ground know-how to fast-track marriage in every New England state,” GLAD Executive Director Lee Swislow said. “By 2012, we not only can have …

It’s a gorgeous and cold morning. This photo embiggens nicely.

Arguably Madonna’s most controversial single, 1991’s Justify My Love was banned by MTV and many other video channels, prompting Warner Bros. to issue it as what would become the greatest selling video single in history. The clip was directed by French fashion photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino who also directed Madonna’s videos for Human Nature and Hollywood. Mondino first made a name …

JMG reader Mike send us this great shot from SFist in which photographer Ben Golub captures an amusing counterprotest to a San Franciscan wingnut.

Rite Aid Pharmacy, Grand Central Terminal There’s a woman in line ahead of me who has just handed over a huge sheaf of prescriptions. She is a middle-aged business woman wearing a navy suit. She has a Blackberry clipped to her messenger-style bag. The two clerks seem to know her and they immediately pick up their pace and begin darting …

John Travolta’s 16 year old son, Jett, died today after hitting his head during a seizure in the bathroom of the family’s hotel room in the Bahamas. Jett, the son of Travolta and his actress wife Kelly Preston had a long history of seizures. For years, the couple has faced accusations that they were not treating or acknowledging Jett’s obvious …