It doesn't take long for yesterday's news to become today's giddy mashup. Now playing on YouTube are at least three clips that put music to the video of UF student Andrew Meyer's run-in with campus police. There's a trip-hop version, another set to Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey and a mercifully shorter, funnier take composed of the original tasering, the reaction from TV newsworld and a snippet of the theme from Grease: John Travolta - apparent emphasis on "volt" - singing, "It's electrifying!"

p.s. Meyer has written for the Sun-Sentinel, and I edited his concert review of the 2005 Warped Tour date in Pompano. I can't speak to his recent doings as an activist/provocateur, but in our limited dealings I've found him capable and professional.

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Here's a helpful Q&A on a showy style of drink service that I would have expected to come from South Florida. Instead, so-called "flair bartending," which resembles the knife-handling at Japanese steak houses, seems to be catching on to our north.

And lest you think flair bartending (which also needs a better name) is just the '80s recycled, flairtender Moe Harris explains how wrong it is to bring up the Tom Cruise character in Cocktail.

I’m nothing like Tom Cruise. That movie has probably done more damage for flair bartenders than anything else. People get this misconception that we’re spilling a lot, because he spills a lot. And the flair he does is actually horrible.

Every great expressive form, it seems, labors under misconceptions because pop culture has dumbed it down for mass consumption. In that respect, flair bartending ("flairtending"?) is like yoga and Kabuki.

Just a beer, thanks.

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This looks like fun.

It's the Jamaican Vintage Music Festival, happening Oct. 20 at Bergeron Rodeo Grounds in Davie. The Stylistics, the Skatalites and Cocoa Tea headline a "day of vintage Reggae, Rock Steady, Ska fused with jerk chicken ... "

Lucky me, I love ska and jerk chicken.

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Time magazine's Richard Corliss may be underestimating kids' interest in the '60s. iPods and YouTube have turned a lot of teens and twentysomethings into archivists. In any case, check out his dual review of Julie Taymor's Across the Universe, set to the music of the Beatles, and Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, in which six actors including Cate Blanchett play biographical variations on Bob Dylan.

And yes, I did say Cate Blanchett.

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+44 (and blink-182) drummer Travis Barker snares Soulja Boy's Crank That. Highly recommended. It's not so much a remix as an exercise video or instruction tape on how to rock a monster rap track.

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I've got a column in today's Showtime on the Beat for Life benefit concert at Cinema Paradiso on Saturday, and I also wanted to pass along something about the person who may be helped most by this event. Her name is Libby Baxter-Santos, and she's the sister of Beat for Life organizer Amy Baxter.

I've never met Baxter-Santos, so I asked concert's promoter, musician Dan Hosker (Holy Terrors, The Bikes), to tell me a bit about her. Hosker said Beat for Life's beneficiary is a Pompano Beach resident and a mother of two who works in the funeral trade as a cosmetologist. She has been undergoing aggressive treatment, including chemotherapy, for breast cancer at Holy Cross Hospital's Bienes Center (the concert's other beneficiary). She has missed a lot of work as a result, and accumulated a lot of bills since her diagnosis.

Under any circumstances Beat for Life would be a great show of strength by the local music scene. That these hometown bands are coming together for someone who could use a timely assist makes the occasion even more welcome.

Showtime is 2 p.m. Admission is $15 - $40. Cinema Paradiso is at 503 SE Sixth St. Call Beat for Life at 954-525-3456, and buy tickets at http://fliff.com/schedule.asp. A schedule of events (subject to change) is posted here.

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Update 11/5/07: You may have heard that this show has been pushed back to Dec. 10, reportedly because Jimmy Page fractured a finger - doing what, I don't know, since two press releases from Warner Music Group on the subject haven't offered a clue. Page does apologize for messing up anyone's travel plans, however.

The Web site hosting the ticket lottery for Led Zeppelin's one-night reunion got 20 million hits in the hour after it went public, said a spokesperson at Rhino Records. The label announced on Wednesday that Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones will regroup to play a tribute, Nov. 26 at London's 02 Arena, to the late Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Led Zeppelin's old home base, Atlantic Records.

Behind the kit will be Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham. So call it 3/4ths-plus.

The arena holds 20,000 people, and tickets are available by drawing for anyone registering at www.ahmettribute.com. Assuming all 20 million visitors registered, your odds of attending start at 1 in 1,000, and drop from there. No doubt many tickets are already in VIP hands. More people are likely to sign up. And then there's the cost if you do win: Each ticket lists for 125, British not American, and the exchange rate makes a stay in London very expensive.

(I tried registering and twice got "Unable to save entry - please try again later". Maybe if I wait until 3 a.m. ... )

Still, it's Led Zeppelin. Plant's vocal range isn't what it was back when Zeppelin were rock's undisputed heavyweight champs (say 1969-1975). The set list may steer clear of anything mandating sustained alto screams. That still leaves a lot of singable sturm und drang.

p.s. I've heard Plant's new CD with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, Raising Sand (out Oct. 23), and it's quite good. Instead of a misbegotten 50/50 merger of hard rock and bluegrass, they've enlisted producer T-Bone Burnett to help make one of those smoke-wreathed, rootsy noir CDs that Burnett does so well.

Plant and Krauss often sing close, tight harmony, but anyone looking for Stairway, Where Art Thou? - and really, who in their right mind would be? - will miss this CD's mysterious beauty. Raising Sand is not out of step with Plant's recent solo albums, which have an air of mystical science. Plant of late has been deconstructing Zeppelin-esque rock and blues, turning old elements inside out, stripping songs down to a pentatonic ribcage, and recombining pieces to create a mantra-like effect. On first listen to Raising Sand I'd say Krauss has ventured further into Plant's territory than vice versa, but this doesn't feel like Plant and his Famous Guest. It's very much a balanced presentation of disarmingly well-paired voices.

After the jump, the text of the press release on the Zeppelin reunion and Ertegun tribute.

TRIBUTE TO AHMET ERTEGUN
NOVEMBER 26, 2007
O2 ARENA, LONDON

Harvey Goldsmith Announces A Tribute Concert To The Late Ahmet Ertegun In
Aid Of The Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund

LONDON -- One of the most eagerly awaited concerts of the decade will
celebrate the life and work of Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records
and much missed mentor to some of the greatest names in music.

Profits from this amazing show will go to the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund
which provides students with annual scholarships to universities in the UK,
USA and Turkey. In addition, a music scholarship open to all will be
established at Ravensbourne College in the UK.

The incomparable Led Zeppelin will headline the tribute to the man who
founded Atlantic Records in 1947. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul
Jones will be joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John
Bonham.

In addition, Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and
Paolo Nutini, all touched by Ertegun's guiding hand over the years, will
play on the night. Paolo was the final British artist that Ahmet mentored.

It will be a tribute from UK artists that Ertegun worked with in a 60 year
career.

Tickets - £125

Due to the anticipated overwhelming demand for this concert, tickets will
be available by ballot only.

Fans should register their names at www.ahmettribute.com

Names will then be chosen at random. There will be seating and standing
tickets and fans will be able to express a preference at the website.

Due the expected unprecedented demand, tickets will be limited to 2 per
successful applicants per household.

Tickets will not be available from any other source. Please do not take
adverts or publicise any company who claims to have tickets. They will not
be given any. Please advise the public not the purchase tickets from any
unscrupulous source.

Tributes to Ahmet

Mica Ertegun, Ahmet's wife and president of The Ahmet Ertegun Education
Fund, commented: "Ahmet attributed his success to his excellent education,
and his ability to recognize innovative artists that touched us all. It was
his wish to endow music and liberal Arts scholarships that would enable
gifted children to reach their highest creative potential. The Ahmet
Ertegun Education Fund was founded with that goal. He would be very proud
that Led Zeppelin have chosen to re-unite and headline a benefit concert in
his name featuring so many of his friends. I would like to thank all of
the artists for their generous contribution to help make Ahmet's vision a
reality."

Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin: "During the Zeppelin years, Ahmet Ertegun was
a major foundation of solidarity and accord. For us he WAS Atlantic Records
and remained a close friend and conspirator - this performance stands alone
as our tribute to the work and the life of our long standing friend."

Mick Jones, Foreigner: "Ahmet's combination of charm, humour, irreverence
and above all his great passion for music made getting to know him one of
the brightest highlights of my life."

Paolo Nutini: "Meeting Ahmet Ertegun in New York 2 years ago was a complete
honour. He touched my life with his amazing personality and opened a few
doors when I was starting my career. He even invited me to sing with Ben E
King and Robert Plant at Montreux last year as part of a celebration of his
musical life. He was a special guy, a real gentleman and it's such a shame
he's gone but a massive tribute that all his music lives on - and will do
forever. God bless Ahmet."

Harvey Goldsmith CBE: "Ahmet introduced me to America when I first started
promoting. He became a friend and was my mentor. Our Industry deeply misses
such a giant of music. It is a fitting tribute that these great artists
have all come together to perform in his memory. The proceeds of the
evening will go to The Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund for student
scholarships. One of these scholarships will be for a music student in the
UK each year."

Bill Curbishley, Trinifold management: "To have had Ahmet regard me as one
of his close friends over the past 40 yrs was indeed a rare privilege. To
be involved in setting up this event, plus a music trust in his name and in
his spirit is also a great honour and privilege for me."

_________________________________________________________________

Ahmet Ertegun:

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1923, Ertegun was the son of America's Turkish
Ambassador. At 9 years old he was attending gigs in Washington DC featuring
jazz greats including Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Inspired by what he
saw, Ertegun and his brother Nesuhi began to stage their own concerts
hosting artists such as Lester Young. In 1947, he formed Atlantic Records
with friend Herb Abramson in New York, an independent record label for
gospel, jazz and R&B music.

During the 50's and 60's Atlantic grew, signing the likes of Ray Charles,
Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin and The Drifters, patenting the blueprint of
soul music. After successfully and uniquely combining blues and soul music
from around the world, Atlantic became the definitive rhythm and blues
label, paying performers fairly and producing high quality records.
Ertegun, as always, was hands on in business and in the studio.

In 1968, Ahmet Ertegun made the magical move into rock by signing Led
Zeppelin guiding them through a phenomenal career. In addition, he signed
the monsters of 1970s British rock - from the Rolling Stones, through Cream
and Genesis.

Ertegun was also the founder and chairman of The Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, to which he was elected in 1987 for his pioneering contributions to
popular music.

His most recent signing was UK artist Paolo Nutini whose 2006 debut album
'These Streets' reached number 3 in the UK Album Charts.

Ahmet Ertegun sadly died last year aged 83.

Led Zeppelin:

Led Zeppelin are simply the ultimate rock band.

They produced some of the greatest albums in recording history and are
constantly considered amongst the greatest popular musicians of all time,
both collectively and individually.

The band formed in 1968, from the ashes of The Yardbirds. When those R&B
crusaders disbanded, guitarist Jimmy Page brought in Robert Plant, John
Bonham and John Paul Jones and toured as The New Yardbirds.

In 1969, their self-titled debut was released and is regarded as one of the
pivotal records in the creation of heavy rock.

Led Zeppelin went on to become the colossal rock icons that we know today,
setting new records along the way for fan attendance at their massive gigs,
with one of the most memorable at Knebworth in 1979.

They have sold over 300 million albums worldwide and, in 1995, the band
were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame joining their mentor
Ahmet Ertegun.

Led Zeppelin Catalogue:
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin (Untitled)
Houses Of the Holy
Physical Graffiti
Presence
The Song Remains The Same
In Through The Out Door
Coda

Box Set/Remasters
Led Zeppelin ­ Profiled
Box Set II
Complete Studio Recordings
Led Zeppelin ­ BBC Sessions
Led Zeppelin: DVD
How The West Was Won
Mothership (2 disc very best of coming November 12, 2007)
The Song Remains The Same (soundtrack, remixed, remastered and complete
coming November 19, 2007)
The Song Remains The Same DVD (coming November 19, 2007)

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Quoth the AP (on Time's Web site):

50 Cent may be getting hip-hop's equivalent of a gold watch next week. Early reports have Kanye West beating 50 in their much-hyped battle of album sales.

You'll recall that 50 Cent said he would stop making solo albums if West's Graduation outsold 50's Curtis.

Sez AP:

As of day one, Kanye had sold 437,000 copies to 50's 310,000, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Both albums came out Tuesday, and a confident 50 Cent famously announced that he would retire if West outsold him in first-week sales. "I just don't view him as competition based on our previous sales histories," 50 Cent told The Associated Press last month.

Actually, it was first-day sales, not first week, and 50 Cent made the initial challenge in an interview with the hip-hop news Website SOHH.COM, posted August 10.

Here's what 50 said.

"Put it like this," 50 told SOHH. "Let's raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but I won't put out any more solo albums."

So, the rap battle that another SOHH staffer called "gangsta vs. schoolboy" is already over.

Gangsta's honor, Curtis!

Now if you really believe he's going to bow out, I have a bridge connecting Queens and Manhattan that may interest you.

As the New York Daily News put it in a piece based on a more recent interview with 50, " ... this whole 'retirement' shtick means essentially nothing."

"I was just raising the stakes," says 50. "When they hear, 'He's going to retire,' it draws attention."

In the end, there's little but upside to this "controversy." By next week, both albums collectively will have sold more than a million copies. The ailing music industry will get a nice one-week bump in CD sales before returning to its regularly scheduled gnashing of teeth. And as 50 himself noted in the Daily News, this has been the sort of rap competition in which nobody got hurt.

Not a bad note to retire on.

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It's only taken, what, 36 years, but Iron Man the superhero and Iron Man the Black Sabbath song are together at last.

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That's the Rev. Steven Thomas's description of the switched-on services at St. David's, an Episcopal church in Wellington. A live band at St. David's covers some of U2's most spiritually conscious songs, and this form of worship seems to be catching on. It even has its own name.

The Sun-Sentinel's Stephanie Horvath explains:

U2charists have popped up in churches around the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Rock bands and loud music in church services is nothing new in some Christian circles. But for the Episcopal Church, heavily steeped in tradition, the U2charists offer a way for it to experiment with contemporary worship. And many of them find the services invigorate younger members and draw people who might not normally attend church.

As a St. David's parishioner notes, U2 concerts often feel like church. So it's a short step from the arena to the chapel.

p.s. I wonder if this means ASCAP, et. al., are going to start hitting up churches for licensing fees (if they're not already). Don't put away that collection plate just yet.

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A press release I received this week is headlined "A Crown Without A King: Elvis's Tooth Reappears on eBay." It reads, in part:

Among the oddities and rare collectibles of hair icon, Jesse Briggs, this one takes the cake, or peanut butter and banana sandwich, in this case. That’s right; Elvis’s tooth is resurfacing on eBay. To mark the 51st anniversary of Elvis’s debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis’s tooth will make its final appearance on EBay this Sunday, September 9th.

Briggs, founder of Yellow Strawberry salons, is a collector of mortuary keepsakes - assuming he can prove the chain of custody for this and other objects. Along with the tooth from East Tupelo, Miss., he has purchased locks of hair previously attached to the heads of John Lennon, Abe Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. (He's also got a strand from a live one, Paul McCartney.)

Notwithstanding eBay policy re: body parts, the great Elvis tooth auction headlines a planned selloff of Briggs-owned memorabilia in advance of his retirement to the Caribbean. Bidding on Sunday for this hunka dentistry starts at $10,000 and runs seven days.

For sticklers, the press release adds:

The tooth was purchased by Jesse from Startifacts in 1992. Startifacts received the tooth from Scott Velvet. Scott Velvet’s father, Jimmy Velvet, was not only a very close friend to Elvis, but was also the President and Founder of the Elvis Presley Museum, Inc. Jimmy Velvet originally acquired the tooth from Elvis’s girlfriend, Linda Thompson. All documents included with the tooth are certified and signed by Jimmy Velvet.

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For the last 20 years down here the place to find rare, cool and collectible LPs was at a corner store in North Miami Beach. A merciful block away from big, scary Rte. 826, Blue Note didn't just stock vinyl. CDs crossed their counter, too. But old-school pressings of the 33- and 45-rpm variety were founder Bob Perry's mainstay.

They still are. Only the address has changed. I reached Perry by telephone today at Blue Note's new home, a loft-style warehouse in Dania Beach. "We've got a really hip spot," said Perry (The new address is 5931 Anglers Ave., Building A-3, just off Stirling Rd., in the Ravenswood warehouse district, 954-961-3928). He was, I guessed, up to his knees in records.

"It's been a monster," he said of the move, which ate up July and August -- "the hardest two months in Miami," Perry added -- and continues one box at a time. Old customers and new are already dropping by, and Perry and staff are not turning them away. He says it'll be another two weeks before the stock is organized by category, and early October when Blue Note is a whole store again, with racks, shelves, aisles, posters and music-geek atmosphere.

The cost of staying at the last address was getting to be too much, said Perry, especially for a brick-and-mortar music store trying to survive downloading. The alternative to relocating was to shut down entirely, he said.

The move also puts Perry closer to home. "I can walk to work," he says.

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