kevin.

High-five to the marketing executive that actually gave this one the green light. Mikhail Gorbachev - one of the alumni of the good ol' communist Soviet Union - is now posing for the very capitalist company Louis Vuitton in their new fall campaign. I'm not so sure all the trust fund babies and trophy wives are going to identify terribly well with the Cold War veteran hawking overpriced luggage, but I am totally fascinated... so much so that I'd almost consider driving down to Tijuana and picking up a $5 knockoff.

Two questions remain unanswered:

Is Gorby sticking to his guns and giving all the proceeds to Mother Russia (especially considering all the past rumors of him trying to regain the Russian presidency for the Communist Party)? Oh wait, I forgot that real-world Communism allows those in government to…

Metallica detained as a terrorist threat? [AOL]

All the Live Earth coverage you could need [MTV]

The Dropkick Murphys announce the details of their new album [punknews]

The Decemberists bring orchestral rock to the Hollywood Bowl (complete with video) [stereogum]

This is only, like, the 5000th time this has happened on his show.

Here's the note on this worthy cause, from HITS:

WEB OF SILENCE: Webcasters, including L.A. radio station KCRW and its website KCRW.com, will join together for a Day of Silence next Tuesday (6/26). Stations and Internet radio sites will shut down regular programming as a protest against the new high music royalties for Internet radio, established by the Copyright Royalty Board in March. KCRW will produce a one-hour program—D-Day for Webcasters— featuring Pandora, Live365, Yahoo, AccuRadio, SomaFM, indie webcaster Bagel Radio and public radio station WAMU/Washington, DC, among others. KCRW GM Ruth Seymour will moderate, as participants describe the effects that the new rates will have on their ability to stream and to serve audiences online. Webcasters are supporting the Internet Radio Equality Act, which has garnered bipartisan support in the House as well as the Senate. In addition, they have filed appeals and a…

Apparently Jessica Cutler, famous for the Washingtonienne blog and accompanying sex scandal has gone bankrupt! She seemed to be sitting pretty only year ago after the success of her book (which was technically only "based" on the blog, but some of the changes were suspect, such as changing the popular DC blog Wonkette in reality to "Blogette" in the novel).

Go over to Gawker to view not only the story on her bleak financial situation and the related defamation suits she's involved in, but also a list of her assets, which includes a $50 fur coat and a dog valued at... priceless?

Now she just needs to start whoring herself out in a new scene. I'm thinking all those rich bankers in Omaha might be about her speed. She's already run through DC ("Hollywood for the…

Hands down.