With a trio of fun things suddenly on the plate for Los Lonely Boys -- an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' tonight, a taping for HBO's 'Hard Knocks' with the Dallas Cowboys this weekend and a Wal-Mart-only DVD release currently on shelves -- Spinner asked the boys to discuss all of them. Obliging, guitarist Henry Garza replied, "If we could get Jimmy Kimmel and Jerry Jones [the owner of the Dallas Cowboys] together with Los Lonely Boys for a shopping spree at Wal-Mart, then that would be a HBO special all to its own." It's funny because it's true (although we can't vouch for drummer Ringo Garza's assumption that he's going to "beat Jimmy Kimmel again today in arm wrestling, since he's a wimp").

In the meantime, following 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' Los Lonely Boys will continue their 'Brotherhood Tour' with Los Lobos. The Boys' new CD, 'Forgiven,' is currently available at all the regular outlets, but a live DVD recorded at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco is available only at Wal-Marts across America. Bassist JoJo Garza doesn't mind the corporate partnership: "Henry's wife used to work at a Wal-Mart in San Angelo, Texas -- our hometown. We'll be buying air filters there when the tour ends."

What do you do when you see a Lonely Boy at the checkout counter at your local Wal-Mart? Ask him how the Cowboys are, of course.

Courtney Love is having a tumultuous week. Following recent blog-feuds with Billy Corgan and Ryan Adams – not to mention a newly scribed rant about Madonna – the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is being sued for $975,000 by London & Co.

Love allegedly failed to pay the management firm its commissions for the partial sale of her share of Cobain's songbook. Courtney reaped $19.5 million in the 2007 deal but has yet to pony up the five percent fee London & Co. asserts it is owed. Ironically, Love threw stones at Ryan Adams in a MySpace post this past Saturday, claiming she was herself the victim of a financial misdeed.

It seems there were "29 American Express cards that [she] didn't know existed that were connected to a few hundred bank accounts" and only recently discovered that there was an $858,000 tab she alleges belongs to Adams. In a lengthy rant, Love wrote of how the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter somehow financed his 2003 album 'Rock N Roll' and all related expenses from an account that is tied to her daughter Frances Bean Cobain's trust fund money.

When Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher wanted to get down to work on his band's new album last December, he hit a snag as he found out that London's legendary Abbey Road Studio was booked by the members of U2. So he did what any self-respecting rock star millionaire would do. He paid off the owners of the facility made famous by the Beatles more than 40 years ago.

"U2 were booked in there with [producer] Rick Rubin," Gallagher tells Mojo of his efforts to get to work on Oasis' forthcoming disc, 'Dig Out Your Soul,' due October 7. "I was like, 'U2? U2 have to have a f---ing six-hour meeting [to decide] whether to get tea or coffee in the rehearsal room! They are not coming in here any time in the next five years.'

"The guy from Abbey Road was like, 'I've got it block-booked for the exact time you want it," Gallagher continues. "We actually went down to Abbey Road with a bag of money and said, 'We can pay for the studio now.'"

Fiction Plane was not the only band at Camp Bisco this past weekend to come all the way from the U.K. The seventh incarnation of the three-day festival, now held in Mariaville, N.Y., featured a handful of British groups including the Egg and a cluster of acts from the revered electronic Twisted record label. However, Fiction Plane may have been the only band there who willingly admitted to being unfamiliar with Camp Bisco's host and headliner, the Disco Biscuits.

"I never heard of the Disco Biscuits until I read it on the sheet today," confessed bassist (and Sting's son) Joe Sumner. "You know what I'm going to do? We finished our gig; I'm now going to get slightly inebriated and discover the true nature of the festival."

Daft Punk have just unveiled their first full-length motion picture, 'Electroma.' If you weren't able to catch it at film festival screenings, perhaps you viewed the five-minute excerpt Spinner premiered last week. The movie marks a new direction for the French electronic duo, who have adapted their artistic vision to a journey beyond sound. Removing both themselves and their music from the film, the pair craft an expedition through a silent cinematic world populated by lost robots on a quest to become human.

"From the beginning of Daft Punk and the way we decided to make music, we've always wanted to experiment with different art forms -- the idea of natural progression and the growth of an aesthetic that we have been trying to develop both musically and visually," Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter tells Spinner. "So we like the idea of expanding it and making it a gradual expansion both in content and also in ways of expressing ourselves."

Although he didn't sit in with the festival hosts, as rumored from inside sources, Snoop Dogg did take his second hippie festival in a row (following Rothbury) by storm, performing hits from the past 15 years for a crowd clad in Bisco-themed shirts, tie-dyes and patchworks at Camp Bisco (the Disco Biscuits' annual fest) this past weekend.

Not sure if more smoke emanated from the stage or the audience, however, and with his head obviously in the clouds (or, at least, some kind of fog), Snoop repeatedly told the audience to stay tuned because 311 were up next. (Snoop is currently on tour with 311, but the band was never on the bill at Camp Bisco. Whoops!)

John Lydon has denied allegations that racism was a part of an altercation with Kele Okereke. But a backstage incident at Barcelona's Summercase festival last Saturday led to the Bloc Party frontman winding up on the ground with facial bruising and a split lip.

Okereke – a Liverpudlian born to Nigerian parents – claimed Monday that he was assaulted by three members of Rotten's entourage and told, "Your problem is your black attitude." According to Okereke, the man also known as Johnny Rotten became "intimidating and aggressive" when Okereke asked if he would ever re-form his dormant band, Public Image Ltd.

Responding late Monday, the Sex Pistols frontman suggested Okereke started the fight and is using the racist allegation to drum up publicity. "I feel very sorry for a man that needs to lie about what was a perfect evening," Lydon said in a formal statement. "The trouble was brought to us, resulting in those causing the trouble being physically removed by festival security.

"We are in the middle of a wonderful tour. After 30 years we are achieving a true unity in our audience," he added. "They are multi-varied, all ages, all races, creeds and colors. When you are at a festival with bands who are jealous fools, lies and confusion usually follow.

"Grow up and learn to be a true man," Lydon snapped. "When you have achieved as much as I have, come back and talk to me. It's a shame the wonderful world of the media is riddled with nonsense like this."

On Wednesday, actress turned chanteuse Zooey Deschanel and musician/producer Matt Ward, known collectively as She & Him, set off on their first proper tour. "Yeah, we're going to get on the bus -- first time for this band," Ward tells Spinner during a coffee break.

Though Ward is a well-traveled man, thanks to his days promoting his five studio releases under the name M. Ward, the trek will be something new for Deschanel, who after spending the early part of the summer promoting her co-starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Happening,' will wrap up the season on a bus.

"It's definitely a different sort of thing to get used to living sort of on the bus, but I guess, by and large we're going to [spend a lot of time] living in hotels, which is something she's very accustomed to," Ward said. Their trek kicks off in Toronto and will make a total of 14 stops, wrapping up at the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore next month.

Radiohead openers and indie L.A. faves the Liars recently released a digital EP, 'Freak Out,' a compilation featuring tracks from last year's self-titled album and several videos from their last few records. While it may not be much-anticipated new music, singer Angus Andrew says there's a reason for this.

"What we wanted to do was get that song out a bit more -- the 'Freak Out' song," Andrew explains to Spinner. "We were certainly finding that when we were playing live across America and Europe, that somehow was the audience favorite. It really is more of a record company decision. In the middle of the whole thing, we're like, 'Awesome. Do it. Whatever.'"

The EP actually only has two songs, the title track and a live version of 'Clear Island.' The rest are videos, including an eerie and effective rendering 'Plaster Casts of Everything' that recalls David Lynch's 'Lost Highway.' "What was interesting about doing that video, particularly, was we had never really handed over the reigns of creativity to anyone before," Andrew says. "Even remixes were difficult for us. We met up with Patrick Daughters, an old friend of ours, and basically just gave him free run. In the end, we were just directed as actors. It wasn't until it was finished that we saw it."

Veteran singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo is currently on a roll with his latest album, 'Real Animal.' With great reviews behind it, 'Real Animal' made it onto the Billboard Top 200 album chart, the first time ever for Escovedo. And having already opened for the Dave Matthews Band for a couple of dates in June, Escovedo is on his tour that will run through August. It's much different scenario now compared to five years ago when Escovedo, who had Hepatitis C that was not treated, collapsed after performing a show in Arizona.

"Having gone through that completely changed my life," Escovedo tells Spinner, "and not just myself but [my] band as well. All of us went through it together. They were supporting me the whole time, it was kind of like a family."

His 2006 record, 'The Boxing Mirror,' which Escovedo characterized as dark, was released after that near-death experience. 'Real Animal,' produced by the legendary Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex), is a contrast to its predecessor. "I just wanted to make a real rock 'n' roll record," Escovedo explains. "I was able to come up with a record that was not nearly as down as the last [one]. It's more upbeat and more rocking."

With all of the album's songs co-written by Escovedo and musician Chuck Prophet, 'Real Animal' is about the music and influences Escovedo had admired throughout his life. He pays homage to the former groups he's been in such as the Nuns in the late '70s ('Nuns Song'), and Rank and File from the early '80s ('Chip N' Tony'). "It really is a story of all those characters along the way," he says, "all the band members and the music we've made."

Artist: Colleen Doran
Contribution: 'Pretty Good Year'

How would you describe your relationship with Tori?

Well, my relationship with Tori is limited to adoring her music. I bought her first album when it came out, after I heard selections on a local alternative music station. I rushed out and got the album right away. I later added videos and limited edition albums to my stack of Tori adoration and I venerate often.

How did you become involved in this project?

I heard a rumor through the grapevine that this project was in the works, and sulked a bit, wondering if anyone was going to contact me about it. then I got the call and stopped sulking.

Why did you choose to interpret 'Pretty Good Year'?

I worked with a writer on this piece named Derek McCulloch, and he actually chose the song. Fortunately, it was one of my favorites, and he took a different approach to it that I think distinguishes it in the collection. I had very strong visual ideas when listening to the music and integrating that imagery with the story which I did not write was in interesting experience. I think I came up with a way of visualizing the story that honored the content as well as gave a visual impression of the sound of the music.

What is it about Tori's music that inspired your visuals and storyline?

Tori has a very gentle, liquid voice that becomes very powerful and angry during the course of the song. Also, she sounds hurt. The sound of the piano gives me an impression of blocks of color. So, I like the way that the story transpires in blocks of time, both within the context of the individual moments of life's passage, but also in the blocks of sound that the piano staccato creates. And I see different colors when she creates different sounds and used them as visual cues for both the sense of the sound and the sense of the characters in the story.

In what way to graphic novels evoke the same reactions -- both emotional and physical -- as that of music?

Both comics and music are multi-sensory and require a certain amount of participation on the part of the audience to enjoy them fully. Music, like Tori's music anyway, requires that we pay attention to the feelings evoked by the sound of the music, but also to the lyrics which also have a narrative sense, and, in the case of Tori Amos, can often be challenging. there are different levels of meaning and experience in her music. She can sing in this gentle, ethereal way about the most difficult of life's experiences, and if you aren't paying attention to the lyrics, you miss half the story.

Comics have a similar ability to create a multi-layered experience. the pictures and the narrative may even be at odds with one another. Music has the ability to suggest color through the mood conveyed by sound, and comics have the ability to convey mood with color. The narrative may be in concert with the message of the pictures, or may be in counterpoint.

Artist/Writer: Ted McKeever
Contribution: 'Past the Mission'

Describe your relationship with Tori.

I am an admirer of her ability to create depths and emotions beyond the simplicity of notes.

How did you become involved in this project?

Rantz Hoseley contacted me, and when he said it was for a visual interpretation for Tori's songs, I was in.

Why did you choose to interpret 'Past the Mission'?

I felt it had the tone and atmosphere of where my head was at the time. I liked the melancholy it caused in me, and in turn it caused me to visualize images that eventually became part of the story.

What is it about Tori's music that inspired your visuals and storyline?

She speaks without clarification of exactness. She's abstract, and yet direct. She tells a story with her words, and sets the tone with the range of her voice. She's a very visual musician and that is rare.

In what way to graphic novels evoke the same reactions -- both emotional and physical -- as that of music?

If given the right amount of freedom and page count, a good graphic story can evoke a mood that creates a soundtrack all its own. It's like what they say about good comedy. The timing is everything. Same goes for graphic novels. The pacing and timing is what makes it work, or not.

Artist/Writer: David Mack
Contribution: 'Flying Dutchman'

Describe your relationship with Tori.

I've done paintings of Tori for all of her RAINN charity calendars for the last five years.

How did you become involved in this project?

Rantz Hoseley invited me to be a part of this book.

Why did you choose to interpret 'Flying Dutchman'?

It came about by talking with Rantz Hoseley. Rantz is organizing the project and he presented me with a few different songs to choose from, but he specifically recommended that he'd like to see me adapt 'Flying Dutchman.' Tori had written the song about Rantz in a way -- about a specific time in the life of Tori and Rantz in their early formative years while both of them were in the process of making their dreams come true in their creative endeavors as artists.

After learning the back story of the song from Rantz and he suggesting that I do that song, I felt like I had an extra layer of information about the intentions and ideas of the song directly from the source moments that it was created that I could integrate into my visual adaptation of it.

What is it about Tori's music that inspired your visuals and storyline?

I tried to go right into the internal story of the song and make it personal and universal at the same time. I began with the lyrics and the backstory of the circumstances of the creation of the song that Rantz had discussed with me. I wanted it to be inclusive of that and my personal identification and experience with those ideas.

Some of the song is about the rich life of imagination of a creative person, and people's more mundane external views of them, so I wanted to reflect that in the composition of the layout. I discussed with Rantz the idea of splitting the page composition in two, and making the top half the part that suggests the untethered imagination of creative internal life, and the bottom half displays the an external version and charts in panels the artist at different stages of their life. This double composition gave the opportunity to have moments where the two narratives intersect ... thereby affording an opportunity to show a transformation at those points of overlap between action and imagination, and to blur the edges between the external and the internal.

In what way to graphic novels evoke the same reactions -- both emotional and physical -- as that of music?

Well, there are some interesting comparisons between them. Writing the story and creating the art for it, is probably parallel to the songwriter who writes music and lyrics and then performs it themselves. They both have a rhythm, and a narrative, and they both can communicate metaphorically and speak in iconography that can be very personal and universal and be open to individual interpretation.

In using images and melodies in addition to words, there seems to be inherent properties in those images and melodies that bypass a certain cerebral gateway and go straight to the core of a person. Perhaps because images and sound are more primal and early communication technologies than the written word. They tend to speak to a very direct part of us. And when you combine them with very carefully crafted wording, you have communication that engages both the right and left hemispheres of the brain making the experience a very "whole brained" approach -- something that engages our intellect and our intuitive and emotional responses, as well as something that engages the more recently developed parts of our brains and the more primal parts in concert. I imagine they have similarities in reactions from the readers, but also in the creative process and choices of the artist.

I write a full script for the story. And then I try to consider what will be the best visual way to communicate that story -- how to download it into the readers head in a way that bypasses their usual checkpoints and filtering process. This lets me use the art as another tool of the writing and gives me the liberty to develop a new look for each project. I can use the best choice of media, storytelling layout, panel rhythm or cultivate a new style and atmosphere to best communicate that particular story.

Often I may think of some visual choices while I am writing the script and I will include notes of those options in the script. But for each step of the way there is margin for improvement and spontaneity and epiphany.

The best example of my work like this is my most recent Kabuki story from Marvel called 'The Alchemy.'
In fact, much of the story is about characters that are cultivating the creative process in themselves and have developed specific principles and practical applications for doing this.

Project Editor, Writer: Rantz Hoseley
Contributions: 'The Waitress,' 'Mr. Zebra'

Describe your relationship with Tori.

Tori and I have been friends for over 20 years now, since the days of her playing piano at the Holiday Inn at LAX, through the "adventure" of Y Kant Tori Read, to her finding the strength to unleash her true musical voice on 'Little Earthquakes.' Before that album was released, I took an early mix on a cassette tape down to the San Diego Comicon and gave it to 'Sandman' writer Neil Gaiman. I've designed tour programs, T-shirts and contributed a painting to one of the RAINN calendars for her. Now, many tours, albums and various projects later, I still consider her to be one of my dearest and best friends.

How did you become involved in this project?

About a year ago, Image [Comics] put out an anthology based on the music of Belle & Sebastian. The book was good, but I'll fully admit I kept thinking, "This is a great idea, but it would be really killer if it was done with Tori's music and songs as the jumping off point for the creators." So, last year at the San Diego Comicon, proving everything comes full circle, I asked Image if they'd be interested in doing something like this. They thought it was a great idea, so Tori, her managers and I starting talking about it. Looking at all of the angles to decide if we wanted to go ahead and commit to it, because we all agreed that if we were going to spend the time on this, it couldn't be "just another comic book," or anything less than a full scale "Tori Project." Once we had all agreed, I started going through lists of creators, and showing them to Tori, getting her yea or nay on them. After getting a solid list of about 150, I started contacting people, and was pleasantly surprised at how many of them immediately and enthusiastically signed on, and really threw themselves into it, individually and collectively producing some of the best comics I've seen.

Why did you choose to interpret 'The Waitress' and 'Mr. Zebra'?

It's a bit funny, because when we started this project, I was sure that I'd end up doing a story for 'Flying Dutchman,' or 'Sugar,' or 'Honey' or 'Here in My Head.' Those are some of my favorite songs of hers and the one that really speak to me on a constant, continuous basis. But it was a funny thing -- I was driving around, doing the daily commute, and I was playing Tori's full discography, getting the songs vivid in my mind, really trying to see them fresh and new, so that I'd be able to do a good job as an editor for the various songs/stories. And then 'Waitress' came on, and it hadn't made it to the first chorus before the whole story just ... appeared. Start, middle, end. All the complex cross-time/location panel cuts, the double meaning on the last page. It honestly freaked me out a little bit, because no story comes that easily or that quickly. Moreover, I was really dead-set on doing one of the other songs, so I fought it. But it kept sneaking in, poking at me saying "You need to do this, you know you do." Tori has always said to me that her girls -- the songs -- always tell her which ones to play on any given night, and I'd always kind of chuckled and thought "Yeah, sure Tor. OK, whatever you say." But here I am, having this song tell me, "You know I the one, stop being stubborn and let's go!" So, I gave in, and did it.

'Mr. Zebra' was very similar. When James Stokoe became available at the 11th hour, I thought "What story should we do?" and it was obvious, the format, the humor, the surrealist bent. It was just ... there. I'm very happy with both of them, and glad I stopped being a stubborn ass about it.

What is it about Tori's music that inspired your visuals and storyline?

'Waitress,' the song, is all about betrayal, and the emotion that comes through makes that pain so clear -- the regret, the anger, the hurt and the frustration of other people seeing the other person's side, and not yours. Treating your reaction like it's irrational or worse yet, crazy. So, by drawing a page by page parallel between these two women's relationship from start to tragic end and the minute by minute buildup to their final confrontation, hopefully the reader can see what's pushed the main character to the point of taking the actions that she does.

With 'Mr. Zebra,' it was just going to that Duchamp-esque state of mind -- being open to the seemingly unrelated series of words and scenarios tell their story. Not shutting any part of the mind off from it for fear that it was "too far out there," and just letting the song tell its own story through the filter of my perceptions. It's probably just a bit different that what someone else might think of, but that's kind of the point of the whole project -- to show how art in any form, be it music, visual, or written word, begets and inspires more art. Sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in forms that are completely unexpected.

In what way to graphic novels evoke the same reactions -- both emotional and physical -- as that of music?

I think music and comics, more than any other art forms, are so closely related in terms of how they draw a reaction, or emotional response from their audience. Both have a controlled cadence and beat to them, both can use staccato rhythms (a series of small, tight panels in the case of comics) to build a frenetic feeling, or hold a long, intense note to draw the audience deeper in, and add emphasis on the emotions that have been building (in comics, using a splash page, for example).

Comics and music also, especially in this day and age of being able to release work digitally, have the capability of being some of the least "committee"-driven forms of art. With music, it can be one person or a small group of people in a band, writing songs the way they want to write them. Recording with protocols, releasing them onto the net and getting it out the way they want to. The same holds true for comics. Sure, you can have large, multi-title crossover events from companies like Marvel and DC, but you can also have someone making a comic by themselves, or with a small number of friends, putting it up on the web or self-publishing, and getting out the stories that they feel compelled to tell. I think that's why so many people connect with both comics and music. At its best, there's less between the creators and the audience.

Many comic creators I know use music as an inspiration in their comics, and draw direct parallels between musical timings and signatures and panel, page and story construction. It's nothing new really -- comic creators have been riffing off of music for years. It's just that now comics has gained the level of public acceptance to where the audience, for both music and comics, is becoming more aware of it.

Tori Amos has never been short on imagery. The enigmatic songstress loads her songs with references to faeries, mythological Gods and Goddesses, and intricate, cryptic and certainly colorful stories about love, loss, life, death and even, well, shoes. This, of course, is to generalize. There's also her physical self to note: Amos' diminutive 5-foot-and-change frame is decorated with a signature fiery mane, dishy blue-gray eyes and protruding ears, all of which are cartoonishly exaggerated, if not striking. In fact, it's these characteristics that inspired celebrated graphic novelist Neil Gaiman -- also Amos' friend, whom she commonly name-checks in her songs -- to create the character Delirium in his 'Sandman' series.

A book then, consisting entirely of stories and art inspired by her music, was certainly inevitable. To that end, Amos will release the 480-page collection 'Comic Book Tattoo,' featuring contributions from more than 80 graphic artists and writers. Amos, along with the project mastermind, artist and editor Rantz Hoseley, hand-picked each of the book's 50-plus entries. Spinner spoke with Amos about the project, including her reactions to the stories (a lesbian love affair and murder, among them) and how this collection has inspired her to begin writing new material.

Describe the evolution of 'Comic Book Tattoo.'

Well, I've known [artist and editor] Rantz Hoseley for years. He was a student at Parsons, and I had a younger friend who kind of dated him for a few weeks. I got to know him and we became friends. He started to turn me on to comics. This was in the early days, like, around 1989. He needed a place to crash and I had a studio apartment behind a church on Highland and Franklin in Hollywood. I would go to sleep at my boyfriend's place and Rantz would crash at the little place behind the Methodist church. So, I would run into Rantz every day, and I was writing 'Little Earthquakes.' He would leave all these comic books laying around, and that was the beginning of our relationship. Over the years, I guess in a way, he's sort of become like a little brother to me. He took my music to Comic-Con in 1990, maybe, and gave it to Neil Gaiman. Gaiman got in touch with me, and said, "Hi, I'm Neil. I write 'The Sandman,' and I just wanted to encourage you that maybe you could have a future in music." It was a tape with a phone number on it. I don't think he realized it was going to be released. It happened to be released, although you and I both know a lot of releases come out that nobody ever hears. So, Gaiman called me. He was gonna be in London, and we met up. I've had relationships with Neil and Rantz for over 20 years.