MONDAY MORNING MISHEGAS:
STARTING YOUR WEEK OFF RIGHT

It’s time for March madness. And we don’t just mean the fact that Anna Nicole’s gravesite has turned into the Bahamas’ leading tourist attraction or that John Travolta has the #1 movie in the country, but that time when your office turns into a sports book as 64 college basketball teams get set for the big prize, the NCAA crown, as you pay your $25 and fill out your brackets. Will Florida repeat? Can Ohio State run the table? Will UCLA win it all? Is it Kansas’ turn? How about Wisconsin? North Carolina? Darned if we know. We’re still smarting about overlooking George Mason last year. Also, look for Arcade Fire’s critically kudo-ed new album Neon Bible and Korn’s MTV Unplugged to lead the week’s releases in stores and fight it out for #1 on next week’s HITS Top 50.

Gotta estimate Travolta, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen were worth about $11 million apiece and William H. Macy about $5 million, give or take, to Wild Hogs’ impressive $38 million bow over the weekend, the largest-ever March opening for Disney and the biggest debut for Travolta. Who knew City Slickers on motorcycles would prove such a crowd-pleaser? David Fincher’s critically praised procedural thriller Zodiac earned a disappointing $13.1 million to land in second place for Warner Bros. and Paramount, less than the $19m tallied last week by Jim Carrey’s panned New Line feature The Number 23, which dropped to fifth with $7.1m. Columbia Pictures’ Ghost Rider fell to #3 with $11.5 million, with Disney’s Bridge to Terabitha #4 at $8.6 million. The rest of the Top 10 included Dreamworks/Paramount’s Norbit ($6.4m), WB’s Music & Lyrics ($4.9m), Paramount Vantage’s debuting Black Snake Moan ($4m), Fox/Paramount’s Reno 911!: Miami ($3.8m) and Universal Pictures’ Breach ($3.5m).

BOY BANDS TO MEN: 98 Degrees’ Jeff Timmons, NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick, LFO’s Rich Cronin and Color Me Badd’s Bryan Abrams have been brought back by VH1 for a reality series this summer in which the four form a band called Sureshot. They are being managed by Katie McNeil, who helped guide Buckcherry’s comeback, and have been recording with Grammy winner Bryan Michael Cox (Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown). For more, check out their MySpace page here.

NME’s A LOVE STORY: Last week’s Shockwaves NME Awards in England saw the Arctic Monkeys take home awards for Best Album for Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, and for Best DVD for Scummy Man. My Chemical Romance won for Best International Band with frontman Gerard Way getting named Hero of the Year in a poll voted on by music fans. Other winners include Muse for Best British Band, Klaxons for Best New Band, Kasabian for Best Live Band and the Killers for Best Video for “Bones.” Meanwhile, Pete Doherty didn’t go home with any awards, instead, he was just asked to go home. The Babyshambles singer and his girlfriend, Kate Moss, were asked by security to leave after the two were found in some compromising positions. According to NME, the couple was getting “too amorous” and had reportedly attempted to enter a bathroom stall together before being caught in a dark alleyway behind the venue.

N.Y. Times’ Darcy Frey on the road with Arcade Fire here.

Even the N.Y. Post’s legendarily grouchy Dan Aquilante is down with Arcade Fire here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ always-erudite Jim Farber on the paranoid joys of Arcade Fire here.

Chicago Tribune’s Greg Kot declares Arcade Fire “the year’s hottest band” here.

The record business isn’t the only one suffering. The N.Y. Times reports on the “worst market for DVD sales in years” here.

The N.Y. Times weighs in on Mel Karmazin’s chances of getting the Sirius-XM merger through regulatory here.

The Daily News’ Farber raps to Iggy on the new Stooges album here.

The L.A. Times’ Richard Cromelin finds the new Stooges album, The Weirdness, not weird enough here.

The L.A. Times’ Steve Hochman says Bob Seger’s L.A. Forum performance, on his first tour in 12 years, was “Like a Rock” here.

Ex-Billboard scribe Melinda Newman weighs in on Army of Anyone’s shot at saving rock in the L.A. Times here.

L.A. Times’ Ann Powers ponders the relationship of Rickie Lee Jones to Jesus in reviewing her show at the Music Box at Henry Fonda Theatre here.

Longtime Washington Post scribe Geoffrey Himes weighs in on the new Cajun music revival and the Pine Leaf Boys for the N.Y. Times here.

The N.Y. Times’ Kaleefa Sanneh on Koch Entertainment’s success in distributing rap albums featuring Jim Jones, B.G., Cam’ron, Slim Thug and others here.

Newsday’s Rafer Guzman is smitten with U.K. phenom Amy Winehouse’s Universal Republic debut, Back to Black here.

ON THIS DAY:

In 1955: Elvis Presley made his first TV appearance on The Louisiana Hayride.

In 1965: The Rolling Stones kicked off an English tour accompanied by the Hollies, Goldie & the Gingerbreads, the Checkmates and the Konrads.

In 1965: The Mannish Boys, which featured a young David Bowie, released their second single, “I Pity the Fool.”

In 1970: John Lennon and Yoko Ono checked into a London clinic. Later in the month, the couple began a primal scream course led by therapist Dr. Arthur Janov. Lennon began writing songs from this that appeared on the album Plastic Ono Band.

In 1971: Led Zeppelin performed “Stairway to Heaven” in concert for the first time at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the first date of their “Back to the Clubs” tour.

In 1982: Blues Brother John Belushi died after overdosing on drugs at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont Hotel at the age of 33.

In 1984: Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour released his second solo album, titled About Face.

In 1994: When the cops came to investigate a domestic dispute at Grace Slick’s home in Tiburon, CA, the Jefferson Airplane singer waved a shotgun at them. She was sentenced to two-hundred hours of community service and four Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week for the next three months.

In 2001: Kiss frontman Paul Stanley was served divorce papers from his wife of nine years, Pamela Bowen Stanley, citing irreconcilable differences.

In 2003: Donatella Versace announced that the fashion house's new clothing line was inspired by Christina Aguilera, who would also become a spokesmodel for Versace.

In 2004: British newspaper The Mail on Sunday estimated Paul McCartney's worth at $1.3 billion…more than Elton John, Mick Jagger and Madonna's wealth combined.

In 2005: Backstreet Boy Nick Carter was arrested in Southern California for allegedly driving under the influence.

In 2005: Guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, who left Korn after finding God, was baptized in Israel's Jordan River along with 20 other members of his church, the Valley Bible Fellowship.