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And, to show they still have the ability to shock, the Stones had two of their lyrics censored by ABC, thanks to the network's much-ballyhooed five-second delay.

MONDAY MORNING WATER
COOLER FODDER

Super Bowl Blows, Pfeifer Arrested, Sheryl & Lance Split, Grandpa Munster Passes, Brokeback and Crash Win WGAs, Wi-Fi Makes Inroads
Dunno about you, but I thought this Pittsburgh-Seattle match-up was one of the least compelling Super Bowls in recent memory, a throwback to when the game was generally an anti-climactic blow-out. And while it wasn’t exactly without some competitive tension, there were seemingly unforced mistakes on both sides of the ball, which is probably because neither quarterback was at the top of his game, nor, for that matter, were the refs, with some decidedly questionable calls. In the end, though, it was the unsung guys—Willie Parker, Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El—who made the big plays, all three of them, in fact, which was just enough to give the Steelers the well-deserved victory, although the feeling remains that Seattle kinda frittered away their opportunities. As for the Stones halftime show, the old guys proved they can still push people's buttons, providing every bit the spectacle to rival football’s showcase game, with a three-song set that spotlighted Mick Jagger’s impressive physical prowess just as the Super Bowl flaunted the game’s top athletes. Proving their ability to shock, even at 60, the Stones had two of their lyrics censored by ABC, thanks to the network's much-ballyhooed five-second delay. In "Start Me Up," the word "cum" in the line, "You make a dead man cum" was bleeped, despite assurances beforehand (including in an L.A. Times piece on half-time producer Don Mischer) it wouldn't be. Also, in "Rough Justice," the marvelous double-entendre "cocks" as in "Once upon a time I was your little rooster/But am I just one of your cocks" was also incised. Only that old warhorse "Satisfaction" escaped the forces of decency intact. "Here's one we could have done at Super Bowl I," said Jagger wryly in introducing the song. Somewhere, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are having a laugh.

The L.A. Times reported that ex-Hollywood Records President Bob Pfeifer was arrested Friday (2/3) and held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in connection with the wiretap and conspiracy prosecution of controversial private detective Anthony Pellicano. Although the charges against Pfeifer were not made public, his estranged wife said he was a longtime friend of Pellicano and had known for two years he was a subject of the investigation, saying he had fled to Canada to avoid the indictment. Pellicano, currently serving a 30-year sentence on illegal explosives charges, will be arraigned in L.A. court today, when a federal indictment against him is unsealed.

Talk about the wheels coming off a relationship. Sheryl Crow and Lance Armstrong’s split was announced in a joint statement through the cyclist's publicist Friday. The two were engaged and planning a wedding, which should make for an interesting Grammy evening, since Sheryl is up for an award and Lance is slated to be a presenter. Tabloid journalists, start your engines.

In case you missed it, feminist crusader Betty Friedan (85) and The MunstersGrandpa Al Lewis (95) both died over the weekend. Don’t ask us why, but there’s something weirdly synchronistic about that.

As was revealed in last week’s Rumor Mill, Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin are reforming the Smashing Pumpkins, though for the time being, without guitarist James Iha and bassist D’Arcy Wretzky. They have signed for management with Jared Paul and Godsmack manager Paul Geary at Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management.

Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana for Brokeback Mountain and Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco for Crash won the Best Adapted and Best Original Screenplays, respectively, at this past weekend’s Writers’ Guild Awards, just one more sign the two will go head-to-head on Oscar night.

The N.Y. Times profiles 14-time Grammy winner Jimmy Sturr, who is up for the 19th time in 20 years in the Polka category. One of the highlights: he still lives with his family in the same upstate New York house he grew up in. Read it here.

It’s looking more and more like a wireless world out there. The N.Y. Times reports that Argentine-born telecommunications exec Martin Varsavsky has raised $21.7 million for a “global network of shared Wi-Fi connections” from backers including Google, Internet phone service provider Skype and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures. The software venture, dubbed Fon, permits subscribers to modify their own routers so that Wi-Fi users can connect to the Internet at a variety of physical locations, with revenue from a multi-tiered subscription model. The network is already operating in Europe and Varsavsky plans to expand it to the U.S. and other countries this year.

A team of I.B.M. researchers have developed a high-speed wireless technology that can do away with the cables that now connect electronic devices in the household. At their annual semiconductor industry design meeting, the researchers will unveil their design, which is capable of transmitting more than 10 times the data of today’s Wi-Fi using lower-cost silicon germanium material. So why do I still lose cell phone reception when I go through a canyon?

Capitol's Andy Slater and Mark DiDia, Yellowcard's Ryan Key and Sean Mackin, along with Hilary Duff and boyfriend, Good Charlotte's Joel Madden, were among the notables who made the trek out to the Forum for Saturday night's Coldplay show, as the Brit band returned to the west coast. Chris Martin apologized for the traffic (it took us three hours to get there from the Valley), his shaggy hair (his stylist was back in England) and some off-key notes in "To Kingdom Come" before dedicating their cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" to departing L.A. Times rockcrit Robert Hilburn, who celebrated his "retirement" with a shindig at the newspaper's offices last week.

Who needs film critics anyway? When a Stranger Calls, a remake of the 1979 horror film about a baby sitter terrorized by a phone caller updated to the cellular age, was the top movie at the U.S. box office last week with a box office take of $22 million. Distributor Sony, whose Screen Gems banner released the film without showing it to critics, said it was the best Super Bowl debut ever, beating the $19 million the studio's horror flick Boogeyman took in over the same weekend last year. 20th Century Fox's Big Momma's House 2 fell to second place with $13.35 million, lifting its 10-day total to $45.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

On this date in:
1970: Apple Records released John Lennon’s solo single, “Instant Karma” in the U.K.
1987: Sony Bono declared his candidacy for mayor of Palm Springs, CA
1990: Billy Idol broke several bones in a motorcycle accident and had to give up his major role in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, though he did appear in a cameo.
1998: Beach Boy Carl Wilson died from lung cancer
2003: Martin Bashir documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, aired on ABC, containing footage of the youth who would later accuse him of child molestation

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Now 100% unlicensed!
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