CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND

This Saturday night is Music Movie Night, when we hang out with friends and screen classic and rare musical performances -- everything from old hophead blues to music from the distant future delivered by space aliens.

One such space alien is Captain Beefheart, recorded here at Cannes in 1968 (that year again!), playing some tripped-out avant blues from Alpha Centauri.

Although it appears as a single point to the naked eye, Alpha Centauri is actually a system of three stars, one of which is the fourth brightest star in the night sky.

The Captain and His Magic Band

NEWS FROM OUTER SPACE

Top stories from beyond the beyond...

"U.S. WILL TRY TO SHOOT DOWN SPY SATELLITE GONE BAD.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has decided to try to shoot down a failing 5,000-pound spy satellite, fearing its rocket fuel could turn into a deadly toxic gas if the spacecraft crashed in a populated area, officials said Thursday." -- from today's LA Times

And a story from today's New York Times:

"SMALLER VERSION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS DISCOVERED

Astronomers said Wednesday that they had found a miniature version of our own solar system 5,000 light-years across the galaxy — the first planetary system that really looks like our own, with outer giant planets and room for smaller inner planets. 'It looks like a scale model of our solar system,” said Scott Gaudi, an assistant professor of astronomy at Ohio State University."

Maybe there's a miniature version of the Earth, and a miniature me sipping a tiny coffee, writing a much smaller version of this blog. I'm just saying.

MAP OF OUTER SPACE!

Hey, Kids! What a reat deal!