It wasn't just a broken finger that gave John McCrea the time to plot his own TV show. According to Cake's feisty frontman, he's been planning to bring Freedom of Speech to the small screen for the past eight years.| "I thought up the idea when I realized the tools of democracy weren't available to everyone anymore," says McCrea. "You can't even put up a poster legally on a telephone pole in most American cities without getting arrested. So decided I could give people a voice by creating this show." Based loosely on the campy Seventies classic Gong Show, the show's designed to give "regular" people time to deliver a two-minute speech and discuss their views in a dignified, yet entertaining format in front of three celebrity judges. The high-profile arbitrators will either award the best speakers with prizes or send them plummeting through a hidden trap door. The guitarist/control freak has offered up potential subjects like "Marilyn Manson: Pure Evil or Savvy Businessman in Monster Outfit?" or "The Most Outdated Part of the Constitution." Although McCrea's not confirming who the celebrity guests judges will be, he does offer some tantalizing combinations, such as Judge Judy, Henry Rollins and Deepak Chopra, or Beck, Noam Chomsky and Celine Dion. "This show is for fun, but there's also a sense of participation that we need to have," McCrea says. "Even if it's an illusion, I think it would help the democratic process." He has been shopping the idea around to various networks, and he says he's got a couple of solid bites. If you're interested in being a part of the fun, send audition tapes to him at: Freedom of Speech, 3104 "O" Street, Box 109, Sacramento, CA 95816 or visit www.speechsite.com for more info . . .

Four cities, dozens of Irish and vaguely Irish-inspired acts, and gallons of Guinness: welcome to Fleadh 1999. The stout-sponsored Irish music festival is back for its third year in a row in America, with a line-up promising everything from Celtic don Van Morrison to British pop-punk archetype Elvis Costello. This year's Fleadh kicks off in San Francisco on June 5, followed by stops in Chicago (June 12), Boston (June 19) and New York (June 26). Morrison is only scheduled for the Boston date, but Costello will perform in all four cities. Other acts confirmed so far for one or more Fleadh stops include Lucinda Williams, Hootie & the Blowfish, the Cardigans, Shane MacGowan, Ben Harper, John Lee Hooker, Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band, Richard Thompson, John Prine, Taj Mahal, Shawn Mullins, Dave Alvin, Black 47 and more . . .

An e-mail sent out last week portended the Thin White Duke's appearance at Monday night's New York Placebo show, but few believed the man who brought us glam in its first incarnation would actually materialize. Those that stuck around for the encore, however, were treated to a rare performance by David Bowie, who sang the title track of Placebo's Without You I'm Nothing along with the group's diminutive frontman, Brian Molko. The two then segued into a cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," which Placebo and Bowie also performed at this year's Brit Awards. After the show, the group settled down with Bowie backstage for a chat, no doubt exchanging tips on what goes best with black (answer: pounds of eyeshadow). Placebo are currently touring in support of their album, while Bowie is reportedly doing time in a Los Angeles studio for his new album ...

Despite initial plans to rock like comrades, the KISS Psycho Circus tour won't be swinging through Russia, after all. The mascara-ed metallurgists have been forced to scrap their tour of Russia because of rampant anti-Western sentiment over the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia, according to the band's website, KISS Asylum. The Asylum confirmed that KISS were contacted by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and informed that their safety could not be guaranteed if they chose to enter the country due to the crisis in the Balkans. The band was scheduled to perform in Moscow on April 1 and 2, followed by a show in St. Petersburg on April 4. It's unclear whether the band will reschedule. Meanwhile, Garbage, who were prevented from playing a show in the Balkan country of Estonia on February 4 after Russian authorities held up their equipment at customs, have rescheduled for May 28. "Garbage haven't had any warnings from the State Department about their make-up date, and as far as we're concerned, all systems are go," says the band's spokesperson. Maybe the Russkies just don't want to be part of the KISS Army . . .

We warned you that former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters would mount a full-fledged tour this year, and his camp has finally confirmed it. According to manager Mark Fenwick, Waters will hit the U.S. in a two-pronged attack beginning this summer. The musician plans to kick off the East Coast leg of his tour in July or August, and will return to the States in the Spring of 2000 to perform on the West Coast. No dates have been confirmed, but Fenwick says they are forthcoming. Waters will be featuring material from his 1992 opus, Amused To Death, but it's unlikely that he'll perform anything from his forthcoming opera, Ca Ira, which will be released this year in both English and French. The Pink Floyd website Steel Breeze revealed that the musician plans to begin work on a new rock album after he completes his 1999-2000 tour schedule . . .

Maybe 13 really is Damon Albarn's lucky number. Not only is Blur's new album No. 1 on the British album charts, but the frontman is about to become a father. No, not with Elastica's Justine Frischmann, his former girlfriend, but with artist Suzi Winstanley, whom he has been reportedly seeing for the past year. Albarn has attempted to keep the relationship quiet, and as recently as last week refused to name his companion. But friends of the couple spilled the news and revealed that Albarn and Winstanley will be bringing their new release into the world this October. A friend who confirmed the rumor told the BBC, "They're absolutely delighted. The pair of them are completely smitten with each other" . . .

Speaking of rock & roll domestic matters, Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz and his wife Ione Skye are getting a divorce. Though married for eight years, the couple hadn't lived together for the past two years. Skye, who is the daughter of Sixties icon Donovan Leitch, was the one to file for divorce in Los Angeles in March 29, citing irreconcilable differences. Insiders say that Skye was the one who created the breach and walked out on the B. Boy. After the shock wore off, Ad Rock consoled himself by pairing up with former Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna . . .

Where was all this interest in the Pretty Things thirty years ago when they were young enough to bait the birds into a little backstage hijinks? It's somewhat peculiar that the original British Invasion group never captured the fancy of U.S. audiences during its fertile years and, now, since reuniting last year, have been deemed a cult band. That nebulous distinction will get tested in late August or early September when the group launches its first U.S. tour since they opened for Led Zeppelin twenty-four years ago. According to band manager Mark St. John, the band will begin its jaunt in the Pacific Northwest and make its way across the States for three-and-a-half weeks this summer. The tour will support the reunion album Rage Before Beauty, and shows will include material from the Pretties' late Sixties and early Seventies albums. St. John says a VH-1 Behind the Music special on the group may coincide with the tour, but the manager apparently has bigger plans for the group. "There's something that I'm doing over here [in Great Britain] that I think will arrive in the States and will prove to be a really unusual and quite a cutting edge thing for a band that has been around thirty-five years to be involved in," he says by way of attempted explanation. "If it's bullshit, if I'm wrong, then I'm just a fucking horse's ass, but if I'm right it'll find you." Consider yourselves warned . . .

BLAIR R. FISCHER, HEIDI SHERMAN, RICHARD SKANSE, JAAN UHELSZKI(March 31, 1999)