Making Dirty FacesWe could get all Freudian and talk about the shortcomings that guys who are prone to mindless violence are trying to overcome, but instead, we'll just tell you about the latest adventures of the little fella known as Tricky. The tough guy popster reportedly approached a London journalist backstage at the Glastonbury festival and-after a companion knocked the man to the ground with a mean hook-kicked him in the face, resulting in bruises and a swollen lip. Tricky and his burly buddy were removed by security forces who witnessed the allegedly unprovoked assault, but the journalist, who asked to remain unidentified, declined to press charges. We'd like to see him try that kind of stuff-one-on-one-against somebody his own size, but Dr.Ruth Westheimer was unavailable for the match.

Joan Osborne Gets HipMusicians have tried their hands at acting, film production, even clothing design in recent months, so it was only a matter of time before one of the few with a handle on working a pencil tried their hand at this end of the media world. Actually, we're kind of excited about the prospect, particularly if the multi-talented Joan Osborne takes well to flattery and sends a little work our way on her soon-to-launch Womanly Hips quarterly magazine.While we can't claim to possess the attributes referred to in the journal'sname-like, say, first issue contributor John Popper can-we'd like tothink we have as much wordsmithin' flair as Harvey Keitel or Michael Stipe,who've also been approached to write for the mag. Osborne intends WomanlyHips to serve as a consciousness raising rag, rather than a mere rockread, so those of you looking for Lilith Fair dirt should probably skip overit at the newsstand.

Eddie Money Sh-sh-shaken in BrawlSometimes it seems like scanning the police blotter is the best way to keep upwith the comings and goings of rock's has-beens, and this past week was noexception. Fallen chart-topper Eddie Money -- whose pseudonym isactually kind of ironic these days, by our best guess-was arrested onbattery charges last Sunday after cops responded to a dispute outside hisapartment complex in the L.A. suburb of Westlake Village. The forty-nine-yearold, who once served as a New York City cop himself, was released on bail thenext morning. Also making news for the first time in quite a spell was Mark"Bez" Berry, whose one-time claim to fame was doing those silly dancesonstage for Happy Mondays and Black Grape. These days, Berry is concentratingon his first love, as evidenced by his arrest for "suspicion of intent tosupply drugs" in Yeovil, England.

Rock of Middle AgesWhile it's usually safe to wager that you won't find too many people peepinginto secretly-drilled holes in order to get a glimpse of opera singers in thebuff-they weren't just whistlin' Dixie when they coined that adage aboutthe fat lady singing-things might change later this summer when England'sMediaeval Baebes hit America. The twelve-gal singing group, which features ex-rockers as well as former strippers, bring a dose of Spice Girls cheesecake tothe rice-cake world of twelfth-century music. The blend of traditional chantsand decidedly impure thoughts might be too much for some to take, but as faras we're concerned, whiplash never felt so good.

Murder in AlgiersAlgerian pop star/political activist Lounes Matoub was murdered nearhis home just outside Algiers last weekend-apparently at the hands ofIslamic fundamentalists who had kidnapped and threatened to kill him fouryears ago. The forty-two-year-old singer, a leader in the country's Berberminority, was the latest high-profile victim of a systematic slaughter ofnearly 75,000 enemies of the fundamentalist movement sweeping Algeria. TheArmed Islamic Group, one of the most radical of the fundamentalist groups, hadearlier condemned Matoub to death for his songs.

DAVID SPRAGUE