The last couple of weeks have been absolutely nuts. When we returned from Australia with the Kings of Leon, in late March, we had to put our head down and write the story. The new issue of Rolling Stone -- with the Kings on the cover -- is on stands now, so if you ain't a subscriber, go on and buy one. We had a lot of fun writing it, and we hope you enjoy.

There are so many people to thank in helping us get our Kings story together (the band, the crew, etc.), but first and foremost we want to give a shout-out to Andy Mendelsohn, the Kings' day-to-day manager. We also wanted to congratulate him on his marriage a couple weeks back to his longtime honey, Julie. At the ceremony, everybody praised Andy for being the nicest guy on the planet, and we can only second that emotion. And at the afterparty, none other than Eddie Vedder dropped by to pay his respects to the newlyweds. It was a beautiful thing. Mazel tov!

Since the Kings love and idolize the Band, their cover shot was loosely inspired by Elliott Landy's iconic photo of the Band in the Catskills. In fact, drummer Nathan Followill has a rare print of that exact photo above his fireplace in Nashville.

So now get this: Last Friday, for a separate story, we happened to be talking to Robbie Robertson and he told us he dug the story (!), and he was flattered when he'd read that the Kings admired the Band. And he also said he's been listening to the Kings a bunch recently. How fuckin' rad is that?

And on Saturday we were up in Woodstock and visited the Midnight Ramble, where Levon Helm assembles a sick band to jam on killer covers and old Band songs at his house up there. It's was one of the greatest shows we've ever witnessed: Larry Campbell (a Dylan alum) ripped it up on guitar, and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen (our hero) played piano and organ throughout. (They even covered "Black Friday"). After the show we got to go back to Levon's kitchen to interview him for a story we're working on about the Ramble and his new album, Electric Dirt, out in June.

When we got back to the kitchen it was 1 a.m. Levon rolled us a super-fat J, and we sat on a rocking chair between Larry and Levon, burning that fattie down to the nub. 

We can't wait for you to read the whole story!

Levon was the sweetest, funniest, most humble dude ever!

Greatest night of our life? Maybe so!

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In the last week news has come down the pipeline that both Limp Bizkit and Blink-182 will be reuniting. 

We think that they should join forces for an all-out suckfest called Blimp-Shit.

Honestly, we'd rather see Nickelstank -- a fictitious band consisting of members from Nickelback and Hoobastank -- or, along those lines, how about Toad the Wet Starship, the Spin Travelers, or Third Eye Buffett?    

We were at the Grammy ceremony, where the Blink dudes "surprised" the crowd with news of the reunion. After that announcement the sound of crickets could be heard all over the Staples Center.

And where do we even begin with Limp Bizkit? 

In a joint statement, Fred Turdst and Wes Borland said, "We decided we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other. Regardless of where our separate paths have taken us, we recognize there is a powerful and unique energy with this particular group of people we have not found anywhere else. This is why Limp Bizkit is back."

Best of luck to them, but our question is this: Which reunion do you give less of a shit about?

Tough call. 

Limp, it is.

What about you?

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Photo: Kisby/Getty

Strokes fans around the world are looking forward to February, when the band mates have promised to meet up in New York, and get crackin' on their fourth album.

For the first time in 35 years, the original line-up of Mott the Hoople will perform together, at London's HMV Apollo.

It feels like light years away, but on October 2nd and 3rd, Ian Hunter, Verden Allen, Dale Griffin, Overend Watts and Mick Ralphs will play the same stage where, in 1973, they recorded Mott the Hoople Live.

The short-lived rock group are most famous for their awesome rendition of David Bowie's "All the Young Dudes." 

Get tickets to the reunion here, if you wish.

Pavement fans will be pretty stoked to hear what guitarist Scott Kannberg had to say in the latest issue of Loud and Quiet magazine. 

In the interview, Kannberg admits that a Pavement reunion would be pretty hot. "I don't see why not, you know, it could be a fun thing to do, go and play your favorite songs every night," he says.

Fuck. Yeah.

If the band put a tour together in 2009, it would coincide nicely with their 20th anniversary, but Fannberg said '09 may be a bit premature and the reunion "might have to be pushed back later." That's a bummer for anyone believing the "Pavement at Coachella" rumors, but Fannberg  said reps from Coachella have been in constant contact with their booking agent, and if they hear the right number they could end up at the SoCal festival famous for reuniting bands, like Rage Against the Machine, Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Pixies.

Kannberg also said that Pavement is planning on putting out unreleased and rare material once their previous album, Terror Twilight, undergoes remastering.

When we spoke with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus last year, he said, "There's no thrill about nailing something that's old to me."

Let's hope he's reconsidered.

Photo: Micelotta/Getty

No Doubt will hit the road in 2009 for their first gigs since 2004. The band made the announcement via an AIM-style conversation on their website.

"I have cabin fever. Maybe we should play some shows or something," guitarist Tom Dumont wrote. 

Gwen Stefani answered, "I think we should go out now. I don't think we should wait. Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. So fun! Would be so inspiring to get out there and play all those songs again."

They plan on writing songs while on the road for that inevitable blockbuster reunion album!!! 

Inevitably, the album will be okay, but it will be over-produced and lose the immediacy and urgency of their first recordings, made when they were desperate and hungry musicians, driven to succeed.

Inevitably, many hardcore fans will say that the inevitable reunion album is No Doubt's best ever. 

Inevitably, they will be lying to themselves.

Inevitably, Gwen Stefani will resume her solo career.

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Photo: Vincent/Getty

In a touching post on his blog, Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus writes about the recent tragedies that have struck the Blink universe. There was the passing of their longtime producer, Jerry Finn, followed by the horrendous plane crash that killed friends Chris Baker and Charles "Che" Still and left ex-Blink drummer Travis Barker with extensive burns.

According to Hoppus, the horrible events from the last two months have brought the three members of Blink-182 together again, after nearly four years of "not talking." In his blog posting, he hints at the possibility of a reunion.

"Tom, travis, and i have all spoken together. first through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. they’ve all been great, very positive conversations. we’re just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking. it’s a good thing. obviously the first question for a lot of people will be 'does this mean a blink-182 reunion?' the answer is none of us know. we haven’t talked about it at all. right now it’s just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect, and let the past be the past. the events of the past two months supersede everything that happened before. life is too short."

We're glad that the trio has reconnected as friends, but please never play again. It was bad enough when it happened the first time, and because of Blink's success we're now stuck with people like Avril Lavigne.

We rest our case.

Photo: Aaron/Retna

Jermaine "Don't Call Me Tito, Bitch" Jackson has confirmed rumors of a Jackson 5 reunion.

"This has been a long time coming for the Jackson family to come back together," Jermaine claimed. "It is just the timing, so what we've been doing is working on the music and all the logistics." Riiiight.

"It is going to be more like a family affair," he lied. "Janet is going to open, and of course, the original Jackson 5 -- Michael, Randy and the whole family... We're in the studio. We're planning on being out there next year."

The S.S. is offering 5:1 odds that this is total bullshizz.

Then again, Jermaine named his son Jermajesty. We weren't expecting that.