WHO'S OUT OF STEP? Ian MacKaye turns 40 this year, and Dischord Records just turned 20, and modern American folk music (read: hardcore and punk rock) will never be the same. This interview with MacKaye gives all three a shout-out.

Some of my favorite records sold 1,000 copies. I don't equate success with numbers. The work we do at the label, we're trying to document the folk music of this town. Music that is indigenous, organic and comes from an honest place. I am not an expansionist. I think expansionism is one of the great poisons of the American marketplace.

ART AND THE DICTATOR My Blue House opens its windows to the world of Saddam Hussein's decorative style:

"It's official. Saddam Hussein has the worst decorating taste of any dictator in history." Other despots' interior decorating tastes are explored, including Adolf Hitler, Mae Tse-Tung, and Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (who I once spied leaving the federal courts in N.Y.C. She waved to onlookers, myself included. I didn't wave back). And that just goes to show you that you may be a tyrant with a whole lotta dough and/or power, but be dirt po' when it comes to taste. P.S. Have an extra minute? Peek at this slideshow of a few choice pieces from Saddam's brightly-colored "art" collection.

LEAD, DON'T GET OUT OF THE WAY Women's eNews presents 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, focusing on women who "re-cut the fabric of status quo," "are tilling fresh ground" and "insist that women have a place at the table." Click the names for bios.

MAKING PEACE Anthony Shadid is back in Baghdad, taking my friends out to dinner and reporting on the slow process of reconstruction. He takes a look -- in this Washington Post story -- at the ties between the U.S. military and the Shiite clerics that are slowly turning the tide. My friend Jenny is not featured, but is spending her long days in Baghdad trying to get the city's trash collectors to clean the streets of refuse.

TAKE A PILL One of DC's new fav bands is Beauty Pill, who just pressed a single on Dischord and have hit the road for their summer tour.

THE BEST PLACE TO ROCK THIS SUMMER Forget the insane, overpriced festival-paloozas. Fort Reno remains one of the best outdoor music venues on the East Coast. Read the FAQ. Wait for the schedule. Shows kick off at the southern Maryland venue in about three weeks, and word is that Fugazi returns for their annual appearance on July 21.

TREAT YOUR FINE SELF Rough day at work? Life have you down? You deserve a Monkey Phone Call. Really. You do.

Monkeyphonecall.com is a SM2C (simulated monkey to consumer) new media business specializing in monkey phone call solutions for its customers.

CASH OUT, CASH IN June Carter Cash receives an insightful tribute in Slate, courtesy of music writer Patrick Carr.

SHE'S A RUNAWAY "... she's a flight risk." has a new home, and a good place to start is with Isabella's synopsis of who she is and what her world has become. A curious excursion for interested observers.

WHAT'RE THE ODDS? The Soulmate Calculator will either telll you how damn lucky you are to have found the perfect partner, or leave you in a depressed heap knowing that you'll never be in a perfect relationship. It could also incite you to take up speed dating -- just to get through as many of the 1.2 million people who stand between you and your soulmate.

DE-MATRICIZE David Edelstein provides one of the clearest critiques of The Matrix Reloaded and the many reasons it was doomed to be simultaneously more exciting and less mind-blowing than the movie that gave it birth.

ROADMAP TO PEAS During his wanderings through the Middle East earlier in May, Colin Powell sat down to spread the gospel of the Bush administration to several Egyptian journalists. Their wide-ranging conversation appeared in last week's Al-Ahram online.

THE QUEEN IS DEAD I was so prepared to spend all of Tuesday night watching the two-hour series finale of Buffy, only to discover that it was a one-hour series finale. Doesn't that suck? At least the final episode wasn't as bad as most of the rest of this last season -- at least once you factor out the absurdity, the lack of dramatic surprise and the really bad sequence of Buffy chasing a big yellow schoolbus from the roof of a school. Now that it's over, I feel free. Another night liberated from television. Which is just sad.

Buffy was a feminist, too, and her superpowers ensured that she'd always stand up for herself and call the shots. But Buffy's vulnerability -- a quality lacking in other iconic small-screen sirens like, say, Xena the Warrior Princess, or even Wonder Woman -- helped the show become a cross-generational hit. When Buffy felt dead inside (after dying the second time), she sought out sex with Spike (one of the undead) in an attempt to feel alive. She regularly shut her friends out -- especially in this last season -- when she felt they couldn't understand her. (Not surprisingly, they turned on her.) Blending fantasy with social realism, Whedon made the least-condescending show about young adults to run on prime time in recent memory.

VIEW FROM THE GROUND Salam Pax hit the road with his friend Raed to check on teams of Iraqis who are trying to document civilian casualties from the war. His extensive comments from Basra, Najaf and other cities -- along with photos -- are illuminating.