If it’s too hot for you, either get out of the kitchen, or pop off. Noted evangelist Mel Gibson, stopped by Malibu police on the Pacific Coast Highway for allegedly driving under the influence, let loose a torrent of anti-Semitic blather and NSYNC’s Lance Bass got a load off his chest in People by admitting he was gay, while Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock cooled off by getting hitched in St. Tropez. Hey, different strokes for different folks, as we head into the extreme dog days of the long, steamy summer.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 10: Look for ex-Destiny's Child member LeToya's debut Capitol album to bow at the top of this week's HITS Album chart sporting between 180-190k in sales, to be followed by Star Trak/Interscope rapper/producer Pharrell to debut at #2, with 165-170k. The other newcomer to the Top 10 will be Tom Petty's American/WB solo effort, Highway Companion, which looks set for the #4 spot in the 80-90k range. Last week's chart-topper, Sony Music Group's Now 22, will go to #3, with a still-robust 160-170k. The rest of the leader board is as follows: Downtown/Atlantic's Gnarls Barkley (55-60k), Disney's High School Musical, Geffen's Nelly Furtado and Def Jam/IDJ's Nelly Furtado (45-50k), A&M's Pussycat Dolls, Bad Boy/Atlantic's Yung Joc and Lyric Street's Rascal Flatts (40-45k). Interscope's conscious rappers Jurassic 5 will debut with 25-30k.

ALL THE LINKS THAT FIT: The Washington Post, the New York Sun and The Daily Oklahoman have contracted with an online news aggregator, Inform.com, to scan news and blog sites and deliver content related to articles appearing on their web sites, regardless of who published those articles. Links to those articles will appear in a box beside the site’s original article or within the text of the story. The represents an attempt by publishers to counteract the influence of news search engines like Google and Yahoo, which have stolen readers and advertisers from newspapers.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL: Good story in the Sunday N.Y. Times on ace session player Smokey Hormel, ex-Beck sideman and grandson of the guy that invented Spam, who plays on current records by the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, Justin Timberlake and Neil Diamond here. Also, a Times follow-up on Billy Bragg’s dispute with MySpace over the rights the site claims over his videos and music here.

MTV ON AOL: AOL will introduce a vastly expanded online video area, which will sell commercial-free downloads, competing with iTunes and Google video, from programmers like MTV Networks, A&E Networks and Warner Brothers.

MTV will sell full-length programs like Pimp My Ride, South Park and SpongeBob SquarePants for $1.99 the day after broadcast. New free programs on AOL will include movies from Turner’s TNT network, stand-up routines from Comedy Time and classic soap operas like Another World presented by Proctor & Gamble as well as free programming from Lime, a health and spiritualism network backed by former AOL chief exec Stephen Case. On Wednesday, Time Warner will announce a radical restructuring of AOL that will make e-mail and nearly all the other features of that service available free to any Internet user. It will lay off more than 1,000 people involved in recruiting and retaining subscribers.

OPIE & ANTHONY TO CHICAGO: The Opie and Anthony Show has been added to CBS Radio’s 105.9 WCKG in Chicago, beginning tomorrow (8/1). The duo, whose show can also be heard on XM Satellite Radio in unexpurgated form, is also being carried on CBS affiliates in New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, West Palm Beach and Rochester.

YOUTUBULAR: Yes, thanks to increased airing of the Nielsen-Pearson Band’s appearance on Solid Gold in 1980, YouTube has surpassed MySpace at the top of the new generation of community websites, with a 3.9% share of global internet visits a day compared to 3.35% for its friend-sharing rival.

MARIE CLAIRE VS. ASHLEE SIMPSON: The new editor of Marie Claire is blasting Ashlee Simpson for appearing on the July cover singing the praises of appreciating one’s body as it is, then having a nose job. Responding to more than 1,000 letters of protest in the August issue, her first, Joanna Coles adds: “We’re dazed and confused—and disappointed—by her choice, too!”

WHO VS. WHO: The Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are at war again. Townshend is furious that Daltrey doesn't want any of the shows on their current tour made available as free webcasts, even though he’s invested $10 million of his own cash to make it happen. "Roger is my partner in The Who. He is not my partner in anything else," Townshend fumed on his blog site. "I am a performer, and I like to have as big an audience as possible . . . For now, we have a famous Who stalemate." He then urged the band's legions of fans to fire off e-mails if they "believe Roger is wrong," in a bid to pressure him to change his mind, though he’s since softened his stance. "It's Lebanon and Israel who are at war—not Roger and Pete," he wrote. "Roger and I are in full accord about our lack of accord. Always have been."

FEELS GOOD: Damon Albarn, the man behind animated giants Gorillaz and Blur, is forming a new band. NME reports that the singer is working on a new album with The Clash’s bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Tong and drummer Tony Allen. Gnarls Barkley man Danger Mouse will produce the new record, The Good, the Bad and the Queen. No band name has been announced just yet but they hope to have the record, a concept album about London, by January.

ON THIS DATE:

In 1964: When a riot broke out, a Rolling Stones concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland was stopped just 12 minutes into the show.

In 1966: A Beatles record-burning session was held in Birmingham, Alabama, in protest of John Lennon's "bigger than Jesus" remark.

In 1967: Describing the evidence as flimsy, a London Appeals Court threw out an earlier drug conviction for Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Meanwhile, the court reduced Mick Jagger’s sentence on a related conviction to probation. Jagger was reminded by the judge to remember his responsibilities as a pop idol.

In 1970: The Rolling Stones handed over an LP titled C***sucker Blues to Decca Records. It fulfilled the Stones’ contractual obligation to Decca and they were free to form Rolling Stones Records. The record was never officially released, but it became available several years later as a bootleg.

In 1971: A 22-year-old security guard was stabbed at a Who show at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium.

In 1971: Pink Floyd began their first tour of the Far East.

In 1979: James Taylor played a free concert in New York’s Central Park as a part of a campaign to restore the park’s Sheep Meadow area.

In 1980: John Philips (formerly of the Mamas & Papas) was arrested for allegedly dealing drugs out of his New York summer home.

In 1984: Eric Clapton left Roger Waters' Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking tour in Canada after two weeks.

In 1995: Aerosmith fired Tim Collins, their manager of 12 years.