Sonic Youth is still ever so relevant within the world of music. Thank God! With only flickers of promising hope from young musicians, one is always prone to retreat to familiar and sublime melodies. That being said, I was so happy to say yes to an invite to hear the band’s new album, The Eternal, out June 9 on Matador Records. Coincidentally, my best friend -- the lovely and always chic Miss Kristin Vincent -- hosted the listening party at her Lower East Side bar, Home Sweet Home -- submerged within the confines of the building’s basement, speakeasy style.

A family man whose proudest achievements are not his films but his children, Francis Ford Coppola maintains, “Our families form the basis of our original view of life: I think most people are caught up in issues, experiences, and memories of their families, and I am no exception.” His newest film, Tetro, is not, however, autobiographical. Starring Vincent Gallo, it concerns the endurance test of a strained relationship between Italian brothers in the other America, south of several borders, in Argentina. “Even though this is fiction, I used what I know best: my life,” he explains.

News came (heh, heh) recently that art-house legend Peter Greenaway has begun casting for his next film. Nothing surprising here, except that Greenaway (whose A Zed & Two Noughts is a staggering, symmetrical exploration of entropy and one of the pinnacles of contemporary cinema -- not to mention the closest any filmmaker has gotten to replicating the magic of Vermeer’s lighting) has allegedly asked potential female stars the following two questions: "Would you be willing to have unsimulated intercourse on screen?" and "Would you be willing to appear in a shot in which semen leaks out of your vagina?" Rarely do acclaimed directors incorporate full-on home-stealing into their films, but it’s certainly happened before. (Here’s looking at you, Mr. John Cameron Mitchell.)

● Nicole Kidman has joined Freida Pinto, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, and Josh Brolin for the upcoming still-untitled Woody Allen film. [JustJared]
● Have you seen the new cover model for H&M this season? None other than Vincent Gallo. [Popism]
● Designer Dawn Simorangkir is suing Courtney Love for ruining her good name by claiming the designer sold coke and is a "horrible lying bitch." [TMZ]

● Now that we’ve all heard the Christian Bale freak-out, it’s time for the re-mix! Lucian Piane (RevoLucian) has done a brilliant club mix of Bale’s meltdown that’s bound to scream in your head all day. [PerezHilton]
● P Diddy is being sued by artist Tom Patti, who claims that the bottle design for Diddy’s fragrance “Unforgivable” is ripped from his sculpture. [TMZ]
● Vincent Gallo wants you to buy a wallet. Not just any wallet -- the Lucky Buck Lucky [Bleep] Wallet ($750). That’s a hefty price tag, but Gallo promises it will “open doors” and “garner respect,” but most importantly the wallet will “get you laid.” No word on whether it gets you a discount on Gallo's efforts to retail his own sperm. [P6]

I never apologize for anything in life. The only thing I’m sorry about is putting a curse on Roger Ebert’s colon. If a fat pig like Roger Ebert doesn’t like my movie then I’m sorry for him. -- Vincent Gallo

I live in Little Italy, where a cast of characters right out of central casting gathers on corners to shoot the shit. Everybody knows everybody, and the stories told assure everyone that New York still exists. Every so often, a stickball game breaks out. In the second part of my sit down with my neighbor Abel Ferrara, he touches on neighborhood character Vincent Gallo. I recall a story Vincent told as he held court to a group of us one summer day on the corner of Mott and Prince streets. We saw Vincent approaching and someone said, "Should I stay, or get caught in an hour long tirade?" We all stayed after a few hey's and whatcha-been-doing's, Vincent told us a tale about the time he put a curse on Roger Ebert, after the critic had given Gallo¹s unfinished movie The Brown Bunny a bad review. Gallo wished cancer on Ebert, and shortly after it actually came to pass.

So yes, our videographer Liz Glover has a certain history with Vincent Gallo. And though things began civilly enough, things degenerated when -- all in good fun! -- Liz made a crack about Gallo's leather jacket, asking if it was in fact pleather. Let the record reflect we are in no way insinuating that Vincent Gallo would wear a pleather jacket! Quite the opposite in fact. Nevertheless, the jibe inspired Gallo's ire: "If you print that [Ed. note: 'print'?], I will track you down and make you wish you had never been born." Harsh! But Liz's daddy was a Green Beret, so she's not afeared. Hit the jump to relish the tender exchange.

After the door, comes the floor -- BlackBook's Liz Glover works the front-rowsters at yesterday's Anna Sui show. There's Olympic swimmer Ryan "Not Michael Phelps" Lochte, Brit singer critter Roisin Murphy, IMG's Fern Mallis, filmmaker waif Sofia Coppola, and ... Vincent Gallo? "I am the President," he declares. He's still excited by Sarah Palin: "She seems like a really beautiful person, and I think her family is really beautiful and handsome ..." Bonus Hillary Clinton slam at the end.