At 8 PM EST major league baseball’s annual Home Run Derby will take place at Yankee Stadium. This year’s field is made up of Lance Berkman, Ryan Braun, Grady Sizemore, Chase Utley, Josh Hamilton, Justin Morneau, Dan Uggla and Evan Longoria.

I’m gonna go with Lance Berkman from the NL to win it, with Josh Hamilton of the AL coming in second. Unfortunately, and rather ironically, there are no Yankees participating, no thanks to A-Rod. Check out Jayson Stark’s thoughts on that situation .

I can’t believe he hasn’t played on American Television before. UK heartthrob Ed Harcourt will be on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show this evening to promote his new album (well, that is to say his 2006 album that never got released in the States) The Beautiful Lie, which came out on Dovecote Records last Tuesday. Listening to The Beautiful Lie (and his back catalogue as well) it baffles me why he isn’t as huge in North America as he is in Europe. Last March during SXSW I ended up tagging along and filming Ed and his wife Gita as he got a sweet tattoo of one of his first songs, “Sing For My Supper” on his arm in Austin, TX. Enjoy our lil’ mini doc:

ED HARCOURT TO MAKE U.S. TELEVISION DEBUT ON THE TONIGHT SHOW JUNE 6, WEEK OF ‘THE BEAUTIFUL LIE’ RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2008 - Not long since wreaking havoc on Austin, Texas during SXSW, the illustrious Ed Harcourt will return to the States from his native England to perform on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Friday, June 6. Timed perfectly with the release of his fourth full-length album, THE BEAUTIFUL LIE, due June 3 on Dovecote Records, Harcourt will celebrate the arrival of this much-awaited LP with a national television debut.

The Mercury Prize-nominated Harcourt has been keeping extraordinarily busy on tour with the Gutter Twins overseas, where he has been joining Greg Dulli, Mark Lanegan and co. on stage following his own opening set. “Ed Harcourt’s songs are as close to cabaret tunes and 1960s pop as they are to current rock,” recently noted the NEW YORK TIMES while UNDER THE RADAR hailed ‘The Beautiful Lie’ as “his best work to date.” The WALL STREET JOURNAL was on hand for one of his acclaimed Austin performances, calling Harcourt, “a gifted songwriter in the mold of Karl Wallinger and XTC’s Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding” adding, “and thus a descendant of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”

Lead radio single, “Revolution in the Heart,” mimics Harcourt’s larger-than-life personality, brimming with his exquisite piano playing, booming delivery, thunderous rhythms and bursting backup vocals, compliments of The Magic Numbers. The track is currently going for adds at radio, already receiving early support across the country from stations like Starbucks XM Café, KBAC and others.

This visit is a precursor to additional U.S. tour dates this summer, to be announced soon.

I don’t know what’s better, the fact that today when you type in “Greatest Living American,” in google trends, it leads to Stephen Colbert, or the fact that the #1 search result is from GaySocialites.com.

He has been called “The Greatest Living American,” now Steve Colbert has won a webby! Colbert was recognized as the Person of the Year for his use of the Internet to connect with fans.

Oh Steven, so clean, manicured and well put together, you don’t have to hide your true sexual identity anymore. The Log Cabin Republicans will still have your back. Oh! How they’ll have your back…

Really though, the main thing I miss by not having cable television is Colbert’s show. Truly an inspired American in our late-night midst. Thank God I can still catch The Clobert Report on the other series of tubes.

NEWS UPDATE: Now, in an outside move to swipe Colbert’s “Greatest Living American” status, Brandon Wirtz is making the claim that he, in fact, is the “Greatest Living American.” More news as it develops.

House Staffers and Political Pigs are getting all upset because Legistorm.com is posting already public information about their finances. Staffers who make more than $110,000 a year are required by law to make their information public. The web site, which has been in existence since 2006, recently started publishing information on use of public monies and personal finances. Some legislators are worried about identity theft. I’m more worried that my representatives, or the bulk of them, are milking the system and selling their constituencies down the river.

From their web site:

The information is provided in a strictly factual, non-partisan fashion. We have no political affiliations and no political purpose except to make the workings of Congress as transparent as possible. We expect this resource to be useful to journalists, researchers, lobbyists and current and would-be staffers - as well as regular citizens who simply want to know how their representatives spend public money.

The Number One Terrible Thing about American politics is the monetization of it. The adage “Money is the root of all evil” is especially true when it comes to politics. I say good for Legistorm. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, if we know where and how our representatives are spending their money we can get some damned accountability. It’s better than driving a stake through their black and callous, self-serving hearts. (Hey, I know my stance is slanted against political figures. At least I don’t’ advocate voting with a bullet, alright?)

Take Part Blog’s suggestion that Legistorm may have been created by The Wire character Lester Freamon is pretty on point. Any Public Figure who is speaking out against Legistorm MOST LIKELY has something terrible they’re trying to hide. Fuck ‘em. Let em writhe.