Sure, Queen’s Brian May says Katy Perry makes him “think of Freddie [Mercury],” but Gossip frontwoman and outspoken LGBT supporter Beth Ditto has been much more critical of Perry, especially of “I Kissed a Girl,” of late. Ditto is promoting her new Rick Rubin-produced record, Music For Men, so that could explain some of the headline-making comments, but she’s made very good points/jabs so far and now the feud is on.

As previously reported, Ditto called Perry’s hit single an “anthem for straight girls who like to turn guys on by making out or faking gay” adding, “I hate Katy Perry! I’m so offended. She’s just riding on the backs of our culture, without having to pay any of the dues and not being actually lesbian or anything at all.”

Then Perry struck back: “I heard that she said something about me,” she said. “I don’t want to get into a slanging war with anybody so I don’t want to say anything bad about her. But I’m not impressed. I’ve learned in the past year that one artist should never insult another artist’s music — it’s tacky.”

Ditto has now reacted by bringing the feud into a broader discussion of gay rights. Here’s what she told Spinner: “To [Katy Perry], it’s just this party song. But as a gay person, it’s like, ‘Oh, of course this straight person singing about kissing a girl goes straight to Top 40 and people buy this record. Who can give a f—- about real gay people?’ That’s what’s really painful about the whole thing. That’s what makes me laugh about ‘I’m not impressed.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s what you think? Of course, because you never thought about what a real gay person feels, and the impact that a song like that has on the gay world in a time of crucial civil rights.’ That’s just one of the examples of what the mainstream is thinking about queer culture, when actually, we are completely fighting for our rights right now.”

There’s more from Ditto here, but you can see where this is headed. So long as Carrie Prejean doesn’t get involved, this could be a fun summer feud. Meanwhile, Perry’s got fashion designers to sue.

When Wilco released a studio recorded cover of Woody Guthrie’s prescient “The Jolly Banker” a little while back, they offered three payment options to the recipient of the optionally free MP3: a suggested donation of $2 or more to the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, a free download (provided you “make it up to [them] later”), or you could check the box next to this snarky bit: “I am/was a banker/hedge fund manager/credit default swap trader. I know times are tough, but I’m just fine thank you. (Suggested minimum donation $100.00)”

As it turns out, not everyone pretended to be “otherwise broke” and the band has raised $10,000 to date for the Guthrie archives. “Wilco’s decision to make it available online to raise some bucks for the Archives - and raise the bucks they have! - came as a total heart-warming surprise,” Guthrie’s daughter Nora posted on the official Wilco site. “In one fell download swoop, Wilco wiped the smirk off that Jolly Banker’s face and put the biggest smile on mine.”

A children’s book written by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar, and Philip Ardagh is being made into an animated feature film and the ex-Beatle has signed on to write “a score of original songs” for the project. Variety reports the film, High in the Clouds, will be directed by Lion King director Rob Minkoff and adapted by Edward Scissorhands co-writer Caroline Thompson.

“The book, about a squirrel’s quest to find an animal sanctuary, marks McCartney’s largest involvement in an animated pic since the Beatles frontman was part of 1968’s Yellow Submarine,” Variety’s Michael Fleming wrote.

It looks like McCartney’s not going to let Jack White be the only one working on a dozen projects at once this year. As previously reported, if MGMT or Bob Dylan ever find his phone number, McCartney wants to work with them as well.

Radiohead and Nigel Godrich definitely have a Beatles/George Martin thing going on at this point: They have collaborated for fifteen years, creating some of the most critically acclaimed and classic records of those years. Now Radiohead is the biggest band in the world (sorry Bono) and Godrich is one of the most sought after producers. Nobody’s bringing Phil Spector into this relationship, however, as they are currently hammering out Radiohead’s 8th album and according to a recent interview with Godrich, nothing’s getting in the way of this “marriage.”

“We get inside each other’s underwear and brains and it’s always a completely different, completely unique experience,” Godrich told FTB Live’s Joe Colly on the difference between working with Beck or Radiohead. “You create something that you both love,” he added. “That is a very intimate experience and also a really wonderful one. I mean, my particular career has been based on a few different marriages to people, that’s the analogy, it’s like I have these very intense relationships with different people. It’s always a bit awkward when they’re all in the same room.”

Godrich goes on to describe how he loves working with Radiohead, is “happy to do just that,” and that he doesn’t fantasize about working with other artists. “I really don’t take on a lot of new projects now because I do a lot of Radiohead stuff, and at the moment I’m not a gun for hire. I don’t enjoy that, I never really did. I just feel like relationships that just develop over 15 years are much more productive. I’ll never find another band to have that relationship with.”

Sorry Kanye, Thom must’ve given you the cold shoulder ‘cause they’ve already got a man.

Jay Bennett’s sudden tragic passing not only marked the loss of one of the most talented musicians and producers around, but it also left the issues between Bennett and his former band Wilco sadly unresolved. Bennett’s former bandmate and songwriting partner Jeff Tweedy released a brief statement immediately following Bennett’s death, but now he has commented further on his confused feelings regarding the loss.

“I really hadn’t been in contact with Jay for eight years now,” Tweedy told Metromix’s Scott Timberg. “Obviously there’s a lot of ambivalence there—from the unplugging of our lives from each other… it’s a confusing thing. The tragedy of it is certainly not lost on me, and I feel it very deeply. He was an extremely bright, and gifted guy, and I wish he was still around and I wish I could have seen him thrive and flourish, especially in the years he’s been out of Wilco. And I feel really sad [he] didn’t in the way he was capable of.”

Everyone’s reporting today about the White Stripes’ upcoming Canadian tour documentary that I posted about a month ago and I’m feeling a little left out, so here’s a Jack White bit for the day’s festivities.

It’s well known that Jack’s a purist when it comes to retro recording techniques, but nowadays the Internet has become the bane of his artistic expression. Speaking to The Ampersand, the Dead Weather, Raconteurs, and White Stripes frontman sounded off on Pro Tools for the second time in as many weeks and added that though he can control his method of recording, but the release and promotion of his precious analog gems still requires that pesky series of tubes:

“Do I really need a MySpace page for this f—king music?” White asked. “Do I really need to do that? There’s a part of me, that just out of spite, says I don’t want to do it because it’s so antithetical to what I do. I just question what it all means. If a million people see your webpage, how many people actually buy something, buy a record or a song? Feels to me, if you give them a chance to fast forward, rewind, or click off to the next web page, they will do it.”

What’s more, the Internet also interfered with White’s Dead Weather unveiling. “If not for the Internet, we would have loved to have done six months of small clubs down south to really build up what we are and discover what we are,” White said.

Luckily, Jack’s just a little cranky about the digital revolution and not quite crotchety yet. By the way, one little bit about the upcoming film The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights which hasn’t made today’s reports is that it is slated to close the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Okay, I feel better now.

There’s something about buying Ryan Cabrera at Sam’s Club that makes total sense to me, but Bad Brains “Rootz Beer” and New Found Glory “Fufu Berry” just isn’t quite as appetizing.

The Daily Swarm reports that soda company Jones has partnered with PunkRadioCast and “5 of their favorite bands to bring you a special edition six pack featuring artwork from” punk pioneers Bad Brains and a couple newer bands like Thursday and Less Than Jake.

I suppose now that Henry Rollins works at NPR and Iggy Pop is an insurance spokesman, punk’s anti-capitalist posturing is kind of out the window. Besides, who said teenage angst can’t also be refreshing?

Oasis singer and fashion designer Liam Gallagher is so reliably negative that it’s really no surprise to hear he revels in concert mishaps and audience chaos. What’s kind of amazing, however, is that he’s willing to admit that Oasis shows are boring without conflict.

“I like it when s**t happens at Oasis gigs otherwise it’s the same gig really,” Gallagher told fansite Stopcryingyourheartout.com. Referring to a 2005 concert in which there was a 25 minute delay after a barrier was broken, Gallagher added, “I like s**t like that, as long as no one dies or gets hurt or gets the f**king fever cause they’re too cold. I like it when s**t happens like that because I think once you have seen Oasis once, you have sort of seen we don’t really do that much, know what I mean.”

Also, I could’ve predicted Liam isn’t a fan of Duffy, but I didn’t expect the AT&T commercial singer to accuse her of being a sell-out: “Duffy, she was alright ‘til she opened her mouth, the music’s alright, know what I mean, ‘til she done that f**king stupid advert and things like that… It’s f**king ridiculous.”