THE LAST FEW weeks haven't been kind to elderly musical giants here and abroad, with the passing of big band innovator and alto sax player Benny Carter, Buena Vista Social Club guitar slinger and singer Compay Segundo, and siren of salsa Celia Cruz. And I still can't stop thinking about Barry White – the high priest of love unlimited – who died of kidney failure at 58 on Independence Day. Who could resist White's low-riding, high-rolling voice singing "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" – even his breathing was sexy, like an exercise straight out of some mirror-ball Kama Sutra.

I guess we should all be happy White survived the demise of disco and found new audiences through Ally McBeal in the '90s. But why did the process leave such a bad taste in our mouths? Could it have something to do with the fact that Ally McBeal, despite the presence of Lisa Nicole Carson and Lucy Liu, seemed like the whitest TV show on earth, designed to make insecure but adorable, affluent attorneys – weary of all those lawyer jokes – sexy? Oh, the irony and the ecstasy that White was brought on as a symbol of sexual confidence and uninhibited freedom for neurotic, inhibition-riddled basket cases like Peter MacNichol's John Cage, who spends one episode trying to fluff up his ego by bumping to his inner Barry in the unisex bathroom. White himself made an appearance when the dam burst between Cage and Portia de Rossi's Nelle Porter, and became so linked with the series that he even ended up in the final episode. All in all, it seemed like the sorriest use of a music legend in recent years, and it didn't make me want to watch the anorexic cartoon antics any more than I did before. Getting ribbed – and worse, stereotyped – for the sake of whiny whitey pleasure seemed like a high price to pay, though Barry was, to crib the words of his hit, "playing your game, baby" with as much dignity as he could.

Sister act When Me First and the Gimme Gimmes found time to make a video for "I Believe I Can Fly," off their new album, Take a Break (Fat Wreck Chords), where did the consummate punk cover band go? The place where their pop-cover jones went public, of course: Annie's in S.F. Singer Spike started the karaoke night there more than five years ago and since then, Exene, Jello, and other punk luminaries have dropped in to test their vocal prowess. Naturally, with Gimme Gimmes like Lagwagon's Dave on drums and Joey Cape on guitar, Foo Fighters' Jackson on guitar, Fat Wreck Chords honcho and NOFX frontperson Fat Mike on bass, the shoot was destined to turn up mucho celebs and band buds, says bar namesake and owner Annie Whiteside. On the first day, July 8, the cats dragged in Sister Kitty, of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Jordan Kennedy in full cross-dressing splendor. On the next, Green Day's Mike Dirnt and Oakland A's pitcher Barry Zito came down to carouse. (The Fox Sports TV crew on Zito's tail attempted to crash the event but was given the boot.)

Whiteside said the shoot was extended a few days to make room for Vans Warped Tour pals like Andrew W.K. and members of Less than Jake, the Ataris, the Alkaline Trio, and Sum 41. Everyone was supercool, she raves, with the exception of Sum girlfriends Paris and Nicky Hilton. "They were completely trashed, of course," Whiteside dished. "It was pretty fucking funny. The girls were pulling up their dresses – they're so trashy. Yet here they were heiresses to the Hilton fortune, and they had no social conscience. They just choose to party all the time." Who knows who made the final cut – we just know it's never too late to cut down the Hiltons.

Hey, baby New York City singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia goes bleak and bare-bones on her latest album, Run to Ruin (Touch and Go), a moody, elegant affair that brings to mind Cat Power and Hope Sandoval. Who knew the evasive, ever unsmiling performer was so in touch with her nurturing, earth mama tendencies? Not only does she have the bad habit of cooking entire meals for band practice, but she also once worked as a baby handler, wiping up after ad shoots. "That was just such a weird thing," she told me on the phone from Cleveland. (The tour stops at Bottom of the Hill July 24.) "You're working on a photograph of a kid reaching for a toy, and I'd be the person that stays on the side and sticks a Cheerio on top of the toy, so the kid will reach for the toy, and then I'd put the kid back."

No stinking guitars PrinceHouse Records is plotting the North American premiere of Consuming Passions, a Von Rot video documentary on multimedia mavens Chicks on Speed, at 111 Minna Gallery July 27. COS's short "We Don't Play Guitars" also will screen; the Microcassettes are slated to perform; and COS DJ Alex and DJs Jefrodeesiac and Omar will take care of the turntables.... Club Jazz Nouveau opened last week at the Cannery with a visit by Da Mayor and the promise of live jazz north of North Beach.... Mission Records, sadly, is set to close down. It blew out the door with a final show July 19 with Bananas and Panty Raid.... Down the street, Record Collector (owned by Burmese's Mike Green) at 3170 21 St. is putting on an exhibit of Bay Area posters, flyers, and rock-related ephemera, circa 2000, running through Aug. 14.... It's heartbreaking: the Exploding Hearts' Adam Cox, Matthew Fitzgerald, and Jeremy Gage died when their van rolled over early morning July 20 on their way back to Portland, Ore., after a set of S.F. shows.