YOUR MONDAY MORNING DRY-OUT

On The Sopranos, Michael’s long-awaited Mafia slasher flick Cleaver debuted and Johnny Sack continued to smoke on the cancer ward, while rain wiped out most of baseball’s day-long celebration of Jackie Robinson. The Imus controversy continued to dominate talk radio, while both Clear Channel and CBS announced comprehensive online initiatives, the former with Google, the latter’s Rolling Thunder a hook-up with Microsoft, Comcast and Yahoo. Another Ho entered the news, Hawaiian singing legend Don, who passed away in Honolulu at the age of 76. Page Six reports Jann Wenner kanoodling in front of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle.

The teen-oriented thriller Disturbia topped the weekend box office with a surprising $23 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, displacing the comedy Blades of Glory, the third movie to open #1 this year for Viacom's DreamWorks Pictures. The Will Ferrell comedy slipped to #2, and the animated family adventure, Meet the Robinsons, ranked third. Disturbia, which cost about $20 million to produce, stars 20-year-old Shia LaBeouf as a troubled teenager who suspects that his suburban neighbor is a serial killer in the film with echoes of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window. The rest of the Top 10 includes Blades of Glory ($14.1m), Meet the Robinsons ($12.1m), Perfect Stranger ($11.5m), Are We Done Yet? ($9.2m), Pathfinder ($4.8m), Wild Hogs ($4.6m), The Reaping ($4.6m), 300 ($4.3m, the first movie of the year to top $200m) and the disappointing Grindhouse ($4.2m). The three-day gross was $116m, 3.3% off from last year at this time, while year-to-date gross is $2.47b, up 6.4% from 2006.

EMI’s Now 24 is headed for the top of this week’s HITS album chart, though it may well be the only title to sell over 100k in what will be a big drop off from Easter weekend. Top 10 debuts will include Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes, with their new Saddle Creek album, Cassadaga, and metal supergroup Hellyeah on Epic, featuring members of Mudvayne with Pantera’s Vinnie Paul in his first band since the Dec. 2004 shooting death of his brother, Dimebag Darrell Abbott. Tomorrow, new albums by Avril Lavigne and Nine Inch Nails will hopefully get retail registers ringing when they hit shelves.

Hillary Clinton on what can be done to stop American Idol’s Sanjaya: "That's the best question I've been asked in a long time. Well, you know, people can vote for whomever they want. That's true in my election, and it's true on American Idol.”

Our old pal Holly Gleason profiles country’s next big crossover star, Texas rocky tonker Jack Ingram in the L.A. Times here.

The L.A. Times reviews KCRW’s A Sounds Eclectic Evening at the L.A.’s Gibson Amphitheatre featuring The Shins and Lily Allen, with surprise guest Travis, here.

L.A. Times critic Natalie Nichols finds much to like about Patti Smith’s new covers album, Twelve (Columbia), here.

L.A. Times scribe Mikael Wood discovers that Avril Lavigne just wants to have fun on her new Arista album, The Best Damn Thing, here.

Melinda Newman gets at the contradictions of Christian rockers Relient K in the L.A. Times here.

The L.A. Times’ Eric Drucker says Muse rocked the L.A. Forum here.

The N.Y. Times’ Jon Pareles is ga-ga over Canadian singer/songwriter Feist, as he explains here and ponders Avril Lavigne’s move to power pop here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Jim Farber finds Nine Inch Nails’ latest “standard sci-fi shtick” with an innovative marketing plan here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Tina Moore explains why “filthy degrading lyrics” mean big bucks to record labels here.

The N.Y. Daily News’ Gene Santoro sings the praises of veteran British soul survivor and Grammy nominee James Hunter here.

ON THIS DAY

In 1963: The Beatles performed on BBC TV for the first time on The 625 Show.

In 1974: Queen played their first American concert at Denver, CO’s Regis College.

In 1977: Fleetwood Mac released “Dreams,” which became their first #1 single.

In 1984: Mick Jagger filed a lawsuit against former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein.

In 1990: At London’s Wembley Stadium, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Simple Minds and Tracy Chapman took part in a musical celebration of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

In 1993: David Lee Roth was busted by the police after buying marijuana in New York’s Washington Square Park.

In 1993: Paul McCartney headlined an Earth Day concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Ringo Starr, Steve Miller and Don Henley.

In 1998: Criminal charges were filed against George Michael after he was arrested for engaging in a lewd act in a Beverly Hills toilet.

In 1999: Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs turned himself in to face assault charges. Combs was alleged to have beaten Interscope exec Steve Stoute with a champagne bottle after MTV aired the Nas video "Hate Me Now,” in which Combs appears crucified… without his consent.

In 1999: Skip Spence, a founding member of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, died at 52.

In 2003: Soul man Luther Vandross suffered a stroke and was rushed to a New York hospital.

In 2003: Hole's Courtney Love announced the title of her first solo album would be America's Sweetheart.

In 2004: Record executive Clive Calder, whose Zomba label launched the careers of Britney Spears and 'N Sync, was named Britain's wealthiest music millionaire by The Sunday Times. Calder was said to be worth $2.28-billion. Number two on the list is Paul McCartney.