Aras Baskouskas

Aras Baskouskas, the grandson of soap opera star McDonald Carrey, won Survivor's Panama edition, which aired in 2006. He was 24 then -- he's now 31, lives with his girlfriend, model Christy Peterson, and has a career as a singer-songwriter.

But there have been a lot of adventures along the way. Having only practiced yoga for four months, he ventured to South Africa and opened his own studio, contracting with a local rubber factory to provide yoga mats. After paying off his father's mortgage, he used part of his million dollar Survivor winnings to start his own business -- a Los Angeles-based Russian winter hat company called Tundra Gear.

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Mark McGrath

Sugar Ray lead singer and former Extra co-host Mark McGrath has a cruise. No, seriously! This October, fans of the '90s can travel on the Carnival Cruise ship Imagination, alongside Gin Blossoms, Smash Mouth, Cracker, Spin Doctors, Vertical Horizon, The Verve Pipe, Marcy Playground and, of course, Sugar Ray.

Holy bananas. We spoke to McGrath about what inspired the idea; believe you me that this former three-time Rock and Roll Jeopardy champion has some serious plans for vacationers.

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In their heyday the Monkees had clean-cut good looks, a wholesome sound, and a catalogue of tunes written by the greatest songwriters in the industry. Sure, they were created for a TV show and critics lambasted their integrity, but most people didn't seem to care whether they played their own music.

Except, as it turned out, the Monkees themselves, who staged a coup and overthrew their manager before recording the revelatory 1967 album Headquarters. With it they became fully realized as their own group, and fittingly it's this album around which their impending reunion tour is centered. Their first in 15 years to feature original member Mike Nesmith, it also commemorates the passing this February of member Davy Jones.

Micky Dolenz, the constant throughout the various permutations of the core group's existence, spoke with us about the band and the tour.

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Tomorrow, Alanis Morissette brings her signature brand of melodic angst to Club Nokia in support of her new album Havoc and Bright Lights, her eighth studio album, recorded in Hollywood.

While most Americans got our first glimpse of Morissette from her 1995 hit "You Oughta Know," our neighbors in Canada got to watch her grow up in front of their very eyes. It was wild, it was wacky; here are the highlights, from You Can't Do That On Television to a freaking hip-hop song called Alanis: Too Hot.

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Paul Elledge

By Neph Basedow

Poet e.e. cummings said, "To destroy is always the first step in any creation." For Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, destruction and creation are a way of life. "A good artist is willing to die many times over," Corgan says. "What's funny is, I've died so many times."

The lead Pumpkin speaks to us from his home in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He's wordy and well-spoken. Most notably, however, he's open -- there's no topic we can't broach, he insists. The conversation's only pauses are when he tosses toys to his cats.

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Hannah Domogala

Adam Ant, the charismatic post-punk British pop star responsible for a generation of pirate shirts, returns to the U.S. after a long absence. Now 57, he's picked up more tattoos and a smoking habit since we saw him last; despite being battle scarred from years in the music business and recent bouts with bipolar disorder, he has kept his cool.

The current Ant persona, a black-clad, wisely edited version of his MTV teen idol past, shows Ant (aka Mr. Stuart Goddard) to be a darker, grittier performer. His flamboyantly-titled, guitar-driven new album Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter, is due out on his own label in October. Speaking from London, he tells us about his show at the Mayan tonight, and how an '80s icon goes about aging gracefully.

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Paul T Bradley

Neighbors

In case you don't trawl celebrity news, Slash got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. To celebrate the occasion, a phalanx of paparazzi and fans showed up -- not to mention radio host Jim Ladd and even goddamn Charlie Sheen.

The star for the 46-year-old former Guns N' Roses axeman sits just east of John Travolta's, and directly in front of the Hard Rock Café on Hollywood Blvd. It simply bears the word "Slash." No Saul Hudson up in that beeyotch. The party featured...

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