Eight Items or Less: Exploding Food & Bands with Beards

1. Exploding food is the decade's first trend.  Police in Tennessee are looking for the person that tampered with a ketchup bottle at a Murfreesboro diner and caused it to explode, while over in Irving, Texas, Kraft Foods has been named the official sponsor of the "Cheddar Explosion,"  a contest to determine who gets to trigger the demolition of Texas Stadium in Irving.

2. The New York Times asked the talent buyer at Brooklyn's Bell House why beards are popular in the indie music scene:  "Beards are a way of hiding behind a certain confidence and saying, ' Hey I'm not a clean-shaven, TV-happy, American Idol type.  I'm more a warm cuddly artist..."  So, now you know.

3. Indonesian island Gili Trawangan is the new Ibiza.

4. We're looking forward to February 23 and the release of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's collab/concept album Here Lies Love, a song-cycle about the life of Imelda Marcos.  The "deluxe package" includes a 100-page book, two CDs and a DVD.  The 22 tracks feature vocals by Tori Amos, Steve Earle, Roisin Murphy, Sharon Jones, Kate Pierson, Sia, Santigold and more.

5. Justin Timberlake has been named the most charitable celebrity of 2009.  The Daily Beast claims that the singer raised $9,198,072 for Shriners Hospitals for Children.

6. Mulchfest 2010 is this weekend, January 9 and 10, in New York City.  Bring your holiday tree to a designated city park so that it can be recycled into mulch.