Andthis time their wrath is directed toward singer-songwriter RichardCortez, an openly gay performer who off-handedly chastised Aiken in hiscandid interview with Sam Baltrusis (Independent News, "Rocking Out"May 11).

JohnPaulus, the man who has gone public in the National Enquirer withclaims of a clandestine sexual affair with Aiken, posted the IN articlewithout permission on his anti-Aiken blog.

"Thisis a man with honesty, character, integrity, confidence and guts," hewrites about the 20-year-old performer. "He sums it all up here in thisinterview."

HIPPIE DIRT StanleyMarshall, the president of Florida State University from 1969-1976,phoned Loaded Gun to promo his new book "The Tumultuous Sixties: CampusUnrest and Student Life at a Southern University."

"Itwas a phrase that the media picked up on," he says, responding to theheadlines claiming FSU was a hotbed of radical activity in the late'60s. "It was a bit of an overstatement. There was no loss of life andthe university didn't close. Not one time."

The83-year-old author spends a large portion of his non-fiction noveldownplaying the role of the Abbie Hoffman-led chapter of FSU's Studentsfor a Democratic Society—a subversive and sometimes aggressive group ofcollege activists that protested the war in Vietnam.

However,Marshall admits he was fearful that the SDS group's acts of non-violentcivil disobedience would turn bloody—especially when the SDS approachedhis home armed with bricks and hung a dummy replica of him in effigy.

"Theyweren't a large group and they didn't have a large following on ourcampus," he says about the activist group at FSU. "But it doesn't takemany people to start a riot or to bomb a building."

"Sexsells," he jokes about the series of shots highlighting men and womenstreaking. "When I go out speaking to groups with alumni, I say 'I'msorry, I don't recognize you with your clothes on.'"

PHOENIX RISING Yep,it's finally here. The all-day outdoor rock extravaganza known asPhoenixFest is hitting the parking lot of Phoenix Crossing, 3200 N.Palafox starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 27.

"Thingsare looking good right now and honestly the people that really want tosee these bands are going to come regardless," he says. "But the nicerthe day winds up being ... the more people just coming out of casualinterest we'll have."

Atour PhoenixFest tent, the Independent News will officially launch itsIN Music Awards 2006 voting. We'll also host a raffle chock-full ofmusic-related goodies to benefit Favor House, a shelter for domesticviolence victims.

Wilkessays he's especially stoked about the lineup, which includes IN MusicAwards '06 nominees The Letters Organize, Feable Weiner, Glory of This,60 Cycles of Sound and Reynosa.

"Ofthe new blood, I'd say I'm most excited about Teenage Bottlerocket," headds. "They're just a great pop-rock-punk band and I really dig theirsound a lot. Very Ramones meets early Green Day."

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