Some people think New York is a terrible city. Others do not. To each his or her own, but the debate ends today: Erykah Badu recently went busking in Manhattan and basically nobody recognized her. Everybody, please boo New York.

Mario Diaz, from New York's PIX11, was reporting on professional miscreant Shia LeBeouf when Erykah Badu, wearing a comically large white hat, walks by and does as anyone would do given the opportunity to crash a live broadcast: she tries to kiss him.

Erykah Badu has mastered the modern art of giving interview. A mixture of wit and earnestness, of insight and leftfield references, hers is the kind of rare personality that should earn an open invitation to the talk-show circuit regardless of promo and just 'cuz, a la Amy Sedaris on Letterman. Badu is cool to death, she makes music that is cerebral, challenging and sometimes extra-terrestrial. But make no mistake, this woman is a star's star.

The first single from Until the Quiet Comes, the fourth album from California genre-smearer Flying Lotus, has arrived with a crash and a flutter. "See Thru to U" features laconic sing-song vocals from the reliably fearless Erykah Badu, the eye of the storm in this collage of mostly gentle sounds that when combined have the effect of fury. Beguiling.

The Flaming Lips' Record Store Day full-length, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, is a subversive take on the nature of musical collaborations in 2012. Instead of exploiting famous friends like Ke$ha, Bon Iver and Coldplay's Chris Martin for the sake of chart-friendliness (as is standard practice in the industry), the Lips push their poppy friends into noisy, borderline inaccessible territory (and collaborators like Lightning Bolt, Neon Indian, Yoko Ono and Nick Cave are pushed into even more experimental territory than usual). It's a stunning album that's not lacking in tunes, but that doesn't want to make them easy for listeners, either.

Alexander Skarsgard doesn't use a sock for sex scenes, but Anna Paquin uses a "patch." Lindsay's first post-jail interview and Duff's wedding pictures are both worth $1 million. Erykah Badu gets probation for going nude. Wednesday gossip bares all.

There's been a lot of talk about Erykah Badu's new music video, and specifically the fact that she's naked in it. Or is she? Today, Greg Kelly took on the topic and requested "specifics" that proved Badu's nakedness. Video inside.

Was it Sandy or was it Jesse? Or were they just getting rid of a couch? Maybe it's because Jesse got a mistress pregnant. Peaches Geldof goes "glassy-eyed," Ivanka's stalker used to stalk Tucker Max. Saturday gossip is moving on.

Erykah Badu turns 38 today. Billionaire philanthropist and political powerbroker Ron Lauder is 65. Right-wing commentator Bob Novak is turning 78. Town & Country editor-in-chief Pamela Fiori is 65. WABC anchorman Bill Ritter is 59. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is 51. Stylist Mark Garrison is 58. Ally Hilfiger, the "designer" and daughter of Tommy, is turning 24. And Michael Bolton turns 56 today.

♦ Not only did Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony renew their vows at 3:15 a.m. in Las Vegas on Sunday, they did it in a joint ceremony with Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran and his wife Jessica. [E!, People]
♦ Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson tell friends they're planning on dressing up as Todd and Sarah Palin for Halloween. [NYDN]
♦ Jay-Z couldn't get any London clubs to pay his $50,000 appearance fee this weekend. [This London Blog via E!]
♦ Is Suri Cruise lonely and sad because has no friends her own age? [P6]

Flamboyantly attired R&B icon Erykah Badu has released multiple multi-platinum albums since her watershed 1997 record Baduizm.

1. Hear Everything is Illuminated author, Jonathan Safran Foer, at the 92nd Street Y.
2. Catch Erykah Badu at S.O.B.'s.
3. Try the scallop carpaccio at Lamu.