Dixie Chicks back on tour in Europe

The Dixie Chicks, Tattle's favorite country trio, is returning to Europe for their first headlining tour since lead singer and Texan Natalie Maines said during the George W. Bush administration, "We're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas."

The line went over well in London, but the Chicks got hammered on American country radio, they took flak for being un-American, CDs were destroyed, concert dates were canceled and the threesome made only one more (albeit great) album before Maines went solo and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison became the Court Yard Hounds.

The tour will hit London, Amsterdam and Dublin. There are no plans at this time for U.S. dates, but isn't it time to bury the hatchet? Even 2016 GOP presidential candidates are trying to distance themselves from President Bush.

People, People which needs sources...

A NUMBER of years ago Tattle cited a British newspaper's website for a story on Led Zeppelin reuniting for a concert tour.

Although dated the day we were writing, the story was a few years old, and thus a time-sensitive lesson for sourcing material in the digital age.

Another time we got an angry email from a journalist in New York, asking why Tattle stole his story. We told him we got the story from an overseas paper, correctly sourced, and he should call that publication because they stole it and offered him no credit.

Now People magazine has been punked by the Internet.

According to the Washington Post, People's website posted a juicy but unsourced bit of gossip several weeks ago that Johnny Depp had stopped working on the forthcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean 5" to enter rehab for a booze problem.

Only one problem.

It wasn't true.

Martin Singer, Depp's pitbull attorney, said that Depp's only rehab was for his injured hand.

People took the item down.

Then the magazine offered a Journalism 101 class led by Time Inc. content honcho Norman Pearlstine. The key takeaway: Thou shalt not report unverified gossip as fact.

It's a tenet that's not so easy to adhere to in the 24/7 Internet age of instantaneous scoops, be they accurate or not.

So, whenever Tattle misses a big story, you can be confident that it's because of our high journalistic standards.

* DC Comics announced that "Batman Day," celebrating all things Batman, will return this year on Sept. 26.

That's three weeks after "Freddie for a Day," celebrating all things Freddie Mercury.

* When all the tickets were finally counted, the $209 million "Jurassic World"opening weekend beat Marvel's "The Avengers" by $2 million for the biggest opening weekend of all time.

Maybe it's time for "The Avengers: Age of Dinosaurs."

* The hills of Bucks County will not be alive with the sound of music. Or their lyrics.

Will Hammerstein, the grandson of Oscar Hammerstein II, has lost his bid to create a museum and educational theater in Doylestown honoring the great Broadway lyricist who teamed with Richard Rodgers for "The Sound of Music," "Oklahoma," "South Pacific," etc.

Doylestown Township's zoning board voted Monday night to deny variances that the younger Hammerstein needed to build the project at Highland Farm, his grandfather's former Pennsylvania home. The plan included construction of a 400-seat theater.

Neighbors and township supervisors had opposed the proposal, saying that they didn't want to deal with the noise, traffic or safety issues they feared it would bring.

You know how rambunctious those Rodgers & Hammerstein fans get after a few bars of "Carousel."

One second "June is Bustin' Out All Over," and the next second it's riots.

* As we were browsing the wires yesterday we saw an Associated Press story headlined: "Philadelphia Museum-Impressionists."

Finally, we thought, a museum dedicated to Rich Little, Frank Gorshin, Frank Caliendo and John Byner.

Alas, it's just more Manet, Monet, Renoir and Cassatt.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

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