Eddie Van Halen is fresh out of rehab and made his first public appearance as a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer at a NASCAR race last weekend.

"The guitar legend 'jumped' into a fire suit and took some hot laps around the track with Kurt Busch." Get it? Jumped!

Morrissey will reportedly boycott the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony if the Smiths get enshrined because of his long running feud with former bandmate Mike Joyce.

The indie legends are reported to be among the groups set for induction into the music pantheon next year in New York City.

However, the band's iconic former singer has apparently already ruled out attending the ceremony because of an ongoing rivalry with drummer Mike Joyce.

The Smiths were embroiled in an acrimonious lawsuit over royalties in 1996, and Morrissey has always spoken bitterly about his former bandmate.

"Morrissey has never forgiven Joyce and if organizers think he's going to bury the hatchet by joining him to accept this award, they've got another thing coming. The only way he could be persuaded to turn up would be if Joyce decides not to attend," a source explained.

There are a couple of problems with this article. First, the Smiths aren't even eligible to be nominated until next year, which means the earliest they could be inducted is 2009. Second, it's highly unlikely they are "among the groups set for induction" because the Nominating Committee doesn't get together until the end of the summer to begin discussing the nominations. But when the Smiths do become eligible, they will certainly be on the shortlist for induction.

Thanks, David & Tom

The Monkees have been knocking on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's door since 1991, but no one has answered the door yet. Peter Tork thinks he knows why:

Peter Tork... says the Monkees merit consideration for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but one man opposes their induction.

"The only person ... holding a grudge is Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone," says the former Monkee. The magazine editor "has never written a gracious word. He personally has the veto power to keep us out."

Wenner - who didn't reply to an interview request - allegedly denounces Tork, Dolenz, Davy Jones and Mike Nesmith for not playing their own instruments on the band's first albums.

In this "American Idol" era, when acts are "manufactured" like toasters, fewer critics crucify the Monkees for being a TV show that spawned a band. So have they faced an unfair standard? Were they, in fact, a "real" group?

"I've not heard the slightest murmur about the Monkees being fake," Tork, 65, says from his Connecticut home. "Everybody's forgotten it, except Wenner. He's been vicious."

One Rolling Stone reporter, Tork says, wrote a glowing story crystallizing their merits. But before publication, Tork adds, "The writer said, 'Jann took my article, gutted it and rewrote it to [bury] you.'"

Wenner is often accused of using his clout to keep out a particular band, but it seems unlikely he's the only obstacle in their way to being inducted.

Thanks, David.