IRISH LUCK: With ex-Clashman Joe Strummer at...

IRISH LUCK: With ex-Clashman Joe Strummer at the production helm, the Pogues are finishing their new album, tentatively titled “Hell’s Ditch.” To tide fans over, Island is releasing a Pogues EP this week, which will feature a trio of unreleased tracks, including the band’s version of “Honky Tonk Woman” and a revved up rendition of “Whiskey in the Jar.” . . . Meanwhile, fellow Irishman Bono is working as a back-up vocalist for the Call, crooning a new tune called “What’s Happened to You?” . . . Ex-X songstress Exene Cervenka has a new solo album due out Oct. 16 from Rhino’s RNA Records. Titled “Running Scared,” it features such songs as “Slave Labor,” “Red Dirt,” “Curtains” and “Will Jesus Wash the Bloodstains From Your Hands.” . . . Congrats to Tanzania, which has recently issued a series of stamps honoring black entertainers (U.S. Postal Service please note). The stamps, which feature full-color pictures of each celeb, include portraits of Stevie Wonder, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Miriam Makeba, Smokey Robinson, Fela, Gladys Knight, Sammy Davis Jr. and--yes--Michael Jackson. . . . And our Song Title of the Week goes to pop eccentrics the Royal Macadamians, whose new album, “Experiments in Terror,” features a tribute to Beirut night life called “Relax in Lebanon.”