Tattle: NYC's Naked Cowboy to continue his lawsuit

MAKES US proud to be an American that a guy wearing a cowboy hat, tighty-whities and a guitar has legal standing in court.

The Times Square entertainer known as the Naked Cowboy got a judge's OK yesterday to continue his lawsuit against Mars Inc., which the cowboy says improperly used his trademarks in an M&Ms commercial.

We knew those blue M&Ms were gonna be trouble.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin did throw out a few of Robert Burck's complaints about the commercial he says made it look like the Naked Cowboy was endorsing the candy. But Chin ordered the case to jury trial.

The "Blue M&M Cowboy" was part of a campaign that incorporated Manhattan landmarks.

It shook us

Somehow we think her heart will go on. But we laughed so hard watching the video, we almost had a coronary.

Celine Dion's gelding of AC/DC's rock-hard anthem "You Shook Me All Night Long" has just been named worst cover song ever by Britain's Total Guitar magazine. Dion performed the song six years ago in Vegas.

Editor Stephen Lawson told the BBC that Dion's cover was "sacrilege," to which we say, if you think that was bad, check out Shania Twain's version on YouTube. (You'll find Dion's performance there, too. Consider yourself warned.)

Shania twangs it good, with sweetly harmonizing back-up singers, lots of country-fried guitar licks and a wholesome - if nonsensical - tweak on the lyrics ("I wanted to run but I was already there").

The mag did a best-of list, too, topped by Jimi Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." The Beatles' take on the Top Notes' "Twist and Shout" came in second.

My 'Guitar Hero' gently weeps

Speaking of the Beatles, there are reports that their tunes finally could be making their way into video gamers' air-rocking repertoires.

That's big news because the Beatles have yet to license their music for digital download.

Beatles business rep Apple Corps and EMI, which owns the Fab Four's master recordings, have been in talks with video gamers Activision ("Guitar Hero") and MTV Games ("Rock Band") about a deal worth several million dollars, according to the Financial Times, though nobody on either side would confirm.

First Martha, now George

The U.K. told ex-con Martha Stewart she wasn't fit to grace its shores. Now the U.S. has said Brit Boy George can't play here.

The "devastated" former lead singer of the '80s band Culture Club had planned a U.S. tour this summer, and his legal team will try to work things out, E! Online reports.

Boy, aka George O'Dowd, has pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning a male escort who alleges he was chained to a wall in the singer's London apartment. A fall trial has been scheduled.

The singer "is clearly not considered any form of risk," his management said. Tell that to the escort.

Barrels of fun

Gordon Smart, of Britain's The Sun, put it this way:

"Guy Ritchie likes things that age well - just look at his wife Madonna."

Ba-dump, bump.

The occasion for this and many, many more age jokes is the news that the filmmaker has decided to go into the premium-whiskey business. He likes the good stuff, which in whiskey terms means the old stuff.

We'd like to think that the same holds true for women, and certainly Madonna's good PR for turning 50, which she'll do in August.

Meanwhile, Ritchie, whose biggest claim to fame these days is being married to Madge, is doing lots of research at the Punch Bowl, a bar he bought in London's high-end Mayfair neighborhood.

'Sopranos' released

The gang could have used it to sink Little Pussy when they tossed him off Tony's boat.

A 30-disc box set with every episode of "The Sopranos," plus the obligatory extras will go on sale Nov. 11, HBO announced yesterday. The $399.99 package weighs nearly 10 pounds.

Two bonus DVDs will include actor Alec Baldwin's interview with series creator David Chase, plus "Supper with the Sopranos," two sit-down dinners with Chase and various actors talking about their auditions, favorite scenes and other show details. It'll have three music soundtrack CDs, deleted scenes and more.

What it won't have, though, is James Gandolfini, or at least any more of him than you saw during his six seasons as Tony Soprano. He didn't participate in the extras.

_ In other HBO news, Variety reports that the cable channel is looking to develop a series based on publicist Sloane Crosley's bestselling essay collection, "I Was Told There'd Be Cake."

Crosley said that she's been told that if the show happens, it would have "more of a 'Larry David' vibe than a 'Sex and the City' vibe." *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.