"I don't mind getting older; I mind getting uglier." --Chrissie Hynde

In a recent interview, the Pretenders singer admitted it's the more surface elements of um, maturing, that get to her. She added, "You know -- knees, disease, old age, death. I'm a wreck."

Chrissie Hynde might be a Pretender but she sure as all heck isn't pretending or putting on fronts when it comes to her views on animal rights and her work with activist group PETA. "I would say we could start electrocuting and strangling and terrorizing people the way that the factory farmers and scientists are doing, to get results more effectively," Hynde recently told Spinner. "But, you know, we try to keep it humorous. I mean, this is a war, so we plan on stopping the people that are torturing and killing animals. And however it has to be done, the job has to be done."

"I never got a guy through my guitar playing." --Chrissie Hynde

The Pretenders frontwoman suggested to Spinner that it wasn't her modest guitar skills that scored her suitors.

"To warm up, I smoke Bugler tobacco. It's a shame, really. But it's rock 'n' roll." --Chrissie Hynde

The Pretenders frontwoman revealed her warm-up routine in a recent interview.

Artist: Pretenders
Song: 'Boots of Chinese Plastic'
Album: 'Break Up the Concrete'
Why You Should Listen: Many changes have taken place in the band's line-up in the past 30 years, but frontwoman Chrissie Hynde holds steady with her signature vibrato on the band's first song from their forthcoming album, 'Break Up the Concrete.'

Listen to 'Boots of Chinese Plastic'

Since the fashion industry is laden with folks whose IQ levels have been known to drop as dangerously low as their weights, stupid choices are pretty much par for the course. To that end, we've been exposed to the folks at Hogan -- a house specializing in high-end handbags. The company's latest "rock star-inspired" line includes a bag that's intended as an homage to Chrissie Hynde -- who's none too happy about the "honor," since the item in question is made of pony skin.

Given the fact that anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Pretenders' frontwoman is well aware of her work as an animal activist, it would seem like the short list of potential tributes wouldn't include ripping the skin from the back of an innocent equine. Unless, of course, the Hogan folks are planning to package the offending tote with a packet of PETA-approved red paint designed to explode the first time it's slipped over a shoulder.

While artists as varied as Ozzy Osbourne and Slayer have long engaged in enough cartoony netherworld spelunking to get them tagged as bosom buddies of Beelzebub, none of them ever went so far as to publicly proclaim "hail, seitan" -- which seems to be the rallying cry issued by Chrissie Hynde. The Pretenders' frontwoman will be peddling that glutinous protein treat -- among dozens of other meat-free dishes -- at the spanking-new vegetarian eatery she plans on opening in her hometown of Akron, Ohio.

Hynde has set a September launch for VegeTerranean, a Mediterranean-themed joint that will offer diners all manner of cruelty-free chow choices -- none of which, we're sure, will share the texture of Akron's other famous export (you know, the one proffered by Goodyear?) Since Wendy's shelved that once-ubiquitous "where's the beef" tagline a good two decades ago, it's probably safe for Hynde to dust it off as her own slogan -- with the addition of a hearty "not here!," of course.