LUCKILY, it was a pretty slow "news" day, even if it wasn't a slow news day.

Anyway, Things:

MAROON 5 will be the halftime performers at the 2019 Super Bowl.

JULIE CHEN, a/k/a Mrs. Les Moonves, will remain the host of Big Brother.

BRAD PITT has been spending quite a bit of quality time with his kids amid a contentious custody battle with Angelina Jolie.

JOHN OLIVER and his wife Kate Norley are the proud parents of a second son.

KRISTEN BELL sparks up in front of her sober husband.

SPACE JAM 2: LeBron James has set Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) to produce the sequel.

SUKI WATERHOUSE shot someone while filming a movie.

MARVEL is reportedly working up an all-femalle superhero TV drama with the writer of Wonder Woman.

CHEVY CHASE is 74, sober, and ready... but no one wants to work with him. 

I should be back for the full platter headed into the weekend. Knock on wood.

O'JAYS: "Backstabbers."

DAVID BYRNE plays Forest Hills Stadium.

TUNE-YARDS also plays Forest Hills Stadium (opening for Byrne).

RYAN CULWELL streams The Last American.

CLOUD NOTHINGS share "Leave Him Now."

J MASCIS shares "Everything She Said."

CAT POWER covers Rhianna's "Stay."

MATTHEW DEAR features TEGAN & SARA on "Horses."

LANA DEL REY shares a vdeo for the nearly 10-min opus "Venice B*tch."

KING CRIMSON gets over two hours of discussion and analysis on Political Beats, with guest Dave Weigel of the Washington Post and author of The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock.

TALK TALK: Spirit of Eden turns 30, earning retrospectives from Under the Radar, Stereogum, and PopMatters.

JASON PIERCE Struggled to Make a New Spiritualized Album. And He May Do It Again.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Supremes' big-beat classic "You Can't Hurry Love."

CAPTAIN MARVEL has a trailer online.

LOKI, THE SCARLET WITCH and other Marvel characters may help launch Disney's streaming service.

JULIE CHEN walks the talk.

ASIA ARGENTO threatens ROSE McGOWAN with a lawsuit.

STORMY DANIELS has details you can't unsee.

ALEC BALDWIN seemingly confirmed the news that his niece Hailey Baldwin secretly married singer Justin Bieber.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH & SOPHIE HUNTER are expecting their third child together.

SESAME STREET: Although this comes up every other year or so, Bert and Ernie are still not gay.

SPOTTED HORSE, spotted dog. And the runner-up.

A HORSE IS A HORSE, of course, of course -- even when that horse is filing a lawsuit.

VENOMOUS SNAKES are being spread by Hurricane Florence.

STEELY DAN: "Josie" and "My Old School" for Twofer Tuesday.

PHOEBE BRIDGERS plays KEXP.

NONAME streams Room 25.

MARY LATTIMORE covers Hiroshi Yoshimura, Juliana Barwick and Brian Eno for a Lagniappe Session.

LAURA CARBONE and THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART share "The Flowers Beneath Your Feet."

DAVE GROHL joins... TROMBONE SHORTY to play Nirvana's "In Bloom." It's only the second time he has publicly played it since Kurt Cobain's death (the other being Nirvana's induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame).

JOHN LYDON talks to Salon about The Public Image Is Rotten, the universe and everything.

JOANNA NEWSOM is profiled by Turning the Tables.

ELTON JOHN's TOP 50, ranked by The Guardian.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Donovan's psychedelic love song "Sunshine Superman."

THE EMMY AWARDS went to these folks. Congrats.

SEAN PENN has thoughts on the MeToo movement. Dude.

SOON-YI PREVIN also picked a bad week to talk about Woody Allen.

BRYAN SINGER further picked a bad week to have it come out that he's in negotiations to direct Red Sonja.

TOM ARNOLD & MARK BURNETT got into a fight before an Emmys party.

DR PHIL sang with Good Charlotte. Really.

MARY POPPINS RETURNS drops a trailer online.

FIRST MAN: From the moon to the big screen.

LADY & THE TRAMP: When real life isn't exactly like the movies.

FLYING GOATS, being relocated from Olympic National Park to the Cascades.

A HUSKY has a complicated relationship with a toy.

BEAR vs DOG: Who You Got?

THE PRIMITONS play "Seeing Is Believing" at an in-store appearance from 1985.  Proof positive that the Internet makes the "Where Are They Now?" file bottomless.  Background at Trouser Press.

DAWN LANDES visits the World Cafe.

NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS play the Turf Club in St. Paul.

THE CURE: Stereogum compiles covers.

TOMMY & THE COMMIES evive the sound and spirit of the Buzzcocks and the Jam for "Suckin' In Your 20's".

GARY NUMAN joins BECK to perform his big het, "Cars." (The sound isn't great, but the moment is pretty good. There's also a few bars of the Stones "Miss You" to start.)

RICHARD THOMPSON: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview.

THE THE talks about the 2018 Comeback Special and more at Brooklyn Vegan.

AS I LAY DYING vocalist Tim Lambesis, who was sentenced to six years in prison for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife, is pursuing his Masters in Social Work.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Lovin' Spoonful's evocative hot-weather rocker "Summer In The City."

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:The Predator tops the chart with 24MM, which just about matches 2010's Predators, and falls short of the ~30MM the studio expected. International receipts may be needed to recoup for this 88MM pic. The Nun places with 18.2MM on a 66 percent drop not unknown in horror (that said, 85MM domestic so far against a 22MM budgetlooks alright). A Simple Favor shows with a 16MM debut, probably OK against a reported 20MM budget. White Boy Rick, otoh, debuts in fourth with 8.8MM, which is problematic against a 29MM budget. Crazy Rich Asians rounds out the Top Five with 8.7MM and comes in just below 150MM domestic to date.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD reveals she suffered three miscarriages.

AVENGERS 4: Karen Gillan dropped some teasers on the IG.

JUSTIN BIEBER isn't married yet, and plans to become a US citizen.

CONAN O'BRIEN launched an online archive.

GWYNETH PALTROW & CHRIS MARTIN once tried to stage an intervention for Lily Allen.

MATTHEW PERRY spent three months in the hospital following abdominal surgery.

FAN BINGBING, arguably the most famous actress in China, has dropped out of public view for more than three months — the victim of a sudden and precipitous fall from grace.

WES ANDERSON movies, ranked by NME.

PETER DONAT, a Canadian-born character actor who played a wide variety of classical and contemporary roles in theater, film and television, died on Monday at his home in Point Reyes Station, Calif. He was 90.

TOSSED SALAD AND SCRAMBLED EGGS: An Oral History of Frasier.

THE OWL & THE PUSSYCAT, hanging around outside a window. Where's the boat?

THE BLUE BIRD FROM "RIO" is now extinct in the wild.

THESE DOMESTICATED FOXES came from a famous Russian experiment.

CAMELS can eat cactuses. The More You Know. Swoosh.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with T.REX! Marc Bolan died on September 17, 1977, so here's a few items off the beaten path, like this working version of "Get It On (Bang A Gong)," which is a little nsfw toward the end.  French TV is the source for live clips of "Hot Love," "Cadillac," "Telegram Sam" and "Jeepster" circa 1972, as well as "Ride A White Swan" from 1970. The band's "Baby Strange" later found its way into Big Star's setlists.  Still, "20th Century Boy" may be my favorite track from the band. Wanna go deeper? Check out the documentary, The Story Of Marc Bolan & T.Rex.

METRIC advance streams Art Of Doubt.

MOUNTAIN MAN  advance streams Magic Ship.

MARBLE EYE streams Leisure.

PRINCE: Hear the previously unreleased 1983 demo "Why The Butterflies."

THE REV. AL GREEN returns with his version of “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.”

SMASHING PUMPKINS share "Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)."

ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES are profiled at Paste.

THE CRANBERRIES on the last days of Dolores O'Riordan.

P*SSY RIOT's Pyotr Verzilov is suspected to have been poisoned in Moscow on Tuesday, according to the group and local media.

45 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Twitter megathread that is positively majestic -- and running through Oct. 12.

THE NUMBER ONES: looks at the Troggs' knuckleheaded garage rock classic "Wild Thing."

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include The Predator, which is currently scoring 36 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; A Simple Favor, which is currrently scoring 85 percent; White Boy Rick, currently scoring 59 percent; and Unbroken: Path to redemption, scoring 22 percent.

HENRY CAVILL responded to the reports that he was being oused as Superman, sort of.

WEINSTEINGATE hits NY Gov Andrew Cuomo, who suspended an investigation into the Manhattan DA’s handling of allegations against the movie mogul.

LES MOONVES: Why the CBS board turned against him. (Spoiler: the cover-up is usually worse)

AFTER ME TOO: 12 accusers share what happened next.

AARON PAUL (Breaking Bad) is going to Westworld.

THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA has a teaser trailer online.

SUMMER OF LOVE: The Return of the Two-Person Rom-Com.

AN UNWANTED DOG gets a terrific Mom.

HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER, THEY SAID. It'll be fun, they said.

WILD HORSES will stay put and rely on instinct as Hurricane Florence approaches.

IN VENEZUELA, people are abandoning their pets in the streets or shelters with no food because they can't afford to feed them.