THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE PAISLEY UNDERGROUND!  A two-part (Part 1, Part 2) feature from the Old Grey Whistle Test on L.A.'s psychedelic-flavored, West Coast scene in the mid-80s. Bands featured include the Long Ryders, Prime Movers, Thin White Rope, Pontiac Brothers and the Rain Parade with a 6 minute live version of No Easy Way Down. The Long Ryders get short shrift so I'll add in their later OGWT appearance to play "Looking For Lewis & Clark." The term "Paisley Underground" is believed to have been jokingly coined by Michael Quercio of the band The Three O'Clock, so I'll toss in the clip for "Her Head's Revolving" as a bonus. Other bands associated with the scene not featured include Green On Red -- sometimes likened to The Doors for songs like "Sea of Cortez" -- and The Bangs, a/k/a The Bangles, with an early track, "The Real World."  DOUBLE BONUS: The Guardian Music Blog has a link-rich piece on the Rain Parade and other Paisley Underground bands.

DEVOTCHKA visits KEXP for a mini-session.

JOHNNY MARR visits KEXP for a mini-session.

PORTRAYAL OF GUILT advance streams Let Pain Be Your Guide.

FOXWARREN (incl Andy Schauf) shares "To Be."

TINY RUINS shares "School Of Design."

EASYBEATS: The fish, the barrel, the smoking gun!

NIRVANA: An oral history of Unplugged.

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III talks to The Believer about retrospectives.

ELTON JOHN's Christmas commercial for John Lewis & Partners is a thing.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Marvin Gaye's brooding masterwork "I Heard It Through The Grapevine."

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which is currently scoring 50 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Instant Family, currently scoring 72 percent; and Widows, opening at 92 percent. A Private War expands near-wide 87 percent.

DUMBO, as imagined by Tim Burton, shares a trailer online.

SANDRA BULLOCK has donated 500K for relief efforts during the California wildfires.

AMY SCHUMER has been hospitalized with some pregnancy complications.

LILY JAMES & ARMIE HAMMER are starring in a new adaptation of Rebecca (Hitchcock did a prior version).

TIGER WOODS ex-mistress, Jamie Jungers, is rescued from a Vegas drug den where she was trading sex for heroin and speed... by Dog the Bounty Hunter.

ROY CLARK, the country singer and multi-instrumentalist best known as a longtime host of "Hee Haw," the television variety show that brought country music to millions of households each week, died on Thursday at his home in Tulsa, Okla. He was 85.

FLORIDA's BREVARD ZOO introduces a two-toed sloth baby.

AT LEAST 8 MOUNTAIN LIONS are alive and moving based on GPS collars, apparently surviving the wildfires. But the fate of five others — including P-22 — remains unclear.

CHINA quietly shelved a controversial decision to legalize the use of tiger and rhinoceros parts for scientific and medical purposes amid public outcries that such a move could increase the risks for endangered wildlife.

A NORTH CAROLINA MAN  said he punched a bear in the nose after it attacked him outside his home.

THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS cover "Six Days on the Road."

THE SELECTER visits Morning Becomes Eclectic.

NATALIE PRASS plays a mini-set at Iceland Airwaves.

GRETCHEN PETERS plays the Mountain Stage.

THE TWILIGHT SAD shares "VTr."

BAD RELIGION shares "My Sanity."

THE VACCINES share "All My Friends Are Falling In Love."

THE DANDY WARHOLS share a 360-degree, NSFW-language video for "Be Alright."

JEFF TWEEDY tours the soundtrack of his life.

NICK CAVE's newsletters directly address questions from fans and cultivate candid discussions about grief, friendship, and other topics.

BOYGENIUS gives a group talk to Loud and Quiet.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Diana Ross & The Supremes' operatic masterpiece "Love Child."

LADY GAGA meditates on A Star is Born for Variety. And Bradley Cooper reveals who almost had his part.

DAN ACKROYD gave another update on a possible Ghostbusters 3.

THE ROYAL FAMILY published a candid photo.

GWEN STEFANI & BLAKE SHELTON: Considering surrogacy?

THE BACHELOR's  Arie Luyendyk Jr. and fiancée Lauren Burnham are pregnant with their first child.

JACK REACHER will be taller than Tom Cruise in a new streaming series.

THE MANDARIN DUCK was spotted again in Central Park after several days of going unseen.

SAND CATS retain a kitten-like look their whole lives.

RACCOONS caused a false rabies scare in West Virginia, but they were just drunk.

IF KOMODO DRAGONS were human, they'd be more likely to be cuddled up at home watching a horror movie than starring in it, despite having razor-sharp teeth and poisonous venom.

JIMMY RUFFIN asks "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?"

AXIS: SOVA advance streams the new wavey Shampoo You.

LEON BRIDGES visits Morning Becomes Eclectic.

THE RACCOONISTS: Jeff Tweedy and his sons cover George Harrison, and “Skip” Spence for a Lagniappe Session.

ROBYN stops by World Cafe.

SUPERCHUNK shares a surprise single; the B-side is a Klaus Nomi cover.

CHERRY GLAZERR shares "Daddi."

ELVIS COSTELLO tals about Look Now, mortality, and musical evolution.

THE BEATLES: Producer Giles Martin shares the remarkable stories, early demos, revealing outtakes and stunning new mixes from the just-released deluxe version of "The White Album."

CAKE: John McCrea on the band's first new music since 2011, unionizing, and why there still isn't anything rebellious about a leather jacket.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Jeannie C. Riley's feminist country anthem "Harper Valley P.T.A." and the Beatles' "Hey Jude," the longest-reigning No. 1 single of the band's career.

GAME OF THRONES: Winter is Coming in April, with a teaser trailer now.

TOY STORY 4 has a second teaser online.

RYAN REYNOLDS is the star voice of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.

STAN LEE, remembered comically by Brian Michael Bendis... and many more.

ENNIO MORRICONE: German Playboy admits misquoting him on Quentin Tarantino.

THE "ROSS FROM FRIENDS" robbery case has a suspect under arrest.

DOUGLAS RAIN, the voice of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is dead at 90.

A FERAL SENIOR CAT beomes a Mama's boy.

CAT vs RAT: Who You Got?

A MUSEUM in Japan spends most of its day refusing entry to 2 cats trying to get in.

A LOBSTER was busted out of a Red Lobster by Florida Woman.

I was going to largely skip today due to the slowness of news and the press of my schedule Monday, but...

STAN LEE, who as chief writer and editor of Marvel Comics helped create some of the most enduring superheroes of the 20th century and was a major force behind the breakout successes of the comic-book industry in the 1960s and early ’70s, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 95. That NYT obit hits most of the main points.  If you want a deeper, nerdier, and a bit more critical dive, try The Comics Journal. If you want a bigger-picture look at the insights that made Lee arguably the most important figure in pop culture since Walt Disney, try Jonathan V. Last at the Weekly Standard.  People will focus on Lee as a self-made media creation (which has its lighter and darker sides), I would note that one of his earlier and subtler marketing techniques was the inclusion of reader letters (with answers) and editorials in the comic books themselves. Lee understood the value of creating community much earlier than many. As a creator, he will be remembered for bringing character into superhero comics in a way largely taken for granted by later generations. But those generations learned from Lee that you didn't need to be perfect to be heroic. Conversely, he understood that tales of heroism provide moral lessons for the young. "With great power comes great responsibility" is merely the best-known of these.  And despite the fact that comics were largely considered as a product for children, Lee's Marvel generally did not talk down to its audience, either thematically or textually. The Marvel books I grew up with in the 70s and early 80s were generally written with a college-level vocabulary, for which I will always be grateful. FFTB.

SHARON JONES and the DAP-KINGS:  The video for "100 Days, 100 Nights" was directed by Adam Elias Buncher, who achieved the old skool look using two vintage TV cameras bought on eBay for 50 dollars each.

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS play CBS This Morning.

PHOSPHORESCENT plays CBS This Morning.

SAM MORROW, Live at the Local during AmericanaFest.

SADE shares "The Big Unknown."

BIG RED MACHINE makes its TV debut on Colvert with "Gratitude."

THE "WHITE ALBUM" and ELECTRIC LADYLAND Turn 50: The violence and upheaval of 1968 are all over these albums as they fluctuate between confidence and confusion.

JOE PERRY was hospitalized after a surprise performance with Billy Joel.

HUGH McDOWELL, cellist for ELO and Wizzard, has died at age 65 following a battle with cancer. 

THE NUMBER ONES looks at "People Got To Be Free," the Rascals' upbeat response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Grinch tops the chart with 66MM. That seems low (The Lorax opened bigger in March 2012), but may look better after the Veterans' day school holiday -- plus it's likely to have legs and was produced for a mere 75MM. Bohemian Rhapsody places with 30.8MM on a 40 percent decline. But it cracks 100MM domestic after two frames and will rake in the profits, if not many awards. Overlord shows wth 10.1MM against a 38MM budget, with good reviews being offset by its offbeat concept and lack of star power. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms takes the fourth slot with 9.6MM on a 53 percent drop. Foreign receipts may save this one from true flop status... but maybe not. The Girl in the Spider's Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story rounds out the Top Five with 8MM against a 43MM budget, suggesting no one was waiting for a reboot of this franchise.

VENOM grossed 111MM in China on its opening weekend (almost three times what The Last Jedi grossed there during its whole run).

PARAMOUNT RANCH, which served as a set for parts of Westworld and numerous other Hollywood television shows and films, was burned by the Woolsey Fire in Cali. So was Malibu Creek State Park, a location for M*A*S*H and Planet of the Apes.

MARTIN SHEEN and his wife were found after Charlie tweeted he lost contact with them during the wildfire.

KATE UPTON & JASON VERLANDER are the proud new parents of a baby girl.

ADAM DRIVER, secretly a Dad for two years.

THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS went to these folks.

ENNIO MORRICONE denies insulting Quentin Tarantino in an interview with German Playboy.

VETERANS' DAY: Today is the observation of the anniversary of the end of WWI; thank a vet today, and read the excellent 2009 piece by the WaPo's David Ignatius that may be more true today.

A BOBCAT snacks on a giant green iguana in Boynton Beach.

EVACUATED LLAMAS are tied to an LA County lifeguard stand at Zuma Beach in Malibu. Horses and other animals have been evacuated to the beach.

DOZENS OF CAT MUMMIES are found in 6,000-year-old tombs in Egypt.

T. REX could turn like a 'figure skater from hell' and was far more agile than thought.