THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with GRAM PARSONS! As a member of both The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and as a solo artist, Parsons anticipated the so-called country rock of the 1970s and the alt-country movement that began around 1990. There is not a lot of GP video floating around, but "Christine's Tune" is a good place to start, though the video for "Older Guys" is great because someone made them go out to christen Judge Smails' sloop. The Hell's Angels make an unfortunate cameo in the clip of "Six Days o­n the Road" from the infamous Altamont festival in 1969. The posthumous video for "Sin City" is nice also. BONUS: Dwight Yoakum covers "Wheels" at a Parsons tribute concert. DOUBLE BONUS: Frequent duet partner Emmylou Harris covers "Return of the Grievous Angel" with alt-country icon Ryan Adams (and Buddy Miller o­n bass) at a different tribute.

THE FRIGHTNRS advance streams Nothing More To Say.

JAMES VINCENT McMORROW advance streams We Move.

ELUVIUM advance streams False Readings On.

Y LA BAMBA advance streams Ojos Del Sol.

LED ZEPPELIN shares "Sunshine Woman" from their BBC Sessions.

DWIGHT YOAKUM has a bluegrass take on his "These Arms."

THE RAVEONETTES drop their latest single, "A Good Fight."

R.E.M.: "Don't Go Back to Rockville," very unplugged.

THE BEST MUSIC VIDEOS of the 1970s, according to Pitchfork.

THE BEATLES: Giles Martin talks to All Songs Considered about improving the band's live recordings.

TEN GREAT "FORGOTTEN" DYLAN SONGS, remembered by Paste.

UB40, STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, and YES: The bands that split in half.

NOW SHOWING: This weeken's wide releases are Don't Breathe, which is currently scoring 90 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Mechanic: Resurrection, which was not screened for critics. Near-wide, Hands of Stone is scoring 41 percent, while Southside With You scores 91 percent.

JOHNNY DEPP is heaping praise on Amber Heard for donating her 7MM divorce settlement to charity. Heard has just fired back that if he really cares, he'll ante up 14MM.

DUANE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON is rocking Forbes' highest-paid actor list.

THE FBI is now on the hunt for the hackers who violated SNL's Leslie Jones.

JENNIFER GARNER & BEN AFFLECK celebrated his birthday together.

CHRIS ROCK: Newly divorced, already engaged?

BRITNEY SPEARS is apparently not happy that Lifetime is making a TV movie about her life.

RYAN LOCHTE  is going on Dancing with the Stars.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR shares a DVD bonus.

DARK UNIVERSE a/k/a "JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK" will be directed by Doug Liman.

WHY STRANGER THINGS WORKS and Ghostbusters and Ben-Hur reboots don't.

NORTH KOREA test-fired a submarine-launched missile 500 kilometres (around 300 miles) towards Japan, marking what weapons analysts called a clear step forward for its nuclear strike ambitions.

COLOMBIA: The  government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, said they had done what many believed would be impossible: reached a peace pact.

TOOTER TURTLE desperately seeks Mr Wizard.

A SEX TIGER arrives at the National Zoo. Sixty percent of the time, he works all the time.

STONED RATS make lazier choices. They learned it from you.

BEE Whiz.

SOME BUSINESS. SOME FAMILY BUSINESS. I should be back with a full boatload for y'all of Friday.

TEGAN & SARA share "Fade Out," from The Intervention soundtrack.

OKKERVIL RIVER stopped by WFUV for a chat and mini-set.

MIRACLE LEGION also  stopped by WFUV for a chat and mini-set.

YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX: Would you like some...yacht rock?

SHARON VAN ETTEN is sharing “Not Myself,” which was written for the victims of the Orlando night club shooting.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: "I'm an Adult Now."

DINOSAUR JRs albums, ranked by J Mascis at Noisey. He's got it about right.

CASS McCOMBS talks to Flaunt about his eighth studio album.

JONI MITCHELL made her first public appearance since being hospitalized in 2015 following a brain aneurysm.

TOOTS THIELEMANS, the jazz harmonica great whose work in movies like Drugstore Cowboy and The Getaway, as well as on the end credits of Sesame Street, has died at 94.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE repeats atop the latest Forbes list of the World's Highest-Paid Actresses.

IAN McKELLEN turned down 1.5MM to officiate Sean Parker's wedding as Gandalf.

SCOTT EASTWOOD talks about the death of his girlfriend.

EMMA STONE & ANDREW GARFIELD were spotted together but are not together, reportedly.

HOLLYWOOD GAVE UP ON YOU: The Summer Films of 2016.

THE TOP 100 FILMS of the 2000s, according to a BBC panel. I like Lynch, but no.

STEVEN HILL, a versatile character actor in theater, films and television who achieved his greatest success late in life as grumpy District Attorney Adam Schiff on TV's long-running Law & Order, died Tuesday. He was 94.

RUSSIA probably has a mole inside the NSA.

IRAQI police stopped a child suspected in a suicide bombing attempt for ISIS.

A CAT adopts a BABY SQUIRREL MONKEY... mass hysteria!

THE GREAT AUK may be resurrected using genetic information extracted from fossils and preserved organs.They'll spare no expense.

THE CINCINNATI ZOO  has deactivated its Twitter page after months of mockery and abuse over the death of the gorilla Harambe.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A suicide rodent delayed a flight at the Buffalo airport.

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER shares a video for “Your Word.”

CAVEMAN stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

THE LEES OF MEMORY (ex-Superdrag) streams a covers LP titled A Virtual Guided Tour: Pledge Covers.

JOSEPH advance streams I'm Alone, No You're Not.

CAR SEAT HEADREST shares “Does It Feel Good (To Say Goodbye?)”

TOM JONES sung "It's Not Ununsal" and "If He Should Ever Leave You" on Canadian Idol, which opened with some great archival footage.

THE BEST 200 SONGS OF THE 1970s, according to Pitchfork.

DOLLY PARTON talks to Paste about her 43rd studio LP, her upcoming TV special, the various releases in the works in support of her foundation, and the background that built it all.

LYDIA LOVELESS talks to Noisey about the parallels between her new LP and her favorite record,The Replacements' Pleased To Meet Me (among other things).

THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH talks to Clash about his upcoming work. (Thx, LHB.)

PRINCE: Pills marked as hydrocodone that were seized from Paisley Park after Prince’s overdose death actually contained fentanyl, the powerful opioid that killed him, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

RYAN LOCHTE: Speedo USA said today that it has decided to terminate its sponsorship of the scandalous swimmer, but USA Today finds that despite his initial exaggeration, evidence supports Lochte’s later account in which he said he thought the swimmers were being robbed when they were approached at a gas station by armed men who flashed badges, pointed guns at them and demanded money.

EDDIE MURPHY: The reclusive cator-comedian talks to THR about his hits and misses, returning in an indie drama, and more.

LINDSAY LOHAN is still wearing the engagement ring gifted to her by Egor Tarabasov.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL 2 dropped some concept art.

THOR: RAGNAROK may feature a Doctor Strange reference...or something more?

DONNA WOLD, the inspiration for Charlie Brown's Little Red-Haired Girl, died Aug. 9 of heart failure and complications from diabetes. She was 87.

RUSSIA will no longer be using an Iranian air base to launch strikes over Syria, an official in Tehran told state media Monday.

EDGAR THE BLACK RETRIEVER was rescued after a week in a drain pipe.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent invaded a grocery store, jumped on a woman's back, and browsed the wine selection.

CAPYBARA: Florida's next animal problem?

PARASITIC WASPS are being released in Ottawa to fight the emerald ash borer, an invasive species of beetle that destroys ash trees.

PETER BJORN & JOHN shared a video for “Dominos."

YEASAYER does some saying and some playing on World Cafe.

BONNIE BISHOP also stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

RYLEY WALKER's Golden Sings That Have Been Sung is streaming via Spotify.

THE BEACH BOYS have been Spotified by NPR for the stretch run of Summer.

FUNKADELIC: "I Got a Thing" on Upbeat in 1970. The intro and outro are almost as good as the song.

THE MONKEES: Mike Nesmith is turning up for the 50th Anniversary finale.

STEVIE WONDER: Pitchfork is filling it a back catalog of reviews on Sundays, so you younger folks may wnat to check out LPs like Songs in the Key of Life.

1966: The L.A. Times joins the list of outlets celebrating a revolutionary year in pop music.

MATT ROBERTS, the former guitarist from 3 Doors Down has died of an apparent overdose.

LOU PEARLMAN, the disgraced music impresario who launched the Backstreet Boys, NSync and other boy bands in the 1990s before being convicted of a Ponzi scheme, has died in prison at 62.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Suicide Squad three-peats atop the chart with 20.7MM, in a period historically bad for movies (and for bad movies).That was a 52 percent drop, just a few percent better than what Batman v Superman did in its third frame. Thats said, it's now likely to profit based on worldwide receipts, so this is more a disappointment than a flop.  Sausage Party repeats in second place with 15.3MM on a 55 percent drop that's probably okay for an R-rated animated comedy.  War Dogs shows with a 14.3MM debut, which is probably acceptable against a 40MM budget.  Kubo and the Two Strings takes the fourth slot with a 12.6MM debut against a 60MM budget, which means the foreign theme may have to carry it into foreign markets.  The debut of the thrice-remade Ben-Hur rounds out the Top Five with an 11.4MM debut against a 100MM budget, almost certainly in flop territory, despite backing from two studios for a faith-based production. Ouch.

TOM CRUISE: A dispute over salary with Paramount has halted preproduction on Mission: Impossible 6, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

RYAN LOCHTE  took “full responsibility” Saturday for the incident in Rio that landed him and three other American swimmers in hot water.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY will turn up in Avengers: Infinity War, according to Vin Diesel.

LEO DiCAPRIO and NINA AGDAL got into a car accident out East on Saturday.

NORM McDONALD: Will someone give this guy a TV show?

JACK RILEY, a veteran of The Bob Newhart Show and several Mel Brooks films who also voiced a popular Rugrats character, died of pneumonia and infection in Los Angeles. He was 80.

RUSSIA: More of Kremlin’s Opponents Are Ending Up Dead.

SYRIA: Two American F-22s on patrol over Hasakah, Syria, flew within a mile of two Syrian Su-24 fighter jets and "encouraged" them to leave Friday, a US defense official told CNN.

THE UNITED NATIONS has admitted it played some role in the deadly cholera outbreak in post-earthquake Haiti.

RACCOONS were caught on camera running through Oklahoma State Capitol.

A SWARM OF OTTERS allegedly attacked two teens enjoying a summer swim in California's Shasta Lake last weekend.

A FOUR-EYED FISH was caught in Darwin’s Buffalo Creek.

A CAT was verbally abused by a Dad who mistakenly ate pot brownies.