GRIZZLY BEAR brought Feist onstage for "Service Bell" and "Two Weeks" at the Dark was the Night benefit.  The band also stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming now via MPR. 

SUNSET RUBDOWN is advance streaming their Dragonslayer album at NPR.

CAMERA OBSCURA stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming now via MPR.

DINOSAUR, JR. did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

A CAMP: Nina Persson talks to the Denver Post about the band's all-covers EP.  SPIN is streaming the cover of Grace Jones's "I've Done it Again," while Spinner has their take on Pink Floyd's "Us and Them." (Thx, Chromewaves.)

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE: "Hey, Julie."

HANDSOME FURS: Dan Boeckner talks to the Seattle Times about his songwriting formula and why the Face Control LP sounds like it does.

RHETT MILLER talks to PopMatters about fatherhood, songwriting, plus Jeff Tweedy and Ryan Adams.

TEN CULT ROCK MOVIES you need to see, according to MusicRadar, with embedded video. (Thx, LHB.)

FREE MP3s and deals at Amazon include tracks from Neko Case, Robyn Hitchcock, Beirut, My Morning Jacket and more...

DAVID CARRADINE's third wife says the late actor was often fond of tying himself up in the bedroom of their California ranch, and even experimented with drowning himself in their pool.  Video at the link.

LINDSAY LOHAN & SAMANTHA RONSON: Together again?

LEO DiCAPRIO & BAR RAFAELI haven't split, a source close to the couple tells Us magazine.

MILEY CYRUS, otoh, has reportedly dumped Justin Gaston.

MEGAN FOX has reportedly dumped Brian Austin Green for Twilight star Robert Pattinson.  Tabloids had linked him with co-star Kristen Stewart, but she claims they are just friends.

THE 100 BEST MOVIE LINES in 200 seconds, according to LiquidGeneration.

MADONNA will be given the go-ahead to adopt four-year-old Malawian Mercy James, according to press reports.

RUSSELL CROWE and director Ridley Scott are said to be squabbling like a couple of gladiators on the British set of their latest collaboration, Universal's big-budget Robin Hood flick.

LIAM NEESON & BRADLEY COOPER are in talks to co-star in The A-Team.

NORTH KOREA: Journalist Shane Smith calls it "an alternate universe. It's like going back in time to Stalinist Russia. We used to joke about it being a sort of Disneyland ride of a socialist utopian state. It's crazy." He he hopes Pyongyang uses  the two American journalists held there as pawns, or they may starve to death in a war camp.

AFGHANISTAN: Heavy weapons are continuing to stream across the Afghan border from Iran. Quantities regularly run into the hundreds and the weapons are usually brand new.

SLEEPY KITTEH: Let's go to the video.

TOO MUCH BEAVER? Around the nation, decades of environmental regulation, conservation efforts and changing land use have brought many species, like beavers, so far back from the brink that they are viewed as nuisances.

RICK'S CUSTOM SQUIRRELS all look like militants.

A DOG out on a walk in Germany happened upon a live US grenade from World War II and eagerly delivered it to his master.

CHAIRLIFT has released a new video for "Bruises," a song more twee than its title.

NEW RELEASES from Sonic Youth, Rhett Miller, Kasabian, the Low Anthem and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.

SONIC YOUTH, btw, is essentially taking over PitchforkTV this week.

SONGS OF THE WEEK: The logical extension of NPR's Song of the Day.

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS played a Tiny Desk Concert for Bob Boilen at NPR.

GUIDED BY VOICES: "Auditorium/Motor Away" are your Twofer Tuesday.

BIG STAR drummer Jody Stephens tells Billboard about an upcoming box set with four discs worth of unreleased demos, alternate takes, rarities, and live cuts.

JENS LEKMAN talks to Straight about finishing his next album, and to the Santa Barbara Independent about moving from Sweden to Australia. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

CAT POWER: Flavorpill covers the biography Chan Marshall doesn't want you to read.

ROSE ELINOR DOUGAL: The former Pipette talks about her upcoming solo LP with Under The Radar.

DAVID CARRADINE, according to TMZ, the purported photo of the late actor tends to support the auto-erotica scenario.

LINDSAY LOHAN complained of feeling 'caged' and curled up in a ball on the floor of a London club, according to the ever-reliable Daily Mirror.

PETE DOHERTY was arrested in Switzerland after being accused of taking drugs on a British Airways flight.

BRET MICHAELS of Poison was injured at the Tony Awards after missing his mark in a production number. Let's go to the video.

BRITNEY SPEARS: The News of the World as entirely gratuitous topless photos of the pop wreck, taken during the 2007 video shoot for "Gimme More."

CONAN O'BRIEN addresses the similarity of his new Tonight Show set to the original Super Mario Bros. video game. (thanks, Lance.)

HEATHER GRAHAM explains the joys of tantric sex, playing poker, growing old disgracefully and why asking her to help you with your tax returns after a night of passion is a relationship killer.

STEPHEN COLBERT did his shtick for US troops in Iraq. The idea for taping the show here came about last summer, he said, at the suggestion of Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense and a guest on "The Colbert Report."

KORTH KOREA sentenced two US journalists to 12 years in a labor camp Monday.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS showed a movie for the first time in 30 years. Women were not invited.

PAKISTAN: Pres. Zardari said there is a possibility that its nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of the Taliban if democracy "fails" in his country and the world doesn't help.

HAMSTER runs a dog agility course.

A FROG that constantly changes colour is being worshipped as a god in India.

A LION escaped from its cage in a China zoo and swam a river for nearly 400 meters before it tried to climb up into the campus of Rudong Shiyan Elementary School.

A CUB in Wisconsin was spotted with a bird feeder stuck on its head.  Silly old bear!

DINOSAUR, JR. may be "Over It," but they aren't over, if this song is andy indicator. Downright catchy.

OF MONTREAL stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand via NPR.

EELS: Mark Oliver Everett has an interview+tracks streaming from NPR's Weekend Edition.

YO LA TENGO have released an advance track, "Periodically Double Or Triple," from their upcoming Popular Songs album.

NEIL YOUNG: The long-awaited and voluminous Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 is reviewed for NPR's All Tings Considered.

THE JAYHAWKS: "Blue," because its genius was recognized by The Office's Rainn Wilson on Twitter last week.

SONIC YOUTH is profiled by The Guardian, which says their upcoming album "taps into the rough-and-ready energy of a trio of late-80s releases - Evol, Sister and Daydream Nation - on which more conventional song structures coalesced out of powerful dissonance to vertigo-inducing effect."

THE LEMONHEADS: Evan Dando takes a pop quiz for the San Francisco Chronicle.

BOOKER T. surveys his ongoing musical journey with the Boston Herald.

IGGY POP tells the L.A. Times, "Rock is worse than 'Kumbaya.'"

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Up repeats at No. 1, with a modest 35 percent drop, taking in 44.2 million bucks.  Equally impressive -- and more surprising -- was the second-place opening of The Hangover, which took in 43.3 million, which had no stars but excellent reviews.  Land of the Lost had the stars, and bad reviews -- and came in third with 19.5 million, far below the 30-35 million many predicted.  Night at the Museum 2 came in fourth 14.7 million, dropping 40 percent; it is underperforming the original by enough that it will need another couple of decent weekends for this to stop looking like a shaky investment.  Star Trek rounds out the Top Five with another 8.4 million; this sort of legs, plus another 100+ million overseas puts the franchise back at warp speed.  Below the fold, Terminator Salvation continues to bomb like an attack from Skynet.  My Life in Ruins opened in ninth, suggesting lightining does not strike twice for Nia Vardalos of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

DAVID CARRADINE's family is "profoundly disturbed" by the publication of a photo that appears to be Carradine hanging in his hotel room.  Meanwhile The Smoing Gun found a reference to "deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly" in his 2003 divorce papers.

HEIDI MONTAG PRATT has been taken to a hospital in Costa Rica after falling ill on the set of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.

BROOKE SHIELDS has settled with the National Enquirer after alleging the tabloid checked her mother out of a New Jersey nursing home last month.

BRITNEY SPEARS has settled with a former manager on undisclosed terms.  The judge also signed off on 193K in legal fees for the singer's attorneys.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER has a new clip posted at Moviefone.

MEGAN FOX lost so much weight during a period of depression, her hair started to fall out.

GEORGE CLOONEY is reportedly moving a new cocktail waitress into his pad.

IRAN has sped up its production of nuclear fuel and increased its number of installed centrifuges to 7,200 -- more than enough, weapon experts said, to make fuel for up to two nuclear weapons a year.  The Islamic theocracy has blocked UN atomic inspectors for more than a year now from visiting a heavy-water reactor capable of being modified to produce plutonium that could be used in weapons.  In a separate report released Friday, the IAEA said it had found new evidence to support the claim that the complex that Israel bombed in the Syrian desert in 2007 was in fact a clandestine nuclear reactor. RTWT for the persistent Korth Koean connection.

LEBANON: The ruling pro-Western coalition appeared headed for a decisive political victory over its Iranian-backed Hezbollah rivals early Monday in the Middle East nation's most fiercely contested parliamentary election in decades.

D-DAY + 65 was celebrated Saturday, which means I really should have linked to Ike's message to the troops and Ronald Reagan's moving 40th Anniversary speech on Friday.  Better late than never.

SCRATCH-A-BEAVER: Let's go to the video. Hey, nice beaver!

THE SWARM: More than 10K honeybees appeared out of nowhere on Sunday and landed on the wing of a parked airplane at Beverly Airport in Massachusetts.

LEOPARD vs CROCODILE: Hal Brindley snapped the amazing moment a leopard snatched a crocodile at a South African game reserve on the only occasion this behavior has ever been documented worldwide.

COWS stare unamazed as they are the subject of an experiment to determine whether a change in diet will help them belch less methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that has been linked to climate change.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE DECEMBERISTS! NPR has six videos shot during the premiere performance of The Hazards of Love at SxSW.  The selections include "The Rake's Song," "The Hazards Of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)," "'The Hazards Of Love 2 (Wager All)," "The Wanting Comes In Waves," "Annan Water," and "The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)."

ST. VINCENT stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand via MPR.

JENNY LEWIS also stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand via MPR.

DIRTY PROJECTORS: David Longstreth is profiled in the New York Times in connection to the new album advance streaming via NPR.

THE CARS, Live at El Mocambo, 9/14/78.

WE FIVE: Because "You Were On My Mind," natch.

BJORK is interviewed at... Interview, while traveling and recording on a boat in Guatemala.

TV on the RADIO: Kyp Malone talks to the National Post about hype, genre, and more...

GEEK LOVE: How two music nerds pick their wedding song.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Replacements to Hall & Oates, from the Beach Boys to the Beastie Boys, from Rush to the Posies, plus Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello & Dave Grohl, the Feelies, the Who the Creation and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include the Will Farrell take on Land of the Lost, which is currently scoring 16 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; The Hangover, which is scoring 82 percent; and My Life In Ruins, scoring 8 percent.

BRADGELINA deny rumors of a breakup.

BRITNEY SPEARS is not getting rave reviews for the opening of her UK tour.

LINDSAY LOHAN ended up blubbering in tears after chasing her ex Samantha Ronson all over London on Wednesday night.

DENISE RICHARDS admits that she has had three boob jobs.

DAVID CARRADINE was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room, sitting in a wardrobe with a rope around his neck and genitals (The BBC has since removed the express reference to genitals, but it was there).  But I would guess that's the detail that has authorities leaning towards an accidental suicide scenario.  (UPDATE: Carradine's manager claims the actor was found with his hands tied behind his back.) Best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, his career spanned over 100 movies with directors such as Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman, and Quentin Tarantino in the Kill Bill fims, which included the wonderful "Superman Speech."

OPRAH WINFREY is speaking out about Newsweek's latest cover story, which claims that she abuses her influence and credibility by promoting health "cures" that are ineffective and dangerous.

JEFFREY TAMBOR is to be a father again at the age of 64. Hey, Now!

AFGHANISTAN:  The Kabul police force is hiring thousands of new recruits ahead of presidential elections in late August, and American mentors are working urgently with Afghan National Police colonels to quickly train them. Meanwhile, US troops report the increasing sophistication of some guerrilla groups in northern Zabul province's Deh Chopan district.

PAKISTAN: After a meeting held recently in Afghanistan's Paktia province, Al Qaeda has transferred seven operatives from the Iraq theater to target senior Pakistani leaders.

PAWSOME: Tiger cub cuteness, with chintzy piano.

A MOUSE risked death when it stole some food from under the nose of a leopard at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire. Pic at the link.

TIES FOR CATS: The entrepreneurial spirit lives in America.

KITTEN stuck up tree attacked by crows.

"GAY" PENGUINS have successfully hatched an egg and are now proudly rearing the chick, a German zoo has said.  The zoo might have rethought "rearing" as a word choice, but they're German.

THE SOUNDS: "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake."

SONIC YOUTH is advance streaming The Eternal album via iLike.

SPINAL TAP is advance streaming their Back From the Dead album via Entertainment Weekly.

THE FELICE BROS stopped by the WXPN studios for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

X singer Exene Cervenka has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

PAUL SIMON plays -- appropriately enough -- "Late in the Evening" for Jimmy Fallon, backed by The Roots and Antibalas.

NELLIE McKAY talks to PopMatters about songwriting and social activism.

THE HOLD STEADY will appear on Top Chef.

BOB DYLAN: Mojo compiles wit and wisdom from the first 100 editions of Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour.

KOKO TAYLOR, the Queen of the Blues, has died at 80.  Audio and video at the link.

KRISTEN STEWART & ROBERT PATTISON are reportedly taking their Twilight romance off-set, too.  Meanwhile, Stewart is interviewed by Jon Favreau, who directed her in Zathura.

KATE HUDSON & ALEX RODRIGUEZ are getting "somewhat serious," according to People magazine.

ANGELINA JOLIE & BRAD PITT are in a "major split," according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer -- which had the couple "back in love" just last week.

CHRISTINA RICCI and her comedian boyfriend Owen Benjamin have ended their engagement.

DREW BARRYMORE, contrary to rumors, is not dating Entourage's Adrian Grenier. He's Just Not That Into Her.

COOL GUYS DON'T LOOK AT EXPLOSIONS: Andy Sandberg's MTV VMA tribute.

ASHLEE SIMPSON: Wasted and wasting away?

PETER FALK has been placed into a conservatorship, ending a legal battle between his wife and daughter.

IRAN: Pres. Ahmadinejad and fmr. Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi clashed in a televised election debate.

AFGHANISTAN: Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal suggested that the US strategy in Afghanistan is likely to cost American taxpayers and NATO member nations billions of dollars for many years.

IRAQ: The US withdrawal from major cities -- including restive Mosul -- is still on schedule for the end of the month.

UGLY GOAT: Let's go to the video.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant squirrel disrupted the Red Sox-Tigers game; the second time he has appeared at Comerica Park in recent weeks. Video at the link.

TORTOISE SMUGGLERS foiled at the Polish-Ukrainian border.

GATOR uses the washroom at Clark's Fish Camp in Jacksonville, FL.

THOUSANDS OF CHICKENS die in a fire in Seattle, without benefit of 19 special herbs and spices.