THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with DEVO! Four-fifths of the classic combo is working on its first album since 1990 and playing SxSW, so it seems like an opportune moment to revist thier heyday. Here they are on Fridays (ABC's ill-fated attempt to ape SNL) in 1980, playing "Girl U Want" and "Gates of Steel," along with "Whip It" and "Uncontrollable Urge" -- each with costume changes.  The band returned in 1981, where they played "Theme From Adventures of The Smart Patrol" and "Jerkin' Back 'n' Forth," followed by "I Saw Jesus" and "Through Being Cool," then their cover of "Working in a Coal Mine."  BONUS: Vintage Devo, covering "Satisfaction" on French TV.

THE DEAD WEATHER: Jack White's newest supergroup includes members of The Kills, Queens of the Stone Age and The Raconteurs. Tube at the link.

BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY: Will Oldham stopped by WNYC for a chat and mini-set (and a movie recoomendation) streaming via NPR.

THE ANNUALS have a Lounge Act session downloadable at WOXY.

TWICE IN A WEEK: No sooner do I post Kermit's cover than "Once In A Lifetime" becomes the latest entry in the upgraded NPR 100. 

NEKO CASE, whose new record made No.3 on the Billboard charts, is profiled by Sasha Frere-Jones for The New Yorker.

HANDSOME FURS: "I'm Confused," the first video from the new album Face Control, is a zombie love thriller for the ages, according to SubPop. More Fake Cowbell!

OASIS: You know how some rock stars are really into the environment? Noah Gallagher isn't one of them.

BILLY BRAGG, KT TUNSTALL, BADLY DRAWN BOY and others are launching the Featured Artists' Coalition, a new protest group aiming to give musicians a voice in big deals and decisions in the music industry.

CALEXICO: Joey Burns talks to JamBands about this week's REM tribute and benefit concert at Carnegie Hall.

PHIL SPECTOR's defense attorney has rested his case in the music producer's murder retrial involving the death of actress Lana Clarkson.

HYLOZOISTS:  Multi-instrumentalist Paul Aucoin talks to BeatRoute about wrapping up his run with The Sadies and other side projects to return to the band's next album. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

NELS & ALEX CLINE talk to PopMatters about their similar, yet divergent, musical paths.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Flying Lizards to the Flaming Lips, from The Embarrassment to XTC, from Holsapple & Stamey to Hazlewood & Sinatra to KC & the Sunshine Band, from Sugar to Garbage, plus The Kinks, Springsteen, Smith, Clarence Carter and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Disney's Race to Witch Mountain, which is currently scoring 42 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; the remake of The Last House on the Left, also scoring 42 percent; and Miss March, currently earning the rare goose egg.

JENNIFER ANISTON & JOHN MAYER: Dunzo again?

MADONNA & BRITNEY SPEARS: Together again. Meanwhile, the pop wreck has been secretly dating her longtime talent agent, Jason Trawick.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX jumped off the stage and attacked a fan at a Miami show last night - but, like anything with him these days, the whole thing could be one big set up. Video at the link.

BRADGELINA: The Jolie-Pitt Foundation got a 250K donation from E! Television last year... (and Jolie blew off Ryan Secrest on the red carpet twice this year. Heh).  Meanwhile, Jolie caught Pitt massaging the nanny, according to the ever-reliable Star magazine.

JADA PINKETT SMITH is opening a private school, for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, using instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The school's director has said it isn't a Scientology facility. M'kay.

HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE has a new trailer online.

CHUCK NORRIS may run for President of Texas. Who would dare tell him, "No"?

THE UNITED NATIONS, having brought peace to the entire planet, will be discussing Battlestar Galactica on March 17.

ISLAMISM in INDONESIA: As candidates hit the campaign trail in preparation for July's presidential election, Indonesian rights groups have voiced strong opposition to an increasing number of Shari'ah-inspired laws they say discriminate against religious minorities and violate Indonesia's policy of the Pancasila, or "unity in diversity."

AFGHANISTAN: Michael Yon relays word from Colonel Bill Hix that the Afghan National Army is more independent than some think.  Whether it's effective enough yet is another matter.

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT? Wanna good paddling? Me-OW!

HORSE chomped on a man's privates. "Luckily the horse did not chew up or swallow his testicle, but spat it on to the pavement," a bystander was quoted as saying.

MOSHA the ELEPHANT looks happy learning to walk with her new jumbo-sized prosthetic leg. But she could use a parrot, matey.

DOG SAVED from choking; owner lands in hospital, loses finger. But not before dropping the chocolate Lab at the vet.

DEER make a run at the Beer Arena. Let's go to the video.

BOB MOULD does a Q&A + plays a new song, "I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand In My Light Any More," for Newsweek. 

DAN AUERBACH stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

STEVE EARLE is advance streaming two songs from his upcoming tribute to Townes van Zandt, with a cameo from fmr RAtM axeman Tom Morello. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

BISHOP ALLEN: Justin Rice talks to YANP about marimbas, freaky arthouse movies, and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.

RYAN ADAMS & MANDY MOORE secretly wed in Savannah, GA on Tuesday.  Adams is putting out two books this year.

M WARD hit the keys on "To Save Me" for Craig Ferguson.

YEAH YEAH YEAHS: Karen O talks to Pitchfork about album leaks and rock star fantasies.

A.C. NEWMAN talks to the Boston Herald about Neko Case, covering a-Ha, and... oh yeah, his new album.

DUKES OF UKE: Once viewed as the corny, cringeworthy cousin of the guitar, the ukulele is now being championed by a new generation of artists.

MATT & KIM are profiled by CMJ.

BRITNEY SPEARS is getting her act so together that her father's control over her affairs will end? I'll believe it when I see it.

LINDSAY LOHAN and SAMANTHA RONSON had another bust-up - which ended when the actress' lesbian partner stormed off.

AMY WINEHOUSE's recuperation period is well and truly over. Shocka!

HAYDEN PANETTIERE is trying to get co-star/ ex-bf Milo Ventimiglia kicked off of Heroes.

MEGAN FOX is back on with fiancé Brian Austin Green, though it's unclear whether they were ever really done.

ANNE HECHE and beau James Tupper welcomed their first child together (her second) over the weekend, named him Atlas. *Shrug*

KELLY CLARKSON breaks out TMI for Blender magazine.

PAUL RUDD & JASON SEGEL are covering a couple of Rush classics for their bromance flick I Love You, Man. New York magazine has their take on "Limelight."  And Segel got roped into doing "Dracula's Lament" (from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) while Rudd holds the mic at a preview screening for the new flick. BONUS: Of course I'm going to relink Rudd and David Wain singing "More Tahn A Feeling" with Of Montreal. Are you nuts?

IRON MAN 2: Nikke Finke reports that Mickey Rourke is thisclose to signing on, and that Scarlett Johansson has signed a "terrible" deal to replace Emily Blunt (who had scheduling conflicts).

ISLAMISM in the UK: Muslim extremists shouted abuse at British soldiers during a home-coming march by the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment.

PAKISTAN: Former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf suggested the Army will have to do something, one way or another, about the internal and external threats to the country.

AFGHANISTAN: The commander of a secretive branch of America's Special Operations forces last month ordered a halt to most commando missions in Afghanistan, reflecting a growing concern that civilian deaths caused by American firepower are jeopardizing broader goals there. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court in Afghanistan has upheld a 20-year prison sentence for an Afghan university student journalist accused of blasphemy (he had written and distributed an article about the role of women in Islam).

AN OBESE SPIDER MONKEY turns up in a Tennessee backyard: Let's go to the video.

FROG'S LEGS saved by hospital. Pic (and X-Ray) at the link.

A 12-FT TIGER SHARK ATTACKS: The Daily Mail has the pics.

A TINY FISH with vampire-like fangs has been discovered by zoologists in northern Burma.

GOU GOU the POODLE has become a local celebrity in a Chinese city where it goes for a walk every day - on two feet. Two legs good!

BISHOP ALLEN: "Dimmer" is the latest video from their GRRR album.

SXSW: All Songs Considered rolls out a streaming preview of the big fest down in Austin, while Amazon has a free 11-track sampler for download.  But, wait! There's more! At iMeem!

THE RUMBLE STRIPS do the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, all previously unreleased.

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN get a nifty historical essay at the newly-redesigned Pitchfork.

NEKO CASE talks to The A.V. Club about listening to herself, making the Middle Cyclone album, and more...

KERMIT dons the Big Suit for "Once In A Lifetime."  This is the real Kermit, not Sad Kermit.

SMASHING PUMPKINS: Mr. Corgan Goes to Washington, asks to get paid.

HANDSOME FURS: Dan Boeckner talks to ChartAttack -- not once, but twice -- about the band's new album. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

DAFT PUNK has been signed to write the original music score for Tron 2.0.

FIVE of the MOST IMPORTANT MUSTACHES in Music History, according to Earfarm.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & JESSICA BIEL: Summer wedding rumors.

RHIANNA & CHRIS BROWN: Recording together. Ugh. Also, Brown's manager triggered the fight that left Rihanna battered and bruised and Chris Brown an accused felon. Allegedly.

ROSARIO DAWSON plans to lick her children in public for misbehaving.

MICHAEL J. FOX is returning to primetime TV -- in a reality show of sorts.

WATCHMEN: Dr. Manhattan is examined by a physics prof at Scientific American.

100 MOVIE & TV THEMES in 10 minutes. No one has guessed them all yet.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR is joining the reboot gang.

THOR: Is Kenneth Branagh casting Alexander Skarsgård? And if so, for which role?

IRAN: It would be difficult to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and hard to tell which combination of carrots and sticks might convince Iran's leaders to abandon that goal, the US Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, told the Senate Tuesday. Reminder: A nuclear Iran will likely set off an arms race in the Middle East.

AFGHANISTAN: Heavy layers of body armor  may be an impediment to winning the fight in Afghanistan, according to the AP. The proper balance between troop safety and mobility will be examined this week during a series of oversight hearings by the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.  The reality is that the same tradeoffs existed in Iraq, where some were bent on making body armor a political issue.  Apparently, it's now okay to have grown-up discussions about difficult choices.

IRAQ: A suicide bomber struck Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders and high-ranking security officials touring a market after a reconciliation meeting west of Baghdad on Tuesday. Baath party hardliners led by Iraq's executed president Saddam Hussein's number two on Tuesday spurned repeated calls for national reconciliation from the "traitors" of the new government.

TURTLE & SHOE, living together... mass hysteria.

SNAKE in a KITCHEN: An upstate New York woman walked into her kitchen early Sunday morning to find a 4-and-a-half-foot-long ball python.

BLUE DUCKS ARE likely to die out in UK, after the only two remaining males fell for each other.

BLUE TITS hit hard by housing crisis.

THE UNUSUAL REPRODUCTIVE LIFE of the Naked Mole Rat.  Though I suspect the Clothed Mole Rat would be even more unusual.

BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY declares "I Am Goodbye" in advance of his album next week. And talks to the L.A. Times Pop & Hiss blog about touring, being interviewed, acting, etc.

NEW RELEASES: Elvis Perkins, Cursive, Handsome Furs, John Wesley Harding, a BoDeans reissue and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

YEAH YEAH YEAHS are advance streaming the upcoming It's Blitz album.

THE FEELIES: Glenn Mercer talks to Gotham Acme about their reunion; streaming MP3's include the new "Time Is Right."

MARK OLSON & GARY LOURIS talk to JamBase aboout the recording of their reunion album.

MASH-UPS: The Beatles vs LCD Soundsystem vs The Kinks is like a Threefer-in-One Tuesday, but I'm still partial to "Paperback Believer."

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: Benjamin Curtis talks to Drowned In Sound about the recording of the Alpinisms LP, laying the ghost of his old band (Secret Machines) to rest and also about his obsession with the Slowcore movement.

NOAH & THE WHALE: Charlie Fink talks to Scotland On Sunday about the unreliability of Wikipedia, upcoming shows, Andy kaufman, lyrics, etc.

CHARLIE LOUVIN talks to the Boston Herald about 60+ years of making music.

ALINA SIMONE talks to PopMatters about her Russian-language collection of covers of songs by Soviet punk poet and cult legend Yanka Dyagileva.

MEGAN FOX is reportedly disengaged from Brian Austin Green, but is still living at his house. OTOH, she has been seen more than once with Twilight's Robert Pattinson.

BRITNEY SPEARS has had the mother of all wardrobe malfunctions - exposing her private parts and then telling a packed audience what she'd done. 

HAYDEN PANETTIERE went ballistic on the press at a fundraiser benefiting the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific Foundation Sunday in Honolulu. The headline says she shoved a TV reporter, but that's not in the text of the story.

RHIANNA is warned by Oprah that Chris Brown will hit her again.

AMY WINEHOUSE's legal troubles have prevented her from gaining a US work visa.

ASHLEE SIMPSON has become the latest tenant of The CW's refurbished Melrose Place.

GWYNETH PALTROW can be a diva when the crew isn't ready for her? Shocka!

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & JESSICA BIEL made surprise cartoon cameos on SNL.

DIRECTORS, WRITERS & ACTORS on Twitter, compiled by /Film.

WATCHMEN: Slate asks how other directors, like Woody Allen, might have filmed the comics classic.

MARTHA STEWART is mourning the loss of her beloved Chow Chow, Ghenghis Khan, who died in a deadly propane explosion at a kennel in Pennsylvania.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS: A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

AFGHANISTAN: The US is considering using Iran as an alternate supply route for its forces in Afghanistan. Pres. Obama has hinted that the US could talk to moderate elements of the Taliban as part of its strategy in Afghanistan; Pres. Karzai and analysts are not optimistic.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Okay, maybe not this one. Or maybe the "Yakety Sax" is throwing me off.

KANGAROO terrorizes sleeping Aussie family. No word on squirrel involvement. Yet.

OWLS ATTACK skiers at the Rolland F. Perry City Forest in Bangor, Maine.No word on squirrel involvement. Yet.

BABY POLAR BEARS take their first steps in the wild.  Awww... some pics at the link.

A CAPTIVE CHIMP was caught planning an attack on zoo visitors.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH stopped by Fallon's last week to debut "Statues."

FRIGHTENED RABBIT stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via NPR, while reading Scott Hutchinson's Q&A with MAGNET.

THE SUBMARINES stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

BENJY FERREE has a Lounge Act session available for download at WOXY.

THE PITCHFORK MUSIC FEST has started announcing acts, including Grizzly Bear and The National.

VETIVER have released a karaoke-spoofing video for "Everyday," the lead single from the Tight Knit album.

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn talks to Paste about the band's upcoming live album/documentary combo, upcoming opening dates for Dave Matthews, etc.

DEAN & BRITTA:  Dean talks to TimeOut Chicago about performing 13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's "Screen Tests," and have been guest-editing at MAGNET, with pieces on La Blogotheque, "Badlands," Todd Barry, "Another Bullsh*t Night In Suck City," the Pittsburgh Signs Project, Spectrum, The Sand Pebbles, Bread Pudding, Opal, and "Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It."

RICHARD THOMPSON gets a new 4-CD box -- Walking On A Wire: Richard Thompson (1968-2009) -- on June 30.

MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU DUMB: Virgil Griffith, a 25-year-old Caltech graduate student, has aggregated Facebook data about the favorite bands and books among students of various colleges and plotted them against the average SAT scores at those schools, creating a tongue-in-cheek statistical look at taste and intelligence.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Folks watched the Watchmen to the tune of 55.7 million -- less than some predicted, but solid, considering its rating, length, largely unknown cast and characters, and mixed reviews.  It's the second biggest March opener ever, behind Zach Snyder's last pic, 300, which grossed a whopping 70.9 million in 2007.  But tinseltown awaits next weekend, to see whether it matches 300's 54 percent drop.  Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail dropped to second, with 8.8 million, while Taken climbed to third with 7.5 million.  Slumdog Millionaire dropped to the fourth slot with 6.9 million.  Paul Blart: Mall Cop climbed back into the Top Five with 4.2 million.

BRADGELINA: While Jolie was filming Salt in DC, Pitt met with Pres. Obama at the White House Thursday to discuss post-Katrina reconstruction in New Orleans.

CHARLES BARKLEY didn't have to wear the trad stripes in jail.

JIMMY KIMMEL & SARAH SILVERMAN have split again.

RHIANNA & CHRIS BROWN may or may not plan to co-author a book about abuse and appear together on a number of talk shows. Brown wants to cop a plea, but only to a misdemeanor, with no jail time.

JULIA ROBERTS is a superstar, but her box-office reign might be over, according to Newsweek.

LILY ALLEN claims to be suffereing her own credit crunch.

UP: The next outing from Pixar has a full-length trailer online. Looks to have more action than previously suggested.

SATURDAY MORNING WATCHMEN: You don't have to have read the book to enjoy the movie, but this video is twice as funny if you've read or seen.

IRAN, Hamas and Hezbollah offered international support to Sudan's president after he was charged with war crimes in Darfur. A shoe was hurled at Pres. Ahmadinejad while he was in the city of Urmia, an Iranian Web site has reported. A number of pro-Ahmadinejad bloggers denied the report, claiming it was a rumor spread by "monarchists" and "anti-revolutionaries," the accepted terms for members of the Iranian opposition. Iran test-fired a new air-to-surface missile, Iranian media reported, despite the offer by the Obama Administration to engage in direct talks if it "unclenches its fist."

PAKISTAN: The Taliban cements power, hard-line Ismaic law after signing the truce (which they have already broken). Many analysts believe any final peace deal in Swat, like a previous agreement with the militants that failed last year, will eventually collapse leaving the Taliban in a stronger position, having been given time to consolidate.

AFGHANISTAN: The US military is laboring to shore up a vulnerable supply chain through Pakistan and Central Asia as it seeks to expand the flow of supplies into Afghanistan by at least 50 percent to support an influx of tens of thousands of troops, according to defense officials and experts. Regular Pate visitors probably know this, but, icymi.

IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN: The Mudville Gazette notes that the headlines about US troops going from Iraq to Afghanistan are not always as advertised.

CAT & FROG, not living together.  The frog screams, but is unscathed.

TIGER & DOLPHINS, living together... mass hysteria.

ST. BERNARD who froze to the ice on a pond had to be rescued with a mallet.

OCK in the BOX: The sea creature got his 7-foot long body into a locked trunk only 14 inches wide.

FISH WITH HUMAN FACES are making waves in South Korea.

CROC ATTACK survivor talks to WSBT in South Bend, Indiana.