PATE REUNION UPDATE:  Jon, Mike & Jon (and we hope Ron) will be retaking a stage somewhere near Iowa State University on July 5th, 2013, just one short decade after their last reunion gig.  Clear your calendar for something transcendent, a train wreck, or both!  If you're on the Facebook, check in with the event page.

FATHER JOHN MISTY played "I'm Writing A Novel" on Leno.

BIFFY CLYRO is advance streaming Opposites.

WILLIAM TYLER (Lambchop) is advance streaming Impossible Truth.

THE RUBY SUNS stop by the KEXP studio with this set of propulsive and layered indie-pop. Ryan McPhun spins tunes and talks to Stereogum about Michael Jackson, his synth solos, and how New Zealand is like the Lord Of The Flies of music. 

IGGY & THE STOOGES "Burn" before getting Ready To Die.

SMITH WESTERNS drop "Varsity" ahead of Soft Will.

SURFER BLOOD drops "Demon Dance" ahead of Pythons.

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER will "Stare At The Sun" ahead of Personal Record.

THE REPLACEMENTS: Songs For Slim is now available for download via Amazon and iTunes.

DEAN & BRITTA: Today just seemed good for "Words You Used to Say."

MARNIE STERN talks to Stereogum about the Upper East Side, eBay, her new LP and more...

AIMEE MANN and TED LEO have formed a new band, #BOTH.

RICHARD HELL, and the DIY book he kept for 40 years.

IAN MacKAYE: Worth 25 million?

TAYLOR SWIFT thinks there's a special place in Hell for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.  Amy Poehler responds.

TERRENCE HOWARD gives a super-klassy description of his love scene with Oprah in Dead Man Down.

JON STEWART will take a 12-week hiatus from hosting Comedy Central's The Daily Show to make his feature directing debut this summer.

HOLLY MADISON and her boyfriend, Pasquale Rotella, welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world.

BRET MICHAELS had a meltdown over his shocking elimination from the All-Stars Celebrity Apprentice. Every Trump has its thorn.

JAY BARUCHEL & ALISON PILL called off their engagement.

ROM-COMS: Dead, or just resting?

THE UNITED STATES: Hafiz Khan, a Florida imam and US citizen, was found guilty of providing some 50000 to the Pakistani Taliban.

VENEZUELA: Hugo Chavez died of cancer; an election to replace him will be held in 30 days.

NORTH KOREA: China and the US proposed new UN sanctions aimed at halting North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. North Korea responded by threatening to cancel the ceasefire agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953.

TURKEY: The main opposition party urged the government to clarify its position on al Qaeda after the Turkish envoy to Chad tweeted last month that "al Qaeda is very different from terror." The party's deputy chairman also asked why former al Qaeda spokesman Abu Ghaith is still in Turkey after the US reportedly sought his extradition earlier this year.

SYRIA: Rebels battled to consolidate their hold in the provincial capital of Raqqa, and captured the provincial governor.

IRAQ: Al Qaeda in Iraq gunned down an Awakening leader and gravely wounded his sister in an attack at their home south of Mosul.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A lizard squirting 5-ft streams of blood from its eyeballs.

THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON OF MOSQUITOS is likely to be abundant in Florida this summer.

LIONS rampage through a Chinese Zoo after a cleaner forgets to lock the gate to their enclosure. Oops.

LUSTY TORTOISES consumed by the fire of love.

BUKE & GASE drop a video for "General Dome."

NEW RELEASES from They Might Be Giants, Son Volt, How to Destroy Angels, Jamaican Queens, Hey Marsailles and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

PHOSPHORESCENT is advance streaming Muchacho.

MARNIE STERN is advance streaming The Chronicles of Marnia.

WILD BELLE is advance streaming Isles.

MUDHONEY drops "I Like It Small" ahead of Vanishing Point.

JACKIE DeSHANNON: "What the World Needs Now" and "When You Walk In the Room" for Twofer Tuesday.

BRYAN FERRY talks about the soundtrack to his life at Pitchfork.

THAO NGUYEN talks to Magnet about making We The Common.

SWIM DEEP: A spry update on early-Nineties US alternative rock and psychedelic British indie is profiled at The Telegraph.

10 SUPERGROUPS that were less than super, according to Flavorwire.

LINDSAY LOHAN is rejecting Charlie Sheen's offer to mentor her, grousing that she wishes he'd just shut up.

JADEN SMITH and KYLIE JENNER are reportedly an item.

HARRISON FORD will play a legendary newscaster in Anchorman 2.

LaTOYA JACKSON seizes the careers of Michael's kids.

JESSICA CHASTAIN: Vanity Fair apparently pulled a critical column about the actress during the Oscars chase.

JAMES McAVOY says shooting sex scenes isn't his forte because he finds sex in real life a ‘nightmare'.

DON PARDO missed SNL due to a broken hip.

BANGLADESH: Protesters from Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir vandalized a patriotic monument in Rangpur, continuing their violent campaign across the country; over 50 people have been killed since Feb. 28.

ISRAEL's attempt to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing, closed last week after rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, was prevented by Hamas.

SYRIA: After weeks of battle, fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front and others took control of the provincial capital of Reqqa in northern Syria, the first time an entire city has fallen.

IRAQ: Forty-two Syrian soldiers and seven Iraqi troops were killed in an ambush in Anbar province. Iraq's national security advisor said that Qatar and other Arab countries, along with nongovernmental groups, are financing Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian jihadi group, with the acquiescence of Turkey.

IRAN announced it planned to build 3000 advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges while it phased out 12000 older generation centrifuges.

OCEARCH tags a great white shark off the coast of Jacksonville, FL. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

A POLICE DOG searching for a handgun hidden in a downtown Lawrence, MA, snowbank early Saturday morning managed to fire the weapon with his paw.

CAT-SIZED RATS are hunted by snipers in Tehran.

ROSIE THE LABRADOR had a lucky escape after being impaled on a 30cm stick poking out of the ground.

OVER 16 MILLION SERVED. Thanks for stopping by, stooppers-by!

PATE REUNION UPDATE:  Jon, Mike & Jon (and we hope Ron) will be retaking a stage somewhere near Iowa State University on July 5th, 2013, just one short decade after their last reunion gig.  Clear your calendar for something transcendent, a train wreck, or both!  If you're on the Facebook, check in with the event page.

PRINCE hit Fallon with his new single "Screwdriver" as well as a classic, "Bambi."

DAVE GROHL & FRIENDS advance stream Sound City: Real to Reel.

DEVENDRA BANHART is advance streaming Mala.

HOLLIS BROWN is advance streaming their debut LP Ride on the Train.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK - who just turned 60 - talks about and plays songs off Love From London at WNYC Soundcheck.

BOBBY ROGERS, a founding member of Motown group the Miracles and a collaborator with Smokey Robinson, has died. He was 73. He shared songwriting credits with Robinson on The Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do," The Contours' "First I Look at the Purse" and The Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go." Rogers' voice can also be heard among the speaking voices in the introduction to Marvin Gaye's hit "What's Going On," saying "It's just a groovy party, man, I can dig it."

THE SMITHS: PopCandy excerpts Songs That Saved Your Life: The Art of the Smiths 1982-87.

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER talks about her upcoming solo LP at Pitchfork.

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN talks Sleater-Kinney and the "female band" label with PBS via Spinner. 

10 GREAT MUSIC-INSPIRED POSTERS, rounded up at Paste.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Jack The Giant Slayer tops the chart with 28 million against a 195 million budget. Jack will need giant box office in forign markets to make money, especially with Oz landing next Friday.  Identity Thief holds to place with 9.7 million and cracks the 100 million mark against a 35 million budget.  21 And Over shows with 9 million against a 13 million budget.  The Last Exorcism Part II debuts with 8 million against a 5 million budget, which is money-making, but less than the original made on its opening day.  Snitch rounds out the Top Five with 7.7 million.

CHARLIE SHEEN wants to mentor Lindsay Lohan.

ANNE HATHAWAY's Oscar rehearsal meltdown.

JUSTIN BIEBER's Worst Birthday Evah.

RHIANNA wants to start a family, presumably with Chris Brown. Oy.

JAY LENO on his way out of the Tonight Show? The show is in trouble on a network recently beaten by Univision.

BONNIE FRANKLIN, best known for a playing single mom to two teenage daughters on the long-running CBS sitcom One Day At A Time, died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 69. Valerie Bertinelli paid tribute.

LIBYA: Extremists attacked a Coptic church in Benghazi on Feb. 28 and assaulted the priest and his assistant.

ISRAEL: Prime Minister Netanyahu said Iran is using talks with world powers only to stall for time in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

IRAQ: Al Qaeda in Iraq killed an Awakening leader and three of his sons in Samarra.

EGYPT: US Secretary of State Kerry met with President Morsi and announced that the US will provide Egypt with 190 million to aid the Egyptian government's budget. The Salafi Nour Party met with Jama'a al-Islamiya to discuss the formation of an alliance for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

A ROLLING BULLDOG gathers no moss.

THE THAMES CROCODILE turns out to be a prop used in the James Bond film Live and Let Die.

BUNNIES are implicated in the death of the Neanderthal. But I think scientists need to take a harder look at squirrels.

MILLIONS OF LOCUSTS plague Egypt. NOW will you let the people go?

PATE REUNION UPDATE:  Jon, Mike & Jon (and we hope Ron) will be retaking a stage somewhere near Iowa State University on July 5th, 2013, just one short decade after their last reunion gig.  Clear your calendar for something transcendent, a train wreck, or both!  If you're on the Facebook, check in with the event page.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA! Live in London, circa 1976.  Your setlist includes: "Poker", "Nightrider", "Showdown", "Eldorado Overture", "Can't Get It Out Of My Head", "Poorboy (The Greenwood)", "Illusions in G Major", "Strange Magic", "10538 Overture"/"Do Ya", "Evil Woman", "Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle", and "Roll Over Beethoven".

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA, live at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

FOXYGEN was the opener at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

DAVID BOWIE is advance streaming The Next Day via iTunes.

JIMI HENDRIX: NPR has your advance stream of People, Hell, and Angels.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: New tracks from Phoenix, David Bowie, Wavves and more highlight the latest edition.

AKRON/FAMILY drops "Until The Morning" ahead of Sub Verses.

TODD RUNDGREN: "Bang the Drum All Day." Because it's Friday.

JACK WHITE talks to Rolling Stone about new solo and Dead Weather tracks, preserving the blues, Mumford & Sons and more...

RICHARD THOMPSON stopped by All Things Considered for a chat and mini-set, including always-great "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS fired Scott Weiland. Again. Weiland responds.

JAPANDROIDS defeat NICKELBACK in a contest put on by the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks to determine the team's new entrance music. 

RICHARD STREET becomes the second member of The Temptations to die this month.

CUTOUT BIN: From Led Zeppeling to Berlin, from the Rolling Stones to the Undertones; from the Jam to Johnny Cash, plus the Faces, Echo & the Bunnymen, Gary U.S. Bonds, the Beatles 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 Jack The Giant Slayer, which is currently scoring 57 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; The Last Exorcism Part 2 (so not really the last is it?), which was not screened for critics (shocka); 21 And Over, which is scoring 30 percent; and Phantom, scoring 17 percent.

LINDSAY LOHAN looks like she's headed for trial in her lying-to-cops case.

KRISTEN STEWART is ignoring texts and emails from director Rupert Sanders, who is headed for dicvorce after his affair with Stewart became public.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE goes brunette in Hawaii.

JENNIFER ANISTON is ready to change her name for the public for her soon-to-be husband.

BEN STILLER will return to Arrested Development.

GIRLS GONE BANKRUPT: Joe Francis, appears to have pushed the skeevy franchise and several related entities into bankruptcy in order to shield his assets from a slander lawsuit filed by casino mogul Steve Wynn.

TURKEY: Security forces conducted simultaneous raids in the Çorlu district of Tekirdağ and the Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul, arresting 11 suspected members of al Qaeda and confiscating seized 25 kilos of A-4 type plastic explosives, along with guns, USB flash disks, CDs, and remote-controlled explosive mechanisms.

SYRIA: US Secretary of State Kerry said the US will send food and medicine, as well as 60 million for basic services such as education and sanitation, directly to the Syrian Opposition Coalition.

IRAN: Talks in Kazakhstan between Iran and six world powers over Iran's nuclear program ended optimistically. Both sides agreed to hold further talks in March.

IRAQ: Insurgents killed 22 Iraqis in a series of bombings in predominantly Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad. Prime Minister al-Maliki warned that the civil war in Syria may spill over into Iraq and Jordan.

A MINI-GOAT plays peek-a-boo.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent knocked out power in two Pennsylvania towns.

RAT BRAINS exchange information over the internet, thus explaining much of the internet.

TROTTER THE BULLDOG: Instagram sensation.

JAPANDROIDS take "The Nights Of Wine And Roses" to Conan.

EELS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

VAN STEE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

ERIN McKEOWN stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

BLUE HAWAII is advance streaming Untogether.

PATRICK STICKLES of Titus Andronicus covers Free Energy's "Hey Tonight."

SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME drops "Invisible Friend," well ahead of One Kiss Ends It All.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN breaks out a 12-string to cover Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk in the Room," which was also a hit for The Searchers.

SUUNS: Ben Shemie and Joe Yarmush talk to The Line Of Best Fit about Montreal, taking music seriously, and more... (Thx, Chromewaves.)

ADAM ANT talks to Rolling Stone about bipolar disorder and returning to music.

SOLANGE talks to Entertainment Weekly about her new EP, Halloween costumes, and her son's rap career.

THE RECORDED MUSIC INDUSTRY posts its first revenue growth since 1999.

LINDSAY LOHAN reportedly smelled of alcohol after she crashed her Porsche last June on Pacific Coast Highway.

RACHEL McADAMS & MICHAEL SHEEN are dunzo, afetr a pretty decent run for Hollywood.

JENNIFER ANISTON is in the process of planning her wedding to screenwriter-actor Justin Theroux.

JESSICA SIMPSON: It's going to be a boy, reportedly.

LAIM HEMSWORTH reportedly cheated on Miley Cyrus with Mad Men's January Jones, according to the evr-reliable Star.

TINA FEY is preemptively refusing to host the Oscars next year.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR is getting a reboot.  “Chronicle” helmer Josh Trank is directing the Marvel Comics-based movie, while Matthew Vaughn is producing.

SYRIA: Government aircraft bombarded rebel forces as they tried to overrun a key government position at a police academy near Aleppo.

IRAN's Arak nuclear plant, capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, became fully operational. At nuclear talks in Almaty, Western nations offered to relax financial sanctions on Iran in exchange for a halt in the development of its Fordow uranium enrichment plant.

EGYPT: Authorities seized 60 anti-tank missiles south of Cairo that were being transported in two pickup trucks from Libya. The Muslim Brotherhood is considering changing its name to "The Comprehensive Islamic Authority."  "CIA... get it?"

MATTY THE BABY SLOTH has a gift.

AN EEL-LIKE SEA MONSTER was caught in New Jersey waters.

A CHICKEN was blamed for a power outage at Kahului Airport in Maui.  Squirrels are sought for questioning.

A DOG shot its owner outside Frostproof, FL. Police didn't arrest the dog because the investigation was pending.