FANFARLO introduced the vast American TV audience to "Harold T. Wilkins."

FIELD MUSIC is advance streaming its Measure LP via MBV. There's a track-by-track tour at Drowned in Sound.

LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION is advance streaming Life is Sweet! Nice to Meet You.

MORNING BENDERS have another advance track, "Excuses," to stream and download.

DAVID VANDERVELDE drops "Learn How to Hang" as an advance track. 

PILOT works their "Magic" on TOTP.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT: Scott Hutchison takes ClashMusic on a track-by-track tour of The Winter Of Mixed Drinks.

PAVEMENT guitarist Scott Kannberg, a/k/a Spiral Stairs, talks to PopMatters about

THE ANTLERS: Peter Silberman talked to Aquarium Drunkard about the Hospice album.

FLAMING LIPS frontman Wayne Coyne chews the fat with Crawdaddy.

CHARLIE SHEEN: People close to the sitcom star are urging him to go to rehab, just like his wife. His legal woes put an aura of uncertainty around 'Two and a Half Men.'

TIGER WOODS: Elin reportedly will not move back in with him.  The golfer will end nearly three months of silence Friday when he speaks to the media for the first time about his middle-of-the-night accident sparked shocking revelations about his infidelity.

BRADGELINA and the brood arrive in their new home in Venice.

JESSICA SIMPSON publicly laughed off John Mayer's Playboy interview, but OK! claims she feels betrayed.

LINDSAY LOHAN is reduced to partying with London's Z-List.

BRITNEY SPEARS is still doing ads for Candie's? Really?

ROGER EBERT is profiled by Esquire.

PAKISTAN: The WaPo looks a bit more into the capture of the Afghan Taliban's operational commander: "His whereabouts, I think, were extremely well-known to the Pakistanis for a long time," said Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and Taliban expert. Yet the L.A. Times is referring to it as a "rare" intell break on the US side. And yet again, the Taliban's "shadow governor" of Afghanistan's Kunduz province has been captured.

WOMAN CHASES RAT back into a toilet.

PYTHON stolen from... a petting zoo?

BEAR SLAPS MAN, man is busted.

A CAT that wandered into a Fife rescue center with a can stuck on its head has left staff wondering how it reached them without being knocked down.

CHUPACABRA SIGHTING: Alcohol may have been involved.

THE SOFT PACK cranked out "Answer to Yourself" at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

THE CURE's Robert E. Smith covers "Very Good Advice" for the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack.

TED LEO drops "The Mighty Sparrow" as an advance track from The Brutalist Bricks.

THE REPLACEMENTS: Captain's Dead is again loaded with B-sides and outtakes.

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS get a feature plus tracks on All Things Considered.

REHEARSAL VIDEO: From 1984. More here.

ANDREW PARTRIDGE talks to PopMatters about the Dukes of the Stratosphear.

PATTERSON HOOD talks to the Raleigh News-Observer about The Big To-Do, due in March.

ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS are reportedly up for sale by EMI.

THE WORST ROCK MOVIES, according to Jim DeRogatis.

MEGAN FOX tells W magazine that she does not look classy in underwear, and that no one believes her claim that she is really maternal.  Say, you don't think all the plastic surgery has anything to do with either of those, do you?

NICOLE RICHIE AND JOEL MADDEN are getting hitched.  Cue the Lionel jokes.

CHARLIE SHEEN's wife's rehab reportedly involves crack addiction.

BETTY WHITE seems amused at the online effort to land her an SNL hosting slot.

OPRAH won't have John Mayer on her show, but maybe not for the obvious reasons.

JESSICA SIMPSON is the cover story for Allure magazine, in which she discloses that it never occurred to her that her 15 minutes might expire.

JENNIFER ANISTON and GERARD BUTLER are just friends. Why it's almost as if they're promoting a movie or something.

FRANKENSTEIN may be returning to the big screen, Dean Koontz style.

THE OSCARS will not be inflicting the Best Song nominees on its viewers.

PAKISTAN: The capture of the Taliban's top military commander several days ago during a secret raid by CIA and Pakistani intelligence agents would mark a significant departure from Pakistan's policy toward the Taliban. (It also pulls back the curtain on the degree to which the Pakistani military or intell knows exactly where such people are.) The real question -- not being widely asked -- is why that policy is shifting.

AFGHANISTAN: From Jan. 24 to Feb. 14, a total of 17 suicide bombers took aim at one coalition member after another but failed to kill any of them.

GUITAR KITTEH: Let's go to the video.

SADIE the SCOTTIE won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club. Sadie was the huge favorite.

18 PRIZE PIGEONS were stolen from a loft at Ballymena in County Antrim.

FIGHTING FINCHES seized by police in Ashland, MA.

A FEISTY GRANDMA survived a horror shark attack by punching it in the head after it bit off part of her bottom. Gonna need a bigger shark.

LOST THE KNACK: Doug Fieger, leader of the power pop band The Knack, died Sunday after battling cancer. He was 57.  Obviously, "My Sharona" and the clean version of "Good Girls Don't" are your Twofer Tuesday.  But I'll throw in "Frustrated" and "Let Me Out" as bonus tracks.  Oddly, video for "Your Number or Your Name" is not found at any of the usual places.

NEW RELEASES: Albums from Adam Green, Buzzcocks, Jason Falkner, Ben Sollee and Daniel Miller, and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

CLEM SNIDE is advance streaming The Meat of Life via NPR.

FRONTIER RUCKUS did three free songs for Daytrotter, all previously unreleased. Somewhere between Meat Puppets and The Band.

THE STROKES: Julian Casablancas has a solo chat and mini-set from the World Cafe, while Pitchfork has details and a making-of video for the band's next LP.

WILCO are kicking off encores with Neil Young's "Broken Arrow," prefaced by a few bars of "Mr. Soul."

BEACH HOUSE talks to Pitchfork about creating Teen Dream, the move to Sub Pop, and what it means to find themselves now playing to a much bigger audience.

NELLIE McKAY shuffled her iPod for the Boston Globe.

ANTLERS: Peter Silberman talks to the Boston Globe about the band's current almbum, and the next one.

THE TOP TEN ROCK AND POP ALBUMS, according to the Vatican. Yes, really.

TIGER WOODS: Two women in Phoenix, Arizona, allegedly had a threesome with the golfer and were paid to stay quiet. Allegedly. And adult film actress Joslyn James claims Woods impregnated her twice while he was married to Elin. Allegedly (her stepmom says she's a compulsive liar. Allegedly).

KIEFER SUTHERLAND is having surgery related to a ruptured cyst near his kidney, temporarily shutting down production on 24.

CHARLIE SHEEN's wife entered rehab.

CHYNNA PHILIPPS extered rehab for anxiety.

THE BRITTANY MURPHY FOUNDATION is a foundation in name alone - because according to state and federal records, it does not exist. The foundation promises to give back all the donations.

THE OSCARS: The nominees luncheon was held Monday.

BARBARA WALTERS is breaking up with Oscar after this year.

KEVIN SMITH was kicked off a weekend Southwest Airlines flight for being overweight.

QUENTIN TARANTINO talks about casting actors.

YEMEN: American intelli officials appear to have obtained access to what could turn out to be a significant trove of phone numbers, photographs and documents detailing the links between Al Qaeda's leaders in northwest Pakistan and the terror group's increasingly menacing affiliate in Yemen.

IRAN: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that she fears Iran is moving to a military dictatorship and urged allies to back efforts to help change its course.

PAKISTAN: The Taliban's top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and US intell forces, according to American government officials.

AFGHANISTAN: US and Afghan officials claimed gains in ejecting the Taliban from Marja. Local residents and officials also said most of the Taliban in Marja had fled even before the offensive had started.

A CHIMP is overcome by his own smell.

RALPH, THE MONSTER BUNNY: Was he channelling the spirit of a ghoul?

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A theme park has been forced to ban a daredevil squirrel from revamped Sonic Spinball roller coaster as its antics posed a health and safety risk.

PITBULL vs PORCUPINE: Who you got?

MONSTERS OF FOLK released a video for "Dear God."

THE WATSON TWINS played the World Cafe on Friday; you can stream the whole gig on demand.

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

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS did a chat and mini-set for All Things Considered.

SONGS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, Joan Baez, John Mellencamp, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Natalie Cole, and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon played the White House.

THE BOOMTOWN RATS: "I Don't Like Mondays," live at the Secret Policemen's Other Ball.

SPOON is profiled by The Scotsman.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle talks to JamBase about the reception of The Life of the World to Come, Moon Colony Bloodbath, the Bible, writing lyrical poetry, hip hop and more.

ST. VINCENT: Annie Clark talks to Westword about David Mamet, her guitar style, and more...

THURSTON MOORE has started a new blog called Flowers & Cream.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: February got a lot hotter, led by Valentine's Day, which took in 52 million -- about what it cost to make. But the other new releases did well, too. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief made 31.1 million against a 95 million budget, with The Wolfman not far behind at 30.6 million on a 150 million budget. Avatar is in fourth, but dropped only 3.7 percent to make 22 million.  Dear John, last weeks champ, drops to fifth in the face of the V-Day juggernaut.  But it has made 53 million on a 25 million budget.

TIGER WOODS is reportedly back in Orlando, FL, and living apart from his wife.

JESSICA SIMPSON laughed off being called "crazy" in the sack by John Mayer, as it's the best PR she's had in years.

ALEC BALDWIN: It turns out daughter Ireland called 911 when she couldn't reach her father.

ANGELINA JOLIE is not adopting a Haitian. Yet.

ROBERT PATTINSON talks to Details about tropical diseases, getting groped by an elephant, and so on.

MADONNA is going to be a judge on The Marriage Ref. Yes, really.

ELIZABETH BANKS will host the sci-tech Oscars. The nerds always get better hosts than the real show.

PRESIDENTS DAY is recognized now instead of Washington's birthday, But in 1776, David McCullough notes that when Washington took command in July 1775, he thought he would be home at Mount Vernon by Christmas. McCullough catalogs Washington's blunders -- many of them nearly fatal to the Cause -- but concludes: "He was not a brilliant strategist or tactician, nor a gifted orator, not an intellectual... He had made serious mistakes in judgment. But experience had been his great teacher from boyhood... and above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake, and he never gave up." That, as much as anything, is why Washington is usually ranked among the greatest of US presidents.

PAKISTAN: Hip young romantics in Pakistan's most dangerous city splashed out on text messages and teddy bears, defying Taliban bombers and conservative parents to find love on Valentine's Day.

AFGHANISTAN: The first stage of the biggest military offensive ever launched by Nato troops in Afghanistan has been declared a success as thousands of US and British troops seized a string of Taliban strongholds across central Helmand.

THE BIRDS: It's a scene from High Anxiety in Sacramento.

CRABZILLA has a body the size of a basketball and its legs can straddle a car.

A GORILLA wandered away from her compound at the Dallas Zoo.

WHY SPAY OR NEUTER your dog, when you can get a chastity belt?

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with U2! Live at the US Festival in May, 1983. Your setlist includes "Gloria" and "I Threw A Brick," "A Day Without Me," "An Cat Dubh and "Into The Heart," "New Year's Day," "Surrender," "Two Hearts Beat As One," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "The Cry" and "Electric Co."  Your encores are "I Will Follow" and "40."

ST. VINCENT stopped by for a chat and mini-set at Morning Becomes Eclectic.

BENJY FEREE did three free songs for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased.

VALENTINE'S DAY at NPR: Stream the Make-out Mix, the Break-up mix, or Carrie Brownstein's Something for Everyone.

THE REPLACEMENTS: Captain's Dead has their Sire-era demos to stream and download.

THE THERMALS are streaming "Canada" as an advance track.

THE STRANGE BOYS have a video out for the title track to the upcoming "Be Brave" LP.

CRACKER guitarist Johnny Hickman talks to the Washington Examiner about the band's biggest hit since its 1993 platinum-selling album "Kerosene Hat."

BASIA BULAT talks to the Ottawa Citizen about possible future plans.

GOOGLE shut down at least six popular music blogs that it claims violated copyright law. Fortunately, faves like GvsB and MOKB were unaffected.  Google blogged its explanation.

CUTOUT BIN: From CSN & Y to the Ramones, from Apples in Stereo to the Baby Huey Story, from the Velvet Underground to the George Baker Selection, plus Doug Sham, Raphael Saadiq, Cat Stevens, the Undertones, Wanda Jackson, Wilco and more -- this weekend's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW PLAYING: This weekend's wide releases include the ensemble rom-com Valentine's Day, which is currently scoring 13 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which is scoring 57 percent; and The Wolfman, scoring 35 percent.

VALENTINE'S DAY: National Review's Jonah Goldberg won't be seeing it, for reasons having nothing to do with politics.

THE TOP 10 WEREWOLF MOVIES, according to the Contra Costa Times.

ALEC BALDWIN was taken to Manhattan hospital from his Central Park West apartment shortly after midnight Thursday morning following a 911 call from his 14-year-old daughter Ireland, sources said. But his rep says he went to work.

JOHN MAYER had a bit of a breakdown onstage in the wake of his crazed Playboy interview.

PENELOPE CRUZ is in negotiations to join Johnny Depp and sail the seven seas in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," the fourth installment of the movie series being directed by Rob Marshall.

EWAN McGREGOR was spotted looking cozy with co-star Mélanie Laurent, which is not a good look for a married man.

HOLLYWOOD'S TOP-EARNING ONSCREEN COUPLES, according to Forbes magazine.

ALEXANDER McQUEEN: The British fashion designer was found dead after taking his own life, just days after the death of his mother, Joyce.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Happy 201st birthday to the 16th President of the United States. Two things you may not have known about Honest Abe: (1) he was an early adopter of the telegraph; and (2) he once sported a punky haircut.

IRAN: On the anniversary of Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran is "a nuclear state." Opposition leaders Karroubi and former President Khatami were attacked when they attended an opposition rally. Tehran cracked down on internet access in the wake of anniversary protests.

A TURKEY VULTURE crashes through a copter windshield, enjoys the landing.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: They are now armed with hi-tech weaponry.

PSA: Don't tell a police dog to sit on the job.

BULL vs TIGER: Who you got?