THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with the PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL! I've got my tickets, though I doubt I'll take the Bataan Death March approach of prior years. The big draw (for me and in general) is the reunited Pavement, whom I never saw the first time around.  Fortunately, I'm much less keen on buzz band Sleigh Bells than I should be on paper, so I'll be able to camp for a good spot for Pavement on Sunday Night.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Modest Mouse is the big draw on Friday, though I'm more excited about seeing Broken Social Scene again, after missing their last tour. I'm not a big fan of Saturday's big act, LCD Soundsystem, but I'll be there earlier in the day for bands like Titus Andronicus and the even more obscure Sonny & the Sunsets.  Sunday looks to be an all-day affair, with bands like Best Coast, Girls, Local Natives and St. Vincent (pictured) looming large on my sked (also Beach House, if I can squeeze 'em in). And chances are I'll run across a band or two that unexpectedly impresses along the way.  But even if I don't, the 3-day pass was a steal for the amount of music to see and hear (even if the storms come Sunday).

50s NOSTALGIA by 80s BABIES? All Songs Considered considers what I think is more fairly described as the more timeless elements in songs from She & Him, Mynabirds, The Like, Best Coast and Surfer Blood, as I don't think any of them are a straight nostalgia play.

DANGER MOUSE & DAVID LYNCH stopped by KCRW to talk up Dark Night of the Soul.

FIVE GREAT COVER SONGS from 2010 (So Far).

HARVEY FUQUA: Oliver Wang picks 5 must-hear works from the late Motown producer.

ADMIRAL RADLEY: Members of Earlimart and Grandaddy stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

GARY NUMAN plays "Cars" on 24 cars, powered by a DieHard battery.

MAGNETIC FIELDS: Under the Radar talks to Stephin Merritt's long-time collaborator Claudia Gonson about the new behind-the scenes documentary on the band.

GOGOL BORDELLO frontman Lionel Hutz talks to Spinner about the band's raucous internationalism.

LAURIE ANDERSON talks to the Philadelphia Inquirer about how husband Lou Reed helped her finish her new album.

CUTOUT BIN: From The Stooges to Simon & Garfunkel, from the Clash to Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, from Edwin Starr to the Young Fresh Fellows, plus Stealer's Wheel, REM, Buffalo Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Simple Minds and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide release is Christopher Nolan's Inception, which is currently scoring 89 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, while The Sorcerer's Apprentice opened Wednesday, scoring 41 percent.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Oksana Grigorieva says Gibson hit and bruised his baby daughter - and there are photos to prove it, according to RadarOnline, which also has another really NSFW audio rant from the actor-director.  Gibson's lawyers claim to have hard evidence the tapes Grigorieva secretly recorded have been tampered with and edited. Also, Gibson's soon-to-be ex-wife, Robyn, has written a sworn declaration on behalf of Mel, saying he has never physically abused her or any of their children in the 28 years they were married.

LINDSAY LOHAN has picked up famed lawyer Robert Shapiro as her attorney; his plan is not to appeal Lindsay's 90-day jail sentence, but to have her check into a sober living home in which he's involved.

STEVEN SEAGAL: A million-dollar sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former assistant against the former action star has been dismissed in Los Angeles.

OPRAH is down in the basement, looking for her lost viewers.

KELSEY GRAMMER didn't have a prenup, and will pay the price of romanticism.

EMMA STONE is profiled at GQ.

PETER FERNANDEZ, the actor and voice director best known as the title character in the animated Speed Racer series, passed away yesterday due to lung cancer. He was 83. Go, Speed, Go! (Thx, Duchess Rebecca.)

AFGHANISTAN: The quality and reliability of the Afghan army have been called into question by the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the Afghan government on Wednesday approved a program to establish local defense forces that American military officials hope will help remote areas of the country thwart attacks by Taliban insurgents. And the CSM reports on what Kandahar residents say about the war.

IRAQ: The United States handed over the last detention facility under its control to Iraqi authorities on Thursday.

TIMMY & TANYA: A bullied, lonely tortoise finds love with a plastic toy female.

KITTEHS rescued in Afghanistan. Awww.... some pics at the link.

A BULL rammed his horns into the groin of a British tourist as 11 people were injured on the last day of the Pamplona festival in northern Spain.

CHUPACABRAS: The legendary chupacabra -- the goat-sucker animal once believed to roam in Miami-Dade -- is rearing its ugly head again, this time in Texas.

BETTYE LaVETTE covers McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" on GMA.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: New tracks from Panda Bear and The Walkmen lead off the latest installment of the long-running NPR series.

FREE ENERGY stopped by the World Cafe for a mini-set.

THE MOORE BROTHERS did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter. Kind of a pomo Simon & Garfunkel.

THE FEELIES, Live at Bearsville Theater, September 12, 2009. Courtesy of NYCtaper, who posted the band's cover of REM's "Boxcars" as a teaser.

WYE OAK gets a feature plus tracks from NPR's Morning Edition.

THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS are "Standing Next to Me."

ROXY MUSIC is reuniting on Bryan Ferry's upcoming solo LP.

TED LEO: Reports of his retirement were greatly exaggerated. It's a whole feature on Ted at the Village Voice.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD's reunion is financed by John Lydon's Country Life butter ads.

CHRISTGAU'S CONSUMER GUIDE, remembered at New York magazine.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson demands sex from his girlfriend and tells her he will burn down the house afterwards in one of the most bizarre and outrageous segments of audio obtained exclusively by RadarOnline.  They also report that Gibson pulled a handgun on Oksana Grigorieva as she tried to escape his Malibu mansion after their violent January 6 confrontation.

PENELOPE CRUZ & JAVIER BARDEM get hitched. Of course, in the movie, they got divorced after she tried to kill him. Also, Cruz denies pregnancy rumors.

BRET MICHAELS denies reports that he has proposed to his on-and-off girlfriend of 16 years Kristi Lynn Gibson, a source tells the ever-reliable Star.

JOHN STAMOS was "heartbroken" over his split with actress wife Rebecca Romijn when he first met the 17-year-old blonde now on trial for blackmailing him.

JESSE JAMES says he's moving to Austin so his three children can maintain a close relationship with stepmom Sandra Bullock and their adoptive brother, Louis... but a Cali judge has yet to decide in an ongoing custody trial whether to allow  James's daughter with ex-wife Janine Lindemulder to leave California, where Lindemulder lives.

THE HOBBIT: Peter Jackson is in Los Angeles this week quietly meeting with actors, but the sticking point continues to be the dire financial situation at MGM, which holds half the rights to the property (as does the WB).

MARK RUFFALO is in talks to play The Hulk in The Avengers movie.

THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA are going 3-D. Plus, a pic of Anthony Hopkins as Odin.

BEAVIS & BUTT-HEAD: Together again. Heheheh.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS: A group of young Saudi men have launched a campaign to convince Saudi men of the unappreciated virtues of polygamy.

AFGHANISTAN: The US has poured more than 100 million dollares into upgrading the Kajaki hydropower plant, in an effort to woo local sympathies away from the Taliban insurgency. Yet, one of the biggest beneficiaries of this American-taxpayer-financed project are the Taliban themselves.

TRANSFORMER OWL: More than meets the eye.

MAN sings to a Great White Shark: "People think I was mad but I proved my point," he said. Which is true, if the point was that he's cray-cray.

A 10-FT LONG GATOR bit off a man's hand, but officials managed to retrieve his hand from its stomach.

DOG SHOOTS MAN.

SHE & HIM dropped an official video for "Thieves," with a George Melies vibe. 

THE HEAVY stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS also stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Roio has The Great White Boss, which includes tracks from his legendary stand at the Bottom Line in August 1975.

ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI gets a feature from World Cafe: Next.

KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND: "Boogie Shoes," live in Miami, circa 1974.

SLEIGH BELLS talk to Pitchfork about Korn, crunk, and kids these days.

ARCADE FIRE: Reuters reports on the band's art and commerce.

SANTANA popped the question to drummer Cindy Blackman as fans cheered on the newly engaged couple.

LIZ PHAIR explains her, er, odd online album, Funstyle.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson is caught using yet another ethnic slur while going on a crazed rampage on new audio exclusively obtained and released by RadarOnline. Yet the Hollywood Reporter suggests the death of Gibson's career has been greatly exaggerated.

LINDSAY LOHAN still isn't fully aware of her dire situation, according to a lawyer who sat down with the actress over the weekend.  Maybe that's because her legal woes are turning into her biggest payday in years, with bids for the troubled starlet's pre- and post-prison interview coming in at over 500K. Meanwhile, the inmates cannot wait to get a piece of her.

JOHN STAMOS: An attorney for the actor denies the "Full House" and "ER" star had a romantic fling with a 17-year-old girl who six years later is accused of scheming to bilk him of hundreds of thousands of dollars by threatening to sell compromising photos to the tabloids.

VINCE VAUGHN is going to be a dad, baby.

KATE WINSLET & SAM MENDES are or are not giving their marriage another shot.

GEORGE STEINBRENNER, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died Tuesday morning. He was 80 and lived in Tampa, Fla. I loved him on Seinfeld. Or something.

TRON: LEGACY received some key input from the elite brain trust at Pixar.

IRAQ: The US military has beefed up security at some of its bases after a threat that an Iranian-backed militant group was planning to attack.

AFGHANISTAN: Human Rights Watch has called on the Afghan government and its Western backers to ensure gains made by women in the country are not sacrificed in any peace talks with the Taliban.

A DOLPHIN attempted either an escape or suicide at Okinawa's Churaumi Aquarium.

A PET MONKEY was left stranded atop a utility pole after a truck crash in Ohio. 

SQUID may not be microwave-safe. Who knew?

FRIENDS don't let friends ride crocodiles drunk.

BRANDON FLOWERS: The video for "Crossfire," from his upcoming LP, features a cameo from Charlize Theron.

NEW RELEASES: Crowded House, School of Seven Bells, Concrete Blonde, Admiral Radley, R.E.M. and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

BEST COAST is advance streaming Crazy For You.

THE BOOKS are advance streaming The Way Out.

JIMMY CLIFF played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

METRIC dropped two free tracks on Daytroter.

THE WALKMEN drop a new song, "Stranded," at All Songs Considered.

THE STANDELLS play "Dirty Water" and "Storm A'Comin" live on the Mike Douglas Show on May 27, 1966. BONUS "Hey, Joe" for Threefer Tuesday.

M WARD discusses his musical upbringing and influences. (Thx, LHB.)

DANGER MOUSE talks to USAToday about the Dark Night of the Soul and the late Mark Linkous.

TULI KUPFERBERG, a poet and singer who went from being a noted Beat to becoming, in his words, "the world's oldest rock star" when he helped found the Fugs, the bawdy and politically pugnacious rock group, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 86.

DISCO DEMOLITION NIGHT: I forgot that yesterday was the 31st anniversary of the anniversary of Disco Demolition Night, a promo event occurring during a scheduled twi-nite doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers that would prove to be the most ill-conceived promotional idea since the infamous "Ten Cent Beer Night" in Cleveland in 1974. Though some incorrectly think it had to do with racism, homophobia, etc., the event had much more to do with the fact that Chicago radio station WDAI forced out morning host Steve Dahl o­n Chirstmas Eve 1978, to switch to a disco format. A man who is cashiered wearing a Santa suit tends to carry a grudge. Dahl re-surfaced at WLUP with "Do You Think I'm Disco?" -- a parody of Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy?" with lyrics that targeted yuppie narcissism and materialism. He also did a bit where he pretended to blow-up disco records, which Mike Veeck, the son of Sox owner (and legendary showman) Bill Veeck, thought could be turned into a promotion whereby admission was 98 cents (because WLUP was FM 98) for anyone who brought a disco record to be blown up between the two games. It was far more successful and less controllable than either Dahl or Veeck imagined, with young people storming the park to enter, creating a fog of marijuana smoke in the stands, sailing records like frisbees, throwing firecrackers and ultimately storming the diamond after the scheduled demolition had concluded and Dahl was en route to the announcer's booth for the second game.  This compilation of local news coverage from the night is pretty darned good, with cameos from Bill Kurtis and Greg Gumbel. 

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson admits hitting his baby mama Oksana Grigorieva and threatens to kill her in newly-posted audio.  Also, Gigorieva signed a cohabitation agreement that locked her out of securing a slice of the Oscar winning director/actor's billion-dollar fortune, according to RadarOnline.  Whoopi Goldberg is still defending him.

LINDSAY LOHAN and ex-girlfriend Samantha Ronson were spotted together for the first time in months.  Meanwhile, her new lawyer is not her new lawyer.

ROMAN POLANSKI: The film director and convicted child rapist will not be extradited from Switzerland, because of a possible fault in the American application for his extradition. Note the word "possible."

TIGER WOODS files to dismiss adult film actress Devon James's paternity case, stating that the kid is not my son.

HARVEY PEKAR, the underground comics legend later the subject of the movie "American Splendor," has died at 70.  The obit embeds a couple of of Pekar's classic appearances on the original Letterman show (before he was banned).

PAM ANDERSON: the kind of a girl who makes News of the World, dishing about her 3 marriages, two sons and one adult video.

ED NORTON's agent responds to Marvel's decision to exclude his client from playing The Hulk in The Avengers. You wouldn't like him whn he's angry.

IRAN's educational authorities will send 1000 religious clerics into schools in Tehran to tamp down Western influence and political opposition, newspapers reported on Sunday.

AFGHANISTAN: Pres. Karzai plans to seek the removal of up to 50 former Taliban officials from a UN terrorism blacklist.  Britain's most senior general in Afghanistan has admitted that rules for opening fire on Taliban insurgents must be "re-examined" following complaints from soldiers that they were too restrictive.

CAT & TURTLE: Unrequited interspecies love.

PET TORTOISE returns home, four years after escaping.

SAMSON the SPANIEL has made an amazing recovery after swallowing two pounds of stones.

COWS are on Twitter, talking about their lactation.

THE HIDDEN CAMERAS "Breathe On It" for They Shoot Music, Don't They?

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE DRUMS did three free songs for Daytrotter.

PETER WOLF and World Cafe host David Dye discuss Wolf's new LP, Midnight Souvenirs, as the artist shares some of his favorite tunes from his old jukebox.

THE 22-20s stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

CAROLE KING & JAMES TAYLOR get a feature plus live tracks from All Things Considered.

BO DONALDSON & THE HEYWOODS: "Billy, Don't Be a Hero," from the Summer of '74. Workin' the Elvis jumpuit look.

A NICK DRAKE TRIBUTE that will feature a documentary, album and book is underway.

JIMMY WEBB: One of America's greatest pop songwriters talks to PopMatters about how the boy from Elk City got to Nashville to record the cameo-laden Just Across the River.  Plus, great stories about how he wrote "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," and more...

THE HOLD STEADY: Axeman Tad Kubler talks to Gibson about some of the new sounds on Heaven Is Whenever, the departure of keyboardist Franz Nicolay his Gibson 335s, and Cheap Trick.

SLEIGH BELLS guitarist Derek Miller talks to the Broward - Palm Beach New Times about returning to play his old stomping grounds in South Florida. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Despicable Me takes the weekend with a 60.1 million debut against a 69 million budget.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse places with 33.4 million.  That's a 49 percent drop from its opening, but it has already raked in 237 million domestic against the same sort of budget as Despicable Me.  Predators debuted in the No. 3 slot with 25.3 million against a 40 million budget.  Toy Story 3 slipped a notch with 22 million, but a 27 percent drop suggests more legs for a movie that's already taken in 340.2 million domestic against a 200 million budget.  The Last Airbender timbles from second to round out the Top Five with 17.2 million, a 58 percent drop, that's not quite as disastrous as it sounds, as it broke the 100 million mark against a 150 million budget.

MAD MEL UPDATE: The audio of Gibson's vile, hate-filled racist rant was posted by RadarOnline.  Also, Gibson reportedly threatened to bury the mother of his love child in the rose garden of his multi-million dollar mansion.  Gibson has been dropped as a client by William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

RYAN SEACREST was... wait for it... caught canoodling on camera with DWTS' Julianne Hough In Italy.

EMILY BLUNT & JIM KRASINSKI got hitched over the weekend.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD married Ottawa Senators' hockey player Mike Fisher over the weekend.

JESSICA SIMPSON turns 30, and it's not like she imagined.

ED NORTON is not playing The Hulk in The Avengers... but he would like to.

KEVIN BACON is negotiating to play the villain role in X-Men: First Class.

JAMES CAMERON will make 350 million from Avatar.

IRAN has "yet to confirm" the stay of the stoning sentence for Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani.

PAKISTAN: A suicide bomber killed 65 Pakistanis and wounded more than 100 in an attack on pro-government tribal leaders in Mohmand.

IRAQ: Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Friday in Beirut that he hopes the new Iraqi government would be formed next month.

THE BIRDS, set to music.

MAN SLUGS BEAR, Rescues Goat.

A CAT was ratted out to the cops by its owners after it started stealing dozens of knickers and items of underwear from neighboring gardens.

MONKEYS are being trained by the Taliban to shoot and kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, according to unnamed Chinese publications? Why am I skeptical of this blockbuster scoop?