PARQUET COURTS' video for "Sunbathing Animal" pays tribute to the Replacements’ legendary clip for “Bastards Of Young.”

LIVE FOREVER: The Rise and Fall of Britpop.

HOWLIN' RAIN advance streams Live Rain.

EX-CULT advance streams Midnight Passenger.

RODNEY CROWELL streams Tarpaper Sky.

SOUNDGARDEN shares the demo for "Superunknown."

COURTNEY LOVE drops "You Know My Name" as a single.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL, like Christopher Columbus and the cast of Easy Rider, look for "America."

STEPHEN MALKMUS talks to The Rumpus lying on his back looking up at the ceiling or with eyes closed. (Thx, LHB.)

OASIS: Stereogum excerpts the forthcoming the Definitely Maybe 33⅓ book.

ALLEN TOUSSAINT: A living legend talks to The Quietus about his long career, increasingly busy schedule, Prof Longhair,and more.

SWERVEDRIVER is interviewed by The 405. (Thx, Frank Yang.)

LUPITA NYONG'O: The Oscar-winning actress from 12 Years A Slave is People magazine's Most Beautiful.

JODIE FOSTER wed photographer Alexandra Hedison over the weekend after dating for almost a year.

CHRIS BROWN's Washington DC assault trial has been put on hold for several months.

BACHELORETTE contestant Eric Hill, who was severely injured in a paragliding accident on Sunday, has died.

KATY PERRY left children in tears at a recent birthday party.

ALICIA SILVERSTONE: From Clueless to Clueless.

FLASH GORDON could be rocketing back to the big screen. Ahh-ahh!

UKRAINE: A contingent of US Army paratroopers arrived in Poland on Wednesday, the first of what will be a "persistent presence" of US troops as the crisis in nearby Ukraine continues to unfold.

VENEZUELA: Fifteen years of socialist rule and an acute economic crisis is catching up with Venezuela's shopping malls, once impenetrable oases of consumerism where rich and poor alike sought refuge from crime-ridden streets.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Rival factions Hamas and Fatah announced plans to form a unity government in the next five weeks. US officials warned that the new government must recognize Israel and renounce violence, two conditions Hamas has never accepted.

TURKEY: Prime Minister Erdogan confirmed that Turkey sent a convoy to protect the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a tiny piece of Turkish territory inside Syria's province of Aleppo. Turkey reportedly deployed six tanks and 12 armored vehicles within 200 meters of positions held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham.

THE UNITED KINGDOM: Former prime minister Tony Blair gave a wide-ranging address in which he called rising Islamist extremism the most pressing challenge of the current age, and said Western countries must face the core ideological issue, "take sides," and support pluralistic societies in the growing battle against those who seek to impose a "closed-minded" Islamist polity. His speech drew considerable comment from international quarters.

RABBITS do what rabbits are known for on an Easter telecast.

WHEN A DUCK ATTACKS:  A woman visiting her mother in Oregon is suing her neighbor, seeking 275K for pain, suffering and other damages she says were inflicted when a pet duck ambushed her for no apparent reason.

THE ASTONISHING X-RATS: Mutants too smart to trap.

DOG testifies in French murder case.

U2 paid tribute to Mike Peters and The Alarm on the BBC.

DAMON ALBARN is advance streaming Everyday Robots via iTunes. He also talks The Guardian track-by-track through the LP.

DIRTY PROJECTORS member Nat Baldwinadvance streams In the Hollows. Collaborator Olga Bell advance streams Krai.

WOVENHAND advance streams Refractory Obdurate.

GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER advance streams Midnight Sun.

ISLANDS' Nick Diamonds and Idiot Glee’s James Friley cover Harry Nilsson's "Are You Sleeping?" from The Point.

THE PRIMITONS play "Seeing Is Believing" at an in-store appearance from 1985.  Proof positive that the Internet makes the "Where Are They Now?" file bottomless.  Background at Trouser Press.

THE HOLD STEADY talks to the Wall Street Journal about Teeth Dreams. 

DAVE DAVIES, the Kinks guitarist who suffered a stroke in 2004, sent a message of support to AC/DC's Malcolm Young.

BLACK FLAG: Greg Ginn and FLAG have settled their litigation.

VINYL vs CDs: This supposed explainer from Vox on the superiority of CDs overlooks that wider dynamic range means nothing if you produce recordings for max loudness -- which many do in an age of listening with earbuds and Bluetooth speakers to iPods and smartphones. A similar point could be made about the relative "warmth" of different media. In many ways, pop music has reverted back to the early 60s, when records were produced to sound good on AM radio in cars and cheap transistor radios.  Call Vox "explanatory jornalism," but journalism is a business based on Gell-Mann Amnesia.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Fake miscarriage to cover for her unprofessional behavior?

DREW BARRYMORE and her husband, art advisor Will Kopelman, welcomed their second child, who doesn't have a silly Hollywood name.

LAURA PREPON personally nixed the Tom Cruise dating rumor.

KATE UPTON doesn't miss a beat when asked what she wants in a man.

UMA THURMAN and fiance Arpad “Arki” Busson have called off their engagement for the second time.

AARON SORKIN wants to apologize for The Newsroom.

COURTNEY COX squashed all hope of any potential Friends reunion.

BRIAN WILLIAMS raps Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice," confronts Jimmy Fallon.

CRIMEA grows chatoic under Russian control.

VENEZUELA's interior minister reported Tuesday the arrest of nine people on charges of leading, financing and organizing violent anti-government protests in the Caracas municipality of Chacao.

SYRIA: The US State Department said it had received indications that chlorine gas was used in an attack in Syria this month, which the US is investigating with the assistance of the UN and the OPCW.

A LLAMA and DMX.

A 13-FT HAMMERHEAD SHARK surprised beachgoers in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

KILLER SPONGES discovered in the Pacific.

1130 LIVE DUCKLINGS were delivered to an employer as the result of a wage dispute.

R.E.M. with the previously unreleased Unplugged version of "I've Been High."

THE MILK CARTON KIDS, Live From Lincoln Theater.

OUGHT advance streams More Than Any Other Day.

THE PIXIES are streaming Indie Cindy.

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA advance streams 9 Dead Alive.

JACK WHITE drops the super-fast  “Lazaretto.”

GARBAGE drops “Girls Talk” and “Time Will Destroy Everything."

PRINCE drops "The Breakdown."

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS: Mike Cooley talks to the Oregonian about swearing on TV, fatherhood, and more. (Thx, LHB.)

COURTNEY BARNETT talks to The Independent about quitting her day job, and more.

SAINTSENECA talks to Columbus Alive about Dark Arc.

STATION TO STATION: Pitchfork surveys its past, present and future of streaming music.

LINDSAY LOHAN disclosed Sunday that she had a miscarriage during a break in the filming her reality show. 

BRYAN SINGER's accuser accuses three more Hollywood honchos.

RICHARD GERE...and Padma Lakshmi?

TERRY RICHARDSON: Vogue won't hire the celebrity photographer in the wake of new allegations he offered a model the chance to be in the magazine in exchange for sex.

KESHAWN JOHNSON was arrested for domestic violence Monday. Keyshawn is adamant he never physically struck the woman — but acknowledges grabbing her phone and smashing it on the ground.

GWYNETH PALTROW: Is GOOP bleeding cash?

STEVEN SPIELBERG & TOM HANKS: Together again?

UKRAINE: An agreement to ease tensions showed signs of crumbling as the US and Russia traded blame on the eve of meetings in Kiev between Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian government leaders.

VENEZUELA: Fresh violence has erupted in Caracas between police and opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.

SYRIA: The Assad regime slated a presidential election for June 3; requests for nomination will be accepted until May 1. Mortar shells landed 100 meters from the Parliament in Damascus, killing five people.

IRAQI forces claimed to have taken control of the main entrances of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on Sunday, in preparation for plans to storm the city, following the failure of attempts to find peaceful solutions for the crisis in the province of Anbar.

HUNGRY HUNGRY HAMSTER: Let's go to the video.

THAT GIANT MAKO SHARK? Gonna need a bigger...truck.

GIANT EMU EGGS? They're what's for dinner.

A PESKY RED FOX now reisdes at the White House. But what does he say?

BOY GEORGE joins THE BLACK LIPS on T. Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get It On)."

THE BLACK LIPS also perform songs from their 2014 release, Underneath the Rainbow, live in the KEXP studio.

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS advance streams Get Back.

THE NELS CLINE SINGERS advance stream Macroscope.

THE HOLD STEADY & DEER TICK cover each other.

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

PRINCE returns to Warner Bros after 18 years, under a deal that grants him the rights to his master recordings.

CAMERA OBSCURA: Tracyanne Campbell talks to Drowned In Sound about her new baby, current LP and Record Store Day session at 4AD.

THE TWILIGHT SAD took Drowned In Sound on a track-by-track tour of their debut LP, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters.

NEIL YOUNG surprise released a covers LP on Jack White's label.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier tops the chart with 26.6 million. Cap's three-peat breaks the 200 million mark in N. America. It may become the first flick to four-peat since The Hunger Games. Rio 2 places again, with 22.5 million; its 43 ercent decline is steep for an animated flick, but as noted last week, the studio is relying more on international receipts than most do.  Heaven Is Real shows with 21.5 million (and 28.5 mill since Wednesday) against a 12 million budget, taking full advantage of the Easter weekend.  That leaves the debut of Transcenence in fourth with only 11.1 million against a 100 million budget; it's looking like Johnny Depp's star continues to dim in America when he's not dressed as a pirate. Yarr. Perhaps foreign markets will still be into him.  A Haunted House 2 rounds out the Top 5 with 9.1 million;  that's about half the original's opening, but the budget was only 4 million.

BRYAN SINGER believes he has proof that will blow his sexual accuser out of the water. Also, the FBI investigated sexual assault claims by the man who is now accusing the X-Men director... but he reportedly did not mention Singer to the feds.

GWEN STEFANI is joining The Voice, reportedly for serious bank.

RYAN SEACREST reportedly wants off American Idol.

JUSTIN BIEBER will not be deported by the White House.

IDRIS ELBA welcomes a son, Winston.

LINDSAY LOHAN says her infamous sex list was one of her ten steps.

PEACHES GELDOF's funeral is today.

BODEGA CATS, in their own words.

KHAT the CAT attacked a Roseville family, hospitalizing three.

THE ASIAN JUNGLE CROW makes its nest out of coat hangers.

A GIANT CENTIPEDE chewed through the stomach of the viper that ate it.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with GARAGE ROCK! It's the time of year when I bring out The Standells - "Dirty Water/ Why Pick On Me", but I couldn't stop there. Let's have a dozen Nuggets, like Music Machine - "Talk Talk"; Blues Magoos - "We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet"; The Knickerbockers - "Lies"; The Outsiders - "Time Won't Let Me"; Count Five - "Psychotic Reaction"; The Seeds - "Pushin' Too Hard"; 13th Floor Elevators - "You're Gonna Miss Me"; The Leaves - "Hey Joe"; Electric Prunes - "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night," the Crazy World of Arthur Brown - "Fire" and The Nazz- "Open My Eyes."

MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO & SOs advance stream Sling Shot To Heaven.

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

BROKEN BELLS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

OASIS: An Acoustic Compilation.

IAN HUNTER & MICK RONSON deliver the goods on "All The Young Dudes" in Cleveland on June 18 1979.  Because Cleveland rocks (nsfw).

THE AFGHAN WHIGS talk to Exclaim about the genesis of Do The Beast. (Thx, Frank Yang.) 

BOB DYLAN escapes silly charges of racism (based on a slightly less silly comment), but Rolling Stone's French edition publisher Michael Birnbaum is still facing anti-discrimination charges.

COURTNEY LOVE already backpedalling her Springsteen criticism, moves on to attacking QotSA.

RONNIE SPECTOR talks to The Guardian about being the bad girl with big hair, the glass coffin in her basement, and whether she should have married John Lennon instead of Phil Spector.

THE CUTOUT BIN: From Gene Wilder to Nirvana, from Big Country to KISS, from Echo & the Bunnymen to Vanilla Fudge, plus the Doors, Wilco, Concrete Blonde, Stealer's Wheel 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: Transcendence, currently scoring 17 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Heaven Is for Real, which opened on Wednesdayat 55 percent; A Haunted House 2, which was not screened for critics; and Bears, scoring 87 percent.

BRYAN SINGER: The X-Men: Days of Future Past director has been accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Hawaii federal court. Singer’s attorney, Marty Singer, called the lawsuit “absurd and defamatory.”

ANDRE JOHNSON: The Wu-Tang affiliated rapper severed his penis and jumped off a building. Doctors weren't able to reattach his penis.

MILEY CYRUS: Still recovering from her severe allergic reaction earlier this week, and will “remain hospitalized.”

WILL ARNETT is divorcing AMY POEHLER.

CHELSEA CLINTON announced she is expecting her first child later this year.

TOM CRUISE denied he has been secretly dating Orange Is the New Black star Laura Prepon for several months.

LINDSAY LOHAN would neither confirm nor deny to Andy Cohen the accuracy of the list of guys rumored to be among her sexual conquests.

KIRSTEN DUNST, interviewed by Sofia Coppola.

MRS DOUBTFIRE is getting a sequel?

WHY IS THIS SATURDAY DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER DAYS?  Because ABC has its annual showing of The Ten Commandments, a grand spectacle featuring acting from Edward G. Robinson and Anne Baxter that is so over-the-top that Yul Brenner starts to look good by comparison.  And while Robinson's Dathan never actually spoke the line "Where's your Messiah now?" in the movie, it  -- like "Play It Again, Sam" (not spoken in Casablanca) -- has become part of a part of our culture. The line actually comes from Billy Crystal, originally a bit from the Oscars, iirc. It later turned up o­n The Simpsons, with Chief Wiggum playing Dathan to Ned Flanders' Moses.

UKRAINE: The United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union reached an agreement on Thursday evening that called for armed pro-Russian bands in eastern Ukraine to surrender the government buildings they have seized and that outlined other steps to defuse a crisis that has rattled the international community.

VENEZUELA: President Nicolás Maduro, has taken severe—and many say violent—measures to stamp out dissent during the past 10 weeks of turmoil caused by a protest movement. Venezuelan students are marching barefoot, building crucifixes and planning to burn effigies of President Nicolas Maduro to try and breathe new life into their protest movement over Easter.

LIBYA: A female US embassy employee who was kidnapped and injured by gunfire managed to escape her captors. A Tunisian diplomat was reportedly kidnapped in Tripoli.

SYRIA has submitted a "more specific" list of its chemical weapons to the global regulator overseeing the destruction of its stockpile after discrepancies were reported by inspectors on the ground, officials said. Oops.

DOGS starting dinner with a silent prayer.

PEEPS: Here are the finalists of the WaPo's 2014 Peeps Diorama Contest.

GIANT ASIAN HORNETS may invade Britain. Now will you let the people go?

AN ONSLAUGHT OF SNAKES force a school closure in Kyrgyzstan. Now will you let the people go?

COCKROACHES rain from the ceiling at Blue Ribbon Sushi in Soho. Now will you let the people go?