THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with STEVIE WONDER! He turned 65 this week, but doesn't seem retiring. His session at the Beat Club includes "Intro Jam," "Contusion," "Higher Ground," "Dont You Worry ‘Bout A Thing," "I Can See The Sun In Late December," "He's Misstra Know-It-All," "Living For The City" and "Superstition."

MY MORNING JACKET perform songs from The Waterfall live during Morning Becomes Eclectic.

THEE OH SEES advance stream Mutilator.

VALKYRIE advance streams Shadows.

GOD D^MN advance streams Vultures.

DAWES drops "Right On Time" ahead of All Your Favorite Bands.

JAILL drops "Got an F" ahead of Brain Cream.

DAVID DUCHOVNY & GILLIAN ANDERSON: Mulder & Scully sing "Helpless." No word if this will be in the X-Files mini-series.

B.B. KING, whose world-weary voice and wailing guitar lifted him from the cotton fields of Mississippi to a global stage and the apex of American blues, died Thursday in Las Vegas. He was 89. Here's your obits from the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

PULP: Jarvis Cocker recalls the band's first gig, 35 years ago.

THE DARKNESS:  Justin and Dan Hawkins talk to Stereogum about the new record, their unfair reputation as a novelty band, (not) working with “Mutt” Lange, and more.

THE BEATLES: Behind the Album Art.

THE 50 SADDEST SONGS, according to Paste.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Mad Max: Fury Road, which is currently scoring 99 percent on the ol' Tomatometer (and which I dug); and Pitch Perfect 2, currently scoring 70 percent.

JOHNNY DEPP has been told he has until Saturday to remove his dogs from Australia or they will be put down. He's on it.

CHARLIZE THERON & SEAN PENN were caught canoodling on camera at Cannes.

HARRY SHEARER plans to leave The Simpsons, which would leave Springield looking for at least 22 voices.

NATALIE PORTMAN will be the latest actress to portray Jackie Kennedy.

THE CRAFT is getting a remake.

MINIONS dropped another trailer online.

NORTH KOREA's claim that it launched a ballistic missile from a submarine was mostly likely a bluff and the images it released appear photoshopped to overstate the regime's military power.

YEMEN: A five-day humanitarian truce appeared to be broadly holding on Wednesday, despite reports of some air strikes overnight by Saudi-led forces and continued actions by the country's dominant Houthi group in the east.

RUSSIA rejects snapback sanctions in the event Iran cheats on the nuclear deal currently under negotiation. Good thing Iran would never cheat.

IRAN: The Czech Republic blocked an attempted purchase by Iran this year of a large shipment of sensitive technology useable for nuclear enrichment after false documentation raised suspicions, U.N. experts and Western sources said.  Also, five Iranian boats fired shots across the bow of a Singapore flagged cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday in an attempt to potentially stop the ship.

SAUDI ARABIA and many of the smaller Arab states are now vowing to match whatever nuclear enrichment capability Iran is permitted to retain.

MAN & BEAR startle each other.

A GIANT SQUID washed up on a beach on New Zealand's South Island this week. Capt. Nemo unavailable for ccomment.

A NEW SPECIES OF CRAYFISH looks like a Trapper Keeper.

TEN PEOPLE in China's Yunnan province are accused of killing a rare giant panda and selling the meat and paws.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD was my address last night, which is why there's only one item today. George Miller's reboot of his classic franchise is a worthy successor, perhaps second only to The Road Warrior in the series.  Although this is the longest installment, it lacks any feeling of bloat present in Beyond Thunderdome. Indeed, the film is probably 85-90 percent action sequences (with very little in the way of computer-generated effects), taking breathers just long enough to set up the next act.  The biggest departure from the Road Warrior formula here is Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, whose role is as large as that as that of titular co-star Tom Hardy.  It's not a funadmental change, insofar as Max once again somewhat reluctantly joining with the more civilized factions of Miller's post-apocalyptic world.  However, the size of Theron's role and the non-stop action do limit the development of the secondary characters, who have moments, but are unlikely to be remembered like the Gyro Captain or the Feral Kid from The Road Warrior.  Fortunately, Hardy and Theron are both up for the gig and Miller's weirdness is sufficiently upscaled for the 21st century to keep audiences riveted.

 See you Friday in the usual format!

COURTNEY BARNETT drops a video for "Dead Fox."

BRANDON FLOWERS advance streams The Desired Effect via iTunes.

HOT CHIP advance streams Why Make Sense. Not really my genre, but they're good at it, and they can write.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: New tracks from the Mynabirds, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Downtown Boys and more in the latest edition.

SPEEDY ORTIZ stopped by WFUV for an Alternate Side in Session.

HOOTEN TENNIS CLUB drops "Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair" as a single. Think Pastels or the Lemonheads.

LEONARD COHEN drops “Got A Little Secret" from Can’t Forget: A Souvenir Of The Grand Tour, out next week.

LOVE: "Your Mind and We Belong Together." Rare promo.

SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan called out the "fedkless idiots" of the music industry. On CNBC, no less.

BEST COAST: Bethany Cosentino and Molly Ringwald chat about their horoscopes, the perils of the spotlight, and a shared desire to converse with their cats.

SHELBY LYNNE is profiled at Paste. She enlisted Ron Sexsmith via the Facebook.

EARWORM: Curable with chewing gum?

ANNE HATHAWAY  is set to star in Colossal, in which she'll have a connection with a giant lizard destroying the city of Tokyo.

JUSTIN BIEBER continues his apology tour.

HAYLIE DUFF had her first child with fiance Matt Rosenberg.

JOHN TRAVOLTA, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Schwimmer and Sarah Paulsonwill tackle the OJ Simpson trial.

MINORITY REPORT: The TV quasi-sequel has a trailer online.

KEVIN SMITH reveals the title of the Mallrats sequel.

THE FUGITIVE is headed back to the big screen, in some form.

NORTH KOREAN Defence Minister Hyon Yong-Chol has been executed by anti-aircraft fire for disloyalty and showing disrespect to leader Kim Jong-Un, South Korea's intelligence agency said Wednesday.

THE UNITED STATES reportedly killed an Ansar al Sharia official yesterday in a drone strike in an area of eastern Yemen that has been overrun by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

EGYPT: For months, a steady trickle of leaked audio recordings has appeared to offer a rare chance to eavesdrop on embarrassing conversations among the inner circle of army generals around President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Now, some evidence has emerged to suggest that they are accurate.

ECHINDA: Small creature, bug sneeze.

MONKEY FARMS are under investigation in Florida.

A 55-LB WILD BOAR dropped through the ceiling of a Chinese mall.

A SEA LION awakened a sailor, who claims to know nothing of how it ended up in the next bunk.

THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS play "Earthquake" during their first live set in 47 years.

SPIRIT CLUB, a Wavves side-project, streams a self-titled debut.

BNLX streams Good Light.

DARYL HALL & BEN FOLDS paly their songs Live From Daryl’s House.

DEV HYNES drops 45 minutes from a rejected movie soundtrack.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH drop the unplugged version of  “Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away.”

METRIC drops "The Shade," their first in three years.

MAVIS STAPLES playlists the Songs That Made Her. If it wasn't Mavis, I'd make a sly declaration joke here.

EMMYLOU HARRIS talks to The Guardian about the legacy of Gram Parsons, musical labels and why it took her nearly four decades to make records with her pal Rodney Crowell.

HOP ALONG: Frances Quinlan tackles death, mental illness and difficult decisions at DIY. (Thx, Frank Yang)

THE 10 BEST LPs Recorded at Abbey Road? Um, no.

AMERICAN IDOL will end after 15 seasons. My fave moment was still Gladys Knight performing "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr., through the magic of CGI, to promote Tropic Thunder back in 2008.

KRISTIN CAVALLARI & JAY CUTLER (Jerkface) are expecting their third child.

LINDSAY LOHAN  is set to arrive in New York City to finally fulfill her court-ordered community service.

RACHEL McADAMS talks True Detective, Mean Girls, and taking a break from stardom.

EMELIA CLARKE (Game of Thrones) is profiled by Bazaar.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL was caught canoodling rumored gal pal Ruth Wilson in New York.

COURTNEY STODDEN sold her sex tape for charity.

EGYPT Four people were wounded when "suspected militants" targeted a judge who had sentenced radicals to death with three bombs placed outside his home in Cairo. Tribes in the Sinai have pledged to work with the government against extremist groups.

IRAN: With a deadline to end nuclear negotiations less than two months away, the crippling sanctions against Iran are already beginning to collapse.

SAUDI ARABIA's monarch pulled out of a summit to be hosted by President Barack Obama on Thursday, in a blow to the White House’s efforts to build Arab support for a nuclear accord with Iran. Senior Arab officials involved in organizing the meeting said not enough progress had been made in narrowing differences with Washington on issues like Iran and Syria to make the Saudi ruler’s trip worth it.

SYRIA: US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi to discuss Syria and other issues. The Assad regime arrested its intelligence chief over suspicions of a coup attempt.

SEAMUS & ANGUS have a serious bromance going on.

THE GREATER SAGE GROUSE & THE LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN face Congressional scrutiny.

A COW who managed to get hall ticket for a professional entrance examination in India did not turn up.

A GREAT WHITE SHARK is headed for NYC. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

U2 played several songs for Jimmy Fallon, busjed in the subway, and more.

THE MILK CARTON KIDS advance stream Monterey.

FAITH NO MORE advance streams Sol Invictus.

JIM O'ROURKE advance streams Simple Songs.

DANIEL BACHMAN advance streams River.

ROBERT POLLARD drops "Take Me to Yolita" ahead of Faulty Superheroes.

FIRST AID KIT covers Simon & Garfunkel's "America" for Letterman.

PAUL WELLER talks to The Guardian about time, music, family, songwriting, bad habits, and more. 

BEST COAST -- and Bethany Cosentino's ambition -- is profiled by the L.A. Times.

LANA DEL REEY & COURTNEY LOVE: Do they deserve Kim Gordon's scorn?

GANG OF FOUR is profiled by Magnet.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Avengers: Age of Ultron again dominated the chart with 77.2MM dollars on a 60 percent drop. That  technically shows some potential weakness, though it's the second best second weekend after The Avengers.  It broke the 300MM dollar mark this weekend, tied with The Dark Knight for the second-fastest to make that much. Hot Pursuit placed with a 13.3 million debu, playing primarily to women over 50.  Even so, Reese Witherspoon is likely in better career shape with this unfunny comedy than say, Vince Vaughn or even Johnny Depp.  The Age of Adeline showed with 5.6 million on a leggy 9.7 percent drop that puts the pic over its production budget.  Furious 7 drops 21 percent to the fourth slot with another 5.3 million atop a huge pile of cash...but note Ultron is almost caught up with the flick that ruled the entire month of April. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 rounds out the Top 5 with another 5.2 million on a leggy 12 percent drop.  Below the fold, the very good Ex Machina went to 2000 screens and made 3.4 million on a 52 percent increase.

GWYNETH PALTROW: "It’s incredible how much she is wrong about."

LINDSAY LOHAN claimed she did her community service from home, but now is trying a cram session.

CHRIS BROWN's naked intruder is getting charged with 3 felonies in court, but she is not being held on a 5150.

CISSY HOUSTON  is opening up about Bobbi Kristina Brown's condition.

GEORGE MILLER talks up Mad Max: Fury Road at the Miami Herald. Their critic seems to dig it very much.

NORTH KOREA has at least six nukes, is capable of mounting a miniaturized nuclear warhead on its new road-mobile KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile, and claimed publicly that it has test fired a ballistic missile from a submarine.

EGYPT: The Cairo Court of Appeals upheld a three-year sentence against 87-year-old fmr prez Hosni Mubarak on corruption charges, but -- accounting for time he's already served -- gave the OK for him to go home.

SYRIA: International inspectors have found traces of sarin and VX nerve agent at a military research site in Syria that had not been declared to the global chemical weapons watchdog, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

IRAN: The suicide of a hotel maid-after an alleged rape attempt by an Intelligence Ministry employee-has set off violent riots in northwest Iran.

DOG ON A DINGHY: I know it's serious.

THERE'S A "FREE-ROAMING" BEAR in Dunwoody, GA, but the authorities don't much care.

THE SWARM goes after the pizza delivery guy.

WHY CATS freak out after using the litter box.