THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

....wtih THE PRETENDERS! Circa 1981, via one of Pate's two fab drummers, Jon Hahn.  Your setlist includes "The Wait," "The Adultress," "Message of Love/Louie Louie," "Talk of the Town," "English Roses," "Birds of Paradise," "Kid," "Stop Your Sobbing," "Private Life," "Day After Day," "Jealous Dogs, " Up the Neck," "Tattooed Love Boys," "Bad Boys Get Spanked," "Precious," and "Brass In Pocket/MysteryAchievement."

M WARD advance streams More Rain.

NADA SURF advance streams You Know Who You Are.

POLICA advance streams United Crushers.

HERON OBLIVION advance streams their self-titled LP.

AIMEE MANN covers The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More."

NEKO CASE talks to Pitchfork about her career so far, including her songwriting and recording process, her work with the New Pornographers, her life on the road and on her farm in Vermont, and more.

JENNY LEWIS talks to Billboard about her new female-centric record label.

EVIE SANDS: Aquarium Drunkard looks back at Any Way That You Want Me, "one of the most sublime and strikingly gorgeous albums" of the late 60s and early 70s.

DJ JIMMY SAVILLE and broadcaster Stuart Hall, serial child abusers and sexual offenders, were allowed to operate within the BBC with impunity, a damning report has found.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases? Gods of Egypt, which is currently scoring 11 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Triple 9, currently scoring 58 percent;and Eddie the Eagle, scoring 71 percent.

BILL COSBY dismissed his lawsuit against Beverly Johnson, claiming he's too busy right now.

JOHNNY DEPP will bring a touch of Hollywood glamour to a planned gathering of atheists and other secularists at Washington's Lincoln Memorial.

MADONNA tries to mediate her child custody dispute.

CHERYL TIEGS thinks putting a full-figured model on the cover of the SI Swimsuit issue promotes an unhealthy lifestyle.

IRON FIST: Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones has landed the coveted series lead for Marvel's Netflix adaptation of the 70s Kung-Fu inspitred superhero.

CAPTAIN NEMO: An origin story based on H.G. Wells' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be directed by James Mangold.

NORTH KOREA: The U.S. and China agreed to a United Nations resolution that diplomats said would impose significant new sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and missile tests.

LIBYA: There are signs of a growing Western urgency to stop the  Islamic State, and Libyan commanders say Western weapons and air strikes will make a vital difference in the coming battle against their better-armed enemy.

IRAN executed the entire male population of a village...on drug charges. Sounds legit.

A MAMA DOG adopts a litter of opossums... mass hysteria!

AN ELEPHANT slaps a selfie-taker.

CAT PIC TIPS from a professional feline photographer.

MYSTERY OCEAN HUM: Migration signal...or fish flatulence?

JON PRATT: Pate's frontman plays a murder ballad, "Lock and Dam 13", on a Tele.

SAVE ENDS streams their Hug Your Friends EP.

LUCY DACUS streams her debut album, No Burden.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED features tracks from Car Seat Headrest, BigThief, Coathangers and more.

MARISSA NADLER drops “Janie in Love” ahead of Strangers.

CHARLES BRADLEY drops a video for "Change for the World".

THE BRIT AWARDS went to these folks, including yanks like Tame Impala. They also did a Bowie tribute with Lorde that imho was better than Lady Gaga at the Grammys.

SHEARWATER's Jonathan Meiburg talks to Paste about Bowie, protests, and Jet Plane and Oxbow.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS talks to The A.V. Club about some of her most famous songs.

THE CRANBERRIES frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan has managed to escape jail time after pleading guilty to assaulting an air hostess and police officers whilst on a flight in November 2014.

DOES LEONARDO DiCAPRIO deserve an Oscar?

KIM KARADSIAN unamused at KANYE WEST's latest antics.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE is this year's Highest-Paid Oscar Nominee, according to Forbes.

BATMAN v SUPERMAN already has an R-rated Directors' Cut.

THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR is to be remade a third time.

TOPHER GRACE edited all the Seinfeld scenes from Curb Your Enthusiasm season 7 into one episode.

BLINDY THE PENGUIN learns to swim.

A MEERKAT specialist caught in a zoo-centric love triangle has been cleared of an assault charge, based on the accusation that she smashed a wine glass against a monkey handler's face.

A 7-FT PYTHON was found abandoned in a street in North Lanarkshire.

HOW NOT TO GET KILLED By A Cow.

CAR SEAT HEADREST drops an edit of "Vincent" ahead of Teens of Denial.

JAWBREAKER REUNION streams their sophomore record, haha and then what ;) .

DISAPPEARS, Live at Baby's All Right, on Feb. 20. Includes a performance of David Bowie's Low LP.

WIRE: The legendary UK postpunk band drops “Nocturnal Koreans,” which appears to be the title track of their next LP.

ROBERT POLLARD posts “I Can Illustrate" ahead of Of Course You Are.

CRAIG FINN & TITUS ANDRONICUS offer a free split-single. One track name-ckecks Perkin's, a fave Patepost-gig spot.

WOODS share "Can't See at All," the second single from their new album City Sun Eater In The River Of Light.

KIM GORDON's new band, Glitterbust, shares "The Highline" ahead of a s/t debut.

JODY STEPHENS (Big Star) has a new band, Those Pretty Wrongs, which shares "Ordinary" ahead of a s/t debut.

EVIS PRESLEY: "Viva Las Vegas." With your neon flashin' / And your one arm bandits crashin' / All those hopes down the drain.

DAN HICKS is remembered by World Cafe.

GREG DULLI (Afghan Whigs) talks Bowie, life, death, and the reunion LP.

DON McLEAN has been further accused of domestic violence charges.

SONNY JAMES, who recorded romantic ballads including "Young Love" and turned pop songs into country hits, has died. He was 87.

PHIL COLLINS is set to remarry his third ex-wife, Orianne Cevey, following a 46MM divorce.

JEREMY PIVEN sending creepy texts to his ex-galpal? He denies it.

ROONEY MARA talks to The Telegraph about Hollywood's whitewashing issue.

JIMMY KIMMEL may host this year's Emmys.

A WRINKLE IN TIME is set to be directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma).

CRUEL INTENTIONS: The TV spinoff now has a cast.

PACIFIC RIM 2 appears to be moving forward without Guillermo del Toro.

BOLIVIA: Voters rejected by a slim margin a constitutional amendment that would have let President Evo Morales run for a fourth consecutive term in 2019, electoral officials announced Tuesday night.

RUSSIA asked on Monday to fly surveillance planes equipped with high-powered digital cameras over the United States.

DOGGEH Wipeout.

SHABANI is the official spokes-ape for Nagoya, Japan.

A LOYAL DOG waited patiently for weeks for his owner to come home after he was killed while working at a convenience store.

A BABY ELEPHANT cuddles a tourist.

AN ABBREVIATED ENTRY may tide you over what was a fairly slow news day.

JOHN DOE, co-founder of the legnendary Punks-turned-rootsy-band X, is releasing a solo LP; "Board That Train" is a promising first video.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR includes Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock, The Office (UK)) in its cast and Empire knows who he's playing.

JUSTICE LEAGUE--PART 1 reportedly starts shooting April 11th, a date some journalists thought might slip in light of studio nervousness about test screenings of Batman v Superman (indeed, such stories like prompted WB/DC to reaffirm its plans).

SYRIA: The US and Russia have announced that a planned cessation of hostilities will come into effect at midnight on Feb. 27. The truce did not include Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

HERE's A DUDE pulling a shark out of the water for pictures.

I should be back tomorrow with a full serving of the usual stuff, assuming celebs continue to behave as they do.

LUSH goes "Out of Control" on their first song in 20 years.

MOTHERS advance stream When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired.

WILLIE NELSON advance streams Summertime, a Gershwin collection.

SANTIGOLD advance streams 99¢.

DAVID BYRNE & ARCADE FIRE members played Talking Heads tunes at a Haiti benefit concert.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT shares a "Death Dream" ahead of Painting Of A Panic Attack.

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS don't want to go to "Chelsea."

VIOLENT FEMMES frontman Gordon Gano shares cultural highlights with The Guardian.

RICHARD HAWLEY shares some formative albums with The Quietus.

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS explains to The Guardian the importance of completing the band's final record following the death of her bandmate and soulmate, Benjamin Curtis.

BETTY WRIGHT: Soul's Golden Agony Aunt.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Deadpool repeats atop the chart with 55MM ona 59 percent drp in line with expectations. It is already the sixth-highest grossing R-rated movie ever and is already close to 500MM worldwide. Kung Fu Panda 3 places again with 12.5MM and is closing in on 300MM, despite not openining in many markets worldwide until March. The debut of Risen shows with 11.8MM; this likely would have been better opening closer to Easter, but Miracles from Heaven (starring Jennifer Garner) opens the weekend before that holiday. Even so, Risen may be able to profit in theaters against a 20MM budget, if the historical angle plays overseas. The Witch took the fourth slot with 8.7MM, which is probably good as the studio that picked it up at Sundance, A24, likely has around 5MM invested in it. How to Be Single rounds out the Top Five with 8.2MM on a pos-Valentine's drop of 54 percent.  It's about halfway to profit, and may yet make it in theaters.

JAIMIE ALEXANDER & PETER FACINELLI have ended their engagement.

CAITLYN JENNER says people criticize her more for being a Republican than for her gender identity.

STEVE MARTIN did his first stand-up comedy in 35 years, opening for Jerry Seinfeld.

EMILY BLUNT is in talks to star in Disney’s sequel to Mary Poppins with Rob Marshall set to direct.

DAVID DUCHOVNY shares the soundtrack of his life. Can you dig it?

HARPER LEE, whose first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, about racial injustice in a small Alabama town, sold more than 40 million copies and became one of the most beloved and most taught works of fiction ever written by an American, died on Friday in Monroeville, Ala., where she lived. She was 89.

PETE's DRAGON has a teaser trailer online.

A T. REX rides A HORSE kicking a soccer ball.

FAT CATS don't mind a diet.

VENOMOUS RATTLESNAKES may colonize Massachusetts.

A DEER shops in a Virginia liquor store.