THE SMOKING POPES: "Need You Around," for a little Chicago flavor.

NEW RELEASES: Paste will point you to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Dry Cleaning, Flock of Dimes and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has Major Murphy, Moontype, La Femme and more.

WAXAHATCHEE dropped covers of “Fruits of My Labor” by Lucinda Williams, “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” by Dolly Parton, and “Streets of Philadelphia” by Bruce Springsteen.

ST VINCENT played "Pay Your Way In Pain" and "The Melting Of The Sun" live on Saturday Night.

PEACHES surveys her career for Stereogum.

B.B. DICKERSON, a founding member of the band War, has died at the age of 71. All your friends know his low bassline.

DMX remains hospitalized and on life support in White Plains, New York following a heart attack.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at George Michael's iconic smash "Faith."

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE!  Godzilla vs Kong shattered all industry estimates by storming atop the chart with a five-day take of 48.5MM, even with it streaming on HBOMax.  The three-day take, 32.2MM was at the high end of the five-day estimates.  Never discount the public demand to see a Big Lizard punch a Big Ape on a Big Screen. The Unholy placed with 1.7MM.  Nobody showed with 3MM.

THE SAG AWARDS went to these folks. Congrats!

BLACK WIDOW has a new trailer online.

ARMIE HAMMER announced that he is stepping away from Broadway play The Minutes.

STANLEY TUCCI, at 60, is enjoying a somewhat unexpected late-career reinvention as a sex symbol.

THANDIWE NEWTON is taking back what's hers, starting with that W.

THE TOP 25 MUPPETS, ranked by NPR listeners. Cookie Monster wuz robbed.

A COW ON THE LAM, on I-285.

TWO BABIES, One Doggo.

A HORSE, checking itself out.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with the YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS! Live at Cicero's in St. Louis, On November 23rd,1985, so this is Chuck Carroll-era YFFs.  Selections include: "Gus Theme," "White Bird," "If I Had A Hammer," "Power Mowers' Theme," "Where Is Groovy Town?", "Sharing Patrol," "Topsy Turvy," "Young Fresh Fellows Theme," "Hang On Sloopy," "All Messed Up," "Big House/ Love Boat Theme medley" "Mr. Salamander's Review," "Down By The Pharmacy," "Close to You/ Someone I Care About," "Aurora Bridge," "How Much About Last Night Do You Remember?" "This Little Mystery," "Searchin' USA," "Fair Exchange," and "My Friend Ringo."

LANGHORNE SLIM plays World Cafe via Woodstock.

FAYE WEBSTER plays WGBH.

COURTNEY BARNETT & VAGABON cover Sharon Van Etten's "Don't Do It."

RICHARD SWIFT: Hear two posthumous comedy songs.

THE FRATELLIS return with a new sound on "Need A Little Love." 

PAUL SIMON has become the latest music star to cash in on their songbook, selling his catalog to Sony for an undisclosed sum.

SOME OF POP's BIGGEST SONGWRITERS have joined forces to ask artists to stop taking credit for the songs they did not write.

R.E.M.: The Genius of Out of Time.

GODZILLA vs KONG debuted in US cinemas on Wednesday and nabbed a sizable 9.6MM, marking the best opening day total of the coronavirus era. It might outgross Tenet by Monday.

KNIVES OUT is headed to Netflix for two sequels and Daniel Craig is onboard.

THE INVISIBLE OSCARS: Consumers Largely Unaware of This Year's Best Picture Nominees.

MARGOT ROBBIE says Quentin Tranatino has enough material for what would be at least twenty episodes of "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood," if you were to chunk them into one-hour pieces.

DC's THE NEW GODS and THE TRENCH are not going into production.

SHARON STONE crossed state lines into Ohio to get an abortion at 18 years old.

DAVID THOMSON talks to Sonny Bunch about his new history of movie directors.

A PUPPER, walking a doggo. 

THE SWARM: A Man Found 15000 Bees in His Car After Grocery Shopping.

AN OCTOPUS lashed out at a beachgoer in Australia, leaving him with marks on his neck and arms.

THE LA's: "There She Goes." Again.

LAKE STREET DIVE plays World Cafe.

ROSSI: Live at the Paste Studio.

DINOSAUR JR shares "Garden."

BIG THIEF covers the Breeders' "Off You."

MY BLOODY VALENTINE: Eight years after the shoegaze pioneers' last album, the band is bringing its catalog to streaming services, reissuing records on vinyl and recording two new albums.

PATTI SMITH is wriiting on Substack.

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN co-founder Will Sergeant has announced a memoir.

SPENCER KRUG talks abut a new album and new parenting.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Belinda Carlisle's soaring, glittering pop anthem "Heaven Is A Place On Earth."

CHET HANKS and an ex-girlfriend are at war over a volatile relationship that recently ended — with both of them slinging allegations of violence.

BRAD PITT & ANGELINA JOLIE: Hollywood's Costliest Divorce.

SHARON STONE paid Leonardo DiCaprio's salary for The Quick and the Dead.

WOODY HARRELSON is set to star as a Nazi doctor in a new World War II psychological thriller.

AMERICAN GODS creator Neil Gaiman has said the show is “definitely not dead” despite being cancelled.

THE SNYDER CUT and the future of fandom.

ORGANIZING the cats.

DOGGO in the Dunkin drive-thru.

BILLIONS OF CICADAS are set to swarm across 15 states and Washington, D.C.

DAVID BOWIE: How about some vintage "Queen B^tch" from the OGWT?

TYPHOON plays World Cafe at Home.

GARBAGE returns with “The Men Who Rule The World.”

ANGEL OLSEN shares an acoustic version of “It’s Every Season (Whole New Mess).”

RICHARD THOMPSON's memoir is excerpted at Rolling Stone.

DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 is profiled at American Songwriter.

CHRIS CORNELL's widow locked Soundgarden out of their social accounts, so the band is headed to court.

THE TOP 15 POP SAX SOLOS, according to NME.

GODZILLA vs KONG is opening on 3000 screens, the biggest US opening since the pandemic.

ALEXANDER SKARSGARD knows you don't care that he's in Godzilla vs. Kong, resulting in a great interview.

THE OSCARS are set to relax their in-person requirement. Bad idea.

THE BAD BATCH: A Disney+ animated Star Wars project has a trailer online.

GAME OF THRONES: Broadway is Coming.

BRITNEY SPEARS was "embarrassed" by that documentary and cried for two weeks.

JAMES CAAN looks back at Thief. 

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON interviews JAMES CAMERON: Oh, I can't spoil this.

REINDEER CYCLONES are a real thing.

THE HUSKY loves you.

WORKING on that summer body after quarantine.

TODD RUNDGREN': His first band Nazz hit with "Open My Eyes"; his classic "Hello, It's Me" completes Twofer Tuesday. BONUS: "We Gotta Get You A Woman" is just audio... but what audio!

THE AFGHAN WHIGS & THE TWILIGHT SINGERS get over three hours of discussion and analysis on Political Beats with guest John J. Miller.

VINTAGE TROUBLE live at the Paste Studio.

FRANCES FOREVER visits The Current.

BELINDA CARLISLE discusses the Go-Gos catalog at Vulture.

THE ANTLERS' Peter Silberman discusses the influences on their new LP.

WAGNER, FIST FIGHTS, and the making of Roxy Music's debut album.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes' Oscar-winning 'Dirty Dancing' duet "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life."

SHARON OSBOURNE got a payday of up to eight figures from CBS as she exited “The Talk” last week amid allegations of racist behavior.

ARMIE HAMMER has been dropped from another film, in the wake of sexual assault allegations and continuous online chatter that has been spiraling across social media since the beginning of the year.

EMMA STONE welcomed her first child, a baby girl, with husband Dave McCary. 

SHARON STONE claims a surgeon gave her larger breasts without her consent.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: The upcoming streaming series announces its cast.

RUSSELL CROWE lands a mystery role in Thor: Love and Thunder. (My guess is Falstaff.)

AMANDA SEYFRIED is set to star as Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's The Dropout. 

SETH ROGEN and the year that went to pot.

WRATH OF MAN: Jason Staham, Guy Ritchie, and a trailer online.

DOG & BUTTERFLY: The sequel.

BEARenting.

A BABY RHINO, cuddling.