MY MORNING JACKET apparently tore the roof off MSG on NYE, if the trove of audio and video at Brooklyn Vegan is any guide. Or you can stream the whole gig -- with covers of Sam Cooke, James Brown, Kool & The Gang, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and more -- via the Internet Archive.  As a teaser, here's "You're All I Need," with a cameo from Nicole Atkins.

NEW RELEASES: The debut album from Glasvegas is streaming in full at Spinner.

THAO NGUYEN does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased ("The New One").

BON IVER gets a feature on All Things Considered, with news on Justin Vernon's next release.

CALEXICO drops a free download at the Threadless t-shirt site. Yes, really.

STONEHENGE was built as a dance arena for prehistoric raves, a university professor believes.  And where are they now, the little people of Stonehenge? BONUS: "(Listen to the) Flower People" as a Twofer Tuesday.

BLACK LIPS will give you a new track from their forthcoming album 200 Million Thousand, in return for your e-mail address.

OASIS: Liam and Noel Gallagher almost came to blows recently - this time over a Facebook update.

GENE SIMMONS will play a cartoon dentist on Nick at Nite.

GOTH FOLK: The Times of London examines an ideal accompaniment to the gloomy new year.

LOVE IS ALL: Josephine Olausson talks to Pitchfork about the Swedish quintet's sophomore album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, the outside pressures to adjust their sound for the marketplace, and the pros and cons of reading one's own press.

JOHN TRAVOLTA & KELLY PRESTON's son Jett dies of a "seizure" according to the death certificate.  The autopsy findings may never be public.

REBECCA ROMIJN & JERRY O'CONNELL welcome twin girls.

LINDSAY LOHAN & SAMANTHA RONSON are dunzo? Li-Lo denies it.

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT and her fiancé Ross McCall are dunzo.

PATRICIA ARQUETTE & THOMAS JANE are dunzo.

DEAD SNOW: A Norwegian Nazi zombie movie coming to Sundance and to theaters in September. With an Indian Jones reference, no less. It could be the best Norwegian Nazi zombie movie ever.

GARY OLDMAN has married for the fourth time, tying the knot with musician Alexandra Edenborough at a secret ceremony.

MADONNA: Daughter Lourdes has enrolled at a New York drama school made famous by Macaulay Culkin, Scarlett Johansson and Sarah Jessica Parker.  Did anyone ever suggest that to Madge?

CELEBRITY & MEDIA TWITTER ACCOUNTS were hacked after Twitter's internal admin tools were compromised. Which doesn't exclude the possibility that Britney Spears has more than one orifice with teeth.

PAKISTAN: On the heels of their crusade against girls going to schools, the Taliban have now issued new dictum in the areas under their sway asking parents of the grown up daughters to marry them to militants or "face dire consequences." This kind of idiocy was a factor in turning the Anbar tribes agaist Al Qaeda in Iraq.

IRAN: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday warned Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki against a security pact with the United States.  The Ayatollah may want to catch up on his news reading.

TARA & BELLA, living together at the Elephant sanctuary, through sickness and health.  A heart-warming disaster of Biblical proportions.

HEY, YOU MOUNTAIN LIONS: Get off of my lawn!

INDIA, the First Cat, died in office Sunday.

PANDA CUB debuts at the Atlanta Zoo.

SHARKS HAVE WIMPY BITES, but compensate with sharp teeth and wide mouths. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

UGLYSUIT plays a rooftop in "Chicago."

ANDREW BIRD gets an in-depth NYT magazine profile, which finds him worried on the edge of a breakthrough. NPR is offering an advance stream of his upcoming Noble Beast LP.

BLITZEN TRAPPER have a Weekend Edition feature plus tracks streaming via NPR.

WINTERPILLS played the World Cafe Friday, so you can stream the gig on demand via NPR.

GLASVEGAS: The New York Press wonders whether the Spectorian Scots can make it in the States. Bassist Paul Donoghue promises a less orcehestrated, rawking version of the band onstage. Chromewaves has more links and an MP3 of the band covering "Be My Baby."

THE BUZZCOCKS' Singles Going Steady -- and its most memorable single, "Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" -- is essayed by the Columbia Spectator.

ANTONY and the JOHNSONS frontman Antony Hegarty is profiled at The Guardian.

THE HOLD STEADY's Franz Nicolay hopes his solo LP will start to get people like me from always linking him to the band.  But for now, I think it helps get him attention.

FRIENDLY FIRES count Tom Jones and Bono among their fans. I noted their Current mini-set back in October.

JOHNNY VAN ZANDT talks about the enduring influence of Lynyrd Skynyrd. (Thx, LHB.)

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Marley & Me repeats as No.1 with 24 million, as the top seven films remain unchanged from last weekend.  The dog has already crossed the 100 million mark. Bedtime Stories held really well, with a mere 26 percent drop, and should end up well in the black.  Benjamin Button is only about halfway to breaking even. Valkyrie even looks like it will turn a profit worldwide, thanks to a limited 60 million budget.  Yes Man rounds out the Top Five and also looks to be mildly profitable by the end.  Indeed, most of the movies in the Top Ten are looking at least okay -- even the disappointing The Day The Earth Stood Still -- due to some fiscal sanity on the budgeting front.  Below the fold, the story may be Oscar possibles like Doubt and Slumdog Millionaire  rising to 8th and 10th despite being on far fewer screens than the major releases.

JOHN TRAVOLTA & KELLY PRESTON lost their 16-year-old son Jett while vacationing in the Bahamas.  Jett reportedly collapsed and died after suffering a seizure inside the family's suite at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island. He may also have fatally struck his head in the bathroom there.  Police have launched an investigation, but do not suspect foul play. However, there does appear to be conflict between the police and Camp Travolta over the timeline of events. Some have raised quesions about whether Scientology played a role in these events, though it appears Jett was once on anti-seizure medication. And then there's this.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise claims he overcame the effects of his dyslexia thanks to Scientology in an interview published on Sunday. Also, the movie Valkyrie's use of a prop Hitler globe may draw a lawsuit from the real globe's owner.

LINDSAY LOHAN & SAMANTHA RONSON reportedly rang in the new year with a nasty fistfight.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR evaded DUI charges with a no contest plea to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge in court Friday.

SAM SHEPARD was busted for DUI in Normal, IL, over the weekend.

PAT HINGLE, veteran of stage, television and film acting, passed away late Saturday noght.

NINE: A post-apocalyptic animated film produced by Tim Burton has a teaser trailer online.

GEORGE CLOONEY & the FRENCH HOTEL are hanging out together? I always wondered what would happen when that final seal was cracked.

TARA REID has checked out of rehab.

THE STATE OF JIHAD, 2008: The Long War Journal's roundup of the major developments in the primary and secondary theaters during the past year.

IRAQ: The post-SoFA regime is tested as a suicide attack outside a Shia shrine in Baghdad killed 35 civilians and wounded 79 more.

CAT SNEEZE ATTACK: Let's go to the video.

ASSISTANCE ANIMALS go well beyond guide dogs to monkeys for quadriplegia and agoraphobia, guide miniature horses, a goat for muscular dystrophy, a parrot for psychosis and any number of animals for anxiety, including cats, ferrets, pigs, at least one iguana and a duck.

ORANGUTAN is learning to jet ski -- or trying to get closer to his trainer.

SMART BATS have smaller testicles. Don't all species say this?

ILLEGAL SEAFOOD is more than just a reataurant in Oxford, MA: "The story is about more than contraband seafood. It is a tale of lobsters on a death-defying journey, one marred by tragedy and for some, redemption..."

PORCUPINES attack the resort village of Telluride, CO.  Dinsdale... Dinsdale!

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with TOM PETTY!  Over the holidays, I have again caught big chunks of Peter Bogdanovich's four-hour film on Petty, "Running Down a Dream,"  reminding me again how underrated he is.  The doc goes as far back as Petty's days in Mudcrutch, which led him -- and some future Heartbreakers -- to legendary A&R man Denny Cordell, who would produce the first TP records, including "American Girl," "I Need To Know" and "Listen To Her Heart."  He fought -- and beat -- his label twice.  The first fight -- over the sale of his contract to MCA -- preceded the seminal Damn The Torpedoes album (the master tapes were kept in hiding during litigation) that would launch the band to super-stardom with tracks like "Here Comes My Girl," "Even The Losers," "Don't Do Me Like That" and the signature "Refugee."  The second fight was over the pricing of his follow-up, Hard Promises; in the movie Petty also shares the backstory for "The Waiting" from that LP.  The movie is not just PR; it is acknowledged that while the video for "You Got Lucky" was state of the art for that era, the Long After Dark album was treading water creatively.  

Bogdanovich also makes clear that Petty's success is due in no small part to a relentless drive that occasionally strays into the ruthless.  Petty was not above dumping band members, stealing band members and collaborators -- like Eurhythmics' Dave Stewart, whom he suggested write for Stevie Nicks, but ended up making off with him and "Don't Come Around Here No More" for himself, even though its psychedelic sound did not really fit with songs like "Rebels" on the Southern Accents album.  Indeed, the Wonderland-themed video for the former would supply Petty the Mad Hatter persona who would pop up in later videos for songs like "Into The Great Wide Open," which was expanded to almost seven minutes just because they had great footage from Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway.  And in the movie, Nicks doesn't seem to mind, esp. in light of the success of their collabration on tracks like "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."  While I'm less of a fan of Petty's later work, the film tells the engaging backstory of the Traveling Wilburys, which reminds you that not just anyone gets to be in a band with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and the late Roy Orbison.  Indeed, TP & the Hartbreakers backed Dylan on tour (saw it) and later backed Johnny Cash.  And Petty is still capable of turning out great stuff, as the movie documents TP's solo LP, which spawned hits like "Won't Back Down," "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down A Dream."  Somewhat surprisingly, it was Petty's biggest album to that point.  There's also some great footage of Petty standing up to some music-biz types who wanted former Byrd Roger McGuinn to record some piece of pop fluff;  Petty & McGuinn would turn out "King Of The Hill," a song about "Papa" John Phillips (though they don't say so in the movie).  McGuinn also tells the story of the first time someone played him "American Girl": "When did I record that?"  Catch it on Sundance today or Jan 6th -- or queue it from Netflix.

DELANEY BRAMLETT of Delaney & Bonnie, a singer and songwriter whose bluesy, gospel- and country-flavored music influenced Eric Clapton and George Harrison among others, and whose songs were covered by popular musicians ranging from Ray Charles to Sonic Youth, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 69.

PRINCE tells Ann Powers of the L.A. Tines about plans to realease three albums this year and more...

LOS LOBOS, Live at Biddy Mulligan's in 1984, via Captain's Dead.

JEFF MANGUM of Neutral Milk Hotel, Live at Aquarius Records in 1996, via Aquarium Drunkard.

THE BEST 25 VIDEOS of 2008, according to Best Week Ever.

MUSIC DOWNLOADS set records, but not enough to offset declining CD sales.

WINTER 2009 RELEASES: Compiled at Pitchfork.

VIKING MOSES does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, three previously unreleased.

CUTOUT BIN: From Bob Dylan to Zager & Evans, from Stff Little Fingers to Sly & the Family Stone, from the Hombres to Devo, plus Billy Bragg, the Count Five, Cat Power, T.Rex and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

GREAT MOVIES not available on DVD.

THE BEST DVDs of 2008, according to The A.V. Club.

THE WORST DVDs of 2008, according to PopMatters.

NOW SHOWING:  There are no new wide releases this weekend.

CHARLES BARKLEY gave statements to the police after his DUI arrest that were very Barkley.

JENNIFER GARNER did not give birth yesterday.

WATCHMEN has a new featurette online.

DARREN ARONOFSKY, director of The Wrestler, says wrestlers should be part of SAG.

TOP GUN: A visit to the "Where are they now?" file.

THE HOLLYWOOD RECESSION:  Studios have now had time to develop proposals for pictures about the financial chaos, inspiring a clutch of big-budget films over the next year.

PAKISTAN: Security forces detained 28 al Qaeda and Taliban facilitators as well as 116 Afghans during a security operation in Khyber.

IRAQ has transitioned to full sovereignty as the SoFA has taken effect. Iraqi forces detained 15 insurgents in separate raids throughout the country. 2008 had the lowest US troop casualties since the invasion, almost two-thirds lower than 2007 -- which I mention because the establishment media certainly did not bother to do so.

DUCKS ON AN ESCALATOR: Trying to get to the Chinese restaurant.

CREATURES GREAT & SMALL 2008: Year in Review in Photos.

DISABLED DUCK teaches tolerance and inspires hope in children.

BIRDWATCHER & BIRD cross signals.

WELCOME... TO THE NEW YEAR: You can stream a live version of Pate's "New Year" (and three others from the 2003 reunion) at PateSpace.

U2: Crushingly obvious, I know.

OTIS & CARLA: "New Year's Resolution."

EARL GREYHOUND rawks out on four free songs for Daytrotter, three previously unreleased: "It's the sound of a Trans-am kicking buckets full of gray gravel and driveway dust into our faces as it peels away to carry its Hendrix and 80s arena rock-loving passengers off to do some bowling, hit the county fair for some hellraising and then cap the night off with some drunk driving."

TIM FITE has a downloadable song clelebrating the fishes and loaves and ducks at the Linesville Spillway in northwest Pennsylvania -- one of America's oldest roadside attractions.  Video at the link also.

THE HOLD STEADY's Franz Nicolay talks to C-Ville (Charlottesville) about his new solo album and tour, and busking before proper gigs. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

ABBA wishes you a "Happy New Year,"  but it doesn't sound anywhere as celebratory as "Take A Chance On Me." 

BEATLES vs. STONES:  Magnet matches three albums from each, head-to-head.

ROBERT PLANT was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen.

BJORK has turned venture capitalist, with a new fund that aims to revive Iceland's economy.

COLDPLAY frontman Chris Martin took the London Tube to his recent concert at the O2 arena. Not only was he unrecognized on the train, but he was stopped by security at the arena gate.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS perform "This Year" at the M-Shop in Ames, IA.

MATT DILLON: Busted driving 106 miles per hour on Interstate 91 in Newbury, VT.

CHARLES BARKLEY: Busted on suspicion of DUI.

DANE COOK's  brother/ business manager was busted for allegedly stealing millions from the comedian.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX is looking bloated and dishevelled since claiming he would quit acting.

JENNIFER GARNER & BEN AFFLECK may be delivering a kid to celebrate the new year.

MADONNA's Ray of Light Foundation gave away 3.1 million last year -- nearly all to the Kabbalah Center of Los Angeles.  Madge gave no money to her other charity, Raising Malawi, in 2007 -- even though that was the year she adopted little David Banda from that country.

THE UNITED STATES OF TARA: Here's a sneak preview of the first episode of the Showtime series created by Steven Spielberg, written by Diablo Cody (Juno) and starring Toni Collete as a mom with a split personality. The password is "Tara."

THE FRENCH HOTEL: Trying to save the global economy with an Aussie spending splurge.

TIME WARNER CABLE subscribers might be missing a few channels today.

INDIA: Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives directly linked to Mumbai attacks.

IRAN: Volunteer suicide bombers seek to attack Israel.

AFGHANISTAN: The complexity of the military undertaking in Afghanistan, and the US approach to it, can be seen in miniature in the Army Corps of Engineers' plans to build a forward operating base next year in western Afghanistan.

IRAQ: Seventy-six percent of the Sons of Iraq members will be under Iraqi government responsibility by today. Police arrested a leading figure in a messianic Shiite cult that has battled Iraqi and US forces, possibly thwarting attacks against hundreds of thousands of pilgrims that will gather next week at one of Iraq's holiest shrines.

FERRET GHOST RIDES A MOP: Let's go to the video.

FERRET & DOG, living together... I think you know what this means.

LOVELORN BEAVER hunted in Britain.

PET HANGOVERS: Veterinarian Lee Woods said his south Boulder clinic sees a spike in alcohol-related dog and cat illnesses around the holidays.

FREAKIEST WORM-LIKE THING I've seen all week. Let's go to the video.

CHRIS BELL was profiled by the Memphis Commercial Appeal on the 30th anniversary of his death. In 2009, Rhino Records is releasing a Big Star box set and an expanded edition of Bell's lone solo work, I Am The Cosmos.

AULD LANG SYNE: Should auld acquaintance be forgot, there's always El Perro del Mar, Wooden Shjips, Vanderveer and Jimi Hendrix.

MARNIE STERN: In the Village Voice, Rob Trucks chronicles their songwriting experiment.

THE ACORN is offering two unusual downloads at its website.

THE AVETT BROTHERS, on the cusp of a breakout year, get a timeline of ascent, courtesy of the Charlotte Observer.

THE MUSIC THEY MADE: An audio slideshow of musicians who died this year, including a "Wimoweh" trifecta.  And don't I feel like a complete moron for missing Bo Diddley on my own year-end mix!

INDIE ROCK IN MEMORIAM, 2008: These are bands that died, died. With an Oscar-worthy soundtrack.

FLAMING LIPS: Wayne Coyne talks to SPIN about his band's confetti budget, working at Long John Silver's, and his new film, Christmas on Mars.

BOB MOULD: Magnet claims his next album (due in April) is "almost certainly Mould's best since Sugar's sophomore album, 1994's File Under: Easy Listening."

PAUL WELLER has reportedly been questioned by police in Prague after apparently being found drunk in the street.

NEIL DIAMOND has been named 2008's MusiCares Person of the Year, and will be honored at a ceremony featuring performances by the Foo Fighters, Coldplay, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson and the honoree himself. Diamond joins past honorees including Brian Wilson, Bono, Paul Simon, Sting, and Aretha Franklin.

CATE BLANCHETT garners the latest Vanity Fair cover story.

KEVIN BACON & KYRA SEDGWICK are among the many victims of the massive Ponzi scheme run by disgraced New York money manager Bernard Madoff.

WOODY HARRELSON and his longtime galpal Laura Louie were officially married on Sunday on the island of Maui.

BRITNEY SPEARS has been been swept off her feet by a Bollywood dance instructor, according to the ever-reliable Daily Mirror. Sources close to the pop wreck deny the report -- and it seems implausible that no one else would have noticed.

BRADGELINA: OK! Magazine claims that Jolie's last two pregnancies were so fraught with complications, she has been advised to wait a long time before getting pregnant again - or not to get pregnant at all.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY are not on the verge of separating, according to J-Lo's rep.

POPEYE becomes semi-public property shortly.

JIBJAB: The 2008 Year In Review.

USA TODAY'S CELEB HEAT INDEX: Britney Spears is tops for the year; the full list can be viewed here (and why the first story didn't link it is just dumb).

CELEBS & SCIENTIFIC ILLITERACY 2008, courtesy of the Indepenedent.

ISLAMISM in the NETHERLANDS: The country's biggest left-wing political grouping, the Labor Party, has issued a position paper calling for the end of the failed model of Dutch "tolerance."

IRAQ: When the calendar flips to 2009 on Thursday, Iraq's government will gain control over the Green Zone and its own airspace and some jurisdiction over security contractors under the terms of the US-Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement.

PITBULL & KITTEN, living together... you know it's a disaster of Biblical proportions.

THE UNDOG & NONCAT: New Yorkers finding themselves stymied by their apartment buildings' restrictions on cats and dogs have turned to parrots, rabbits and chinchillas.

FOUR RARE RHINO CALVES have been found in remote jungle on Indonesia's Java island, giving hope to efforts to save them from extinction.

LONE WOLF ROMEO returns to Juneau, looking for his lost Juliet.

SIX KITTEHS were revived by firefighters in Buckinghamshire with breathing apparatus adaptors usually reserved for babies.  Pic at the link.