THOSE DARLINS' have new animated clip for "Red Light Love."

CRACKER stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

IMOGENE HEAP is streaming her new album.

MEW is streaming their new album, too.

I GET AROUND: The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian walks NPR through the Beach Boys classic, and how it compares to Bach's choral church music.

R.E.M.: "Supernatural Superserious."

HOPE SANDOVAL, formerly of Mazzy Star, has a new song, "Trouble," streaming via Entertainment Weekly.

NAME THAT SCREAM: NPR is streaming -- and running a contest around -- six of 74 classic rock screams from a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl disc from artist LeRoy Stevens.

THE BEATLES catalog has been remastered. Again. Beatles News has a highly detailed report of the painstaking work this time around. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

PATRICK WOLF is profiled by the Times of London.

BRITNEY SPEARS delivered Letterman's Top 10 list Tuesday night.

McSLEAZY E! Online has plenty of dish on Kari Ann Peniche, the other woman in the NSFW video featuring Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart.

MICHAEL JACKSON: The King of Merch. "Whenever any big star dies, there's always going to be a mad rush to make a cheap buck," says Caspar Llewellyn-Smith, editor of the Observer Music Monthly magazine. Mean while, Jacko's personal physician will be charged with manslaughter within the next two weeks, a law enforcement source told FOXNews.

ROBERT PATTINSON says he does not have a girlfriend, though he's been spotted canoodling with Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart lately.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE choreographer Alex Da Silva was arrested yesterday on a bunch of sex-crime charges involving four different women he tutored.

QUENTIN TARANTINO & ELI ROTH talk Inglourious Basterds, screenwriting, dating, etc. with each other.

A VH-1 REALITY SHOW CONTESTANT is a person of interest in the murder of a Playboy representative who was found dead and stuffed in a suitcase in Orange County.

JON HAMM has joined the cast of "Sucker Punch," an action fantasy Zack Snyder ("300", "Watchmen") is directing for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.

PAKISTAN's army may require months to prepare for a new military offensive against the Taliban in a restive region along the country's unsettled border with Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani general on Tuesday told President Obama's envoy for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region according to senior Pakistani officials.

AFGHANISTAN has ordered Western and domestic media to impose a blackout on coverage of violence during the upcoming presidential election, saying it did not want Afghans to be frightened away from the polls.

IRAQ: At least 95 people were killed and hundreds injured by a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks in Baghdad. A steady escalation of attacks since the US troop withdrawals has sparked fears of a resurgence of violence ahead of next year's national elections.

NORA the CAT performed live -- briefly -- on the Today Show.

ORPHANED HEDGEHOGS, adopting a cleaning brush as their mother...

A FERRET was seen running amok in downtown Port Angeles on Thursday, startling customers and business owners as it made a mad dash for safety.

PIMP MY OSTRICH: Carnivores have been blamed for global warming, deforestation, water pollution, and water overuse. Could farming ostriches and other game animals be the solution?

THE HORRORS have a video for "Mirror's Image" that is literal, and old skool, but effective.

TIM BUCKLEY, Live at the Folklore Center, NYC, is advance streaming via NPR.

ALEC OUNSWORTH of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah does five free songs for Daytrotter, all previously unreleased.

TOP TRACKS OF THE 2000s: Pitchfork's countdown continues, with scads of embedded audio.

GORILLA vs. BEAR also lists their top albums and top songs of the decade.

R.B. GREAVES: "Take a Letter, Maria."

THEFT OF THE DIAL: The Dead Weather (minus Jack White) guest DJs at The Current.

JAY REATARD talks to Paste about his new LP Watch Me Fall, his abiding appreciation for Devo, and his fear of turning into the next Brian Wilson.

DAVID BYRNE refuses to reunite his old band, but his music career is still going strong. Then there's his travel book and his bicycle racks.

CHARLOTTE HATHERLEY talks to The Dumbing of America about her unique sound, playing with Ash and Bat for Lashes, her upcoming solo LP, etc.

QUENTIN TARANTINO lists his favorite 20 movies since 1992, and the blogosphere freaks out.

McSLEAZY: Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart did not have sex with Kari Ann Peniche - but according to Peniche, they had plenty of fun. Lawyers are already in motion over the video that leaked on the Internet.

CELINE DION is pregnant with her second child at 41.

PAULA ABDUL hints that some sort of post-AI deal is in the works ... but she wouldn't say with who.

ROBIN WRIGHT PENN filed for divorce after telling More magazine that she had no plans to reconcile with husband Sean Penn.

MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE, produced by David Lynch and directed by the awesome Werner Herzog, now has a trailer online.

BRUCE WILLIS, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER and STALLONE... oh, my!

MONTY PYTHON is reuniting in New York in the fall for an event to mark the group's 40th anniversary and to promote a documentary. A six-hour version of the documentary will have its premiere on IFC on Oct. 18.

ZOMBIES would most likely wipe out humanity if they really existed, claim scientists.

IRAN: A top nuclear official denied stating that Tehran was ready to hold talks with the West on its atomic program "without preconditions."

PAKISTAN: The captured spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has told interrogators that Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US missile strike earlier this month. But who knows, really.

IRAQ: US troops could be forced to withdraw a year ahead of schedule under a referendum the Iraqi government backed Monday, creating a potential complication for American commanders concerned about rising violence in the country's north.

WILD HORSE vs. RACE CAR: Who you got?

MOTOLA the ELEPHANT steps out happily - if a little tentatively - after being fitted with a state-of-the-art artificial limb.

A DELINQUENT COD attacks a bather at a lake... in Darwin.

CAMEL SPIDERS found in Colorado. Did they come from Iraq?

DOGS know when you're lying about treats.

THE DRUMS: "Let's Go Surfin'." Is everybody learnin' how?

NEW RELEASES: Brendan Benson, Richard Thompson, The Lovely Feathers, P^ssed Jeans, Simian Mobile Disco and more are streaming this week via Spinner. 

THE TOP 500 TRACKS OF THE 2000s are being counted down at Pitchfork, with embedded audo.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Radiohead, Modest Mouse, Lou Barlow, Sonre Lerche and more are featured in the current installment of the long-running series.

THE DEVIL MAKES THREE stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set in audio and video.

CROWDED HOUSE, which hit the Top Ten twice in 1987 with "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong," are your Twofer Tuesday.

LEONARD COHEN is profiled by Sasha Frere-Jones at The New Yorker.

LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

THE BEST POP FOR FALL 2009, according to the Times of London.

WOODSTOCK PLUS 40: Young people prefer Michael Jackson, The Beatles and the Stones to Nirvana, Coldplay and Kanye West.

McSLEAZY: Eric Dane (Grey's Anatomy's "Dr. McSteamy"), his wife, actress Rebecca Gayheart, and beauty-queen-turned-Hollywood-madam Kari Ann Peniche have a NSFW video.

MICHAEL JACKSON will be finally laid to rest on Aug. 29, on what would have been the King of Pop's 51st birthday, according to creepy dad Joe.

JESSICA SIMPSON to replace Paula Abdul on American Idol? That's the idea being pushed by her creepy dad Joe.

KRISTEN STEWART and ROBERT PATTINSON: The Twilight co-stars were... wait for it... caught canoodling on camera at a Kings of Leon concert in Vancouver.

MADONNA along with her boytoy Jesus Luz is in the Italian Riviera resort of Portofino Monday to celebrate her 51st birthday.

BRAD PITT will not be joining the cast of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, contrary to tabloid reports.

PAKISTAN has drawn up a big list of military purchases from the US, but what's worrying India is that Islamabad is lobbying hard to get deadly Predator drones.

AFGHANISTAN: Al Qaeda and Taliban ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said his followers are ready to help the US-led coalition forces if foreign troops announce the time frame for the pulling out their troops. Sounds like a big "if."

IRAQ: America's top commander wants to deploy US soldiers alongside Iraqi and Kurdish troops in a disputed swath of northern territory following a series of horrific bombings by insurgents hoping to stoke an Arab-Kurdish conflict.

ASIAN PIG RODEO: Let's go to the video.

WHEN BEARS ATTACK a Harley-Davidson.

SHEEP and LLAMA SHOOTING under investigation in upstate New York.

A MISSING BICHON FRISE has been reunited with his owners more than nine years after going missing from his Essex home.

MAN and GATOR, frolicking together... mass hysteria!

JIM DICKINSON, who recorded with and produced greats like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Big Star, the Rolling Stones, The Replacements and Sam & Dave, died Saturday morning after three months of heart and intestinal bleeding problems. He was 67. That's Jim tickling the keys for Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper on "(619) 239-KING."

COPELAND did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

CULTURE REJECT also did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

A SCHOOL OF ROCK has been launched by the guitarist and manager of the Flaming Lips at the University of Central Oklahoma.

CAJUN PARTY: There are "songs of summer sweat" streaming via NPR... plus a recipe for shrimp stew.

ANTONY and the JOHNSONS cover Beyonce's "Crazy In Love." Really.

RICHARD THOMPSON talks to the Boston Globe about his new four-disc box set (out Tuesday), songwriting and more...

ACRTIC MONKEYS: Alex Turner talks to Spinner about some of the influences on the band's new LP.

NICK HORNBY talks to the Times of London about his collaboration with Ben Folds.

WOODSTOCK is still a thriving business, 40 years later.

BOB DYLAN was detained by police in Long Branch, NJ last month, when a young officer failed to recognize him.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: District 9 takes the top slot with 37 million on a 30 million budget.  G.I. Joe drops 59 percent to the second slot with 22.5 million; given the mammoth opening and bad reviews, it could've been worse.  Time Traveler's Wife comes in third with 19.2 million, mostly on the strength of Rachel McAdams.  Julie and Julia drops from second to fourth with 12.4 million; its 38 percent drop would be more cause for studio worry, but for the direct competition from the McAdams flick.  G-Force rounds out the Top Five, holding on as a bigger-ticket 3-D offering and the main kids' movie out now.  Below the fold, The Goods debuted in sixth, while Ponyo opened in ninth.  Indie sensation (500) Days of Summer stayed in the Top Ten in its first weekend of true wide release -- with ten Best Picture slots for this year's Oscars, who knows? And Funny People dropped out of the Top Ten in three weeks, which isn't funny at all for Universal, Adam Sandler or Judd Apatow.

ALYSSA MILANO got hitched to Hollywood agent David Bugliari at his family's estate in New Jersey on Saturday.

GEORGE MICHAEL was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving -- again -- after smashing his car into the back of a lorry.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Still not buried.

SARAH CHALKE of Scrubs and HIMYM is knocked up.

JESSICA SIMPSON and TONY ROMO: Their surprise break-up was largely a result of peer pressure from Romo's pals and Jess's love of adult beverages.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.: Lestat in a reboot of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles?

THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY is under major stress.

ISLAMISM IN THE UK: British swimming pools are imposing Muslim dress codes for "special sessions" in a move described as divisive by Labour MPs.

IRAN:  Opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi announced the formation of a new social and political movement on his Web site on Saturday, following through on a promise made last month and defying a renewed government campaign of intimidation aimed at him and his supporters.

PAKISTAN: The government is backing Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud's rival Haji Turkestan Bhitni's tribe, which has in recent days been battling Mehsud's tribe in its South Waziristan stronghold.  But that's likely to be ineffective -- and not much of an improvement if it works.

AFGHANISTAN: An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.

SIBLINGS are pretty much the same, regardless of species.

FIVE the ELEPHANT has been serenading its keepers at West Midlands Safari Park, after learning to play the harmonica. Five is already a painter.

WHEN OTTERS ATTACK: An Austrian woman on vacation in Wisconsin is getting rabies shots after she said she was bitten several times by at least two otters while swimming in a lake.

SNAILS VS. OYSTERS: Who you got, Spartacus?

SHARK ATTACK On Porpoise!

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

with ELVIS PRESLEY! The King died 32 years ago Sunday, but remains a global pop phenomenon, so it's worth a recap of highlights from the bigh 30th anniverary last year.  Canada's Star-Phoenix, which discusses ten important parts of Elvis history worth reliving, notes: "His was a sequined coat of many colours: '50s Greaser Elvis. Military Elvis. Hollywood Elvis. Aloha from Hawaii Elvis. Vegas Elvis. And, ultimately, Dead Fat Elvis."  The BBC has friend and aide Sonny West recall life with The King. 

ACTION NEWS 5 has posted its local coverage from Aug. 16-17, 1977, on the Tube, where you can also see funeral footage from the BBC Archive.  Here's read the obit that ran the next day in the Washington Post. Elvis Presley News recaps the international headlines from the event and links to the eulogy at his funeral. On a happier note, check out what is likely the first footage taken of Elvis, with backstage shots of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly in 1955; shades of Walk The Line!  You can also see him play "I Got A Woman" live o­n his first TV appearance in 1956. I also include his performance of "Hound Dog" o­n The Milton Berle Show six months later, not o­nly because it's historic, but also because Paul Miller and I often reached for it when we would stumble into our KUSR shift at the last minute -- Uncle Miltie vamps for awhile, which gave us time to pull records for the show.  He was also iconic in "Jailhouse Rock" that year.  Elvis sang a mashup of "Love Me Tender" and "Witchcraft" with Frank Sinatra when he got back from the Army.  All of his movies -- such as "Viva Las Vegas" --made money, but his musical career stalled in the 1960s until he electrified and charmed the public with his televised '68 Comeback Special, which you can see uncut and unedited on the Tube.  1970 finds him singing "In The Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds" in the jumpsuit, though pre-bloated.  I'm going to throw in "Little Sister" just 'cause I like it.  Sadly, in a few short years, bloated jumpuit Elvis would be delivering a wacked-out take on "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" -- though to be fair, this audio-only version from 1969 is even more demented and he knows it.  I would rather remember Jumpsuit Elvis for the signature horns that open "See See Rider."  a tribute to his enduring legacy as the fact that he could hit the charts decades after his death with a remix of "A Little Less Conversation," a video subtly recalling "Jailhouse Rock,"  followed by Paul Oakenfold's remix of "Rubberneckin'" and even the bizzare CGI Elvis duet with Celine Dion on American Idol last year. The King may be gone, but the brand lives on, making millions and recruiting new fans under the watchful eyes of Elvis Presley Enterprises and CKX, Inc.

GREETINGS FROM GRACELAND:  It must be said, however, that Elvis Presley Enterprises did not have a good handle on the King's affairs in the years immediately following his death.  Chicago radio personalities Steve Dahl and Garry Meier won a local emmy for their 1981 comedic look at what was then a very seedy exploitation of Elvis in Memphis. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.)

LES PAUL, the virtuoso guitarist with the shattered arm, whose invention of the solid-body electric guitar and multi-track recording changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday from complications of pneumonia. He was 94.  The NYT's obit includes a previously unseen, 15-min video interview with Paul.  In 2003, Paul talked to the NYT about his first encounter with Jimi Hendrix. Paul is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Inventors Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Without him, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Claude Pate would never have had quite the same bite.

CAN'T HARDLY WAIT: Aquarium Drunkard has a two-part tribute to various versions of the Replacements classic. I and various Friends of Pate had heard the early incarnations live. I also recall driving Music Works owner Paul Miller to the UPS depot the day Pleased to Meet Me came out, and how jazzed we were to see "Can't Hardly Wait" in the track listing.  In fact, when we got back to the store, we slapped a copy on the turntable and immediately went to the final track -- and we both shocked and delighted with it.  Paul played the album all day long, and as 'Mats fans came in, he would keep resetting the needle to that final track, just for the pleasure of watching the reactions.

JOLIE HOLLAND does five free songs for Daytrotter.

PETE YORN stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

WOODSTOCK:  On Aug. 15-17, 1969, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in a lovely natural amphitheater in Bethel (not Woodstock), NY for "three days of peace and music," including sets from Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Who, Santana, Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, Arlo Guthrie, Canned Heat, Jimi Hendrix, and the proverbial many more.  CNN remembers, as does The New York Times with multimedia.

ZEE AVI stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

RADIOHEAD has another new track, "These Are My Twisted Words."

THE DECEMBERISTS were busted for busking in Royal Oak, MI.  Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk talks to the Pittsburgh Post-Tribune about touring The Hazards of Love, the band's influences, and more...

THE CUTOUT BIN: From the Association to the Heartbreakers, srom Sly and the Family Stone to the Jesus and Mary Chain, from Primal Scream to Rose Royce, plus the Lyres, the Kinks, My Morning Jacket, Lloyd Cole and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are District 9, the alien apartheid tale currently scoring 95 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; The Time Traveler's Wife, currently scoring 37 percent, Bandslam, which is scoring 80 percent, The Goods, scoring 12 percent, and the animated Ponyo at 95 percent.

ANNA FARIS got hitched in a small ceremony in Bali on July 9.

MICHAEL JACKSON's personal physician left the performer alone and under the influence of a powerful anesthetic to make telephone calls the morning the pop singer died, according to three people familiar with the investigation.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Tom and Katie reportedly had a public spat on the Melbourne, Australia set of Holmes' thriller, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark.

KATE HUDSON isn't getting a warm reception at the plate from Minka Kelly, longtime squeeze of Yankee captain Derek Jeter.

BRAD PITT is not running for Mayor of NOLA.

SOUTH PARK has posted the unaired pilot episode of the series, made entirely by hand on construction paper.  You can watch it with or without a commentary track.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA getting another reboot? Really?

JERRY O'CONNELL recently enrolled at Los Angeles' Southwestern Law School.

IRAN: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps may just want to run the entire Islamic theocracy.

PAKISTAN: Although people worry about the security of the nation's nukes, a recent paper examines the possibility that the Pakistan Army could decide to transfer nuclear weapons to a terrorist group.

AFGHANISTAN: Michael Yon gives an interview under fire while traveling with British troops.

A PREGNANT COW bolts for freedom at the Kalamazoo County Fair. Video at the link.

A WOMAN and a DOE, living together...

A FISH smashed a car windshield near Marblehead, OH,  when an eagle dropped its catch from a height of about 40 feet.

RALPH the PENGUIN has gone bald, and now has a special wetsuit. Pics at the link.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Now they're camera hogs.

THE SWARM: Three peoplein Stuart, FL,  were attacked by a swarm of bees that came from a hive about the size of a car engine.

A VENGEFUL WEASEL harasses a family in eastern China's Hubei province.