LOCAL NATIVES visit The Current.

SINKANE covers classics from The Beatles and Peter Gabriel for a Lagniappe Session.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED rolls out tracks from Rhye, Quinn Christopherson, Tōth, Another Sky, Ari Roar, and more.

SLEATER-KINNEY returns with "Hurry On Home."

SUFJAN STEVENS shares “Love Yourself,” “Love Yourself (Short Reprise),” “Love Yourself (1996 Demo)” and “With My Whole Heart”.

PALEHOUND shares "Black Friday."

HOT CHIP shares a video for "Melody of Love."

BILL CALLAHAN talks to the Creative Independent about the work/family balance, reconnecting with writing, and more.

WHY SONGS are getting shorter in the streaming era.

FROM THE WALKMAN TO AIRPODS: Forty years of that all-encompassing, fall-away feeling of music descending.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Roberta Flack's delicate, layered sex-jam "Feel Like Makin' Love."

ALEX TREBEK reveals his stage 4 pancreatic cancer is in "near remission."

NICHELLE NICHOLS, a/k/a/ Lt. Uhura, is in a battle for guardianship of her own life.

CHRIS KATTAN claims Lorne Michaels once pressured him to have sex with a director so she would stay attached to A Night At The Roxbury.

BOY GEORGE is headed for a biopic.

MARTIN SCORSESE is concerned about the de-aging of DeNiro and Pacino in The Irishman.

THR COMEDY ACTRESSES' ROUNDTABLE: "If you can't tell why you've got your tits out, you're probably in the wrong scene."

CARMINE CARIDI, the actor best known for portraying Carmine Rosato in The Godfather: Part II, has died. He was 85.

A GIANT WHITE MANTA RAY, spotted off the Raja Ampat Islands.

TUPELO HONEY: Liquid Gold from the swamps.

PRAISE SONG For The Unloved Animals.

MYKONOS THE CAT, as the Twelve Caesars.

THE O'JAYS visit the World Cafe.

ECHO IN THE CANYON: Jakob Dylan, Cat Power and Jade Castrinos perform material from a new music documentary and concert film on the Laurel Canyon music scene.

TYLER CHILDERS plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

THE CURE plays Disintegration's B-sides live for the first time.

FRANZ FEDINAND debuts "Black Tuesday."

LOU BARLOW talks to Aquarium Drunkard about the new Sebadoh LP, unconsciously channeling oldies, yearning for resolutions, and learning to care less.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN confirms he will tour with the E Street Band in 2020. 

THE MEKONS' Sally Timms tells Twangville about the band's unusual habits. (Thx, LHB.)

MICK JAGGER & KEITH RICHARDS signed over all their publishing rights for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" to The Verve.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby," maybe the first disco hit that knows it's a disco hit -- and John Denver's pastoral love hymn "Annie's Song."

CHRIS HEMSWORTH talks about life after Thor Lebowski.

KIT HARRINGTON secretly checked into luxury rehab for stress and alcohol use ahead of the Game of Thrones finale.

SPICE GIRLS fans call for refunds as sound issues blight their comeback tour.

ROB LOWE has PTSD from Prince William‘s hair loss.

SONGLAND: It's The Voice, but for songwriters.

THE 25 BEST FX SHOWS, according to Decider.

THE 25 BEST HIGH SCHOOL MOVIES, according to The Ringer.

A 1-YEAR-OLD MONKEY reunites with the vets who treated him for pneumonia after poachers killed his family.

PLAYER TWO has entered the game.

IS THAT THOUSANDS OF LEECHES in your airplane carry-on bag?

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The live action remake of Aladdin tops the chart with a four-day estimate of 112MM, which likely has the House of Mouse sighing in relief given the underperformance of Dumbo, the skeptical internet reaction to the trailers, and the mediocre reviews. That said, it's maybe 10MM more than Solo did in this frame last year, and its total may not overwhelm the animated original domestically (tho it may have legs until Toy Story 4 arrives).  John Wick: Chapter 3 placed with 31MM on a mere 45 percent drop; it becomes the first of the franchise to cross 100MM domestic.  Avengers: Endgame shows with 22.3MM on an impressive 26 percent drop, crossing the 800MM mark domestically (the fourth film to ever do so). Pokemon: Detective Pikachu grabs the fourth slot with 17.3MM on a 31 percent drop; it seems likely to recoup it's 150MM budget here, while making twice as much in foreign markets.  Brightburn rounds out th Top Fivewith 9.5MM against a 6MM budget; it will make money, but I wonder if there's a sense that "Superman as a horror movie" should have played bigger.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN, women who accused him of sexual misconduct, his former film studio’s board members and the New York attorney general’s office have reached a tentative 44MM million deal to resolve lawsuits and compensate alleged victims of the Hollywood producer.

GEOFFREY RUSH has been awarded 1.9MM after winning a MeToo defamation case against Australia’s Nationwide News over a story published in the company’s Daily Telegraph.

MOBY apologized for claiming in his recently published memoir that he dated Natalie Portman.

OLIVIA JADE GIANNULLI was well aware of her mom, Lori Loughlin, and dad Mossimo Giannulli's actions ahead of them being named and charged in the headline-making, nationwide college admissions scandal.

JOHNNY DEPP claims AMBER HEARD sliced his finger with a vodka bottle.

HARRISON FORD is Indiana Jones, no one else is.

...should be back to full speed tomorrow, barring the unforeseen.

THE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE SWEET!  The bubble-glam rockers are probably best known for the trifecta of "Little Willy," "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run," though they also charted with the harder-edged "Action" and the more ballad-y "Love is Like Oxygen."  All of those clips also feature the band's rather unique fashion sense, but you have to see the clip for "Wig Wam Bam" -- complete with headdress -- to see the band at its most ridiculous.  BONUS: "All That Glitters" is a BBC documentary originally broadcast in February 1974 charting a day in the life of The Sweet.

BILL CALLAHAN shares the first six songs from Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest.

IAN NOE advance streams Between the County.

LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY advance streams Rainford.

FLOR de TOLOACHE advance streams Indestructible.

KISHI BASHI advance streams Omoiyari.

SONIC YOUTH shares a live version of "Bull in the Heather."

T. REX: "20th Century Boy." Aow!

PRIMAL SCREAM's Bobby Gillespie loves irritating people.

THE TOP 10 AMERICANA & COUNTRY ALBUMS of 2019 (So Far), according to Paste.

THE TWILIGHT SAD, on It Won/ t Be Like This All the Time.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Gordon Lightfoot's great curdled-romantic-obsession song "Sundown."

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include the live-action Aladdin, which is currently scoring 60 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Brightburn, which is currently scoring 59 percent; and Booksmart, scoring 99 percent.

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE has a trailer online.

KENDALL JENNER  and NBA star Ben Simmons have split.

REBECCA GAYHEART relects on killing a nine-year-old boy.

THR ACTRESSES' ROUNDTABLE: Emilia Clarke, Michelle Williams, Patricia Arquette, Christine Baranski, Danai Gurira and Niecy Nash talk industry battles, the power struggles, and the drive to succeed

WRITERS vs AGENTS: Talks have reopened.

DAVID MILCH'S THIRD ACT: Despite what dementia has stolen from the cerebral creator of Deadwood, it has given his work a new sense of urgency.

MEMORIAL DAY has become -- in the minds of some -- a day devoted to uncovering their swimming pools and barbeques. So take a moment (preferably at 3 p.m. local time) to remember what it's really about.You can read about "The Meaning of Memorial Day" with selections from American authors and statesmen, including Herman Melville, Ernie Pyle, Louisa May Alcott, Frederick Douglass, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Joyce Johnson and the "Arlington Ladies" who attend every funeral in Arlington National Cemetery, to ensure no soldier is buried alone, take more than a moment.  Re-read "A Death in the Family," as powerful as it was when Christopher Hitchens wrote it in 2007.  Revisit William Wyler's footage of the last mission of the Memphis Belle, or check the Tube for Alfred Hitchcock's footage of the liberation of the Belsen concentration camp.  The Wikipedia entry for Memorial Day notes a race track connection unrelated to the Indy 500.  It's a good day -- as good as we are likely to get -- for Sgt. Barry Sadler's No. 1 smash, "Ballad of the Green Berets."  or the movie adaptation of Gen. George S. Patton's "Speech to the Third Army."  As "Greyhawk" once wrote at the Mudville Gazette, "This is Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy it. Celebrate it - the people who died to give you that right would appreciate it. But they didn't die peaceably in their beds, these dogs who fell protecting sheep from wolves."

NEW FRIENDS: Two endangered clouded leopard cubs were introduced to each other, becoming fast friends as they tumbled around their enclosure.

MEET THE CANDIDATES For Pet Mayor of Edgewater, IL — 4 Dogs, 1 Cat And A Dapper Goat.

MOOSEY did his best.

JAY & THE AMERICANS "Come a Little Bit Closer" onThursday.

RICHARD THOMPSON streams the score for a new WWII documentary, Erik Nelson's The Cold Blue.

COVEY streams Some Cats Live, Some Cats Die.

CAGE THE ELEPHANT visits World Cafe.

DUNGEN and PEAKING LIGHTS share tracks from a surf documentary.

GIRLPOOL shares a video for "Minute In Your Mind."

ARETHA FRANKLIN: Two handwritten wills were discovered in the late legend's cabinet and couch cushions. Yes, really.

THE NATIONAL Carin Besser talks to The Creative Independent about co-writing songs with her husband, Matt Berninger.

NAT TURNER BEBELLION's album -- lost for 50 years -- was recently unearthed.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Bo Donaldson And The Heywoods' war story of molten cheese, "Billy, Don't Be A Hero."

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER gets an "ultimate preview" from Vanity Fair more than six months before its release, if you wondered whether the House of Mouse is scared that The Last Jedi mucked up the entire franchise.

GAME OF THRONES: HBO programming president Casey Bloys talks to Deadline about the polarizing finale, the status of prospective prequels, and why it’s likely not even Arya Stark can make a spinoff happen right now.

NATALIE PORTMAN denies having dated Moby,:"[M]y recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school.”

ZOE KRAVITZ  and Karl Glusman are secretly spouses. Also, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Kenneth Branagh join the cast.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: The early reviews are quite good.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN's next movie has a tile and genre.

MARIANNE & LEONARD; WORDS OF LOVE has a trailer online.

A GOOD BOY makes the putt.

RATS Are Taking Over New York City.

A GREAT WHITE SHARK heads to the Hamptons just in time for Memorial Day.