...so I'll be back Tuesday with the usual. Meanwhile:

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Perfect Guy edged The Visit for the top slot by just 1MM -- 26.7MM to 25.7MM. Screen Gems seems to do well with modestly-budgeted horror and thriller pics like The Perfect Guy.  M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit is the first pic by the director that wasn't widely mocked by critics, and this opening looks pretty darn good against a mere 5MM budget (put up by Shyamalan).  War Room shows with 7.4MM on a leggy 22 percent drop, witha 39MM total against a 3MM production budget.  A Walk in the Woods drops 44 percent to take in 4.6MM, which is likely enough to take it to breakeven next week. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation rounds out the Top 5 with 4.2MM and pushes past 612MM worldwide as the Chinese co-production finally opened in the People's Republic.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE rip through a medley of "Everyday People" and "Dance to the Music," plus "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Don't Call Me N*gger, Whitey," and "I Want to Take You Higher" on network TV, circa 1969.

DARLENE LOVE advance streams Introducing Darlene Love.

TELEKINESIS advance streams Ad Infinitum. 

GLEN HANSARD advance streams Didn't He Ramble. 

BATTLES advance streams La Di Da Di. 

SHELF LIFE advance streams Everyone Make Happy. 

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: As summer wanes, let's roll John Darnielle's take on "The Boys Are Back In Town."

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN: Jim Reid reflects on Psychocandy over at Under The Radar. (Thx, Frank Yang.) 

STEELY DAN talks to the WSJ about the making of "Deacon Blues." 

DURAN DURAN talk to The Guardian about being snubbed by Dylan, riding rutting elephants in Sri Lanka and wearing pink trousers.

KEITH RICHARDS, Lord of the Undead, gave his daughters permission to snort his ashes. 

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include The Visit, which is currently scoring 64 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; plus The Perfect Guy and 90 Minutes in Heaven, neither of which was screened for critics.

GRACE JONES slays Rhianna, Miley Cyrus, and Lady Gaga in her autobiography.

BEN AFFLECK changed his phone number to ditch the nanny? Too good to check. 

BRITNEY SPEARS beat out JENNIFER LOPEZ for first choice of Vegas concert dates. 

ROBERT PATTINSON & FKA TWIGS: Marriage rumors. 

THE BIG BANG THEORY: Penny and Leonard's Wedding Photos. 

9/11: The first five minutes of CNN coverage. I came out of the shower, saw the second plane hit on NBC, and knew had had to contact my boss, whose daughter lived in NYC. There is still a lot of crazy stuff going on around the country and the world as a result, so consider taking a moment to watch and remember.

AL QAEDA: Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced Osama bin Laden as the head of al Qaeda four years ago, in a new audio message accused ISIS top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of “sedition” and insisted the Iraqi terrorist recluse was not the leader of all Muslims and militant jihad as “caliph” of the Islamic State, as al-Baghdadi had claimed 14 months ago in a Mosul mosque. 

RUSSIA's new air base in Syria has the US scrambling. 

BERTIE: The Fastsest Tortoise in the World. 

GIANT MOTHS invade Britain to party. 

THE SWARM kills a golfer in Michigan. 

A DEPRESSED ORPHAN WOMBAT finds comfort with teddy bears. 

STEPHEN COLBERT joined MAVIS STAPLES, BEN FOLDS, BRITTANY HOWARD, BUDDY GUY and more on Sly Stone's "Everyday People."

ROBERT FORSTER: The Go-Betweens founder streams Songs to Play.

LOU BARLOW performs in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.sh

SHEARWATER assembled a sampler of their catalogfor fans old and new.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED:Tracks from JR JR, Givers, Thunderb^tch and more highlight the latest edition.

KNICKERBOCKERS: "Lies." Someday you're gonna be lonely.

YO LA TENGO's Ira Kaplan, interviewed by Luna's Dean Wareham.

RICHARD HAWLEY talks to The Guardian about his roots, his love of folk music... and his beloved dogs.

SAINTSENECA talks to Stereogum about quantum physics and pop structures.

AL STEWART, circa 1966 (well before The Year of the Cat) is profiled at Aquarium Drunkard.

RONDA ROUSEY: The UFC fighter is starring in MGM's reboot of the 1980s cult classic Road House.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II hits for the cycle.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE talks to the New York Times about how the Hunger Games changed her life.

JON HAMM & JENNIFER WESTFELDT's split was over the issue of kids.

BRUNO MARS has been invited to perform in and "curate" the halftime show for SuperBowl 50.

CAITLYN JENNER opened up to Matt Lauer about life as a woman, criticism she's faced and even what she thinks about those Caitlyn Jenner Halloween costumes.

BEVERLY JOHNSON has found it in her heart to forgive Bill Cosby.

RUSSIA has started to build a huge military base housing ammunition depots and barracks for several thousand soldiers near the Ukrainian border, a project that suggests the Kremlin is digging in for a prolonged stand-off with Kiev.

IRANIAN Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a speech that was posted to Twitter that “God willing,” Israel will cease to exist in the next 25 years.

THE ISLAMIC STATE & AL QAEDA: More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military's Central Command have formally complained that their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda's branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast has learned.

A RARE PINK DOLPHIN, possibly pregnant, was spotted again off the Louisiana coast.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED, GLOW-IN-THE-DARK CHICKENS may fight avian flu.

THE NATIONAL ZOO's baby panda is starting to look more like a panda.

A CAPUCHIN MONKEY learns touse  tools...to pick its nose.

FIDLAR dropped a video for "Drone."

DANCES stream their debut LP, Keep Talking. 

DURAN DURAN advance streams the cameo-laden Paper Gods. 

LEON BRIDGES played a Tiny Desk Concert. 

SONIC YOUTH: Brixton Academy, London – December 14, 1992. 

SWEET SPIRIT drops "Baby When I Close My Eyes" ahread of Cokomo. 

ANGEL HAZE drops "Moonrise Kingdom," presumably inspired by Wes Anderson.

JOHN LYDON (a/k/a Johnny Rotten) talks to the L.A. Times about family life, living in America, anger, and more. 

ROD STEWART fronted the (remaining) Faces for the first time in 40 years. 

CHVRCHES talk pop and politics at Stereogum. 

LOW tells DIY that on their new LP, the devil is in the details. (Thx, Frank Yang.) 

TOM BRADY is calling “time out” on rumors surrounding his marriage to supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

BRADLEY COOPER's galpal Irina Shayk met his mother over the Labor Day weekend. 

PIPPA MIDDLETON ran and swam 45 miles across 26 islands in Sweden. 

VANESSA WILLIAMS is returning to the Miss America pageant, presumably clothed.

TERRY GILLIAM, contrary to a Variety report, is not dead. Merely a flesh wound. The persn responsible has been sacked. (Thx, Nathan.)

THE WARRIORS: The Making of a Cult Classic. 

EUROPE: Boats containing Syrian refugees are sabotaged at sea.  An Internet television channel associated with Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party fired a camera operator on Tuesday after images of her kicking and tripping migrants spread across social networks.

TURKEY: A crowd attacked the headquarters of Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP party, amid rising violence between Turkish forces and the militant Kurdish PKK group.

IRAQ put F-16 warplanes acquired from the United States into action against ISIS for the first time. 

A BABY WALLABY: Let's go to the video. 

THE REAL-LIFE PADDINGTON BEAR returns to Peru. And looks nothing like Paddington. 

A 10-FOOT GATOR crawls out of a stoirm drain in a Louisiana subdivision. 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A black bear with a blue head. 

FOO FIGHTERS brought on Roger Taylor (Queen) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) for a cover of "Under Pressure."

CRAIG FINN is advance streaming Faith in the Future.

BEIRUT played live from The Cutting Room Studios in New York City.

FROTH played KEXP's Midday Show.

ULTIMATE PAINTING covers Townes Van Zandt and Eddie Cochran for Aquarium Drunkard.

DOM's "Champagne Blues" has an 80s synth-pop vibe.

THE GODFATHERS: "Birth, School, Work, Death."  Post-Labor Day, school starting... we got the middle covered.

JUDY COLLINS talks preferring booze to acid with the Mamas & Papas.

BOB GELDOF offered to take in four Syrian refugee families immediately and give them shelter in his homes in Kent and London.

SHARON VAN ETTEN talks to MIMI PARKER of Low about being a mom and being in a rock band.

THE SPECIALS' trombonist, Rico Rodriguez, passed away at the age of 80. Jerry Dammers paid tribute.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: War Room ascended to top the chart with 12.6MM, edging out August champ Straight Outta Compton, which placed with 11.3MM.  War Room is already profitable against a 3MM budget; Tri-Star and Affirm films made the smart move of launching their faith-based flick during the annual box office doldrums. The debut of A Walk in the Woods showed with 10.6MM over the holiday weekend, following a somewhat similar strategy of drawing older viewers to the not-ready-for-Oscarsbait before there was much competition.  Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation continues a leggy run with 9.3MM in the fourth slot, still looking to land somewhere around 550MM worldwide.  The Transporter Refueled rounded out the Top Five with 9MM, which is below the last installment, but likely enough to profit worldwide given that they aren't paying Jason Statham.

JON HAMM & JENNIFER WESTFELDT split after 18 years together.

BEN AFFLECK & JENNIFER GARNER were spotted leaving family counseling, but are still divorcing.

ROBERT PATTINSON & FKA TWIGS haven't called off the engagement...yet.

MADONNA's next record deal may ride on her tour's success.

SUSAN SARANDON carried Timothy Leary's ashes in a Burning Man ceremony.

LIBERTY ROSS & JIMMY IOVINE are engaged.

JESSICA ALBA's Honest Company is being sued for deception.

JEAN DARLING, the cute blond-haired girl who appeared in dozens of Our Gang silent comedy shorts starting at age 4, has died. She was 93.

JUDY CARNE, best known for being the “Sock it to me!” girl on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in the ’60s, died on Sept. 3, according to the Telegraph. She was 76.

MARTIN MILNER, who starred on TV's Adam-12 and Route 66, died Sunday night. He was 83. I remember him more for Sweet Smell of Success and Valley of the Dolls.

HELL'S CLUB: A dozen movies walk into a bar...

GITMO: The number of detainees freed from the U.S. Guantanamo detention camp who are suspected of "re-engaging" with militant groups overseas increased over the first six months of 2015, the Obama administration said on Thursday.

RUSSIA has sent a military advance team to Syria and is taking other steps the United States fears may signal that President Vladimir V. Putin is planning to vastly expand his military support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, administration officials said Friday.

A SENIOR IRANIAN COMMANDER vowed to “cut off [our] enemies’ hands and fingers” should the Islamic Republic come under a military strike.

THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES struck Houthi targets across Yemen, state news agency WAM said on Saturday, a day after at least 60 soldiers from a Saudi-led coalition, mostly Emiratis, were killed in an attack in central Yemen.

HOW WILL SYRIA's WAR END? Other civil wars suggest an answer.

PUPPIES test out the new BB-8 Droid.

CATS...wait for it... may not look to their human overlords as their primary source of  security and safety, the way dogs do.

A DOG lost in Yellowstone has been found 42 days later.

SIXTY THOUSAND ANTELOPES died in Four Days...and no one knows why.