THE MEAT PUPPETS were a tight, indie mash-up of the Dead and ZZ Top by the time they recorded "Sam," and their live cover of "Little Wing" does credit to Hendrix. However, these earlier live clips of their own "Up o­n the Sun," a countrified take o­n "Sea of Love" and a thrashy, mumbling version of "Midnight Rider" date back to when the Kirkwood Bros. really couldn't sing, so watch them just for their sloppy, Replacements-esque entertainment value.

THE FLAMING LIPS may have an Oklahoma City street named after them. Granted, it's a poorly lit alley, littered with open dumpsters. But the sponsor of the effort thinks the renaming might spur a clean-up.

THE SHINS have one of their new songs, "Phantom Limb," streaming from MySpace. Other streams are... unofficial.

ERIC BACHMANN (Archers of Loaf, Crooked Fingers) came up with Spanish and Mandarin Chinese lessons when he shuffled his iPod for the A.V. Club. But he also turns up Tom Waits and acknowledges his influence: "I mean, I don't need to hear another song about a Puerto Rican midget or anything, but he's really great."

WHAT IS GOTH? A review of Rhino's A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box in PopMatters claims the set will force the listener to rethink their definitions of "goth." There's also plenty of video embedded in the piece.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Thunderclap Newman performs "Something In The Air" o­n the Beat Club. ICYDK, the band has an unusual backstory.

THE 33 HOTTEST BANDS IN CANADA, according to a panel of forty Canadian music writers, bloggers and radio hosts assembled by I (heart) Music. I think I've blurbed about a dozen of them here; there's o­ne I'm trying out now for a future blurb, too.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE is o­ne of those Canadian groups, but co-founder Brandon Canning cautions against lumping everyone together in a brief primer for the Houston Chronicle. The latest BSS video is the misnamed-but-catchy "Major Label Debut."

THE DECEMBERISTS are always getting asked about their move to Capitol Records, so it's notable that multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk has some fairly funny comments o­n the subject for the Philadelphia Weekly. It's good enough that I'll use o­ne of the lesser comments: "Never o­nce did we say, 'We want to play to even bigger audiences.' In fact, we don't ever really want to play basketball arenas or anything like that. That's, like, for athletes." (I think they would play a big house if invited, but that's still funny.)

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Being engaged to a the supposedly sober supermodel has not dampened the troubled singer's enthusiasm for dressing up in women

THE HOLD STEADY: The Boston Herald hits the Springsteen comparison again, but notes that: "Instead of trying to seduce Rosalita, Finn

IT'S HALLOWEEN: It's time for scares, it's time for screams; it's Halloween!

STREAMING FROM THE CASTLE EAST: This fan-made 1973 video for "The Monster Mash" is today's must-see clip, though you can also see Bobby "Boris" Pickett perform it live at the Horror Hall of Fame. The covers by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and The Misfits are pretty good also -- the latter uses clips from the Rankin-Bass animated classic, Mad Monster Party.

NEW RELEASES: You know it's a scary week for new releases when Spenderline's "rap" album is the big album streaming from AOL this week (thought the Borat soundtrack is there, too). And crazy b-ball thug Ron Artest has an album out. Less scary, but more tragic, is the posthumous release from the Exploding Hearts. Pretty Little Head is finally released by Nellie McKay, who is scary in her own special way. And then there is...

ANDY PARTRIDGE of XTC, who gets a lengthy profile and podcast at PopMatters, leading up to today's solo release of the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Box: "I thought to myself, 'Look, if anyone

"DO THEY KNOW IT'S HALLOWEEN?" is an all-star charity send-up of Band-Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" featuring Roky Erikson, Elvira, plus members from Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, Smoosh, Rilo Kiley, Sparks and many more.

SCARY SONGS: Springfield, IL's State Journal-Register lists songs that go bump in the night in several genres. UnderGroundOnline springs volume 3 of its Top Eleven Scariest Songs. Why eleven? Maybe because it's "one more," when you need that extra push to get you over the top. WFMU has posted scary sounds and stories to download, including links to episodes of old-time radio shows like Suspense and Lights Out.

WHO'S LEFT: Pete Townshend stormed out of Sirius Satellite Radio's green room before Howard Stern got to ask him about his kiddie porn rap, his sexual encounters with men, and his girlfriend co-writing his songs. Meanwhile, the Who's Left album is reviewed by Phil Daniels, who played Jimmy in Quadrophenia.

HOODOO GURUS: Mars Needs Guitars rounds up recent HG news, including a double-DVD, a new album and a US tour. To celebrate, MNG has streaming Gurus rarities at the link.

U2 is launching a worldwide lyric hunt today

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

...with THE ZOMBIES! After all it is the "Time of the Season," isn't it? Pate use to do a wicked version of that. You can also see the band's lip-synching almost drowned out by screaming fans when they perform "She's Not There" o­n Hullaballoo. Plus, "Tell Her No." Yes, it's the season of the Zombie Walk. The two that caught my attention will be in Toronto where the undead aspire to setting the Guiness World Record for the Largest Performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and the gathering in Pittsburgh, where the goal is the world's largest zombie gathering at the Monroeville Mall, site of George Romero's classic film, Dawn of the Dead. You can find the Zombie Walk near you through ZombieWalk.com. BONUS: The Cranberries. DOUBLE BONUS: White Zombie's "More Human Than Human." Which reminds me that Rob Zombie will be introducing zombie movies tonight o­n Turner Classic Movies.

EVAN DANDO talks to Harp about the first Lemonheads record in ten years, image, aging and the downsides of Zoloft. It includes the best first two interview questions I've read in a while.

WILLIE NELSON & RYAN ADAMS: Lost Highway Records is streaming chunks of the Adams-produced Nelson album. Adams also wrote "Blue Hotel." The album comes out o­n Halloween.

THE DECEMBERISTS guitarist Chris Funk talks to Harmonium about MySpace, filesharing, signing to a major, and the way a Decemberists song is put together. Organist and accordion player Jenny Conlee talks to the Fredericksburg Free Lance