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.

CASS McCOMBS advance streams Mangy Love.

THE ALBUM LEAF advance streams Between Waves.

WHYLESS advance streams We All The Light.

TURTLENECKED streams Pure Plush Bone Cage.

LUXURY DEATH shares their debut single, " Radiator Face." Catchier than the name or title suggests.

PILOT works their "Magic" on TOTP.

KURT VILE is profiled by Slug Magazine. (Thx, LHB)

1996: When Big Indie Died a Messy Death.

EAGULLS vocalist George Mitchell talks to Drowned in Sound about touring, playing festivals, difficult second albums, and the even more arduous process of finding time to make a third.

THE BAND: Ten of Their Best.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Kubo and the Two Strings, which is currently scoring94 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; War Dogs, currently scoring 59 percent; and the latest take on Ben-Hur, scoring 28 percent.

MABER HEARD is donating her 7MM divorce payout from Johnny Depp to a number of charities with "a particular focus to stop violence against women" as well as the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where Heard has worked as a volunteer for the past 10 years.

RYAN LOCHTE's less-than-excellent adventure: a timeline.

JARED LETO has rounded out cast of Alcon's Blade Runner sequel.

TAYLOR SWIFT & TOM HIDDLESTON, together again.

THE BRADY BUNCH's house had a break-in.

STEVEN BOCHCO's memoirs are not kind to David Caruso.

GARRY MARSHALL, belatedly eulogized by the talented Larry Miller.

WHEN GREAT ART meets Horrible Artists.

IRAN: The State Department confirmed on Thursday that the United States conditioned the release of a 400MM million cash payment to Iran on the departure of American prisoners from Tehran.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: Inside the Real US Ground War.

BUDDY THE CAT drops 10 pounds swimming. He's not excited about it tho.

INDIA'S MOST POPULAR TIGER, Machli, died Thursday at the age of 19, India's Ranthambore National Park announced.

A 400-YEAR-OLD SHARK is the world's oldest vertebrate.

SUPER-RATS "the size of possums" invade public housing in Chicago's Old Town.

DAWES shares a video for "When The Tequila Runs Out" ahead of We're All Gonna Die.

DINOSAUR JR plays songs from Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not at World Cafe.

AJJ is streaming The Bible 2.

TOTAL SLACKER advance streams Parallels.

THE WEDDING PRESENT shares "Rachel" ahead of Going, Going…

BEACH SLANG: Meet the Replacements-inspired punk rockers who are ready to "bleed for you."

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN published the foreword from his forthcoming autobiography, Born to Run, on his website.

PAUL McCARTNEY is returning to Capitol Records.

WHO'S LEFT? Music Aficionado runs down the percentage of original members in classic bands.

KRISTEN STEWART: The Good Bad Girl?

ORLANDO BLOOM & KATY PERRY getting serious?

EVE PLUMB, who played Jan on the Brady Bunch, just pocketed 3.9MM by selling the house that she bought for just 55.3K as an 11-year-old in 1969.

TOM CRUISE reportedly has had essentially “no contact” in years with the 10-year-old daughter he shares with ex-wife Katie Holmes.

WILL SMITH speaks out about marriage counselling with Jada Pinckett Smith after their 19-year relationship hit breaking point 

ROGUE ONE's international teaser trailer reveals some major plot points for the upcoming film.

HOLY NOSTALGIA, BATMAN! The animated Return of the Caped Crusaders features the voices of Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar.

RUNAWAYS, a drama series based on the fan-favorite Marvel Comics books, is headed to Hulu.

CLUE is getting a reboot that sounds like a bad idea.

ARTHUR HILLER, director of Love Story, Silver Streak, The In-Laws, and more, died Wednesday. He was 92.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: Foreign Policy chronicles life in the capital of the Caliphate.

LIBYAN forces said on Tuesday they had taken one of the last districts in central Sirte held by Islamic State militants, battling snipers and car bombs in their campaign to recapture the entire city.

A GOOGLY-EYED PURPLE SQUID has been spotted by scientists off the coast of Southern California.

A DOG gave her life helping to save an infant in a Baltimore house fire.

AND THERE WERE COWS all over the highway.

A SHARK struggled for life while people took selfies with it.

WILL BUTLER dropped a video for the title track to Friday Night, a new album of live performances that includes five new songs.

LOCAL NATIVES stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

SANDY DENNY, Live at Ebbets Field, Denver, Colorado, April 1973.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from The White Stripes, Bon Iver, Lambchop, and more highlight the latest edition.

WIRE's Colin Newman shares a demo version of “Order for Order” ahead of the reissue of his first three solo LPs.

THE VERVE shares the previously unreleased 1993 track “Shoeshine Girl."

GOAT shares “Alarms" ahead of Requiem.

SEALS & CROFT: "Summer Breeze."

REGINA SPEKTOR talks to Paste about covering George Harrison, and The Beatles generally.

TIM BURGESS (Charlatans UK) talks to Clash about Tim: Book Two, which chronicles his worldwide quest for choice vinyl records. (Thx, Frank Yang)

KATHLEEN HANNA talks about her favorite albums at The Quietus.

PSYCHIC TV's Genesis Breyer P-Orridge talks to the L.A. Times about early and new performances.

JOHNNY DEPP & AMBER HEARD have reached a settlement in their divorce case,with Heard getting 7MM.

DICK VAN DYKE treated diners at a Denny's restaurant in California to a rendition of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

JUSTIN BIEBER's latest fling with Sofia Richie is causing a lot of drama. 

AMY SCHUMER offers some startling revelations from a painful past.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY will star as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Disney’s retelling of The Nutcracker.

JOHN McLAUGHLIN, the creator, host and executive producer of the long-running Sunday political panel show The McLaughlin Group, died on Tuesday morning at the age of 89.

ARRIVAL, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forrest Whitaker, has a trailer online.

AIRPLANE! JOKES, ranked.

THE UNITED KINGDOM: Anjem Choudary, one of the most notorious hate preachers living in Britain, is facing jail after being found guilty of supporting the Islamic State.

RUSSIA launched a fleet of bombers bound for Syria on Tuesday from an Iranian air base, becoming the first foreign military to operate from Iran's soil since at least World War II.

UKRAINE says it thinks Vladimir Putin is planning a new invasion, but some experts say he is more likely seeking advantage through diplomacy than on the battlefield, at least this time around.

TIGER CUBS learning to swim.

SAMSON: NYC's fattest cat.

AN INDIAN ELEPHANT was carried to Bangladesh by raging flood waters.

A COWBOY and HORSE order tacos.

CASS McCOMBS drops a video for "Opposite House."

KATY GOODMAN & GRETA MORGAN stream their laidback Punk covers LP, Take It, It’s Yours.

DOLFISH streams Foreclosure American Dreams.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE has three new tracks on the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack.

BIG STAR: The demo for “Like St. Joan (Kanga Roo)” appears before the Third super-deluxebox set.

JOHN K. SAMSON (Weakerthans) advance steams “Postdoc Blues,” the first song from Winter Wheat.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD: It's going to take more than a thrown bottle to stop John Lydon, who will bleed for you.

MEET THE BEATLES by pulling the greatest prank evah.

OKKERVIL RIVER's Will Scheff talks to Consequence of Sound about the themes and upheaval leading to the new LP.

BARBARA GIBB, mother to the Brothers (and their early manager) has died at age 95.

JOHNNY DEPP accidentally cut off his fingertip in a fit of rage ...and then it gets weird...

ADELE revealed that she turned down the opportunity to perform at 2017's Super Bowl halftime show. The NFL and Pepsi claim they never offered.

THOMAS GIBSON considers a lawsuit after his dismissal from Criminal Minds.

KEVIN HART married longtime girlfriend Eniko Parrish in a wedding in California.

BELLA THORNE & GREGG SULKIN are going their separate ways after a year together.

TOM HIDDLESTON talks to THR about his Emmy nomination for The Night Manager, those tabloid rumors and his heroic role years in the making.

FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM has an Olympics trailer.

A NORWEGIAN MOOSE befriends a drone. Isn't it good?

A CYBORG STINGRAY, powered by a rat's heart, with some frickin' lasers.

AN ANGRY MONKEY will throw his poop at you. The More You Know.

A GIRAFFE WITH NO NECK? Thankfully, no.

JULIEN BAKER covers Springsteen's "Badlands" for charity.

BON IVER debuted their new album, 22, A Million, at the EauClaires Festival.

LISA HANNIGAN advance streams At Swim.

CHRIS STAPLES advance streams Golden Age.

SLOW CLUB advance streams One Day All Of This Won't Matter Anymore.

REGINA SPEKTOR shares "Small Bill$" ahead of Remember Us To Life.

THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: "Stone Free," live in Frankfurt. Dig this, baby.

JEFF TWEEDY provides a Field Guide to Chicago. (Thx, Frank Yang.)

ERIC CLAPTON has a big fish story for you.

ANGEL OLSEN is reinventing herself as a rock-and-roller.

THE TOP 10 RADIOHEAD SONGS, according to Paste.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Suicide Squad repeats atop the chart with 43.8MM....but that's a 67 percent drop from its opening frame, much like the 69 percent drop of Batman v Superman.The latest DC pic has grossed over 465MM worldwide, so it's very likely to profit, but it seems like this "universe" is increasingly on thin ice. Sausage Party placed with a remarkably strong 33.6MM, about double of pre-opening estimates. If it has any legs (no pun intended and a tough call against a "B" Cinemascore), it will clean up on a 19MM budget.  Pete's Dragon showed with 21.5MM, right in line with estimates; it will need good word-of-mouth and strong overseas receipts against a 65MM budget. Jason Bourne drops to the fourth slot with 13.6MM and is only about 2/3 of the way to profit worldwide.  Bad Moms rounds out the Top Five with 11.5MM, a leggy performannce here, with more to comein foreign markets.

KENNY BAKER, the 3ft 8in actor, who starred as R2-D2 in six Star Wars films, as well as Time Bandits and Flash Gordon, has died at age 81.

JOHNNY DEPP went crazy on Amber Heard in their kitchen, throwing a wine bottle and glass ... and she videotaped it.

THOMAS GIBSON has been dismissed from Criminal Minds after reports he kicked a writer-producer.

AN OPEN LETTER TO WARNER BROS. Anonymous, but brutal.

MEL GIBSON: Don't call it a comeback?

WERNER HERZOG analyzes Kanye West's "Famous" video.

A WOMAN and her DOG are rescued in the Baton Rouge floods.

THE SWARM: Honey bees took down an unlikely victim this summer — the U.S. Air Force's most advanced fighter jet.

A MANATEE MATING BALL stopped traffic on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa.

A CAT and her owner are not soon parted.