THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

...with the wicked, wicked WILSON PICKETT, live from Germany, circa 1968. This disappeared from the Tube, but I've managed to find almost all of it reposted there or elsewhere.  His band warms up the crowd with the instrumental "Soulfinger," but Pickett electrifies from the moment he enters for "Everybody Needs Somebody" and doesn't let up through "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)," "Mustang Sally" and "Stagger Lee," and "Funky Broadway," during which people dancing in front of the stage start turning up o­nstage (And why not? This rawks almost as hard as The Who's cover of "Shakin' All Over").  The tumultuous finale of "Land of 1000 Dances" from amid the crowd remains missing, but this other "Land of 1000 Dances" from 1966 is almost as wild, and in color to boot. Raw and riveting; if this can't put you in a weekend state of mind, probably nothing can.

WEDNESDAY plays a mini-concert for World Cafe.

THE ALBUM LEAF plays KEXP.

BEN LEE & GEORGIA MAQ cover the Replacements’ “Androgynous.”

SILVERSUN PICKUPS covers Joe Jackson's "I'm The Man."

KRISTIN HERSH shares "Ms Haha."

BUSH TETRAS shares "Bird On a Wire." 

M WARD talks to Aquarium Drunkard about Elvis and more.

PJ HARVEY talks to NPR Music.

EELS' Mark Oliver Everett discussed the band’s reissues with Paste.

BROOKLYN VEGAN's Top 40 Fave LPs of 2023 (So Far).

BRITNEY SPEARS, slapped by NBA Security.

BOB MARLEY has a trailer online.

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE, with Uma Thurman as President, has a trailer online.

KEVIN COSTNER's wife must leave the house by the end of the month.

BRADLEY COOPER, on fatherhood.

FLORENCE PUGH, wearing another see-through gown.

HOW TOM BRADY's Crypto Ambitions Collided With Reality (And Taylor Swift Escaped).

A PUPPER's battery runs out.

A KITTEN perseveres.

CATS & DOGS, on movie night.

DIAMOND KNIGHTS: "Destination Diamonds".  For the 70s vibe in the heat of July.

BRATMOBILE, reunited in L.A. and Oakland.

NICK CAVE & DEBBIE HARRY cover the Gun Club’s “On the Other Side.”

JENNY LEWIS talks to Weekend Edition.

THE CLIENTELE: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview.

YOUTH LAGOON's Trevor Powers is profiled at Paste.

THE ALTERNATIVE NUMBER ONES begins with a looks at Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek-A-Boo." Pretty sure this column is getting paywalled, so enjoy it now.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON has a trailer online.

WB CEO DAVID SASLAV was the subject of two GQ stories that have disappeared; did an editor's relationship with the studio play a role?

AMAZON's CEO is taking a hard look at how much the company’s Hollywood studio spends on original TV programming.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 7: Early reviews are pretty good. And as I type this, the Tomatometer is at 98 percent on 106 reviews.

KEVIN SPACEY was accused in court of “giggling” after he committed sexual assault.

ALLISON MACK has been released from prison early after serving out two years of a three-year sentence related to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges in the NXIVM sex trafficking case.

RUSSELL CROWE said he’s considering retiring from acting.

SIMON PEGG, on comedy, action heroes and staying at home.

TUCKING IN his best fren.

HE BROUGHT HOME a new fren.

CATS & DOGS, living together...

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: "Here Comes My Girl."

NEW RELEASES: Paste will point you to Sweeping Promises, Joanna Sternberg and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has The Baseball Project, Grian Chatten, and more.BONUS: Faves of 2023 (So far).

RICHARD SWIFT, remembered by six of his collaborators.

PAUL McCARTNEY “blames” Bruce Springsteen for increasingly long stage times.

HIPGNOSIS: The designers who changed the record sleeve forever.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," the pinnacle of a moment of gleaming, hyper-processed big-money pop music.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Indiana Jones and the Dial Destiny tops the chart with 60MM over three days (82MM over five days), at the low end of projections and a disastrous result for the finale to a historically beloved franchise.  Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse placed with 11.5MM on a 35 percent drop over the three-day weekend over Elemental with 11.3MM, but over the five-day period Elemental edges Spidey by 17.9MM to 17.8MM.

ALAN ARKIN, an Oscar-winning actor for “Little Miss Sunshine” with a body of work that spans seven decades of stage and screen acting, died June 29 at his home in Carlsbad, Calif,  He was 89.  Give me "The In-Laws."

JONATHAN MAJORS was abusive with his partners, aggressive on sets, and a source of "toxicity" at Yale, two dozen sources tell Rolling Stone.

TOM CRUISE, on Oppenheimer vs Barbie.

BARBIE: Banned in Vietnam.

AFTER BARBIE, Mattel Is Raiding Its Entire Toybox.

DIVERSITY FATIGUE? Hollywood Loses 4 DEI Leaders in Less Than 2 Weeks.

STANLEY TUCCI, on playing gay roles.

JOHN WOO reflects on a career driven by action, ambition, and artistry.

JOHN WICK 5? Maybe Not.

A LARGE SHARK at the beach for the Fourth. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

A LAB CHIMP sees the sky for the first time.

MAINE WOMAN punches a bear that chased her dog.

THE FOURTH of JULY WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEACH BOYS!  It's time to "Do It Again."  Because folks my age will always remember their mammoth July 4th concerts at the Washington Monument -- as with this 1980 take o­n "Good Vibrations."  Their "Lost Concert" from 1964 includes "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Long, Tall Texan," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Surfer Girl," "Surfin' USA," "Shut Down," "In My Room," "Papa Ooh Mow Mow," and "Hawaii." Their take on "Dance, Dance, Dance" from Shindig! later that year is like a slice of Christmas in July.  There's also a nifty twofer of "I Get Around" and "'When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)" from their first UK TV appearance o­n Ready Steady Go!  The Andy Williams Show serves up "Help Me, Rhonda," while The Jack Benny Hour produced these quick takes o­n "Barbara Ann" and "California Girls."  There's a primitive video for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" that starts with a cameo from Brian Wilson's dogs (Banana and Louie), who appear at the end of the Pet Sounds LP.  And I'll finish with a live version of "God Only Knows" from the 1967 European tour -- one of the last Brian would do for a decade or so.  BONUS: Part 1 and Part 2 of the epic Political Beats podcasts covering the entirety of the Beach Boys' catalog.

RAY CHARLES performs "America The Beautiful" like no one else.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: Bruce Springsteen, circa 1978, before it came out on The River.

AMERICAN MUSIC: The Violent Femmes, circa 1992.

DAVE ALVIN: Hey, baby, it's the "4th of July."

JAMES LILEKS: Truth.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER: As performed by Jimi Hendrix, Whitney Houston, Smokey Robinson, members of the Grateful Dead, and Umphrey’s McGee.

BLUR shares “St. Charles Square.”

THE CLIENTELE shares "Claire’s Not Real."

THE FOLK IMPLOSION returns with "Natural One."

JALEN NGODA shares "Come Around and Love Me." Hell yeah.

GORILLA vs BEAR's faves of 2023 (So Far).

BELLE & SEBASTIAN's Stuart Murdoch: ‘Songs tumble out like dreams - you can't control them.'

AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Against the odds, Indie legends.

THE BEST ALBUMS of 2023 (So Far), according to Variety.

MADONNA is not out of the woods after being hospitalized for a serious bacterial infection.

DUNE: PART 2 has a trailer online.

MEGXIT: Harry and Meghan were asked to move their remaining possessions out of their UK home close to Windsor Castle.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE didn't really understand mother, despite sleeping with the director.

WES ANDERSON is OK with this IG.

KEVIN COSTNER does not think child support includes plastic surgery.

THE TOP 10 TV SHOWS of 2023 (So Far), according to Variety.

TRACKING: It's a way to July 21, but Barbie is looking to make 70-80MM, while Oppenheimer looks to make 40MM.

TWIGGY: Another Fourth of July tradition, the water-skiing squirrel. She's retired, but it remains a great story. Compelling and rich.

SHARING a watermelon.

A CAT and a horse.

HAPPY to see her wheels.

ROGER McGUINN performs "King of the Hill" -- a song about "Papa" John Phillips -- for Carson.

JESS WILLIAMSON plays World Cafe.

THE BREEDERS: Hear the previously unreleased "Go Man Go."

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN: Hear a live take on “Sometimes Always,” with Isobel Campbell filling in for Hope Sandoval.

FALL OUT BOY updated the lyrics for Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire."  I'm not making you click.

MADONNA was found unresponsive and rushed to a New York City hospital Saturday.

BRYCE DESSNER talks The National and Taylor Swift.

WHY NICK DRAKE enchants every new generation.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg's precision-engineered pop earworm "California Gurls."

SCORSESE, SPIELBERG & PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON will be helping out at TCM.

PETE DAVIDSON is in rehab after struggling with borderline personality disorder and PTSD.

MEGXIT: Meghan and Harry's trainwreck podcast career.

BARBIE: Mattel's CEO jumped on a plane to argue with Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig about an "off-brand" scene.

FUTURAMA has a trailer online.

RETRIBUTION: Taken meets Speed.

MONICA BELLUCCI & TIM BURTON are an item.

JULIAN SANDS, 65, was confirmed dead after remains were found in the California mountains.

PUPPIES, meeting kittens.

CARACAL Ear Flicks.

AN ELEPHANT with swagger.