THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with PRINCE. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing we call Life After Prince. Prince Rogers Nelson was found dead in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio and estate at 57. Here's the New York Times obit by Jon Pareles. TMZ claims Prince was treated for a drug overdose six days prior, when he made an emergency plane landing in Moline, IL. An autopsy will be performed today. The Guardian celebrates his life in pictures and in his own words, but even these only scratch the surface.  A musical polymath (here's the local coverage of his first record deal as a teen) and electric performer who certainly descended from Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, and Jimi Hendrix (not to mention The Beatles and the Lemon Pipers), he spanned genres as easily as he bent his own identity and leaves a musical legacy as unique and eccentric as the man himself. (Here's a quick bonus story.)  Artists rushed to pay tribute, including Morris Day, Brian Wilson, Belinda Carlisle, Chaka Khan, Zooey Deschanel, Nile Rodgers, Gene Simmons, The Mountain Goats and many more.  I cannot pretend to have been a rabid fan of his work, but liked quite a bit of it and respected his enormous talent.  Indeed, for Generation X, it would be hard not to; he bestrode the radio landscape during the 1980s and 1990s in a way only rivaled by Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and Madonna.  Accordingly, I'll focus on this period. For a deep dive into Prince's career through this period, check out this epic tweetstorm from Jeff Blehar.  As Jeff notes, Prince was diligent in keeping his music off the internet, minus a few items like this terrific 1982 concert at the Capitol Theater, which includes the bracing "Controversy."  But the Purple One missed...Portugal. Accordingly, we can revisit a cross-section of tracks like "When You Were Mine," "Let's Pretend We're Married," "Little Red Corvette," "Let's Go Crazy," a joyful, rocking take on "Take Me With U," "I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm A Star," "Raspberry Beret," "Kiss," "Sign O' the Times," "If I Was Your Girlfriend," and "I Could Never Take the Place of Ur Man."  That last may be my fave Prince track, if only because he could've written it for The Replacements. I don't think he did, tho in his heyday, Prince handed hits like "Manic Monday" to The Bangles, "Nothing Compares 2 U" to Sinead O'Connor, "I Feel For You" to Chaka Khan, "Stand Back" to Stevie Nicks, "Sugar Walls" to Sheena Easton, and "The Glamorous Life" to Shiela E (who also played in Prince's band and -according to her - was his fiancee for a while). The beautiful ones we always seem to lose.  BONUS: A recent recording of Prince playing "Purple Rain" on solo piano. DOUBLE BONUS: "Partyman," because of course.  TRIPLE BONUS: Prince's guitar gently weeps...and steals the show.

THE JAYHAWKS advance streams Paging Mr. Proust.

ROGUE WAVE advance streams Delusions of Grand Fur.

KING GRIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD advance streams Nonagon Infinity.

LERA LYNN advance streams Resistor.

MEN WITHOUT HATS: You can dance if you want to.

ON BOWIE is excerpted at Drowned In Sound.

CHEAP TRICK talks to The Guardian about their love of weird English radio, Gary Glitter records and the strained relationship with their original drummer, Bun E. Carlos.

ROGER DALTREY confirms a Coachella-produced megafestival with the Who, the Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney.

NEGATIVLAND's Richard Lyons, a co-founder of Negativland, has also died at age 57.

WHERE'S THAT CONFOUNDED BRIDGE? Song bridges are crumbling; is that a good thing?

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR, this weekend's sole wide release, is currently scoring 17 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.

KELLY RIPA's absence from Live may point to acrimony at ABC, but she may not be going anywhere.

CHYNA, the WWE star who in the 1990s became one of the best-known and most popular female professional wrestlers in history, has died at 46.

LINDSAY LOHAN is studying the Koran. Really.

JASON BOURNE drops a second trailer.

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING loses Michael Keaton, but picks up Robert Downey Jr.

SAN BERNADINO: It turns out the FBI’s crack of Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c might have yielded some results.

SOUTH KOREA covered up the rape, enslavement and killing of thousands of ‘vagrants' before the 1988 Olympics.

A PONY, swarmed by kittens, as a capybara stares unamazed.

A 400-LB FISH, caught with a wrench.

AN OSTRICH freed from a circus by animal rights activists enjoyed 10 minutes of freedom... before it was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

SNAKES are falling from the ceiling at Walls Elementary School in Memphis.

MINOR VICTORIES (ft members of Slowdive, Editors, Mogwai and Hand Held Cine Club) drop a video for "Scattered Ashes."

MEAN JEANS advance streams Tight New Dimension.

FREE TIME advance streams In Search Of Free Time.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: New tracks from the Avett Bros, Deerhoof, The Low Anthem and more feature in the latest edition.

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS bust out ZZ Top's "Tush" and "La Grange" in Texas.

GARBAGE runs on “Empty” ahead of Strange Little Birds.

BIG DEAL drops an "Avalanche" ahead of Say Yes.

STEELY DAN turn in a spirited "Reelin' in the Years" on the Midnight Special. IIRC, Don Fagen hates this performance tho.

JODY STEPHENS talks to the L.A.Times about Those Pretty Wrongs and the upcoming top-to-bottom performance of the Big Star 3rd/Sister Lovers album.

THE LUMINEERS talk to Magnet about trying to avoid a sophomore slump.

PJ HARVEY's albums, ranked by Stereogum.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II turns 90; NME provides 10 of the best songs about the Queen.

KELLY RIPA did not show up for her TV show Wednesday and it may just be the first in a string of absences. She was reportedly ambushed with the news her co-host Michael Strahan was jumping to Good Morning America. (And would anyone be surprised if GMA was thereafter expanded, pushing Ripa off-air?)

JENNIFER ANISTON was named People magazine's Most Beautiful Woman in the World.

GWEN STEFANI & GAVIN ROSSDALE Divorce Settement Deets.

LACEY CHABERT and her husband are expecting their first child.

THREE'S COMANY may be knocking on the door of the big screen.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and more, dropped a trailer online.

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN dropped a teaser trailer online.

NORTH KOREA may have from 8 to 20 nuclear warheads according to The National Assembly Research Service.

RUSSIA has been moving artillery units to areas of northern Syria where government forces have massed, raising U.S. concern the two allies may be preparing for a return to full-scale fighting as the current cease-fire falters, U.S. officials said.

IRAN's foreign minister is shocked that the US does not believe that despite its ballistic missile tests, and its supreme leader's threatening speeches, and its support for Syria's dictator … his country really just wants peace and harmony.

PUPPIES vs MIRRORS: Who you got?

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD? Dunno, but he was nabbed by police in Toronto.

FOUR MEERKATP PUPS have emerged from their den and are now available for viewing by visitors to the San Diego Zoo.

GIANT OWLS menace Exeter.

PAUL McCARTNEY brought out KRIST NOVOCELIC for some "Helter Skelter" in Nirvana's hometown.

NADA SURF stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

MOUNT MORIAH plays for World Cafe from its base in North Carolina.

MAYER HAWTHORNE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a sesshion.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE's Chris Collingwood, under the solo name Look Park, drops “Aeroplane” ahead of Look Park.

50 FOOT WAVE (ft Kristin Hersh) shares "Bath White," the title trcak to an upcoming EP.

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS: "Indian Reservation (Cherokee People)."

BEACH SLANG frontman James Alex talks to SPIN about recording his band’s second album.

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY's Munaf Rayani ranks the band's albums for Noisey.

CATE LE BON is profiled by The Record.

AC/DC's longtime lead singer Brian Johnson issued a lengthy statement about his health and uncertain future with the band (on the 36th anniversary of his joining the band).

ELIZABETH BANKS showed off her new look as Rita Repulsa in the upcoming Power Rangers film reboot. (FWIW, the social media response I saw was decidedly mixed.)

WILLEM DAFOE: The former Green Goblin takes a mystery "good guy" role in Justice League.

SUPERHERO MOVIES: Swallowing the industry's star power?

CASTLE seems to be blowing up, despite "couples counseling" for its co-stars.

AMBER HEARD & JOHNNY DEPP's apology video wwas mocked by Australia's deputy prime minister.

JAMES FRANCO talks to New York art critic Jerry Saltz about why Saltz and others why the art world has been so hostile to Franco and other celebrities who try to enter it.

DENMARK, a once-tender embrace of refugees fleeing conflicts on the continent’s doorstep has evolved into an uncompromising rejection.

A THIRSTY BULL serves himself a drink.

BILLIONS OF CICADAS will swarm the Northeastern US next year (but won't peak until 2021).

A BADGER that has been partying a little too hard has checked into an animal shelter to dry out.

KANGAROO vs AIRPLANE: Who you got?

FATHER JOHN MISTY has been busting out a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" on tour. (NSFW, obvsly)

SHEARWATER stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT played a set at Rough Trade NYC.

THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN palyed for World Cafe via San Francisco.

TWIN PEAKS drops the vintage-sounding “Holding Roses" ahead of Down In Heaven.

ISLANDS share “No Milk, No Sugar” and “Fear” as a twofer ahead of two new LPs.

STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: "Incense and Peppermints" plus "Tomorrow" for Twofer Tuesday.

ANDREW BIRD talks to All Things Considered about the family influence on Are You Serious.

MERLE HAGGARD, remembered by WILLIE NELSON.

RECORD STORE DAY: A victim of its own success? (Thx, Frank Yang.)

IRON VIRGIN: The Scottish glam rock band that time forgot.

AMBER HEARD avoided a conviction for illegally taking her dogs into Australia by recording a creepy or funny (depending how you look at it) apology video with husband Johnny Depp.

OLIVIA WILDE & JASON SUDEKIS are expecting their second child.

EMPIRE co-stars Trai Byers and Grace Gealey tied the knot in a secret island wedding.

THE JUNGLE BOOK cast posed with their animals.

THE 13 MOST STYLISH MEN Right Now, according to GQ.

JURASSIC WORLD: The sequel finds its director.

DORIS ROBERTS, a veteran character actress probably best known for playing the Mom on Everybody Loves Raymond, has died at 90.

ISRAEL: Police now say they are certain that Monday’s explosion on a bus in Jerusalem was a terror attack. Jerusalem’s police commissioner says there’s “no doubt” about it.

LIBYA: Five of the country’s functioning oil fields were shut down in the past few days and their employees were evacuated from fear of ISIS attacks.

SYRIA: The Islamic State group has captured more than a dozen villages and hills during a fresh offensive in northern Syria, opposition activists said Saturday. The IS territorial gains bring the extremist group close to the main highway that links the capital, Damascus, with the country's largest city of Aleppo.

IRAQ: The U.S. has agreed to deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and to send eight Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, the first major increase in U.S. forces in nearly a year.

CATS: We All Know That One Couple.

PRAIRIE DOGS may get plague vaccinations via drones.

APES can solve some brain-teasers faster than humans.

THE LOCH NESS MONSTER discovered, sort of.

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES dropped a video for "Crazy Macy," their first single since 1992.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE LUMINEERS played a mini-set for World Cafe. Hey!

METRIC performs in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

PAUL McCARTNEY played "A Hard Day’s Night" and "Love Me Do" for the first time solo in Fresno, CA.

ANDY SCHAUF shares “The Worst in You” from his forthcoming album The Party.

MARTI JONES & TIM LEE (The Windbreakers) cover The dB's classic, "Neverland." With Beatle Bob cameo.

THE REPLACEMENTS: PopMatters excerpts a chapter from Trouble Boys covering Paul Westerberg's youth.

PRINCE was hospitalized with the flu, but bounced back with a dance party.

ANDREW BIRD talks to Salon about his new album, Chicago's '90s music scene, democracy and guns.

AXL ROSE officially will fill in for ailing AC/DC singer Brian Johnson on the Australian hard-rock group's "Rock or Bust" tour.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Jungle Book tops the chart with 103.6MM, blowing away industry estimates of roughly 70MM. It's the second-largest April debut evah (behind Furious 7). Director Jon Favreau has been hit-and-miss, but there's no mistaking where this one lands. Barbershop: The Next Cut placed with 20MM, matching its reported production budget; it should, with good reviews, make a modest profit. The Boss showed with 10.2MM, falling a hard-for-comedy 56 percent and endangering its profitability before the home market.  Batman v Superman takes the fourth slot with 9MM on an ugly 61 percent drop; that said, the DC epic has grossed 800MM worldwide, which is probably profitable or close to it.  Zootopia rounds out the Top Five with another 8.2MM and is 75MM ahead of BvS worldwide.Below the fold, Criminal flopped with a 5.9MM debut against a 31MM budget; this has been as bad a year for Lionsgate as it has been a great year for Disney.

CHRISSY TEIGEN & JOHN LEGEND welcomed their first child, a daughter named Luna Simone Stephens, on Thursday.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR: Team Iron Man visited Kimmel with another new clip.

BRIAN AUSTIN GREEN discusses his unplanned parenthood with Megan Fox.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION dropped a teaser trailer online.

THE AMERICANS: Vox spent five months watching the making of FX's period spy drama.

TOP GUN IN REVERSE: A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane was barrel-rolled by a Russian jet over the Baltic Sea during a routine flight in international airspace, U.S. European Command said Saturday, but Russia disputed that account.

NORTH KOREA attempted and failed to launch what experts believe was an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Friday in defiance of U.N. sanctions and in an embarrassing setback for leader Kim Jong Un, drawing criticism from major ally China.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT finally voted to allow airlines to share passenger information with EU states.

EGYPT: Thousands of people protested Friday against a controversial agreement that saw Egypt cede control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, despite warnings by authorities that such unrest would be met by force.

SYRIA: The opposition told AFP Friday it was willing to join a transitional government with diplomats and technocrats from Assad's government.

A CHIMP with an AK-47. It's like these dudes never saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

A "TIGER WHISPERER" died after she was attacked by a rare species of big cat Friday at the Palm Beach Zoo.

THE MEN WHO STARED AT GOATS: Lawmakers themselves couldn't seem to believe that Friday's House Armed Services hearing on waste in Afghanistan involved discussing a herd of Italian goats.

A HERD OF BISON went on the loose in southern Juneau County, Wisc.