THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with BIG STAR!  Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens brought in Posies Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer to reform the ever-influential band in the 1990s and have toured sporadically through the present day.  Lets start with "In The Street" on a late night TV show in 1994, and  "Ballad of El Goodo" from what might have been that first gig in 1993.  And here are three different bootlegs from London on August 28th of this year -- "Feel," "I Am The Cosmos" (w/Auer singing for the late Chris Bell), and "Back Of A Car" (whicj may have the best video quality, if slightly truncated).

NO DEPRESSION has risen from the ashes. The big feature at the moment is Lucinda Williams.

OKKERVIL RIVER frontman Will Sheff shares some of his favorite (and fairly obscure) music with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. The two talk also about Okkervil River's latest album.

THE NEW YORK DOLLS are the subject of a new photobook by rock photographer Bob Gruen. RS has a gallery.

THESE UNITED STATES do another four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

RICK ASTLEY has become the surprise contender for best act ever at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool. You know why.

THE LOST MYSTERY OF RECORD COLLECTIONS: There is an intangible joy about being able to hold the object in your hand.

MARC BOLAN of T.Rex is the subject of a 1971 blast from the past, courtesy of Crawdaddy.

SILVER JEWS: David Berman talks to The Stranger about touring -- and takes a few shots at Sonic Youth.

CUTOUT BIN: From Buzzcocks to Neil Diamond, from CCR to GbV to MMJ, from Alex Chilton w/ the dB's to Dropkick Murphys covering Thin Lizzy, to the Righteous Bros., the Everly Bros. the Isley Bros. and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which is currently scoring 64 percent on light reviews at Rotten Tomatoes; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, currently scoring 60 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, currently scoring 37 percent on light reviews; Blindness, scoring 38 percent; American Carol, which has gone unscreened by critics; and Flash of Genius, which is scoring 71 percent.  Appaloosa expands to wide release, with 73 percent.

BLINDNESS, btw, will be protested by blind activists, who think that moviegoers are too dumb to know the difference between real blind people and people who suddenly are struck blind by a sci-fi virus. You can watch the first five minutes at Yahoo!Movies.

BRITNEY SPEARS wants to purchase the sex tape she made with ex-lover Adnan Ghalib so she can destroy it for good, according to a pal. OTOH, Ghalib suddenly is denying everything.  Meanwhile, Spears' cousin and former assistant, Alli Sims, told Page Six she's still not allowed to be in contact with the pop tart.

SHARON STONE denies that she wanted her 8-year-old son Roan to receive Botox treatments for his "foot odor." 

TINA FEY is the subject of a book bidding war reaching the six million dollar range.

30 UNFORGETTABLE NUDE SCENES: 30 SFW photos.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE, the next Bond flick, has a new trailer up at Yahoo!Movies.

PAKISTAN: Flirting with GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin gets Pres. Asif Ali Zardari in trouble with Pakistan's hard-line mosques and its feminists.

AFGHANISTAN (Sort of): Training taking place this month in the Mojave Desert at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center aims to give troops deploying to Afghanistan a preview of not only the terrain but also the culture and customs.

IRAQ: The Iraqi government has assumed control over 45K members of the Sons of Iraq in Baghdad. Iraqi forces captured seven Special Groups operatives during raids throughout central Iraq and five more in Basra.

KRAKATOA the KOMODO DRAGON celebrates his eighth birthday at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL (east of Java). Slideshow at the link.

A 17-FT PYTHON should not be confused with a tree branch.

BILLY GOAT excluded from Wrigley Field, Dodgers beat the Cubs in Game 1 of their National League Division Series.

THE ATLANTIC WOLFFISH: With a face only a mother could love, it's mean, ferocious-looking, delicious and possibly endangered. Pics and video at the link.

CAT FRAMED in deadly car crash.

A VISAYAN WARTY PIGLET is born at the Brevard Zoo in FL. Awww...some pic and video at the link.

FLEET FOXES try their trademark harmonies on a herd of goats in "He Doesn't Know Why" And I don't either.

OASIS is streaming their upcoming album, Dig Out Your Soul, via MySpaceMusic.

MARGOT and the NUCLEAR SO & SO's are calling the upcoming vinyl-only Animal! their second album, while calling the CD release Not Animal "a label-compiled collection of songs."  You can stream one of them in full via MySpaceMusic.

CALEXICO stopped by WNYC's Soundcheck for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via NPR.

PHISH is reuniting for shows in Hampton VA and TBD in 2009.

DEERHOOF: The experimental band experiments by recording an album like a normal band would record an album. And I suppose "Fresh Born" is about as normal as Deerhoof has ever sounded.

THE DECEMBERISTS' upcoming single, "Valerie Plame," has leaked online.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACKS: The Independent excerpts Nigel Williamson's new book on rock'n'roll obscurities.

PAUL McCARTNEY is releasing a second dance music album as the Fireman. Audio at the link.

BEN LEE talks to ArtVoice about an indie career stretching from age 14 to the ripe old age of 30.

ANNE HATHAWAY got grilled on her convicted con man ex by Dave Letterman. But no questions about the other thing.  There's video, barring lawyers.

LINDSAY LOHAN & SAMANTHA RONSON make the cover of OK! magazine.  You don't get more out than that. NTTAWWT.

JESSICA SIMPSON & TONY ROMO were spotted checking out big diamond rings in the original Neiman Marcus in Dallas.

SIENNA MILLER has accepted roughly 27K in damages and an apology from Britain's Daily Star tabloid after it published a photo taken of her in L.A. in which she was clearly in distress and being harassed by the paparazzi.

BRADGELINA are thinking of adopting again. This time, they're thinking about a kid from Namibia, Bolivia or Paraguay.

NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST co-stars Michael Cera and Kat Dennings talk to The A.V. Club about flannel, music, and being total poseurs.

PAKISTAN: The escalating insurgency in Afghanistan is being spearheaded by a trio of warlords who came to prominence in the CIA-backed war to oust the Soviets but who now direct attacks against US forces from havens in Pakistan, according to US military and intelligence officials.  NBC's Richard Engel reports on the Talibanization of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city.

IRAQ: The number of civilians killed in Iraq last month more than halved to 359 compared to a year ago, Iraqi government figures showed (as did US combat deaths, as previously noted).

PUNK TURTLE: His spiky green hairdo is actually algae growing on his head.

A TINY BABY DEER, delivered three weeks early by Caesarean section.  Awww...some pic at the link. Another pic here.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: They are catching up to humans.

BROCK the DOG does not care if won the lottery, so be quiet,

A DOG is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark.  Videos at the link.

PEPPER the GOLDEN RETREIVER was retreived in St. Petersberg, FL -- 400 miles from his Atlanta home.

CARIBOU won Canada's Polaris Music Prize.  The Guardian music blog is not pleased.  Grand Juror Frank Yang is pleased, and blogs what he's allowed to say about the process. Its as good a reason as any to relink the video for the trippy "Melody Day."

MATES OF STATE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

CALEXICO: Joey Burns talks to the L.A. Times about why the band's new album should not be labeled "a return to form" after the  band's less Southwestern, more pop-focused release "Garden Ruin."

TITUS ANDRONICUS does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased. What's not to like about a band that names its album, The Airing of Grievances?

RYAN ADAMS explains at the Guardian why his blog is like a spider plant.

NICOLE ATKINS talks to the Shreveport Times about her new album and her American Express commercial: "I was like, 'Robert De Niro is in those commercials.' But it definitely enabled me to move out of my parents' house as well." She gave the interview after appearing on Later... with Jools Holland, where she played "Maybe Tonight" and "The Way It Is."

FLEA, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, has just enrolled as a freshman at the University of Southern California's music program.

THOSE DANCING DAYS bassist Mimmi Evrell tals to Drowned In Sound about influences, other new bands and eBay hoaxes.  Videos at the link, too.

TAKE FIVE: Sara Fishko of WNYC introduces people to 5/4 time, from Tchaikovsky to Lalo Schifrin's theme for Mission Impossible.

DUFFY fears she's on the verge of a breakdown. Mercy!

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE talked more about her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on Oprah.  Video at the link.

SHARON STONE suggested that her son have Botox injections in his feet to resolve a problem he had with foot odor.  That's one example cited by the judge who rejected her request to move her son down to L.A. in the bitter, ongoing battle between Stone and ex-husband, Phil Bronstein.

JANET JACKSON was been released from Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital after a two-hour stay on Monday night.  Jackson cancelled her gig after falling ill during a soundcheck.

MEGAN FOX: The firefighter who broke her heart and made her run into the arms of a female stripper is interviewed by the uber-reliable News of the World.

ANNE HATHAWAY Esquire rumor debunked.

SPIDER-MAN 4: Kirsten Dunst sounds set to join Tobey Maguire and director Sam Aimi for another round, hopefully better than the last one.

KENNETH BRANAGH is negotiating to direct the live-action adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor.

THE SPIRIT has a new trailer online in glorious Quicktime, via Moviefone.

JENNY McCARTHY & AMANDA PEET are having a catfight over childhood vaccinations.  I think this dispute could be resolved in a tank of Jell-O.

P.J. O'ROURKE, humorist extrodinaire, has been diagnosed with cancer, of a very treatable kind: "I'm told I have a 95 percent chance of survival. Come to think of it -- as a drinking, smoking, saturated-fat hound -- my chance of survival has been improved by cancer."

THE STANS: The leader of Pakistan's Taliban is dead from kidney failure, sources told CNN. But US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal are highly skeptical of the report and see no evidence he is dead. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's government signalled it was open to a deal with the Taliban as Pres. Karzai revealed he had used Saudi Arabian envoys to relay messages of peace. The Long War Journal looks at the limits of tribal resistance to the Taliban in the Northwest region of the country.

IRAQ: Time magazine looks at the tricky business of disbanding the Sons of Iraq. The number of Iraqi security forces killed in September rose by nearly a third over the same period last year. while US troop deaths for the same period fell by nearly 40 percent. Security forces detained 21 policemen believed to be behind the Saadiya bombing. Coalition forces detained seven AQI operatives in and around Baghdad. Three AQI fighters were killed in Baqubah. The Hillah SWAT found numerous illegal weapons in an office run by the Badr Corporation. Coalition Detainee Operations released over 14K prisoners this year.

CRAB RIDES A JELLYFISH off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Let's go to the video.

WHEN THE STRAY CAT ON YOUR PORCH turns out to be a 80-90 lb. mountain lion.  Video at the link.

A BEAR checks into a hospital in Lake Tahoe, is put off by the paperwork. Video at the link.

DOLPHINS DIET after a poor performance at the Kinosaki Marine World in western Japan.

BEAVERS blamed for likely bank failure.  There's a lot of that going around these days.

BISHOP ALLEN rocks out a bit on "Middle Management," a clip to coincide with the upcoming release of the movie, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.

BOB DYLAN: Tell Tale Signs (Bootleg Series, Vol. 8) is streaming in full via NPR.

NEW RELEASES: Albums from Ben Folds, the J&MC, Dungen, the Dead, Roy Orbison, Todd Rundgren and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.

LED ZEPPELIN REUNION DENIED: Robert Plant has no intention whatsoever of touring with anyone for at least the next two years.

BLACK KIDS:  Lead singer and chief songwriter, Reggie Youngblood talks to the Baltimore Sun about going from faith-based rock to indie buzz-band.

TEN BRILLIANT ONE-ALBUM WONDERS, courtesy of IGN.  First on the list is Moby Grape, so here's the band playing "Omaha." Plus, we have a separate clip including "Hey Grandma" and "Sitting By The Window."  It's like Twofer Tuesday, but one longer.

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT gives Elizabeth Day of The Observer a mini-tour of her favourite places in Brooklyn.

SILVER JEWS: David Berman explains to LAist that his songwriting is like playing chess against himself.  Plus, guitars, etc. 

WHAT IS HYPE?  Me, you and everyone you know.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND: Confirmed for Super Bowl XLIII.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Holmes showed off her sultry side in an all-singing, all-dancing guest role on Eli Stone.  Pics at the link.  Meanwhile, the new trailer for Cruise's Valkyrie is online.  Industry insiders who have seen it say it's an absorbing thriller -- but there's no audience for it.

BRITNEY SPEARS' ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib has confirmed he owns a sex tape featuring himself and the pop wreck and will sell it for the right price.

HEATH LEDGER: The company that wrote Heath Ledger's ten-million-dollar life insurance policy is being sued after claiming the actor's death might have been a suicide, even though officials concluded it was accidental. Lawyers for Ledger's daughter say it's a transparent ploy to avoid paying the money.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR: TMZ has pics of her arrest, as well as the mugshot.

ANNE HATHAWAY is rumored to say something really interesting in an upcoming interview with Esquire magazine.

SARAH PALIN, current GOP vice-presidential nominee, in the 1984 Miss Alaska competition.  If anyone has a clip of Joe Biden in a swimsuit competition, please keep it to yourself.  Presumably, there will be no swimsuit segment in Thursday's debate.

JIMMY KIMMEL & SARAH SILVERMAN were snapped holding hands, but claim they remain friends after their break-up.

ISLAMISM in the UK?  The publisher of "The Jewel of Medina," a novel about the early life of A'isha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, was the target of an attempted firebombing.

PAKISTAN: Villagers in parts of the North West Frontier Province and the tribal territory, faced with the violent advance of the Pakistani Taliban, have started to organize an armed indigenous resistance.

IRAN:  Gary Milhollin, the director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, writes that by the time we inaugurate our next president, Iran is likely to achieve "virtual" nuclear weapon status.

IRAQ: Followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and frmr Iranian Pres. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged Iraq's government and religious leaders to block the proposed US-Iraqi security pact.

SO, A HORSE walks into a pub... Video at the link.

FEEDING DUCKS: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

STOLEN HAMSTER brings a police response in Clinton Township, NJ.

A TINY CLEANER FISH picks parasites from the mouth of a giant bullethead parrot fish in a stunning entry to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

WORLD-CLASS BUDGIES: The secret is bathing them in sherry or cough syrup.

OKKERVIL RIVER releases "Lost Coastlines" as the first band video for the Stand-Ins album.

6 AM WAKEUP CALL: A streaming playlist for those days when you need more than two cups of coffee, courtesy of NPR.

LED ZEPPELIN REUNION may well be back on, accoring to the Sun, which was first with the news of last year's O2 gig.

DAR WILLIAMS sets a segment + songs on Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR.

KIM GORDON of Sonic Youth talks to the San Francisco Bay Guardian about collaboaring with women, the nature of the bass and more.  She has also launched a clothing line for cool Moms called Mirror/Dash with her friends Melinda Wansbrough and Jeffrey Monteiro.

HA HA TONKA adds some trippy animation to the Americana of "Caney Mountain," from the Buckle in the Bible Belt album.

DAVID CROSBY lists a few of his favorite things for Drowned In Sound, revealing that they are pretty much unchanged in the last 40 years.

THE WATSON TWINS' Leigh Watson shuffles her iPod for The A.V. Club in the current Random Rules segment.

MERCURY REV talks about making an album with "instruments" created by strangers on the Internet with software called Reaktor (which is pretty amazing; I have the lite version, Dynamo).

FLAMING LIPS: Wayne Coyne talks to IFC about the band's long-awaited animated film, Christmas On Mars.

PAUL NEWMAN, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, a race car driver, entrepreneur and a great philanthropist, died Friday of cancer at 83.  The NYT surveys his career fairly well, so I'll add that Newman knew his strengths, primarily playing roles in which the seemingly unprincipled or dissolute man who really was more alienated or lonely.  Moreover, around the time of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," he seemed to drop some of the intensity of Method Acting and seemed to settle more into his own skin.  Whether that reflected a change in his personal life or his method, it was (imho) a major reason why his career lasted beyond the 60s. I wish more praise had been given to his roles in The Verdict and Nobody's Fool before his death, but that's the way things go. The Academy had already given him a lifetime award and an Oscar for The Color of Money, so his later work tended to get overlooked. Newman was the first guest on Inside the Actor's Studio, which has been Tubed in seven parts: Part One, Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five; Part Six and Part Seven.  ALSO: Newman's philanthropic legacy will continue.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Eagle Eye led the weekend with 29.2 million -- impressive for a poorly-reviewed September Hitchcock rehash from the team that did the same with Disturbia.  Nights in Rodanthe served up the romantic counter-programming with 13.6 million -- a welcome relief for Richard Gere, but perhaps not a big enough relief without some legs.  Lakeview Terrace slid to third place with seven million, but has already exceeded its production budget.  Fireproof debuted in fourth with 6.5 million, which is gret, based on its shoestring budget and low screen count.  Whether it has legs beyond churchgoers remains to be seen.  The Coen Bros' Burn After Reading rounds out the Top Five with 6.1 million and seems to be earning  nice profit.  Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna debuted in ninth place, making 3.5 million against a 45 million budget. Ouch.  Righteous Kill and My Best Friend's Girl are shaping up as flops also.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON & RYAN REYNOLDS done got hitched on an island off the coast of Vancouver.

HEATH LEDGER: The late actor's entire estate, estimated to be worth 20 million dollars, will go to two-year-old daughter Matilda Rose.

GEORGE CLOONEY will play the Lone Ranger to Johnny Depp's Tonto. The film will be written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who also scripted the Pirates Of The Caribbean films.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of driving while impaired.  Guess the rehab thing may not have been a total success.

RUSSELL CROWE jokes that his 2-year-old son is already betrothed to the daughter of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman.

ISLAMISM in the UK: The daughter of firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed turns out to be a busty, blonde, topless, tattooed pole dancer.  Bakri, now exiled to Lebanon, dismissed the news as a ' fabrication' and described it as an attack on him and Islam.  Generally SFW pic at the link.

IRAN: Russia and the US have reached a deal to seek a new UN resolution on Iran, but without imposing new sanctions. Pres. Bush told Israeli PM Olmert he would not back an attack on Iran, according to senior European diplomatic sources.

IRAQ: The Iraqi and US military have stepped up operations against the Iranian-backed Special Groups over the past two weeks. killing two fighters and capturing 107 since Sept. 16.

SPIDER VS. SNAKE: You migh bet on the snake, but you would be wrong.

SNAKE in an AIRPORT: Austin Energy officials say a snake crawling into electrical equipment caused a "flash over," which knocked out power to parts of Austin's airport.

A BAT does not give coffee a distinct flavor?

PET HOARDING: Some 83 parakeets were voluntarily surrendered by a Peabody, MA man who had been keeping them in his basement.  Video at the link.

WHEN PETS CHEAT: Some cats and dogs ditch their owners for someone they like better.