IDA MARIA: "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked." Words to live by, with an 80's punk-pop look.

PETER BJORN & JOHN are streaming their new album, Living Thing.

JOHN WESLEY HARDING aswers the infamous 20 Questions for PopMatters.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Bonnie "Prince" Billy plays Guest DJ in the latest installment of the long-running NPR series. He's also profiled by the Vancouver Sun and SF Weekly.

INGRID MICHAELSON is streaming a new song about Twitter.

MORRISSEY brings a "Black Cloud" to Jimmy Fallon.  But then, Moz pretty much always brings one.

ELVIS COSTELLO is working with T-Bone Burnette, Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn and members of the Krauss/Plant band on a largely acoustic album.

WAVVES, a/k/a Nathan Williams is profiled at the L.A. Times.

JILL SOBULE, who kissed a girl way before Kay Perry, talks to CNN about her new album, which was funded by fans (including one who paid for a duet).

PHIL SPECTOR: Closing arguments at his murder retrial are underway.

MADONNA's tryst with a Brazilian model and rumored hookups with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez may get in the way of her plans to adopt another child from Africa. So it may well be that she dumped Jesus.

JENNIFER ANISTON reportedly cut John Mayer loose over his Twitter obsession.

BRITNEY SPEARS is surrounded by lawyers. And i'm not discounting the guy in the gimp outfit, either. At least 2.7 million in attorneys' fees and costs have been paid since a judge ruled the singer was not competent to manage her life and music empire.

LINDSAY LOHAN wishes people believed in her.  So I'm clapping, just like I would for Tink.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD, but following the arrests of Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer and doctors, officials in Florida are reexamining the circumstances surrounding her death.

MICHAEL JACKSON has invited the young stars of the Harry Potter films to be access all areas guests at the opening night of his sellout summer shows. Aren't they a bit old for him?

IRON MAN VS. BRUCE LEE: It's on like Donkey Kong.

NORTH KOREA said on Tuesday any attempt by the UN Security Council to punish it for trying to put a satellite in space would mean the collapse of international disarmament talks aimed at ending its nuclear program.

HEZBOLLAH spends millions to rebuild its stronghold in Beirut, Lebanon.

PAKISTAN: Villagers along the Afghan border pay the price for resisting the Taliban.

AFGHANISTAN: The US State Dept. denies reports that the US and key allies want to create a new senior post in the Afghan government to bypass President Hamid Karzai.

IRAQ has fired 62000 employees accused of corruption and is dismantling sectarianism among its police -- signs that it has turned a corner en route to eventual self-rule, according to Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani.

ANTEATER GETS HIS DRINK ON: Let's go to the video.

A PARROT that alerted his owner about a baby who was choking was recognized as a hero by the Red Cross.

CHIHUAHUA saves lost dwarf in Snowdonia.

A PIG NAMED SUE learns to herd sheep. Complete with Babe jokes.

WICHITA POLICE HORSE spooked by bachelorette party prop, prompts arrest.

CAMERA OBSCURA have a new video out for "French Navy."

NEW RELEASES: Albums from The Decemberists, Gomez, 1990s, Red Red Meat, Pete Doherty, Harlem Shakes, Pearl Jam and more are streaming in full this week at Spinner. Smart metal band Mastadon releases Crack The Skye.

THOSE DARLINS do the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, all previously unreleased.

RAPHAEL SAADIQ brought his '60s-style soul to the World Cafe, so you can stream the gig on demand via NPR.

NEKO CASE talks to Pitchfork about wild animals, softy Sadies, Richard Adams, and "nude" songs.

THE MOODY BLUES "Ride My Seesaw" on French TV for Twofer "Tuesday Afternoon."

DEVO featured here recently, talks to Whitney Matheson at SxSW about tour plans, Wes Anderson, flowerpt hats and more...

SxSW can be a place to stoke careers, but it's not all a party, as indie labels talk survival in Austin.

MICK JONES opened his own Rock & Roll Library in a Chelsa gallery.

KINDIE MUSIC: Adam Levy has gone from The Honeydogs to Bunny Clogs.

LINDSAY LOHAN is blowing through her cash, and Samantha Ronson's credit.

DAVID LETTERMAN and his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko, have gotten hitched.

ROBIN WILLIAMS underwent heart surgery and is recovering at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

AMY WINEHOUSE: Marriage over, new tracks rejected by her label.

DANNY BONADUCE got engaged to his girlfriend of about two years. He has presumably checked under the dress.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE: Oddly enough, at USA Today.

JASON SEGEL tals to Jimmy Fallon about writing the next Muppets movie, is interrupted by Statler & Waldorf.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MATT LAUER? Resting after hitting a deer.

SYLVIA PLATH's son kills himself.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS: A group of Saudi clerics has urged the Kingdom's new information minister to ban women from appearing on TV or in newspapers and magazines.

AFGHANISTAN: The US and its European allies are ­preparing to plant a high-profile Prime Minister in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to Afghan Pres. Karzai?

CAT & FOX, living together... mass hysteria.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A drunken Silverback gorilla.

FUGITIVE KANGAROOS bust out of French theme park.

WILD TURKEYS terrorize truckers in Jackson, Mich.  It's usually truckers on Wild Turkey doing the terrorizing.

MEET MAX, the jail dog.

MODEST MOUSE previewed "Satellite Skin" from their upcoming EP, at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

THE DECEMBERISTS are streaming The Hazards of Love album via Entertainment Weekly.

LAMBCHOP: Kurt Wagner stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set including covers of Crooked Fingers and Bob Dylan, plus originals. He tends to remind me a bit of a pre-Islam Cat Stevens.

ELVIS PERKINS has an interview plus tracks streaming via NPR's Morning Edition.

SxSW: NPR's microsite has archived live sets from The Decemberists, Blitzen Trapper, The Avett Bros, Dirty Projectors, Heartless Bast^rds and more...

NEKO CASE drops the video for "People Got A Lotta Nerve."

JEFF TWEEDY gives GQ a preview of Wilco's still untitled new album and reviews the catering at Neil Young shows.

RHETT MILLER talks to the San Francisco Chronicle about The Old 97s cameo in The Break-Up, feeding the kids, and more..

PARTY SONGS are the latest installment of 1000 Songs You Must Hear, with the usual opportunity to nominate songs they missed.

SEVENTEEN MILLION PEOPLE stopped buying CDs in 2008, but overall music sales increased ten percent.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Nic Cage is Knowing success at No.1, with 24.8 million, an okay number, though far less than Ghost Rider or the National Treasure sequel in recent years.  Ticket-buyers also said "I Love You, Man," to Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, as 18 million is pretty darn good for an R-rated comedy, right in the Role Models/ Forgetting Sarah Marshall ballpark. Julia Robers and Clive Owen settled into third place with Duplicity at 14.4 million.  That's an okay opening, but far below Julia's salad days (and less than her paycheck for the film).  Race to Witch Mountain dropped 47 percent to the fourth slot with 13 million, which is okay, but not great. It's likely to take a big hit when Monsters vs. Aliens opens next week.  Watchmen rounds out the Top Five with 6.7 million -- a 62 percent drop. It has almost recouped its 150 million budget worldwide, but Paramount has to turn over some of that to FOX in that lawsuit settlement.  Below the fold, Taken,  Slumdog and Coraline continue to show legs, while Paul Blart finally drops from the Top Ten.

BRUCE WILLIS wed model Emma Heming Saturday at his home on Parrot Cay, on the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean.

HARRISON FORD proposed to Calista Flockhart after 7 1/2 years.

JULIA ROBERTS: TMZ wonders whether her youthful look is the product of doctors.

LINDSAY LOHAN worries about unemployment. Finally.

GWYNETH PALTROW worries about employment. Obliviously.

THE TUDORS' Season 3 premiere is streaming, albeit edited to a TV-14 rating.

JOE JONAS does the slanty-eyed photo thing, because Miley Cyrus was getting all the attention for offending Asian groups.

GREY'S ANATOMY:  T.R. Knight is a TV doctor, but he plays one in real-life after getting into a three-car crash.

PAKISTAN: An intense, six-month campaign of Predator strikes has taken such a toll on Al Qaeda that they have begun turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust, US intelligence and counter-terrorism officials say. US Envoy Richard Holbrooke said US and NATO troops would not cross into Pakistan to fight the Taliban. The Taliban forced the closure of more than a hundred CD shops in Mardan.

AFGHANISTAN: Scores of Taliban fighters and several Afghan officials were killed in the opening of the spring fighting season, as both side surge forces for what is expected to be the toughest year of fighting since the US invasion in 2001. The US is prepared to discuss the establishment of a political party for the Taliban, a US diplomat says.

IRAQ: The release of hundreds of prisoners from the US-run Camp Bucca has facilitated the revival of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Basra, Baghdad and the borderless expanse along the Euphrates, according to police chiefs, intelligence officials in the Interior Ministry and residents.

THE BIONIC CROC: We can rebuild him, make him stronger.

ROBO CARP: I'd buy that for a dollar.

ORANGUTAN & CHILD saved from tree on flooded river by rope.  Pics at the link.

PINK ELEPHANT on parade, here he comes, hippity-hoppitty.

A DINOSAUR-AGE HATCHLING has been found in mainland New Zealand, the first of its kind to be seen there in over 200 years. Spared no expense.

WORDS DEADLIEST SPIDER, found at a Whole Foods store in Oklahoma, can kill a person in about 25 minutes, or stimulate an hours-long erection in men. Yes, really.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE HOLLIES!  Circa 1969, post Graham Nash, promoting The Hollies Sing Dylan. Selections include "Carrie Anne" (w/strings instead of steel drums), "Just Like A Woman," a medley of "Just One Look," "Bus Stop," "On A Carousel" and "Sorry, Suzanne," "Quit Your Lowdown," "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," "Help Me Brother," "Stop Stop Stop," a cover of "A Taste of Honey," Peter, Paul & Mary's "Stewball," "The Mighty Quinn," and "Blowin' in the Wind."

JARVIS COCKER expounds on contradictory theories of songwriting at SxSW.

SxSW: At the Morning News, Paul Ford has six-word reviews of 1302 MP3s provided by bands playing the big fest.  With ratings and downloads.

THE DUKE SPIRIT stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

JOHN WESLEY HARDING stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

HANDSOME FURS: Dan Boeckner talks to the Montreal Gazette about the current album and tour, which has taken the duo as far as Russia and Serbia.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND rolled out a new song, "White Sky," for Jimmy Fallon.

JOHN VANDERSLICE talks to DC's Express about the thrill of that glaring spotlight and dueting with Mountain Goat John Darnielle.

IVY LEAGUE BANDS: Crawdaddy pits Vampire Weekend vs. Galaxie 500.

STONE ROSES: Ian Brown and John Squire are both denying earlier reunion reports.

THE CUTOUT BIN: From the Who to ABBA, from the Sex Pistols to Ron Sexsmith, from the Kinks to King Khan & the Shrines, plus the Chesterfield Kings, Joe Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Thin Lizzy and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Nic Cage's "Knowing," which is currently scoring 21 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, the Rudd/Segel bro-com "I Love You, Man," currently scoring 78 percent, and the Julia Roberts/Clive Owen thriller "Duplicity," which is at 61 percent.

LeANN RIMES: Eddie Cibrian denies having an affair with the married singer, but Us magazine has them... wait for it... caught canoodling on video.

BRUCE WILLIS: Getting married soon?

LINDSAY LOHAN is getting an intervention from the Baldwin brothers.

BRITNEY SPEARS turns down a three-million-dollar autobiography deal... because she wants more money.

DARK TIMES: South Park took on The Dark, Knight, Watchmen, The Spirit, etc. this week.

VH-1'S "BEHIND THE MUSIC" is making a comeback, making it the perfect subject for an episode of the series.

AFGHANISTAN: Last month's assault on government buildings in Kabul was planned in and directed from Pakistan, according to Afghan intell.

IRAN is increasing its presence in Latin America, and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization it sponsors, is making inroads in drug trafficking in Colombia, the commander of US Southern Command told Congress.

IRAQ: Cross-sectartian alliances emerge in the wake of the provincial elections. The US military will shut down the Camp Bucca prison by the summer of 2009. US combat deaths hit a six-year low.

EXTREME SHEEP LED ART: Let's go to the video, courtesy of Samsung.

ANACONDA HUNT: A photo gallery.

PET HOARDING: Lady puts cats in the freezer. Again.

MINI-COWS milk cuteness for all it's worth at the Memphis Zoo.

THE ROCK CATS are known more for their looks than their rock 'n' roll talent.

CAT & DOG, snuggling together... mass hysteria.

PERRY FARRELL is singing about a "Nasty Little Perv" for a network TV show.  Who knew?

THE DECEMBERISTS: Colin Meloy stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand via MPR. And this morning's live debut of the album should be streaming on demand at NPR.

SxSW: The big party in Austin gets a micro-site at NPR. And WOXY is whipping up a mess of live Lounge Acts.

PETE DOHERTY is still alive and streaming his new album.

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN are releasing a live, orchestral version of Ocean Rain.

THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN: Because there's "Something In The Air." And you know that it's right.

THE BREEDERS are self-releasing an EP on April 21.

YO LA TENGO: Ira Kaplan talks to the Hartford Advocate about a side project whose name is not fit for family consumption.

ELVIS PERKINS talks to Filter about Dearland, touring, and the future.

CHARLOTTE HATHERLEY is moonlighting with Bat For Lashes. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

NATASHA RICHARDSON has died following a freak ski accident on a beginners' hill in Montreal. In addition to Liam, Neeson --her husband of 15 years -- and two sons, she is survived by her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, actress sister Joely Richardson, and actress aunt Lynn Redgrave.

LeANN RIMES is having a shocking affair with her TV movie costar. She's calling it a "difficult time."

KANYE WEST was charged with three criminal misdemeanors - vandalism, battery, and grand theft - in connection with the camera-smashing incident at LAX.

BRITNEY SPEARS: A judge has ordered Adnan Ghalib to stay completely clear of the pop wreck for three years.

RHIANNA & CHRIS BROWN are "taking a break," presumably one not involving bones.

PAUL RUDD & JASON SEGEL hit the wall while promoting I Love You, Man. Flatulence ensues. 

TERMINATOR: SALVATION will reportedly feature a voice-over from Linda Hamilton.

THOR: Nikke Finke has the latest casting rumors, including Natalie Portman.

TRUE GRIT getting the Coen Bros. treatment?  I think they already have a couple of movies on the drawing board.

PAKISTAN: Pres. Obama and his national security advisers are considering expanding the covert war in Pakistan far beyond the unruly tribal areas to strike at a different center of Taliban power in Baluchistan, where top Taliban leaders are orchestrating attacks into southern Afghanistan. Pakistan dismissed the report, as they would.  Meanwhile, Sharia courts have opened in Swat; civil courts have ceased activity.

IRAQ's economy is threatened by cheap Iranian goods.

TINY PIGLETS: Let's go to the video.

A HORSE-RIDING MONKEY is still on the run in Lake County, FL.

DOG RESCUED from a partially frozen lake by a former Real World cast member. Both are naked.

DOGS, CATS & ALLIGATORS are being abandoned to fend for themselves as the latest cruel collateral damage of a crippling economy tearing apart family budgets.

THE DOG ate my savings.

BAT hitches a ride on Space Shuttle launch. Godspeed, small bat.