THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

... with THE RASCALS!  I was delighted to find one of my fave clips, their cover of "Mickey's Monkey" in a medley with "Turn On Your Love Light."  A second live medley includes a pair of Rascals originals, "I've Been Lonely Too Long" and "Come On Up." Plus, a copy of "A Girl Like You" has returned to the Tube.  Round it out with the live-instudio version of the obligatory "Good Lovin'."

SEBADOH stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

AMOS LEE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set. 

PETER CASE played a mini-set at KUTX.

CHVRCHES played live at MusicFest Northwest.

LEE HAZLEWOOD & NANCY SINATRA: "Some Velvet Morning." Can I tell you about Phaedra?

THE COCTEAU TWINS: Head Over Heels turns 30. Get off My Lawn. 

BILLY IDOL: Rebel Yell turns 30. Get Off My Lawn.

HOW SELLING OUT Saved Indie Rock. Actually, the tradition of up-and-coming rockers doing ads dates back into the Sixties.

THE CUTOUT BIN: From the B-52s to Slim Harpo, from Billy Bragg to Roky Erickson, from the Smiths to Lloyd Price, plus the Meat Puppets, Flamin' Groovies, Los Lobos, The Turtles and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: The Best Man Holiday is this weekend's sole wide release and is currently scoring 63 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.  Basically with Hunger Games coming next week, no one wanted to open anything near that mindspace. So expect Thor to bring the hammer down again.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL was sent to the emergency room after punching a mirror on the Los Angeles set of his new film Nightcrawler Wednesday morning.

ADAM LEVINE will be announced as “Sexiest Man Alive” by People next week? Really?

MATTHEW McCONNAUGHEY is GQ's Leading Man of the Year.

ALEC BALDWIN's stalker was found guilty. Meanwhile, Alec went homophobic again.

KHLOE KARDASHIAN & LAMAR ODOM are in couples therapy.

CHRIS BROWN is still in rehab, despite resurfacing in Los Angeles for a bite to eat on Wednesday.

MARK WAHLBERG wasn't targeting Tom Cruise with his recent remarks, but yeah, Cruise needs to shut it.

DR WHO was nearly extermianted at birth.

SYRIA: Hassan Nazrallah, the head of Hezbollah, said the group would not withdraw from Syria so long as the Assad regime needed it.

LIBYA: The terrorists who attacked the Benghazi consulate last year knew the location of the safe room where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security team sought shelter, according to a congressman who spoke for 90 minutes with the diplomatic security agent severely injured in the assault.

EGYPT: The Interior Minister said authorities are aware of a Muslim Brotherhood plot to bring "violence and sabotage" to Egypt on Nov. 19.

IRAQ: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killed 41 Iraqis in a series of attacks throughout the country.

YUKI the SHIBA INU says hello.

THE RAREST MAMMAL ON EARTH: Spotted in Vietnam.

A COYOTE joins a cross-country champrionship in Phoenix.

WORLD'S OLDEST CREATURE: KIlled by scientists checking its age. Oops.

CULTS took "The High Road" to the Tonight Show.

MAGIK MARKERS are streaming Surrender to the Fantasy.

DEATH GRIPS are advance streaming Government Plates. Not my bag, but Pate bassist Mike Kelly's probably. Plus, even my Dad has heard of their antics.

BLITZEN TRAPPER stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

NO AGE dropped by KEXP to play a progressive lo-fi set. 

NICK LOWE (as part of Rockpile) plays "So It Goes," circa 1978.

LOS LOBOS turns 40, talks to the L.A. Times at Lucy's El Adobe on Melrose. Get Off My Lawn.

DID GRUNGE REALLY MATTER? The A.V. Club suggests it became "an evolutionary dead end." I think the author underestimates what it did to the marketplace.

PAUL McGUINNESS, the only manager U2 has had in its 30+ year history, is stepping aside and Live Nation reportedly is set to buy Principle Management

THE TOP 100 ALBUMS of 1988, according to Slicing Up Eyeballs readers. 

ALEC BALDWIN's alleged stalker Genevieve Sabourin told a packed court room how the actor seduced her with the promise 'of the night of your life', then had sex with her only to leave in the morning before she woke up. The French-Canadian actress also described a kinky episode of phone-sex.

MARK WAHLBERG: Not a fan of actors comparing themselves to soldiers.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST: Already planning a second child?

LIAM HEMSWORTH talks Miley Cyrus and Eiza Gonzalez while promoting The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

CHRIS BROWN is suing a woman accusing him of battery.

JENNIFER ANISTON & JUSTIN THEROUX have reportedly put their wedding on hold again.

JONATHAN RHYS MYERS was made to wait for a substantial part of his 100K-per-episode Dracula pay until after production ended; the network was concerned about his addictions.

50 SHADES OF GREY: Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are the cover story at Entertainment Weekly.

ANDY KAUFMAN: A woman claiming to be the comedian's daughter also claims his cancer death was a hoax.

THE UNITED STATES State Department designated the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram and its splinter group Ansaru as global terrorist organizations.

SYRIA: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham issued a call for all Muslims and factions to come to the front as the group lost many fighters in recent clashes in Aleppo, and threatened to disarm or take to sharia court those armed groups and fighters who do not respond to the call.

IRAN signed a pact with the IAEA giving it "managed access" to some of the country's nuclear facilities, but not to its most sensitive sites, including the Parchin complex.

LEBANON: In a rare public appearance, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned in Beirut that the failure to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program would result in "war in the region."

CATS lunch with a baby monkey.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Militant rodents practice battle formations.

HERMAPHRODITE SEA SLUG stabs mate in head during sex.

A SWAN terrorized a newsstand.

STEPHEN MALKMUS &THE JICKS drop a video for "Lariat" ahead of Wig Out At Jagbags.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE soundtrack, ft. music from the National, Lorde, Coldplay, the Weeknd, Santigold, Antony & The Johnsons, Patti Smith, and more, is streaming at iTunes. For example, Lorde covers Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World."

EMILY JANE WHITE advance streams Blood/Lines.

NEKO CASE stopped by Studio 1A at WFUV for a chat and mini-set. 

THE BEATLES Never Broke Up. 

WANDA JACKSON (and Shooter Jennings) drop "In the Cold, Cold Night" from Rockin' Legends Pay Tribute to Jack White, which is exactly what it sounds like.

THE SMALL FACES play "Itchycoo Park," their only US charter.

ARCADE FIRE: The band and its marketing plan. 

RONNIE SPECTOR talks to Noisey about Phil, Kanye, Lady Gaga, Keith Richards and much more...

SLEIGH BELLS: Alexis Kraus appears on the self-explanatory Kids Interview Bands. 

PU$$Y RIOT leader Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is  now in a prison hospital near Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE jumped off the Hunger Games red carpet to comfort a crying girl in a wheelchair.She also talked to the BBC about the lack of strong female roles in Hollywood, and the pressure that faces young actresses to be thin.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE is GQ's Man of the Year.

JUSTIN BIEBER: The Brazilian model and bodybuilder who filmed the Biebs sleeping in bed last weekhas nothing but good reviews.

KIM KARDASHIAN  was pulled over on an L.A. freeway — and it caused total pandemonium.

ALEC BALDWAN cried and was heckled during the trial of an accused stalker.

NICOLAS CAGE sex photos are out there somewhere.

KATE UPTON is being eyed for the female lead in the Entourage movie.

THE ARAB SPRING's biggest losers? Women. Shocka.

SYRIA: Islamist and al Qaeda-linked forces in Aleppo reportedly issued a declaration yesterday calling on fighters to come to the fronts to help repel an alleged offensive by regime, Hezbollah, and Iraqi Abu al-Fadl Abbas forces to retake Aleppo. The Syrian National Coalition named a provisional government for rebel-held areas, to be based in Gazientep, Turkey.

IRANIAN officials said the country made progress with world powers during “serious” talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, but insisted the nation cannot be pushed to give up uranium enrichment.  In fact, they probbaly cannot be pushed to give up weapons-grade enrichment at its Arak facility, once built. So what's the point of the negotiations?

KITSU falls asleep. Hello, Kitsu!

CRABS ON A TRAIN: A number of large crabs escaped from a box on a German train and not all have been found, police said on Tuesday.

HYENAS have a social network. And it smells bad.

PINK FAIRY ARMADILLOS: The smallest armadillo species in the world, and the opening act for the B-52s.

BEST COAST: "I Don't Know How" verges on country, as surf-pop goes. Then they kick it up a notch.

OKKERVIL RIVER stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

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

SALLIE FORD & THE SOUND OUTSIDE played live at the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival.

SHAKE APPEAL: Pitchfork rounds up tracks from recent garage rock releases, including a bad-trip cover of Flipper's "Sex Bomb."

WILLIS EARL BEAL drops “Babble On” and “Coriander Tree Life” out of nowhere.

WORLD PARTY: Karl Wallinger "Put the Message in the Box" and gets "Way Down Now" for Twofer Tuesday.

THE LONG WINTERS' John Roderick reflects on his unlikely career in rock at Rolling Stone.

THE MUSCLE SHOALS SOUND is the subject of a new documentary.

KETH MOON's wild ride looks to be headed for the big screen.

NOT AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE: Weaver D's Fine Foods, which spawned the title of an REM album, is closing for good. 

GEORGE CLOONEY has words for Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio at Esquire. Ironically, he notes these sorts of comments do not benefit him, even as he makes them.

KATY PERRY: Wearing a diamond ring, denying an engagement.

KALEY CUOCO very much wants you to know she's not pregnant.

SACHA BARON COHEN pushed an old lady offstage at the Britannia awards.

STAR WARS: The blooper reel.

EGYPT: Authorities seized a variety of weaponry and arrested a number of Islamist militants during operations in the Sinai.

IRAN: The Ayatollah has a 95 billion dollar empire, financial resources whose value rivals the holdings of the shah.

HOW DOGS aid veterans with PTSD.

A BISON is an Alberta man's best friend.

THREE LITTLE PIGS not so little after a month on the lam.

A WILD AND CRAZY DEER stops imitating Steve Martin.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, "Dancing In The Dark," unpluggedy, at Stand Up For Heroes 2013 (at 2:24 min, though the link should take you there). Also, he tells a dirty joke.

POLICA played a set at DC's 9:30 Club.

GARY NUMAN played a set at Mountain Oasis.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: The Beatles, Colin Meloy, Shearwater, and more appear in the latest edition of the series.

THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS stopped by WFUV for a mini-set.

THE WHO: "Substitute," in a clip introduced by a familiar voce.

THE BEATLES Succeeded Through Talent, Ambition, and a Lot of Arrogance.

THE KILLERS: Brandon Flowers takes NME on a track-by-track tour of the band's greatest hits LP. 

THE RAVEONETTES: Sahrin Foo talks to The Line Of Best Fit about the band's next album, Los Angeles, Lou Reed, and more. (Thx, Chromewaves.) 

A LONDON RECORD STORE ON eBAY: Live the High Fidelity Lifestyle!

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Thor: The Dark World tops the chart with 86.1 million. That's a shade less than Skyfall's record performance less year, but well above the original Thor's 65.7 million -- a feat doubly impressive when you consider this is the first superhero movie released outside the Summer season.  The Norse god has laready raked in another 240 million in overseas markets, where the original took in 265 million in its entire run.  They're celebrating in Asgaard.  Bad Grandpa places a distant second with 11 million, but with 78.7 million total against a 15 million budget.  Free Birds showed close behind with11.2 million and 30.2 million total against a 55 million budget.  Last Vegas is in a virtual tie with 11.1 million and 33.5 million total against a 28 million budget.  Ender's Game suffered a blow from Thor's hammer, sliding from the top slot to the bottom of the Top 5 with 10.3 million, and a 44 million total against a 110 million budget.

TOM CRUISE, contra some reports, didn't really compare making a movie to serving in Afghanistan. I find the man bizarre, but I want to be fair to him and to veterans, who don't need the annoyance.

MILEY CYRUS smoked a joint on stage and twerked with a dwarf during the MTV EMAs on Sunday. Nero made a cameo on the fiddle.

JUSTIN BIEBER was ejected from a hotel in Argentina, due to unruly fans.

JESSICA SIMPSON resumed the Weight Watchers program after giving birth to son Ace.

SUPERMAN-BATMAN will be sporting a Darkwing.

LOVE, ACTUALLY: Cast and crew reminisce upon the film's 10th anniversary. Get off my lawn.

VETERANS' DAY: Today is the observation of the anniversary of the end of WWI; thank a vet today, and read the excellent 2009 piece by the WaPo's David Ignatius that may be more true today. 

AFGHANISTAN: The Pentagon's semiannual report on Afghan operations noted that during the April-September period, US and Coalition deaths dropped by almost 60 percent compared to the same period last year, but that Afghan troop deaths went up by 80 percent. It said Afghan forces are now conducting 95 percent of conventional operations and 98 percent of special operations.

SYRIA: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, the Al Nusrah Front, and allied rebels retook the 80th Brigade army base near Aleppo airport from regime forces, who had captured it earlier this week.

LIBYA: Italy's foreign minister said Libya is "absolutely out of control" and noted that ENI, Libya's biggest foreign oil partner, has threatened to close wells.

IRAN: France raised questions Saturday about whether a proposed deal to temporarily curb Iran's nuclear program went far enough, complicating negotiations with the Iranians and casting doubt on whether an agreement could be reached during the current round of negotiations.

A TIGER CUB, and a boy dressed as a tiger cub.

A DOG saves a hiker from a bear, gets eaten...by the hiker.

MORE THAN 600,000 BATS were killed by US wind turbines last year.

A CHOCOLATE WEDDING CAKE with the lizard surprise.