DALE EARNHARDT JR JR gets a little animated for "Dark Water."

YO LA TENGO stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session. 

MAGICAL CLOUDZ advance streams Impersonator.

CLOUD CULT stops by KEXP for a live set that features songs from the album “Love.”

METZ rips through a mini-set of songs off their debut self-titled album at KEXP.

MAVIS STAPLES is joined by Jeff Tweedy and son on the funky "“I Like The Things About Me.” Nasty guitar from Jeff.

ERIC BURDON & JENNY LEWIS revisit "Don't Let me Be Misunderstood" for True Blood.

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER drops and talks about "She's A Mirror" ahead of Personal Record.

DAVID BOWIE plays "Young Americans" for Cavett, looking and sounding too much acquainted with the Thin White Duke.

THE NATIONAL: The Dressner Bros. talk to The Guardian about making the much-anticipated Trouble Will Find Me.

SAVAGES: The Guardian profiles a verrry serious band (who might secretly dig Elton John).

POP MUSIC's WORST FINANCIAL DISASTERS, according to NME.

SHANE MacGOWAN: The Pogues frontman is looking for a dentist.

ANGELINA JOLIE is hailed as "heroic" by Brad Pitt for undergoing a double mastectomy. Her mom is also proud.

BEYONCE cancels a concert amid pregnancy rumors.

BILL HADER is leaving SNL.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD: Not ready for children.

GWYNETH PALTROW knows she is a ‘lightning rod’ — and doesn't care.

ZOE SALDANA: Lt. Uhura says she may end up with a woman.

MORENA BACCARIN (Firefly, V, Homeland) is expecting her first child.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER reveals the mother.

THE UNITED KINGDOM:  Prime Minister Cameron said Britain intends to double its nonlethal aid to the Syrian opposition over the next year.

IRAN is presiding over the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. You can't make this stuff up.

AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban forced 40 schools in Zabul to shut down. More than 150 schoolgirls and five teachers were poisoned in Herat.

AFRICAN ELEPHANT charged by a drunken tourist.

SEX WITH A HORNETS' NEST can be fatal. In case you were wondering.

KITTEN RESCUE strands police officer in tree. You're doing it wrong.

A GORGEOUSLY UGLY FISH seeks a mate at the London Zoo.

SHE & HIM "Never Wanted Your Love," Dave.

THE NATIONAL advance streams Trouble Will Find Me via iTunes.

DAFT PUNK advance streams Random Access Memories, via iTunes.

JOHN GRANT streams Pale Green Ghosts.

SAVAGES, Live from Ministry of Sound.

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

PRIMAL SCREAM: Bobby Gillespie talks pop and politics with DIY.

VAN DYKE PARKS now claims he was victimized by Brian Wilson's buffoonery? Ouch.

JIMI HENDRICKS, MILES DAVIS & PAUL McCARTNEY would have been an awesome supergroup.

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN:  Two youths were arrested after toppling a statue of Phil Lynott in Dublin.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Prosecutors won't let her bail on Betty Ford.

ANGELINA JOLIE had a preventative double mastectomy.

BEYONCE & JAY-Z expecting a second child?  Multiple sources say that's "silly."

JESSICA SIMPSON is furious at her ex-husband Nick Lachey after he made a shocking gay joke about her creepy dad, Joe.

JAMES FRANCO: Linked to “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke and “Spring Breakers” co-star Ashley Benson.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS talks to Vulture about playing Liberace, his son's imprisonment, and beating stage IV cancer.

KIEFER SUTHERLAND has closed a deal for a new installment of 24 on Fox.

DR. JOYCE BROTHERS, a former academic psychologist who, long before Drs. Ruth, Phil and Laura, was counseling millions over the airwaves, died on Monday at her home in Fort Lee, N.J. She was 85.

THE UNITED STATES Justice Department secretly obtained two months of Associated Press phone records in an investigation likely tied to the disclosure of a foiled al Qaeda plot in May 2012.

EGYPT: Gamaa Islamiyya called on the US to delist it as a terror organization. The group also called for the release of Omar Abdel Rahma, the blind Sheikh.

LIBYA: Two RPG missiles hit the offices of the Port Authority in Tripoli. An explosives-rigged car blew up near a hospital in Benghazi, killing nine people. A small bomb exploded outside a Benghazi police station.

SYRIA: The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two-year conflict has killed at least 82000 people so far and 12500 are missing.

A PUPPY hiccups. Aw.

A HERD OF GOATS will be brought in to clear vegetation at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

LOUDLY FORNICATING FROGS disturb neighbors in Baraboo, WI.

A "MONSTER" CARCASS washed ashore in New Zealand last week.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND hit 30 Rock to play "Diane Young" and "Unbelievers" from their imminent LP.

SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME advance streams One Kiss Ends It All.

SAM AMIDON advance streams Bright Sunny South.

THE HANDSOME FAMILY advance streams Wilderness.

LOCAL NATIVES plays a lively set of songs from their latest album "Hummingbird" live on KEXP at the Triple Door.

EVERY MOTHER'S SON: "Come On Down to My Boat," baby.

GALAXIE 500: CBS News covers a new oral history of the band.

THE XX frontwoman Romy talks to The Guardian about dark nights, darker attire and the pressures of hosting your own festival.

PALMA VIOLETS are profiled by Interview.

MARNIE STERN: THE "lady who shreds" talks to the Washington Examiner about her new album and how she unwound her previously dense song structure for these tracks.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Iron Man 3 repeats atop the chart, as expected, with 72.5 million. That's a 58 percent drop from its monster debut, but Stark & Co. will cross the billion-dollar mark worldwide this week. The Great Gatsby places with a strong 51.1 million debut, about 10-15 millionabove studio and tracking estimates.  Aussie subsidies push Baz Luhrmann's budget down from 190 million to about 105 million, so Gatsby will likely be rolling in it.However, its "B" Cinemascore suggests it may not have legs to face the summer onslaught of big releases (like Star Trek: Into Darkness this week).  Even so, it's Luhrmann's biggest debut and Leonardo DiCaprio's second-biggest (after Inception, not Titanic, surprisingly).  Pain And Gain shows with, er, 5 million (a bit of a drop from Gatsby); Peeples debuts 4.9 million -- proving Tyler Perry needs to show up in drag to make big money -- but the budget was a mere 15 million.  42 rounds out the Top Five with another 4.7 million and an 84.7 million total against a 40 million budget.Oblivion sinks below the fold, but will turn out alright on overseas grosses.

THE GREAT GATSBY: Baz Luhrmann's take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald masterwork is not as bad as I had hoped. Outside the fabled Gatsby galas, Baz is generally less over-the-top than the insane Moulin Rouge. Indeed, this film even feints in the direction of trying to boost the chemistry between Jay and Daisy, which is the central weekness of the novel.  And yet, by making Daisy more sympathetic (a choice emphasized by casting Carey Mulligan), the sociopolitical aspect of the story is subverted, making the ham-fisted delivery of same by Tobey Maguire's Nick at the finale ring almost as hollow as his shouting in Gatsby's manse.  What remains is spectacle and melodrama.  The film largely succeeds on those levels -- and given the number of times Hollywood has failed to capture the esssense of the book, perhaps that's as good as can be hoped for. But it's a lesser film for trying to have it all, which is perhaps a tad ironic.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Docs at The Betty Ford Center have cut off her precious supply of Adderall — and now, she's hell-bent on making her escape.

KHLOE KARDASHIAN & LAMAR ODOM were SWATted -- and this one was dramatic, with cops racing to the scene with guns drawn.

BROOKE MUELLER  is making a full-court press to move her twins from Denise Richards' home to Brooke's brother's home.

KATE UPTON: Vogue profiles America's Favorite Bombshell.

MILEY CYRUS leads Maxim's Top 100 Women of 2013. Yes, really.

LIBYA: In Benghazi, two police stations were attacked and a bomb exploded next to a military police camp. Gunmen killed an intelligence officer in Derna. BP followed the US, France, and the UK in pulling some staff out of Libya due to security concerns. Anti-militia protesters in Tripoli blamed Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood for supporting anti-government militias. The Justice Minister said an agreement had been reached with militiamen so they would relax their siege of the Foreign Ministry; in other reports he denied any such deal.

EGYPT: The Interior Minister announced the arrest of three members of an al Qaeda-linked cell that was said to be planning a suicide attack on a Western embassy in Egypt. At least one member of the cell had traveled to Iran and Pakistan for military training. Privately Egyptian officials said the target was the US embassy.

SYRIA: A Russian official backtracked on the recently announced US-Russian plan to convene a meeting between the Assad regime and the opposition to resolve the conflict; he said holding such a meeting by the end of May is "impossible." Forces loyal to Assad are beginning to turn the tide of the country’s war, bolstered by a new strategy, the support of Iran and Russia and the assistance of fighters with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

THE BIRDS: A flock of eagles descended on the Unalaska Safeway parking lot last week, prompting police intervention.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Their Top Five Crimes.

EMILY & RISHI:She's a six year old girl; he's an oranguntan. He wanna be like you.

REAL-LIKE MOWGLI Tippi Degre spent her whole childhood playing with wild animals including lion cubs, a mongoose, a snake, a cheetah, baby zebra, giraffes and crocodiles.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with ARETHA FRANKLIN, Live in Stockholm, 1968! The "Lady Soul" concert was broadcast on Swedish TV, including "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Come Back Baby," "Dr Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business)," "Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)" "I  Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)," "Chain Of Fools," and "Respect."

ROBYN HITCHCOCK stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

CHARLES BRADLEY stpped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

PHOSPHORESCENT: Matthew Houck visits the KEXP studios along his band to perform his brand of indie rock featuring songs from his latest record "Muchacho."

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

THE LOVE LANGUAGE drops "Calm Down" ahead of Ruby Red.

WILLIAM SHATNER, BEN FOLDS & JOE JACKSON: Just some "Common People."

VAMPIRE WEEKEND talks to Pitchfork about the making of Modern Vampires of the City.

GOGOL BORDELLO: Eugene Hutz talks to Rolling Stone about throwing Latin American music into his Balkan stew.

ORIGINAL MTV VJS NINA BLACKWOOD AND MARTHA QUINN talk to USA Today to promote their joint memoirs of the early days of the once-revolutionary channel.

20 UNEXPECTED COVER SONGS, compiled by the HuffPost.

CUTOUT BIN: From REM to the Coasters, from Billy Bragg to James Brown, from Thomas Dolby to King Khan, plus, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Proclaimers, Ramones, Bruce Foxton and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Baz Luhrmann's take on The Great Gatsby, which is currently scoring 42 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, also scoring 42 percent.

AMERICAN IDOL is axing Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban.

AMANDA BYNES pleaded no contest to driving on a suspended license.

NINA DOBREV & IAN SOMERHALDER split, making The Vampire Diaries a bit awkward.

MACAULAY CULKIN has moved in with Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty in Paris. What could possibly go wrong?

24 may return as a limited series on Fox. Kiefer Sutherland is negotiating and establishing a perimeter.

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. may have its woman in Alicia Vikander.

THE WORLD'S END: Director Edgar Wright, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) have an international trailer for the completion of the Cornetto trilogy.

HEZBOLLAH leader Nasrallah said Syria will provide the terror group with "game-changing weapons" as a strategic response to Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah weaponry in Syria.

SYRIA: The Syrian Army is trying to retake lost territory in Qusayr, Aleppo, and Idlib.

LIBYA: Militiamen continue to blockade the Foreign and Justice ministries. Prime Minister Zeidan said militiamen threatened him with a grenade and a gun during negotiations yesterday. Security forces evicted irregular brigades from 56 sites in and around Tripoli.

EGYPT: An American citizen was stabbed near the US embassy in Cairo. Authorities discovered a cache of weaponry in the South Sinai. Two senior Muslim Brotherhood officials failed to show up for a speaking engagement at a Washington, D.C. think tank; their current whereabouts are unknown.

THE CAT That Loved Concrete.

FEED ME, SEYMOUR: A new species of carnivorous plant has been found in Aichi Prefecture, on the central-southern coast of Japan's main island.

GRASSHOPPERS swarm ex-Beatle Paul McCartney in Brazil.

PYTHON in a Winnipeg dumpster.

PATE REUNION:  Jon, Mike & Jon (and we hope Ron) will be retaking a stage somewhere near Iowa State University on July 5th, 2013, just one short decade after their last reunion gig.  Clear your calendar for something transcendent, a train wreck, or both!  If you're on the Facebook, check in with the event page.

JON PRATT rehearses the Pate deep cut, "It's A Crime," to prep for the reunion.

IRON & WINE: Sam Beam stops by WNYC Soundcheck for an unplugged set.

JAMIE LIDELL played solo, with the help of a table full of electronics, live in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

THE VEILS visit the KEXP studios and perform a set of tunes from the album "Time Stays, We Go."

PALMA VIOLETS stop by The Current for a chat and mini-set. 

GRANT HART drops "Is The Sky The Limit?" and "Letting Me Out" ahead of The Argument, a double album based on John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. I think I prefer the latter track, but ymmv.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE dropped “I Sat By The Ocean” and “If I Had A Tail” on Belgian radio.

DAVID BOWIE brings in Gary Oldham and Marion Cotillard for "The Next Day," which is likely NSFW.

PATTI SMITH talks to L.A. Weekly about Banga, her memoirs, and more. (Thx, LHB.)

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER talks to Stereogum about making her Personal Record, her upcoming “full band” tour, and the vague future of Fiery Furnaces.

THE MARS VOLTA gets a retrospective from PopMatters.

1963: The Guardian looks back at the year that would define rock and pop music for the next 50 years.

BRITNEY SPEARS confirms she's doing a Vegas residency.

CHRIS & LUKE HEMSWORTH staged an intervention to end brother Liam's engagement to Miley Cyrus.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE photobombs Sarah Jessica Parker at the 2013 Met Gala in NYC.

MICHAEL JACKSON was a "monster" and sexual abuser, according to the lawyer for famed choreographer Wade Robson. Jacko's estate calls the claims outrageous and pathetic.

NICK LACHEY says the best part about being divorced from Jessica Simpson is that he no longer has to play grabass under the table with Creepy Papa Joe.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. is looking for Tony Stark money to reprise his Iron Man role. Will the Mouse pony up?

WYNONA RYDER was told she was not pretty enough to be an actor.

MOROCCO: A prominent Salafist preacher issued a takfir fatwa against Moroccan human rights activist Ahmed Assid for suggesting that religious school textbooks could lead youth to violence, and called for Assid to be 'silenced.'

ALGERIA: The opposition Islamist Movement for a Peaceful Society party chose hardliner Abderrezak Mokri as its new leader during the fifth party congress, held over the weekend in Algiers. The congress was attended by Islamist leaders from Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and the Palestinian group Hamas.

LIBYA: A veteran diplomat gave a riveting minute-by-minute account of the lethal terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11 and described its contentious aftermath in nearly five hours of testimony at a charged Congressional hearing that reflected the weighty political stakes perceived by both parties.

IRAQ: Keeping silent on terrorist groups and failing to co-operate with security forces is prohibited under sharia law, a number of Iraqi clerics said.

CATMAN: Duhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh...

TAPEWORMS burrowed into the brain of a British volunteer in Madagascar. The penguins are still cute, though.

MAYBE THE BEAR ate your monkey.

THE GIANT SNAILS invade Houston.