BETTY WHO plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

BEN DICKEY visits World Cafe.

FAYE WEBSTER visits The Current.

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS & MAVIS STAPLES share The Staple Singers’ classic “What You Gonna Do?"

REDD KROSS shares "What's a Boy to Do?"

THE DRUMS share "Try."

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD share the thrashy "Organ Farmer."

TOM WAITS on His Dream Dinner Party, His Legacy, and More.

SHEARWATER's Jonathan Meiberg talks to Goatpalace. (Thx, Frank Yang.)

THE BEST of 2019, according to renowned Chicago (via NJ & NY) music critics Greg Kot and Jim Derogatis.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Ohio Players' nasty funk workout "Fire."

EMMA STONE slipped and fell, spinning off big rumors.

BRITNEY SPEARS' conservatorship is suing the "Free Britney" movement's leader.

KATY PERRY & ORLANDO BLOOM are full speed ahead on wedding plans.

TOM HIDDLESTON on Life Before and After Loki.

TOM HOLLAND talks about being cut from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.

DANNY BOYLE on Yesterday, Bond 25, and The Beatles.

KEVIN SMITH responds to his critics, perhaps surprisingly.

BILLY DRAGO, who often played the charming but evil villain role and appeared in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables and Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider, died Monday in Los Angeles of complications from a stroke. He was 73.

SCOOBY SNACK snatch and grab.

TARANTULAS can swim.

ZOMBIE CICADAS: A fungus that is infecting cicadas, causing them to lose their minds, and their limbs.

THE ARIZONA BARK SCORPION carries her young on her back for the first few weeks of life. Like a schoolbus with pincers.

LOCAL NATIVES visits Morning Becomes Eclectic.

JONATHAN RICE visits World Cafe.

MIKE ADAMS covers Electric Light Orchestra, Erin Tobey, Julieta Venegas, and The Wonders for a Lagniappe Session.

OH SEES share a new 21-minute psychedelic freakout: "Henchlock."

BRITTANY HOWARD of the Alabama Shakes shares "History Repeats."

PETER BUCK & SCOTT McCAUGHEY joined YO LA TENGO for Roky Erickson’s “Starry Eyes” and The Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown.”

R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe apparently has 18 solo songs ready to go.

THE DAY THE MUSIC BURNED: The NYT has identified 700 additional artists whose masters were destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

SPOON's Britt Daniel on their greatest hits, David Bowie, Pete Buttigieg, a new album, and more.

THE BANGLES' Susanna Hoffs describes how Prince worked his magic on the song "Manic Monday."

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Neil Sedaka's almost offensively bland "Laughter In The Rain."

GAME OF THRONES: Last Days On Set (and parting gifts).

CARDI B pleaded not guilty in state court Tuesday to attempted assault and various lesser charges.

AZIZ ANSARI plans to marry Danish physicist Serena Skov Campbell.

AMANDA BYNES has graduated from California's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising after nearly five years of studying.

RYAN MURPHY will direct and produce the feature adaptation of the Tony-nominated stage musical The Prom and has secured a cast that puts Netflix in new starpower territory.

JUDI DENCH has spoken of her “agony” at the thought that the works of Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein will be forgotten.

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO takes it in the face.

FARRAH FAWCETT-MAJORS died 10 years ago; Jaclyn Smith remembers her.

THE CURRENT WAR, long delayed due to the Weinstein scandal, has a trailer online.

A LYNX adopts three orphan kittens.

PUPPER takes a shower.

A KANGAROO is on the lam on I-41 in Grand Chute Wisconsin.

THE LAST OF ITS KIND: David Sischo is keeping vigil over a species' sole survivor, then marking its extinction in real time.

THE YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS, cranking out "I Don't Let The Little Things Get Me Down" and "Rock & Roll Pest Control" raw for Twofer Tuesday.

WEYES BLOOD visits Morning Becomes Eclectic.

THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS visit World Cafe.

HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE advance streams So Divine.

LAURA STEVENSON covers Wilco's "Jesus, Etc."

METRONOMY shares “Salted Caramel Ice Cream.”

THE BEACH BOYS early catalog gets almost three hours of analysis and discussion on the latest Political Beats with Reason magazine's Matt Welch. The podcast refers to Jeff Blehar's epic tweetstorm on the band.

PETER BUCK is the sort of guy who will fly into town for a surprise visit to a R.E.M. podcast.

ELTON JOHN was awarded France’s highest civilian award, the Legion d’Honneur.

A BITTERSWEET SAGA: How Richard Ashcroft Lost And Won Back The Songwriting Rights To His Signature Tune.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Carpenters' toothless and pointless cover of the Marvelettes' Motown classic "Please Mr. Postman."

TOY STORY 4: How are the toys alive?

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME director Jon Watts drops a probable Mysterio spoiler.

ALICE COOPER clarified his recent comments that he has a “death pact” with his wife Sheryl Goddard.

ROSEANNE BARR & ANDREW DICE CLAY are touring together. What could possibly go wrong?

MARK HAMILL: Child's Play hasthrown light on his career as a voice actor.

TOBE ZOO in southwest Japan holds a lion escape drill.

IT'S SPIDER SEASON in Australia.

A NEWBORN GIRAFFE is skipping taking its first steps while walking, choosing to run around its enclosure with its mom instead—just one day after being born.

97 BELUGAS & ORCAS trapped in a notorious Russia ‘whale jail’ are on the path to freedom.

THE NASHVILLE TEENS, with a stompin' cover of "Tobacco Road."

NEW RELEASES: The Raconteurs, black midi, Mark Ronson,and more have their new LPson streaming services.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE plays CBS This Morning.

IMOGEN HEAP plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

NEW MODEL ARMY returns with the "End of Days."

THE RACONTEURS play "Bored and Razed" and "help Me Stranger" for Colbert.

THE DAY THE MUSIC BURNED: A group of bands, artists and estates –– including those of Tupac Shakur and Tom Petty –– are suing Universal Music over the 2008 fire that allegedly destroyed hundreds of thousands of master recordings and other materials.

PATRICK STICKLES ranks his band Titus Andronicus's albums at VICE.

ELLIOT ROBERTS, who managed the career development of Neil Young, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Eagles, Yes, Devo, and so many more has died at 76. Neil Young and Stephen Stills pay tribute.

DAVE BARTHOLOMEW, a giant of New Orleans music and a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer who with Fats Domino co-wrote and produced such classics as “Ain’t That A Shame,” ″I’m Walkin’,” and “Let The Four Winds Blow,” has died. He was 100 years old.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Barry Manilow's grandly weepy ballad "Mandy."

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Toy Story 4 tops the chart with 118MM -- but that's barely above its predecessor and far short of The Incredibles 2's 182.6MM (in fairness, there was a bigger gap and pent-up demand for the latter). It's going to make money, even against a reported 200MM budget (it opened just about as big overseas, breaking a worldwide record total for animation), but it's an debut that underscores what a tough summer it has been at the local cineplex. The House of Mouse is likely regretting not opening on the Father's Day weekend (as Pixar summer flicks usually do). The Child's Play reboot distantly places with 14MM against a 10MM budget. The live-action Aladdin shows with 12.2MM on a 30 percent drop that seems especially leggy, given the arrival of Toy Story 4. Men in Black: International skids 64 percent from first to fourth with 10.8MM. The Secret Life of Pets 2 predictably turns out to be the biggest victim of the toys, dropping 58 percent to round out the Top Five with 10.3MM.

HALLE BERRY almost returned to her home to find the locks changed and a strange man living inside.

CARDI B has been indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges — including 2 felonies — in connection with a brawl at a New York strip club.

TOM HARDY is officially returning for Venom 2.

RED SONJA will be written and directed by Transparent creator Jill Soloway.

MATTHEW PERRY is looking disheveled following a long recovery from surgery to fix a gastrointestinal perforation.

THE WALKING DEAD: Getting ready to exploit the Chinese market?

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE to go back in the water...

A KITTEH plays a drum solo while sleeping.

PEDRO THE TURTLE lost both his back legs, so veterinarians used a Lego toy car kit to build him a very fancy wheelchair.

A BULLDOG pilfers babies' pacifiers for months -- and when he suddenly and inexplicably stopped eating, his family found out where those pacifiers (19 of them, anyway) went.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with THE BANGLES!  There's no better way to start than with these live takes on "Hero Takes A Fall"  and Kimberley Rew's "Goin' Down To Liverpool" for Dave in 1984. It was that sort of rawk (and the hotness of Susanna Hoffs) that got Prince to give them "Manic Monday," their first mainstream hit, from the A Different Light album, which included Jules Shear's "If She Knew What She Wants," Alex Chilton's "September Gurls," and -- inevitably -- Liam Sternberg's "Walk Like An Egyptian."  Nevertheless, their fondness for the genres of the mid-60s was still evident in their take on Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" for the Less Than Zero soundtrack, and the psych-garage-bubblegum of "In Your Room" on the Everything album, which yielded their final No.1 hit, "Eternal Flame."  The draw from the 60s is a constant I saw them in a club, on a big stage and in a club again -- the last time was at a House of Blues, where they covered the We Five's "You Were On My Mind."  However, I'll confess that I put off featuring the band for about a bit, until the Susanna Hoffs solo cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love" popped back up on the Tube after an absence. That woman knows how to shake her tambourine.

FONTAINES D.C., Live on KEXP.

THE CHILLS, Live on KEXP.

CHERRY GLAZERR, Live on KEXP.

LUNA shares a cover of Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In The Air” and  "The Oort Cloud/Kuiper Belt."

SUN KIL MOON covers Minnie Ripperton's "Loving You."

FATHER JOHN MISTY rolls out a new song called “Tell It Like It Is.”

THE CLASH AT DEMONHEAD covers Metric's "Black Sheep." I remember when Envy was Nat -- and most people hadn't heard of Brie Larsen.

MARK RONSON talks about his sad bangers.

YOUTUBE & UNIVERSAL will team up to remaster nearly 1000 classic music videos.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Elton John's hammy, hard-vamping cover of the Beatles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," recorded with John Lennon.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Toy Story 4, which is currently scoring 98 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; the reboot of Child's Play, currently scoring 70 percent; and Anna, scoring 40 percent.

TOY STORY 4 will rip your heart out, because that's what these movies do. Key & Peele, Tony Hale, Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves bring their considerable talents to this bittersweet apparent finale of the franchise, which is by turns hilarious, dark, and charming -- with a few lurking questions about the meaning of life.

KEANU REEVES went all Keanu on his Toy Story 4 charatcer.

ASHTON KUTCHER & MILA KUNIS set the record straight on their split rumors.

JUSTIN BIEBER may want to fight TOM CRUISE in the Octogon after all?

JENNIFER LAWRENCE wants her wedding to be a blowout.

STAR WARS: Keri Russell says she cried over the script for The Rise of Skywalker.

J.J. ABRAMS and his son are writing a new Spider-Man comic book series, featuring a mystery that is never fully answered.

GOATS have the same range of view while standing with their head up as they do while grazing.

DO NOT SWIM in the swan's fountain.

AN ALLIGATOR tears a truck apart.

A BEAR relaxes in a hot tub.