CINCO DE MAYO STARTS HERE: 

...with LOS LOBOS: "I Got Loaded" (with an added snippet of "Turn On Your Lovelight") from their fabulous first full-lengther, How Will the Wolf Survive? "Don't Worry Baby," "Evangeline," "Our Last Night," and "A Matter of Time" were on that album, too.

PEE WEE HERMAN: "Tequila." Obvs.

HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS: Rare video of "A Taste of Honey" from 1967.

CHEAP TRICK brings you the Mariachi mash-up of "Surrender."

JIMMY BUFFETT: Margaritaville. Obvs.

LIZ PHAIR: "Cinco de Mayo." Obvs.

JACK WHITE talks to The A.V. Club about about Blunderbuss, the prevalence of troublesome women in his new songs, and what the oft-unpredictable star is going to do next.

JONSI talks to Drowned In Sound about the Sigur Ros hiatus, the new album, the press and more...

RICHARD HELL talks about a documentary titled The Devil, Probably.

HERE WE GO MAGIC's Luke Temple talks to PopMatters about the human element in art and more...

CUTOUT BIN: From Squeeze to Dolly Parton, from the Cure to the Chi-Lites, from the Beach Boys to the Jesus & Mary Chain, plus the dB's, the J. Geils Band, the Hombres, Of Montreal, Dusty Springfield and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

THE AVENGERS is this weekend's sole wide release, currently scoring 92 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.  I went to the midnight showing, purely as a public service to Pate readers.  I suppose I could say that this movie lacks the depth of character development you get in the best Marvel films (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man), but we presumably got character development in the movies which intoduced these characters (and we do get a bit even in this one).  I could comment on whether CGI action scenes ever truly satisfy in the way that traditional stunt work does.  I could even suggest that The Avengers lacks the deeper thematic elements Christopher Nolan has brought to the Batman franchise.  But instead, what I will say is that Joss Whedon & Co. have delivered a phenomenal popcorn/action movie, filled with scene after scene of pure awesome, punctuated by moments of pure hilarity.  Of the movie's 2 hr, 22 minute running time, there are probably fewer than 10 minutes that are not awesome, comic-book goodness.  And as with almost all Marvel films, be sure to stay all the way to the very end of the credits for perhaps my favorite moment of the entire movie.

COURTNEY LOVE loses Kurt Cobain's publicity rights to daughter Frances Bean Cobain.

ASHTON KUTCHER's Popchips ad has been swiftly pulled - and an apology issued - following a grim reaction from Indian Americans.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Cops are sending the case involving an alleged hit-and-run by the actress to prosecutors.

KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN will marry Scott Disick in Mexico. The wedding will be televised, natch.

KATE UPTON will be gracing next week's highly anticipated Costume Institute gala - but she's going on her own dime.

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT is developing a remake of Little Shop of Horrors.

DENMARK: An axe-wielding Somali citizen who broke into the home of a Danish cartoonist and tried to kill him has been given a 10-year sentence followed by deportation.

GERMANY: A group of Salafists used stones and poles to attack police in Solingen, injuring three policemen and a bystander; approximately 30 of the attackers were arrested.

YEMEN: In the latest release of Inspire magazine, slain al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Anwar al Awlaki called for chemical and biological attacks against the US. Fmr Pres Saleh's son stepped down from commanding the 3rd Brigade of the Republican Guard.

EGYPT: A bill to allow girls as young as 14 to marry should not be rejected out of hand, as girls in some areas of the country mature earlier, according to a Salafite member of Egypt's parliament.

DOG vs BABY GOAT: Who you got?

A 50-LB TURTLE run over by a car is going to be alright, Little Tommy.

DOLPHINS aid fishermen in Laguna, Braxil.

A PET PARAKEET was returned to its owner Wednesday after the brainy bird told police its home address near Tokyo.

ANDREW BIRD played "Eyeoneye" and "Give It Away" for Kimmel.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE is streaming not one but two versions of its classic LP, Loveless.

AARON FREEMAN, a/k/a/ Gene Ween, is advance streaming Marvelous Clouds.

PS I LOVE YOU is advance streaming their sophomore effort, Death Dreams, which the duo discusses at Exclaim. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from the Ting Tings, Steve Miller, and Squarepusher highlight the latest edition of the series.

LYKKE LI dropped "Come Near" for Record Store Day.

THE TROGGS: "With a Girl Like You."

THE TWILIGHT SAD's James Graham talks to Magnet before his stint as guest editor.

LAMBCHOP: Kurt Wagner talks to Reverb about the new album, old band members and more. (Thx, LHB.)

WHAT MAKES A GOOD CONFESSIONAL ALBUM? Prefix investigates.

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSIC CITIES: Not L.A. or NYC, according to a new study.

KATE UPTON danced the Cat Daddy for fashion photog Terry Richardson. Cannot believe I forgot to post this yesterday. I plead distraction.

JUNIOR SEAU, NFL great, was found dead Wednesday by his girlfriend in the bedroom of his beachside home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

THE KARDASHIANS: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are "very serious," as in ready to pick out rings.  Khloe explains why she and Lamar Odom "pulled the plug" on their reality show. Sounds like she needs to support Lamar.

KRISTIN KAVALLARI & JAY CUTLER (a/k/a Jerkface) are expecting a baby boy, Cutler's Chicago Bears teammate Earl Bennett revealed on WSCR-AM 670's The Boers & Bernstein Show Monday.

AMANDA SEYFRIED: A first look at the actress as Linda Lovelace in the biopic.

ACTRESSES reveal their favorite, er, positions.

TERROR in the UK: Scotland Yard arrested seven people suspected of involvement in a network that smuggles khat to the US and Canada; the network's proceeds are thought to be used to fund terror activities in Somalia.

TURKEY: The Islamic-rooted ruling party has become increasingly critical of plays and television shows deemed to violate moral or religious values.

AFGHANISTAN's intelligence chief called on Pakistan's tribal chiefs to prevent boys from learning to be insurgents at the religious schools throughout the country.

MONKEY vs CAT: Who you got??

GIANT FLEAS thought to be the oldest of their kind ever discovered bit into dinosaurs and drew blood some 165 million years ago. Now we just need to find some preserved in amber.

A TURKEY CALL summons a hungry coyote.

PANDA's insemination live-tweeted by the National Zoo.

TRAMPLED BY TURTLES plays Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)" for the A.V. Club Undercover.

SEAN BONES is advance streaming Buzzards Boy.

LAURA MARLING plays a mini-set for Oregon Public Broadcasting.

FIRST AID KIT plays a mini-set for Oregon Public Broadcasting.

ESPERANZA SPALDING stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

BOBBY WOMACK drops the title track for "The Bravest Man In The Universe."

SEA OF BEES offer "Broke" as a free download.

DUMPTRUCK: "Back Where I Belong." 

THE 100 BEST TRACKS OF THE 80s, according to NME.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT talks to Spinner about life, death and Grandpa Leonard Cohen.

JOHN PEEL'S RECORD COLLECTION is going online.

COLLECTING RECORDS IS NOT COOL.  This is news?

JESSICA SIMPSON gave birth to a baby girl, Maxwell Drew Johnson, in L.A. Tuesday morning. Congrats!

CHARLIE SHEEN threatened to sue New York strip club Cheetahs for millions, claiming a VIP room named in his honor - where guests eat sushi off the bodies of scantily clad women - could damage his reputation.

MARILYN MONROE: Vanity Fair has nude photos taken hours before her death.

THE MTV MOVIE AWARDS nominations are out.

JOHN MAYER says goodbye to Jennifer Aniston in song.

EMMA WATSON, JASON SEGEL & DAVID KRUMHOLTZ will play themselves in Seth Rogen's End of the World.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES has a new trailer online.

TERROR in the USA: The FBI arrested five men Monday evening, saying they had planted what were believed to be explosive devices under the Ohio 82 bridge over Cuyahoga Valley National Park as part of a May Day protest.

SYRIA: Two bombs struck a government compound in the northern city of Idlib. Rockets hit the central bank in Damascus, killing nine and wounding 100. The government blamed the opposition, but the opposition denied involvement.

IRAN: After a winter of alarm over the possibility that a military conflict over the Iranian nuclear program might be imminent, American officials and outside analysts now believe that the chances of war in the near future have significantly decreased.

AFGHANISTAN: Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said that insurgency and chaos could increase if foreign forces withdraw before Afghanistan is ready.

DOG & CHICK... living together... Mass hysteria!

THE SWARM: A New Jersey couple who noticed an unusual number of honeybees in their garden said they found a honeycomb and 30000 of the insects in their attic crawl space.

WOMAN BITES DOG: Alcohol may have been involved.

AN ALLIGATOR dragged a 75-year-old golfer into a water hazard.

TENNIS drops a Lynchian video for "My Better Self."

NEW RELEASES from Here We Go Magic, Norah Jones, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Parlotones, Father John Misty, and more are streaming this week at Spinner.

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS stopped by The Current and KEXP for a chat and mini-sets.

MIKE DOUGHTY plays unpluggedy at KEXP.

COWBOY JUNKIES played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

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

BEN FOLDS advises aspiring artists.

M83 shows sanctuary to SPIN.

THE BLACK KEYS: Dan Auerbach talks to the San Francisco Chronicle about how the band is adjusting to unexpected fame.

MARGOT and the NUCLEAR SO & SOs: Richard Edwards sits with PopMatters to discuss the new record, his take on big-picture concepts in rock music, and why sometimes a band needs to stop seeking perfection and simply bang out new records.

ROBIN GIBB is learning how to walk again after spending upwards of 10 days in a coma.

WHITNEY HOUSTON: Bobby Brown tells Matt Lauer that he was not the person who got the late singer addicted to drugs.

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL & PETER SARSGAARD became the proud parents of their second baby girl, Gloria Ray -- a name with not nearly enough vowels.

THE KARDASHIANS: Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian have decided to pull the plug on their spin-off show. A nation mourns.

JOHN LEGEND will join Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke on the upcoming summer series Duets, replacing Lionel Richie.

KELLY RUTHERFORD (90210, Gossip Girl) paid a private eye 65 bucks an hour to spy on her ex-husband, accoridng to a lawsuit.

THE FIRST RULE OF DATING PRINCE HARRY: Don't talk about dating Prince Harry.

JOSS WHEDON, most recently dirting The Avengers, does a Q & A with The Guardian.

THIS IS 40: The next Judd Apatow movie -- a spin-off of Knocked Up -- has a trailer online.

TERROR in the UK: The military plans to install missile batteries in London to defend the Olympic Games from terrorist attacks.

YEMEN: Security forces killed 12 al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters outside of Lawdar. AQAP confirmed that fmr bin Laden bodyguard Mohammed Saeed al Umda was killed in the April 22 US drone strike.

SYRIA: Rebels fighting to topple Assad say they are shifting tactics towards homemade bombs, hoping to even the odds between their outgunned forces and his powerful army.

AL QAEDA: Files recovered from Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, show he and Ayman al Zawahiri were in contact with Afghan Taliban emir Mullah Omar. The terror leaders plotted strategy in Afghanistan up to two weeks before bin Laden was killed.

EGYPT's ruling military said it would appoint a new cabinet within 48 hours, awarding a major victory to Islamist politicians and cooling a political confrontation that threatened to gridlock Egypt's emerging democratic institutions.

A CAT beats the shell game.

ANOTHER CLAUDE: A Tasmanian giant crab was saved from death when the fisherman who caught him sold him to a British aquarium.

WHEN FERRETS ATTACK: A baby girl needed hospital treatment after she was savaged in her pram by a ferret.

GIANT CANNIBAL SHIMP invade America's coastal waters.

JACK WHITE plays an Unstaged concert, with two bands and a setlist encompassing all stages of his career, directed by Gary Oldman.

RICHARD HAWLEY is advance streaming Standing At The Sky's Edge, which he describes as "angry" to The Guardian, but which is kinda psychedelic musically in spots.

SARA WATKINS is advance streaming Sun Midnight Sun.

ROYAL HEADACHE is advance streaming their self-titled debut.

TRAMPLED BY TURTLES stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

BEST COAST covers Fleetwood Mac's "Storms."

REGINA SPEKTOR drops "Small Town Moon" ahead of What We Saw From The Cheap Seats.

SPINTO BAND drops "Take It" as a freebie, describing it as Harry Nilsson meets Michael Jackson.

THE GO-GOs are joined by The Bangles' Vicki Petersen for "We Got the Beat" on French TV in 1995.

THE SMITHS: Johnny Marr talks to Pitchfork about the soundtrack of his life, including his continuing love for Northern Soul.

THE ALABAMA SHAKES are profiled by USA Today.

SHIRLEY MANSON talks to The Observer about the reformed, refreshed Garbage: "I hate to think how much we've outsold a lot of the bands we love."

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Think Like A Man repeats atop the chart with 18 million, for 60.8 million to date against a 12 million production budget. Pirates! A Band of Misfits places with 11.4 million against a 55 million budget, but this one has also pulled in 63.6 million in the UK and elsewhere.The Lucky One shows 11.3 million, dropping a dangerous 50 percent for a Nicholas Sparks tearjerker.  In contrast, The Hunger Games lands in the fourth spot with a leggy 11.25 million.  The Five-Year Engagement rounds out the Top Five with 11.2 million, below the Judd Apatow average and below the opening of the Jason Segel/Nicholas Stoller opening for Forgetting Sarah Marshall; it's fortunate this has a 30 million budget.

THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT was my movie for the weekend and it was sadly underwhelming.  The appealing cast here simply cannot transcend the a script that becomes far too depressing in the second actfor a rom-com  -- although Alison Brie (Mad Men, Community) comes close.  Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller managed to make a fairly depressing premise work in Sarah Marshall, in large part because it begins sad and because there were characters to essentially root against as well as to root for.  Here, we are trying to root for everyone, and virttually eveyone disappoints.  It's a shame, because the first act is promising and the third act almost redeems the second, notably in a very funny scene where Brie and Emily Blunt have an adult conversation in the voices of Elmo and The Cookie Monster (Segel and Stoller stll successfully mining The Muppets).  Not a bad movie, but a disappointment.

GWYNETH PALTROW became so depressed after the birth of her son in 2006 that she "felt like a zombie" and at first didn't understand what was happening to her.

PATRICK DEMPSEY came to the rescue of a teenage driver after a car crash. Not a doctor, but he plays one on TV.

KRISTEN STEWART is set to topline “Cali,” a gritty action pic set in Los Angeles. And why not? According to Charlize Theron, K-Stew is a "badass."  KS also gets fashionable for Elle UK.

KIM KARDASHIAN may have publicly mocked her ex-husband before going on a date with Kanye West.

RENEWING VOWS: LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian... and Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon.

TERROR in EUROPE: The EU Terrorism Report for 2012 says the death of Osama bin Laden "has had little immediate impact on the al-Qaeda affiliated or inspired terrorism threat in the EU."

TERROR in DENMARK: Three suspected terrorists arrested in Copenhagen Friday will be held for four weeks while the investigation continues; one pled guilty to weapons charges.

IRAN: The US Air Force is quietly assembling the world’s most powerful air-to-air fighting team at bases near Iran. OTOH, the Obama administration might support letting Iran continue enriching uranium up to 5% purity if it agrees to other UN restrictions.

PAKISTAN deported Osama bin Laden's widows, two Saudis and one Yemeni, and his children to Saudi Arabia.

CAT enjoys a neck massager.

A SEEING-EYE DOG fights off a burglar and calls the police. 

STRESSED-OUT PENGUINS which had to be given anti-depressants have made a full recovery.

A WILD AND CRAZY GOOSE evades capture in Old Lyme.