THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with MOTOWN MADNESS! There's so much from which to choose, but let's start with a Martha Reeves and the Vandellas trifecta of "Heat Wave" (on RSG!) "Nowhere to Run" and "Dancing in the Street." Chase that with a string of Temptations classics, including "My Girl," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg,"  "(I Know) I'm Losing You," "Psychedelic Shack," and "Ball of Confusion." The Supremes bring "Back in My Arms Again," "Where Did Our Love Go" and a live trifecta of "Baby Love," "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" and "Let Me Go the Right Way." The Four Tops lip-synch through "It's the Same Old Song" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" on Shindig, "Something About You" on Hullaballoo and "Baby, I Need Yor Loving" on Shivaree.  The Marvelettes  ask "Please Mr. Postman." Marvin Gaye proclaims "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You" and duets with Tammi Terrell on "Ain't no Mountain High Enough," though I'll throw it over to Gladys Knight and the Pips for "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." I'll close with a trifecta from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles -- "The Tracks of My Tears," "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Tears of a Clown."

CHIP TAYLOR, author of songs such as "Wild Thing," "Angel of the Morning" and "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)," stopped by WFUV for a session based on Songs from a Dutch Tour, his book and CD that acts as an audioobiography.

JASON LYTLE (formerly of Granddaddy) played the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on July 11, but you can stream the gig now via NPR.

THE BEACH BOYS: Aquarium Drunkard has re-posted a 1967 rehearsal session for stream or download, including a cover of "The Letter."

THE PARTY'S OVER? Summer is not over until my friends get my Summer mix (next week, knock on wood), but NPR has songs for Summer's end, including one of my all-time Summer songs from The Ramones.

THE RASCALS cover Smokey Robinson's "Mickey's Monkey," so I guess I wasn't quite done with the Motown thing.

JACK WHITE and KEITH RICHARDS: What could go wrong?

JEFF TWEEDY talks to Maxim, so we have something to back up the claim that we read it for the articles.

THE FLAMING LIPS: Wayne Coyne talks to Paste about the open-ended production of the new album, how Barack Obama lets the Flaming Lips make better music and why the legalization of marijuana just makes sense.

CHARLIE LOVIN anseres the infamous 20 Questions for PopMatters.

CUTOUT BIN: From Yo La Tengo to the Youngbloods, from Devo to Led Zeppelin, from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band to the Buzzcocks, plus the Kinks, Television, REM, Rachel Sweet, Grizzly Bear with Michael McDonald 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 Gamer, which was not screened for critics; All About Steve, currently scoring zero percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and the Mike Judge comedy Extract, scoring 58 percent.

LISA LOEB is knocked up.

KATHERINE HEIGL is taking a five-episode hiatus from Grey's Anatomy shoot the rom-com Life as We Know It.

MICHAEL JACKSON's burial finally took place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA yesterday. TMZ has detrails about the after-party.

MADONNA collapsed twice onstage in Sofia, Bulgaria.

100 YEARS OF VISUAL EFFECTS, courtesy of College Humor. It leaves out three major milestones -- "2001," "Star Wars" and "The Matrix" -- but a cool montage, nonetheless.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE director Spike Jonze gets a meaty profile in the New York Times magazine.  He's the one without a wolf suit.

TONY ROMO is dating Chace Crawford's little sister, Candice, a 22-year-old former beauty queen. Shocka.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS' list of 85 most wanted suspects being sought abroad has been reduced to just 80 suspects.

PAKISTAN: The Taliban has taken control of telephone exchange in South Waziristan, suspending the agency communication with whole world.

AFGHANISTAN: Two devastating suicide attacks in Afghanistan in the fortnight since elections show the Taliban is penetrating ever deeper in its war against the Kabul government and its international backers. Cultivation of opium, the nation's most lucrative cash crop and a major funding source for the Taliban, has fallen sharply this year in large part because an excess supply of the drug has pushed down prices to a 10-year low.

KITTEH HIJINKS: Let's go to the video.

LIONS and TIGERS and BEARS: Oh my!

GIANT DOG and PIGLET, nursing together...

WHEN OTTERS ATTACK: A 49-year-old triathlete about 275 km west of Calgary was training in an area lake for an upcoming Ironman competition when he had the surprise of his life.

DOGS grocery shop in China.

CHIHUAHUA SNATCHERS: Is there anything lower?

THE WALRUS IS DEAD, MAN: Miss him, miss him.

DIRTY PROJECTORS made their network TV debut, playing "Cannibal Resource" at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

IMOGENE HEAP has an interview plus tracks streaming at NPR.

RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, two previously unreleased.

JUNIOR BOYS did three free songs for Daytrotter.

RYAN ADAMS: The Elizabethtown demos are available to stream or download at Captain's Dead.

CREAM sync into "I Feel Free" on the Beat Club in 1967.

CHROMEWAVES: Frank Yang lists his favorite albums from seven years of music blogging, with streaming audio.

MONSTERS OF FOLK (M. Ward, Jim James, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis) talk to American Songwriter about their collaboration.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE: Ben Chasny spoke with PopMatters about the concept of his Six Organs project, Guitar Hero and its effect on the youth of today, his favorite record shops, the future of Comets on Fire, and revisiting his old material for the RTZ compilation

THE ULTIMATE ROLLING STONES MIX, according to IGN.

MEGAN FOX is convinced she shows symptoms of schizophrenia: "I definitely have some kind of mental problem and I haven't pinpointed what it is."

DJ AM: Investigators found eight undigested OxyContin pills in his stomach and a ninth in his mouth.

HALLE BERRY: Knocked up?

KRISTEN STEWART and ROBERT PATTINSON: Not engaged.

WHITNEY HOUSTON wrote her own tough review of her first public singing performance in years... and blames Oprah.

MADONNA's 12-year-old daughter Lourdes recreates her mother's famous wedding dress pose from "Like A Virgin."  Not creepy at all, nosiree bub.

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX has a featurette online with Wes Anderson touches and narration by <strong itxtvisited="1">Jason Schwartzman.

IRON MAN 2 may be converted to 3-D.

STAR TREK: The JJ Abrams reboot returns to IMAX screens tomorrow.

PAKISTAN suspended an earlier order lifting restrictions on the movement of nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who allegedly spread nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

AFGHANISTAN: The second-ranking intelligence official in Afghanistan and a prominent ally of President Hamid Karzai was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Wednesday morning in a blast that also killed 15 others outside the main mosque in the official's hometown, near Kabul.

IRAQ seeks an international tribunal to investigate foreign interference in attacks inside the country. Iraqi, Kurdish, and US forces are creating a joint unit to secure areas in Kirkuk.

DOG OF THE DANCE: Let's go to the video.

FROZEN KOALAS may be used to disrupt the Australian leg of the Repco World Rally Championship. Look out, Speed!

A DOG was booked for illegal parking by two Darwin City Council traffic wardens.

HORSE HARASSED (allegedly) by Man Without Pants.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Polly the dog swallowed 1000 magnets, weighing a kilogram, forcing life-saving emergency surgery.

I'm actually taking a day off to attend to another project requiring my computer's attention, but I did not want you to miss this:

YO LA TENGO is advance streaming its Popular Songs album this week via NPR.

Enjoy!

THE ANTLERS have a clip for "Two" from the Hospice album.

NEW RELEASES: Apples in Stereo, Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn, TMBG, A.A. Bondy, Radiohead resissues and more are streaming in full this weeke via Spinner.

EDWARD SHARPE and the MAGNETIC ZEROES did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter. I've been digging them.

THE TOP 50 VIDEOS OF THE 2000s, according to Pitchfork, with embedded video.

36 SUICIDE SONGS lsited by The A.V. Club. How do ten people compile that lsit without Joy Division's "Day of the Lords"? These kids today.

KIM WILDE may have topped the Billboard singles chart with her 1987 cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On," but it's "Kids In America," which hit No. 25 in July 1982, that encapsulates so much of the era and earns her a spot on Twofer Tuesday.

RICHARD HAWLEY talks to Spinner about going off the grid to work on his next album: "I know this record is not commercial and probably won't sell," he says.  (Thx, Chromewaves.)

GIRL TALK: Greg Gillis talks to the Washington Post about the balance between indie and mainstream music, the impact of the Internet, live and near-live concerts, and more... including an embedded video.

30 THINGS you never knew about Radiohead.

YO LA TENGO guitarist/vocalist Ira Kaplan tells Spinner about jamming with Wilco.

DISNEY BUYS MARVEL for the low, low price of four billion dollars. Wolverine was no match for The Mouse.

DJ AM's death was the result of an accidental overdose and not a suicide - and there is a tragic, ironic twist of fate.

DEMI MOORE denies having plastic surgery, with an expressionless face.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY and SCARLETT JOHANSSON are fighting for the lead role in the upcoming remake of My Fair Lady. Can't they just film that?

RENEE ZELLWEGER was uninjured Monday morning after being involved in a minor car accident in Beverly Hills.

MADONNA will meet with both Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni. Mideast peace just around corner.

YOUTH IN REVOLT, starring Michael Cera, has a trailer online.

RAMBO: Again.

AFGHANISTAN: Gen. McChrystal said the US and its allies must change strategy and boost cooperation to turn around the war. Danger Room is with US Marine snipers in a 12-hour firefight.

IRAQ: The Marines decided not to seek to reinstate criminal charges against a former battalion commander at Camp Pendleton for a 2005 incident in which his troops killed 24 civilians in Haditha. A court-martial judge threw out the charges after ruling that it was improper for a Marine lawyer who investigated the Haditha shootings to sit in on meetings with the general who decided to bring the charges.

JAPANESE BUNNY CAFE: Let's go to the video.

CHIMP and PUMA CUB, living together...

SUCIDAL COWS baffle Swiss cops.

ARIZONA BURROS gow obese on carrots from tourists.

FANFARLO deliver the video of "The Walls Are Coming Down" with a bit of escapism.

HALEY BONAR stopped by The Current booth at the Minnesota State Fair for a chat and mini-set now streaming on demand.

DEEP SEA DIVER did five free songs for Daytrotter, three previously unreleased.

THE WEST PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA did three free songs for Daytrotter, all unreleased. Despite the name, this combo has an Eastern European feel, which may appeal to fans of Camper Van Beethoven, Gogol Bordello and Beirut.

OASIS: Noel Gallagher quit on Friday. Again.

RED RIDER: Younger folks may remember Tom Cochrane for telling us life is a highway, but "Lunatic Fringe" found his prior band featured on the Vision Quest soundtrack, delivering the pseudo-Floyd-goods. Another nugget from the grooveyard of forgotten favorites, unearthed by by a friend from the Twitterverse.

THE ROLLING STONES: Police are reviewing the death of Brian Jones - 40 years after his body was found at the bottom of a swimming pool. 

RYAN ADAMS delivered a piece to The Awl, celebrating the classic videogame Gorf. With embedded tutorial video likely shot by Mandy Moore. (profanity warning.) 

ARCTIC MONKEYS frontman Alex Turner talks to SPIN about working with Josh Homme on the band's new record, Def Leppard, and his sexy MTV girlfriend.

NICK CAVE talks to the Times of London about his new novel, the joys of fatherhood, the genius of St Mark's Gospel, and why lust springs eternal.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Final Destination takes the No. 1 slot with 28.3 million, beating Halloween 2 (2) by more than the ticket markup for a 3-D release.  It's also more than the so-called gurus projected (20 million).  Inglourious Basterds slips reasonably to the second slot with 20 million; it has already exceeded its 70 million production budget.  Halloween 2 (2) earned 17.4 million -- less than 26.4 million the first Zombie-fied reboot opening, but with an 18 million budget, the Weinsteins won't care much. Distict 9 came in fourth with 10.7 million; it has nom made over 90 million on a 30 million budget.  G.I. Joe rounds out the Top Five with 8 million, and has made enough world wide to make a sequel likely.  The overall box office for th top dozen broke 100 million, which is pretty good for the last weekend in August.

DJ AM, a/k/a Adam Goldstein, a high-profile disc jockey who was as famous for his much-chronicled relationships as he was for his creative scratching and mixing on the celebrity club circuit, was found dead on Friday evening in his apartment in Manhattan. Goldstein's death comes less than a year after he barely survived a plane crash with buddy and musical collaborator Travis Barker, the former drummer for Blink-182.  Cops found a near-empty bag of crack stuck to his chest, a glass crack pipe in his bedroom and at least seven bottles of prescription drugs on his kitchen counter, including the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. DJ AM had been sober for nine years, but sources told TMZ a recent breakup with his gf and the stress over the plane crash could have caused him to start using drugs again. Goldstein's autopsy was completed Saturday afternoon, but there was no determination as to the cause of death - more tests are needed, including toxicology.

MICHAEL JACKSON's death was officially ruled a homicide. Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, is now the target of a manslaughter investigation. Meanwhile, the ever-reliable Sun reported that Macaulay Culkin is the mystery dad of Michael Jackson's son Blanket.

EMILY BLUNT  and JOHN KRASINSKI are engaged to be married.  The couple have been dating since November 2008.

LINDSAY LOHAN is in hot water yet again after being accused by a jewelry store of 'losing' over 2 million dollars' worth of jewels.

NATALIE PORTMAN was interviewed by her upcoming Brothers costar Jake Gyllenhaal in the September issue of Interview.  Portman confesses she is obsessed with "really, really obscene hip-hop," though we could have guessed that from her SNL appearance. And yeah, there's a NSFW version.

NICK LACHEY and VANESSA MINNILLO were... wait for it... caught canoodling, after breaking off their three-year relationship in June.

THE LOCKERBIE BOMBER: Set free for oil. Gordon Brown's government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

NORTH KOREA and IRAN: The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship believed to be carrying North Korean weapons to Iran in what is believed to be first case of disguised cargo confiscated under tightened UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad called for the prosecution of opposition leaders over the post-election turmoil, saying that senior activists currently on trial should not be the only ones punished.

THE CLEVELAND BEAR does not appear in this video, which makes it no less an awesome piece of journalism.

A BEAR escapes a skate park in Snowmass.

TICK SALIVA: Cure for cancer?

HEATHCLIFFE, the giant burrowing cockroach, may be world's heaviest insect.