THE DECEMBERISTS bring out Shara Worden and Becky Stark for a cover of Heart's "Crazy On You."

DIRTY PROJECTORS is advance streaming the Bitte Orca album via NPR.

VIC CHESTNUTT & ELF POWER do the three free songs thing for Daytrotter.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED puts an emphasis on lyrics, with tracks from Wilco, Loxly, Regina Spektor, Starlight Mints and more in the latest edition of the long-running NPR series.

BENJY FERREE played a Tiny Desk Concert for Bob Boilen.

BRANDON FLOWERS joins BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & the E STREET BAND on "Thunder Road" at the Pinkpop Festival.

SON VOLT announces a new album coming July 7th, with references to Keith richards and Sweetheart of the Rodeo in the press release.

ST. VINCENT: Annie Clark talks to the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot about David Mamet, the arrangements on her current album, The Actor, Tuck & Patti, and more...

PHIL SPECTOR has been doing some wacky blogging since his conviction for second-degree murder.

THE BEST BRITISH SONGS OF ALL TIME, according to Xfm.

THE BRUNO-EMINEM dustup at the MTV Movie Awards was staged? Shocka!

MAD MEL UPDATE: People examines ythe clashes between his traditionalist Catholicism and his current lifestyle.

HELLO, NORMA JEAN: LIFE has published a batch of previously unseen Marilyn Monroe photos.

LINDSAY LOHAN may turn her destructive power to the fashion industry.

CONAN O'BRIEN did not get great reviews for his Tonight Show debut, but you can watch and judge yourself.

THE HANGOVER now has a red band trailer.

WINONA RYDER confirmed a sequel is in the works to her 1988 cult film Heathers.

NORTH KOREA: China has suspended government exchanges with Kim Jong-Il's regime, but will it cut the communist country's global financial ties?

AFGHANISTAN: The Haqqani network, born of the Russian war and nurtured by the CIA, is behind many spectacular assaults in Afghanistan.

PAKISTAN: A three-judge panel of the Lahore High Court has ordered the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba / Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed, despite the government's presentation of evidence that linked him to al Qaeda. US intelligence officials are dismayed at Saeed's release and say the move shows that Pakistan has a long way to go to defeat terror groups operating on its soil.

LUCKY the CAT plunges 26 stories and lives. Let's go to the video.

A REAL-LIFE CROCODILE DUNDEE has been drafted in to shear a herd of hairy alpacas in Northumberland.

A GARDEN FROG is blamed for man's death in Sydney.

HORSE & BUGGY leads police on a three-mile chase in Cattaraugus County, NY.

CASS McCOMBS: The video for "Dreams Come True Girl" bizarrely features actress Karen Black.

NEW RELEASES: Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, EELS, The Sounds, Paolo Nutini, Diane Birch, Girl in a Coma and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.

THE SUBMARINES did the three free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE WALKMEN stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming now via NPR.

LITTLE BOOTS are previewing six tracks from their new album at NME.

PURPLE RAIN: Prince's 25-year-old classic is getting a weeklong tribute at PopMatters, including a track-by-track dissection of the album.  So "I Would Die 4 U/ Baby, I'm a Star" seems like the natural Twofer Tuesday.

BLACK JOE LEWIS is interviewed by American Songwriter about -- wait for it -- songwriting.

BLUR gets an oral history from The Guardian.

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE talks to Thirsty about his own songs and his cover of The Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait." (Thx, LHB.)

CAMERA OBSCURA: Tracyanne Campbell talks to Westword about touring, irony David Lynch, Sweden and more.  She talks to SF Station about San Francisco, Good Morning America, and more... (Thx, Chromewaves.)

SASHA BARON COHEN dropped in on Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson chastised his fellow churchgoers for gossiping about his personal affairs.

BRITNEY SPEARS reportedly feels terrible on tour and is "phoning every song in," which is saying a lot about someone who lipsyncs them to begin with.

JOHNNY DEPP invited Vanity Fair along on a sailing trip to his Caribbean isle.

MEGAN FOX tells GQ that actors and actresses like her are "kind of prostitutes."

NEW MOON: The Twilight sequel has a trailer online.

PAKISTAN: Drone-launched US missile attacks and Pakistan's ongoing military offensive in and around the Swat Valley have unsettled al-Qaeda and undermined its relative invulnerability in Pakistani mountain sanctuaries, U.S. military and intelligence officials say.  Meanwhile, the Taliban is taking their war to the cities and recruiting teenage suicide bombers.  The Taliban also abducted at least 400 students, staff and relatives driving away from a boy's school in a northwest Pakistani tribal region on Monday.

AFGHANISTAN: Body counts are back, reigniting the decades-old debate about whether victory in war can be judged by measuring the stack of enemy dead. FWIW, while I would agree the extent of the usefulness of body counts is indeed debatable, the western media has been using a double-standard for years, deploring the use of enemy body counts, while hyping the body counts of US troops and civilian deaths.

IRAQ: Michael J. Totten posted Part 2 of his series on the future of Iraq, looking at Adhamiyah and Sadr City.

KITTEH hides in a couch.

A GIANT FERAL PIG was shot after it was spotted eating a dead cow.

AN ELUSIVE BLACK BEAR was captured Sunday in the heart of the Broward County suburb of Weston, FL.

WHEN TIGER ATTACKS, lawyers end up settling.

BABY PANDA CUB born north of Bangkok.  Awww..some pic.

MOMMA BIRD protects her babies from an overflowing drainpipe.

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS releases a video for "My Cabal."

DOVES stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

NEKO CASE: Aquarium Drunkard has her CBC Radio 3 session available to stream and download.

AQUARIUM DRUNKARD Justin Gage talks about hsi new book, "Memphis & The Delta Blues Trail: Great Destinations," with the L.A. Times.

ELVIS COSTELLO: Magnet considers his five most overrated and underrated songs, with streaming audio,

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART: The literal video version. Awesome.

GRIZZLY BEAR: Edward Droste and Daniel Rossen give a track by track breakdown of the new album to Drowned in Sound, and a more general interview to NPR's All Things Considered.

21 UNJUSTLY UNHERALDED SIDEMEN, according to The A.V. Club.

BLACK LIPS: Jared Swilley talks to PopMatters about having to leave India under duress, and more...

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW: Tom Fec talks to the OC Weekly about the band's relatively more accessible new LP.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Pixar's Up soared atop the weekend with 68.2 million, higher than WALL-E or Cars, not far from Pixar's all-time big opener, The Incredibles.  This was likely due to the 3-D angle, which both inflates ticket prices and entices advance ticket purchases for daytime showings.  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian placed with 25.5 million, a 53 percent drop due in part to the Pixar juggernaut.  Drag Me To Hell came in third with 16.6 million -- a bit lower than studio projections, but Sam Raimi pictures tend to have legs, so there's still hope here.  Terminator: Salvation dropped 62 percent to fourth place  with 16.1 million.  This is probably considered disastrous for the franchise.  Star Trek rounds out the Top Five with 12.8 million, having so far grossed 209.5 million in the US -- and over 300 million wordwide.  Below the fold, Angels & demons continues to underperform, though foreign receipts will probably allow it to at least break even.

PHIL SPECTOR was sentenced Friday to 19 years to life for his second-degree murder conviction for shooting actress Lana Clarkson.  Spector is selling his 30-room mansion in Los Angeles to fund an appeal.

ANGELINA JOLIE collided with a set light while filming Salt, causing a cut and a minor concussion.

NATASHA RICHARDSON remembered a Queens costume designer, a London employee and her half-sister by setting aside a chunk of cash for each in her will - but she left the bulk of her assets to husband Liam Neeson.

BIJOU PHILLIPS cheats on fiance Danny Masterson... with a girl?  Too good to check!

TOY STORY 3 has a teaser trailer (which also appears before UP in theaters).

JENNIFER HUDSON is knocked up.

GISELLE BUNDCHEN, otoh, is not knocked up, according to Pats QB Tom Brady.

NORTH KOREA: Amateurs use Google Earth to uncover KimJong Il's sinister secrets.

PAKISTAN: Senior al Qaeda spokesman and ideologue Abu Yahya al Libi called for the takeover of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and for planning to prevent the US from seizing Pakistan's nukes after a Taliban revolution in the country.  The Pakistani military announced Saturday that it had retaken from the Taliban the largest city in the Swat Valley, although a significant number of insurgents are thought to have retreated into the nearby hills.

BABY ANTEATER debuts in a Japanese zoo. Let's go to the video.

A WILD HIPPO cornered a BBC presenter on a river near Hoedspruit in South Africa.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Militant squirrels again stole American flags from graves after Memorial Day.

25 OCTOPUSES have been given Rubik's Cubes in a study aimed at easing their stress levels in captivity.

POLLY wants a passport - and isn't above stealing one.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with OTIS REDDING!  Otis and the Bar-Kays crank up the energy to 11 for Ready Steady Go! from September 16th, 1966. In Part 1, Otis performs "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "My Girl."  In Part 2, Otis belts out "Respect" and is joined by Eric Burdon for "Hold On, I'm Coming."  In Part 3, Chris Farlowe performs "It's A Man's, Man's Man's World", followed by "Pain In My Heart" with Otis.  Part 4 includes "I Can't Turn You Loose", followed by "Shake" performed by Otis, Eric Burdon and Chris Farlowe.

DARK WAS THE NIGHT, the Radio City benefit concert featuring David Byrne, The Dirty Projectors, Bon Iver, The National, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, My Brightest Diamond and Feist, is now streaming in full via NPR.

KEVIN DEVINE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

UNCLE EARL played a mini-set at Mountain Stage now streaming on demand via NPR.

WOXY streams the final leg of the Modern Rock 500 today, starting at 9 a.m. EDT.

GRIZZLY BEAR, after many live performances, has an official video for "Two Weeks."

GRANT HART talks to the Hartford Advocate about a decade in the wilderness and to the Schenectady Daily Gazette about pop and politics.

JARVIS COCKER gives a track-by-track rundown on his new LP to NME.  he gives a more general overview to Billboard.

THE LA's second album -- coming some 19 years after the band's debut -- is discussed at the BBC by Babyshambles bassist Drew McConnell, who has joined the band.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Beastie Boys to the Bay City Rollers, from Maxine Nightengale to Baby Huey, from Government Cheese to Paul Anka, plus Wilco, Gomez, The Replacements, Mountain Goats and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

UP is currently scoring 98 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, and there are plenty of reasons why.  Pixar's latest, directed by Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), is by turns sad, whimsical, funny (you may miss dialog over the laughter), touching, inventive, charming and exciting.  And meta: It is an adventure movie about adventure.  The Disney-3D was nice, but icing on the steak.  Another home run for the hopping Luxo lamp people.

NOW SHOWING: Aside from Up, this weekend's counter-programming is Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell, scoring an almost-as-impressive 95 percent.

BRITNEY SPEARS has cleaned up her act - but she's still kind of a mess. Shocka!

RHIANNA will be suboenaed to testify about the alleged assault on her earlier this year by Chris Brown.

ALIEN getting a remake/reboot? Please make them stop.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER: Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt talk about their passion for music and how important it is to the film.

ARCHIE is proposing to Veronica. He's a 68-year-old kid; what does he know about love?  So, does he end up with Betty on the rebound after discovering Veronica with Reggie, or does Betty kill them both at the wedding?

IRAN: Journalist Roxana Saberi talks to Diane Sawyer about her time in Iran's Evin Prison.

AFGHANISTAN: The Times of London is with Delta company and its sister units as part of the first ripple in the US troop surge. "Four months of bulls**t for five minutes of fun," Private Nick Benitez said.  Also, Afghanistan's defense ministry  praised Pakistan's military offensive against the Taliban and pledged to cooperate on its side of the border.

IRAQ: Now that the collapse in the world's economy has caused oil prices to plummet, what does the future hold?

BABY SEA OTTERS: Let's go to the video.

LUMINOUS DESIGNER MONKEYS spark debate over genetic engineering.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: The fastest tortoise on three legs. Go, Speed, GO!

SEVEN BULLS ‘exploded' and caught fire after powerlines fell on a Dairy Flat farm, north of Auckland, NZ.

REGINA SPEKTOR played "Blue Lips" from her new album "Far" on Later with Jools Holland.

COTTON JONES did the three free songs thing for Daytrotter, two previously unreleased.

GRIZZLY BEAR is getting an in-depth feature at Drowned In Sound, including an ultimate roadtrip mix.  Don't forget their new album is streaming in full this week ia Spinner.

WOXY is streaming another leg of the Modern Rock 500, starting at 9 a.m. EDT.

PHISH announced a new album and is streaming a new song, "'Time Turns Elastic."

2 GIRLS, 1 KEYBOARD: Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor at FAO Schwartz. Tom Hanks will be so jealous.

SONIC YOUTH: Kim Gordon tells The Independent what she believes.

BON IVER: JamBase profiles Justin Vernon in the aftermath of a critically acclaimed album.

THE KILLS talk to the L.A. Times about songwriting, attitude, etc.

WEDDING SONGS: Carrie Brownstein blogs about cool wedding songs, with videos of cool -- and less cool -- selections.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson's people are spinning People hard on the domestic bliss of getting divorced from his long-term wife and living with his pregnant Russian songstress galpal.

JESSICA SIMPSON visited some TV networks to pitch a reality series about society's scrutiny of women's bodies.

JOSH BROLIN was spotted getting cozy with another pretty woman other than his wife, Diane Lane, according to the ever-reliable InTouch mag.

KATHERINE HEIGL was dropped from a top-tier ensemble cast in the upcoming romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" because she demanded an astronomical salary.

RHIANNA & CHRIS BROWN are both moving on - but with opposing films, not significant others.

THE WORST BEACH MOVIES EVER, according to Slate V.

AMERICAN IDOL results may have been influenced by corporate sponsor AT&T.

TV's FUNNIEST PHRASES, according to the Paley Center and NBC.  No "What chu talkin' 'bout Willis?"  "What chu talkin' 'bout Willis?!"

ANCHORMAN 2? That is not a typo on the Teleprompter.

PAKISTAN: A terrorist assault team killed 16 policemen and seven intelligence officials in a complex suicide and conventional attack in Lahore. The Taliban reportedly took credit for the attack. The government offered rewards for the capture of 21 Swat Taliban leaders.

IRAQ's anti-corruption watchdog says arrest warrants have been issued for some 1000 allegedly corrupt officials.

CAT-O-MATIC: Let's go to the video. BONUS: Dog-O-Matic!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A cat with wings.

A LIVE SWAN was used as a weapon in a fight by the bank of a river in Munich. Thankfully, the swan escaped unhurt.

A WHITE TIGER was put down at a controversial New Zealand wildlife park after mauling its keeper to death.

WHEN CATERPILLARS ATTACK: No car is safe.