FUTURE ISLANDS: Is this performance of "Seasons (Waiting On You)" like Pere Ubu’s David Thomas fronting New Order?

NICOLE ATKINS stops by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

JEREMY MESSERSMITH stops by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

DROWNERS: The Brooklyn based post punk band performs live on the Morning Show from the Cutting Room Studios in NYC on KEXP.

LA DISPUTE advance streams Rooms Of The House.

TODD RUNDGREN': His first band Nazz hit with "Open My Eyes"; his classic "Hello, It's Me" completes Twofer Tuesday. BONUS: "We Gotta Get You A Woman" is just audio... but what audio!

STEPHEN MALKMUS talks to the Village Voice about the Belgian recording sessions for his new album, Wig Out at Jagbags, how his approach to his lyrics has evolved, the Pavement reunion tour, and life on the range.

TANYA DONNELLY talks to the Boston Globe about going solo.

HAROLD BUDD cannot explain how he ended up the godfather of ambient.

26 ARTISTS whose best-known songs are covers.

JUSTIN BIEBER gave a deposition in a lawsuit; TMZ has the lowlights.

ROBIN THICKE has made significant headway in his campaign to win his wife, Paula Patton, back.

SHAILENE WOODLEY (Divergent) has willingly and decidedly become a Luddite.

DAN HARMON: Community's rebellious showrunner talks to Rolling Stone about the future of his metasitcom, why he's just like Denzel Washington and his new project with Arrested Development's Mitch Hurwitz.

LENA DUNHAM is the latest celeb apologizing for a tweet.

THE RICH LIST: Music's Top 40 Money Makers of 2014, according to Billboard.

MALAYSIA: A BBC Persian report says that the two Iranians on the vanished Malaysia Airlines plane had bought fake passports in order to migrate to Germany and Denmark.

UKRAINE: The bloodless incursion by masked, apparently pro-Russian forces onto the Ukrainian base in the city of Bakhchisaray -- amid disputed accounts over whether the base commander had switched sides -- was one of the latest encounters between pro-Moscow troops who are consolidating their hold on the Black Sea peninsula and Ukrainian forces who still are there.

VENEZUELA: A Chilean woman was shot dead in Caracas while clearing a barricade put up by anti-government protesters, the first foreign fatality during a month of civil unrest in Venezuela, authorities said on Monday. In San Cristóbal - where an estimated 40% of the town's food is smuggled to Colombia for resale - activists are rebuilding barricades dismantled by the national guard.

EGYPT: More than 100 Muslim Brotherhood supporters were released upon orders from Egypt's prosecutor general. Four members of an alleged al Qaeda-linked terror cell were charged for offenses that included planning attacks against the American and French embassies in Egypt.

"BLACK TIGER" looks after an injured puppy.

ELEPHANTS can distinguish between human languages.

A SHARK is dissected by Miss Nebraska.

SNAPPING TURTLES: Don't kiss them.

BOB MOULD played "See A Little Light" at the Ed Sullivan Theater to promote Workbook 25.

KEVIN DREW (Broken Social Scene) advance streams Darlings.

THE WAR ON DRUGS advance streams Lost in the Dream.

PERFECTPUSSY advance streams Say Yes to Love.

SISYPHUS: Sufjan Stevens, Son Lux, and Serengeti are streaming their debut LP. 

ARCADE FIRE covers Prince's "Controversy."

DAVE MASON: "We Just Disagree."

THURSTON MOORE does not like bad press.

ELBOW: Guy Garvey and bassist Pete Turner talk to Weekend Edition about the making of he Take Off and Landing of Everything.

DE LA SOUL's long, strange copyright tangle.

LYDIA LOVELESS is profiled by PopMatters.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 300: Rise of an Empire tops the chart with 45 million. The good news is that this was slightly better than studio projections.  The bad news is that 45 million is against a 110 million budget, while the original had a 70.9 million debut against a 60 million budget.  A sequel to a hit should open bigger, not dramatically smaller.  This one likely has to gross 300 million worldwide to profit; and will likely make just about that amount. Mr Peabody and Sherman placed with 32.5 million against a 140 million budget; even with another 40 million in overseas grosses already, this looks like a risk which may not pay off.  Family movies can be leggy, but Mr Peabody faces the Muppets two weekends hence. Non-Stop shows with 15.4 million on an okay 47 percent drop; Neeson's latest has grossed 72 million world wide so far against a 50 million budget.  The Lego Movie drops to the fourth slot under pressure from Mr Peabody, but takes in another 11 million for a worldwide total of 360.4 million against a 60 million budget.  Son Of God rounds out the Top 5 with 10 million on a 61 percent drop; given that most of it was taken from a mini-series and had its 22 million budget, that 41.4 million total likely looks pretty good.

STACY KEIBLER married tech entrepreneur Jared Pobre in an intimate sunset ceremony on a beach in Mexico on Saturday.

JUSTIN BIEBER & SELENA GOMEZ, after swearing each other off, may be a couple again, or at least dance partners.

CHARLIE SHEEN's no-shows are delaying Anger Management production. Was only a matter of time, yes?

CHRISTIAN BALE and wife Sandra “Sibi” Bale are expecting their second child.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON's preganancy was reportedly a welcome surprise.

KESHA has dropped the $ from her name, post-rehab.

JOHNNY CARSON reportedly has a sex tape.

UKRAINE: Oligarchs complain the new bosses may be the same as the old ones. They'll likely be an improvement, but how much of one remains an open question.

SAUDI ARABIA declared the Muslim Brotherhood to be a terrorist organization on Friday, piling more misery on the organization as it staggers from a vicious crackdown in Egypt.

LEBANON: The Al Nusrah Front in Lebanon claimed that Shiite members of the Lebanese Army are fighting in Syria alongside regime forces.

EGYPT: An official said that an Iranian arms shipment recently intercepted by Israel in the Red Sea was destined for militants in the Sinai or Gaza.

IRAQ: An Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide bomber killed 47 people and wounded 125 more in an attack at a checkpoint in Hillah.

POISONED PUPPY saved by miracle vodka.

GRUMPIEST CAT finds an adopted home.

OVER 1700 EXOTIC PETS have been placed in new homes by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

A BULLDOG adopts a littler of kittens... mass hysteria!

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with BLONDIE! "One Way or Another," they're gonna getcha.  Maybe with the new wavey material like that song or their cover of the Nerves' "Hanging On the Telephone."  Maybe with the Eurodisco sound of "Heart of Glass," "Call Me" or "Rapture."  But for me, it's the pop anthems like "Union City Blue" and "Dreaming," both propelled by the frenetic drumming of Clem Burke, who is clearly a fan of Keith Moon, right down to the pantomiming in that last TOTP clip.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley go unpluggedy at City Winery for WFUV.

HOSPITALITY stopped by WFUV for a mini-set.

NICK WATERHOUSE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

NINA PERSSON of The Cardigans plays live for WNYC Soundcheck.

EELS drops “Mistakes Of My Youth” ahead of The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett.

ST VINCENT drops a B-side named "Del Rio."

DR. JOHN explains "Iko Iko" to David Sanborn on the ol' Night Music program.  Hiram Bullock and Jeff Healy join in.  A little post Mardi Gras, but better late than never.

DEAN WAREHAM talks to TIME about his new solo album.

NEW RAGE: A new crop of bands like Eagulls, Girl Band, Evil Blizzard and Sleaford Mods bring the noise.

MOUNTAIN GOATS songs that work as short stories.

TOM WAITS: A map of all the places he's mentioned in song.

CUTOUT BIN: From Prof Longhair to Warren Zevon, from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings to the Police, from the Animals to the Woodentops, plus the Replacements, Fats Domino, Van Morrison, Weezer and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: This weekend's wide releases include Mr Peabody and Sherman, which is currently scoring 75 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and 300: Rise of an Empire, which is scoring 46 percent.

ANDREW GARFIELD and “Batkid” Miles Scott were both “equally upset” about the 86th Academy Awards scrapping their onstage segment Sunday night.

LUPITA NYONG'O was spotted cuddling with Somali rapper K'naan after the Oscars.

JIMMY FALLON--or his network--is muscling guests to appear exclusively on the Tonight Show.

KHLOE KARDASHIAN sold her house to Kaley Cuoco, bought Justin Bieber's somewhat infamous house in Calabasas, Cali.

MARY-KATE OLSEN turned down her fiancee's first proposal.

THE KID IS HIS SON: There's a 99.9% chance a 31-year-old man is Michael Jackson's illegitimate son.

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR has a trailer online.

THE UNITED STATES: The State Department issued an order restricting the movements of Syria's UN representative, Bashar Ja'afari, to a 25-mile radius of New York City; similar restrictions are in place for Iranian and North Korean envoys.

SYRIA: The Syrian National Coalition has retained Gen. Abdel-Ilah Bashir as head of the Free Syrian Army but given former head Salem Idriss the post of military adviser to SNC chief Ahmad Jarba.

LEBANON: Hezbollah has reportedly set up a small military airport in Baalbek in the Bekaa valley, from which it is operating Iranian-made Mirsad-1 and Mirsad-2 drones.

IRAQ: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed 42 people in a series of bombings and attacks in Baghdad, Jisr Diyala, Hillah, Iskandariyah, and Mishada.

A KITTEN tries on a slipper.

OTTER vs GATOR: Who you got?

THE DOLPHIN probably looked like he could use a dip in the community swimming pool.

A BIRD carrying a lit cigarette to its nest has been blamed for starting a fire in a building in south London.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN covers Lorde's "Royals."

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set. 

BAND OF HORSES plays an unpluggedy mini-set for the KEXP Midday Show..

GOLDEN GARDENS play dream-pop from their last EP at KEXP.

LAURA CANTRELL stopped by WFUV's Studio A to play new songs from No Way There From Here.

OF MONTREAL dropped "Jigsaw Puzzle," a Record Store Day release.

CHRISTOPHER OWENS drops "It Comes Back to You" from a mystery album.

FAITH NO MORE: "We Care A Lot."

BECK's albums, ranked by Paste.

SPINAL TAP, from Rock's Backpages (and the "Where Are They Now?" file).

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN: Joan Wasser talks to Drowned In Sound about her many collaborators.

THE TOP 5 GEN X ANTHEMS, according to The Guardian.

JUSTIN BIEBER's jail urine test video will be made public, but it's not easy to censor.

SELENA GOMEZ claims she's closing the door on Bieber.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KAYNE WEST will tie the knot on May 24 in Paris.

JARED LETO has already damaged his Oscar.

SHAILENE WOODLEY, hitting big screens in Divergent, is profiled by the Hollwood Reporter.

THANDIE NEWTON gave birth to her first son, her third child.

KELSEY GRAMMER is going to be a dad again, his sixth, his wife's second.

UKRAINE: The US, Great Britain and Germany are not yet on the same page regarding sanctions against Russia for invading Crimea. Ukraine's new prime minister vigorously defended the legality of his government against attacks coming from Russia, but said Wednesday that Ukraine would be willing to consider granting more autonomy to Crimea.

VENEZUELA's President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday he was breaking diplomatic and commercial relations with the Panamanian government due to a "conspiracy" against him. The US House of Representatives voiced near-unanimous condemnation of Venezuela's government and its "inexcusable" deadly crackdown on opposition leaders and protesters.

EGYPT:  A government-appointed panel blamed Muslim Brotherhood supporters for the deaths of hundreds of people at protests in August.

IRAN: Israeli naval forces intercepted a cargo vessel near Port Sudan that was carrying a weapons shipment from Iran destined for Gaza.

A DOLPHIN STAMPEDE, filmed by drone.

"FURIOUS" HORSE RIDING was the charge, based on a law from 1847. "Furious" refers to the speed of the ride, not the mood of the horse.

PRE-HISTORIC FISH come to Texas, courtesy of...Don Henley?

SEX WITH A PIT BULL: Always a bad idea for humans, but really don't do it in front of the neighbors.

THE HOLD STEADY blasted out "Spinners" for Seth Myers.

SHEARWATER played a mini-set at KUTX. 

VALERIE JUNE also played a mini-set at KUTX. 

THE AUTUMN DEFENSE, ft Wilco's Pat Sansone and John Stirrat, stopped by Studio A at WFUV.

METRONOMY advance streams Love Letters at iTunes.

GUIDED BY VOICES drop "Bad Love Is Easy To Do" ahead of  Cool Planet.

SHARON VAN ETTEN is  "Taking Chances" ahead of Are We There.

ELVIS COSTELLO remixes JOHNNY CASH.

WALL OF VOODOO, on the "Mexican Radio."

THURSTON MOORE talks to The Fly about his marriage-ending affair.

TOKYO POLICE CLUB frontman David Monks tells Drowned in Sound about their third record, what it’s like to grow up in a rock ‘n’ roll group and why the new Star Wars movie will probably be shite.

VIVIAN GIRLS: Jenn Pelly looks back with Pitchfork on the most divisive band of the late-00s noise-pop boom and breaks down their enduring influence.

SOUNDGARDEN: The Quietus looks back at Superunknown, 20 years later.

SELENA GOMEZ reportedly indulged in a few too many beverages at the Vanity Fair Oscars party this past Sunday.

TERESA & JOE GUIDICE pled guilty in their massive money fraud case.

LIZA MINELLI didn't like Ellen DeGeneres's joke suggesting she was actually a drag queen.

ROBIN THICKE is still pining for Paula Patton.

SCALETT JOHANSSON's pregnancy won't stop Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron.

12 YEARS A SLAVE will expand to 1000 screens after winning Best Picture at the Oscars.

UKRAINE: As the conflict with Russia over Crimea intensifies, Germany is playing a central role in communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the international community has doubts that Chancellor Angela Merkel can pull it off. The US could beef up natural gas exports as a bulwark against Russian influence in Europe...at a cost.

VENEZUELA: The first anniversary of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's death does not come at an opportune moment for his protege and successor in office, Nicolas Maduro.

EGYPT's military-installed authorities are tightening their grip on mosques by laying down the theme for the weekly Friday sermons, in the latest move to curb Islamist dissent.

SYRIA: Bomb attacks by Sunni extremists in Lebanon have seen an increase in volunteers for the Hezbollah militia that supports Assad.

CAT vs DOG... this time it's for dinner.

INJURED DOG RESCUED from busy Texas freeway.

PET HOARDING: 27 Cats and dogs, living together in a car...mass hysteria!

COWS SWIMMING: An ancient Scottish tradition.