THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with THE CLASH! Live at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, March 8, 1980 (regardless of what the uploader claims).  Your London Calling-era setlist includes: "Clash City Rockers", "Brand New Cadillac", "Safe European Home",  "Jimmy Jazz", "London Calling", "Guns of Brixton", "Train In Vain", "White Man in Hammersmith Palais", "Koka Kola", "I Fought the Law", "Spanish Bombs", "Police and Thieves", "Stay Free", "Julie's Been Working on the Drug Squad", "Wrong ‘Em Boyo",  "Clampdown",  "Janie Jones", "Complete Control", "Armagideon Time", "English Civil War", "Garageland",  "Bankrobber", and "Tommy Gun."

THE OLD 97s stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

JOLIE HOLLAND stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

THE ROSEBUDS also stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

WILCO: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Demos.

JULIANA HATFIELD drops "Stray Kids" from her fan-funded LP, There's Always Another Girl.

ART BRUT get you off to a "Good Weekend."

SOUNDGARDEN axeman Kim Thayil talks to Reverb about the whole reunion thing. (Thx, LHB.)

JOANNA NEWSOM & ROY HARPER interview each other for BOMB Magazine. (Thx again, LHB.)

IMELDA MAY: The rockabilly star talks guitar influences with the L.A. Times.

TEN ESSENTIAL DANCE-ROCK ALBUMS, according to PopMatters.

THE TOP 23 FAKE BANDS of movies and TV, according to Spinner. (Thx, Dad.)

CUTOUT BIN: From the B-52s to Otis Redding, from Meat Puppets to the Selecter, from Cheap Trick to the Housemartins, plus the Kinks, Dandy Warhols, Rolling Stones, XTC, Smokey Robinson and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are now streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Captain America, which is currently scoring 71 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Friends With Benefits, currently scoring 57 percent.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER was a good, if not great summer movie, but an important one leading to The Avengers next summer.  Not great, because some of the moments director Joe Johnston clearly intended to have great oomph or emotional resonance fall a little short.  Also, the script lacks a bit of clear exposition early on about the threat posed by the villainous Red Skull and his Hydra agents.  Good, because Johnston nails the essence of Steve Rogers, America's first super-soldier. Also -- perhaps most notably -- this a rollicking movie.  It probably has more laughs than any Marvel flick (the first two Spidey movies and Iron Man have their share, when you think of it).  Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci in particular get plenty of laugh lines. However, you never get the feeling that the movie is a joke.  Do you want to stay to the end of the credits? Oh, yes... you certainly do.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Judge Stephanie Sautner is extremely impatient with Li-Lo's progress in completing probation.  Lohan claimed she can't afford court-ordered psychological treatment.  Lohan also faces a new lawsuit for assault and battery.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY came close to parting ways two years ago because of Anthony's fling with a flight attendant.

ARNOLD & MARIA SPLIT: Schwarzenegger's response to Shriver's divorce petition reveals a dispute over whether Maria should get spousal support.

TIGER WOODS fired longtime looper Steve Williams because of his decision to caddie for another golfer, according to a new report. Yeah, don't you just hate it when dudes aren't faithful?

SCARLETT JOHANSSON has been spotted cozying up to "Hangover" star Justin Bartha.

THE MTV VMA nominations went to these folks.

THE 10 GREATEST MOVIE COMEDIES, according to PopMatters.

YEMEN: The military claimed it killed two senior Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders, Aidh al Shabwani and Awadh Mohammed Saleh al Shabwani, during fighting in Zinjibar.

EGYPT's interim military rulers established a system on Wednesday for what is promised to be the first free and open elections in the country's history, laying out a complicated plan evidently designed as a compromise between the competing demands of liberal and Islamist groups.

NORTH KOREA & IRAN are jointly working on weapons program designed to build a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, a leading British security think tank has said.

KITTEN vs APPLES: Who you got?

GUARD DOG vs ROTISSERIE CHICKEN: Who you got?

HAMSTER gets its mugshot after running amok in a Geordie police station.

A BABY RHINO was born July 13 in the Lowry Park Zoo's Asian Gardens.

A BABY GIRAFFE walks for the first time after getting corrective shoes.

WYE OAK played "Holy Holy" for their television debut.

GILLIAN WELCH & DAVID RAWLINGS visit Fresh Air to talk about and play selections from The Harrow and the Harvest.

BEADY EYE stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

CHRIS BATHGATE stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

LIVE FROM NOWHERE NEAR YOU (VOL 2),  featuring all sorts of rare and unreleased tracks from the likes of Isaac Brock, Elliott Smith, Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams, Wilco and many more, is streaming via 130 bpm. (Caution: it autoplays.)

GIRLS "Vomit" in advance of Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

EMMYLOU HARRIS sings "New Orleans" on Fallon and talks to The A.V. Club.

DAWES: Taylor Goldsmith talks to JamBase about God, the music press, their new album and more...

THE PITCHFORK MUSIC FEST, reviewed by musicians who played there. (Thx, LHB.)

JON LANGFORD talks to The Awl about the history and evolution of the Mekons, the sometimes frustrating process of recording an album, touring, meeting one's heroes, and the band's new LP, Ancient and Modern, due out in September.

ROCK STARS are the hot targets for memoirs.

BRITNEY SPEARS used various drugs including meth, breaks wind and picks her nose unapologetically, according to new court papers filed by one of the pop tart's ex-minders.  Brit says he's a liar.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY fought over jealousy, infidelity and control.  J-Lo got help coping from ex-bf Ben Affleck.

LEO DiCAPRIO dumps BLAKE LIVELY? Because Mom disapproved? Hmm...

GWYNETH PALTROW says she doesn't believe in religion, but is raising her boys Jewish.

ERIC DANE (Grey's Anatomy) recently entered a rehab clinic in Los Angeles to battle an addiction to painkillers.

ANGELINA JOLIE says her sons eat crickets like they're Doritos.

ZACH BRAFF says he's not gay (nttawwt) and insists he's the victim of a hacker who broke on to his website this morning and posted a fake "coming out" statement (Fwiw, when he was a hot property, the gossip was that he was a womanizing hound, bordering on harassment.)

THE FRENCH HOTEL stormed out of a TV interview after being asked if her 15 minutes are up.

SHANNEN DOHERTY is getting hitched on TV.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has a trailer online.

THE TALIBAN denied media reports that said Mullah Omar had died of natural causes. The Taliban claimed the US hacked their website and cell phones to spread the rumor.  They also denied Zach Braff is gay.

YEMEN on the brink of Hell.

IRAN's claim that tripling its uranium enrichment speed will help develop cancer treatments is dismissed as 'a provocation'.  The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it shot down an unmanned US surveillance aircraft near the nuclear facility at the Fordo uranium enrichment site near Qom. Iran has previously claimed to have shot down two other US UAVs over the Persian Gulf this year.

AFGHANISTAN: Gen. Petraeus gave a cautiously optimistic assessment of the US military campaign but called recent gains in the decade-old Afghan war "fragile and reversible."

DOG fetches a beer.

HORSE rescued from a Melbourne swimming pool.

MONKEYS get their own ad campaign.

LEOPARD goes on the attack in an Indian village.

A GREAT WHITE SHARK leapt into a research boat, becoming trapped on deck for more than an hour. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

THE GET UP KIDS play Blur's "Girls and Boys" for the A.V. Club Undercover.

NIRVANA gets a free tribute album featuring Meat Puppets, Titus Andronicus, the Vaselines, Charles Bradley, Telekinesis and more.

MY MORNING JACKET did an interview and performance for Morning Becomes Eclectic.

TOM WAITS, Live at the BBC in July 1979.

THE CHURCH: Bradley's Almanac has them Live in Foxboro, MA.

THE FLAMING LIPS embed three new songs in a gummy fetus.

EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROES went "Janglin'" on Conan.

THE MERCURY PRIZE 2011 nominees are announced.

PATTI SMITH loves her some Adele.

BEN SOLEE talks to Birmingham Weekly about his new album, the Internet era, and biking. (Thx, LHB.)

THE MONKEES: Davy Jones talks to Spinner about the band's (quasi-)reunion, the Beatles and more..

TIGER WOODS: Ex-wife Elin Nordegren is upset that ex-mistress Rachel Uchitel told friends she had slept with Elin's new bf, Jamie Dingman.  He's denying it, but others seem to have very specific details.

JESSICA BIEL (Justin Timberlake's ex) once tested to co-star in Friends With Benefits. Coulda been awkward.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY: He reportedly tried to call the shots over her clothes during a photo shoot for US Weekly.

MATT DAMON really gets the public mood in these troubled economic times.

KATY PERRY & RUSSELL BRAND deny separation rumors.

EMMA WATSON is still at Brown but will study at Oxford next year.  And here she is with the adult film actor who played her character in an x-rated parody.

LADY GAGA tells Howard Stern cocaine is the Devil. Always trying to deflect suspicion from herself.

AL QAEDA is expected to shift strategy under new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, placing a higher priority on attacking the US and Western targets overseas, where plots are easier to execute than on the US homeland, say US officials.

IRAN is installing upgraded centrifuges to speed up the uranium enrichment process.

IRAQI forces closed the Tanaf border crossing with Syria due to fighting across the border.

AN ENRAGED CHIHUAHUA thwarts a robbery at an Altadena smoke shop.

STICK INSECTS have lived for one million years without sex, genetic research has revealed.

KICKING A MOUNTAIN LION IN THE FACE: Bad choice?

A FERAL PIGEON has ridden the New York Waterway ferry every day for the past three years.

ARCTIC MONKEYS drop a video for "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala."

NEW RELEASES from They Might Be Giants, Crystal Antlers, Theophillis London, Mountain Man, Amy LaVere, Shonen Knife and more are streaming this week at Spinner.

JOE BOYD & ROBYN HITCHCOCK played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

RELEASE THE SUNBIRD, a side project from Zach Rogue (Rogue Wave) is advance streaminbg Come Back to Us.

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS: Live in Portland, January 10, 2007.

BJORK drops "Cosmogony" from her Biophilia LP/app/thingy.

CRIMSON & CLOVER: EMA and Zola Jesus (who both played Pitchfest) stumble through the Tommy James classic that makes up your Twofer Tuesday. BONUS: Joan Jett.

THE DECEMBERISTS: Chris Funk talks to ChartAttack about why the band is so fascinated with "folk" music and why their LP constantly gets called "Americana," when it's kiiiiiinda not.

THE WHO: Pete Townshend is "almost stone deaf" according to roger Daltey.

NICOLE ATKINS talks to Crawdaddy about finally making the album that she wanted to make.

25 ESSENTIAL EPONYMOUS ALBUMS, according to the Houston Press. (Thx, LHB.)

CHARLIE SHEEN's "Anger Management" sitcom is a go at Lionsgate, but still has no network or writer attached.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY are getting divorced after months of arguing, but are still doing a reality show together.

JUSTIN BIEBER & SELENA GOMEZ crashed a swank wedding in Malibu.

TIGER WOODS: Ex-mistress Rachel Uchitel has given the golfer back most of the settlement money he paid her ... and is now preparing to sue Gloria Allred, the lawyer who struck the deal, alleging Gloria sold her out for money.

DAVID DUCHOVNY & TEA LEONI: Together again?

KEVIN COSTNER is in negotiations to join Quentin Tarantino's Sergio Leone-style spaghetti western, Django Unchained.

EMMA WATSON will reportedly star in a version of Beauty and the Beast directed by Guillermo del Toro.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES teaser trailer is online.

TERROR in the USA: The trial of Mohammed Wali Zazi began in NYC. Mohammed is the father of Najibullah Zazi, who pled guilty to training at al Qaeda camps and plotting to carry out suicide attacks in NYC subways.

TERROR in RUSSIA: Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov told Pres Medvedev in televised comments that authorities had averted a "large terrorist attack" in the Moscow area by militants armed with homemade bombs and other weapons.

YEMEN: Even as antigovernment protesters struggled to revitalize their movement, sketching somewhat shaky plans over the weekend for a transitional government, they produced a show of their core strength, taking to the streets in huge numbers on Sunday to protest the rule of Pres Saleh. Yemeni tribes have joined government forces to battle al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the city of Zinjibar in Abyan. The Joint Meeting Party accused Iran of backing the Shia Houthi rebels in Al Jawf province.

AFGHANISTAN: A Taliban suicide assault team killed a key adviser to President Karzai and a member of the Afghan parliament in an attack in Kabul. Gen. Petraeus relinquished his command of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Monday.

IRAQ wants the United States to supply several thousand trainers for its military but is unlikely to ask Washington to extend its troop presence beyond a year-end deadline, Iraqi security and political sources say.

BABY SLOTH yawns, nods off. It is a hot summer.

A MYSTERY SHEEP ran wild through the streets of central Wellington before it was apprehended by police, who took the animal to cells in the back of a patrol car. Was it a dream or a dud?

THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS BIRD had the Denver Zoo on lcokdown.

SPERM WHALES may have names.

EXCUSE ME, is that a snake in your sock, or...

PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011: There I was again. I started Friday by splitting sets from two arty, yet different combos. tUnE-yArDs is all about the vocal loops and jazzy flourishes, as you can hear on "Gangsta."  Merrill Garbus was really working the crowd, which responded well.  But for positioning's sake, I had to sneak back to see Battles, which was mostly playing instrumentals like "Futura" from their new LP, though vocalists would appear on video screens behind them (here's a new ATC profile of the band).  Thurston Moore, touring his new solo LP, was genial and displayed his gentler, Lou Reed-ier side on numbers like "Benedediction" and "Blood Never Lies".  The 1995 lineup of Guided by Voices may have been the biggest jolt of energy to the fest up to that point, serving up much of the classic Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes albums, with a couple from Vampire on Titus and a few others, while Bob Pollard worked his way thru a bottle of Cuervo Gold. The anthemic "Game of Pricks" went over especially well, and the other Sasquatch fest clips uploaded at the link are pretty representative of the Pitchfork set.  Neko Case joined GbV on "Echos Myron" befor her own set -- and it's seems almost odd that she is now one of the most commercial acts represented at the fest, with radio-friendly material like "People Got A Lotta Nerve" and "This Tornado Loves You."  Having lived in Chicago's Ukranian Village for a time, this was a sort of homecoming for Case who was received quire warmly (indie chicks still love her).  I actually found her set's pacing suffered at times, but her pipes rank with Wanda Jackson and Loretta Lynn, so it's tough to complain (despite the omission of "Deep Red Bells").  I'll confess that I slipped out of the night's headliner, Animal Collective, a bit early.  They had a trippy stage show, but even their material that I like, such as "Bluish," I prefer in smaller doses.

Saturday unofficially started with the end of a set from Woods, playing decent psych-folk that made me wish I had arrived early enough to give them a full listen.  The day offically started for me with the 80s-influenced Cold Cave, who are often compared to bands like The Cure, as songs like "Villains of the Moon" might suggest. However, they appeared with just the two keyboardists and a drummer, which gave them a vibe more like Killing Joke or Ministry.  It also meant a lot of programming, though I award them points for strutting, twirling and dancing about wearing leather jackets in the oppressive heat.  No Age had some technical issues, but gave it their best, with the skronk of "Fever Dreaming" not requiring a sampler.  Destroyer, touring behind "Kaputt," gave some (but not all) of Dan Bejar's earlier stuff the same 70s, Steely Dan / Al Stewart vibe, but made it work surprisingly well.  Indeed, their set was a bit more dynamic than Neko's.  But perhaps the biggest surprise of the fest for me was the reunited Dismemberment Plan, a band to which I have paid little attention.  But I enjoyed their angular punky pop, albeit the guitar-based stuff like "The Ice of Boston" much more than the keyboard-driven, quasi-rappy numbers.  Saturday closed with Fleet Foxes, and these clips of "Grown Ocean" and "Mykonos" sadly do not convey how sweeping and intense the band was, handling a big and occasionally delirious crowd with verve and aplomb.

My Sunday started with the 90s-influenced Yuck, who opened with "Get Away."  A tasty set marred by a tech glitch near the end; check out their set from SXSW 2011.  If Yuck is the band that burst on the scene, Kurt Vile is the guy making strides.  Lat year, he played fairly avant-garde stuff the third stage; this year, touring the acclaimed Smoke Ring For My Halo, he was all about the stoner rock, like "Jesus Fever" and "Freak Train." But I'd bet Ariel Pink was the one who was truly stoned -- his goofinesss and struggles with his headset were amusing, and the vaguely cheesy 80s themed numbers like "Bright Lit Blue Skies" put a smile on my face, but the set was abruptly ended before their best known, "Round and Round," ostensibly due to drum issues... but the frontman seemed like he was on something.  Fired up and ready to go was the reformed Superchunk, which mixed new material like "Crossed Wires" with old faves, culminating in the anthem that cannot be named. I had planned on sticking around for Deerhunter, but it would be unfair to them and me to place them in such an anti-climactic position.

SUFJAN STEVENS goes animated for the video of "Get Real, Get Right."

FRANK BLACK talks to the Kansas City Star about his post-Pixies career.

MARISSA NADLER shares a few of her favorite things for a Pitchfork Guest List.

FIERY FURNACES: Vulture compates the solo efforts of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger.

CHEAP TRICK narrowly escapes a stage collapse in Ottawa, Canada.

JERRY RAGOVOY, who wrote or collaborated on some of the most soulful ballads of the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones hit "Time Is on My Side" and the Janis Joplin signatures "Piece of My Heart," "Cry Baby" and "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)," died last Wednesday of complications from a stroke. He was 80.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Pt 2) shatters the opening weekend record once held by The Dark Knight, raking in an epic 158.1 million, also shattering the midnight showing record once held by Twilight: New Moon. The North American total is estimated at 168.6 million.  Transformers 3 took a 55 percent hit from the teen wizards, coming in second at 21.3 million... it's still trailing Transformers 2, but with a 302 million domestic total, shed no tears for the autobots.  Horrible Bosses dropped only 38 percent, taking in 17.6 million, with a 60 million total to date against a 35 million production budget.  Zookeeper drops 39 percent with 12.3 million; it's 42 million total looks worse against an 80 million budget. Cars 2 rounds out the Top 5, but Potter helps hand Pixar a 45 percent drop to 8.3 million. Cars 2 has rung up 165 million so far, but may not break 200 million -- the first Pixar movie to make that little since A Bug's Life.  Below the fold, Winnie the Pooh was right behind Cars 2 with an 8 million opening, which ain't bad against a 30 million budget. The bear does even better overseas.

JENNIFER LOPEZ & MARC ANTHONY are ending their marriage.

NICK LACHEY & VANESSA MINMILLO were married Friday evening in a tropical island ceremony in front of just 35 friends and family.

BRADGELINA marriage rumors denied. Shocka.

MILA KUNIS reaffirms her date for the Marine Corps Ball, contra prior idiocy from Billy Bush and Gawker.

CHARLIE SHEEN may be roasted by ex-wife Denise Richards.

ARNOLD & MARIA SPLIT: The soon-to-be ex-couple attended the same dinner party and managed to emerge smiling.

HUGH HEFNER claims he was blindsided when he was left at the altar by Crystal Harris.

TIGER WOODS: Ex-wife Elin Nordegren has found love again with wealthy American investor Jamie Dingman... who reportedly dated Tiger's ex-mistress number one, Rachel Uchitel.

RUSSIA: Blood in the streets of Dagestan cities and villages flows over the fact that those who regard themselves adherents of "pure Islam" - Wahhabites (or Salafites) - do not like how citizens behave themselves and wear clothes. The talks between representatives of moderate and "pure" Islam have not yielded any results so far.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS detained two Omani women for driving, local media reported.

EGYPT: The military council governing the country is moving to lay down ground rules for a new constitution that would protect and potentially expand its own authority indefinitely, possibly circumscribing the power of future elected officials.

PAKISTAN: Inter-Services Public Relations Director Gen. Athar Abbas has claimed that there are terrorist safe havens inside Afghanistan.

IRAQ will execute two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers within a month along with three other former regime officials, an official said Friday, a day after the five were handed over by the US military.

DJ KITTEHS put the bodies on the floor.

A DEPRESSED FERRET has escaped from a circus in Siberia along with a monkey and a red-breasted parakeet. I thought the depressed joined the circus.

CHARGING TURTLE, stunned human.

BRINGING A COCKATOO - or handcuffs -  to a job interview is a bad choice (unless you're auditioning for a remake of Baretta).