THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with A CHRISTMAS SHINDIG! The full episode has gone dark, but still-available clips from 1964 include The Beach Boys' "Dance, Dance, Dance," Bobby Sherman and Donna Loren singing "Keep on Searching," the Righteous Brothers doing "The Jerk" and an awesome milk commercial, Adam Faith with "Watch Your Step," and "Santa Claus Is Back In Town", Bobby Sherman with "Sleigh Ride," Donna Loren returning with a Spector-esque, but rougher "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," and The Beach Boys deliver a set including "Little Saint Nick," "Monster Mash" (yes, really) "Papa Oom Mow Mow," "Johnny B. Goode," and "We Three Kings."

BRIGHT EYES play for KEXP.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS play for KEXP.

NEAL CASAL's final solo recordings, "Everything Is Moving" & "Green Moon."

THE STAVES share "Satisfied."

PHOEBE BRIDGERS plays "Savior Complex" on Fallon and promotes her Christmas EP at Vogue.

STRUM & THRUM: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987.  The Windbreakers, Primitons and Springfields? Yes, please.

THE BEST LPs of 2020, according to the New York Times.

THE TOP 50 LPs of 2020, according to Consequence of Sound.

M WARD talks to Portland Monthly about his Billie Holiday tribute album.

WARNER BROS.' entire 2021 slate - a list of films that includes "The Matrix 4," Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" remake, Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical adaptation of "In the Heights," the "Sopranos" prequel "The Many Saints of Newark" and "The Suicide Squad" - will debut both on HBO Max and in theaters on their respective release dates.

MADS MIKKELSEN is opening up about the "shocker" moment he got the call to replace Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts 3.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS' cast is crowdfunding to buy J.R.R. Tolkien's home in Oxford, England, and turn it into a literary center.

JENNIFER LOPEZ says she has never gotten Botox, which is very specific.

CHARLES DANCE: After his memorable turn as Tywin Lannister in ‘Game of Thrones,' Dance has made the most of his notability. And with new roles in ‘Mank,' ‘The Crown,' and ‘The King's Man,' he's moved from "that guy" to name brand.

JULIEN TEMPLE talks about his Shane MacGowan documentary.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: Just when he thought he was out...

TERRY'S HUBRIS proved to be his undoing.

KANGAROO ATTACKS JOGGER: Is Sarah Jessica Parker to blame?

SPOTIFY will make a playlist for your pet.

KITTY discovers its rear paws.

THE RAMONES: "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)."

SIGN O' THE TIMES: An 8-part podcast.

JAKE NAME covers Legendary Pink Dots, Ween, Jimi Hendrix, and more for a Lagniappe Session.

BARRY GIBB: The last Bee Gee looks back at his wide-ranging catalog of hits, and ahead to an album of duets that spotlights his first love, country music.

25 GREAT EPs from 2020, according to Stereogum.

THE 50 BEST LPs of 2020, according to NPR.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Prince & The Revolution's trebly, minimalistic sex-funk classic, "Kiss." And stay for the Number Two.

HUGH KEAYS-BYRNE, a/k/a Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road, has died at 73.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS have covid.

HARRY STYLES, profiled at Variety.

MARGOT ROBBIE may replace EMMA STONE in Babylon, a period, R-rated drama, set in the shifting moment in Hollywood when the industry turned from silent film to talkies.

CITIZEN KANE: It's a story of director versus screenwriter, legend versus fact-and it's the foundation of David Fincher's latest film, ‘Mank.'

FIRST STEPS for Timmy the kangaroo.

A PIGEON, saving it for later.

ONE OF THESE DUCKS is not like the others.

U2 cover "Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Come Home)."

THE BETHS visit World Cafe.

OWEN PALLETT visits World Cafe.

THE NATIONAL's Matt Berninger covers The Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For The Man."

THE HOLD STEADY returns with "Family Farm."

MARGO PRICE covers Joni Mitchell's "River."

THE TOP 50 LPs of 2020, according to Gorilla vs Bear.

THE 50 BEST LPs of 2020, according to Stereogum.

JOSE FELICIANO talks to Stereogum about 50 years of his holiday classic "Feliz Navidad."

ELLIOT PAKE, formerly Ellen Page.

THE OSCARS plans an in-person ceremony for 2021.

RHIANNA & A$AP ROCKY are an item.

HELENA BONHAM CARTER says the producers of The Crown have a "moral responsibility" to tell viewers that it's a drama.

DAVE CHAPPELLE got Netflix to stop streaming his old TV show. And he's sorta going to war against Viacom over it.

JASON BLUM, founder of Blumhouse productions, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

THE GODFATHER CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE -- Uproxx catalogs the changes to Part III.

ONE DOGGO, Two Smiles.

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, I Can Do Better.

DOGS rescued from China's meat trade.

JON PRATT returns with "Setting Suns and Englishmen."

BEABABADOOBEE plays for World Cafe from her childhood bedroom.

CORDOVAS play for (and frontman Joe Firstman visits with) World Cafe.

COURTNEY BARNETT & PHOEBE BRIDGERS cover Gillian Welch's "Everything is Free."

FOUR SHERYL CROWS cover Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels."

ELVIS COSTELLO shares the soundtrack of his life (and, being EC, takes a few digs).

NICK CAVE is not a fan of censoring The Pogues.

15 80'S PUNK LPs that shaped the 90s and 00s.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Falco's German-language synthpop novelty "Rock Me Amadeus."

GLAM XMAS:  Wizzard's awesome "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" (1973's UK Xmas No. 1) are your Twofer Tuesday.

ROSARIO DAWSON and Dave Filoni talk all things Mandolorian.

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER made the Prequels better?

KELLY CLARKSON gets physical custody of the kids in her divorce.

FELICITY HUFFMAN is headed back to the small screen.

JOHNNY GALECKI and Alaina Meyer are going their separate ways.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE performances, raned by Vulture.

ONE SECOND's commercial release concludes a fraught journey through China's increasingly repressive censorship system.

JAPANESE WILD BEARS are comin' to town.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... this doggo.

GIRAFFE MANOR, in Nairobi.

THE WHO: "I'm A Boy."

NEW RELEASES: Pitchfork wil point you to Smashing Pumpkins, Bad Bunny, and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has Young Marble Giants, Cindy, Jarvis Cocker, and more.

PHOEBE BRIDGERS covers Merle Haggard's “If We Make It Through December.”

THE GRAMMYS nominations went to these folks.

THE 10 BEST STEELY DAN SONGS, accoring to Stereogum.

THE 100 BEST SONGS of the 21st century, according to The Guardian.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Mr. Mister's dramatic, ambiguously Christian synth-rocker "Kyrie," Heart's first chart-topper, "These Dreams," and Starship's gloopy and awful soft-rock anthem "Sara."  And there's a Bonus Track: Foreigner's Mutt Lange-produced power ballad "Waiting For A Girl Like You," the single that set the record for most weeks stuck at No. 2.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE?  The Croods: A New Age tops the chart with a 5-day total of 14.2MM, good by 2020 standards, awful any other time.  Freaky places with 1.1MM (on a 40 percent drop over the 3-day weekend).  War With Grandpa shows with 892K (on a 14 percent drop over the 3-day weekend).

DAVE PROWSE, the British former bodybuilder best known for playing Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died aged 85.  Mark Hamill paid tribute.

GODZILLA vs KING KONG looks likely to be the latest big franchise movie to head to a streamer.

SEAN CONNERY died of pneumonia, heart problems and “old age,” according to his death certificate.

ANNE HATHAWAY talks about pandemic parenting and playing the villain.

HUGH GRANT never wanted to be Hollywood's ‘romantic Englishman.' So he gave it up.

CHER went to Pakistan to help save the world's loneliest elephant.

COURTNEY COX put a turkey on her head again.

THE CROWN: Facts vs Fiction in Season 4.

THE 50 BEST HBO SERIES, ranked by Paste, controversially.

A STRAY DOG runs up to strangers so they'll rescue her and her best friend.

CENTRAL PARK OWL sighting sighting.  ALSO: An owl and pussycat.

CLAIRE, a Scottish deerhound, was named best in show at the National Dog Show.

ALL GROWN UP, still wants to be cuddled.