CONAN O'BRIEN joins EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS on a partial cover of Radiohead's "Creep."

VETIVER stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

NOAH & THE WHALE play a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

MISTER HEAVENLY (ft. members of  Man Man, Islands, and Modest Mouse) are advance streaming Out of Love.

THE REPLACEMENTS: Live in Dekalb, IL, April 5, 1985.

THE SHINS debuted a new song and covered Bowie in Oregon.

NME is streaming 25 Acts You Need to Hear.

THE NATIONAL's video for "Exile Villify" (from the Portal 2 videogame) is a contest winner.

FEIST talks to Rolling Stone about Metals, her first album in four years.

YUCK compiled a list of songs influencing their debut album beyond the usual references.

20 ESSENTIAL PAVEMENT SONGS, according to PopMatters.

THE AMERICAN MUSIC PRESERVATION PROJECT: Along with two collaborators and a travel-trailer-turned-recording-studio, 32-year-old Joshua Smith aims to recognize and record the nation's best unknown musicians...and to get the collection into the Library of Congress.

STEVE ALBINI, who shared an airport shuttle with rappers Odd Furure, said he hasn't "wanted to strangle anybody that much in a real long time". Unsurprisingly, Tyler the Creator responded.

LINDSAY LOHAN wants to go to Europe with the Hilton sisters, rather than complete her court-ordered community service.  Maybe she should argue that her leaving the country is community service.

JENNIFER ANISTON & JUSTIN THEROUX have talked at length about getting married and starting a family, according to Us Weekly.

ARETHA FRANKLIN sang her way out of a parking ticket on NYC's Upper East Side.

ALEC BALDWIN wants to be Mayor of NYC... but not in 2013.

TV's BIGGEST SALARIES, according to TV Guide.

JENNIFER GREY backs the Dirty Dancing remake.

BEWITCHED may be headed back to the small screen.

BLACK DYNAMITE: The cartoon pilot is streaming via Adult Swim.

EGYPT's new military rulers are increasingly: portraying pro-democracy activists as spies and saboteurs, blaming the country's economic crisis and sectarian strife on foreign infiltrators, and blasting the US for funding agents of change.

OSAMA BIN LADEN was protected by elements of Pakistan's security apparatus in return for millions of dollars of Saudi cash, according to a controversial new account of the operation to kill the world's most wanted man.

IRAQ's oil-rich south has concerns about the neighbors.

JESSE the Jack Russell Terrier does the chores and grocery shopping.

THOUSANDS of SCORPIONS were released at a residential complex in Shenzhen to force residents to move out in order to make way for a new construction project.

JONATHAN, a tortoise captured on a Boer War photograph has been declared the oldest in the world after researchers found that it is still alive. He is believed to be 178 years old.

MANDRILLS learn to cover their eyes when they want to be left alone.

THE DECEMBERISTS play Sugar's "If I Can't Change Your Mind" for The A.V. Club Undercover (just like Bob Mould did last week).

BLOOD ORANGE, a/k/a Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion) is advance streaming Costal Grooves.

THE CIVIL WARS do the four free songs thing at Daytrotter.

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL also did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including "Route 66."

BURTON CARROLL did six free songs for Daytrotter... so there!

PAPER LACE: "The Night Chicago Died." Live.

ANARCHY IN THE UK: Numerous independent record labels -- including Domino, 4AD, XL and Beggars Banquet -- fear catastrophic losses in a fire at a distribution warehouse in north London during the riots in the capital on Monday night.

ADELE: Prefix examines theories explaining her massive success, but omits "All of the above."

ST. VINCENT: Annie Clark is profiled by the London Evening Standard. (Thx, LHB.)

MARSHALL GRANT, founding bassist of Johnny Cash's original band the Tennessee Two and the singer's longtime road manager, died Aug. 7 in Jonesboro, Ark., after suffering an aneurysm. He was 83.

BRADGELINA:  Jennifer Aniston ordered Brad Pitt to leave their Beverly Hills home after he admitted that he was in love with Angelina Jolie, according to a sensational new book.

JESSICA SIMPSON & NICOLE RICHIE are locked in an ugly feud on the set of their new reality show "Fashion Star," according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer.

KIM KARDASHIAN's wedding guest list is star-studded... but how many actually attend?

GAVIN DeGRAW: The pop singer was viciously beaten by a pack of thugs on the Lower East Side early today - and then hit by a taxi as he stumbled off, police sources said.

ASHTON KUTCHER: As the special guest editor of Details' online-only social-media issue (find it on Facebook, Flipboard, Twitter, and Tumblr), the next star of Two and a Half Men delivers his verdict on power-tweeting, oversharing, sex apps, and the future of Facebook.

ZOE SALDANA had a nervous breakdown after Avatar. Then again, so did I.

QUENTIN TARANTINO's Cinematic Reality.

YEMEN: Pres Saleh vowed he would return to Yemen and continue to lead the government.

IRAN: A member of parliament said that Iran is again delaying the launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

NORTH KOREA has nothing to reform or open up, the ruling party's newspaper reported on Tuesday, accusing the United States of trying to impose its own ways to stifle socialism. But the economy is in trouble.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghans' trust in Afghan national security forces is increasing, but people urge the international troops to stay committed to enduring support to Afghan forces, a report by TOLOnews said on Tuesday. NATO and Russia are working on an agreement to expand the current supply route of troops through Russian soil, reports say.

PIT BULL vs KITTEN: Who You Got?

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: According to Level 3 Communications, which maintains an 84,000-mile fiber network, militant rodents do 17 percent of the damage to their fiber optic network.

A BLUE SHARK is discovered in the New Hampshire woods.

ROSIE, the first judicially approved courtroom dog in New York, was in the witness box nuzzling a 15-year-old girl who was testifying that her father had raped and impregnated her.

WHO IS HARRY NILSSON (AND WHY IS EVERYBODY TALKIN' ABOUT HIM)? is streaming in full via SnagFilms. Courtesy of... Goldman Sachs, no less.

NEW RELEASES from Scattered Trees, Pepper Rabbit, Dom and more are streaming this week at Spinner.

THOSE DARLINS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE OLD 97s share Too Far to Care demos.

BLACK MOUNTAIN: Live at the Grey Eagle, Nov. 10, 2010.

BJORK has a "Virus" for you from Biophilia.

THE RACCOONISTS: Jeff Tweedy and sons have a new single.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE play the new "Richie and Ruben" along with the classic "Survival Car" as a web exclusive on Fallon, just in time for Twofer Tuesday.

DANIEL HYNES, f/k/a Lightspeed Champion, talks to The Guardian about his new project, Blood Orange.

ELLIE GOULDING talks to the San Francisco Chronicle about playing festivals, the Royal Wedding and more...

AUSTRA: Katie Stelmanis talks to PopMatters about shifting from classical to punk to synth.

FROM VINYL TO DIGITAL: Music critic Jim Farber's journey.

MILA KUNIS says she likes funny guys. But I'm thinking hansome funny guys. Just a theory.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, wearing a shirt that says, "I survived Maria" - the woman whom he betrayed so badly.

AMERICAN IDOL: Jennifer Lopez's huge new deal has prompted her fellow judge, rocker Steven Tyler, to urge Fox to bump up his own payday.

JESSE EISENBERG does a short chat with GQ to promote 30 Seconds or Less.

JANE LYNCH, despite appearing in the trailer, doesn't appear in the Glee 3-D concert movie. Apparently, she'll be on the DVD, for maximum milking of the product.

DIRTY DANCING is getting a remake by Kenny Ortega, who choreographed and came up with the grinding "dirty dancing" that made the original sleeper hit one of the most profitable independent films ever made to that point.

JERRY LEWIS sat for an 11-hour interview with GQ.

SYRIA: The opposition has admitted that armed insurgents are operating on the fringes of the uprising against Assad, raising fears that extremists could take the country into civil war.

AFGHANISTAN: A helicopter which crashed killing 30 US troops in Afghanistan was shot down after the Taliban laid a trap to lure US forces into the area, an Afghan government official said on Monday. Not sure I buy that, but it's not the first time I've heard the theory.

IRAQ: Muqtada al Sadr threatened to attack US trainers if they remain in Iraq past the December 2011 deadline for withdrawal.

X

ORPHAN KITTY plays Jungle Kitty.

A STOWAWAY BIRD got on board a Delta Air Lines flight from Madison, Wisconsin to Atlanta. Video at the link.

TOADS force road closures in British Columbia.

SNAKES get a lobbyist in DC to preserve the right to import boa constrictors and eight varieties of pythons and anacondas and to transport them across state lines. Insert snake/lobbyist punchline here.

LYKKE LI performs "Youth Knows No Pain" for Jay.

BEIRUT is advance streaming The Rip Tide.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT played World Cafe Live; you can stream the whole gig on demand.

TOTAL BABE did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

RABBIT PEPPER is advance streaming Red Velvet Snowball.

ELVIS COSTELLO: "The Other Side of Summer." Gotta fee-vah.

BATTLES talks to The Guardian about making one of the albums of the year after losing their frontman.

IMELDA MAY talks to PopMatters about her myriad influences, her long road to success, and how to come across well in a traditional Irish sing-song.

TITUS ANDRONICUS guitarist (and solo singer-songwriter) Amy Klein talks to The Awl about climbing on top of speakers, Patti Smith, Joanna Newsom, why everyone should read Rat Girl, and Girls Rock Camp.

NOEL GALLAGHER talks MOJO through the music, movies, gigs and books that have shaped his life.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Rise of the Planet of the Apes conquered the cineplex, opening with a suprirsingly large 54 million take, about 15 million more than expected.  That's a great start on a 93 million budget (and looks better than the 100 million budgeted Tim Burton version).  The Smurfs hold the second slot for a second week with 21 million; so far the total is 76 million domestic against a 110 million production budget, so overseas tickets will make the difference between okay and sequel.  Cowboys and Aliens drops 57 percent from first to third with 15.7 million; with 67 million so far against a 163 million budget, overseas tickets will make the difference between loss or profit.  The Change-Up comes in fourth with 13.5 million, about in line with expectations; it is unlikely to have the legs needed for a 52 million budget.  Rounding out the Top 5 is Captain America, which made 13 million on a 49 percent drop -- a possible victim of the Apes.  However, Cap has recouped its production budget domestically and taken in another 80 million worldwide so far.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES was an interesting and highly entertaining beast. It's also a big departure from the original franchise.  In some ways, this movie owes more to the Frankenstein tale than it does to original Apes series.  Although allusions to the original abound in names and props, the nuclear context seems abandoned (perhaps as an post-Cold War anchronism), and the civil rights or animal rights (in the case of Tim Burton's reimagining) subtext is largely gone as well.  What's left is a visually stunning, but surprisingly character-driven reboot, on both the human and simian sides of the ledger.

TWO AND A HALF MEN: More and more and more leaks about the Sheen-less season premiere.

ETHAN HAWKE and wife Ryan Shawhughes welcomed their second child, a daughter, India.  It's actually his fourth child.

JESSICA SIMPSON: Pregnancy rumors continue.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: First look at Anne Hathaway as the Catwoman, icymi. And a second.

THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB WAS DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA 66 years ago yesterday. The act that ushered in the nuclear age, but also helped end World War II, still stokes controversy. Three men involved in the attack o­n Hiroshima share their memories with the BBC. Film showing the effects of the attack was classified for decades, as were the complete (unredacted) "Magic" military intercepts, which tend to show Japan was not about to surrender. Those interested in a relatively neutral view of the events leading to the bombing could do worse than 1995's Hiroshima, a joint Canadian-Japanese production for Showtime.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS revised an anti-terrorism law and made it less severe than a leaked version that was heavily criticized by human rights groups.

LIBYA: The government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi distanced itself from comments that his son made the previous day, when he vowed in an interview to strike an alliance with a faction of radical Islamists among the rebels challenging his father's rule. Which doesn't mean it won't happen.

PAKISTAN: As US-Pakistani relations spiral downward, the specter of a showdown between the increasingly antagonistic allies is garnering more attention, including the worst-case scenario of the US attempting to "snatch" Pakistan's 100-plus nuclear weapons if it feared they were about to fall into the wrong hands.

HORRIFYING SQUID comes to life, jumps off plate.

PIG SWARM engulfs a German woman and her 2-year-old child, requiring a police rescue.

A DRUNKEN HORSE and trap driver who ran a red light tried to claim it was the animal's fault - as it was color blind.

DUCKY the CAT is reunited with his family, more than 10 weeks after the Joplin, MO tornado.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with JOHN HUGHES! The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, buds, wasteoids, dweebies and dickheads, they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. The writer/director behind "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Weird Science," National Lamppon's "Vacation" movies, "Home Alone," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and many more died at the age of 59, two years ago Saturday.  Hughes masterfully married music to movies, so I pay video tribute to him today, starting (of course) with "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds from The Breakfast Club (the drumming o­n this song is impeccable), and Karla DeVito's "We Are Not Alone," along with the Ramones playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" (from National Lampoon's Vacation), David Bowie's "Young Americans" and The Vapors o­ne-hit wonder, "Turning Japanese" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" (all from Sixteen Candles, which opens to a clip of veteran WLS DJs Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards), Van Halen's cover of "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and General Public's "Tenderness" (both from Weird Science), the Psychedelic Furs re-recorded title track from Pretty In Pink, which also featured Jon Cryer lip-synching to Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" (that last clip is a blistering live take from the 1967 Stax tour -- and excellent, btw), The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" (a Hughes perennial), and OMD's "If You Leave," plus two more from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Danke Schoen" and "Twist and Shout" (which was shot o­n Dearborn and Randolph Streets in Chicago, with International Polka Queen Vlasta atop the float, though Cameron and Sloane were in front of the Post Office), plus Yello's unforgettable-no-matter-how-you-try "Oh, Yeah." Videos are scarce for Some Kind of Wonderful, but I found Flesh for Lulu's "I Go Crazy" and the March Violets' take on the Stones' "Miss Amanda Jones."

THE FRUIT BATS stopped by KEXP for a mini-set.

THE SAM ROBERTS BAND has an interview plus live tracks at World Cafe.

120 MINUTES returned to MTV. Watch the first show online.  Host Matt Pinfield spoke to Talk of the Nation about MTV, the show and its reboot.

BOB DYLAN & THE GRATEFUL DEAD: The Unreleased Live Album.

NAME THAT DRUM FILL, Part 3.

BEST COAST drops "How They Want Me to Be," which  Bethany Cosentino calls "a small taste of what's to come."

JENS LEKMAN has "An Argument With Myself," the ttile track of his upcoming EP. 

JAY & THE AMERICANS "Come a Little Bit Closer" on Friday.

ARCHERS OF LOAF (and Crooked Fingers) frontman Eric Bachmann is interviewed by Band of Horses frontman Ben Bidwell and Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn at the Village Voice. 

CULTS talks to Tuscon Weekly about sudden success.

MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle talks to the Chicago Daily Herald about recording All Eternals Deck.

JANE'S ADDICTION: At The Quietus, Perry Farrell discusses his wilderness years spent making jewellery, impersonating David Bowie and domestic spats with his girlfriend while living in a car.

ADELE will be spending time in America's Deep South to learn more about country music and bluegrass for her next album.

SHE & HIM are releasing a Holiday album this year. Rejoice!

THE TOMMY STINSON Panty Caper.Not the name of his band.

CUTOUT BIN: From Tones on Tail to Richard & Linda Thompson, from Alien Ant Farm to Booker T & the MGs, from the Marvelettes to Led Zeppelin, plus the Black Keys, Beach Boys, Grand Funk Railroad, REM 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: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which is currently scoring 85 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and The Change-Up, scoring 24 percent.

KIM KARDASHIAN's wedding may be a four-hour TV special, climaxing with the opening of the seventh seal.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Back to falling down outside the Chateau Marmont.

JENNIEFR LOPEZ is ready to let go - but Marc Anthony isn't.

VAL KILMER's ex-wife claims the actor has stiffed her on child support payments.

DEMI LOVATO talks about her meltdown at Elle.

FAYE DUNAWAY tells her side of the housing court story.

SUPERMAN: Your first pic of Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel.

ANNETTE CHARLES, who played Cha Cha in the 1978 movie Grease, died in her L.A. home, due to complications from cancer.  She was 63.  Tell me more.

SYRIA: Security forces killed another 45 anti-regime protesters and other civilians during operations in Hama.

LIBYA: Gaddafi's son said his family would ally with Islamist terror groups, including the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

EGYPT's widest-circulation newspaper editorial maintains anti-Israel line, says Sharia is about 'equality,' and fears of Islamic state are overblown.

IRAQ: All of Iraq's major parties, minus the Sadrists bloc, want US forces to stay beyond the December 2011 deadline.

BARKING CAT starts meowing once caught.

MUTTON BUSTING: The rodeo where sheep are scared.

UKRAINIAN BEARS to be liberated from forced vodka drinking.

DOGS in mid-shake.

CHEETAH CUB & PUPPY, wrestling playfully...