THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with A BIG STAR TRIBUTE!  Also, a benefit for the Autism Think Tank. Jody Stephens, the only surviving original member of the influential 70's power pop  band,was joined by Big Star alums Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer (The Posies), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Susanna Hoffs, Vicki & Debbi Petersen (The Bangles), Chris Stamey (The dB’s), Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500), Mitch Easter (Let's Active),  Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Aimee Mann, Pat Sansone (Wilco), Dan Wilson (Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic),Van Dyke Parks,  Pete Yorn, Grouplove, and more.  Highlights on the Tube include: "In The Street," "Don't Lie To Me," "The Ballad of El Goodo," "When My Baby's Beside Me," "The India Song," "Watch The Sunrise," "Give Me Another Chance," "Blue Moon," "Jesus Christ," "Femme Fatale," "Downs," "Dream Lover," "Thank You Friends," "I Am The Cosmos," "September Gurls," and "I'm In Love With A Girl."

THE HOLD STEADY stops by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set, including a selection Craig Finn describes as his favorite Hold Steady song.

DELTA SPIRIT plays a mini-set at KUTX.

THOSE DARLINS perform in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

WHITE LACES is advance streaming Trance.

THE KINKS released their first LP in the UK 50 years ago yesterday, on the strength of the truly classic "You Really Got Me."

THE REPLACEMENTS and the Legacy of Let It Be.

U2's The Unforgettable Fire, turns 30 (get Off My Lawn); The Quietus reconsiders.

VASTI BUNYAN takes Drowned In Sound on a track-by-track tour of Heartleap.

THE WALKMEN's Walter Martin talks to SPIN about solo work and family life.

THE CUTOUT BIN: By popular demand, Rocktober kicks off with another special back-to-school special streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING:This weekend's wide releases are Annabelle, which is currently scoring 28 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Gone Girl, currently scoring 86 percent; and Left Behind, the faith-based Nicolas Cage flick that somehow is scoring 4 percent.

CHARLIE SHEEN is under investigation for assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly going nuts in a dental chair in a rock cocaine-fueled rage.  Charlie's lawyer Marty Singer calls the allegations “completely fabricated.” 

MILA KUNIS & ASHTON KUTCHER named their daughter Wyatt.

ZOE SALDANA is pregnant with twins.

HACKED CELEBS threaten to sue Google.

REAL FRAUDSTERS OF NEW JERSEY: Hours after her husband learned he would spend more than three years in prison, “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for her part in a bankruptcy and mortgage fraud scheme. 

NICHOLAS SPARKS is accused of being homophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist in a lawsuit filed by the former headmaster of a school Sparks founded.

TURKEY: The Parliament authorized the deployment of Turkish troops in Syria and Iraq and the temporary basing of foreign troops in Turkey; the opposition called the vote an attempt to curry favor with the West and topple the Assad regime, not a serious move against the Islamic State.

LIBYA: A double suicide car bombing attack on Saiqa special forces and Operation Dignity troops at Benghazi's Benina airbase has killed at least 12 people and wounded 60.

ISLAMIC STATE terrorists carried out mass executions, sold women into sex slavery and recruited child fighters, according to a United Nations report that paints a grim picture of the extremist group.

PAKISTAN: A mass of bombing attempts pointed to a concerted effort by militants to intensify their attacks on government targets.

BABY CHEETAHS: Let's go to the video.

TWO HYENAS encouraged to mate by the Maruyama Zoo in Japan, are both male. NTTAWWT.

THE PET ROOSTER hitched 112 miles.

A PERSISTENT BEAVER battles road crews in Kitsap County, Washington. Hey, nice beaver!

LUCINDA WILLIAMS played "Protection" with The Roots on the Tonight Show.

JOHNNY MARR is advance streaming Playland via Spotify.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND is releasing a "lost album" as part of the super-deluxe reissue of the third LP. Meanwhile, there's always The Matrix Sampler.

REAL ESTATE's set at the Pitchfork Music Festival is online.

THE BASEBALL PROJECT:  Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon drop by KEXP.

BENJAMIN BOOKER covers Otis Redding and Furry Lewis at Aquarium Drunkard.

STEVIE NICKS drops “Mabel Normand” and “Watch Chain” ahead of 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault.

SHOCKING BLUE: She's your "Venus."

THE REPLACEMENTS' seminal Let It Be turns 30 today. Get Off My Lawn and read a classic 1986 inteview from Creem.

SPANDAU BALLET is reuniting. Gary Kemp talks aboutwhat the band meant to him with The Guardian.

LINDA THOMPSON writes about Leonard Cohen's Popular Problems. (Thx, LHB.)

GREIL MARCUS talks to Pitchfork about his new book, The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs.

MILA KUNIS & ASHTON KUTCHER are the parents of a baby girl.

BRAD PITT says his family makes him the richest man alive. Much like George Bailey, if George Bailey also had millions upon millions of dollars.

ISLA FISHER & SACHA BARON COHEN are expecting their third child.

AMANDA BYNES was kicked out of fashion school.

TRACY MORGAN has relied upon a wheelchair and walker since his accident in June — and his career could be in jeopardy.

JUSTIN BIEBER mixed it up Tuesday with the paparazzi in Paris and appeared to throw a punch during the fracas.

TAYLOR SWIFT is the cover of November's British Vogue.

ETHAN HAWKE is reportedly now the lead candidate to play Marvel's Doctor Strange.

HONG KONG: As China marked its National Day Wednesday, a defiant gathering of thousands of people demanding deeper electoral reforms for the port city cast a shadow over Beijing’s celebration. How defiant? This defiant.

TURKEY: Prime Minister Erdogan said Turkey will fight the Islamic State "and all other terrorist organizations in the region." Turkey is planning to establish safe havens inside northern Syria to protect areas controlled by the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front. The government is also asking Parliamentary approval for deployment of Turkish troops abroad and allowing foreign troop deployments on Turkish territory.

IRAN plans to offer equipment to the Lebanese army to bolster its battle against jihadists, a senior Iranian official said on a visit to Beirut Tuesday.  

IRAQ: Politics are heating up amid the threat from the Islamic State. Meanwhile, the IS is selling ancient Iraqi artifacts in the black market to finance its military operations in the region, Iraqi and Western officials said. The terror group also now controls a large chunk of Iraq’s wheat supplies.

A DOG is rescued from a pool of hot tar.

A COYOTE is recovering after it got stuck in a bumper in north suburban Waukegan, IL.

A HERD OF DEER photobomb a wedding.

EINSTEIN the DOG is running for Mayor of Oakland.

CLOUD NOTHINGS drop a video for "Now Hear In."

WEEZER is advance streaming Everything Will Be Alright in the End via iTunes.

'ALLO DARLIN is advance streaming We Come From The Same Place.

ICEAGE is advance streaming Plowing Into the Field of Love.

VASHTI BUNYAN is advance streaming Heartleap.

STARS drop the title track to "No One Is Lost."

INXS: "Don't Change," live at the US Festival.

3RDEYEGIRL talks to The Current about working with Prince.

ZOLA JESUS talks to Stereogum about going pop and getting away from civilization.

ROGER McGUINN shares songs and stories from a remarkable career, plus lesser-known gems.

AC/DC's Malcolm Young is reportedly in full-time care in a Sydney nursing home.

AMANDA BYNES was under the influence of Adderall when she was arrested for DUI ... sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ. Her parents are in the dark about their daughter's arrest and have no idea where she is or what she's been doing since her conservatorship ended.

MICHAEL PHELPS was arrested for driving under the influence in Baltimore.

GEORGE CLOONEY and Amal Alamuddin have wedding pics at People; I'm sure no money was involved.

MOLLY SIMS and her husband, producer Scott Stuber, are expecting another baby together.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG & ROSIE O'DONNELL got into a heated spat in front of The View's studio audience.

JEREMEY RENNER talks to the Daily Beast about Kill the Messenger, The Avengers, and a Bourne crossover with Matt Damon.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON SEQUEL: Headed to IMAX and Netflix simultaneously.

INHERENT VICE:  The Paul Thomas Anderson-directed adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel has a trailer online, narrated by Joanna Newsom.

HONG KONG’s leader on Tuesday called for the pro-democracy demonstrators who have blocked major roads in the city to return home immediately, but protest leaders responded with defiance, threatening to expand the demonstrations and to occupy government buildings.

LIBYA: At least five people were killed in clashes between the Islamist Libya Dawn movement and the Libyan national army in Tripoli.

IRAQ: Kurdish troops drove Islamic State fighters from a strategic border crossing with Syria on Tuesday and won the support of members of a major Sunni tribe, in one of the biggest successes since U.S. forces began bombing the Islamists. At least 35 people were killed in a wave of car bomb and mortar attacks in mainly Shi'ite Muslim districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi police and medical sources said.

AFGHANISTAN: Officials from Afghanistan and the United States on Tuesday signed a long-delayed security agreement to allow American troops to stay in the country after the end of the year, filling a campaign promise by new President Ashraf Ghani.

PUPPY vs BALLOON: Who You Got?

A POMERANIAN's drug habits were so bad it prompted SPCA officers to pay a visit to its owner's Yaletown apartment.

A BABY ELEPHANT who got stuck in a watering hole was lifted out by park rangers in a heart-rending rescue attempt.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A 2-headed snapping turtle.

TWEEDY'S video for "Low Key," directed Nick Offerman, includes cameos from Michael Shannon, John Hodgman, Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter, Chance The Rapper, Mavis Staples, and Steve Albini. It's bananas.

PRINCE is streaming both Art Official Age and Plectrumelectrum via Spotify.

ZOLA JESUS advance streams Taiga.

CARIBOU advance streams Our Love via iTunes.

TENNIS plays The Cutting Room in NYC for KEXP.

ARETHA FRANLIN drops her cover of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep."

LED ZEPPELIN dops an alt-mix of "The Rain Song" ahead of the Houses Of The Holy reissue.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS talks to Aquarium Drunkard about learning to expand her songwriting palate, using other songs to craft her own, starting the new record label and how you should get out and play in front of an audience all ready.

THE REPLACEMENTS...or the Fauxplacements? Plus some backtracking, and a story about Bob.

DELTA SPIRIT gets a brief profile at Magnet.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP will soon allow advertisers to superimpose their logos into old music videos.

AMANDA BYNES was arrested in Los Angeles Sunday after cops determined she was driving under the influence of a controlled substance.

GEORGE CLOONEY and Amal Alamuddin made their union official under Italian law.

BRAD PITT: GQ UK teases tidbits from their cover interview.

REESE WITHERSPOON, meanwhile, covers Vogue.

ROBERT PATTINSON's new girlfriend FKA Twigs has been the target of a barrage of online racist abuse since her relationship with the former Twilight star become public.

TRACY MORGAN has only himself to blame for the horrific injuries he suffered in the accident with a Walmart truck, according to Walmart.

YEMEN: An al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula suicide bomber killed one person after driving his car into a Houthi field hospital north of Sana'a. AQAP claimed credit for launching a rocket attack on the US Embassy in Sana'a.

SYRIA: Coalition airstrikes hit the large Koniko gas plant in Deir Izzour, which also houses an Islamic State prison; granaries in the IS-held city of Manbej in Aleppo; three local oil refineries and a plastics factory in Raqqah; and in Markadah in Hasakah. About 1,500 Kurdish fighters have joined the YPG in recent days to battle IS in Aleppo. The Al Nusrah Fronth's emir threatened coalition countries with retaliation for the airstrikes in Syria and warned Syrian rebel groups not to cooperate with the coalition.

IRAQ: Officials claimed that the US killed 18 Islamic State fighters in airstrike in Mosul. The military said it killed 25 Islamic State fighters in Dhuliyah, and a "judge" and six fighters in Fallujah. The Islamic State killed six policemen in Sharqat and four men in Mosul.

DOGS vs PEANUT BUTTER, In Slow Motion.

SNAKE IN A DASHBOARD:  A man on his way from New Hampshire to Florida got quite a scare driving down Interstate 95 in Virginia on Friday morning...

A FAMILY OF PET HAMSTERS were given oxygen by firefighters from the Lacey Fire Department in Washington state. Four of five lived.

SPINELESS NORMAN: A hedgehog without any spikes.  Dinsdale!

THE BOOMTOWN RATS play "I Don't Like Mondays" at their first U.S. show in over 20 years.

FOXYGEN advance streams Foxygen... And Star Power.

EX HEX advance streams Rips.

STEVE GUNN advance streams Way Out Weather.

BELA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN advance stream a self-titled LP.

R.E.M.'s Monster turned 20. Get Off My Lawn. And “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”

EDWYN COLLINS talks to The Observer about his recovery from two strokes, with riveting details.

ICEAGE singer Bender Rønnenfelt talks to Pitchfork about mixing beauty and destruction.

PHIL SPECTOR has reportedly not spoken in nine months as he battles illness in prison, where he is serving a 19 year sentence for murder. 

WHEN WAS POP MUSIC At Its Lowest Point?

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Equalizer tops the chart with 35 million;  excepting The Great Deabaters, which barely opened wide, this is Denzel Washington's 11th opening over 20 million. He's Mr. Reliable. Could it be a franchise? Washington has never done a sequel to anything.  The Maze Runner places (for now) with an estimated 17.5 million on a 46 percent drop, probably ensuring a sequel, given 90 million in overseas markets on top of the 58 million domestic.  The debut of The Boxtrolls shows (for now) with an estimated 17.3 million, an even bigger than the studio's Coraline...but it will need to be as leggy to profit on a reported 60 million budget. This Is Where I Leave You takes the fourth slot with 7 million.  Dolphin Tale 2 rounds out the Top 5 with 4.8 million...on track to recoup its 36 million production budget, but will need overseas receipts to profit.

GEORGE CLOONEY and Amal Alamuddin are husband and wife. Clooney had an elaborate security plan.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST have worn out their welcome with so many at Paris fashion week, they've been branded by industry insiders tired of their antics as “fashion flu.”

MORE CELEBRITY HACKED PHOTOS leaked online Sunday.

ADRAIN PETERSON was the target of a criminal sexual assault investigation, but authorities ultimately cleared him.

ROBIN WILLIAMS: Hundreds turned out for a memorial to celebrate the actor's life.

WILLIAM SHATNER confirms he may be in Star Trek 3.

KEVIN BACON is featured at Bloomberg News regarding celebrity speakers making big fees on college campuses.

YEMEN: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula retaliated by firing an M72 LAW rocket at the US Embassy in Sana'a and wounding several Yemeni guards. Houthi rebels agreed to withdraw their forces from the capital.

SYRIA: The Islamic State advanced in Hasakah after clashes with Kurdish YPG forces. Coalition airstrikes targeted the Islamic State in Aleppo, Deir Izzour, and Homs; coalition airstrikes were carried out also in Deraa, Hama, Hasakah, and Idlib. The pace of the air campaign in Syria is said to be now similar to that in Iraq, with "near continuous" sorties; but only 8 of the 48 coalition airstrikes so far in Syria have targeted al Qaeda.

IRAQ: The Iraqi army and an alliance of Shiite militia groups on Saturday retook a dam northeast of Baghdad after days of fighting believed to have killed dozens, security sources said. Britain, Belgium, and Denmark agreed to join the US in targeting the Islamic State inside Iraq, but not in Syria.

CATS TEXTING CATS in the #SMWCreative contest.

A GOAT was “promptly apprehended” and “charged with disorderly intoxication" in Florida.

IS THAT 51 TURTLES IN YOUR PANTS, or are you...oh.

A LARGE BEAR roaming Port Coquitlam seems to be harmless and staying away from people. The problem is that people can't seem to stay away from him.