THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

...with THE TALKING HEADS!  Here's the expanded band -- including axeman Adrian Belew (who certainly influenced Jon Pratt's early work in Pate) -- in Rome, circa 1980.  Your setlist: "Psycho Killer," "Stay Hungry," "Cities," "I Zimbra," "Drugs," "Take Me To The River," "Crosseyed And Painless," "Life During Wartime," "Houses In Motion," and "Born Under Punches."

BEACH HOUSE: You can listen to "Zebra" and "The Arrangement" in advance of the EP for band's Record Store Day (which is tomorrow).

THE PLIMSOULS: The power-pop combo fronted by Peter Case gets a retrospective plus tracks from Fresh Air.

PORT O'BRIEN stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

QUASI stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

THE MORNING BENDERS make "Promises" and I wonder if the kids are alright.

NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS frontman Carl Newman talks to Pitchfork about Kiss, Belle and Sebastian, and more.

THE POSIES tals to Seattle Weekly about their career and upcoming LP. (Thx, LHB.)

ANDREW W.K.: My song "My Destiny" was deemed so frightening it earned me a juvenile restraining order. So what happened when the girl who inspired it got in touch?

THE 12 WORST BAND NAMES, according to True/Slant.

THE CUTOUT BIN: From Sharon Jones to Gloria Jones, from the Replacements to Cher, from Carole King to King Curtis, from Pavement to Love, plus Guadalcanal Diary, Mott the Hoople, Wilco, and more -- is streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include the superhero action-comedy Kick-Ass, which is currently scoring 75 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Death At a Funeral, which is scoring 40 percent.

KICK-ASS would be the term for Matthew Vaughn's movie adaptation of the comic series by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.  Ostensibly the story of a teenager who sets out to become a super-hero, the film is a dark, ultra-violent and occasionally funny deconstruction of the superhero mythos. The advance buzz was correct in noting that while Aaron Johnson is fine in the title role, big chunks of the movie are stolen by Nicolas Cage (Big Daddy) and especially Chloe Moretz, who knocks it out of the park as the 11-year-old assassin, Hit-Girl. I generally don't refer to other reviews, but I do want to comment on the one-star review from Roger Ebert. Savaging an R-rated movie because he is afraid that six-year-olds may see it is entirely unfair, as is invoking kids "shooting one another every day in America."  Every youth murder is tragic, but all of them to date occurred before the release of this movie.  If any movies helped push the culture toward youth violence, they were probably movies Ebert favorably reviewed (Scarface, The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, and Sin City, to name but a few. Indeed, he was much less bothered with the 12-year-old heroine in The Professional -- set in a world more "realistic" than that of Kick-Ass). This sort of rank hypocrisy from the dean of American movie critics would be easier to take if he had bothered to apologize for years of dismissing the concerns of people who think Hollywood's glamorization of sex and violence coarsens our culture.  Instead, he now whines about where we are on the slippery slope he spent decades greasing.

CHARLIE SHEEN shaved his head?

KATE HUDSON reportedly had some work done.

MELISSA & TAMMY ETHERIDGE have ended their nearly nine-year relationship.

TIGER WOODS: Alleged mistress Jaimee Grubbs was busted in West Hollywood for driving with a suspended license.

AFGHANISTAN: The top leader of the dangerous Haqqani Network operating in eastern Afghanistan said that al Qaeda fighters are welcome to fight alongside the Taliban, and that his forces control 90 percent of the areas under his command. Elsewhere, CIA vet Robert Baer has chilling new details about the attack on the CIA base in Khost and a plea to save the dying art of espionage.

IRAQ: Officials said security forces averted a plot by al Qaeda in Iraq to fly airplanes into buildings, possibly including the Shia Imam Ali shrine in Najaf.

PYGMY SLOW LORIS BABIES: Let's go to the video.

THE IMMORTAL JELLYFISH achieves everlasting life through the process of transdifferentiation.

THE RABBIT WHISPERER can put stressed-out bunnies in a trance.

THE T. REX OF LEECHES was first discovered three years ago in the nostril of a 9-year-old girl.

A POLAR BEAR takes on the paparazzi in Antarctica.

THE SPECIALS reunited on Fallon, playing "A Message to You, Rudy" and "Little B^tch." It's like Twofer Thursday.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM is advance streaming This Is Happening.

THE BLASTERS stopped by KEXP's Shake the Shack for a chat and mini-set.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from Broken Social Scene and Passion Pit highlight the latest edition of the long-running NPR series.

GEORGE HARRISON & ERIC CLAPTON: "Taxman." Obligatory.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE plays "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" and John Fogerty's "Centerfield" at the Seattle Mariners' opening day game at Safeco Field. It's like Twofer Thursday, times two.

SHE & HIM talk to Filter about having a baby... artistically speaking. Zooey also refers to her interview with Brian Wilson, which was featured at Pate at the time. For some reason, Zooey was able to get Brian to talk more than some music journo dude.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT talks to Details about coming out, meth, maple syrup and more...

AU REVOIR SIMONE: Annie Hart and Erika Forster talked to NiteTalk about tacos, dive bars and French disco. (Thx, LHB.)

COUNTRY MUSIC is the new classic rock?

CHARLIE SHEEN was snapped sneaking into and out of his mistress Angelina Tracy's Studio City home, according to InTouch magazine.

TIGER WOODS: Divorce looming? Elin reportedly met with a divorce lawyer shortly before flying to Scottsdale, Arizona.

STEVEN SEAGAL: The woman accusing him of treating her like a "sex toy" once appeared on an episode of "The Tyra Banks Show" - where she claimed to be a "lipstick lesbian," who can "trick" men.

BRITNEY SPEARS released the unretouched photos from her latest photoshoot for Candie's.

LARRY KING: Divorce No.8. Apparently, there was a nuclear argument, and allegations he cheated.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva, his Russian musician-singer girlfriend and mother of their 5-month-old daughter, have split after over a year of dating.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and JESSICA BIEL's notoriously on-and-off relationship is once again on the rocks as the singer cozies up to ex Cameron Diaz.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: The main stars are siding with series creator Marc Cherry over Nicollette Sheridan's claim of battery.

DENNIS HOPPER's directorial career is surveyed by IFC.

SYRIA has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Israeli and US officials alleged, in a move that threatens to alter the Middle East's military balance and sets back a major diplomatic outreach effort to Damascus by the Obama administration.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad, who said last month that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were "a big fabrication," wrote to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to ask him to open an investigation into the events of that day.  US Defense Secretary Gates said Iran is at least a year away from producing a nuclear weapon.

AFGHANISTAN: Closing the Korangal Outpost, a powerful symbol of some of the Afghan war's most ferocious fights, and a potential harbinger of America's retreat, is a tacit admission that putting the base there in the first place was a costly mistake.

KITTEH + iPAD: Let's go to the video.

TADPOLES of one frog species let out an audible "scream" when they come under attack, scientists have discovered.

ZOOKEEPER nuts about new job nursing orphaned squirrels.

500 VENOMOUS SNAKES released in attempt to win feud.

MAYER HAWTHORNE ends his tour with a cover of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

MERLE HAGGARD is advance streaming I Am What I Am via NPR. Spinach not included.

NATALIE MERCHANT gets a feature plus tracks from NPR's Morning Edition.

THE DUTCHESS & THE DUKE did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE NATIONAL drop "Afraid of Everyone" as an advance track to High Violet.

MOJO'S FAVE ALL-GIRL BANDS (with embedded media) has some notable omissions, though I suppose they could argue that The Slits and The Raincoats weren't always all-girl.

PUBLIC IMAGE, LTD. played "Rise" and "This is Not a Love Song" for Kimmel. Call it Twofer Wednesday.

HANK WILLIAMS wins a Pulitzer Prize for lifetime achievement, 57 years after his death. Gawker lays on the mockery.

FRED SCHNEIDER talks to DOA about his new project, The Superions, and his main band,The B-52s. (Thx, LHB.)

HOW PUNK CHANGED MY LIFE: Veterans of the British scene share memories with The Independent after the death of Malcolm McLaren.

LAST.FM will stop streaming full on demand songs to users, instead providing integrated streaming from 3rd parties.

STEVEN SEAGAL is being sued for sexual harassment and illegal trafficking of females for sex. Seagal's lawyer calls it "a ridiculous and absurd claim by a disgruntled ex-employee who was fired for using illegal narcotics."

SANDRA BULLOCK and JESSE JAMES: Mistress No.5 kept DNA evidence.

OPRAH WINFREY and... John Tesh?

KATE GOSSELIN is rejected by Playboy, in a small, yet surprising victory for civilization.

LADY GAGA is urging fans to practice abstinence.

JIM CARREY claims he's not having a breakdown.

BRET MICHAELS (formerly of Poison) underwent an emergency appendectomy. Every hair metal singer has his thorn.

BEN ROETHLISBERGER: The Steelers QB will not be charged for sexual assault over an alleged incident on March 5 in Milledgeville, Georgia. But the findings of the investigation don't sound good at all.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER launched a blistering attack on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, saying James Cameron didn't win the Oscar for Best Director because he "didn't have breasts."  Is she sure about that? The breasts, I mean.

THE AVENGERS may be directed by Joss Whedon, which would be awesomely awesome.

TERROR in the USA: Pakistani authorities are holding a fourth suspect in the alleged plot last summer to bomb trains on the New York City subway, U.S. law-enforcement officials said. Among the suspected targets were trains at Grand Central and Times Square. Meanwhile, the US believes al-Qaeda is actively in search of a nuclear bomb and fears it could get one through criminal gangs or by infiltrating nuclear labs in Pakistan or other vulnerable nations.

IRAN: Russian Pres. Medvedev said the US Congress' proposals for sanctions on Iran will not receive international support. China does not back additional sanctions on Iran. Defense Minister Vahidi said Iran has plans to develop a long-range missile defense system.

STANDING PUSS IN BOOTS: An awesome remix of the standing cat featured here recently.

SHEEP ON METH tazered for a scientific study.

GEORDIE THE GOAT was vandalized with anti-police graffiti.

GUARD DOG sacked after sleeping through pub's only burglary in 12 years.

APPLES IN STEREO hits the "Dance Floor" with guest star Elijah Wood.

NEW RELEASES: MGMT, Freelance Whales, Kaki King, Coheed and Cambria, The Flatliners and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.

JOSH RITTER (whose album is also streaming this week at Spinner) did six free songs for Daytrotter, including a cover of "Moon River."

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: New tracks from The National, Black Keys, Stars, Laurie Anderson, Horse Feathers and more provide a Spring Music Preview in the latest installment of the long-running series.

THE MAGIC NUMBERS release "Pulse" as an advance track to The Runaway album.

THURSTON MOORE: "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me." Yes, really. And it might beat Naked Eyes. 

THE SADIES are advance streaming their Darker Circles album.

PETER WOLF, formerly of the J Geils Band, gets a lengthy feature plus tracks from his upcoming, country-influenced solo LP.

BECK's Record Club continues covering INXS's Kick album, with a creepy "Devil Inside" and an airy "New Sensation" making a nice Twofer Tuesday.

SUPERGRASS breaks up after 17 years.

THE NATIONAL: Drowned in Sound has a track-by-track tour of the upcoming High Violet LP.

FLAMING LIPS: Wayne Coyne talks to Mother Jones about Pink Floyd, plastic disks, and the sublime beauty of watching an asinine Radiohead fan get beat up at Lollapalooza.

THE WEDDING PARTY frontman David Gedge talks to the New York Press about the 21st anniversary tour for the band's Bizarro LP.

SANDRA BULLOCK and JESSE JAMES: Mistress No.1 apologizes, while RadraOnline spills e-mails with Mistress No.5.

CONAN O'BRIEN is headed to TBS, which Alan Sepinwall thinks is the right move for Coco.

LINDSAY LOHAN can't even get on the cover of the Mean Girls video game. Can Quentin Taratino save her career?

ELIZABETH TAYLOR denies the ninth engagement rumor.

JESSICA SIMPSON chopped off her hair? More likely a wig.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. talks to Men's Journal about how an a$$-kicking martial art helped him find his focus and resurrect his career.

SOUTH PARK: Matt Stone talks to Pitchfork about his favorite musical moments in the show's history, as well as what it was like to work with Radiohead, Isaac Hayes, and Primus.

GREEN LANTERN's costume will be mostly CGI.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS are currently holding closed-door sessions to discuss two important issues affecting the kingdom; the financing of terrorism, and Takfiri fatwas.

IRAN's first indigenously built anti-aircraft missile is ready for use, according to state media. Grain of salt.

AFGHANISTAN: The sudden deterioration of relations between the United States and Pres. Karzai could not have come at a worse time. And it may distract people from the big picture.

KITTEN and PUPPY, reclining together... Mass hysteria!

ORANGUTANS kickbox and parade in bikinis for cheering tourists on the outskirts of Bangkok. I don't wanna be like you.

A 53-YEAR-OLD WELDER on Merritt Island, FL, couldn't wait for animal control to handle a six-foot rattlesnake.

AGEING TIGER, Crouching Postmen.

LUCKY SOUL released a video for "Whoa, Billy!"

DR. DOG played the World Cafe on Friday; you can stream the whole gig on demand via NPR.

THE XX stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

POMPALMOOSE, a Tube sensation for their covers of current pop hits, is profiled by All Things Considered, with embedded audio.

THE MUSIC OF JOHN HUGHES in a big ol' mix for download.

THE HOLD STEADY dropped "Barely Breathing" as an advance track at the 'Gum.

SUZANNE VEGA and THE ROOTS played "Tom's Diner" for Fallon.

JOHNNY ROTTEN talked about the late Malcolm McLaren and PiL on TV's Red Eye.

JENS LEKMAN talks to the Jakarta Post about future plans, the Swedish indie scene, etc. (Thanks, LHB.)

DRIVE BY-TRUCKERS: Mike Cooley talks to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the theme that emerged on the band's latest LP.

THE ANTLERS: Peter Silberman talks to PopMatters about the fast growth of the band, overdosing on indie rock and how it feels to have such personal art fuse connections to strangers.

DEVO wants you to pick the songs on its next album.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Date Night wins the weekend witha  27.1 million debut, edging out Clash of the Titans, which pulled in 26.9 million.  Titans dropped a nasty 56 percent, which won't stop it from amking some decent cash world wide, but probably rules out a 200 million finish in the US.  How to Train Your Dragon wasn't far behind with 25.4 million on a mere 12.6 percent drop, bringing its worldwide total to 256 million on a 165 million budget.  Why Did I Get Married Too? takes the usual nasty Tyler Perry 2nd weekend drop -- 62 percent this time -- but has pulled in 48.2 million on a 20 million budget.  The Last Song proved to have some legs, rounding out the Top Five with another 10 million; it's 42.4 million is almost as good as the Petty flick.

TIGER WOODS came in fourth at The Masters, finishing with a 69 on Sunday.  Off the course, I guess we can put Jim Carrey on Team Tiger.

CHARLIE SHEEN says his salary demands to continue Two and a Half Men are not a surprise to WB or CBS.

CHLOE MORETZ, starring in next weekend's Kick-A$$, is profiled in the New York Times. Not bad for 13.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR is reportedly engaged for the ninth time, to 49-year-old Jason Winters.

DIXIE CARTER, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on the hit sitcom "Designing Women," has died.  She was 70 years old.

MEINHARDT RAABE, the coroner of Munchkinland, is clearly most sincerely dead at 94.

THE SPIDER-MAN REBOOT may have found a lead in Logan Lerman, star of 'Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief'.

TOY STORY 3  has a new clip online.

KYRGYZSTAN's self-proclaimed new leadership said on Thursday that Russia had helped to oust President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and that they aimed to close a US airbase that has irritated Moscow.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad, taunting the US for trying to halt Iran's nuclear program, unveiled a new centrifuge on Friday which officials said would enrich uranium much faster then existing models.

AFGHANISTAN: Pres. Karzai took small but public steps on Saturday to signal he was still friends with the US after a war of words that tested their alliance. OTOH, Karzai has also cast doubt over Nato's planned summer offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar.

IRAQ: There was a dramatic drop in deaths in Mosul, the last urban stronghold of the insurgency.

A FRENCH BULLDOG has fallen, and he can't get up.

FISHZILLA, now with an awesome picture.

CAMEL WRESTLING: Big in Turkey and Afghanistan. "When male camels get aroused, streams of viscous milky saliva start frothing from their mouths and nostrils. Oh, and camel liquid doesn't stop there..."

FISH IN A BARREL: Sort of.