OUR FAST NEW HOSTING SERVICE knocked out the site o­n Sunday without warning, but if you're reading this, we are back, obvs.

THE YARDBIRDS' "For Your Love" was a long-running staple of the Pate playlist. Eric Clapton left the band shortly after the song's release, so you can see Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page wield the axes o­n "Train Kept A' Rollin'" in this clip from The Blow-Up. And Beck was gone by the time of "Shapes of Things." Yu can watch the whole story in a three-segment documentary, or you can just watch them play "I'm A Man" o­n Hullabaloo for the go-go dancers.

U2 is leaving Island Records for Mercury, because they just don't feel the label love anymore. Plus, TMZ has a picture of what the U2 Tower to be built in Dublin will look like.

TOWER RECORDS is going to be liquidated.

CAROLINE, NO: An R & B remake by Danish musicians makes Song of the Day at NPR. Plus the Pet Sounds podcasts at the 40th Anniversary blog now extend to that song.

M WARD recently played a World Cafe set streaming now at NPR. There's plenty more to stream via the Hype Machine, including an instrumental version of Brian Wilson's "You Still Believe In Me."

THE DECEMBERISTS recently played "O, Valencia" o­n the Peacock-net. The touring replacement for Petra Haden is a hottie. See it o­n YouTube before their lawyers do. BONUS: Just for the fun of it, here's Colin Meloy catching a tamborine.

JIMMY BUFFETT was reportedly busted for having 100 Ecstasy tablets in his luggage at a French airport. It would explain why he can never find that lost shaker of salt.

GOOGLE BUYING YOU TUBE? The rumors sweeping the internet are exaggerated. Google is apparently o­ne of many companies making offers, but a deal doesn't seem imminent.

TOM WAITS' Orphans launches an article o­n "rarities" albums in London's Sunday Times.

ROLLING STONE magazine censors itself and takes amusing, generalized abuse at Stereogum.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Given that Babyshambles has had to postpone the rest of its tour so that the troubled singer can get more rehab, it seems like the offer to make him a drug counsellor is a wee bit premature.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Martin Scorsese's star-studded gangster flick The Departed took top spot this weekend, earning an estimated 27 million -- a record for a Scorsese opening. Having seen it, I would say deservedly so; it's not Goodfellas, but it might be his best since then; I even forgive his gratuitous use of Gimme Shelter at the beginning of the film. Number two is Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, which made 19.1 million -- well off the 28.1 million the 2003 remake of the original earned, but more than the 16 million budget. Number three is Open Season, which dropped a mere 33 percent -- good news for Sony. Fourth was Employee of the Month, which made 11.8 million o­n a 12 million budget, so we are not done with Jessica Simpson quite yet.

BRADGELINA: Pitt worries that he and Jolie may have ruined Namibia's peaceful tranquility, so the couple has moved o­n to destroy the peaceful tanquility of Holland. Of course, things would be a little more tranquil if the couple's hired goons didn't throttle and threaten to kill the paparazzi. The good news is that Jolie wants to do more lesbian scenes, which pretty much makes it unanimous.

THE McCARTNEYS: Heather Mills would like to run down the paparazzi, but knows better.

KATE HUDSON and CHRIS ROBINSON BREAK-UPDATE: X17 scored pics of Hudson lunching with the Butterscotch Stallion.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH: Two more men are claiming to be her baby's daddy.

SCARLETT JOHNSSON: US Weekly has excerpts from her interview with Esquire magazine. Though that's really just an excuse to note that she posed in leather with a virtually naked Dita Von Tesse for Flaunt magazine.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson's people deny that he's off the wagon and have announced he will start his redemption tour o­n Good Morning America.

EVA LONGORIA and TONY PARKER UPDATE: Eva wants you to see she's still with Tony.

SIENNA MILLER says that monogamy is overrated. Which will come as a surprise to her nanny-banging boyfriend, Jude Law.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: The current rumors are about a November wedding.

JESSICA SIMPSON was caught canoodling with Employee of the Month co-star Dane Cook at the film's premiere party.

MARIJUANA may stave off Alzheimer's disease. The same is being said of red wine. At least, regular consumption of either will make the Alzheimer's less noticable to family and friends.

THE STATE OF LIMBO is in limbo. Get ready to lower the bar and dance underneath.

NORTH KOREA probably tested a nuclear bomb. The US is analyzing seismic data, so there may be some question as to whether the test was successful. If o­nly Kim Jong Il were not so ronery...

IRAQ: Time magazine reprints a letter from a Marine officer whose "wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate." Not that you couldn't find this stuff out o­n Milblogs, but it's nice, anyway. Instapundit rounds up a variety of opinions o­n momentum in Iraq. In the Washington Post, Ann Scott Tyson writes that the number of US troops wounded has surged to its highest monthly level in nearly two years. Later, she reports that "military experts say the number of wounded is a more accurate gauge of the fierceness of fighting," glossing over the fact that the media has focused o­n fatalities throughout. I previously noted Ms. Tyson's shoddy reporting o­n Sept. 14th.

COLUMBUS DAY: I get it as a holiday, so I thought a few words might be in order. Over the course of my life, I have seen the image of Columbus swing from unvarnished hero to genocidal criminal. Locales like Berkeley, CA have renamed the day "Indigenous Peoples Day. The ever-reliable Wikipedia still contains allegations of Genocide from Ward Churchill, though his bogus accounts were o­ne of the reasons he was dismissed from Colorado University. Columbus was certainly no sweetheart, but at the end of the 15th Century, it is fair to say that Europeans often did not treat each other all that well. Moreover, before the furriners showed up, Native North and South Americans engaged in slavery, tribal massacre, infanticide, scalping, human sacrifice, and the ritual skinning of slaves for their priests to wear. It was a far less civilized time all 'round. But the West is civilized today in part because of Columbus. Some four centuries-plus later, we all are still struggling to become more civilized, but focusing criticism o­n the more-civilized while giving the less civilized a pass is not particularly useful to that struggle.

AN ALLIGATOR was impaled by a samurai sword at a Moline Acres, MO home where another was found in a freezer, along with a four-foot python. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Video at the link. BTW, the authorities "will also be pursuing charges o­n whoever stabbed this alligator."

A SNAKE CHARMER kissed 19 highly poisonous king cobras at Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Pattaya, Thailand, in an attempt to set a world record. I'm pretty sure there are some snake-kissing jokes to be made. Pic at the link.

A CARJACKING DOG will spend a few more days in lock-up before being allowed to return to the comfort of his kennel. But will he really appreciate the difference?

SCARY, DEFECATING DOGS have a small town in Nova Scotia contemplating banning man's best friends from its downtown core.

IS THAT A LORIKEET IN YOUR PANTS, or are you just happy... oh, wait, it is a lorikeet...

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with the HOODOO GURUS: Check out the Hoodoo hairdos o­n their US debut single, "I Want You Back," then watch them rock the joint in Ann Arbor, MI with a live take o­n "Middle of the Land." BONUS: "Come Anytime," yet another gem from David Faulkner's hit factory.

LUST FOR LAUGHS: Many rock bands have unintentionally funny riders to their concert contracts, but Iggy Pop's rider -- apparently written by roadie Jos Grain -- is intentionally hilarious. For example, two heavy duty fans are required, "So that I can wear a scarf and pretend to be in a Bon Jovi video." A Bob Hope impersonator is demanded, and more. It should put you in the mood to hear "Lust For Life."

LIFTER PULLER, Craig Finn's predecessor to The Hold Steady, is Tom Moon's latest "Shadow Classic" o­n NPR, with three streaming tracks. The new Hold Steady album is still streaming at Vagrant.

MARTIN SCORSESE is working o­n a documentary starring The Rolling Stones. Granted, Scorsese did The Last Waltz, but for the Stones, wouldn't you have George Romero?

THE PIPETTES talk to London's Guardian about their love of classic pop and quitting their day jobs to reinvent the girl-group sound full time. Which is a good excuse to link to their early, primitive video for "Dirty Mind," a song which turned up o­n Grey's Anatomy last night.

FLAMING LIPS frontman Wayne Coyne sings a karaoke duet with Rufus o­n Pancake Mountain, a hip kids' show o­n public access TV in DC. I won't spoil which song they sing, but I will say I like it when Wayne holds the mic in front of Rufus.

MORE KIDS' STUFF: Colours are Brighter is a thirteen track compilation of children's songs recorded by the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Four Tet -- all of which are streaming from MySpace, with a Jonathan Richman track playing at the official website. It will be released o­n Rough Trade Records o­n the 16th, with all proceeds going to Save The Children.

NOT KIDS' STUFF: Plague Songs is a compilation from 4AD where each song is based o­n o­ne of the Biblical plagues. The site is streaming a new song every few days.

THE DECEMBERISTS get a rave review from NPR for The Crane Wife, with a link to a streaming gig from 2005 to boot. You can still stream the album from MTVu, too.

THE CUTOUT BIN: Friday's fortuitous finds from the Hype Machine include: 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me (Was it the music?); The Stooges - 1969; Green Day - My Generation; The Who - Pictures Of Lily; The Jam - Beat Surrender; The Rezillos - Glad All Over; The Beatles - Rain; Giant Drag - Wicked Game; Neil Diamond - Solitary Man; Lovin' Spoonful - Nashville Cats; My Morning Jacket - Hot Burrito #1; Calexico - Alone Again Or; The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend; and Big Star - Thirteen.

KATE MOSS UPDATE: Jane Shepherdson, the brand director o­nce named as the most important woman in British fashion, dramatically quit Topshop amid reports of a row over the hiring of "Cocaine Kate" as a designer.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH: People magazine shows off its pics of the model's faux wedding. Meanwhile, ET reports o­n court allegations that Anna Nicole was hospitalized in the Bahamas to detox from an addiction to methadone -- the same drug that was found in her son's system when he unexpectedly died Sept. 10th.

NOW SHOWING: This week's new releases are led by Martin Scorsese's The Departed, starring Jack Nicholson, Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon -- currently scoring 95 percent o­n the Tomatometer. Maybe Marty will get his Oscar this time around. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is currently scoring 22 percent, though it's probably critic-proof for teenagers' date night. The Dane Cook-Jessica Simpson comedy Employee of the Month is currently scoring 29 percent -- whether that's critic-proof remains to be seen, though it got its two best reviews from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter -- which are (aside from Roger Ebert) the main reviews Hollywood reads.

GEORGE LUCAS, who virtually invented the franchise-tentpole film, says many small films and Web distribution are the future: "I think the secret to the future is quantity." So you know Lucasfilm's upcoming animated TV series Clone Wars is going to be all about quality.

KIM BASINGER pled not guilty Thursday to 14 contempt of court charges filed against her in Los Angeles Superior Court in connection with her bitter child custody dispute with Alec Baldwin.

PRINCE offered scantily-clad club dancers double their wages to stop gyrating o­n stage, asking the ladies, "What would your parents think if they could see you now?"

SHARON STONE was caught canoodling Jared Leto, who is a bit younger than she. Just so long as he keeps an eye peeled for the icepick...

BRADGELINA: Not o­nly does Pitt want Jolie pregnant again soon, he wants enough kids for a soccer team, though he seems to get that this means more adoptions.

SIENNA MILLER and JUDE LAW seem to be enjoying themselves -- at least he seems quite plastered in the pics at the link.

THE FRENCH HOTEL, who has been caught canoodling with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, took a roundhouse right to the jaw during a nightclub brawl with his ex-wife, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler. And Moakler o­nce dated Oscar de la Hoya, so we can hope she really landed it.

WE NEED A MONTAGE: Anyone who has seen Team America: World Police knows this, so Cracked has compiled The '80s Movie Montage Hall of Fame.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION is the next mockumentary from Christopher Guest and the ensemble that gave you movies like This Is Spinal Tap and Best In Show. You can watch the trailer in many formats at ComingSoon.

TELEPORTATION: Physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter, bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality. And brought even closer plenty of jokes about Star Trek and The Fly.

INACTIVISM: Penn students marched toward College Green, where they chanted phrases like "No more protests!" and "Down with activism!" College senior Livia Levine held a small piece of paper with the words "I will not make a sign."

IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed looks at the current situation and lists the sins of the Iraqis and the sin of America, which might surprise you. The New York Times reports that hte Army and Marines are finishing work o­n a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws o­n the hard-learned lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of the civilian population a bedrock element of military strategy. The paper notes that the military generally turned its back o­n counterinsurgency operations after the Vietnam War, which might suggest that SecDef Rumsfeld was not the o­nly person at the Pentagon not planning to fight an insurgency.

IRAN (and IRAQ): There's been some quiet journalism I have not noted here yet. Late last month, Bill Gertz reported that Iran was close to an agreement that would include a suspension of uranium enrichment. The next day, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled support for such a deal. Since then, there has been talk of demanding progress from the Iraqi government, lest the US engineer a larger deal with Iran and Syria. Now we see Rice making a surprise visit to Iraq to press the new government. So it seems like the clock is ticking for Iraq with a timetable of months to show progress, not years.

SNAKES in a HOUSE UPDATE: Today's snake-infested home is in San Antonio, TX -- far from the original cases in Idaho. Creepy video and slide show at the link.

FRANKENBUNNY: Scientists are planning to fuse human cells with a rabbit egg, in the hope that the "chimeric" embryos, which would be 99.9 per cent human and 0.1 per cent rabbit, could lead to breakthroughs in stem cell research which could o­ne day cure diseases such as Alzheimer's or spinal cord injury.

PET HOARDING: Today's story involves 100 cats fouling a home in South Dakota. Pic at the link.

A GERMAN SHEPHERD apparently being struck by a car limped into a hospital waiting room in Bellflower, CA. "We didn't teach him that," said Buddy's owner. "I don't know how he figured that o­ne out." Pics at the link.

PATCHES the PITBULL: Indiana doesn't want him. Lord, he can't go back there.

SUSANNA HOFFS: The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles has a cool profile that asks: "How did a nice Jewish girl from Santa Monica become a rock star?" As Hoffs is big into covers recently, we salute her with video of three songs, including The Seeds' "Pushin' Too Hard" from the early days of The Bangles, Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" live o­n Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve '06, a 1991 cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love" (a must-see for men and lesbians) and Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" with Matthew Sweet o­n the Peacock-net.

BECK: As if a new album this week was not enough, he has two new songs with videos streaming at his website.

TV o­n the RADIO singer Tunde Adebimpe puts the pop and politics into perspective for Harp magazine: "If I'm listening to a record and someone mentions something about their politics, it doesn

THE BEATLES: A "new" album of Beatles music mixed by their legendary producer George Martin and described as a new "way of reliving the whole Beatles musical lifespan", will be released in November. But if you really want to see George Martin work the knobs, you should watch The Making of Sgt. Pepper, in which Martin plays the 4-track masters to highlight individual tracks and alternate takes. Part 1 ends with an analysis of "Strawberry Fields Forever," while Part 2 starts with "Penny Lane" -- the predecessors to Pepper and the first Beatles single to miss No.1 o­n the UK charts, for a very strange reason. (Part 2 also covers the title track.) Part 3 covers "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "With A Little Help From My Friends", and "Within You Without You." Part 4 addresses the influence of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album o­n Pepper and covers "Good Morning" and "Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite." Part 5 discusses Ringo's drumming and focuses o­n "A Day In the Life."

ROCKTOBER! The Drive-By Truckers are posting live MP3s and studio outtakes throughout the month, in connection with A Blessing and a Curse. As the band puts it: "The blessing is that by the end of the month, you can collect an entire DBT bootleg album. The curse is that each track will be available for a couple of days at most." Get clicking!

EDDIE VAN HALEN threw a release party for the adult film Sacred Sin, which features two new instrumentals by Eddie. And if you guessed there would be naked chicks in Eddie's pool, you would be right.

JOHNNY CASH & THE ORIGINAL TENNESSEE TWO: At rbally, Jennings has posted the audio from a 1958 TV gig. You can stream it via the Hype Machine, natch.

BACK IN BLACK: Goth has risen from the dead -- and the 1980s pioneers are (naturally) not happy about it.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK: The Ear Farm has posted a 2004 solo gig at the venerable Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. You can jukebox it via the Hype Machine.

DAVID BYRNE talks to the Montreal Gazette about the future of rock music -- albums, stores, internet distribution and more. Of course, if David Byrne duets with Richard Thompson in a diner, people are going to hear it.

MYSTERY TRAIN: Some Velvet Blog has posted multiple vesions of the classic, originally by Little Junior's Blue Flames. You can jukebox 'em via the Hype Machine, too.

WHAT IT IS! Amid the flurry of new releases yesterday, I should have mentioned that Rhino a four disc set of rare and classic funk tracks that have long served as the source material behind tracks by Kanye, Biggie, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and the Beastie Boys, among others. Liner notes by writer and Soul Sides blogger Oliver Wang, with track-by-track commentaries and testimonials from funk and rap notables. Follow the link to Pitchfork for video of Aretha Franklin o­n The Flip Wilson Show.

STEVE ALBINI talks to the Chicago Reader about Shellac, upcoming work with The Stooges, and staying analog.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled singer and supposedly sober supermodel are planning to marry in Ireland and start a family soon, according to the manager of a Dublin venue where they performed at last week.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH'S ex-boyfriend and wannabe baby daddy filed suit Monday against the spokesmodel, demanding that she return to California with newborn daughter Dannielynn Hope for a paternity test. Meanwhile, Smith's faux wedding to long-time attorney Howard K. Stern may have a million-dollar payday, with GettyPictures or People rumored to have paid that much for pics of the ceremony.

BRITNEY SPEARS is planning a variety of styles o­n her new album, including rap. Yet she is also determined to improve o­n her previous releases. But for the rap, that would seem like a low bar to clear. Meanwhile, Spenderline is backsliding into his party boy habits again.

ELVIS PRESLEY bedded Marilyn Monroe within minutes of meeting her, according to the King's former agent, Byron Raphael.

GEORGE CLOONEY is trying to outsmart the paparazzi by turning his public dating into The Thomas Crown Affair.

JESSICA SIMPSON was spotted in a hotel with John Mayer again. All of the Strange New Respect he's been earning is o­n the verge of dissipating. Meanwhile, creepy dad-manager Joe shows he's as good at steering a car as he is at steering his daughters' careers.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: According to TMZ, Cruise is now directly involved in whipping Holmes back into shape for their supposed wedding.

SEAN PENN has a message for his daughter's dates: "I tell them that whatever they do to my daughter that night, they better be prepared to come home and do it to me too."

BORAT: British-born comic Sacha Baron Cohen has been condemned by a British Jewish group... that supports Mel Gibson.

TORI SPELLING is the latest to go o­n pregnant actress watch.

SIENNA MILLER and JUDE LAW: TMZ asks, "Are They or Aren't They?" Get back to us when you have it figured out.

JACKO: Do you think MJ ever saw the Bollywood version of the "Thriller" video?

WHY DO HUMANS KISS? An article that shows Scienceline has a sense of humor.

YOUTH RIOTS in England and Paris during Ramadan, but the press is doing its best to avoid mentioning the underlying issue. Here's some video of the French police fleeing the scene.

OPERATIC JIHAD: Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post weighs in o­n the Deutsche Oper in Berlin cancelling its production of Mozart's Idomeneo for fear that the avant-garde remake's final, unscripted scene (in which the king of Crete lugs o­nstage the severed heads of Jesus, Buddha, Poseidon and Muhammad) might offend Muslim sensibilities and create a security risk.

IRAQ: An Al Qaeda leader has died from injuries sustained during armed clashes with Iraqi Army troops in southwestern Kirkuk. Sunni sheikhs in Anbar are offering 30K men as recruits for the mostly Shiite Iraqi police and army; integrating these forces would be a positive development. Bill Roggio looks at US and Iraqi ops against Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army outside Baghdad. London's Times goes o­n a Mahdi Army op inside Baghdad. Col. Sean MacFarland says Ramadi is tipping toward Coalition forces, though -- as with Anbar generally -- the US expects it will be Iraqi forces that finish the job.

DIETING MONKEYS give preliminary evidence that cutting calories prevents age-related diseases.

RED SQUIRRELS may get a rope bridge across the A933 in Scotland.

PET OWNERS are suing a company called Hollywood Paws for failing to turn their pooches into stars. Owner Larry Lionetti contends he never promised acting jobs, although he said several animals had won spots in commercials: "Everybody knows down in your town that there are actors and actresses waiting o­n tables until a part comes along. Who in L.A. doesn't know this?"

A MONTH IN THE DOGHOUSE, and a woman gets Stockholm Syndrome.

TEN DAYS IN A LIONCAGE, and Ye Fu calls it performance art. His goal is to feel what it is like to be an animal locked up in a cage by men. Not all that different from living in China, I'd wager.

ROGUE WAVE held its benefit concert for their drummer Pat Spurgeon, who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant. The benefit concert featured performances by Rogue Wave, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie,) Nada Surf, Ryan Miller (Guster,) John Vanderslice, and other special guests including Daniel Handler (a/k/a Lemony Snickett). Click through for MP3s and video of songs including: "Cuddly Toy," "I