THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with ARETHA FRANKLIN, Live in Stockholm, 1968! The "Lady Soul" concert was broadcast on Swedish TV, including "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Come Back Baby," "Dr Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business)," "Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)" "I  Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)," "Chain Of Fools," and "Respect." BONUS: All Things Considered reviews Take a Look, a new box set featuring her years with Columbia Records.

THE KILLS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

KATE BUSH is advance streaming her Director's Cut.

JOHN VANDERSLICE did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND also did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

KEITH RICHARDS, LORD of the UNDEAD, is interviewed by Jimmy Fallon. Watch. Enjoy.

DAN DEACON collaborated on  "Hilvarenbeek", an odd, short film.

HUSKER DU: "Love Is All Around," for Mary Tyler Moore (see below). 

MAN MAN: Honus Honus talks to Paste about the band's musical progression, Life Fantastic and their experience working with producer Mike Mogis.

KURT VILE shares a few of his favorite things for a Pitchfork Guest List.

MIKE WATT talks to PopMatters about his new 30-song opera.

JASON ISBELL talks to PopMatters about the just-released Here We Rest.

BLAKE SENNETT (Rilo Kiley, The Elected) is interviewed by American Songwriter.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Marcels to Led Zeppelin, from the Dovers to Generation X, from Jan & Dean to Candy Golde, from the Beatles to the Clash, plus Love, the Ramones, Fitz & the Tantrums, the Miracles 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 Bridesmaids, which is currently scoring 90 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Priest, scoring 20 percent on a small sample.

ASHTON KUTCHER is putting the final touches on a deal to replace Charlie Sheen as the star of <i jquery1305246499622="43">Two and a Half Men.

LEO DiCAPRIO & BAR RAFELI are dunzo, according to Page Six.

CELEBRITY HERPES LAWSUIT Triggers Sex Tape Frenzy. Now that's a headline.

JENNIFER ANISTON may be topless in the raunchy comedy Horrible Bosses.

MATTHEW PERRY is returning to rehab as a proactive measure in his battle with substance abuse.

MARY TYLER MOORE has elected to undergo surgery to remove a benign tumor of the lining tissue of the brain.

TERROR in FRANCE: Police arrested six men linked to Islamic terrorists, including an "Indian native" and several Frenchmen, during separate raids in Paris and "two of its heavily immigrant suburbs." The cell leader has "a high level of technical training."

IRAN: Russia has sent the nuclear fuel needed to start the Bushehr plant.

AFGHANISTAN: UK Prime Minister David Cameron has triggered a row with military chiefs by insisting that hundreds of British troops must be withdrawn from Afghanistan within weeks.

A BOXER stair surfs.

INVINCIBLE OPOSSUM: Shot five times and still doesn't die.

BODHI the SKATEBOARDING DOG landed his owner with an £80 fine after two women complained to Brighton council that they were tripped up by the pooch and his wheels.

BINGO, a Shi Tzu, took a 30 mile train trip before a passenger took him to a rescue center, which reuninted dog and owner.

LOW plays Toto's "Africa" for The A.V. Club Undercover.

MOUNTAIN GOATS stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

DALE WATSON, bluegrass legend, does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

BEIRUT debuted two new songs in Virginia.

NEIL INNES of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and The Rutles (and a Monty Python collaborator) plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

MEYER HAWTHORNE's covers EP is now available to stream and download.

STEVIE WONDER: "Fingertips, Pt II," Live in '63.

OKKERVIL RIVER: Will Sheff and Pat Pestorius talks to Spinner about recording I Am Very Far.

THE DECEMBERISTS' Colin Meloy and Nate Query are interviewed on the CNN about the recording and songwriting on the band's current LP.

RICHARD BUCKNER talks to Aquarium Drunkard about life as a nomad and life as professional singer-songwriter in America in 2011.

ANGUS MacLISE: The forgotten member of the Velvet Underground.

LINDSAY LOHAN dodged jail time after pleading no contest to misdemeanor theft. It's expected she'll serve 4 months at home.

ARNOLD/MARIA SPLIT: Schwarzenegger wants Shriver back, and he's changing his ways -- somewhat -- to make that happen.

BRITNEY SPEARS could be forced into a psych exam as part of a lawsuit brought by ex-manager Sam Lufti.

HUGH GRANT was deep into final negotiations to replace Charlie Sheen as the lead on Two And A Half Men until he pulled out last night at the last minute due to creative differences.

WILL SMITH has docked a gargantuan, double-decker moveable mansion for his "Men in Black III" shoot smack in the middle of SoHo - even though he's renting a luxury apartment less than a mile away. Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith will appear May 25 on the Oprah's final daytime show.

KATIE HOLMES, contrary to reports, is not pregnant, according to Tom Cruise's rep.

SYRIA: Security forces killed 13 people while shelling homes and opening fire on anti-government protesters in the town of Harra. The UN has suspended most of its operations in Syria.

LIBYA: Rebels claimed to have taken control of the airport in Misrata and have driven pro-Gaddafi forces from the city.

PAKISTAN: A group of Pakistani politicians including a former minister hijacked proceedings in parliament to offer prayers for the death of Osama bin Laden.

IRAQ's prime minister offered his clearest opening yet for the possibility of extending the presence of US troops past their scheduled Dec. 31 departure date, saying he would do so if most of the country's political blocs support the decision.

A DOG adopts a baby racoon...Mass hysteria!

A FEMALE PEACOCK escapes from Bronx Zoo, still on the loose on NYC streets.

BANJO the KOALA, stolen from the Australian Reptile Park, was found dumped in the car park.

SEA LION vs FISHERMAN: Who you got?

CALEXICO rolled out "Crystal Frontier" And "Ojitos Traidores" for Jimmy Kimmel on Cinco de Mayo.

FRIENDLY FIRES advance stream Pala.

RA RA RIOT plays a short set on the Mountain Stage.

YUCK previews "Milkshake" from an upcoming single.

MEYER HAWTHORNE covers ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky."

WAKEY WAKEY! covers Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," marking the song's second appearance here this week.

NEIL YOUNG: On the Beach, Live.

FLAMING GROOVIES "Shake Some Action," circa 1987.

YO LA TENGO talks to... Wine Enthusiast about the band's culinary experiences when touring.

BRIAN WILSON may retire from touring next year and said he still suffers from the hallucinations and stage fright that led to him become a recluse in the late Sixties and early Seventies.

SUFJAN STEVENS talks to The Guardian about his hippie childhood, his wilfully disorienting new sound and why, at 35, he's celebrating a 'second puberty'.

NIRVANA bassist Krist Novoselic talks to The Guardian about becoming a museum exhibit.

CORNELL DUPREE, a/k/a Uncle Funky, one of the most prolific and talented session guitarists in R&B and jazz, died May 8 in Fort Worth, Texas. Dupree was 68 and had recently been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  King Curtis, Miles Davis, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Herbie Mann, James Brown, Aretha Franklin... Unckle Funky played with all of them.

ARNOLD/MARIA SPLIT: Maria Shriver has been deciding whether to divorce Arnold Schwarzenegger since 2009 and has been "miserable" in her marriage for a long, long time, complaining about Arnold's ego and reported womanizing. TOTALLY COINCIDENTAL: This.

CHARLIE SHEEN offfers more raving and his "Winning" video with Snoop Dogg.

WHITNEY HOUSTON: Banned by Prince!

PRINCE WILLIAM & KATE have left for a two-week honeymoon in a secret hideaway in the Indian Ocean.

PAUL McCARTNEY is again considering not having a pre-nuptial agreement. It worked out so well last time.

JANUARY JONES: According to very well placed movie insiders, closely connected to Jones (who's been shooting X-Men: First Class), January was involved with someone on set-and that someone is the father of her child.

TOTAL RECALL: Ethan Hawke is boarding the Colin Farrell-starring remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie.

SYRIA: Columns of tanks are reported to be moving toward the city of Hama, where anti-regime protests have been ongoing.

EGYPT: Egyptian Christians say they were "under organised attack" last weekend as religious authorities warned the country was at risk of civil war.  Security forces claimed to have arrested the "mastermind" who sparked violent attacks by Muslims against Christians at a church in Cairo. The government extended former President Mubarak's detention.

AFGHANISTAN: The Guardian has a lengthy piece summing up the general situation -- corruption, the enormity of the task of building up Afghan forces, the role of the Taliban, and more...

A GOLDEN RETRIEVER adopts ducklings...Mass hysteria!

THE MEMPHIS FLOOD has critters on the move... including water moccasins and deer.

A BABY GIRAFFE debuts in Cincinnati with aww...dorable pics.

WILD ASSES are being pushed to extinction, while punchlines multiply.

ARCADE FIRE & CYNDI LAUPER joined together on "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and Arcade Fire's "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)", just in time for Twofer Tuesday.

NEW RELEASES from Fleet Foxes, Raphael Saadiq, Manchester Orchestra, Okkervil River, Cars, Booker T, Felice Bros, Man Man, Sloan, Le Butcherettes and many more are streaming this week via Spinner.

THE LOW ANTHEM stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

ALELA DIANE stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set in audio and video.

OMD: Live on KEXP at SXSW.

JOHN WALKER, one of the founders of the Walker Brothers, has died at the age of 67, after a six-month battle with liver cancer. So it makes sense to make "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" and "Make It Easy On Yourself" for Twofer Tuesday.

FLEET FOXES: Robin Pecknond talks to Pitchfork about the Pacific Northwest, the selfishness of art, and why authenticity still matters to music fans. You can seen them Live From Stubb's in Austin, TX, tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET.

CASS McCOMBS sent snail mail for an L.A. Times profile of the singer-songwriter.

PETER HOOK's EP of Joy Division re-recordings has been delayed "due to legal issiues."

MICHAEL STIPE became so ill as he battled bulimia, he thought he was suffering from AIDS.

LINDSAY LOHAN poses as a vampire in a new art exhibit in L.A. At least I think it's a pose.

WHITNEY HOUSTON checked herself in to an out-patient rehabilitation program, but insists it's not for drugs or alcohol. Her own rep disagrees. Awkward!

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER & MARIA SHRIVER have separated, with Shriver moving out of their Brentwood mansion while the two determine the next step in their 25-year marriage.

JUSTIN BIEBER was a "brat" on the set of CSI, according to star Marg Helgenberger, Bieber thinks the comments were lame.

SIMON COWELL might have competition for the title of "meanest judge" on The X Factor in music industry veteran and table-mate Antonio "L.A." Reid. (I generally have not watched American idol, but what I see on Twitter suggests people want miss Simon and want more mean.)

RACHEL McADAMS is wearing a ring, but sources close to the actress and boyfriend Michael Sheen deny an engagement.

ALICIA SILVERSTONE gave birth to a boy over the weekend.

KELLY BROOK has been left ‘devastated' after losing the baby girl she was expecting with her boyfriend Thom Evans.

BAHRAIN's king ordered an end to the emergency rule imposed in mid-March to quell a wave of anti-government protests as leading opposition figures went on trial Sunday for plotting against the Gulf state's monarchy.

LIBYA: NATO strike aircraft bombed military weapons depots in the town of Zintan.

IRAN:  Apparently bowing to unprecedented pressure from Iran's clerical establishment, Ahmadinejad welcomed an intelligence minister he had ousted in April back into his cabinet meeting on Sunday.  NPR starts a series on the US sabotage campaign against the theocracy.

PAKISTAN: Last week's US raid into Pakistan is fueling one of the country's most enduring-and potentially dangerous-conspiracy theories: that the US has designs on Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and is prepared to send highly trained commandos into the country to seize control of the weapons.

BABY CHINCHILLAS in WINE GLASSES: A Love Story.

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A pig with two snouts. And a big appetite.

A THREE-LEGGED DOG survives a tornado in Barton County, GA.

WHEN HOUSECATS ATTACK... a Cleveland man is airlifted to the hospital.

THE BIRDS: Michael Doherty was walking by a Tufts University classroom building on Dearborn Road in Somerville when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he was attacked.

J MASCIS drops a video for "Is It Done" from Several Shades of Why.

THE CARS are advance streaming Move Like This.

ROME: Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi assemble many of the surviving performers of classic '60s and '70s Ennio Morricone scores - and, in half a dozen memorable cases, pairs them up with the vocals of Norah Jones or The White Stripes' Jack White.  The album is advance streaming via NPR.

WHY? did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

ROBBIE ROBERTSON (The Band) stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

JOLIE HOLLAND dropped "Gold and Yellow" in advance of Pint of Blood.

THE WHO: "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," live in '65.

ROBERT JOHNSON, the most influential blues player of all time, would have turned 100 yesterday.  He was profiled by Weekend Edition and PopMatters.

GLASVEGAS talks to NME the making of 'Euphoric Heartbreak', and how crippling shyness, learning to talk to girls, sleep deprivation and whiskey all played a part in the LP's inception.

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART's Kip Berman theorizes about alt-rock at amNY. (Thx, LHB.)

SMASHING PUMPKINS will never reunite in its classic lineup, according to Billy Corgan.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Thor rules the cineplex with 66 million dollars, about 10 percent above the tracking predictions.  And the God of Thunder has already pulled in almost twice as much as that overseas, meaning the risk of spending 150 million on a lesser-known character will pay off big for Marvel and Paramount.  Fast Five placed with 32.5 million, a 62 percent drop that is steep, but typical of the franchise.  Fast Five is also raking it in overseas.  Jumping the Broom shows with 13.7 million against a 7 million budget, surprisingly beating the debut of Something Borrowed, which took in 13.1 million against a 35 million budget.  Rio rounds out the Top Five (despite losing lucrative 3-D screens to Thor) with 8.2 million.  Rio's 45 percent drop is fairly big, but the birds have brought home 114 million US and 265 million overseas against a 90 million budget.

THOR REDUX:  In Friday's review, I wrote that I wasn't sure Kenneth Branagh needed to direct because Thor isn't Shakespeare.  However, Branagh makes the case that there are some similarities at the end of this io9 piece. Skim to the end to avoid mild spoilers.

LINDSAY LOHAN does a racy photoshoot and denies John Travolta is recruiting her into Scientology.

CHARLIE SHEEN: Kelly Preston now backs his account of the infamous 1990 shooting incident.

PAUL McCARTNEY and his girlfriend of four years, Nancy Shevell, are engaged to be married.

PAULA ABDUL rejoins SIMON COWELL on The X Factor, along with previously announced judges Cheryl Cole and Antonio "L.A." Reid. Nicole Scherzinger  and Steve Jones will host.

TARA REID partied so hard her tooth fell out? Too funny to check.

WILL SMITH has emerged as the frontrunner to star in Quentin Tarantino's next film, Django Unchained, a spaghetti Western about a slave in the Old South who teams with a German bounty hunter to search for his wife.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has a new trailer out, featuring Havok.

LIBYA: Pro-Gaddafi forces bombed four fuel storage containers in the port of rebel-held Misrata, destroying the city's fuel supply.

SYRIA: Government tanks and troops entered the city of Baniyas, penetrating Sunni enclaves; protesters formed human chains.

EGYPT: Twelve people were killed after more than 500 Salafists gathered outside a Christian church in a Cairo suburb to demand that a woman rumored to have converted to Islam be released. Egypt's ruling military council has lifted the entry ban against the nephew of Anwar Sadat's assassin and nearly 2000 others, many of them Islamists who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s.  More than 2000 secular political activists met to try to create a unified movement to press for deeper democratic reforms.

IRAQ: Eighteen people, including al Qaeda's governor for Baghdad and seven security officers, were killed during a failed jailbreak. Security forces in Mosul killed the governor of Ninewa for al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq.

PAKISTAN: The CIA may have focused its war on al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal badlands but Osama bin Laden's killing exposes the limits of drone strikes and the need to broaden intelligence in cities. A senior official in Pakistan's civilian government told ABC News, "Elements of Pakistan intelligence -- probably rogue or retired -- were involved in aiding, abetting and sheltering the leader of al Qaeda."

A DOG really wants to fetch, but the statue won't play ball.

ALLIGATORS: Chicks dig 'em. Or possibly not.

A BOA CONSTRICTOR that interrupted a memorial service in Dauphin County, PA, last week has found a temporary home at the Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary in Manheim.

CHIMPS have at least 66 distinct gestures they use to talk to each other.

THE CATS OF WAR: Slate goofs on the "Dogs of War" stories linked here last week. (Thx, Lance.)