MILEY CYRUS & ARIANA GRANDE cover Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over."

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS played a mini-set for KUTX.

SLEATER-KINNEY stopped by World Cafe to chat and play some live tracks recorded in Paris.

HOP ALONG played a mini-set at World Cafe.

BRANDI CARLILE and band stopped by the KEXP studio.

VERUCA SALT dropped “Laughing In The Sugar Bowl” and “The Gospel According To Saint Me” ahead of Ghost Notes.

WESTKUST drops “Dishwasher" ahead of Last Forever.

RAY MANZAREK died 2 years ago (yesterday) , which put me in mind of "Light My Fire" and his telling of the story behind the Doors classic.  Also, NME collected more of Ray's riffs.

JOY DIVISION: A classic interview first published in Sounds in November 1978.

DAVE LETTERMAN, who signed off last night, brought a lot of great music and musicians into our homes, as noted by Paste and Pitchfork.

JIM O' ROURKE talks to Aquarium Drunkard about his  record’s long gestation, his high school influences, and the “dishonesty of earnest men.”

YES, ranked by Stereogum.

SIMON PEGG, unsurprisingly, "clarified" his seemingly negative comments about sci-fi and comic book movies following an internet kerfuffle.

ANNE HATHAWAY may not be in a Godzilla movie after all.

BILL MURRAY may have had a few before going on MSNBC. But how different is that from Chris Matthews?

GEORGE CLOONEY said starting a family with his wife of eight months isn't a priority for them right now.

KIM KARDASHIAN pursued KANYE WEST. 

BILL COSBY is sued by JANICE DICKINSON, who claims he flat-out lied when his team claimed she made up the story that he drugged and raped her.

NORTH KOREA's sub launched missile looks like a fake.

IRAN's supreme leader on Wednesday ruled out inspections of Iranian military sites and interviews of Iranian nuclear scientists in any potential deal on its nuclear program.

SYRIA: Islamic State militants have taken near complete control of the city of Palmyra, home to some of the world's most magnificent ancient ruins.

IRAQ: Ramadi fell into ISIS hands after the militant group set off 30 suicide car bombs in the city center, 10 of which each were comparable in power to the Oklahoma City truck bomb of 1995.

FAIRY PENGUINS at the Bronx Zoo.

AN ANNOYED ALLIGATOR pees all over Fox News Channel.

A LIVE HAMSTER was eaten by a teacher to demonstrate the value of life.

TWO DEAD WHALES: After some haggling over which jurisdiction was responsible, crews in Pacifica began ripping up mammal flesh and burying the weighty beasts after neighbors complained of their rotting stench.

EDDIE VEDDER channeled Pete Townshend and played "Better Man" --possibly my fave Pearl Jam song-- for Letterman, who ends his TV show tonight, iirc.

THE VACCINES advance stream English Graffiti.

LITTLE WINGS advance streams Explains.

WAXAHATCHEE plays a mini-set at KEXP.

TENNIS performs in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

NAP EYES drop "Dark Creedence" ahead of Whine of the Mystic (is it a reissue if the original run was 200?).  Very Velvetsy.

SPOON covers The Cramps' "TV Set" for the Poltergeist soundtrack.

MATES OF STATE drop "Beautiful Kids" ahead of You’re Going To Make It.

PETE TOWNSHEND, who just turned 70, talks to The Economist. So why not "Rough Boys"?

DAVID CROSBY apologized to NEIL YOUNG & DARYL HANAH for calling the latter "a purely poisonous predator."

JOHN LYDON, a/k/a Johnny Rotten talks with Isaac Fitzgerald (BuzzFeed Books) about his new memoir, Anger is an Energy.

PAUL WELLER: The Ace Face.

MUMFORD & SONS shed their identity...for what?

SIMON PEGG (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek, Mission Impossibles III and IV) is having second thoughts about sci-fi and superheroes.

CANNES banned women in flat shoes from the red carpet.

SOFIA VERGARA has learned something about men.

BRUCE JENNER revealed he has no plans for gender reassignment surgery.

RHIANNA faces a caped crusader.

RUSSIA: Police in Britain thought Alexander Perepilichnyy, a whistleblower who fled Russia in fear of the Kremlin, had died of natural causes. But a killer flower was found in his stomach. ALSO: Russia has closed a transport corridor that had allowed NATO militaries to deliver supplies to Afghanistan through Russian territory.

IRAN  will unveil and test the home-made version of the sophisticated Russian S-300 missile defense system, according to state-run media. ALSO: An artist and political activist has gone on trial in Iran for a cartoon criticising draft laws which would restrict access to birth control.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: Anyone telling you the Islamic State is in decline isn't paying attention. The fact that the Baghdad government now is considering moving Shiite militias to Ramadi, a predominantly Sunni city, suggests that Iraq’s central government still lacks adequate support from Iraq’s Sunni Arabs to defeat ISIS, a Sunni revolutionary movement. This spells trouble for Iraqi and American plans to defeat the terrorist group.

A CAT catches a bat. (NSFW language)

EELS ON COCAINE: Not a good thing.

DOGS now have their own special Nikon camera.

GOATS: Busted for trespassing and loaded into a squad car.

EDDIE VEDDER channeled Pete Townshend and played "Better Man" --possibly my fave Pearl Jam song-- for Letterman, who ends his TV show tonight, iirc.

THE VACCINES advance stream English Graffiti.

LITTLE WINGS advance streams Explains.

WAXAHATCHEE plays a mini-set at KEXP.

TENNIS performs in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

NAP EYES drop "Dark Creedence" ahead of Whine of the Mystic (is it a reissue if the original run was 200?).  Very Velvetsy.

SPOON covers The Cramps' "TV Set" for the Poltergeist soundtrack.

MATES OF STATE drop "Beautiful Kids" ahead of You’re Going To Make It.

PETE TOWNSHEND, who just turned 70, talks to The Economist. So why not "Rough Boys"?

DAVID CROSBY apologized to NEIL YOUNG & DARYL HANAH for calling the latter "a purely poisonous predator."

JOHN LYDON, a/k/a Johnny Rotten talks with Isaac Fitzgerald (BuzzFeed Books) about his new memoir, Anger is an Energy.

PAUL WELLER: The Ace Face.

MUMFORD & SONS shed their identity...for what?

SIMON PEGG (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek, Mission Impossibles III and IV) is having second thoughts about sci-fi and superheroes.

CANNES banned women in flat shoes from the red carpet.

SOFIA VERGARA has learned something about men.

BRUCE JENNER revealed he has no plans for gender reassignment surgery.

RHIANNA faces a caped crusader.

RUSSIA: Police in Britain thought Alexander Perepilichnyy, a whistleblower who fled Russia in fear of the Kremlin, had died of natural causes. But a killer flower was found in his stomach. ALSO: Russia has closed a transport corridor that had allowed NATO militaries to deliver supplies to Afghanistan through Russian territory.

IRAN  will unveil and test the home-made version of the sophisticated Russian S-300 missile defense system, according to state-run media. ALSO: An artist and political activist has gone on trial in Iran for a cartoon criticising draft laws which would restrict access to birth control.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: Anyone telling you the Islamic State is in decline isn't paying attention. The fact that the Baghdad government now is considering moving Shiite militias to Ramadi, a predominantly Sunni city, suggests that Iraq’s central government still lacks adequate support from Iraq’s Sunni Arabs to defeat ISIS, a Sunni revolutionary movement. This spells trouble for Iraqi and American plans to defeat the terrorist group.

A CAT catches a bat. (NSFW language)

EELS ON COCAINE: Not a good thing.

DOGS now have their own special Nikon camera.

GOATS: Busted for trespassing and loaded into a squad car.

KRIST NOVOSELIC & DUFF McKAGAN play the  Guns N’ Roses classic "Sweet Child O’ Mine” together.

LORD HURON: Live at Electric Lady Studios.

WILL BUTLER stopped by WFUV's Studio A for a chat and mini-set.

RHETT MILLER performs a stripped-down mini-set on the stage of World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

THE WOMBATS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

NOTS drop "Virgin Mary" as a single.

JOY DIVISION: NME looks at Ian Curtis 35 years after the frontman's suicide.

THE KINKS biopic, You Really Got Me, now has a director (Julian Temple) and its Davies Bros.

JIM O'ROURKE: Indie's Unsung Perpetual Polymath.

THE KILLERS' frontman Brandon Flowers has revealed in a new interview that he keeps his facial hair shavings in a bag.

TAYLOR SWIFT tops Maxim's Hot 100? Haters gonna hate.

LEIGHTON MEESTER & ADAM BRODY are expecting their first child.

JOSH BROLIN is engaged to his assistant Kathryn Boyd.

IGGY AZALEA got moar plastic surgery.

AMANDA SEYFRIED gets a lengthy profile in the new Vogue.

JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS is off the wagon again.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF TELEVISION has accelerated to a gallop.

SAUDI ARABIA is advertising for eight new executioners, recruiting extra staff to carry out an increasing number of death sentences, usually done by public beheading.

AN IRANIAN cargo ship carrying aid and activists crossed into the Gulf of Aden on Sunday and will reach Yemen's Hodaida port on May 21, Iranian media reported, in a challenge to Saudi-led naval forces controlling Yemeni waters.

IRAQI security forces attempting to retake control of the western city of Ramadi were routed in heavy fighting Sunday, the worst defeat for Iraq’s central government since Islamic State militants stormed across the country last June. How bad? 6000 govt forces were routed by 150 ISIS fighters.  US Officials have said containment might become an option but is not under active discussion now.

A HERD OF DEER heard a szeeze.

A BLACK BEAR broke into a car in Sandpoint, ID, and stole some stew. No pic-i-nic basket.

A PARROT removes his owner's loose tooth.

A DEAD BUFFALO injured a cyclist in Johannesburg.

U2 plays their Rattle And Hum B.B. King collaboration “When Love Comes To Town” for the first time in 22 years, to honor the late, great bluesman. BOUNS: The Edge 0, edge 1.

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA advance stream Multi-Love.

SHANA CLEVELAND & THE SANDCASTLES advance stream Oh Man, Cover The Ground.

LOS HIJOS DE LA MONTANA advance stream a self-titled album.

TWIN SHADOW stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

KENNY ROGERS & THE FIRST EDITION: "I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Yeah.

THE MILK CARTON KIDS do a wide-ranging interview with No Depression.

FATHER JOHN MISTY answers your relationship questions. Badly.

BESSIE SMITH: NPR and the Daily Beast are among those who covered the HBO movie about the seminal blues singer, headlined by Queen Latifah.

YOUR BAND SUCKS: What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear) is excerpted by Pitchfork...but not the core thesis.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Pitch Perfect 2 tops the chart with 70.3MM, exceeding projections and opening like a block buster against a 29MM budget.  The reviews aren;t as good for this sequel, but the word-of-mouth is suggesting big biz thru Memorial Day at least.  Mad Max: Fury Road placed with 44.4MM, also a little ahead of expectations; even with 100MM+ globally, the WB may regret not having put this on more 2-D screens, esp. with more action pics debuting soon.  Avengers: Age of Ultron shows with 38.8MM, finally dropping a big 50 percent, but already hundreds of millions in the black.  Hot Pursuit takes the fourth slot with 5.8MM, plummeting 59 percent in its second frame.  Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 rounds out the Top 5 with 3.6MM, and it's likely in the black now.

LINDSAY LOHAN vows to become a fugitive from justice and will flee to Monaco if she doesn't complete her community service on time.

DAVID LYNCH has returned to the Twin Peaks reboot at Showtime, which will have eeven more episodes now.

BILL COSBY appeared on Good Morning America this morning to talk about his campaign to improve education in Alabama, but gave rambling answers to questions about allegations of sexual assault.

MATTHEW McCONNAUGHEY's new drama, The Sea of Trees, was screened to a chorus of boos during two press showings May 15 at the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival in France. Alwrong alwrong alwrong.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS may include at least one uncredited A-lister.

MAD MEN: Of the finale, I will say only that it confirmed my strong opinion that the show was always a black comedy.

SAUDI ARABIA has taken the “strategic decision” to acquire “off-the-shelf” atomic weapons from Pakistan, risking a new arms race in the Middle East, according to senior American officials. 

SYRIA: The U.S. government was informed months ago that an international monitoring body found traces of chemical weapons that President Bashar al-Assad had promised to turn over, including sarin gas -- a clear violation of the deal he struck with President Obama after crossing the administration’s "red line" two years ago.

THE ISLAMIC STATE seized control of the city of Ramadi on Sunday, sending Iraqi forces racing out of the city in a major loss despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the extremists.

WE DONT WANT TO RUIN THE SURPRISE, But We Promise This Isn't Clickbait.

IT'S RAINING SPIDERS iN Australia.

BISONS don't want to be in your selfie. The More You Know.

THE DUNWOODY BEAR was spotted again.