THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

... with THE MINUTEMEN! San Pedro, California's greatest musical export took apart rock, jazz and funk and put the pieces back together in a jagged collage. They are caught here in an acoustic session for a cable-access show from Hollywood, circa 1985. Your setlist includes "The Meter Man," "Corona," "Themselves," "The Red And The Black" (Blue Öyster Cult), "Badges, "I Felt Like Gringo," "Time" (Richard Hell), "Green River" (Creedence Clearwater Revival), "Lost" (Meat Puppets), "Ack Ack Ack," "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" "History Lesson Part II," "Tour Spiel" and "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., JR. stopped by the KEXP studios for a session.

DR. DOG preview their upcoming record of folk-inspired psychedelic rock at WNYC Soundcheck.

NADA SURF showcased new material at WNYC Soundcheck.

LAURA GIBSON had a chat and mini-set at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

TENNIS drops "My Better Self" in advance of Young & Old.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Greetings from Asbuty Park, NJ Outtakes.

GUIDED BY VOICES: Nerve ranks every LP, with tracks.

BAY CITY ROLLERS: The immortal genius of "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y... NIGHT!"

LESLIE FEIST talks to the New Zealand Herald about getting back together with her guitar.

PITCHFORK: Richard Beck delivers 9000 words on the site's history and impact.

PATTI SMITH gets the New York Review of Books treatment.

14 SURPRISING PLATINUM ALBUMS, courtesy of The A.V. Club. Oof!

BEATLES vs STONES, and other musical duels.

HOW 10 SONGWRITERS rake in the cash.

DISNEY'S JOY DIVISION T-SHIRT sells out and is discontinued.

CUTOUT BIN  From Big Country to Al Stewart, from the Crystals to Ten Years After, from Mary Wells to the Yardbirds, plus Bruce Springsteen, KC & the Sunshine Band, Tom Waits, the Hold Steady and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include: The Grey, which is currently scoring 80 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; One For the Money, which was not screened for critics; and Man On a Ledge, scoring 21 percent.

DEMI MOORE's 911 tape may be redacted, as gossip emerges that her partying contributed to her split from Ashton Kutcher, who is "deeply concerned" about her. RadarOnline claims Adderall played a role in her condition.

HEIDI KLUM & SEAL: The singer isn't sure he would like to reconcile, but he doesn't rule it out.

BRAD PITT talks to THR about his brutal fight to save Moneyball, fame, his depression in the '90s, President Obama, and plans to make partner Angelina Jolie his wife.

LINDSAY LOHAN is being sued by a woman who claims Li-Lo hit her while driving a Maserati through what used to be Lohan's West Hollywood neighborhood.

JOHNNY DEPP & VANESSA PARADIS are not splitiing, she says.

RUSSELL BRAND & KATY PERRY: He's reportedly trashing her to new conquests.

DREW BARRYMORE is converting to Judaism for a  traditional Jewish wedding ceremony later this year.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR is not going to rehab, no, no, no. Instead, the 50-year-old actress has resumed the ongoing sobriety program she began and maintained in 2011 until the difficult split with her fiance, actor Jack Wagner.

THE OFFICE may spin off Dwight Schrute.

MOONRISE KINGDOM: Wes Anderson's next movie has a trailer online.

SH_TF_C_D: Pat Sajak says he used to host Wheel Of Fortune while drunk -- and letter-turner Vanna White was three sheets to the wind, too.

ROBERT HEYGES, who played Jewish Puerto-Rican wheeler-dealer Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein on the 1970s classic sitcom "Welcome Back Kotter," died after an apparent heart attack in his Metuchen home yesterday. He was 60. Authorities found no note from his mother.

IRAN: The escalating confrontation over Iran's nuclear arms program is having a telling effect on Iran's economy and prompting some to flee the country.

EGYPT: Hundreds of thousands thronged major squares across Egypt on Wednesday, marking the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak with rallies that laid bare the divisions that have replaced the unity of last year's revolt.

AL QAEDA remains a real threat, according to US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

CAT vs ALLIGATOR: Who you got?

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A lamb with six legs.

PET HOARDING: Here's what lurked in a Boca Raton apartment: A red-spitting cobra, a puff adder, a uracoan rattlesnake, two false cobras and a small alligator.

THE DUNG BEETLE DANCE, performed as the beetle moves away from the dung pile with his precious dung ball, is a mechanism to maintain the desired straight-line departure from the pile, according to a new study.

DOGS + SNOW = Awww...some pics.

SLEIGH BELLS premiere a video for "Comeback Kid."

FITZ & THE TANTRUMS stopped by the KEXP studios for a session.

THE JAYHAWKS played a mini-set for Sound Opinions.

MAKRETA IRGLOVA (The Frames, Swell Season) stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from Thomas Patrick Maguire, Ceremony, and Sea of Bees highlight the latest edition of the long-running series.

TRAMPLED BY TURTLES drops "Alone" in advance of Stars and Satellites.

WILCO & POPEYE join up in the video for "Dawned On Me"... and in last Sunday's Popeye strip.

BOB MOULD & CRAIG FINN talk to Clash about growing up making rock music.  Finn also talks to Grantland about the Hold Steady, debauchery, and his evolving songwriting.

ALABAMA SHAKES are profiled at Rolling Stone.

FIONA APPLE looks set to return in 2012, following a long absence.

JOY DIVISION bassist Peter Hook said the Disney shirt was unauthorized, but found it interesting.

MICK JAGGER pulled out of an event due to be hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, after complaining that he was being used as a "political football."

DEMI MOORE had an seizure Monday night -- by one account caused by nitrous oxide -- before she was rushed to the hospital and is being treated for anorexia, among other issues, according to RadarOnline. Moore has dropped out of the Linda Lovelace biopic to enter treatment.

HEIDI KLUM & SEAL: "Friends" of the couple reveal that the couple took great pains to hide the cracks in what seemed to be a storybook romance.

KIRSTEN DUNST and new beau Garrett Hedlund were caught canoodling at the Sundance Film Festival.

MILEY CYRUS birthday gifted boyfriend Liam Hemsworth with a puppy and a x-rated cake. Classy.

CAMERON DIAZ: Her shiny face is reviewed by a plastic surgeon.

JASON SEGEL is to be awarded this year's Hasty Pudding man of the year prize.

JAMES FARENTINO, whose private life was sometimes as dramatic as the roles he played in theater and on television, died Tuesday at 73.

WARNING... WARNING!  Dick Tufeld, a longtime radio and TV announcer best known as the voice of the robot in the 1960s science-fiction TV series Lost in Space, died while watching the NFL playoffs. He was 85.

SEAL TEAM SIX rescued two foreign aid workers kidnapped in Somalia.

YEMEN: Fourty-six people were killed during fighting between Houthis and Salafists in Hajjah.

LIBYA: Gaddafi loyalists seized control of a Libyan mountain city in the most serious challenge to the central government since the strongman's fall, underlining the increasing weakness of Libya's Western-backed rulers as they try to unify the country under their authority.

PAKISTAN: Prime Minister Gilani has retracted his criticism of Pakistan's military. The Senate called on the military to shoot down US drones.

AFGHANISTAN: France said it is not planning on withdrawing its forces this year after six of its troops have been killed by Afghan security personnel. The US denied it planned to partition Afghanistan or modify the political system.

CAT IN THE CORNER: Let's go to the video.

A URINATING CAT brings the New Castle Fire department running.

A JACK RUSSELL TERRIER frightened intruders away from her owner's Warwickshire property.

A PENGUIN gets political in Kentucky.

WILCO played "The Whole Love" and "Dawned On Me" for Conan and Twofer Wednesday.

CHAIRLIFT plays a full set at World Cafe Live.

ALABAMA SHAKES stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

LONEY DEAR has an interview and session at WFUV. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

JESSIE BAYLIN got an interview plus tracks on All Things Considered.

SAINT ETIENNE drops "Tonight," the band's first material since 2005.

BON JOVIVER: Inveitable.

NANCY SINATRA: "These Boots Are Made For Walking." Are you ready?

FLAMING LIPS frontman Wayne Coyne talks to PopMatters about everything from the Lips' most recent experiment, a 24-hour long song, what he thinks about the recent break-ups of Sonic Youth and R.E.M., a possible upcoming collaboration on a cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever" with Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, and so much more ...

NEIL YOUNG complains to MTV about the quality of the sound of music today.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN: Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir talks to Interview about the art of storytelling, connecting with their listeners and making their own versions of fairytales.

JOY DIVISION meets Mickey Mouse.

DEMI MOORE is seeking professional assistance to treat her exhaustion, which might be code for something. 

HEIDI KLUM & SEAL: Their split shocks Seal and friends, but Heidi shopped for a divorce lawyer for weeks.

THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS went to these folks. Congrats!

JOHNNY DEPP & VANESSA PARADIS: She didn't exactly deny their rumored split.

HALLE BERRY asks a judge for an order prohibiting her baby daddy, Gabriel Aubry, from having any contact with their 3-year-old.

KRISTIN CAVALLARI & JAY CUTLER were surprised by her pregnancy. Oops.

JIM CARREY's 24-year-old daughter, who is heading to Hollywood on the hit show American Idol, was not treated just like any other hopeful, according to RadarOnline.

CYNTHIA NIXON is ruffling more than a few feathers in the LGBT community with her recent comment that she chooses to be gay.

JESSICA CHASTAIN talks to USA Today about he breakout year.

IRAN already has all the necessary elements to construct a nuclear weapon, the former head of Israel's military intelligence says.

PAKISTAN's fledgling democratic government, under increasing pressure from the military, appeased extremist groups, ignored army abuses, and failed to hold those responsible for serious abuses accountable in 2011, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2012.

AFGHANISTAN: The NATO-led coalition said there were no signs of organized infiltration of the Afghan security forces by insurgents, and it was too early to say if the Taliban were behind last week's killing of four French soldiers.

WHEN CROC ATTACKS: Dude had it coming.

PET HOARDING: Sheriff's deputies and officers from Palm Beach County Animal Care & Control had their hands full Friday night, evicting a woman and collecting the 66 cats she had accumulated in her home west of Delray Beach.

THE SWARM: Welsh Heritage park bosses could use bees to act as a deterrent to stop vandal attacks on historic buildings.

GRIEVING ELEPHANTS gathered 'round the lifeless body of a little calf after she died of a heart defect.

FLEET FOXES & JOANNA NEWSOM played a full set on Austin City Limits.

NEW RELEASES from Nada Surf, Craig Finn, Chairlift, Dion, First Aid Kit, and more are streaming this week at Spinner.

LEONARD COHEN is advance streaming Old Ideas.

ADAM ACURAGI is advance streaming Like a Fire That Consumes All Before It...

GOTYE is advance streaming Making Mirrors.

ANDREW BIRD drops "Eyeoneye" as the single from his upcoming LP.

BRENDAN BENSON drops "Bad For Me" in advance of Give Me My Change.

CONOR OBERST joins FIRST AID KIT on "King of the World."

JACKIE DeSHANNON: A rare French TV clip of "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" and "What Is This?" for Twofer Tuesday.

WILCO's Jeff Tweedy talks touring and evolving sounds with the San Francisco Chronicle.

ROBIN GIBB has opted to undergo an intense eight-week chemotherapy course, in an attempt to battle his life-threatening liver cancer.

EARL SCRUGGS was essayed at The New Yorker by Steve Martin.

J MASCIS has a bobblehead now.

HEIDI KLUM & SEAL confirmed the end of their seven-year marriage in a joint statement.  Apparently, the singer has a temper.

TRACY MORGAN was rushed to hospital in Park City, Utah, on Sunday after collapsing at the Sundance Film Festival.

KIM KARDASHIAN realized she had to get divorced after a session with psychic medium John Edward.

ARETHA FRANKLIN's wedding is off.

BRITNEY SPEARS may regain control over her finances as a wedding gift.

SIMON COWELL and fiancee Mezhgan Hussainy are "on a break" and have not seen each other for about a month.

HALLE BERRY's baby daddy Gabriel Aubry is being investigated for criminal child endangerment and battery - over an incident involving his and Halle's child.

REESE WITHERSPOON & RYAN REYNOLDS will star in a biopic of Margaret and Walter Keane, whose pop-eyed paintings became a sensation in the 1960s.

TERRY GILLIAM does a lightning round at The Guardian.

THE 40 BEST FILMS of 2011, according to PopMatters.

IRAN: The European Union banned Iranian oil imports. British and French naval ships joined the US carrier group in the Strait of Hormuz. The UN's nuclear watchdog agency confirmed it would send a mission to Iran by the end of January. Meanwhile, Iran's morality police are cracking down on the sale of Barbie dolls to protect the public from what they see as pernicious western culture eroding Islamic values.

SYRIA rejected an Arab League-sponsored plan for Assad to step down and hand over power to his deputy, calling it flagrant interference in Syria's internal affairs. The EU expanded sanctions. Russia signed a 550 million dollar deal to sell Syria 36 jet aircraft.

AFGHANISTAN: The EU has pledged 60 million Euros be used for reforms in government institutions.

THE BARK SIDE: It's an ad, but I couldn't help myself.

HEY, IS THAT A LOBSTER in your... oh, wait.

SNAKES in a SUV foil a carjacking.

TORTOISE LOVE: I've something and I can't get up.

ST. VINCENT played "Cheerleader" on Conan, with an allusion to Elvis Costello's classic Saturday Night appearance.

SNOW PATROL stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION stopped by KEXP for a session on video.

THE BIG PINK plays four cuts for a 4AD Session.

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

CULTS are profiled by the Boston Phoenix and play "Abducted" for Fallon.

ETTA JAMES, whose powerful, versatile and emotionally direct voice could enliven the raunchiest blues as well as the subtlest love songs, most indelibly in her signature hit, "At Last," died from leukemia complications on Friday morning in Riverside, Calif. She was 73. NPR has four more James picks with commentary. The Guardian expands the list to 10.

CRAIG FINN and the break his solo LP makes from the Hold Steady are essayed at the New York Times.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS talks to the L.A. Times about the moment Bob Dylan entered her life.

THE HORRORS' Faris Badwan talks to Drowned In Sound about writing and recording Skying.

PAUL McCARTNEY's cloud-based archive is impressive.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Underworld Awakening tops the chart with 25.4 million; it's the second highest opening of the series, likely due to the 3-D premium and the return of Kate Beckinsale in her catsuit.  With a 72 million budget, this should be modestly profitable once worldwide receipts and home video is accounted for.  Red Tails places with 19.1 million.  George Lucas self-financed the 58 million production budget and 35 million in ancillaries.  Bringing the Tuskeegee Airmen to the big screen may be a noble effort, but it may not be profitable, given the limited appeal it is likely to have overseas.  Contraband shows with 12 million on a sizable 50 percent drop; having recouped its budget opening weekend, this is gravy.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close expanded to the fourth slot with 10.5 million; the budget secrecy suggests that's likely not enough.  Haywire rounds out the Top 5 with 9 million, which was about as predicted, but middling against a 23 million budget; the international cast will likely be the key profit factor. Way below the fold, The Artist rode awards buzz to a 99% increase in business.

HAYWIRE: Steven Soderbergh's spies-gone-wrong picture  is well-executed, but I did not find anything particularly compelling about it.  The action pieces are interesting -- Soderbergh leaves out the music that normally scores such things, making them seem more realistic in the process, which has both an upside and a downside.  The cast is as uniformly good as you would expect from the names -- Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, and Ewan MacGregor to name a few.  Fmr. MMA fighter Gina Carano holds her own against these relative heavyweights, but it remains to be seen whether she can grow beyond this sort of role.  Ultimately, the story was rather pedestrian and rarely gripping.  It's not a bad movie, but I could have waited for cable.  I note that most critics disagree with this assessment, while the oft-maligned CinemaScore gave this a D+, so it would appear I am a man of the people on this one.

HEIDI KLUM & SEAL are not headed for divorce court just yet, their reps are busy telling people.

KRISTIN CAVALLARI & JAY CUTLER are expecting a baby jerkface.

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD and husband Seth Gabel welcomed a daughter on Thursday.

KATY PERRY unfollowed RUSSELL BRAND on Twitter, in case you were hoping for a reconciliation.

TWO'S COMPANY: Suzanne Somers knocks on Joyce DeWitt's door after 30 years of bad blood.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR really spun out of control after Jack Wagner called off their engagement, as many expected.

SYRIA: The Arab League extended its monitoring mission for another month and declined an opposition request to refer the matter to the UN. Saudi Arabia withdrew from the mission, saying the "Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan."

IRAN warned Saudi Arabia against raising oil production to replace embargoed Iranian oil. Iran also asked India to pay for oil in yen to help circumvent sanctions.

AFGHANISTAN: Pres. Karzai said that he has negotiated with members of the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin.

PAKISTAN: Taliban terrorists released a video showing the execution of 15 Pakistani soldiers whose bodies were found earlier this month after they were kidnapped in northwestern Pakistan.

WHEN ZEBRA ATTACKS: Let's go to the video.

DEXTER the CAT rejoins his family after four years missing.

DAY OF THE DOLPHIN: If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy has a backup plan to save one-fifth of the world's daily oil trade: send in the dolphins.

KALA: The Gene Simmons of bears.