FITZ & THE TANTRUMS can be seen at Rolling Stone (including a cover of the Raconteurs' tune "Steady, As She Goes") and stopped by KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge for a session.

JOE HENRY is advance streaming Reverie.

FUTURE ISLANDS is advance streaming On The Water.

TV ON THE RADIO stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

JEREMY MESSERSMITH played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

WILCO drops "Speak Into The Rose" from the deluxe version of The Whole Love (available via iTunes).

THE CATCHIEST POP SONG EVER, according to scientists, is Queen's "We Are The Champions."

FEIST talks Metals and Muppets with The Guardian, the Toronto Star and Morning Edition.

THE SMITHS: Jon Savage and some of their fans explain their enduring appeal.

KAREN O talks to the New York Times about her involvement in an opera of sorts.

REMemories from Athens, via Flagpole. (Thx, LHB.)

BRIAN WILSON will not be on the Beach Boys' 50th anniversary tour.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Dolphin Tale is the somewhat surprising champ this weekend with 14.2 million, a feat all the more impressive given the competition from the 3-D Lion King holdover (which came in 3rd with 11 million) and the faith-based Courageous doing strong per screen (rounding out the Top 5 with 8.8 million).  Moneyball held the second slot with 12.5 million on an alright 36 percent drop.  50/50 debuted in the fourth slot with 8.9 million, which is below what tracking numbers predicted (12 million)  and low for a movie co-starring Seth Rogen, but (imho) not bad for a comedy based around someone having cancer.  Below the fold, Dream House opened in sixth place with 8.2 million, suggesting the horror market remains soft heading into October.  Abduction looks like a flop in seventh place, as does Killer Elite in tenth.  What's Your Number? opened at No. 8 with 5.6 million which looks near-floppy against a 20 million budget.  Drive drops out of the Top 10 in just 3 weeks, but has grossed 27 million against a 15 million budget.

50/50: Cancer is never funny. How people deal with adversity, however, can be as funny and moving as this dramedy is throughout.  This is the sort of movie that can fail in a thousand ways; this one avoided all of them, probably due to the extent it relies on writer Will Reiser's own experience.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt successfully underplays both the comedy and the pathos, while Seth Rogen mixes some of his usual comedic touches with subtle drama; their chemistry makes for a fine buddy movie (although 50/50 is more than that).  Angelica Huston nails a smaller, but important role as Adma's (JGL) mother; Anna Kendrick is effectively appealing as his therapist; and Bryce Dallas Howard is effectively unappealing as his girlfriend.

ASHTON KUTCHER stopped following wife Demi Moore on Twitter and it appears Demi stopped following Ashton as well for a period of time.  Kutcher's alleged mistress has deleted her social media accounts.  The couple reportedly reuninted at the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles.

GENE SIMMONS & SHANNON TWEED got hitched.

ELIZABETH HURLEY is engaged to Australian cricketer Shane Warne.

JAMES MARSDEN is getting divorced by his wife of 10 years, Lisa Linde.

IDRIS ELBA would consider playing James Bond, but the current talk is pure gossip.

CHRISTOPH WALTZ dislocated his pelvic bone during training for his role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.

A-LISTERS are lining up to record audiobooks.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT creator Mitchell Hurwitz says that a movie is still in the works, along with a new set of television episodes that would serve as a prelude to the film.

AMERICAN PIE REUNION: Who got paid what? BONUS: Jason Biggs got an unusual gift from his wife.

IRAN quietly hosted a delegation of Taliban members in Tehran this month in a powerful and unusual signal of its ambition to shape the trajectory of the Afghanistan conflict as US troops begin to withdraw.

PAKISTAN's terror groups are splintering.

AFGHANISTAN: Special operations forces captured the Haqqani Network's top commander in Afghanistan, along with his deputy and bodyguard. The Afghan government plans to suspend peace talks with the Taliban.

IRAQ: General Perkins said al Qaeda has been severely weakened in the north.

DOG vs BATHTUB: Who you got?

AN INDESTRUCTIBLE DUCK hit by a car at almost 100kmh survived with bruises after getting stuck inside the vehicle's grill for a day.

ILLEGAL CHICKENS surrendered in New Jersey.

HEY ARE THOSE HUMMING BIRDS IN YOUR PANTS, or... oh.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with PUNK! Via Dangerous Minds, the first TV documentary on The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Punk Rock, broadcast on November 22, 1976, as part of The London Weekend Show. Included: the Pistols perform "Pretty Vacant", "Submission", "Anarchy in the UK" and "No Fun".

ST. VINCENT stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

BLITZEN TRAPPER stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting and KEXP for sessions.

THE SEA & CAKE did five free songs for Daytrotter.

THE BO-KEYS did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

TYPHOON did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

EXITMUSIC is advance streaming From Silence.

THE BANGLES: Live at the Syria Mosque Arena, Pittsburgh, PA; December 13, 1986.

PINK FLOYD WEEK continued with MGMT covering the Syd Barrett-era "Lucifer Sam" for Fallon.

THE MUSIC OF 1991, surveyed by PopMatters, starting with Nirvana's  Nevermind.

25 AWESOME ONE-HIT WONDERS of the 1990s, according to Paste.

SLY STONE is not homeless? He always liked living in Winnebagos? Hmm.  He has always been a strange dude, as evidenced in this a rare interview with Melody Maker in 1974.

STEVE ALBINI talks to Gothamist about Shellac, Nirvana, the music business, his food blog, Odd Tyler, Lady Gaga and more...

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn and Tad Kubler talk to the Illinois Entertainer about Lollapalooza, songwriting, and more...

SYLVIA ROBINSON, the singer, songwriter and record producer who formed the Sugar Hill Gang and made the first commercially successful rap recording, died early Thursday morning at a hospital in New Jersey. She was 75.  Pretty sure I have "Pillow Talk" on a K-Tel record somewhere...

CUTOUT BIN: From Sonny & Cher to Los Lobos, from Deer Tick to Jackie DeShannon, from the Bangles to The Temptations, plus the Jayhawks, CSN, Billy Idol, Fleshtones, Aretha Franklin 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: What's Your Number?, currently scoring 27 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; 50/50, currently scoring 91 percent; and Dream House and Courageous, which were not screened for critics.

ASHTON KUTCHER is being asked to pay a six-figure sum to a blonde who claims she had sex with him on the same day he and wife Demi Moore celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary.  Kutcher tweets that you shouldn't believe the hype about marital woes, though Moore has hinted at them on Twitter herself.  There are also rumors the actor's new bosses are already annoyed with him, too.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, Speaking out for the first time since nude pictures of her were leaked on the Internet, defended the right to privacy, even for high-profile celebrities such as herself.

LINDSAY LOHAN and designer Philipp Plein were caught canoodling on camera.

CAREY MULLIGAN has an engagement ring.

MIKE MYERS and his wife Kelly Tisdale have welcomed their first child, a boy.

ZOOEY DESCHANEL: The New Girl becomes the first new series to get a full-season pickup, after a surprisingly strong debut.

DAVID ARQUETTE is dating Entertainment Tonight's Christina McLarty.

THE NEW BOND GIRL? Berenice Marlohe.

HOLLYWOOD'S HIGHEST PAID TV ACTRESSES, according to Forbes.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP has been named the greatest comedy of all time in a poll assembled by Time Out.

THE AVENGERS are this week's EW cover story.

IRAN is doubling down on the conspiracy theories after an al Qaeda magazine blasted Adhmadinejad's 9/11 claims, this time suggesting the true authors of the terror publication -- which often instructs readers to murder Americans -- are not radical Islamists, but secret agents for the CIA.

PAKISTAN: The White House and State Department sought to temper remarks by Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the insurgents who attacked the American Embassy in Afghanistan this month were "a veritable arm" of Pakistan's spy agency.

AFGHANISTAN's president and other senior leaders announced Thursday that they were rethinking the country's relationship with Pakistan and its negotiations with the Taliban because talks had yielded so little.

IRAQ: Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq has been severely weakened by a money squeeze, internal squabbling, a shortage of volunteer suicide bombers and more effective Iraqi efforts to snatch the terror group's foreign recruits when they slip across the border from Syria, a senior US general said Thursday.

A BABY GREAT WHITE SHARK was rescued by surfers after washing ashore near the Venice Pier on Saturday morning.

A CAT WITH TWO FACES lives a record-setting 12 years... and counting.

SNAKE + SWORD = Jail.

HAIRY CRAZY ANTS are causing mayhem as they spread across America.

JACK THE SHEEP, raised with a springer spaniel, is now convinced he is a dog.

PINK FLOYD WEEK continued on Fallon with Roger Waters joining Foo Fighters for "In The Flesh."

FEIST is advance streaming Metals, in return for your email address.

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

PETER WOLF CRIER stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

GRANT LEE BUFFALO stopped by KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge for a session.

THE KLEZMATICS played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR, just in time for Rosh Hashanah.

GRUFF RHYS drops a new single, "Whale Trail."

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: "Summerlove Sensation."

WILCO is everywhere -- The Atlantic, Salon and Spinner.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: John Linnell talks to PopMatters about the band's deliberate approach to songwriting.

EMMY THE GREAT talks to American Songwriter about, well, you know.

THE BEACH BOYS plot a 50th anniversary tour with Brian Wilson.

JESSICA SIMPSON, amid a preganancy rumor, has put her wedding plans on hold.

ASHTON KUTCHER & DEMI MOORE have reportedly been living apart for months as the power couple is expected to battle it out in a bitter 290 million dollar divorce case. Demi has had enough of Ashton's philandering and is ready to call it quits, according to the ever-reliable Star magazine.  People magazine urges us to follow the tweets.

NICOLE RICHIE had some work done.

JESSICA ALBA shows off her baby daughter.

ALYSSA MILANO shows off her infant son.

ANGELINA JOLIE & GWEN STEFANI orchestrate a playdate.

KRISTEN STEWART in armor on a horse during filming for Snow White and The Huntsman.

DARK SHADOWS: New Pics.

THE TOP TEN GUILTY PLEASURE TV SHOWS, according to Flavorwire.

ANDY ROONEY will make his last regular appearance on this Sunday's 60 Minutes.

TERROR in the USA: The FBI arrested and charged a man Wednesday for allegedly plotting to blow up the Capitol and the Pentagon.

NORTH KOREA is unlikely to give up its nukes, according to Britain's outgoing diplomat to Pyongyang.

AL QAEDA tells Ahmadeniejad to lay off the 9/11 Trutherism.

IRAN and Sudan are standing together as defenders of the Islamic world, according to Ahmadinejad. Either Iran could build a nuclear bomb in a matter of months or it is unlikely to get such a weapon any time soon -- depending on which Western expert you talk to. However, of the experts Reuters spoke to, none of them seem to be saying over two years.

PAKISTAN: Influential religious leaders urged the government to end the country's role in the war on terrorism and to try to establish a new international bloc made up of China, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

WORLD'S SHORTEST CAT, courtesy of Guinness.

DARING POOCHES took part in the third Surf City, Surf Dog competition at Huntington Beach, California.

A DONKEY has been submitted as a candidate for the upcoming elections for a new mayor of Bulgarian town Varna.

HEIDI the CROSS-EYED POSSUM was put to sleep by keepers after unsuccessfully trying to treat her arthritis.

PINK FLOYD WEEK: The Shins led off the week on Fallon with "Breathe," while the band's official Tube channel hosts "The Geatest Gig In the Sky."

MASON JENNINGS performs at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis.

BON IVER stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

JESSE SYKES & THE SWEET HEREAFTER stopped by KEXP for a session.

IMELDA MAY gets a profile plus tracks from All Things Considered.

TOM WAITS drops "Back In The Crowd" in advance of Bad As Me.

ANDREW BIRD drops "Hospital" from the Norman soundtrack.

YUCK play "Rubber," Milkshake" and "The Wall" in Room 205.

THE BANGLES: Susanna Hoffs talks to Spinner about the band's new record, her 'Under the Covers' collaborations with Matthew Sweet, balancing children and music and how Prince brought the Bangles megastardom.

TELEVISION: Richard Lloyd is not a fan of the band's "new" material. And he's commenting about it on the Tube.

OKKERVIL RIVER frontman Will Scheff talks to The A.V. Club about his first time (onstage), and more...

THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME nominees are announced. The  Cure, Eric B. & Rakim, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Guns N' Roses, Heart, Rufus with Chaka Khan, the Small Faces/the Faces, the Spinners, and Freddie King are first-time nominees. Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Laura Nyro, Donovan, War, and Donna Summer are repeaters.

JESSICA SIMPSON: Knocked Up?

ASHTON KUTCHER: A 23-year-old woman has lawyered up with a top Hollywood attorney and gone into hiding after an alleged dalliance last Friday.

LINDSAY LOHAN is certainly enjoying the company of her latest employer, Philip Plein.

NANCY GRACE, of all people, had a wardrobe malfunction on Dancing With the Stars? She denies it.

JENNIFER ANISTON: What she really wants to do is direct.

ROMAN POLANSKI publicly apologized to Samantha Greimer, the woman he sexually assaulted 33 years ago, in a new documentary that had its world premiere Tuesday at the Zurich Film Festival.

JESSICA CHASTAIN (The Help, The Debt) has been cast opposite Tom Cruise in an as-yet untitled sci-fi pic for Universal.

KEVIN COSTNER has dropped out of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, due to a combination of scheduling and personal reasons.

TERROR in NORWAY: Charges have been filed against Mikael Davud, Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, and David Jakobsen, who were arrested in July 2010 for plotting to attack a Danish newspaper.

EGYPT's foreign minister said his country will always respect its landmark peace treaty with Israel and is seeking ways to strengthen its "strategic relationship" with the United States. Prominent Egyptian feminists say women are being sidelined from post-Mubarak politics: their names ignored for government posts, and their divorce and custody rights threatened by a powerful new Islamist lobby.

LIBYA: Hundreds, possibly thousands, of surface-to-air missiles continue to be stolen from unguarded military warehouses.

PAKISTAN warned the United States to stop accusing it of playing a double game with Islamist militants and heaped praise on "all-weather friend" China. A Pakistani school expelled a 13-year-old Christian girl for alleged blasphemy and her mother was transferred from her job as a nurse near the town where Osama bin Laden was killed.

IRAQ has finalized a deal to buy advanced US fighter jets, the first step toward building a modern postwar air force, officials said.

BEAR CUB FIGHT: Sort of...

LION CUB saved by his Mom in dramatic scenes caught on camera as he cries out pitifully for help!

THUMPER: A giant rabbit has been taken into care by vets after she was found hopping through Swindon's town center.

THE DOG was lame; the nine handballs only turned up in the X-ray.

A KAYAKER was dragged half a mile out to sea after hooking a six-foot shark while fishing off the coast of Devon. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

DUM DUM GIRLS drop a video for "Bedroom Eyes." Dee Dee talks to Pitchfork about the cathartic core of her band's new LP.

NEW RELEASES from Dum Dum Girls, Kasabian, The Bangles, VHS or Beta, Josh Rouse, Dominant Legs, Ohbijou, Young Man and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

WILCO and NICK LOWE played the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD; you can stream both sets via NPR. Wilco also gets a lengthy profile from the L.A. Times, where Nels Cline also talks about joining the band.

ERASURE is advance streaming and talking about Tomorrow's World.

EMA did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter. Not really my bag, but folks at Pitchfest were impressed.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE gets a profile plus tracks from All Things Considered.

BOB DYLAN: Live in Sydney, circa 1966.

LOU REED & METALLICA drop "The View" in advance of Lulu.

YUCK posted a new track called "Soothe Me" on their blog.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS play "Birdhouse In Your Soul" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinopole)" with the Doc Severenson Orchestra in this week's Twofer Tuesday.

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN: Jim Reid spoke at length to Drowned in Sound about a variety of topics ranging from major label interference and their subsequent lack of interest to inter-band relationships, particularly the volatile one between him and his brother that overshadowed the band's existence and the effects of substance abuse, most notably alcohol.

PETER MURPHY: "I'm relevant, but Bauhaus aren't."

R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills talks to Rolling Stone about the band's breakup and final songs.

WILD FLAG: Carrie Brownstein talks to All Things Considered about restlessness and her new band.

MEGAFAUN is, in some ways, a calculating band - just not in the way we have heretofore suspected.

NAOMI WATTS talks to More about seducing King Kong and Liev Schreiver. Also, Heath Ledger.

CHARLIE SHEEN and Warner Bros TV have officially settled their legal dispute stemming from Sheen's 100 million lawsuit against the studio and Two and a Half Men executive producer Chuck Lorre over the actor's March firing from the show.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD is a happy newlywed.

ANNE HATHAWAY in full Catwoman regalia, with even more spoilery photos from The Dark Knight Rises set.

KRISTIN CAVALLARI & JAY CUTLER (a/k/a Jerkface): Working it out?

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS talks about two very different roles on Boardwalk Empire and Community.

MATT STONE & TREY PARKER talk to the NYT about The Book of Mormon, Scientology, South Park, and more...

TERROR in the UK: Six Birmingham men were arrested on terror charges, and a seventh is being questioned.

YEMEN: Anti-government tribes took control of a Republican Guard base north of Sana'a.

JORDAN: Demonstrations across the country called for the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit's government, the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament, and... the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.

SYRIA: A group of defectors calling themselves the Free Syrian Army is attempting the first effort to organize an armed challenge to Assad's rule, signaling what some hope and others fear may be a new phase in what has been an overwhelmingly peaceful Syrian protest movement.

IRAN: The IAEA reported that Iran has enhanced its enrichment of uranium and has installed more sophisticated centrifuges. "We believe if Iran broke out now they could have a bomb in six months," said a former weapons inspector.

THE PUPPY and the step.

GATOR FIGHT at The Eagles Golf Course in Tampa, FL.

THE LAST BULLFIGHT IN CATALONIA: It only took 700 years or so.

THE MALE SIBERIAN HAMSTER knows how to celebrate Autumn.