THE HEAD AND THE HEART visits Morning Becomes Eclectic.

JULIA JACKLIN visits The Current.

ENSEMBLE SIGNAL plays new music from Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood in a Tiny Desk Concert.

JULIEN BAKER covers Bleachers' “Everybody Lost Somebody.”

JULIANA HATFIELD shares a video for "Broken Doll."

RANDY NEWMAN gets almost two and one-half hourse of discussion and analysis on the latest Political Beats podcast, with guest Matt Murray, Editor-in-Chief of the WSJ.

THE NATIONAL'S TOP 40, ranked by Stephen Hyden.

BLACK MIDI is profiled by Pitchfork.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Ray Stevens's horrifically awful novelty song "The Streak."

SCARLETT JOHANSSON & JUSTIN YOST got engaged.

GAME OF THRONES: The finale was watched by a channel-record 19.3 million viewers live, but the real nugget may be that Season 8 averaged 44.2 million viewers per episode in gross audience. ALSO: Emilia Clarke taks to Entertainment Weekly and The New Yorker.

HIS DARK MATERIALS has a teaser trailer online.

JOHN WICK will return in 2021.

WHITNEY HOUSTON is getting a hologram tour and a new album.

TRUE LIES: McG wants to develop the Schwarzenegger flick as a series for the Mouse+ steaming service.

STAR WARS: GALAXY'S EDGE isn't open yet, but Disneyland president Josh D’Amaro posted a photo of the fictional outpost of Batuu.

GOALS: Be as good at anything as "Cookie" the French bulldog is at soccer.

AN ALLIGATOR, found chillin' on a gator raft inside a Miami-Dade pool.

A BABY SLOTH was surprisingly born at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

MAN-EATING TIGERS could hunt down more humans due to climate change.

THE SAINTS: "(I'm Stranded)."

KAREN O & DANGER MOUSE visit the World Cafe.

NICK WATERHOUSE visits the Paste Studio.

MEG BAIRD & MARY LATTIMORE, Live at Union Pool.

THE HIVES return with "I'm Alive."

RA RA RIOT shares "Flowers."

THE RACONTEURS share a video for "Help Me Stramger."

JOY DIVISION: Literary Hub excerpts a new oral history of the band.

THE NATIONAL takes Pitchfork on a track-by-track tour of their new LP.

JARVIS COCKER: Asked about his new music, the singer talked instead about raves and caves, fatbergs and fatherhood, badgers and Brexit...

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Grand Funk's out-of-nowhere Todd Rundgren-produced cover of the early-'60s dance-craze jam "The Loco-Motion"

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum tops the chart with 57MM, which is almost twice as much as Chapter 2's opening weekend, and over a third more than the original made in its entire domestic run. Avengers: Endgame, dethroned, places with 29.4MM on a 54 percent drop -- but shed no tears for the second-biggest domestic grosser ever; it's 173MM away from becoming the all-time worldwide box office champ (and it's likely to get a bump as we come up on the next Spider-Man flick in June). Pokemon Detective Pikachu shows with 24.8MM on a 54 percent drop (which seems good for a film that one would predict as front-loaded);at ~200MM worldwide, it seems to be healthy. A Dog's Journey takes the fourth slot with 8MM (the budget is not public, but how much can it be?). The Hustle rounds out the Top Five with 6MM and a 23MM domestic total that is nowhere near Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, even before adjusting for inflation.

GAME OF THRONES: Elizabeth Olsen auditioned for the show. Badly.

ELTON JOHN defends Rocketman's Taron Egerton after claims that a gay icon shouldn't be played by a straight actor.

BRITNEY SPEARS says she will return to the stage.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER tweeted Sunday that he isn’t going to sic the cops on the crazed man who drop-kicked him at a kids’ sporting event in South Africa.

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? is ending after 17 years.

THE GUILDED SWEATSHOP: Rob Long (Cheers, Kevin Can Wait) breaks down the battle between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Talent Agents over the details of a new contract. 

DOGGOS' QUARREL: NSFW language.

BEAR ATTACK on sheep prompts emergency talks between France and Spain.

REUNITED: An adorable group of ducklings rejoined their mother after a community rallied together to save them from a storm drain in Ohio.

GRUMPY CAT — the angry-looking celebrity feline who launched countless internet memes — died on Tuesday. The beloved cat leaves behind her owner Tabatha Bundesen, a small empire of books and merchandise bearing her unique face, movie and TV appearances, and millions of Google hits.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with XTC! Live on Rockpalast, February 10, 1982. Your setlist includes: "Respectable Street" (still one of my faves), "Towers of London," "Runaways," "Jason and the Argonauts," "Burning With Optimism's Flames," "Snowman," "Ball And Chain," "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)," "No Thugs In Our House" (another fave), "Senses Working Overtime" (ditto), "Making Plans For Nigel," "Living Through Another Cuba," "Generals and Majors," "Real By Reel," and "Life Begins At The Hop."

SEBADOH advance streams Act Surprised.

MAVIS STAPLES advance steams We Get By.

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE advance streams The Saint of Lost Causes.

PETROL GIRLS advance streams Cut & Stitch.

THE NATIONAL shares "Rylan."

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN shares "There Goes My Miracle."

PETE TOWNSHEND, ROGER DALTREY & THE ROOTS perform "Won't Get Fooled Again" on toy instruments for Fallon.

MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle choreographs Ace of Base's "The Sign." (Language warning) A perennial fave.

JENNY LEWIS talks to the Georgia Straight about the bright side of life, sort of.

TOM PETTY's daughters filed suit against his widow, as a struggle continues for control of the late singer-songwriter’s catalog.

THE ROLLING STONES reset their American tour dates.

GENE SIMMONS delivers a briefing at the Pentagon, because 2019.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at MFSB and the Three Degrees' anthemic 'Soul Train' theme "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)."

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include John Wick 3: Parabellum, which is currently scoring 90 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; A Dog's Journey, currently scoring 58 percent; and The Sun is Also a Star, scoring 49 percent. The assassin may well take out the Avengers.

CHRIS ROCK is reimagining the Saw franchise.

BILL MURRAY talks to Vanity Fair about child stars, social media, and more.

KEVIN SPACEY's accuser may continue to press his lawsuit anonymously in order to protect his privacy and prevent further trauma... but the judge says he'll have to go public before trial.

HOWARD STERN says he's changed. How much?

RIC FLAIR  is in the hospital to undergo a procedure, according to his son-in-law, who says it is not as serious as reported by TMZ.

CARLY RAE JEPSEN shares the soundtrack of her life.

THE BATMAN is... Robert Pattinson? Or Nicholas Hoult?

DUCK IN SOCKS: Quite Seussian.

FIVE KITTENS that stowed away on a 400-mile trip to San Diego are looking for new homes.

A TARANTULA a day keeps your mother away.

ZOMBIE RACCOONS descend on Chicago.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL tackle "Late In the Evening" in Central Park, circa 1981, iirc.

THE LEMON TWIGS visit KEXP.

ANDREW BIRD visits WNYC's Soundcheck.

EELS also visit Soundcheck.

MAVIS STAPLES & BEN HARPER duet on "We Get By."

JARVIS COCKER shares "Must I Evolve?"

THE STROKES debut a new song, "The Adults Are Talking."

THE NATIONAL  has “rockier” songs leftover that they may “get out of the freezer."

MICK JAGGER gets into touring shape on camera.

WOODSTOCK 50 can proceed, but the Japanese financier doesn’t have to return 18MM, a judge rules.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the song that got Elton John on Soul Train: “Bennie And The Jets.”

BRITNEY SPEARS: The judge in her conservatorship case has ordered a thorough investigation of all the players who take part in planning her personal life, financial affairs and medical treatment.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR is seeking help once again in rehab.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY director/writer James Gunn talks to Deadline about the lessons he learned from getting fired -- and re-hired -- by Disney.

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is making Mysterio a real mystery.

BILL MURRAY is ready for Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters project.

THE BIG BANG THEORY: End of an era?

WHOA AFTER WHOA: The Best of Keanu Reeves.

A DOG tests the fountains outside Nationals Park.

A KITTEN is put to bed.

I SAID: "It's over, Denise!"

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

MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND visits The Current.

GEORGE BENSON shares stories at World Cafe.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Guest DJ Joe Talbot, frontman for the British punk group IDLES, talks about the band's latest album, Joy as an Act of Resistance, how Van Morrison's Astral Weeks changed his life and his tips for how to make the long drive across Kansas while on tour.

THE WATERBOYS return with "Where The Action Is" and “Right Side Of Heartbreak (Wrong Side Of Love).”

REMO DRIVE shares a video for  "Around the Sun."

MARKETING THE BACK CATALOG: Inside the endless revenue stream.

CHARLY BLISS: Eva Hendricks talks to Paste about pop music, Jenny Lewis and the growth on Young Enough.

THE SPIRIT OF THE BEHIVE is profiled by Pitchfork.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Blue Swede's immortal cover of  "Hooked On A Feeling".

TIM CONWAY, whose gallery of innocent goofballs, stammering bystanders, transparent connivers, oblivious knuckleheads and hapless bumblers populated television comedy and variety shows for more than half a century, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 85.Enjoy "The Dentist." 

STAN LEE's former manager was charged with elder abuse.

PRINCE WILLIAM & KATE MIDDLETON met Archie.

BRITNEY SPEARS' mom wants her back in treatment.

STAR WARS: The next film following The Rise of Skywalker will be from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, coming in 2022.

GAME OF THRONES: George R.R. Martin is nowhere near finishing his books.

THE HOUSE OF MOUSE is taking over Hulu.

BOND 25 halts filming after Daniel Craig injured his ankle.

MIDSOMMAR, from the director of Hereditary,has a teaser trailer online.

WERNER HERZOG answers 11 Questions for The A.V. Club.

PETER JACKSON turned down Aquaman. Twice.

TRAILER OF PIGS bursts into flames on I-80. I saw them open for Imperial Teen.

PHOENIX POLICE nabbed an emu on the lam.

A MAMA DUCK & HER DUCKLINGS visit the White House.