LUCERO plays David Bowie's "Modern Love" for the A.V. Club Undercover.

POLICA is streaming Give You The Ghost.

FATHER JOHN MISTY is advance streaming Fear Fun.

RAMONA FALLS is advance streaming Prophet.

DANIEL JOHNSTON is streaming the soundtrack to his new comic, Space Ducks.

THE AMERICAN BREED does some wonderfully bad lip-syncing in this wonderfully cheap clip for "Bend Me, Shape Me."

THE CHARLATANS: Tim Burgess talks to The Guardian about Britpop, developing a breakfast cereal for Kellog's and a very odd experiment with cocaine.  He gives The Independent the 10 golden rules of rock'n'roll excess. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

DAR WILLIAMS talks to PopMatters about ancient archetypes, battling hubris, and more...

10 GREAT SHAKESPEARE-INSPIRED SONGS, compiled by Paste.

25 ICONIC Snare Drum Intros.

MEGAN FOX pregnant? Hmm.

RYAN SEACREST signs a two-year extension with American Idol at 15 million annually.

THE KARDASHIANS inflict themselves on America for another three years.

ASHTON KURCHER & MILA KUNIS went on a three-day getaway to the coastal town of Carpinteria, Calif., just south of Santa Barbara.

ROSIE O'DONNELL rips LINDSAY LOHAN. Sorta the tabloid edition of Mega-Shark vs Giant Octopus.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson is now in serious discussions to play a supporting role in Machete Kills, the Robert Rodriguez-directed sequel that will bring Danny Trejo back as the blade-wielding former Federale title character.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON: Addicted to chicken wings.

JESSICA CHASTAIN is back in the mix to play a starring role opposite Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man 3.

TERROR in the USA:  A British man who trained to be a shoe bomber a decade ago says Osama bin Laden told him after Sept. 11 that he hoped a follow-up terrorism attack would collapse the American economy.

TERROR in CANADA: The country's spy chief said that as many as 60 Canadians have left the country for terror training camps in Yemen, Somalia, and the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

YEMEN: US drones killed al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander Mohammed Saeed al Umda in one of two strikes over the past several days. The military claimed it has retaken control of the center of Zinjibar. Members of parliament are pushing for talks with AQAP.

EGYPT: One month before Egyptians begin voting for their first president after Hosni Mubarak, the leading candidate's record is escalating a campaign battle here over the place of Islam in the new democracies promised by the Arab Spring revolts.

TONIGHT'S WEATHER FORECAST? Bears.

BABY ALBINO KANGAROO: Awww...some pics.

KILL A 3-FT LONG SWAMP BEAVER, get investifgated for animal cruelty.

PIG & PUG, living together...

CHRIS ETHRIDGE, bassist for country rock icons the Flying Burrito Brothers as well as the Willie Nelson Family Band, has died at the age of 65 of complications from pancreatic cancer. He co-wrote some of the best Burritos songs, including "Hot Burrito No. 2."

NEW RELEASES from Brendan Benson, Jack White, Raveonettes, Dandy Warhols, Ryan Adams, Bad Veins and more are streaming this week at Spinner.

PATRICK WILSON is advance streaming Adventures In Your Own Backyard.

LOWER DENS are advance streaming Nootropics.

MYSTERY JETS are advance streaming Radlands.

ST VINCENT shreds on her Record Store Day single, "Krokodil."

SONNY & THE SUNSETS get a bit country on "Pretend You Love Me," from the upcoming Longtime Companion LP.

FIONA APPLE drops "Every Single Night," her first new studio recording in seven years.

THE BLACK KEYS & JOHN FOGERTY played "The Weight" in honor of Levon Helm.  Add Destroyer playing the title track to "Kaputt" for a Coachella Twofer Tuesday.

BEACH HOUSE talks to Billboard about recording Bloom.

KATHLEEN EDWARDS talks to the Mpls Star-Trib about Voyageur and moving to Eau Claire, WI.

THE BEATLES' slow fade into pop culture obscurity?

GUIDED BY VOICES will release three albums this year.  Three shall be the number of the count.  The number of the counting shall be three.

JENNIFER ANISTON and boyfriend Justin Theroux are planning a wedding thousands of miles away from Hollywood?

GIULIANA & BILL RANCIC are expecting their first child.

DREW BARRYMORE and fiancé Will Kopelman, were feted with a combined wedding and baby shower.

LINDSAY LOHAN is officially set to star as Elizabeth Taylor in the Lifetime movie, Liz and Dick.

RUSSELL CROWE has officially signed on to star in Darren Aronofsky's Noah.

DEMI LOVATO: The once clean-cut Disney star cops to substance abuse.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK: Five life lessons from the master director.

YEMEN: Two months after a new president took office the fledgling interim government has found itself overwhelmed by a set of dangerous new challenges to the country's stability, including a series of a bold attacks by a resurgent militant movement in the south and a festering political standoff in the capital.

SYRIA: Ending a one-day lull, government forces renewed their attacks. Army troops stormed a suburb of Damascus. The city of Homs was shelled.

EGYPT's state-owned gas company says it has scrapped a controversial deal which supplies Israel with 40% of its natural gas at lower than market prices.

CAT vs BEAR: Who you got?

DEER invade Syracuse, NY.

A GOLDEN ORB SPIDER tries to eat a brown tree snake.

PENGUIN THIEVES: Alcohol was involved.

GIRLS play "Love is Like a River" on Conan.

DAMON ALBARN is advance streaming Dr Dee.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT is advance streaming Out Of The Game.

SANTIGOLD is advance streaming Master Of My Make-Believe.

CAROLINE SMITH and the GOOD NIGHT SLEEPS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

IGGY POP turned 65 over the weekend. Here's a raucous 1995 take on "Lust For Life."

ROGER McGUINN recently sat down with Talk of the Nation to discuss The Byrds and his solo career, as well as his work preserving folk music.

M WARD does a faves list with SPIN.

GEORGE HARRISON's wife and a few trusted collaborators are going through the guitarist’s massive archive and bringing the best of it to the public.

ROBIN GIBB has colorectal cancer and remains in intensive care after waking from a coma.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Think Like A Man topples The Hunger Games atop the chart with 33 million against a mere 12 million budget. Figure this one to finish with about 75 million, leaving a fat profit after targeted marketing costs.  Screen Gems is becoming the master of the cheap and profitable film.  The Lucky One placed with 22 million, probably more due to fans of novelist Nicolas Sparks than fans of Zac Efron (who hasn't been in a hit since 2009).The Hunger Games shows with 14.5 million on a 31 percent drop, which is pretty leggy for its fifth week of release. Its worldwide gross now stands at 573 million, though it may not make 400 million in the US before The Avengers storm cinemas on May 4th.  Chimpanzee debuted in the fourth slot with 10.2 million from the Earth Day crowd and families whose parents remember Disney's true-Life Adventures.  The Three Stooges round out the Top 5 with 9.2 million; its 46 percent drop is a slap in the face and a poke in the eye, but it has nearly recouped its 30 million production budget.

CAREY MULLIGAN & MARCUS MUMFORD married over the weekend.

NEIL DIAMOND wed his manager Katie McNeil in front of family and close friends in L.A. on Saturday.

RYAN REYNOLDS & BLAKE LIVELY bought a country home in Bedford, NY.

RHIANNA switching teams?

THE HUNGER GAMES sequel will be directed by Francis Lawrence (no relation to Jennifer).

TAYLOR SWIFT is circling the role of Joni Mitchell in Sony Pictures and Di Bonaventura Pictures' adaptation of Sheila Weller's book "Girls Like Us."

JOHNNY DEPP paid tribute to the late Jonathan Frid.

TERROR in the USA: Najibullah Zazi testified that he and New York subway bomb plot co-conspirators Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay met with wanted al Qaeda mastermind Adnan El Shukrijumah in Waziristan in 2008 to plan attacks. Targets discussed included Walmart, Times Square, Penn Station, the NY Stock Exchange, malls, theaters, and public transportation.

SYRIA: The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution increasing the number of UN observers from 30 to 300 and demanding an end to the violence. An opposition spokesman said that Annan's initiative was "our last chance to avoid civil war."

IRAN: A top Iranian official claimed on Sunday that his government was copying the top-secret American spy drone captured by Iran's armed forced last year.

AFGHANISTAN: After months of negotiations, the US and Afghanistan on Sunday agreed on drafts of the strategic partnership agreement that pledges American support for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of troops at the end of 2014.

BABY GEESE groom a lamb. Plus, a camel.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? A young Missouri man has turned to the Internet in search of investors for his expedition into the remote jungles of Africa seeking a living dinosaur.

TWO BEARS broke free from their cages in a Japanese animal park, mauling two women to death.

A SHY BABY MONKEY: Awww...some pics. 

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE BAND. Levon Helm, singer and drummer for the Band, died on April 19th in New York of throat cancer. He was 71. (And here's the NYT obit.)  Over Helm's objections, The Last Waltz was billed as a "farewell" concert after 16 years of touring, finding The Band joined by special guests including Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, and Neil Young. Martin Scorsese's 1978 documentary features concert performances, scenes shot on a studio soundstage and interviews by Scorsese with members of The Band. Surprisingly, the Wikipedia entry for the show is pretty good place to start for more background on the concert and the movie.  BONUS: Listen to Music From Big Pink and The Band (with 7 bonus tracks).

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

ANDREW BIRD stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic and the KEXP studio.

FIRST AID KIT visited the KEXP studio with folk-pop from their second full-length, The Lion's Roar.

TODD SNIDER his streaming Time As We Know It: The Songs of Jerry Jeff Walker via the TM Daily Post. (Thx, LHB?)

THE 10 WORST SONGS of the 80s, playlisted by NME.

SUCKERS are advance streaming Candy Salad.

ARCTIC MONKEYS generate "Electricity" as the flip side of their Record Store Day single.  Because who cares what's on the flip side of a record? I do.

JOHN LYDON felt guilt about the burden of his childhood spinal memingitis on his parents.  And he has mixed feelings about the re-release of the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen."

JAMES MURPHY lists 10 songs that saved his life. Also, a click-through to an interview with GQ.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Life Giver to the Middle-Aged.

BOW WOW WOW: Leigh Gorman and Annabella Lwin talk to The Guardian about the beginning, the end, and Malcolm McLaren.

THE BEST SONGS of 2012 (So Far), according to Paste.

DICK CLARK: Idolator compiles 10 great American Bandstand interviews.

GREG HAM, flutist for the ridiculously popular early-'80s Aussie new wavers Men At Work, has been found dead of unknown causes in his Melbourne home. He was 58. And came from a land "Down Under."

CUTOUT BIN: 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 Lucky One, which is currently scoring 29 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Think Like a Man, which is scoring 57 percent; and Chimpanzee, scoring 73 percent.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson shouted terrifying epithets at his houseguests during a rampage at his home in Costa Rica in December.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Surveillance video reportedly shows was at The Standard Hotel on the Sunset Strip on the night of an alleged assault.

RYAN REYNOLDS & BLAKE LIVELY: House-hunting in Connecticut.

JASON SEGEL & MICHELLE WILLIAMS are taking their romance from the streets of NYC to red carpet events.

CHRIS EVANS tells Playboy what Captain America and Sir Mix-A-Lot share.

ANTHONY HOPKINS, in his Alfred Hitchcock makeup.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Still dead, but he may tour with The Jacksons as a hologram.

JONATHAN FRID, best knowing for playing Barnabas Collins on the 1960s supernatural soap opera "Dark Shadows," died last Friday of natural causes. He was 87. Frid's final acting credit will be a cameo in the Tim Burton-Johnny Depp film adaptation of the show.

20 of the BIGGEST SCI-FI MOVIE DISAPPOINTMENTS of the last 20 years, compiled by Den of Geek.

GAZA: Hamas is fast losing popularity, and recent surveys indicate that it would not win if elections were held in Gaza today.

YEMEN: The CIA is seeking authority to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen by launching strikes against terrorism suspects even when it does not know the identities of those who could be killed.

SWIMMING WITH A POLAR BEAR: Let's go to the video.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Sex-happy rodents are setting fire to cars, cutting electrical wires and causing power outages, and evading capture at a Queens co-op.

KANGAROOS have three vaginas. The More You Know.

BABY STEENBOK & LEOPARD: Not living together in harmony.

DICK CLARK, the youthful-looking television personality who literally introduced rock 'n' roll to much of the nation on "American Bandstand" and for four decades was the first and last voice many Americans heard each year with his New Year's Eve countdowns, died Wednesday.  He was 82.  This Is Your Life, Dick (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).  And here's the American Bandstand 30th Anniversary Special from 1982. BONUS: A strange moment.

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

SUZANNE VEGA & DUNCAN SHEIK play together at WNYC Soundcheck.

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

THE BAND, Live at the Palladium, Sept.19, 1976.

BUZZCOCKS ask Coachella: "Ever Fallen In Love?"

THE CLASH: Mick Jones and Paul Simonon talk to the BBC ffor an hour about the making of their seminal London Calling.

PATTI SMITH talks to the BBC about punk rock and the evolution of rock and roll.

DAN WILSON talks to PopMatters about Semisonic, Grammys, Adele and more... but not Trip Shakespeare.

TALKING HEADS: Read the first 23 pages of the 33 1/3 book on the band's Fear of Music LP. 

WHEN KEITH MET MICK: The Lord of the Undead writes his aunt Patty.

BRADGELINA: She cried when he proposed. Aw.

DEMI MOORE made her first official appearance since getting out of rehab -- and is looking to change her Twitter handle.

ANNA PAQUIN & STEPHEN MOYER of True Blood are expecting.  The child would be her first, his third.

KIM KARDASHIAN may run for Mayor of Glendale.

KATY PERRY wants Russell Brand back?

PIPPA MIDDLETON: Pics of the gun incident.

DARREN ARANOVSKY is developing a George Washington biopic.

TERROR in the UK: Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada filed an immediate appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against the deportation order issued yesterday by the UK, delaying his possible deportation.

NORTH KOREA  said it was no longer bound by an agreement with the US for a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests.

PAKISTAN: Assistance from the US buys little goodwill. 

BOO: Cutest and fluffiest dog evah?

BABY PARROT NELSON could be the ugliest bird in the world.

FROZEN COWS could be blown up in a Colorado cabin. Cow-boom.

GERMAN BEAVERS come to liven up Mongolia.