SPIRITS in the SKY: Billy Corgan, new Smashing Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne, Electric Prune bassist Mark Tulin, and Strawberry Alarm Clock keyboardist Mark Weitz are among those playing a new song, "Freak" at a tribute to the late Sky Saxon.

SARAH SISKIND played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

OBITS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS' 25th anniversary cover of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" is NPR's Song of the Day.

MARSHALL CRENSHAW answers the infamous 20 Questions for PopMatters.

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE: "Denise." You can't hear it on the Tube, but here it is. Denise is Jolene Blalock, as it turns out.

THE PIXIES announced a nine-city, 14-date Doolittle birthday run in the USA.

JOSH RITTER talks to the Louisville Courier-Journal about making a career as a singer-songwriter: "If I do this for all my life, there's going to be a whole lot of time when I'm not cool."

A FINE FRENZY: Alison Sudol does a Twitterview compiled by Spinner, which also streams her new single.

THREE REASONS music magazines are dying. (hint: Two are The Internet.)

MICHAEL JACKSON: DEA agents, Los Angeles police and Las Vegas police are executing search warrants on the Las Vegas home and office of Michael Jackson's personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray.  Dr. Murray reportedly told police that he administered Propofol to Jacko.

MADONNA: Previously unreleased video and audio recordings and love letters Madge sent to an ex-boyfriend are set to hit the market.

AMY WINEHOUSE allegedly stole cocaine from Kate Moss's handbag, her ex-husband has claimed.

KIM KARDASHIAN & REGGIE BUSH: Dunzo.

GEORGE CLOONEY has been spending time with Italian beauty Elisabetta Canalis, according to RadarOnline.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE: Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze, and Dave Eggers, among others, talk about the upcoming adaptation of the classic kids' book.

ROBERT PATTINSON & KRISTEN STEWART: Together on the QT?

JOHN TRAVOLTA is a Scientologist now and forever, according to his rep.

KELSEY GRAMMER made an emotional plea to deny parole to the man who raped and murdered his 18-year-old sister in 1975.

AFGHANISTAN: Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal does a Q & A with the L.A. Times.

THE QUICK BROWN FOX... you know.

DOLPHINS & LIGER making friends with each other...

GO CHEETA! The purported autobiography of a movie-star chimpanzee is among the contenders for Britain's most prestigious literary award.

THE BEAR NECESSITIES: It took three rounds from a shotgun, five bullets from a handgun and two shots from a rifle to kill the 120-pound black bear that broke into a Boulder County home early Monday morning.

ARCTIC MONKEYS have released a video for "Crying Lightning" from the upcoming Humbug LP.

NEW RELEASES: Albums from Starflyer 59, Blur, Dodos, Howling Bells and YACHT and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

THE AVETT BROTHERS did three free songs for Daytrotter at SxSW.

ZEE AVI gets a feature + tracks at NPR.  She may remind you of Eleni Mandell, Feist, Jens Lekman and Seu George.

M WARD talks to the Nashville Scene about musical influences, the joy of cheap instruments, the Monsters of Folk, and more...

WEEZER debuted two new songs -- "The Girl Got Hot" and  "I'm Your Daddy" -- just in time for Tuesday.

IGGY POP joins JEMIMA PEARL (formerly of Be Your Own Pet) for a duet titled, "I Hate People."

THE TOP TEN SONGS the web brought back, with embedded video. (Thx, LHB.)

JENN GRANT talsk to the Singing Lamb about touring, camping, both sides of interviews, and more... (including an audio click-through). (Thx, Chromewaves.)

CHARLES MANSON seeks career advice from Phil Spector.

MADONNA looks like a Dude. Get Steven Tyler on the phone.

LINDSAY LOHAN ambushed Samantha Ronson on her doorstep at 5 a.m. Video at the link.

KATIE HOLMES narrowly escaped injury in a car fire.

JENNIFER LOPEZ had a hissy over late guests to her birthday party.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON went through a grueling fitness regimen for Iron Man 2, because dudes are merciless, even to her. Entertainment Weekly recent ran pictures of Scar-Jo as the Black Widow, which I note solely as a service to you.

JESSICA SIMPSON has been blocked from Tony Romo's gated community? Too good to check!

RUPERT EVERETT has been sacked as contributing editor of Vanity Fair after making inappropriate comments about editor Graydon Carter.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE: The trailer you've been waiting for, with plenty of profanity.

TERROR in the USA: A North Carolina man trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan has been charged along with six of his alleged recruits with conspiring to support terrorism and traveling overseas to participate in "violent jihad," according to an indictment unsealed Monday.

IRAN: One of the defeated moderate candidates in Iran's presidential election (Keroubi) has accused security forces of using Zionist tactics. Ouch.  Meanwhile, opposition leader Mousavi said on Monday the pro-reform protests will continue.

PAKISTAN's planned invasion of South Waziristan has been delayed by the refugee crisis spawned by fighting in Swat, an overstretched military unwilling to let its guard down with India and the difficulty in isolating the Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, according to Pakistani and American officials.

AFGHANISTAN Pres. Karzai wants new rules for US-led forces and would be willing to talk with Taliban leaders who publicly renounce violence and endorse peace.

IRAQ: Authorities were on Monday set to release preliminary results from weekend elections in the autonomous Kurdish region after a new opposition party claimed a major breakthrough.  A senior Qods Force officer who led one of the three commands in Iraq assigned to attack US and Iraqi forces was one of five Iranians released by the US military on July 9.

A TOUGH CAMEL shrugs off being hit by a car.

MAN VS. ELK: Who you got?

THE MUTT is addicted to sunglasses.

ANIMAL AMNESTY DAY in Bridgeport, CT, brings in tortoises, an alligator, and an 8-foot long red-tailed boa constrictor.

FRIENDLY FIRES dropped the video for "Kiss of Life" from their upcoming LP.

THEFT OF THE DIAL: The Current has started a new series where artists talk about and guest DJ other people's music.  The first two installments are from Black Francis and The Hold Steady's Craig Finn.

LONGWAVE did five free songs for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased.

PITCHFEST: All Songs Considered considers "discoveries" from the Pitchfork Music Festival.

ST. VINCENT: Annie Clark talks to Drowned in Sound about touring the UK, musical arrangements, working with The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, and more...

GOING LEGITIMATE: The NYT reports: "Many music industry observers now believe that there is a fundamental shift under way: from illegal downloads to licensed streaming services like MySpace Music, imeem and Spotify, where users can play any song, anytime and - coming soon - on any device."

INGRID MICHAELSON answers a few questions for Newsweek.

SONIC YOUTH: The Stranger compiles an Ultimate SY playlist, bizarrely omitting "Teenage Riot."

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART talk to The Georgia Straight and LAist.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: G-Force semi-surprisingly topped the box office with 32.1 million bucks, largely on the strength of higher-priced 3-D showings.  Harry Potter was close behind with 30 million.  Potter dropped 61 percent in its second weekend, which is a bit more than the last Potter flick -- but that one played on more IMAX screens from the start, whereas this one moves to more IMAX screens this upcoming weekend.  It will liley end up where the last one did, making a bit under 300 million in the US.  The Ugly Truth debuted at No. 3, making 27 million against a 38 million budget.  Orphan opened in the fourth spot with 12.8 million; horror flicks have underperformed this Summer.  Ice Age 3 rounded out the Top 5 with 8.2 million, demonstrating the overall younger skew of the weekend.  Below the fold, The Hangover and The Proposal held surprisingly well, but 500 Days of Summer had the highest per-screen average at No. 11, and could be a crossover hit as it expands to 300 screens next weekend, and 1000 screens two weekends hence.

MICHAEL JACKSON's prosthetic nose went missing from his surgically mangled face as he lay in an LA morgue.  Jackson's "secret lovechild" has declared: 'He is NOT my dad'.  The administrators of Jacko's estate predict there will be enough cash to pay off his estimated 400 million in debts -- and still have money left over for his heirs.

KATHERINE HEIGL: Newsweek wants to know why she is so annoying.

ANGELINA JOLIE toured a camp on the outskirts of Baghdad where she visited four families displaced due to violence in Iraq.

GARY OLDMAN seemed serious in saying the next Batman movie begins shooting in 2010.

TONY ROMO dumped JESSICA SIMPSON in the parking lot of a Texas IHOP? Too good to check!

NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong-Il's regime routinely used mentally and physically handicapped children to test its biological and chemical weapons, according to a high-ranking defector

IRAN's newly appointed -- and controversial -- first vice president has resigned, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported Friday.

PIGS of the CARIBBEAN, now with video.

A DEAD WHALE was found lodged in the bow of the Princess Cruise Lines' Sapphire Princess. Ship's purser Gopher Smith was unavailable for comment.

KILLER CHIPMUNK attacked a cat twice its size as part of wave of rodent attacks feared to hit Britain.

A BERSERK GROUNDHOG who attempted to attack a resident and two police officers was maced on Thursday, just a few days after a ravenous black bear strolled into an open garage and gorged itself on meat from a freezer, in Boonton Towship, NJ.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with SHINDIG! This special featuring groovy gals, is Tubed in three parts. Part 1 includes the Shangri-Las - "Give Him A Great Big Kiss"; Aretha Franklin - "Shoop Shoop Song"; Leslie Gore - "Judy's Turn To Cry"; and Ketty Lester - "Love Letters." Part 2 includes -- The Toys - "Lover's Concerto"; Jackie DeShannon - "What The World Needs Now"; The Supremes - "Baby Love" and Fontella Bass - "Rescue Me." Part 3 includes The Blossoms - "I Like It Like That"; Petula Clark - "Downtown"; and Tina Turner - "Ooh-Poo-Pah-Do."

SONIC YOUTH stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

THE THERMALS did the three free songs thing for Daytrotter.

BOOKER T. JONES stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

SIOUXSIE SIOUX talks to The Quietus about banging heads with rock bores and the importance of having glitter in your pocket.

ARTHUR CONLEY: Do you like good music? "Sweet Soul Music"?

BETTYE LaVETTE talks to the Colorado Springs Independent about playing with Otis Redding in the 60s and dueting with Paul McCartney at Radio City Music Hall today.

DAN AUERBACH talks to PopMatters about the human element in recording.

THE TEN COOLEST SONGS ABOUT CARS & DRIVING, according to Kevin Ransom at AOL Autos, with embedded video. (Thx, LHB.)

THE CUTOUT BIN: From the Sex Pistols to the Archies, from Monty Python to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, from Cream to Off Broadway, plus Husker Du, Ace, the Beatles, Spoon, The Band and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are G-Force, currently scoring 21 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, The Ugly Truth, currently scoring 12 percent, and Orphan, scoring 48 percent.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Multiple sources in the Jackson family tell TMZ that even if Katherine Jackson gets custody of Michael Jackson's kids, Michael's big sister Rebbie Jackson will raise the children. Rupert Everett says it was "fortuitous" that Jacko died.

MEGAN FOX denies turning down a role in the next James Bond movie.

JON & KATE claims a reporter for Star magazine.

JOHNNY DEPP is one step closer to his dream role playing Carol Channing.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL-E: You're probably familar with The Wizard of Oz/ Dark Side of the Moon mashup. Now we have Wall-E and The Wall.

ISLAMISM in the UK: A married Muslim woman has been warned her life is in danger after a man she is suspected of having an affair with was blinded in an 'honor' attack.

PAKISTAN: Sa'ad bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, is thought to have been killed in a US Predator airstrike in Pakistan's tribal areas. The report has not been confirmed.

IRAQ: Michael J. Totten has his fourth installment on the future of Iraq, interviewing "Sayid," someone the US relies on to report on "atmospherics."

NORA THE PIANO CAT, accompanied by the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra.

KILLER CHIPMUNKS poised to invade the UK.

THE SWARM: A Chinese couple have got married wearing clothes made of thousands of living bees. Pic at the link.

ZEBRA ATTACK sidelines Pittsburg State football player Joe Windscheffel near Lawrence, KS.

LONESOME GEORGE: Scientists hope that the last Galapagos giant tortoise will soon become the world's oldest father.

BEAVERS could help slow global climate change. Hey, nice beaver!

WHEAT talked ot The Phoenix about their new album, which is streaming this week via Spinner.  Plus, the band has a video out for "Changes Is."

BAD VEINS do the four free songs thing for Daytrotter. Their new album is also streaming in full this week.

LEE FIELDS: The veteran soul singer gets a profile by Oliver Wang + tracks streaming via NPR. 

WYE OAK gets some hometown love from the Baltimore Sun.  Their newly-released sophomore LP is currently streaming via Merge.

THE CAVE SINGERS have a new preview track from their sophomore LP, "At The Cut."

IDA MARIA talks to San Diego CityBeat about Norway's music scene, learning to write in English, and more...  You can check out her set for The Interface while you read.

FRIENDLY FIRES talk to The Guardian about the long and winding road from playing birthday parties to 35K at the Glastonbury festival.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT: Scott Hutchison talked to the Village Voice about heading to Coney Island for the Siren Festival.

JASON LYTLE is profiled by the Buffalo News.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND's five most over- and under-rated songs, according to MAGNET.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Both autopsies turned up needle marks and the powerful anesthetic propofol. The dancer thought to be Jacko's secret love child sat in the front row at the late singer's memorial service.

MISCHA BARTON is still seeking psychiatric treatment but "making improvements."  The actress has also struggled with a fluctuating weight and body image.

BILLY JOEL is dating Alex Donnelley, the former star of "The Young and The Restless," a month after separating from wife No. 3.

KIEFER SUTHERLAND is officially off the hook for that whole headbutting incident in NYC back in May.

ERIN ANDREWS: The ESPN sportscaster was the target of a peephole pervert who surreptitiously shot a video of her walking around her hotel room naked - and posted it on the Internet.  The New York Post has posted a barely-censored slideshow, so that you might share their outrage.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: The teaser trailer for the Tim Burton reimagining is online. The Mouse has lawyers busy, but even they miss a few.

IRON MAN 2: Check out some first look photos at USA Today.

JOHNNY DEPP may be in limbo after Alice in Wonderland.

SAM RAIMI has signed on to a movie adaptation of "World of Warcraft."

STEPHEN BALDWIN files for bankruptcy.

PAKISTAN is objecting to expanded American combat operations in neighboring Afghanistan, creating new fissures in the alliance with Washington at a critical juncture when thousands of new American forces are arriving in the region.

IRAN: Pres. Ahmadinejad showed rare defiance of his strongest backer, Iran's supreme leader, by insisting on his choice for vice president Wednesday despite vehement opposition from hard-liners that has opened a deep rift in the leadership.

DEER & KITTEH, bathing together... mass hysteria!

A MONKEY was caught on video burglarizing a nursery.

A DEER tries to see the dentist without an appointment. Slideshow at the link.

THE SWARM: A Miami Shores resident was shocked to discover what was buzzing inside her home -- a swarm of 250000 bees. Video at the link.

PLUMMETING TORTOISE causes amnesia.

GIDGET, the Taco Bell Chihuahua, dies of a stroke at 15.