ART BRUT visits "Alcoholics Unanimous" in the first single from their upcoming album, "Art Brut vs. Satan."

ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS played DC's Sixth and I Synagogue; you can stream the gig via NPR, or watch the gig on PitchforkTV.

SPINAL TAP talk about their Unwigged reunion tour and play an acoustic medley at NPR's Day to Day.

TOM JONES played a Tiny Dest Concert at the office of NPR's Bob Boilen.

MAC McCAUGHAN of Superchunk, Portastatic and Merge Records, talks to PopMatters about his career, his bands, and those wonderful four-track recordings that he thought he lost 'lo those many years ago.

BOB MOULD & NO AGE play the band's "Miner" and Husker Du's "New Day Rising" at the Noise Pop festival.

GRIZZLY BEAR frontman Ed Droste sent Drowned In Sound a progress report on the making of their new record, Veckatimest.

MP3 DEALS: A free Stax Records sampler is among the many cheap albums currently on sale at Amazon, including LPs from Sex Pistols, The Cars, U2, TV on the Radio, Adele, Van Morrison, REM, Springsteen etc.  BTW, Pate doesn't make any money off that referral (though I should look into it).  I just figure some folks might like a deal on legal downloads.

ABE VIGODA is Band of the Week at Paste.

THE BEATLES are now the subject of a Master of Arts degree program at Liverpool Hope University.

WATCHMEN: Jackie Earle Haley talks to the A.V. Club about playing Rorschach. Patrick Wilson (who plays Nite Owl) talks to New York magazine about the possibility of sudden fame. Wired has a behind-the scenes piece that chronicles the cult classic's long jorney to the screen. And don't miss this clip from the Veidt Music Network, circa 1983.

ZACH SNYDER, Watchmen's director, is beginning to put together an all-female cast for his next project, "Sucker Punch."

BRITNEY SPEARS: Don't call it a comeback quite yet, says the normally fluffy People.com. Ouch!

ROBIN WILLIAMS is at a Miami hospital with heart issues and could be laid up for a while.

MARISKA HARGITAY is back in the hospital after suffering chest pains. This is the third time Hargitay has been hospitalized since December.

KATHERINE HEIGL is quickly earning the reputation for being one of Hollywood's most difficult divas.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER, the upcoming indie starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, now has a full-length trailer online, which opens with a discussion of The Smiths.

LEO DiCAPRIO will star in "Inception," the science-fiction film that Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") wrote and will direct as his next pic at Warner Bros.

MEGAN FOX is in final negotiations to star opposite Josh Brolin and John Malkovich in "Jonah Hex," Warner Bros.' action Western based on the DC Comics character. She also is attached to star and develop "Fathom," Fox Atomic's comic book-based underwater adventure. ALSO: She was spotted out with her supposedly ex-fiancé Brian Austin Green.

REESE WITHERSPOON talks about an Oscar, a divorce, and a guy named Jake with Elle UK.

IRAN: The commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps said his country's missiles can target Israel's nuclear facilities.

IRAQ: Casualties among Iraqi civilians and security forces last month hit their second-lowest level in nearly four years. US withdrawal depends on creating new Army units to train Iraqi soldiers to secure Iraq, but the composition of those units has yet to be determined. Several indicators show the quality of life for the average Iraqi is on the rise as the sixth anniversary of the start of the war approaches.

THE CABOODLE RANCH: 500 cats, no waiting.

THE SEVERED TIGER HEAD MYSTERY, icymi.

HOMELESS SEWERAGE HIPPO: South African environmental authorities are looking for homes for hippos, putting out a plea today for people to offer their premises to a hippopotamus that has moved into a water treatment plant.

SNAKE in a CAR: A couple drove 170 kilometres (100 miles) from South Africa's famous Kruger National Park with a highly venomous spitting cobra in their car, the Beeld newspaper reported on Wednesday.

BEETLES benefit from torture phalluses. Yes, really. Pic at the link.