Topic: Karl

LEONARD COHEN debuts a new song, "I've Got A Secret."

MAZZY STAR advance streams Seasons of Your Day.

CHVRCHES advance streams The Bones of What You Believe.

AU REVOIR SIMONE advance streams Move In Spectrums.

TYPHOON stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a session. 

FREE ENERGY covers Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby."

JANELLE MONAE covers the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back."

MGMT gets the fancy cover story treament at Pitchfork.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE: Kevin Shields talks to The Guardian about being "banned" from the Mercury Prize  for being truly indie.

FLEETWOOD MAC: Looks like Christine McVie will cameo some shows on the tour.

RAY DOLBY, the legendary pioneer of high fidelity sound, has died after struggling with Alzheimer's disease and leukemia. He was 80.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Insidious 2 tops the chart with a popping 41 million dollars. Poor reviews and the front-loading of a Fiday the 13th opening may make this short-lived, but against a 5 million budget, it's golden. The Family placed with a 14.5 million debut, which is lackluster, but probably enough to break even when it's done.  Riddick shows with 7 million, but that's a steep 63 percent drop from its opening.  31 million against a 38 million budget doesn't sound bad until you see it has taken in only 10 million overseas.  The Butler finishes fourth with 5.6 million and crosses the 100 million mark on its way to Oscarville.  We're The Millers hangs onto the bottom of the Top 5 with another 5.4 million and 131.6 million against a 37 million budget.

MILEY CYRUS put on some clothes.

JOHN LEGEND & CHRISSY TEIGEN tied the knot in Italy on Saturday.

LEBRON JAMES tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend Savannah Brinson in San Diego on Saturday.

LINDSAY LOHAN's mother was busted for an off-the-charts DWI.

LAMAR ODOM was charged with 1 count of DUI.

KANYE WEST has been charged with criminal battery and attempted grand theft for allegedly attacking a paparazzo at LAX on July 19.

SYRIA: The United States and Russia agreed Saturday on an outline for the identification and seizure of Syrian chemical weapons and said Syria must turn over an accounting of its arsenal within a week.The agreement will be backed by a UN Security Council resolution that could allow for sanctions or "other consequences" if Syria fails to comply.  Some rebels reject the deal.  As negotiations to avert a U. strike against Syria ramped up last week, so, too, did the action on the ground. A secretive Syrian military unit at the center of the Assad regime's chemical weapons program has been moving stocks of poison gases and munitions to as many as 50 sites to make them harder for the US to track, according to American and Middle Eastern officials.  BTW, have you seen the cover of TIME?

IRAN: A new report suggests that Iran ceased its production of nuclear warheads in 2004.

IRAQ: A suicide bomber killed 21 people during a funeral in a village north of Mosul.

MARU the BOX CAT now has Hana the Kitten to play with.

THE IKEA MONKEY has been taken from its owner.

LIVE CRABS in Chinese vending machines. On purpose.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Secretly defeated by a conspiracy at Yale?

JULIA HOLTER is on a mission in "This Is A True Heart."

SEBADOH drop by the KEXP studio to play songs off their 2013 release Defend Yourself.  

TY SEGALL plays an acoustic mini-set at WNYC Soundcheck.

GOGOL BORDELLO brings their gypsy punk to WNYC Soundcheck.

PILLARS AND TONGUES advance stream End-dance.

CREAM whipped up "Strange Brew" for Beat Club in 1967.

THE MERCURY PRIZE shortlist is announced.

KATHLEEN HANNA: Five Things You Didn't Know. With a Joan Jett cameo.

LAURA VEIRS talks to Drowned In Sound about motherhood and her latest LP.

NEIL YOUNG's one-of-a-kind, million-dollar hybrid electric vehicle broke down on Interstate 80 on the way to a green festival in Canada.

EMILY BLUNT & JOHN KRASINSKI are expecting their first child in just a few months.

LAMAR ODOM scooped up a household cleaning product that doubles as a vital part of homemade crack pipes.

ZOE SALDANA and beau Marco Perego secretly tied the knot in London in June.

HOLLY MADISON married Pasquale Rotella at the Disneyland on Tuesday.

MADONNA: Engaged?

LINDSAY LOHAN has a "sober companion" who costs 2500 daily.

TOM HANKS: His jury duty came to a swift end after a member of the City Attorney's Office made inappropriate contact with him during a break. The case then ended with a plea bargain.

TIGER WOODS: Getting a taste of his own bitter medicine from Lindsey Vonn?

KATHERINE HEIGL is slinking back to TV, as she's no longer so big a box-office draw for movie types to put up with her BS.

NORTH KOREA appears to be in the process of restarting a nuclear reactor used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, five years after shutting the facility down as part of international disarmament efforts.

ONE RETRIEVER is better at snack-catching.

HERO DOGS OF 9/11, including one who found a woman trapped in the WTC rubble for 27 hours.

WHEN BEARS ATTACK: The father of a Rhode Island man who was mauled by a grizzly bear in Alaska said Wednesday it's a miracle that his son is alive after suffering bites to his head and leg.

A BABY ELEPHANT cried for five hours after his mother tried to stomp him to death. Not quite "Dumbo," is it?

TV ON THE RADIO drops an animated lcip for "Mercy."

SMITH WESTERNS drop by KEXP to play songs off their third studio release Soft Will. 

JC BROOKS & THE UPTOWN SOUND play a soulful mini-set at KEXP.

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

BALANCE AND COMPOSURE advance streams The Things We Think We're Missing.

BLITZEN TRAPPER drops "Shine On" ahead of VII.

THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN drops "Daddy Was A Real Good Dancer" ahead of Uncanny Valley.

NIRVANA: Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic share memories and unreleased songs from In Utero at All Songs Considered.

HARRY NILSSON, remembered by Van Dyke Parks.

THE WRENS: Stereogum marks the 10th anniversary of The Meadowlands with an oral history. 

TOM WAITS, ranked by Stereogum.

KRISTEN STEWART was briefly sold to an Arabian prince for Hurrican Sany relief. Also, Jimmy Page turned down Presidents Obama and Clinton.

LAMAR ODOM denies he has a crack problem and is confident he'll play in the NBA next season.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA has admitted himself to a treatment facility.

TOM HANKS pulled jury duty in a domestic violence case.

ASHTON KUTCHER & DEMI MOORE ran into each other at the airport, but seemed cordial.

CHLOE GRACE MORETZ is profiled in W magazine.

"THE SITUATION" blames his pill addiction on Dancing With The Stars.

VANITY FAIR isn't sucking up enough to celebrities, think celebrtities.

9/11: The first five minutes of CNN coverage. I came out of the shower, saw the second plane hit on NBC, and knew had had to contact my boss, whose daughter lived in NYC. There is still a lot of crazy stuff going on around the country and the world as a result, so consider taking a moment to watch and remember.

SYRIA:  Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Syria’s chemical arms handover will only work if the US and its allies renounce the use of force against Damascus. And if Putin ever tires of jerking the US around, note there's almost no chance Russia's "plan" will work. An authorization of strikes had not yet reached 50 Senators, even privately, meaning its passage is in doubt, even in the Senate. A spokesman for the rebels' Supreme Military Council said the US has begun supplying lethal as well as nonlethal aid to the rebels.

EGYPT: Clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and security forces in the northern Sinai left at least one dead. Authorities claimed to have killed nine Islamist militants during ongoing operations in the Sinai. As part of the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, authorities announced plans to forbid 55000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques.

ANIMALS ON SKATEBOARDS: The Supercut.

ANIMALS like to get drunk too. 

WHEN POLAR BEARS ATTACK: Distract with your cellphone.

WHEN COUGARS ATTACK: Use your spear.

ARCADE FIRE drops a video for the title track to "Reflektor." With a Bowie cameo, sounds different. YMMV.

TOMMY KEENE is advance streaming Excitement At Your Feet.

MINIBOONE is advance streaming a self-titled LP.

GROUPLOVE is advance streaming Spreading Rumours. 

STEVE GUNN lays out some guitar jams in a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR.

DUCKTAILS drops "Honey Tiger Eyes" from the limited edition Wish Hotel EP.

THE KINKS supply "Days" and "The Village Green Preservation Society" for Twofer Tuesday.

NINE INCH NAILS: Trent Reznor talks to All Things Considered about reacting to criticism, working with Lindsey Buckingham and the reasons he thinks opening for Guns N' Roses  in Germany was a big mistake.

JASON ISBELL talks to the L.A. Times about sobering up.

THE ORWELLS tell The Guardian why only angry teenagers can do garage rock.

THE TOP 100 LPs OF 1986, according to Slicing Up Eyeballs. I played most of these on the radio.

MILEY CYRUS: Not getting any better.

TINA FEY will be the guest host for the SNL premiere on Sept. 28.

LAMAR ODOM's "roommate" saw him do crack.

ROBIN QUIVERS: Howard Stern's right hand woman announced she's been battling cancer for the past year, but says she's now cancer free.

GWYNETH PALTROW cut off a school bus. On a Vespa. With her child on the back. On video.

BRITNEY SPEARS is getting into shape for her Vegas residency.

PATRICK STEWART married singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell; Ian McKellen officiated.

SYRIA: After US Secretary of State Kerry said rhetorically that the US would not strike Syria if it handed over all of its chemical weapons in a week, Foreign Minister Lavrov appeared to back the request in principle. Then Syria did. And by the end of the day, so did Pres. Obama. (Last week, Kerry was complaining about Russian obstructionism.)  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nev) delayed a procedural vote on military strikes as opposition builds among senators in both parties.

LIBYA has rebuffed the Obama administration’s efforts to arrest the suspects in the attacks in Benghazi that killed the United States ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

A CAT gets a neck massage.

A CAT was rescued by Batman and Captain America.

RELEASING 1000 FOREIGN CRICKETS earns a scientist a citation.

A FERAL PIG steals six-packs, wreaks havoc.

YUCK covers New Order's "Age Of Consent."

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ROOTS are advance streaming Wise Up Ghost.

SEBADOH is advance streaming Defend Yourself, their first LP in 14 years.

SAM FERMIN is advance streaming an eponymous debut.

STARS drop "The Light" as a B-Side. Because who cares what's on the flip side? I do.

IGGY POP, with an especially destructive "Lust For Life" circa 1977.

KIM GORDON is writing her autobiography and publishing a book of her essays that she wrote for art and culture magazines in the early 1980s.

THE CLASH: Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Nicky 'Topper' Headon re-unite to reflect on their career and their legacy on BBC4, with Joe Strummer appearing archivally. (Thx, LHB.)

SHARON JONES has confirmed that she is recovering following successful cancer surgery.

THE TOP 10 MASTADON SONGS, according to Stereogum.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Riddick tops the chart with 18.7 million, a bit lower than expected, particularly as it was the sole wide release in a traditionally slow weekend. It's good enough against a 38 million budget that we may see another in this series.  The Butler places with 8.9 million on a 40 percent drop that likely was expected after a long weekend.  Instructions Not Included shows with 8.1 million (against a reported 5 million budget), moving up a notch this weekend in a show of good release timing and shrewd targeting of the Hispanic demo.  We're The Millers takes the fourth slot with another 7.9 million and roughly 164 million worldwide against a 37 million production budget.  Planes clings to the bottom of the Top 5 with 4.3 million and 79.3 million domestic (and another 40 mill overseas) against a 50 million straight-to-video budget.  Below the fold, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine surpasses Vicky Cristy Barcelona and Match Point in total box office.  Sadly, The World's End drops to No. 10, though worlwide it has taken in about 40 million on a 20 million budget.

BRUNO MARS will play halftime at the Super Bowl.

LAMAR ODOM's crack cocaine addiction had reached such dangerous levels that even his dealer cut off his supply last week. Khloe Kardashian has no idea where her husband of nearly four years is.

MILEY CYRUS: Will the VMAs cost her Liam Hemsworth?

ZACH GALIFIANAKIS skipped the Toronto Film Festival premiere of his new film, You Are Here, on Saturday because his wife went into labor.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson had an angry encounter with Malibu cops last Saturday, but he was sober and left the Jews out of it.

JACK OSBOURNE's wife suffered a miscarriage.

SYRIA: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on "the increasing human rights violations that have been committed by the ISIS" (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). Several fighters from both sides were killed in clashes between Kurds and the Al Nusrah Front, the ISIL, and rebel fighters in Hasakah. The ruling Baath Party leadership said it would go into "permanent session" starting today. The US and allies have not yet established a direct link between the regime leadership and the Aug. 21 chemical attack.The EU urged a "clear and strong" response to the Aug. 21 chemical attack, but stopped short of endorsing military action.

EGYPT: Security sources said that the Egyptian army undertook a massive operation in the Sinai against Islamist militants. Former president Morsi is facing new charges of insulting judges. An IED exploded at a Cairo police station.

IRAQ: Security forces captured four members of an al Qaeda assassination cell in Baghdad, an al Qaeda "money collector" and three aides in Kirkuk, and three "gunmen" in Rubaia near the Syrian border. Police also found a large bomb factory and arrested two al Qaeda operatives in Anbar.

AFFECTIONATE CAT: Let's go to the video.

A WILD BULL ELK gored a shepherd in the mountains in eastern Utah, puncturing one of the man's lungs, knocking him unconscious and forcing him to walk several miles for help.

THE SWARM: A Biblical plague of crickets invades Oklahoma.  

A WILD TURKEY trashes a New Jersey home.