THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with CHEAP TRICK, live at ChicagoFest '81! Can you honestly tell me you forgot? Forgot the magnetism of Robin Zander, or the charisma of Rick Nielsen? Your set list includes: "Stop This Game," Hello There," "I Want You to Want Me," "On Top of the World," "Reach Out," "Baby Loves to Rock," "Gonna Raise Hell," "Dream Police," "Ain't That a Shame," "Surrender," "Just Got Back," "Day Tripper" and "Goodnight." You can access the individual songs from the link, or let the whole thing roll.

ALVVAYS advance streams Antisocialites.

NEIL YOUNG advance streams Hitchhiker.

GREGG ALLMAN advance streams Southern Blood.

JULIE & THE WRONG GUYS advance streams a self-titled LP.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM is streaming American Dream.

THE DREAM SYNDICATE's Steve Wynn shares his Sonic Speakeasy Playlist Vol. 2.

FIRST CLASS: "Beach Baby" may fall into that category of summer song Oliver Wang once described "tinged with fragility and marked by melancholy."  It's even more true of the long version, with those French Horns and choral vocals in the c-section...

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS' Stephin Merritt talks to ClashMusic about earplugs, songwriting, heis musical memoir and more. (Thx, Frank Yang)

NEIL FINN talks to The Guardian about livestreaming the recording of his new LP in his crowded house.

POLITICAL BEATS: From National Review(!), Scot Bertram and Jeff Blehar discuss ask guests from the world of politics (journalists and analysts, so far) about their musical passions.

OH SEES: John Dwyer, interviewed by Henry Rollins.

THE SHAGGS "reunion", reviewed by The New Yorker.

NOW SHOWING: After the worst weekend since Sept. 2001, there are no wide releases this weekend.  But Close Encounters of the Third Kind returns for a week on 700 screens, and Tulip Fever debuts on 600 screens.

BESIDE BOWIE: THE MICK RONSON STORY has a trailer online.

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL is the craziest trailer you will see this week.

GWYNETH PALTROW got candid about her past love life in a recent podcast interview.

RAISING ARIZONA: Peak Nic Cage?

COWBOYS wrangle cattle across a flooded road in Crosby, Texas.

HOW A CAT NAMED TIGER wound up in prison.

A BEAR crashes a birthday party, enjoys cake.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Crafty rodents are luring bears to their deaths on the railroad tracks.

U2 shares a video for a new song, "The Blackout."

ULTIMATE PAINTING's Jack Cooper covers the Grateful Dead, Terry Allen, Scott Walker, Frank Sinatra, and Woods for Aquarium Drunkard.

LYDIA LOVELESS plays Mountain Stage for the first time.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED features new tracks from Beck, King Krule, Curtis Harding and more.

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR shares "'Undoing A Luciferian Towers."

THE KNACK: "My Sharona" topped the chart at this time in 1979 and would remain there for five weeks.

COURTNEY BARNETT & KURT VILE talk to Rolling Stone about their upcoming collaborative LP. Here's "Over Everything."

PRINCE'S favorite color may not have been purple.

HANK WILLIAMS: Ten of His Best.

ARCADE FIRE's Win Butler talks songwriting as only someone would to Clickhole.

LEAH REMINI says she never tried to convert her longtime costar and friend Kevin James — much to the chagrin of the church.

TAYLOR SWIFT felt her personal life was spinning out of control.

THE SIMPSONS fired longtime composer Alf Clausen.

KEANU REEVES & WINONA RIDER, last seen together in Bram Stoker's Dracula and A Scanner Darkly, are making a rom-com.

LORD OF THE FLIES is getting an all-female remake.

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING's creative team is returning for the sequel.

HOW TOBE HOOPER invented the slasher film as we know it.

THE MADMAN: Nicolas Cage's Most Insane Role Sheds Light On What Drives Him.

A CAT RESCUE, with a twist.

FIRE ANTS surviving Tropical Storm Harvey make the New York Times and the Washington Post.

A TINY LIVE FROG found in a packaged salad is now a family pet.

AN ACTIVIST messes with the bull...

THE NATIONAL shares a video for "Day I Die."

THE WAR ON DRUGS played a short set at the Turf Club in St. Paul.

MEW stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, live at the Out In The Street Festival, July 16, 2017.

TEGAN & SARA joins MATTHEW DEAR on "Bad Ones."

ARIEL PINK shares a new B-side "Ode To The Goat (Thank You)."

PARQUET COURTS' A. Savage shares “Wild, Wild, WIld Horses.”

ALICE COOPER topped the UK singles chart on this date in 1972 with "School's Out."

FLEET FOXES' Robin Peckhold Interviews GRIZZLY BEAR.

MOLLY TUTTLE, the first female to ever be nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Assoc's guitarist of the year award, talks to World Cafe.

THE NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS, ranked by Stereogum.

ZOLA JESUS talks to Drowned In Sound about David Cronenberg and more...

BLADE RUNNER is rolling out three short video midquels ahead of 2049's arrival in theaters. The first one is online now.

IT: The Stephen King remake dropped a clip online.  And the story is throwing clowns out of work.

GEORGE CLOONEY talks fatherhood, politics, etc.

PRINCE HARRY & MEGHAN MARKLE ended their three-week vacation to Africa with a visit to one of the most romantic places on the continent.

CHRIS PRATT & ANNA FARIS are in couples therapy to help their son after their divorce.

TOP GUN 2 gets a new writer.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK gets a new writer.

PRESTIGE TV is taking bigger breaks between seasons.

THE MISFIT: Nicolas Cage Didn't Fit Into The Brat Pack '80s But Found Success Anyway.

THE GOLIATH BIRDEATER TARANTULA is arguably the biggest spider in the world.  

A HOUSTON AREA FAMILY has taken in 16 strangers and seven dogs following Tropical Storm Harvey.

THE SURPRISING TRICK to tracking down a lost dog.

A BIZARRE CREATURE looks for identification.

ROD STEWART joined DNCE on "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" at the VMAs.

MADELINE KENNEY advance streams Night Night At The First Landing.

JASON ISBELL plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

REPUBLICAN HAIR stops by World Cafe in Nashville for a chat and mini-set.

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER shares "When The Wall Comes Down" and "Domino (Time Will Tell)" in time for Twofer Tuesday.

JANIS JOPLIN with BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY play "Summertime" and "I Need a Man to Love" -- in one of their last performances together -- for Twofer Tuesday.

GRIZZLY BEAR takes The Record on a track-by-track tour of Painted Ruins.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: Gary Rossington, and the heirs of Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, have won a court case to stop an unauthorized movie about the plane crash.

DENNIS WILSON: Stereogum looks back as Pacific Ocean Blue turns 40.

WHY INDIE BANDS still go to major labels in the streaming era.

ANT-MAN & THE WASP: Evangeline Lilly‏ suited up to celebrate late comic book artist Jack Kirby's 100th birthday.

SELENA GOMEZ's Instagram account was hacked and hosted several nude photos of Justin Bieber.

SOFIA VERGARA scored a win in the battle with her ex for custody of their frozen embryos.

HELLBOY loses Ed Skrein, who decided not to play a character who was Asian in the comics.

HEATHERS has a NSFW trailer online.

SUPER TROOPERS 2 has a red band trailer online.

KILLING GUNTHER: The latest from Schwarzenegger has a trailer online.

MARK ZUCKERBERG and his wife are welcoming a new daughter.

A MASSIVE MONITOR LIZARD turned up in a bathroom water tank.

OWNERS rescue their dogs as Houston plunges into chaos.

FIRE ANTS are forming floating islands to ride the storm out in Houston.

ABUSED DOGS & CATS now have a (human) voice in Connecticut courts.

HURRICANE/TROPICAL STORM HARVEY obviously occupied much of the news.  NEVERTHELESS, I have...

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: It was the worst weekend box office overall since the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The Hitman's Bodyguard topped the chart with 10MM on a 53 percent drop. Annabelle: Creation placed with7.4MM on a 53 percent drop.  Leap! showed with 5MM.  Wind River actually zipped up from tenth last week to the fourth slot with 4.4MM and is now close to recouping its modest 11MM production budget.  Logan Lucky rounded out the Top Five with 4.4MM on a 43 percent drop.

RUSSELL BRAND married his partner Laura Gallacher in a ceremony near Henley-on-Thames on Saturday.

TOBE HOOPER, best known for directing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and “directing" Poltergeist, died Saturday.  He was 74.

AS HURRICANE HARVEY APPROACHED, a hawk got into a taxi cab and refused to leave.

WHAT 35 INCHES OF RAIN DREDGES UP: Hurricane Harvey's unusual path could hit Houston with rain and storm surges at the same time-surfacing gators, snakes, sewage, and coffins.

I'll be back tomorrow, with a more typical selection.