THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: ...with THE CLASH! Although Saturday Night Live polices clips turning up on the Internet, we have its long defunct imitator, Fridays, to thank for these April 1980 high-octane performances of "London Calling" and "Train In Vain," followed by equally powerful takes on "The Guns of Brixton" and "The Clampdown." LIZ PHAIR's pre-Guyville "Girly Sound" demos are free to download. LANGHORNE SLIM stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set on audio and video. KRIS KRISTOFFERSON did three free songs at Daytrotter. ELIZABETH and the CATAPULT did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased. THE ETTES: "Take It With You," a tasty slice of garagey pop, makes NPR's Song of the Day. HUGH CORNWELL, former frontman of The Stranglers has a chat and mini-set at the World Cafe, with a link to a free download of his new solo LP. ANDY WILLIAMS shared "Memoirs Of Moon River" on NPR's Weekend Edition. ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME FOOTAGE: Stereogum can hook you up with collaborations including U2 with Black Eyed Peas and Mick Jagger, Sting with Stevie Wonder, and Metallica with Lou Reed. HALL and OATES talk to The A.V. Club on the occasion of a new career-spanning four-CD box set, Do What You Want, Be What You Are. The duo were also recently interviewed on All Things Considered. CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG talks to The A.V. Club about her recording and acting careers. DEVENDRA BANHART talks to Prefix about his new album, What Will We Be, his new label, and stalking the White Stripes. ALEC OUNSWORTH does a Q&A with MAGNET, whose blog he guest-edited this week. NO DOUBT is suing Activision because their Rock Band avatars can sing songs by other artists. CUTOUT BIN: From the Replacements to the Five Satins, from the Sex Pistols to the Spinners, from the Decemberists to Dread Zeppelin, plus Sly and the Family Stone, the White Stripes, Chumbawumba, Otis Redding, King Khan, the Waterboys and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM. NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include the 3-D CGI version of A Christmas Carol, which is currently scoring 52 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; the thriller The Box, currently scoring 53 percent (on a small sample of reviews); another thriller called The Fourth Kind, scoring 22 percent; and The Men Who Stare at Goats, which is scoring 63 percent. LINDSAY LOHAN: The latest leaked phone call features her stage mom in anguish over a failed attempt to get Li-Lo into rehab. RHIANNA tells Diane Sawyer that she went back to Chris Brown "eight or nine" times following domestic violence incidents, and that she was blinded by love and made the wrong choices. KRISTEN STEWART on dating Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson: "Okay, we are. We aren't. I'm a lesbian." BRITNEY SPEARS: The High Price of Sanity. KATE HUDSON explains men. OPRAH WINFREY is giving up her syndicated talk show and moving to her own cable network in 2011. V had the best TV debut this fall, out-rating NCIS (though more people still watched NCIS). IRAN: The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned. PAKISTAN: The Pakistani military said it has retaken control of the Ladha Fort in South Waziristan, which has been under Taliban control since August 2008, after heavy fighting in the region. AFGHANISTAN: Technocrats and some existing ministers will be appointed to Afghan Pres. Karzai's new government, but his main rival branded his re-election illegal and ruled out taking any part. IRAQ: As Iraqi lawmakers repeatedly miss deadlines for writing the new law urgently needed for elections to go ahead in January -- and for US troops to go home -- America's diminishing role in the political process is very much in evidence. A DOG dances the merengue. BEARS are going bald at a German zoo. Pics at the link. A STARLING that can talk, mimic mobile phones and fly beside a vehicle at 40mph is to appear in a film. A CAT has been banned from visiting a Buddhist inmate convinced it is the reincarnation of his mother.
|