Topic: Karl

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with A CHRISTMAS SHINDIG! The full episode has gone dark, but still-available clips from 1964 include The Beach Boys' "Dance, Dance, Dance," Bobby Sherman and Donna Loren singing "Keep on Searching," the Righteous Brothers doing "The Jerk" and an awesome milk commercial, Bobby Sherman with "Sleigh Ride," Donna Loren returning with a Spector-esque, but rougher "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," and The Beach Boys returning for a set including "Little Saint Nick," "Monster Mash" (yes, really), "Papa Oom Mow Mow," "Johnny B. Goode," and "We Three Kings."

MJ LENDERMAN plays KEXP. 

GUNS N' ROSES share “Nothin'’” and “Atlas.” 

GREGORY CORSO & MARIANNE FAITHFULL share “No Arrangement Was Made.”  

THE SOFTIES cover Lisa Prank's “Turn It Up.”

THE 100 BEST SONGS of 2025, according to Rolling Stone. 

THE BEATLES biopics build out their casts. And the BBC acquired its own biopic series.

BLUES TRAVELER's John Popper has opinions on other harmonica players. 

HOLLYWOOD A-LISTERS are lobbying against Netflix buting Warner Bros. 

THE AFI AWARDS, both movies and TV, went to these folks. 

MARGOT ROBBIE wants her Wuthering Heights to be Titanic for a new generation. 

PETER DANO gets defended around Hollywood after Quentin Tarantino slammed him.  Here's the thin: I think Dano is generally good, loved him in Love and Mercy.  But I get why QT would not dig him; it's hard to imagine him playing any role in a Tarantino film.  People get to have opinions.

SINNERS' female cast takes us behind the scenes. 

KIRSTEN DUNST, on the post-MeToo workplace. 

MEN IN BLACK: Headed back to the big screen? 

KIM CATRALL got hitched. 

HOW CHESS Went From Cult Fave to Broadway Breakout: It's a show with everything but Yul Brynner.

A DOGGO befriends an elephant. 

AN OSPREY catches a biiiiig fish. 

A POPCORN PARTY for chickens. 

THE RAVEONETTES' 2011 video for 2001's "The Christmas Song." 

STEVE "THE COLONEL" CROPPER, the prodigious guitarist, songwriter and producer who played a pivotal role in shaping the lean gutbucket soul music made at Memphis’s Stax Records in the 1960s and ’70s, died on Wednesday in Nashville. He was 84. Here's the NYT obit. And the Rolling Stone obit.  Beyond his wicked guitar licks, Cropper co-wrote the MG’s smashes “Green Onions,”  and “Time is Tight,” Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour,” Eddie Floyd’s “Knock On Wood” and “Raise Your Hand,” and Don Covay’s “Seesaw” and “Sookie Sookie,” to name a few.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE visits World Cafe. 

RATBOYS shares “What’s Right?” 

MUTE SWAN shares "Cocteau Swan." 

XIU XIU covers The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" and Daniel Johnson's "Some Things Last a Long Time." 

WEEZER's bassist's wife files for divorce months after the alleged LAPD shooting incident. 

THE 50 BEST SONGS of 2025, according to Stereogum. 

THE 30 BEST ROCK ALBUMS of 2025, according to Pitchfork. 

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO on ‘One Battle After Another’, His “No Regrets” Career And The Fight To Save Cinema. 

THE INDIE SPIRIT AWARDS nominations went to these folks. Congrats. 

THE TOP 10 FILMS of 2025, according to John Waters. 

 THE 25 BEST MOVIES of 2025, according to Consequence of Sound.

THE 25 BEST MOVIES of 2025, according to Indiewire.  

SCARLETT JOHANSSON is in final negotiations to join The Batman Part II, the long-gestating sequel to Matt Reeves’ 2021 hit. 

GWYNETH PATROW: Don't call it a (movie) comeback. 

JAMES CAMERON banned generative AI in the making of Avatar 3. 

RICHARD GERE spoke out about his 20-year ban from the Academy Awards.  

SNL in the UK. 

BRIDGET BARDOT, on her repeated attempts to kill herself during her youth. 

BUCKS BATTLE: Catch the play-by-play. 

A GOLDEN RETRIEVER, retrieving a ball, sort of. 

CATS will be cats. 

THE RAMONES: "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)."

NEKO CASE visits World Cafe. 

VOXTROT returns with "Fighting Back." 

LAMBCHOP shares "Afterburner." 

DIIV shares a live take on “Reflected.” 

Y LA BAMBA shares "Wrong Crowd." 

THE 50 BEST ALBUMS of 2025, according to Stereogum.

THE 50 BEST ALBUMS of 2025, accoding to Pitchfork. 

THE 50 BEST ALBUMS of 2025, accoding to The Line of Best Fit. 

THE 50 BEST ALBUMS of 2025, accoding to Consequence of Sound. 

QUENTIN TARANTINO picks the best movies of the 21st century. 

AVATAR 3: Early Reactions. (But not the heavy hitters.)

THE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE awards went to these folks. 

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION has a trailer online. 

FORBIDDEN FRUITS has a teaser online. 

MILEY CYRUS got engaged. 

DAVE COULIER has cancer again. Eff cancer. 

MAD MEN is streaming in 4K on HBO but it's riddled with problems.

DICK VAN DYKE started celebrating his upcoming 100th birthday early by hosting a two-hour sing-a-long charity event with fans. 

THE 20 BEST MOVIES OF 2025, according to Rolling Stone. 

THE 11 BEST MOVIES of 2025, according to Vanity Fair. 

A RACCOON got drunk at a Virginia ABC store and then passed out in the bathroom. 

A K9 recognizes his first handler.

AN ORCA attacks a seal on the beach. 

GLAM XMAS:  Wizzard's awesome "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" (1973's UK Xmas No. 1) are your Twofer Tuesday.

COURTNEY BARNETT plays World Cafe. 

MELODY’S ECHO CHAMBER shares "The House That Doesn’t Exist." 

THE CORAL shares "Christmas on Coral Island" and "She Died on Christmas Day." 

KIWI JR shares “Hard Drive, Ontario.”  

THE BEST SONGS of 2025, according to Pitchfork. 

THE TOP 100 ALBUMS of 2025, according to The Quietus. 

THE TOP 37 ALBUMS of 2025, according to Gorilla vs Bear. 

DIDDY: THE RECKONING has a trailer online. 

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, on standing by Woody Allen. And on her weird first date with Colin Jost.

ARIANA GRANDE does not want you commenting on her sickly appearance. 

GWEN STEFANI shut down rumors that she and her husband, Blake Shelton, have split.

SIMON COWELL apologized for his behavior on American Idol. 

TOMB RAIDER cast Martin Bobb-Semple opposite Sophie Turner. 

WHY NETFLIX Can't Buy Warner Bros. 

THE SUPREME COURT considered the liability of internet providers for users’ copyright infringement in oral arguments on Monday. 

QUEEN OF THE ZOO: Gramma, tortoise who lived through two world wars, dies aged 141. 

THERE'S ALWAYS a bigger croc. 

CATS & DOGS, living together... 

A BEAR rescues a drowning crow. 

U2 cover "Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Come Home)."

MY MORNING JACKET visits World Cafe. 

THE LEMON TWIGS share  “I’ve Got A Broken Heart” and “Friday (I’m Gonna Love You).”  

THE NOTWIST returns with "X-Ray." 

PETE FIJ shares "Love's Coming Back." 

ULRIKA SPACEK shares "Square Root of None." 

BUDDY GUY: The Last of the Old Bluesmen? 

THE TOP 25 ALBUMS of 1995, according to Paste. 

THE 50 GREATEST BEATLES SONGS, according to Paste. A little hot takey, but I am there for number five.

PETER HOOK, on the bass work of the late Mani. 

THURSTON MOORE shares the soundtrack of his life. 

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Zootopia 2 tops the chart with 156MM over the long holiday frame, breaking records along the way.  Wicked: For Good placed with 93MM on a 57 percent drop.  Now You See Me: Now You Don’t showed with 10MM.  Below the fold, Predator: Badlands became the highest grosser of the franchise domestically.

TOM STOPPARD, a four-time Tony-winning playwright who won an Oscar for the Shakespeare In Love screenplay, was nominated for co-writing Brazil, and script-doctored Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, among others, died at 88.  Here's a super-deep dive into his Indiana Jones work.

MACAULAY CULKIN, 35 years after Home Alone. 

JOSH BROLIN, on fame, fights, addiction, and friendship with Donald Trump. 

GEORGE CLOONEY & ADAM SANDLER, on success, fatherhood — and the parts they didn’t get. 

GUY PEARCE issued an apology for sharing “misinformation and falsehoods” about Israel on social media while supporting Palestine online. I doubt he means it.

KEVIN SPACEY, facing more accusations. 

QUENTIN TARANTINO put a lost chapter of Kill Bill in Fortnite. 

JODIE FOSTER, on Taxi Driver, De Niro, and more. 

LILLY WACHOWSKI, on Right-Wing Misinterpretations of The Matrix.

ZIGGY is excited for pool day. 

BIRD HARDWARE, cat software. 

A SEA TURTLE eats the wrong thing. 

DUCKLINGS brave the current.