THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE MC5! "Kick Out the Jams" is a Cary Loren and Leni Sinclair movie.  Part 1 has an Intro, plus "Ramblin' Rose" and "Kick Out the Jams" (and yes, there's language). Part 2 includes "Black to Comm," "I Want You Right Now," and "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)." Part 3 includes and "Instrumental Jam" and "Come Together." Part 4 includes "Starship." Part 5 includes "Motor City Is Burning," "Shakin' Street," and "Looking At You."

DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE did three free songs for Daytrotter.

THE ROSEBUDS also did three free songs for Daytrotter.

ALEC OUNSWORTH stopped by WXPN for a mini-set streaming now via NPR.

THE DUM DUM GIRLS drop "Jail La La" as an advance track to their album, due in March.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND bassist Chris Baio gives Drowned in Sound a track-by-track tour of the Contra album.  The also brought strings and horns to Morning Becomes Eclectic.  Chances are pretty good that they will be atop the Billboard chart next week.

THE REPLACEMENTS: Captain's Dead posts a gig from April 5, 1985 in DeKalb.

JAY REATARD, a/k/a Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., is dead at 29. Initial reports were that he died in his sleep, though Memphis police are investigating Reatard's death as a homicide.  Beck, The Pixies, and No Age are among those paying tribute. ("Waiting For Something: A Short Documentary About Jay Reatard" is posted at that last link, too.) Spinner re-linked his session at the Interface. His website posted his final recording, a cover of Nirvana's "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle."

T-BONE BURNETT talks to Fresh Air about the film Crazy Heart and about his storied career.

WILL JOHNSON, of Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, Monsters of Folk, and more, does a Q & A with MAGNET, and guest-edits their blog, with pieces on AA Bondy,1900, the Dexateens, and more.

THE PLASTIC ONO BAND, sporting an all-star line-up, returns for a one-night only performance in Brooklyn, NY.

PASTE: How the indie mag got out of the red, and into the black.

THE TEN WORST ALBUM COVERS of 2009, courtesy of Prefix.

CUTOUT BIN: From Belle and Sebastian to Johnny Cash, from Big Mama Thornton to The Clash, from the Three Degrees to the Libertines, From Lucky Soul to the Plimsouls, plus Jimi Hendrix, the Hold Steady, the Lemonheads and more -- this weekend's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are The Spy Next Door, currently scoring 00 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, and The Book of Eli, which is scoring 45 percent.  Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones expands wide, scoring 35 percent.

CONAN O'BRIEN and JAY LENO turn on each other, and Jimmy Fallon finally weighs in on the late night wars.  Ratings for the Tonight Show have risen in the wake of the controversy, natch. There is no deal to move Leno back to 11:35... yet. But the Daily Beast claims that Conan O'Brien is leaving, receiving a payout -- and he'll be free to appear on another network before his contract expires.

LINDSAY LOHAN braces for the release of an Internet sex tape?

BILLY CORGAN recording music with his girlfriend, the pop singer Jessica Simpson. "If you find these words hard to comprehend, it is because it is difficult to read sentences over the deafening screams of 10000 defeated Smashing Pumpkins fans."

KATY PERRY'S rep denies pregnancy rumors.

RUE McCLANAHAN suffered a stroke, but is doing "amazingly well" at rehabbing.

AVATAR: Entertainment Weekly already has sequel news.

WES ANDERSON accepted his special achievement award for Fantastic Mr. Fox from the National Board of Review in character - via a stop-motion animated vignette.

IRAN: Three men, including an Iranian-born chemical engineer living in Glendale, have been charged in a scheme to smuggle sophisticated industrial components into Iran that could be used in the development of a nuclear weapon.

THE WORLD'S MOST FEARLESS ANIMAL: The badger. And yes, there is a snake cameo.

DILLIE THE DEER really is one of the family. She knows how to turn lights on and off, gets ice from the fridge dispenser,  uses the swimming pool...  and shares her owners' bed at night.

A HORRIFIED TWITTER USER tweeted the moment a tourist was killed in the jaws of a "gigantic shark" in a holiday hotspot. Indeed, "You're gonna need a bigger boat" is less than 140 characters.

BOO, THE NINJA DOG, has been spotted strolling the grounds of Kiyomizudera temple or scampering across the premises of Nijo Castle, both major tourist attractions in Kyoto.

70 CUTE BABY ANIMALS: An awww...some photo-gallery.