BRANDON FLOWERS is joined by guitarist Andy Summers on "Roxanne."

NEW RELEASES from Girls, the Republic of Wolves, Abby Gogo and more are streaming this lean week at Spinner.

JESCA HOOP stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set in audio and video.

IRON & WINE dropped "Walking Far From Home" as an advance single.

MERGE 2010: Stream the label's year-end round-up.

DAFT PUNK: Five new tracks are preveiwed by the director of TRON: Legacy.

BOB GELDOF: "I am responsible for two of the worst songs in history. One is 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' and the other one is 'We Are The World.' "

ATLAS SOUND: Bradford Cox has run into problems with Sony over his bedroom recordings.

NICK CAVE talks to the L.A. Times about Grinderman and the question of faith.

ROBERT CHRISTGAU sorta brings back the Consumer Guide as a blog.

JENNY & JONNY: Johnathan Lewis talks to The Skinny about his collaboration with Jenny Lewis. (Thx, LHB.)

WOLF PARADE goes on idefinite hiatus.

IRVIN KERSHNER, the veteran filmmaker who directed the pivotal 1980 "Star Wars" sequel "The Empire Strikes Back," as well as big-budget features like "Never Say Never Again" and "Robocop II," has died at 87. No word on whether he will be stuffed into a Tauntaun or frozen in Carbonite.

JAMES FRANCO & ANNE HATHAWAY are hosting the Oscars.

DAVID BECKHAM was suspected of having late night hotel trysts with multiple women behind-the-back of his Posh Spice wife Victoria, according to court papers filed by a magazine publisher being sued for defamation by the soccer superstar.

MAD MEL UPDATE: TMZ has obtained emails sent from Oksana Grigorieva to Mel Gibson in the months following their nuclear argument on January 6 -- and she sounds very much like a woman scorned.

BRITNEY SPEARS will remain under a conservatorship in 2011.

BARBARA WALTERS reveals 8 of the 10 on her Most Fascinating People list. 

SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK, Broadway's most expensive production ever, was an epic flop in its preview Sunday night.

TERROR in the USA: Many questions remain about the extent of the connections between Mohamed Osman Mohamud, arrested Friday by federal agents and charged with plotting to set off a bomb at a Christmas-tree-lighting ceremony in downtown Portland, and Islamic extremists, whom investigators say he wrote to and plotted with, as well as about the apparent contradictions in his personal life, as a studious, friendly teenager and a young man seeking to wage jihad within his adopted country.

THE UNITED NATIONS won't condemn extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions of gay people.

NORTH KOREA: China has signalled its readiness to accept Korean reunification and is privately distancing itself from the North Korean regime, according to leaked US embassy cables that reveal senior Beijing figures regard their official ally as a "spoiled child."

AN IRANIAN nuclear scientist has been killed and another injured in separate attacks in Tehran. State television swiftly blamed Israel for the attacks, though the latest Wikileaks doc dump suggests plenty of suspects.

A BABY ELEPHANT is rescued from a ditch in India.

A CHICKEN was left shell-shocked after laying an enormous four inch tall egg, with her surprised owner describing the poor hen as 'bow-legged.'

TINY, Britain's biggest dog, died at 10 years old. The title now passes to Sampson.

ROO, a two-legged Chihuahua, finds a home. Aw.