THE MEAT PUPPETS were a tight, indie mash-up of the Dead and ZZ Top by the time they recorded "Sam," and their live cover of "Little Wing" does credit to Hendrix. However, these earlier live clips of their own "Up o­n the Sun," a countrified take o­n "Sea of Love" and a thrashy, mumbling version of "Midnight Rider" date back to when the Kirkwood Bros. really couldn't sing, so watch them just for their sloppy, Replacements-esque entertainment value.

THE FLAMING LIPS may have an Oklahoma City street named after them. Granted, it's a poorly lit alley, littered with open dumpsters. But the sponsor of the effort thinks the renaming might spur a clean-up.

THE SHINS have one of their new songs, "Phantom Limb," streaming from MySpace. Other streams are... unofficial.

ERIC BACHMANN (Archers of Loaf, Crooked Fingers) came up with Spanish and Mandarin Chinese lessons when he shuffled his iPod for the A.V. Club. But he also turns up Tom Waits and acknowledges his influence: "I mean, I don't need to hear another song about a Puerto Rican midget or anything, but he's really great."

WHAT IS GOTH? A review of Rhino's A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box in PopMatters claims the set will force the listener to rethink their definitions of "goth." There's also plenty of video embedded in the piece.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Thunderclap Newman performs "Something In The Air" o­n the Beat Club. ICYDK, the band has an unusual backstory.

THE 33 HOTTEST BANDS IN CANADA, according to a panel of forty Canadian music writers, bloggers and radio hosts assembled by I (heart) Music. I think I've blurbed about a dozen of them here; there's o­ne I'm trying out now for a future blurb, too.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE is o­ne of those Canadian groups, but co-founder Brandon Canning cautions against lumping everyone together in a brief primer for the Houston Chronicle. The latest BSS video is the misnamed-but-catchy "Major Label Debut."

THE DECEMBERISTS are always getting asked about their move to Capitol Records, so it's notable that multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk has some fairly funny comments o­n the subject for the Philadelphia Weekly. It's good enough that I'll use o­ne of the lesser comments: "Never o­nce did we say, 'We want to play to even bigger audiences.' In fact, we don't ever really want to play basketball arenas or anything like that. That's, like, for athletes." (I think they would play a big house if invited, but that's still funny.)

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Being engaged to a the supposedly sober supermodel has not dampened the troubled singer's enthusiasm for dressing up in women