THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

...with THE TALKING HEADS!  Here's the expanded band -- including axeman Adrian Belew (who certainly influenced Jon Pratt's early work in Pate) -- in Rome, circa 1980.  Your setlist: "Psycho Killer," "Stay Hungry," "Cities," "I Zimbra," "Drugs," "Take Me To The River," "Crosseyed And Painless," "Life During Wartime," "Houses In Motion," and "Born Under Punches."

THE PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL starts tonight; eMusic has a sampler of free tracks from 17 bands appearing at the fest, though you have to download them track-by-track if you don't want to register for a free trial there.

POST-PUNK PANTHEON:  Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation -- to be performed in its entirety tonight at the P-Fork fest -- tops a list of 10 landmark albums that made indie rock at Boston's Phoenix.

THE DYNAMITES, featuring 63-year-old Nashville veteran singer Charles "Wigg" Walker, are bringing the old skool soul and funk to the indie crowd.  You can stream a few tracks you-know-where.

THE GUN CLUB:  Spinner is streaming "She's Like Heroin to Me," from 1981's Fire of Love, just because it's so good.

JIM MORRISON may have died in a nightclub's lavatory cubicle after an apparent heroin overdose, rather than in his hotel bathtub, according to a new book.

RICHARD THOMPSON was interviewed on video for WOXY about his new album, covers of his songs and even Fairport Convention; you can watch via Loudersoft.  RT digs Del McCoury's bluegrass cover of his wonderful ballad, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."

YELLOW SUBMARINE:  We don't all live on one, but Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen lives on one he just spent 12 million buying.

TELENOVELA: My office's extern tipped me to his brother's duo, whose "Paint It Beige" -- a nifty mix of classic and modern sounds -- is streaming from the Open Mic section at NPR.

CHILDREN & MUSIC:  At PopMatters, Ben Rubenstein advises his newborn niece on developing a well-rounded musical background.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE:  The supposedly sober supermodel is taking refuge at the home of close friend, confidante and celebrity hairdresser James Brown after her break-up with the troubled singer.  And burning a huge stash of love letters, poems and songs given to her by the cheating junkie.

THE CUTOUT BIN:  This Friday's fortuitous finds on the ol' HM are: The Who - Getting In Tune; Prince And The Revolution - Let's Go Crazy; The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop; The Replacements - I Will Dare; R.E.M. - Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground); The Cars - Magic; Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane; Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick; The Go! Team - The Wrath of Marcie; Smashing Pumpkins - 1979; Bob Dylan - It Ain't Me Babe; The Raincoats - Lola (Kinks); Love - Seven and Seven Is; The Small Faces - Itchycoo Park; The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go; Robyn Hitchcock - One Long Pair Of Eyes (Live); The Mountain Goats - This Year; Bruce Springsteen - Downbound Train; Foo Fighters - Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty); Queen - It's Late; The Sweet - Wig-Wam Bam; and The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time Warp.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  The pop tart's train wreck continues, including, but not limited to a warning from Children's Protective Services in L.A. (which seemingly prompted her to move to the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills).  Meanwhile, it appears that Fed-Ex has moved on to a new girlfriend, while Spears may be dating her bodyguard (she denies it).

NOW SHOWING:  Aside from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (reviewed here Wed.), which is scoring 74 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, this weekend's only wide release is the controversial so-called "torture pr0n" of Captivity, which is currently scoring a mere 15 percent.

LOOKING FOR KID-FRIENDLY MOVIES?  My contemporaries often are (and ask me whether ones I've seen are appropriate).  Kids-In-Mind is a website that has almost ridiculously detailed movie ratings for sex, violence, profanity, etc. 

THE FRENCH HOTEL would get credit for the Warholian 15 minutes reference, if i thought she knew she was making it.

THE McCARTNEYS:  Having polished her image in the States by Dancing with the Stars, Heather Mills is mulling Dancing on Ice in the UK.

JESSICA SIMPSON publicly confirms that they're real and spectacular, though she may well have some renovation work after childbirth.  She claims she's had no plastic surgery, but Tyler Durden doubts that.

CAMERON DIAZ says she can't work out too much or else she begins to look like a man.  Which I'm sure is not a veiled swipe at the buff Jessica Biel, who took up with her ex, Justin Timberlake.

BRADGELINA:  The incredible shrinking Jolie and paramour Pitt  reportedly have a 220-million-dollar "prenup," according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer.

MISS CONDUCT:  Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo has revealed several racy photographs that she says were being used to blackmail her.  Video at the link. 

SUPERMAN RETURNS (AGAIN):  And so does Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, according to Variety.  Just don't talk to him.

SILLY WALKS:  Science explains why they would need government grants to survive.

CHEWBACCA framed by Marilyn Monroe?

IRAN:  At Foreign Policy, Monica Maggioni reports that Pres. Ahmadinejad has become a laughingstock in Iran, and not just among ordinary citizens forced to wait in hours-long gas lines.

IRAQ:  In an apparent bid to apply pressure on Mahdi Army fighters, US forces have cut off electricity to the Baghdad district of Kadhimiya, al-Melaf reported in Arabic on Wednesday.  Tipsters led to the capture of south Baghdad's most wanted terrorist.   US troops raided a Shiite area of Baghdad on Thursday, capturing two militants believed linked to Iran and sparking a battle that Iraqi officials said killed 19 people.  Coalition forces opened an outpost in the restive Ameriya neighborhood of western Baghdad.  Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces discovered an al-Qaida safe house and torture chamber, north of the capital of Diyala province.  Columnist Austin Bay outlines seven scenarios following a rapid US withdrawal.  At Newsweek, Joe Cochrane examines whether US benchmarks for Baghdad might be counter-productive.  IraqSlogger reports that despite fiery statements against the Iraqi government by its growing list of opponents, Prime Minister al-Maliki's core alliance can guarantee him a comfortable majority in a confidence vote.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  The NYT and other outlests breathlessly reported that guards at a Baghdad bank made off with 282 million dollars on Wednesday.  Turns out that it was 366K U.S. dollars and 282 million Iraqi dinars -- less than a million US. 

IRAQ and THE BIG EASY:  It just came to my attention that the 2006 murder rate in New Orleans was between 60 to 81 killings per 100K residents.  The Iraqi government reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006.  The population of Iraq is roughly 27.5 million.  Admittedly crude math suggests the violent death rates are roughly the same.  I'm not making a specific point here, for there are many that could be made -- I just find it interesting.

BIG DOGS:  London's Telegraph profiles Samson, Britain's biggest dog.  But he doesn't look as buff as Wendy the Whippet.

WALLY the STEER may be mooing excessively, but he's also outwitting the authorities.

FUGITIVE ELEPHANTS were nabbed at 3 a.m. on the streets of Newmarket, Ontario.

BABY RHINO is a somewhat relative term; this cute newborn weighs 60 pounds.

RUBBER DUCK:  France seems to be overcompensating for something.