THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with POWER POP (REDUX)! For whatever reason, I have considered Summer the ideal season for gems like Badfinger's "No Matter What" (which Pate covered on occasion) and "Baby Blue", and even Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" and Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me."  Ditto for more obscure tracks like The Rubinoos "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (see also their vintage cover of "Please Please Me"), Off Broadway's "Stay In Time" and "Full Moon Turn My Head Around," and Pezband's "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "Close Your Eyes."

T-BONE BURNETT visits World Cafe.

DIVINE FITS had a surprise reunion in Williamsburg.

R.E.M.'s first group interview in 30 years. And their first performance in 17 years.

ART BRUT shares "Home Altars of Mexico."

PAUL WELLER covers Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning Barbie ballad “What Was I Made For?“

TOM MORELLO joined... DEF LEPPARD on the glammy "Just Like '73."

BACKBEAT director Iain Softley looks back on capturing the early Beatles 30 years ago.

BILLIE EILISH, Interviewed by LANA DEL REY.

MARK JAMES, the songwriter responsible for classic hits like "Suspicious Minds" and "Hooked On A Feeling," has died at 83. 

INSIDE OUT 2 opens at 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Can it save Pixar from its slump? Tracking estimates are for a 90MM debut.

WATCHMEN: The animated miniseries has a teaser trailer online.

THE G.I. JOE / TRANSFORMERS crossover has a screenwriter.

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON signed a first look deal with Disney.

EMILY BLUNT may join Spielberg's UFO movie.

APOCALYPTIC MOVIES, ranked by survivability.

GREMLINS: An Oral History.

A GROUPER, petted by a diver.

GATOR vs DRONE: Who You Got?

CATS & DOGS, living together...

A HONEYBEE changes its mind in mid-sting.

THE FIVE AMERICANS: "I See The Light."

VAMPIRE WEEKEND attempts covers of The Strokes, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, and more.

SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE shares "Let The Virgin Drive."

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE covers Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams."

DURAN DURAN: The inspiration for the Rio cover has been revealed.

THE 1975: Matty Healy is engaged to his model girlfriend Gabbriette Bechtel.

FRANCOISE HARDY, a French singer, actor and model whose classical beauty and often melancholy music combined to transfix fans internationally in the 1960s and beyond, has died at age 80.More at The Guardian.

JONATHAN MAJORS is getting a perseverance award?

KEVIN SPACEY admits he was "pushing the boundaries" and "being too handsy" with people in the past.

THE BOYS will officially end with Season 5.

PIXAR will not do live-action remakes.

PADDINGTON IN PERU has a trailer online.

SETH MYERS fires his band for budgetary reasons.

ZACK SNYDER announces that his Rebel Moon films are receiving director’s cuts.

BLADE: The revolving door of directors and writers continues.

SONY PICTURES has acquired the distinctive theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

EVERY ELEPHANT Has Its Own Name, A Study Suggests.

A DOGGO is blown a kiss.

A DOGGO learns of a beach trip.

A BEE removes a nail from a brick wall.

A DOGGO makes the long leap.

BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet."  Because it's summer. Plus, cowbell.

IGGY POP sang Stooges songs for the first time in years.

NICK LOWE (and LOS STRAITJACKETS) shares "Went To A Party," and hell yeah!

DELICATE STEVE shares "I'll Be There."

NxWORRIES, the duo of Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge, shares "WalkOnBy."

THE DECEMBERISTS: Colin Meloy on the latest album; his various fiction writing projects, appearing on sitcoms and late-night shows; Hüsker Dü and the Replacements; progressive rock; and more.

MOJO NIXON DAY was recognized in Ohio.

GARY GLITTER has been ordered to pay more than £500000 in damages to one of the women he abused.

ROGER DALTREY thinks the Internet ruins live shows.

THE CURIOUS CASE Of The Underselling Arena Tours.

ARTHUR "GAPS" HENDRICKSON, co-vocalist of 2-tone band The Selecter, has died after a cancer diagnosis.

PARAMOUNT has broken off merger talks with Skydance.

BENIFER remain friendly, though they're reportedly selling their house.

KEVIN SPACEY claims he's deep in debt and that he's about to lose his home.

GLEN POWELL is "questioning his whole life now" after his cannibalism story is revealed to be urban myth.

PAUL GIAMATTI is joining the Star Trek universe.

LORD OF THE RINGS: The War of the Rohirrim, but anime.

JOHNNY DEPP claims he beat out some very big names to play Edward Scissorhands.

RUSSELL CROWE, slightly uncomfortable about Gladiator 2.

EUPHORIA still has Season 3 issues.

COURTNEY COX, dancing in the dark again.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE prefers The Simpsons over The Sopranos.

CATS & DOGS, living together...

A MONKEY witnesses magic.

A MOUSE-DEER is the smallest hoofed animal.

THE CARS play "Candy-O" and "The Dangerous Type" for Twofer Tuesday.

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS cover "When The Levee Breaks."

ADRIENNE LENKER shares "Evol." (Not a Sonic Youth thing.)

LOS CAMPESINOS! shares "0998 HEARTACHE."

EFFED UP shares "Stimming."

PAUL WELLER, on sobriety.

BROOKLYN VEGAN will give you a magazine for your email.

WHEN THE BEATLES Came To Australia.

LANA DEL REY, on Taylor Swift.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Taylor Swift's world-conquering cheerleader-chant earworm "Shake It Off."

TAYLOR SWIFT is not in Deadpool and Wolverine.

THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A Looney Tunes Movie has a preview online.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8's Shea Whigham has some info.

MAN ON FIRE will become a Netflix series.

PRACTICAL MAGIC may get a sequel.

TOM HARDY, on family life.

JOHN MULLANEY on his Netflix talk show: "We can’t get renewed."

A DOGGO, invited to take a smal bite of ice cream.

A DOGGO takes communion, literally.

A DOGGO figures out how to retrieve a ball under water.

EDDIE COCHRAN: "Summertime Blues." Ain't no cure for 'em.

NEW RELEASES: Paste will point you to Bonny Light Horseman, Alfie Templeman, and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has Good Looks, Marina Allen, and more.

JOHNNY CASH: Hear the previously unreleased “Spotlight,” with backup from Dan Auerbach and others.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND took cover requests in Houston.

SMASHING PUMPKINS covered U2's "Zoo Station" in Birmingham.

DAVID BYRNE & DEVO: Hear a previously unreleased version of "Empire," from 1997.

OHSEES shares “Cassius, Brutus & Judas.”

THE BLACK KEYS fired uber-manager Irving Azoff after their planned arena tour collapsed.

STRAND OF OAKS: Tim Showalter shares 10 songs that influencedhis new LP.

PERENNIAL shares 10 albums from 1966 that influenced their new LP.

GOOD LOOKS: Tyler Jordan's favorite heartland rock albums.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Bad Boys: Ride or Die tops the chart with 56MM, the highest-grossing R-rated opening since Oppenheimer, and good news for Will Smith's career. Garfield places with 10MM on a leggy 29 percent drop.  If shows with 8MM on a leggy 24 percent drop.  Menawhile, Furiosa drops below Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes to the sixth slot on a 61 percent skid.

RICHARD LINKLATER, on sex, murder, Hit Man, and the infantilization of culture.

PARAMOUNT+: Dead Streamer Walking?

ZENDAYA continues to struggle with anxiety.

JULIA-LOUIS DREYFUS: The Darker Side.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, on his recent Spotify habits.

DON'T PANIC about movie theaters... yet.

DICK VAN DYKE made history, winning the 2024 Daytime Emmy award for guest performer in a daytime drama series —at 98.

CATS & DOGS, living together...

A DOG, A CHICKEN, AND A MONEY (in jeans), living together...

A CAT befriending a Rhino? Or just scratching itself on rogh skin?

AN OCTOPUS, punching a fish.