THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE GODFATHER OF SOUL, MR. JAMES BROWN!  With a hat tip to Friend of Pate Steve Craven, here's the hardest working man in show business barreling through "I Got The Feeling","Cold Sweat," "Say it Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud," "Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose," "Please,Please,Please" and "There Was A Time" in just about ten minutes flat circa 1969.

TITUS ANDRONICUS does a live session at the KEXP studios.

FUTURE OF THE LEFT run through a quick live set of post-hardcore/synth-punk at KEXP.

LORD HURON stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

MENAHAN STREET BAND also stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic to share some funky soul.

TEMPLE OF THE DOG: "Hunger Strike." Brrr.

WILCO frontman Jeff Tweedy discusses critics and aging with Spinner.

JASON ISBELL quits drinking, finds a girl, and learns to write about himself.

MOUNTAIN GOATS bassist Peter Hughes talks to Urban Tulsa Weekly about joining the band and its evolution. (Thx, LHB.)

THE TOP 15 HAIR METAL ALBUMS of 1984, according to Play It Loud.

CUTOUT BIN: From Mickey & Sylvia to Led Zeppelin, from Al Green to ZZ Top, from the Ramones to the Rolling Stones, plus Warren Zevon, Eric Burdon, Madness, Meat Puppets and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include: Killing Them Softly, which is currently scoring 81 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and The Collection, scoring 52 percent.

LINDSAY LOHAN was arrested after allegedly punching a woman in the face at a NYC nightclub. Li-Lo was reportedly drinking and doing coke at the time. Meanwhile, the Santa Monica City Attorney charged Lindsay with 3 crimes in connection with her car accident last June on Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica.

HALLE BERRY & GABRIEL AUBRY have reached a truce in their war over that Thanksgiving Day blowout between Gabriel and Olivier Martinez.

STEVEN TYLER responds to Nicky Minaj's accusaion of racism over a joke he made about Bob Dylan.

GUY RITCHIE and his fiancee Jacqui Ainsley welcomed their second child together, a daughter.

THE KARDASHIANS: Kris Humphries wants Kim to return his engagement ring.

THE WORLD'S HIGHEST-PAID MUSICIANS, according to Forbes.

DIRECTORS' ROUNDTABLE: Gus Van Sant, Ben Affleck, Ang LeeTom Hooper, David O. Russell and Quentin Tarantino have a spirited discussion at THR.

THE UNITED STATES: A judge set a sentencing date of Jan. 17, 2013 for David Coleman Headley, a US national who conducted surveillance for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

IRAN is increasingly worried about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime's fate and is distraught that the regime is not taking recommendations from the Islamic republic to keep its power, an Iranian report obtained by a Western diplomatic source said.

EGYPT: Islamist president Mohammed Morsi is not backing down in the showdown over decrees granting him near-absolute powers.

A BABY HIPPO has his first meal.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT is on the menu in Romney, W VA.

THE LITTLE LION went to school one day, school one day...

BIGFOOT is real, says a new genetics study out of the US. And not only that, but the creature known as the Sasquatch is the result of human women mating with an "unknown hominin" species about 15000 years ago. Oh sure.

LOCAL NATIVES drop a video for "Breakers" ahead of their sophomore LP.

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION stopped by World Cafe to play two songs from their new record and discuss their two decades as one of rock's rowdiest bands.

JEREMY MESSERSMITH played the most recent Caravan du Nord.

CAROLINE SMITH & THE GOOD NIGHT SLEEPS also played the Caravan du Nord.

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

FRANZ NICOLAY drops "'Did Your Broken Heart Make You Who You Are?"

CAT POWER: "New York, New York."

GRAHAM PARKER tours his musical career with The A.V. Club.

SHANE MacGOWAN is in a sick bed from "overdoing it," but still talks to The Quietus.

TEN ROCKSTARS' Last Words.

THE 50 BEST ALBUMS OF 2012, according to Paste.

JESSICA SIMPSON is reportedly knocked up again already.

CHARLIE SHEEN isn't done blasting "Two and a Half Men" and showrunner Chuck Lorre over the Angus T. Jones brouhaha.

GABRIEL AUBRY will probably not face criminal prosecution for the violent Thanksgiving Day brawl at Halle Berry's home.

DEMI MOORE Demi Moore is back in the arms of another much younger man after splitting with husband Ashton Kutcher, according to Page Six.

JUSTIN BIEBER & SELENA GOMEZ were... wait for it... caught canoodling at Dream Hotel's Marble Lane.

WHITNEY HOUSTON's daughter Bobbi Kristina miraculously emerged unscathed after wrecking her Chevy Camaro in a frightening car crash. She and Nick Gordon recently called off their plans to wed.

PRINCE WILLIAM & KATE MIDDLETON: Trying for a baby... or already pregnant?

STAR WARS: Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg indeed have been hired to work on the Star Wars franchise, but they will likely not be writing episodes 8 and 9.

IRAN: The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said Iran would continue to enrich uranium for its nuclear program. Talks between Iran and six world powers are expected to resume later this year or in January.

SYRIA: Two car bombs exploded in Damascus, killing at least 34 people. Rebels shot down a government jet, the second aircraft shot down in two days. The new opposition coalition held its first meeting to discuss forming a transitional government.

EGYPT: Protests against President Morsi continued. Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist parties called for a "million man" rally to support Morsi for Saturday. The committee writing the new constitution said it could complete a draft soon. A court sentenced seven Egyptian Copts to death in absentia for participating in an anti-Islamic video.

A BABY RED PANDA is surprised.

A RUNAWAY ZEBRA AND PONY were on the lam on Staten Island. Video at the link.

AN ESCAPED EMU was detained by police after it was spotted walking through a town during rush-hour on Wednesday.

KILLING A SPIDER with brass knuckles is not a good idea. Video at the link.

THE ARTIST CURRENTLY KNOWN AS PRINCE may hate the internet, but he posted a video for "Rock and Roll Love Affair," and it's pretty darned good.

THE BEN FOLDS FIVE stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

CALEXICO also stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE ALLAH-LAs stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS: Live at the University of Leicester, Oct. 22, 1977.

OF MONTREAL drops "Dumb Acre" as part of a Kickstarter campaign.

ARTHUR BROWN is the god of hellfire... and he brings you "Fire!" It's a crazy world.

THE KINKS: Ray Davies talks Lola -- including the unreleased sequel -- and songwriting with the BBC.

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW singer Tobacco tells PopMatters it is not drug music, just its own world.

THE TOP 20 BEST NINE INCH NAILS SONGS, according to PopMatters.

CHRIS STAMP, the former manager for the Who, died Saturday, Nov. 24, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City after battling cancer. He was 70.

ANGUS T. JONES has blasted Two and a Half Men as "filth" and suggested people should stop watching, in a videotape testimonial for a group linked to the Voice of Prophecy Seventh-Day Adventist church in Los Angeles, where Jones worships.  He has since issued a quasi-apology. The 19-year-old actor coincidentally is not scheduled to appear in the final two episodes scheduled to shoot before the CBS comedy takes a holiday hiatus.  His pastor believes, among other things, that Jay-Z is a Freemason with ties to Satan.

GABRIEL AUBRY took another lump in his war with Halle Berry, after a judge rejected his bid to have the restraining order removed ... which means he still can't visit with his daughter Nahla.

DON'T TOUCH ME ELMO: Kevin Clash - the former voice of Elmo - used alcohol as a precursor to oral sex with an underage boy ... this according to a new lawsuit that has just been filed by a third accuser.

BRADGELINA: Pitt says his wedding to Jolie will happen "soon."

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT is not playing Batman in either Justice League or Man of Steel. Maybe.

DOLLY PARTON is not a lesbian. NTTAWWT.

10 MOVIES Killed by the Internet.

NORTH KOREA: Satellite photos indicated North Korea was readying to launch a long-range ballistic rocket. The assessment came two weeks after North Korean officials said they would expand their space program and "go through with launches of working satellites of all kinds."

IRAN: Scientists have run computer simulations for a nuclear weapon that would produce more than triple the explosive force of the World War II bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, according to a diagram obtained by The Associated Press.

EGYPT: A massive demonstration was staged in Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest President Morsi's assumption of sweeping new powers. By evening, the crowd had grown to 200K. Morsi's supporters canceled a planned rally, citing the need to "defuse tension."

ANIMALS feeding ANIMALS...Mass hysteria!

TWO GATORS, ONE POLE DANCER... and a pot cache.

A 40-YEAR-OLD ORANGUTAN is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice.

YOUR DOG DOOR should not be big enough for a cougar.

THE BEACH BOYS drop "Little Deuce Coupe" from the 50th anniversary video.

NEW RELEASES from Graham Parker & the Rumour, Big Dipper, Rage Against the Machine and more are streaming via Spinner.

METZ brings their aggressive post-hardcore sound to KEXP for an exclusive live performance.

TED LEO performs the music of South African pioneer Hugh Masekela at the World Financial Center.

TWO GALLANTS played a session at WNYC Soundcheck.

LIARS & YEASAYER drop "The Chain" and "Second Hand News," respectively, from the Fleetwood Mac Rumours tribute.

THE BEATLES: "Come Together," split apart into its tracks.

THE JAM: Paul Weller and Buce Foxton talk to The Guardian about the creation of "A Town Called Malice."

SHARON VAN ETTEN talks to Music OMH about being a goofball and working with The National's Aaron Dressner. 

THE GRATEFUL DEAD  gets a longread at The New Yorker.

JIMI HENDRIX: A dozen previously unreleased (but oft-bootlegged) tracks are coming March 5th on People, Hell and Angels.

CHARLIE SHEEN paid LINDSAY LOHAN's 100K tax bill.

LINDSAY LOHAN, btw, is devastated by widespread criticism of her Liz & Dick Lifetime outing by Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and the New York Times, to name a few.

HALLE BERRY  is going to court early this week for a restraining order against Gabriel Aubry after the blowout fight Thanksgiving day.

CHRIS BROWN deleted his Twitter account after a vulgar, sexist attack on comedienne Jenny Johnson.

RYAN GOSLING reaches the ostentatiously incongnito phase.

MAN OF STEEL: Zach Snyder and Henry Cavill talk with the NYP about the Superman reboot.

10 TV SHOWS that are better than the books they're based upon.

IRAN: Authorities raided a company in Durango, Spain suspected of sending over a million dollars' worth of dual-use energy machinery to Iran through Turkey in violation of international sanctions.

LIBYA: The "Private Deterrent Force" has kidnapped a dozen men it accuses of being homosexual and has threatened to torture and execute them. The group is thought to be linked to the "extremist Nawasi militia group" that has also desecrated Sufi shrines in Tripoli.

EGYPT: Pres Morsi negotiated with the judiciary over his seizure of extended powers; no agreement was reached. Morsi's justice minister argued for a retreat, and three other senior advisers resigned. The State Council's Administrative Court said it would consider legal challenges next week.

A LAMB befriends a RETRIEVER...Mass hysteria!

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Militant squirrels contracted rats to chew through Verizon phone cables.

A MANATEE is not for you to joyride.

A SWISS SHEPHERD DOG adops tiger cubs... (see above)

THE ROLLING STONES drop a NSFW clip for "Doom and Gloom," plus Noomi Rapace and zombies.

SUFJAN STEVENS is streaming all five volumes of Silver and Gold.

TRACEY THORN is advance streaming Tinsel and Lights.

JOY DIVISION, live at the University of London Union, January 8, 1980.

THE MOVE: "I Can Hear the Grass Grow," live on French TV. 

PINEY GIR: Her sound has been compared to Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline, but on her latest album, Geronimo, Gir sometimes seems to be conjuring up '60s pop from girl groups to The Troggs. The singer-songwriter spoke with Weekend Edition about making the album, her music influences and her next project.

SCOTT WALKER: The reclusive crooner gives rare quotes for a profile at The Guardian.

BOBBY WOMACK shares the soundtrack of his life with The Guardian.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 repeats atop the Thanksgiving weekend with 64 million (on a 55 percent drop no less, but the real story may be the place and show.  Skyfall places with 51 million, up 24.4 percent over last weekend, and only down 12.4 percent over the regular weekend -- the best hold of the Craig Bond films.  And Lincoln shows with 34 million, up 62 percent and up 19 percent over the regular weekend. Rise of the Guardians debuts in the fourth slot with 32 million (perhaps pinched by Wreck-It ralph's sixth place 16.7 million take).  Life of Pi's debut rounds out the Top 5 with 30 million -- a stronger start than many expected.  Below the fold, Red Dawn opened in seventh with 22 million, which means this likely won't be as big a disaster financially as it apparently is critically.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, which took 9th place with 5.9 million on only 367 screens, is the latest from director David O. Russell, who brought us "The Fighter."  Here (based on a novel), he brings his flair for family disfunction to Philly, and swaps out meth addiction and boxing for mental disorders and amateur dancing -- although it's much less formulaic (and much funnier) than I just made it sound.  In fact, a script with its share of twists and strong performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro may have ended up as a more satisfying movie than The Fighter, despite a few heavy-handed moments.  Bradley Cooper is also good here -- as good as I've seen him -- though I'm not sure I buy him as lower-middle class.  It's easy to go too saccharine when addressing mental illness (Tropic Thunder's joke about never going "full retard" comes to mind), but the unfiltered nature of our protagonists is handled with respect more than sensitivity, making for an engaging romantic dramedy.

EMMA STONE reportedly has a sex tape from her pre-stardom, a source tells RadarOnline.

GABRIEL AUBRY was arrested Thanksgiving morning after a melee at Halle Berry's house, which sent both Gabriel and Halle's fiance Olivier Martinez to the hospital.

LARRY HAGMAN, best known as the conniving J.R. Ewing on “Dallas”  at Maj. Tony Nelson on "I Dream of Jeannie" — has died at age 81.  —  Hagman died in a Dallas hospital on Friday, due to complications from a recent battle with cancer.  This 2011 NYT interview is kinda great.

HECTOR "MACHO" CAMACHO died from injuries he sustained in a drive-by shooting in Puerto Rico.

MAYAM BIALIK is divorcing Michael Stone.

CHEVY CHASE is dropping out of Greendale Community College.

SYRIA: Rebels captured an air base near Damascus, destroying several helicopters and capturing 15 soldiers. Rebels had captured three other military bases earlier in the week along with large quantities of equipment and ammunition.

EGYPT: Protesters clashed with police in Cairo for a third day over President Morsi's power grab. The Muslim Brotherhood called for demonstrations to show support for the president. Morsi said his new powers would be "temporary" and that he wanted dialogue. Uh-huh. Who could've seen all this coming? Everyone, right?

IRAQ: For the first time in eight years, there were no significant sectarian attacks during the Shia holiday of Ashura.

EINSTEIN, the smallest stallion.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent caused Beaver to go down for about an hour.

THE BIRDS: A hatch on a Swedish church tower inadvertently left open for some three decades resulted in 2 tons of pigeon droppings amassing in the tower, and high anxiety.

A HORSE walks into a bar, finally.