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THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: 
...with JOHN HUGHES! The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, buds, wasteoids, dweebies and dickheads, they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. The writer/director behind "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Weird Science," National Lamppon's "Vacation" movies, "Home Alone," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and many more died at the age of 59, a year ago today. Hughes masterfully married music to movies, so I pay video tribute to him today, starting (of course) with "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds from The Breakfast Club (the drumming on this song is impeccable), and Karla DeVito's "We Are Not Alone," along with the Ramones playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" (from National Lampoon's Vacation), David Bowie's "Young Americans" and The Vapors one-hit wonder, "Turning Japanese" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" (all from Sixteen Candles, which opens to a clip of veteran WLS DJs Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards), Van Halen's cover of "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and General Public's "Tenderness" (both from Weird Science), the Psychedelic Furs re-recorded title track from Pretty In Pink, which also featured Jon Cryer lip-synching to Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" (that last clip is a blistering live take from the 1967 Stax tour -- and excellent, btw), The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" (a Hughes perennial), and OMD's "If You Leave," plus two more from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Twist and Shout" (which was shot on Dearborn and Randolph Streets in Chicago, with International Polka Queen Vlasta atop the float), and Yello's unforgettable-no-matter-how-you-try "Oh, Yeah." Videos are scarce for Some Kind of Wonderful, but I found Flesh for Lulu's "I Go Crazy" and the March Violets' take on the Stones' "Miss Amanda Jones." Rest In Peace, John Hughes... and thank you. DALE EARNHARDT JR, JR did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including a cover of "God Only Knows." BECK & DEVENDRA BANHART drop "Life During Wartime," which is not a Talking Heads cover. UNCLE TUPELO: The Long Cut + Five Live promo disc, courtesy of Captain's Dead. FRAZEY FORD (of the Be Good Tanyas) gets a twofer from World Cafe: Next. THE BEST NEW BANDS of 2010, according to the Guardian. (with streaming audio) TOP TV THEMES, according to a Stuff (NZ) columnist, with video links. 
SLY & THE FAMILY STONE rip through a medley of "Everyday People" and "Dance to the Music," plus "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Don't Call Me N*gger, Whitey," and "I Want to Take You Higher" on network TV, circa 1969. EELS: Mark Oliver Everett talks to Drowned in Sound about being mistaken for a terrorist, the upcoming LP and more... PATTERSON HOOD: The Drive-By Trucker keeps a tour diary at Flagpole. (Thx, LHB.) THE ODDEST MUSICAL PAIRINGS: A discussion launched at All Songs Considered. THE BEACH BOYS are suing Katy Perry over her hit, "California Gurls." SUMMER SONGS: Time lists its 10 best and 10 worst. CUTOUT BIN: From Fleetwood Mac to the Dead Kennedys, from Devo to Sly & the Family Stone, from Hayseed Dixe to the Buzzcocks, plus Big Star, She & Him, Yo La Tengo, Fountains of Wayne and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM. 
NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are The Other Guys, which is currently scoring 79 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Step Up 3-D, which is scoring 48 percent. MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson underwent hypnosis just two weeks ago to help him deal with the stress of the scandal that has erupted around his breakup with Oksana Grigorieva, according to RadarOnline. Also, Grigorieva wanted Gibson to undergo psychological testing and treatment, and that demand was a key reason why her arbitration agreement with Gibson blew up. LINDSAY LOHAN: How Taiwanese news covered her ordeal. Priceless. LILY ALLEN is knocked up. SEAN PENN & ROBIN WRIGHT finalized their divorce. TARA REID reportedly falls off the wagon. JULIA ROBERTS talks to Elle about family, acting, botox, etc. SIEGFRIED & ROY: The latter has been accused of sexually assaulting his male assistants...and the attacks have been captured on film, according to the ever-reliable Enquirer. THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB WAS DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA 65 years ago today. The act that ushered in the nuclear age, but also helped end World War II, still stokes controversy. Three men involved in the attack on Hiroshima share their memories with the BBC. Film showing the effects of the attack was classified for decades, as were the complete (unredacted) "Magic" military intercepts, which tend to show Japan was not about to surrender. Those interested in a relatively neutral view of the events leading to the bombing could do worse than 1995's Hiroshima, a joint Canadian-Japanese production for Showtime. TERROR in the USA: A number of people in Minnesota, California and Alabama are being charged with providing support for the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia. IRAN claimed to have purchased four S-300 surface-to-air missile systems: two from Belarus and two from an unspecified nation. Belarus rejected the report. China dismissed US concerns that it would not fully comply with sanctions. But letters provided to the AP show Tehran intends to stiff the world over its nuke program. Shocka. IRAQ: One courageous US Iraqi is leading efforts to restore unique wetlands of southern Iraq drained by Saddam Hussein as punishment to the locals. Saddam Hussein's most loyal deputy, Tariq Aziz, calls for the US to stay. 
DO BIG CATS LIKE CATNIP? Let's go to the video. DON'T TAZE THE BEARS until it's proven to work. DOG PARK SHOOTING investigation reopened, by public demand. AFRICAN ELEPHANTS, shot from below (with cameras). SAVE THE SNOT OTTER: Researchers are helping develop conservation techniques to sample and freeze the sperm from some these endangered salamanders.
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