RAY SAWYER, of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, has died aged 81. He sang lead on "The Cover of Rolling Stone."

COURTNEY BARNETT, Live at Newport.

GLEN HANSARD, Live at Newport.

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS, Live at Newport.

FLEET FOXES: Robin Pecknold shares clips of demos.

PAUL McCARTNEY pours on the Auto-Tune for  "Get Enough."

DARYL DRAGON, of the Captain And Tennille, is dead of renal failure at 76. And you know the drill.

JANELLE MONAE talks to All Things Considered about her very big year.

WHY DOES THE MUSIC OF 1968 ENDURE? "It Was Allowed To Be Art."

GIVE THE DRUMMER SOME: Pete Thomas, longtime drummer for Elvis Costello, talks about ten tracks. (Thx, Scot)

THE NUMBER ONES looks at the Guess Who's infectious riff monster "American Woman," the Jackson 5's joyous classic "ABC" and Ray Stevens' "Everything Is Beautiful."

BOB EINSTEIN, a/k/a Dave Osborne, a/k/a SuperDave and Marty Funkhouser, not to mention brother of Albert Brooks, has died at 76, apparently of cancer.

KIM KARDAHIAN & KANYE WEST are expecting their fourth child, via surrogate.

NATALIE PORTMAN opened up about what it was like to be a child star and how society treats its young celebrities.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS on challenging comedy's sexism, fighting cancer, and becoming the star of her own show.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, MICHAEL PALIN and NICK MASON were among those recognized by the Queen's New Year honors.

DEADWOOD: Carolyn Strauss, a former HBO executive and an executive producer on the Deadwood movie, gives the secretive production’s first interview.

"MEAN" GENE OKERLUND, WWE Hall of Famer, has passed away at age 76.

THE DOGS OF 2018, from WeRateDogs.

LICKS vs NOMS: Who You Got?

FEEDING: Old Good Boy vs Young Good Boy.

A MYSTERIOUS SWAMP CANCER is killing ponies on a Virginia island famous for them.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Aquaman repeats atop the chart 52.1MM on a 23 percent drop. The post-holiday drops will almost certainly be larger, but Momoa & Co. will easily crack 200MM domestic soon, likely zoom by Justice League and -- depending on how slow January is (and Jan can be a weak month for new releases) even take a run at Man of Steel's 291MM by the end of its run. It's already made more than both of those movies on a worldwide basis and probably saved the DCEU as well as Atlantis. Mary Poppins Returns places with 28.4MM on a 20 percent bump up from last weekend, in a likely relief for the House of Mouse. Bumblebee shows with 20.9MM on a 4 percent drop; despite good reviews and word-of-mouth, it's underperforming the last one, which means this franchise may be dead unless it does really well in China (as Transformers movies usually do). Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes the fourth slot with 18.8MM on a 14 percent bump, and breaks the 100MM mark in the process; if it breaks 150MM, it probably gets the sequel it so richly deserves. The Mule rounds out the Top Five with 12.2MM on a 28 percent bump that continues to exceed expectations. Below the fold, Christmas releases Vice and Holmes and Watson open in sixth and seventh with numbers that suggest a couple of flops.

HOLMES AND WATSON reportedly  tested so poorly that Netflix turned it down.

KEVIN SPACEY will have to attend his arraignment on sexual assault charges in Nantucket.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON speaks out against AI-generated fake pr0n using her face.

DWAYNE JOHNSON got his Mom a house for Christmas.

USHER has officially filed from divorce from his estranged wife, Grace Miguel.

KATIE HOLMES & JAMIE FOXX were caught canoodling on a private luxury yacht, just before the New Year's holiday. 

ANGELINA JOLIE is leaving the door open to politics.

DAME JUNE WHITFELD, celebrated for her comic roles in BBC sitcom Terry and June and cult favourite Absolutely Fabulous - has died aged 93.

More tomorrow, most likely.

THE NEW YEAR STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEAT FARMERS!  Making a tradition of this more sober than usual, professionally-shot, early BF gig recorded at Universal Studios, including "There She Goes Again" (VU); "Road to Ruin," "Bigger Fool," "Reason to Believe" (Springsteen), "Powderfinger" (N. Young), "Happy Boy," "Big Ugly Wheels," "Bigger Stones," "Gun Sale at the Church," "Dallas Blues," "I Wanna Be Free," "Lakeside Trailer Park," "Death Train," and "Seven Year Itch."  If you're new to the band, my picks would be "Bigger Stones," "Happy Boy" and the cover of your choice.  BONUS:  Now how much would you pay?  But wait... there's more!  If you really want to see someone put the "bar" in "bar band," watch these NSFW clips from Houston, TX of the late Country Dick Montana leading the band through "Lucille" (K. Rogers) -- complete with his favorite beer bottle stunts -- followed by "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Wino," "Are You Drinkin' With Me, Jesus?" and "Mondo."  SUPER-SPECIAL BONUS: Country Dick rolls out "California Kid" and "Anarchy in the UK" (Language warning).

WFUV'S HOLIDAY CHEER includes mini-sets from Shannon Shaw, The Lone Bellow, and John Prine (with a cameo from Nathaniel Rateliff).

ST VINCENT, CYNDI LAUPER, KELLY CLARKSON and more perform at the Kennedy Center Honors.

KURT VILE plays unplugged at The Current.

U2: Crushingly obvious, I know. 

NICK CAVE & SHANE MacGOWAN: "What a Wonderful World."

ABBA wishes you a "Happy New Year,"  but it doesn't sound anywhere as celebratory as "Take A Chance On Me." 

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS perform "This Year" at the M-Shop in Ames, IA.

OTIS & CARLA have a "New Year's Resolution."

JOE JACKSON: Pate frequently attempted "One More Time" to often hilarious effect, so today I stick with Joe's early material, including "Sunday Papers" live on the OGWT, "Kinda Kute" on the Kenny Everett Video Show, and a Beat Crazy-era run of "On Your Radio."  The Rock Goes To College show provides live takes on "It's Different For Girls,"  "I'm The Man," and this pulsing version of his signature "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"  BONUS: The appropos finale, "Got The Time?

FLUXBLOG's epic 2018 Survey Mix.

THE 25 STRANGEST NME Stories of 2018.

THE 51 BEST ALBUMS of 2018, according to SPIN.

THE 100 BEST SONGS of 2018, according to NPR.

THE BEST REISSUES of 2018, according to NPR.

THE TOP 5 ROLLING STONES-EY SONGS of 2018, according to Stereogum.

IN MEMORIAM 2018: The Musicians We Lost.

THE PITCHFORK READERS' POLL results for 2018 are announced.

THE SUNDAY LONGREADS of 2018.

THE ZOMBIES: "This Will Be Our Year."

THE BEST MOVIES of 2018, according to the New York Times' critics.

THE BEST MOVIES of 2018, according to Uproxx's critics.

THE BEST FILMS of 2018, according to the Sub-Beacon podcast.

KEVIN SPACEY's Bizarre Video Racked Up 4.5M Views in 24 Hours.

VAN HALEN's original lineup are rumored to be reuniting for a 2019 stadium tour, which would be their first tour together in 35 years.

FRANK ADONIS, best known for his roles in some of Martin Scorsese's most famous films, died at 83 after a long battle with various health issues.

FIONA THE HIPPO breaks the 1000 pound milestone.

A FESTIVE FOX, overjoyed with a dog's toy.

UNDER MARITIME LAW, your vessel may be subject to safety inspection at any time.

MOST FEARSOME BORK in history.

NO JURY would convict this cat.

... but THINGS:

KEVIN SPACEY's sex assault case reportedly has video.

LEAH REMINI still gets threats from Scientologists.

TAYLOR SWIFT and her new beau, Joe Alwyn, are chill in London.

KATY PERRY & ORLANDO BLOOM remain an item.

RITA ORA & ANDREW GARFIELD were caught on camera.

FRIENDS: The ol' gang makes 20MM a year apiece in syndication and Netflix.

More on Friday, I hope.

BUT LET'S EASE INTO THE POST-HOLIDAY, PRE-NEW YEAR INTERREGNUM:

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Aquaman tops the chart with 67.4MM (72.7MM domestic since opening), which is great news for the WB and surprisisng to anyone living, say, six months ago. People were looking for big, dumb fun in a Christmas Without a Star Wars Movie. Disney is probably kicking itself again for releasing Solo for Memorial Day -- but probably not too much, as Mary Poppins Returns places with 23.5MM (32.3MM since opening). It might not have the legs of The Greatest Showman, but should probably do much better than a decades-later follow-up normally would (a tribute to how the House of Mouse back catalog still resonates with generation after generation). Bumblebee shows with 21.6MM, which is not bad given the plunge the Transformers franchise was taking; good reviews and word-of-mouth may mean legs for the big robot. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes the fourth slot with 16.6MM on a 53 percent drop -- which saddens me a bit (because it's terrific), but doesn't shock me given the competition.  The interesting thing for me will be how much (if any) it drops next weekend. Indeed, the same goes for Aquaman. Spidey might also benefit as the other animated features drop down the chart. The Mule rounds out the Top Five with 9.7MM on a 44 percent drop and looks like it could hang onto its adult drama niche for a while.

NOW SHOWING: The Christmas wide releases are Vice, which is currently scoring 66 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Holmes and Watson, which was not advance screened.

KEVIN SPACEY faces a felony charge for allegedly sexually assaulting the teenage son of former Boston WCVB-TV news anchor Heather Unruh at a Nantucket bar in July 2016. Spacey responded with... a video?

TERRENCE HOWARD proposed to his ex-wife.

MILEY CYRUS & LIAM HEMSWORTH might be married. Maybe.

US: The next film from Jordan Peele has a trailer online.