THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

with JAMES BROWN! After Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated on on April 4, 1968, there was widespread turmoil throughout our nation's cities. On the night of April 5th, James Brown brought the city of Boston together and kept the riots at bay.  This is The Night James Brown Saved Boston.

DEREK SMALLS advance streams Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing). HE WROTE THIS.

LAURA VEIRS advance streams The Lookout.

LOGAN RICHARDSON advance streams Blues People.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS tribute compilation, I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas, is streaming now.

THE LA's: "There She Goes." Again.

THE BREEDERS are profiled by Rolling Stone.

MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER:  Ms. Prochet talks to Pitchfork about coming back from a serious health scare.

CHVRCHES' Lauren Mayberry wonders when the effing dominos are gonna fall on the music business.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Bobby Vee's fascinating life story and at "Take Good Care Of My Baby," his sole chart-topper.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include A Quiet Place, which is currently scoring 97 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Blockers, which is scoring 82 percent; The Miracle Season, scoring 33 percent; and Chappaquiddick, scoring 79 percent. 

BLACK PANTHER will contribute to lifting a 35-year old ban of theatrical screenings in Saudi Arabia. Which is doubly interesting given the parallels bewteen the economies of the Kingdom and Wakanda.

HIGH FIDELITY is coming to TV with a female lead?

SIMON PEGG has responded to speculation that Quentin Tarantino could direct a Star Trek movie, saying that he doubts the project will materialize.

JENNA DEWAN denied various rumors surrounding her split with Channing Tatum.

BRAD PITT: Dating an MIT professor?

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA has shingles. Dude, take your shot.

EMILY BLUNT opens up about stuttering, which afflicted actors from Marilyn Monroe to Bruce Willis.

THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE: Terry Gilliam took 20 years to share this trailer.

A HERD OF ELEPHANTS gathers to help out a newborn baby stuck in the mud...his mom was inexperienced, so his grandmother had to step in to guide the herd.

JENNIFER GARNER is mourning the death of her pet chicken Regina George.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent's life was saved, with an assist from The Office.

PIRANHAS are the new alligators in the sewers.

SMOKEY & THE MIRACLES: "Going to a Go-Go."

THE WONDER YEARS stream Sister Cities.

DAN AUERBACH plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

SUPERORGANISM stops by The Current.

WASHED UP shares "Face Up."

BRAZILLIAN GIRLS shares "Karaköy."

MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER shares a video for “Breathe In, Breathe Out.”

WIRE: Colin Newman talks to Aquarium Drunkard about the band’s enduring legacy.

JIMI HENDRIX's record collection.

FLEETWOOD MAC's "Dreams" reenters the chart in a very 2018 way.

KIM WILDE talks parenting, plastic surgery - and her belief in extraterrestrial intervention.

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON talks to Rolling Stone about Rampage, his beef with Vin Diesel, presidential rumors and more.

TYRESE GIBSON and his wife Samantha are expecting a baby girl.

CHRIS PINE & ANNABELLE WALLIS are an item.

KALEY CUOCO says her ex almost put her off marriage.

COLIN FARRELL is in rehab... preemptively.

ROSEANNE's co-showrunner asks people to separate the show from its star.

CHINA's theatrical box office overtook North America to become the biggest in the world in the first quarter of this year.

CORGIS, sledding.

AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR, but with puppies.

ZOMBIE RACCOONS reportedly roam Northeast Ohio.

A MONKEY on the loose in Miami-Dade County has some residents going bananas.

THE ONLY ONES: "Another Girl, Another Planet," live in '79.

NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS play the World Cafe.

COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS plays CBS This Morning.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED features Illuminati Hotties, Young Fathers, Hookworms, and more.

NICK LOWE (and Los Straitjackets) shares "Tokyo Bay."

KADHJA BONET shares "Mother Maybe."

ANNA BURCH shares a video for "With You Every Day."

RAY DAVIES: Punch-ups, pills and how The Kinks nearly killed him.

STEPHEN MALKMUS talks to Pitchfork about being afraid of Twitter, cooking carbonara for his kids, and why he considered asking Lorde to sing on his upcoming album.

LUCY DACUS talks to PopMatters about chamge and continuity.

MORRISEY launches a new website. He has thoughts.

ANDIE MacDOWELL, on being naked onscreen.

ROB KARDASHIAN & BLAC CHYNA may be headed to a child custody dispute.

JOHN KRASINSKI never expected to make a horror film, but...

VERNE TROYER (Mini Me) has been hospitalized following a call to police from a friend who claimed he was suicidal.

TONI BRAXTON tried marijuana once and got really paranoid.

LINDSAY LOHAN fails in her attempt to sue Grand Theft Auto.

SHOGUN WORLD is open?

AN AUSSIE POLICE BOAT was pursued by a great white shark. What say you, Police Chief Brody?

SHEP THE DOG gets a hospital visit with his dying owner. 

AN 11-FT GATOR, enjoying a late night swim in a FL homeowner's pool.

WHEN A CHEETAH wants to use your jeep as a lookout post, just chill out.

THEM: "Baby, Please Don't Go" and a fully live take on "Gloria" for Twofer Tuesday.

WYE OAK advance streams The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs.

HOP ALONG advance streams Bark Your Head Off, Dog.

THE DECEMBERISTS' Colin Meloy visits World Cafe to spin and discuss tracks from I"ll Be Your Girl and Hamildrops.

BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT streams a self-titled debut.

BLAKE SKIDMORE streams his Running Dream EP.

LORD HURON shares “When The Night Is Over.”

BIG THIEF debuted "Not" and "Terminal Paradise" in time for Twofer Tuesday.

KACEY MUSGRAVES talks to All Things Considered about the departures are her new LP.

HALL & OATES: How we made “I Can't Go for That (No Can Do).”

DRAG CITY: The label has finally added most of its expansive catalog to streaming platforms. There's a sampler playlist at that link, and this one.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at at Gary U.S. Bonds' wild lo-fi dance party "Quarter To Three" and 1961's biggest hit, Bobby Lewis' "Tossin' And Turnin'."

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON  shared his personal battle with depression in a new interview, revealing that he was “crying constantly” at one point.

ROSEANNE has already been renewed for a second season.

ANNA WINTOUR could be on her way out of Vogue and Conde Nast this summer.

NICOLAS CAGE: Hollywood's most misunderstood genius?

NETFLIX is ‘in advanced talks’ to acquire Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp studio.

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN is in the works as a half-hour comedy at Amazon.

CHANNING TATUM & JENNA DEWAN have separated after nine years of marriage.

SANNA LATHAN bit Beyonce, according to multiple sources.

TIGERS can't purr, so they chuff.

A RING-BEARING OWL attacked the best man during a wedding ceremony.

AN ELEPHANT helps a lioness carry her cub.

THE DEMON CAT: The most common of all the ghost stories in the capitol.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Ready Player One tops the chart with 41.2MM over the holiday weekend (51.2MM since Wed) against a 175MM budget.  Worldwide totals for Spielberg are 181.2MM, but figure the marketing and other P & A costs mean it likely has to clear 300-325MM as a rough guess to make a profit.  It will get a little help from the weakish calendar of releases (outside maybe Rampage) until Infinity War arrives in a few weekends.  Tyler Perry's Acrimony places with 17.1MM against a reported 20MM budget, his best non-Madea openining in years.  Black Panther shows with 11.3MM and its total will likely pass Titanic by week's end. I Can Only Imagine takes the fourth slot with 10.8MM on a leggy 21 percent drop (and 55.6MM against a 7MM budget).  Pacific Rim: Uprising, last weekend's champ, skids 67 percent to gross 9.2MM -- a viction of Spielberg (tho this sequel was always a play for Asan markets).

STEVEN BOCHCO, the strong-willed writer and producer who brought gritty realism and sprawling ensemble casts to the small screen with such iconic series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue, died Sunday morning. He was 74.

LIKE SCHWARZENEGGER, I'll be back tomorrow.