THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with PAUL McCARTNEY!  The Cute One played the Liverpool Sound Concert at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium last weekend -- the 41st anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters sits in on guitar and drums for several numbers of a set including "Hippy Hippy Shake," "Band On The Run," "Back In The USSR," "Something," "A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance" and "I Saw Her Standing There." 

SUMMER MIX: Urban Outfitters has a streamable and downloadable collection featuring tracks from The Teenagers, M83, The Kills, No Age, Frightened Rabbit, Flight of the Conchords and more...

THE NATIONAL's Matt Berninger talks to Exclaim! about why they chose to tour supporting R.E.M., the response so far, the band's new DVD/EP and how jumping from Beggars Banquet to 4AD has affected the band.

ROAD TRIP: Songs for Speeding in Summertime are featured in the latest entry in the Road Trip: Songs to Drive By series at NPR.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE guitarist/producer Chris Walla talks to Seattle Weekly about debuting at number-one on Billboard, the band as a brand, and Metallica.

THE CLASH perform "Police On My Back" at the US Festival in 1983.

SILVER JEWS mastermind David Berman talks to Drowned In Sound about songwriting, recording, touring, etc. as only Berman can.

OUR GENERATION(S): Tracks from The Byrds, Public Enemy, Buzzcocks, Kelly Clarkson and more set up a discussion of the defining music of past generations and the soundtrack for Generation Y via All Songs Considered.

LIZ PHAIR talks about the deluxe reissue of Exile in Guyville at The Bryant Park Project.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Bo Diddley to Television, from Curtis Mayfield to Toni Basil, from Sniff 'n' the Tears to The Stooges, from Springsteen to Jens Lekman, Aretha Franklin, Wall of Voodoo and more, this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are the animated, Jack Black-led Kung Fu Panda, currently scoring 85 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, and the Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan, currently scoring 35 percent.

BRITNEY SPEARS is making a cameo in a Pussycat Dolls video - but isn't actually interacting with the group on set.  Also, the pop wreck's ex-lover Adnan Ghalib has received death threats after attempting to sell a sex tape allegedly starring the Toxic singer.

LINDSAY LOHAN has impressed the producers of new movie Labor Pains with her work ethic.  Meanwhile, friends describe Li-Lo and DJ Samantha Ronson as having "a very loyal and trustworthy relationship."

LILY ALLEN says her drink may have been spiked after she had to be carried out of the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards on Tuesday night.

KELSEY GRAMMER has been released from a Hawaiian hospital where he was recovering from a mild heart attack.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & JESSICA BIEL are moving in together. Specifically, Biel is preparing to live in Timberlake's Hollywood Hills home.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise is shoot the three final scenes on "Valkyrie," the movie that began production one year ago in Germany.  Variety's Peter Bart actually claims -- all other reports to the contrary -- that "several people I trust have seen 'Valkyrie' and testify that it's a superb thriller."

TIM BURTON is putting the creepiest possible spin on cheeseball mid-century soap opera Dark Shadows.  Can Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins be gar behind?

ZOOEY DESCHANEL talks to Men's Vogue about shooting The Happening and Gigantic, along with her budding music career as half of She & Him.

STEVE CARRELL gives a very family-unfriendly acceptance speech for a very family-unfriendly honor at the Men's Choice Awards, airing on SpikeTV June 22.

WANTED: Based upon Mark Millar's explosive graphic novel series, shot in Chitown, the third trailer is now online.

FHM vs. MAXIM: The Orlando Sentinel has an in-depth analysis of the two magazines' Top 100 lists.  Plus a gallery.

KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED said Thursday that he would welcome the death penalty for his confessed role as mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

ZIMBABWE: US and British diplomats were attacked Thursday as they tried to investigate political violence in Zimbabwe and a US Embassy staffer was beaten, an embassy spokesman said.

IRAQ: The Mahdi Army has been using improvised rocket assisted mortars in Baghdad; the US military said the charges are "of Iranian-manufacture." Iraqi soldiers found four EFPs amongst weapons caches in Sadr City. Iraqi troops killed five AQI operatives and captured five in Baqubah. Police arrested a senior leader in the AQ-linked Mustafa Army in Mosul.

IRAQ and the MEDIA: Lt. Andrew Grayson has been acquitted of charges that he helped cover up the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha. With charges dropped against five of the eight Marines involved the incident and only two more trials to go - apologies may soon be in order. But the report from TIME magazine won't make the cover the way they hyped the charges.  Indeed, TIME's last report, in October 2007, was titled, "Who Will Be Punished for Haditha?", which assumes guilt.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Given ongoing anti-human operations by networls of militant squirrels, the US is lucky to have undecover operatives like SugarBush on our side. (Thanks, Sylvia!)

A FLOCK OF VANDAL SHEEP caused havoc in a remote Pembrokeshire graveyard after picking a fight with their mirror images reflected on polished granite headstones.

THE SWARM: Joshua Mullen just wanted to kill the bees swarming around his utility shed in Mobile, Alabama. When Mullen, 26, walked away from the gasoline-soaked towels he was using, he heard a "whoosh" and turned around to see the shed in flames that spread to his rented home and wound up causing some 80K in damage.

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS ride horses drunk.

COWS stare unamazed as New Zealand scientists claim to have developed a "flatulence inoculation" aimed at cutting down on the massive amount of methane produced by cows and sheep.

THE KILLS fight in the video for "Last Day of Magic."

ADELE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

GO PHISH? All signs point to "yes." 

YES? No!

DEERHUNTER is streaming new tracks from their forthcoming record Microcastle at TheirSpace.

COCOROSIE is inviting a fatwa with the video for their new single, "God Has A Voice, She Speaks Through Me."

MY MORNING JACKET: The band's ascent is assessed at Louisville's Velocity Weekly.

BILLY BRAGG talks to Canada's Globe & Mail about his fave topics -- pop and politics.

BO DIDDLEY: PopMatters lists 10 reasons he is the forgotten heavyweight champion of rock. Ex-Blaster Dave Alvin remembers backing him up at a benefit show for the Southern California Blues Society. Diddley's command to members of the Blasters and X: "Whatever you do, do not play 'the Beat!'"

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS frontman Patterson Hood is inteviewed by Crawdaddy.

ALTON KELLEY, the creator (with his artistic partner, Stanley Mouse) of hundreds of classic psychedelic rock posters, such as the famed "skull and roses" poster for a Grateful Dead show at the Avalon Ballroom, died Sunday at his home in Petaluma after a long illness. He was 67.

JESSICA SIMPSON: Creepy dad-manager Joe has brought her relationship with Tony Romo to the brink and was the main source behind their split in May. He even offered to broker a deal to sell his engagement and wedding to a magazine should Romo and Jessica get engaged. On a brighter -- or scarier -- note, "Come On Over," which was released to country radio last week and debuted at no. 41 on Billboard's country singles charts, makes Simpson the highest charting debut solo artist in the history of Billboard's country singles chart.

CHARLIE SHEEN & BROOKE MUELLER had an intimate wedding -- just large enough for OK! magazine to photograph.

GILLIAN ANDERSON of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, is expecting her second child with boyfriend Mark Griffiths.  The truth is in her uterus.

SIENNA MILLER has dumped actor boyfriend Rhys Ifans because he was jealous about her seeing her ex-love - Matthew Rhys.

LILY ALLEN had to be carried out of London's exclusive Berkeley Square in the early hours of Wednesday morning after partying up a storm at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards. Pics at the link.

GEORGE CLOONEY reportedly broke things off with model-waitress Sara Larson last month because he worried she was exploiting her arm candy status to advance her career.

BILL MURRAY is being sued for divorce; Slate has his prenup.

ETHAN HAWKE and his fiancée, Ryan Shawhughes, are getting ready to walk down the aisle. Shawhughes, the former nanny of Hawke's children with Uma Thurman, is said to be "very pregnant."

ED McMAHON, who for decades appeared as Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show," is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home, according to published reports.

JENNA FISCHER: If you're missing The Office, you'll want to hear her tell Fresh Air's Terry Gross about her early jobs in a sex ed movie and an international call girl ring.

WALL-E: The latest trailer for the upcoming Pixar flick features some live actors and a character guide.

CARTOON JIHAD: Al Qaeda said on Wednesday it was behind a suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Pakistan which it mounted in revenge for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

PAKISTAN: Militants blew up two dozen video and music stalls on Wednesday in a Pakistani region on the Afghan border where supporters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban have tried to enforce strict Muslim rule, witnesses said.

IRAN: Developing nations joined the West on Wednesday in throwing their weight behind the UN nuclear watchdog's attempt to get Iran to clarify intelligence alleging that it secretly researched ways of making atom bombs. It was a rare sign of convergence on the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors after an inspector report on Iran that was tougher than previous ones and a call by the IAEA chief for "full disclosure" by Tehran.

IRAQ: Iraqi police announced the arrest of five senior leaders of the Mahdi Army in the city of Karbala as assassination attempts were made on three police commanders in Baghdad and southern Iraq. US soldiers killed four Mahdi Army fighters during two separate engagements in the New Baghdad district. In Al Kut, Coalition special forces teams captured a Mahdi Army Special Groups leader who is "suspected of being one of the top criminal leaders in Al Kut," Multinational Forces Iraq reported. US troops grabbed two AQI bombing suspects and a Shia militia leader Tuesday in separate raids north and south of Baghdad. Iraqi authorities announced Tuesday that they have released 81397 detainees this week under a new amnesty, while the US military said it had uncovered a massive weapons cache in a desert area in north-west Iraq.

POODLES will someday kill hairdresser Sandra Hartness. More pics at the link.

DUDE the HERON, orphaned by a storm, was taught to fly by wildlife expert Gary Zammit by running along beside him, flapping his arms wildly and squawking. Video at the link.

FUGITIVE BOA CONSTRICTOR on the loose in Stonetown, Canada.

MONSTER BEETLE UPDATE:  The giant beetle from Costa Rico, stopped at customs in Britain appears to made the journey to find a mate.  It has been known to happen.

A GIANT CATFISH is suspected of terrorizing German bathers in Berlin's Schlachtensee lake.

MORRISSEY has a new video for "All You Need Is Me," the single from his forthcoming album, Years of Refusal.

GEORGIE JAMES plays a set for Oregon Public Broadcasting, including originals and covers of songs by The Zombies and The Flamin' Groovies.

BONNAROO & ACL FEST have posted their schedules here and here, respectively.

TILLY & THE WALL:  You can stream and download "Pot Kettle Black," a stompin' new track from O, the outfit's third full-length due June 17, via SPIN. Anyone who knows this band knows that when I say stompin' I mean stompin'.

AIMEE MANN talks to MSNBC about her new album, and being recognized from her role in The Big Lebowski.

THE RACONTEURS played "Many Shades of Black" (w/ a shout to Bo Diddley) and "Old Enough" for the redhead on the peacock network the other night.

SAID THE GRAMOPHONE blogger Sean Michaels writes about Six Free Songs (downloadable) every month for Canada's National Post. (Thx, LHB.)

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED:  A new track from Dr. Dog, plus Thao Nguyen, Atlas Sound and more appear in the latest installment of the long-running NPR series.

JON LANGFORD of The Mekons and The Waco Brothers talks to the Village Voice, mostly about the Wacos' 15th anniversary, but also talks about the Chicago scene circa 1993 and answers some fairly random questions.

WHITE RABBITS, who meld jagged rock with bits of calypso, ska and reggae, are profiled in Denver's Westword.  And they're big in Germany!

GINA GERSHON is denying the suggestion that she hooked up with Bill Clinton and is demanding a correction of the controversial Vanity Fair story by Todd Purdum, whom the former president called "sleazy," "dishonest," "slimy" and a "scumbag."

R. KELLY TRIAL: Lisa Van Allen, who had a relationship with the R&B singer, testified under a grant of immunity about videotaped trysts with an underage girl, sex on a basketball court, a duffel bag of homemade pr0n and a stolen Rolex.

TATUM O'NEAL claims the death of her Scottish terrier from cancer sent her spiralling out of control, and thanked the NYPD for busting her before she could smoke the crack she bought from a vagrant.

CAMERON DIAZ, fresh off a rumored tryst with P. Diddy, was spotted dancing, flirting and dining with model Paul Sculfor who briefly dated Jennifer Aniston last year.

BRADGELINA: Entertainment Tonight finally retracted its story that Jolie had given birth. Jolie's legal camp at the LA firm Lavely & Singer has reportedly circulated a letter to various media outlets warning of an impostor who's been dishing out erroneous info under the guise of Jolie's longtime assistant, Holly Goline.

GEORGE CLOONEY didn't just break off his fairy-tale romance with Sarah Larson -- he did it abruptly, leaving the former cocktail waitress shocked, heartbroken and moving back to Las Vegas, friends of the former couple told FOXNews.com.

ALEC BALDWIN is literally throwing the book at ex-wife Kim Basinger in his new no-holds-barred diary of their bitter divorce and custody battle.

THE LOHANS: Lindsay's ex-con dad Michael is reopening his divorce from Dina, because she won't let him see their younger children, Cody, 11, and Aliana, 14, whose career Dina is trying to launch on the E! reality show "Living Lohan."

GWYNETH PALTROW talks to Harper's Bazaar about balancing motherhood, romance and work.

SEX & THE CITY is a big hit -- so why isn't Warner Bros. jumping all over the long-awaited remake of The Women, starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Debi Mazur, Joanna Gleason, Carrie Fisher, Lynn Whitfield and Cloris Leachman?

MEGAN FOX explains in FHM magazine why she is not out on the town much: "I have the libido of a teenage boy. I'd rather have sex all the time than leave the house."

BRIGITTE BARDOT was convicted Tuesday of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France.  Bardot, an animal rights campaigner, wrote a letter to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy protesting the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir, celebrated by slaughtering sheep.

ISLAMISM in the UK: Islamic extremists could receive counselling instead of criminal charges under new Government plans to 'deradicalize' religious fanatics issued Tuesday.

TERROR in the US: An Ohio man who is an admitted member of al Qaeda has pleaded guilty to a federal terrorism charge and could spend 20 years in prison for the crime. Christopher Paul pleaded guilty to one count of "conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, namely explosives to be used as bombs" against US citizens and property outside the US.

SYRIA has told fellow Arab countries that it will not permit an International Atomic Energy Agency probe to extend beyond a site bombed by Israel, despite agency interest in three other suspect locations, diplomats told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

IRAN: The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that "no wise nation" would pursue nuclear weapons but his country will continue to develop its nuclear program for peaceful purposes.

IRAQ: Lawmakers allied to Prime Minister al-Maliki said Tuesday that negotiations over a US-Iraqi security pact and the future status of American troops in Iraq were stumbling, with "almost all points under dispute." The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region said on Tuesday Kurds were willing to share power with Arabs in the city of Kirkuk -- a focus of rivalry between ethnic groups, largely because of its considerable oil wealth.

GRAFITTI SNAILS, courtesy of an artist known as Slinkachu.

EATING BUGS: Slate recommends it. So does the Daily Mail. Time magazine has a video on "How to Cook Bugs."

PETA has sent a proposal to commissioners Somerset County, ME, to lease their jail for the world's first Lobster Empathy Center.

A MONSTER BEETLE has been found in London, amongst a delivery of bananas from Costa Rica in Central America.

ASSAULT with a fish?

BO DIDDLEY, a singer and guitarist who invented his own name, his own guitars, his own beat and, with a handful of other musical pioneers, rock 'n' roll itself, died Monday of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla. He was 79. The NYT also lists songs by other artists carrying the Bo Diddley beat. Sir Mick Jagger last night paid tribute, describing him as an "enormous force in music." There's a streaming obit at All Things Considered.  Watch him tear through "Hey, Bo Diddley" and "Bo Diddley" on the TNT show. It's Bo a go-go covering Willie Dixon's "You Cant Judge A Book By Its Cover" on Shindig! Other Diddley classics include "Road Runner," "I'm A Man," and "Who Do You Love" (w/ Ron Wood).

NEW RELEASES: Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, Aimee Mann, My Brightest Diamond, Christine Fellows and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner. Shearwater releases Rook. Centro-matic and South San Gabriel release companion albums.

SHEARWATER is profiled by the Austin American-Statesman.

CENTRO-MATIC's Will Johnson talks to the Dallas Observer abot duality, the split double album with South San Gabriel, and a project with Patterson Hood on the duality of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

BOB MOULD did a mini-set for the Interface, including 'Again and Again', 'Circles', 'If I Can't Change Your Mind', 'Makes No Sense at All' and an Interview.  That's Fivefer Tuesday.

THE RACONTEURS: Jack White talks to the Boston Herald about the surprise release of the band's second album: "All it was about was getting it to the fans in every format at once," he said. "And, on a selfish note, I'm also tired about the fears over how to release something these days. You have to do extra tracks for iTunes and do an exclusive AOL session and something for MySpace. I don't have time for all that in my life."

FILM SCHOOL talks to Wired's Listening Post, with a couple of streaming tracks that hopscotch across My Bloody Valentine and early Dandy Warhols, but also feels as muscular as Swervedriver.

OiNK: Six former users of the torrent tracking site were arrested in late May by British authorities for sharing music via the website, all suspected of sharing albums prior to their release dates. They are currently out on bail.

THE OLD 97's talk to the Houston Chronicle about regrouping after four years apart, and navigating a complicated 21st-century music business without missing opportunities.

LINDSAY LOHAN has apparently passed on a million-dollar offer by OK! magazine to say she's gay.

JEN & JOHN: Pneumatic (and possibly neurotic) ex-gf Jessica Simpson is trying to warn Jennifer Aniston to be careful with new man John Mayer, because he is a notorious "ladies man."  But the duo was seen snuggling during a visit with Aniston's former co-star and BFF Courteney Cox and husband David Arquette at their new home in Malibu on Sunday.

KELSEY GRAMMER suffered a mild heart attack on Saturday, and is resting comfortably in a Hawaiian hospital.

CAMERON DIAZ & P. DIDDY: Keeping it on the downlow?

GYLLENSPOON: Sources say the couple has grown so close that Jake Gyllenhaal practically considers Reese Witherspoon's kids his own - and now friends of the actor say he's pushing to tie the knot with his Legally Blonde love so that the two can start a family of their own.

BRADGELINA: Jolie talks to Vanity Fair about the mother she lost last year, the father she's estranged from, and why, in her second pregnancy, she feels so sexy.  Maybe the over 15 million dollar bidding war over the baby pics is part of it.  Meanwhile, Pitt will be part of a team of consultants appointed to design a new five-star hotel and leisure development in Dubai.

TATUM O'NEAL, who has spoken and written about her years-long battle with addiction, was busted last night just blocks from her Lower East Side luxury apartment - charged with buying cocaine and crack, sources said.

TOM-KAT opened the doors of their new Beverly Hills mansion for an A-list housewarming party Saturday night. Xenu was not invited.

SHARON STONE said in a statement Saturday that she "could not be more regretful" of her comments this month regarding the earthquake in China, in which she suggested that the quake was an act of "karma."

THE MTV MOVIE AWARD WINNERS, including Johnny Depp and Ellen Page, are online, along with a whole mess 'o' multimedia.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK has new clips on line, including a bit of the street fight between the Hulk and Abomination.  Looks like Hulk smash.

AFGHANISTAN: Missions by special forces and air strikes by unmanned drones have "decapitated" the Taliban and brought the war in Afghanistan to a "tipping point", the commander of British forces has said. Taliban insurgents are fleeing south towards the Afghan border with Pakistan in the face of a US Marines offensive in volatile Helmand province, the NATO commander in Afghanistan said on Monday.  But the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, seems pretty jaunty in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan's tribal areas.

SYRIA will allow in UN inspectors to probe allegations that a remote building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike was a nuclear reactor built secretly with North Korean help, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. 

IRAN: Pres. Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear, the Mehr news agency reported.

IRAQ: Coalition and Iraqi forces press operations against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and Basra, despite the cease-fire signed with the Mahdi Army in Sadr City. The spiritual leader of the Soldiers of Heaven was captured in central Basra. The reconstruction of the al-Askari shrine, which was destroyed by al-Qaeda in the Sunni city of Samarra in February 2006, is seen as a pivotal step towards fixing the damage caused by almost two years of sectarian slaughter that pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

PFC. SCOTT A McGINNIS posthumously received the Medal of Honor for throwing himself on a grenade tossed into his HumVee in Iraq.  Much more here.

ELVIS the PARROT attacks the locals in West Yorkshire, chews through TV cables and smashes street lights -- earning an investigation by British anti-social behavior officials.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Paramedics treated five people for exposure to pepper spray after a man tried to force a squirrel out of his Rochester, NY house Sunday by spraying it with the substance.  Plus, it appears that militant squirrels are recruiting mockingbirds and snakes to their suicidal cause.

ITCHY COWS plunged a village near Wrexham, north Wales into darkness after they damaged power lines by rubbing against pylons.

THE SNAIL THREAT: Hundreds of migrating snails caused a six car pile-up at they swarmed across a busy dual carriageway in Germany.

TWO MOUNTAIN LIONS get a drink from a backyard pool in Denver.

THROW ME THE STATUE now has its own video for "Lolita," which you may have heard in an ad for Rhapsody.  Don't worry; she's 19.

NON-COMM: Stream sets from Dr. John, The Hold Steady, Ani DiFranco, and Newton Faulkner from an annual convention of non-commercial radio programmers and music directors, as well as other music-industry professionals.

THE HOLD STEADY's forthcoming Stay Positive album gets a Premature Evaluation from Stereogum.

THE AVETT BROTHERS have a new track, "Murder In The City," which you can stream via MOKB.

THE SEX PISTOLS: On the 30th anniversary of Punk, Johnny Rotten talks to the Telegraph about turning fat and fifty, punk, priests and family traumas. The Independent covers a new exhibition of photos -- some never seen before -- of the late Sid Vicious.

MGMT brings an appropriate jungle theme to the video for "Electric Feel," though it still has a bit of an Eighties feel to it.

THE FIERY FURNACES' upcoming "Remember" album, due out in August, is a double-CD live set, but the 51 songs on the release have been re-edited and recombined.  Chief songwriter Matthew Friedberger talks to the North County Times about how the songs change from the record to the live setting in the first place.

BE YOUR OWN PET is profiled on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, including a track cut from the band's major label debut for violent content.

DAVID BYRNE has turned a hangar at the foot of Manhattan Island into a giant, cast-iron orchestra.

PRVATE PARTIES:  The Times of London reports on the growing trend of pop stars playing intimate gatherings for wealthy guests.

CHARLIE SHEEN wed Brooke Mueller in a small ceremony in Beverly Hills Friday night, the couple's rep confirmed.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  Sex & the City pulled a stunning upset, beating Indiana Jones with a 55.7 million opening weekend.  However, the fantastic pre-sales, tales of SATC parties and the Friday to Sunday sales trend leaves open whether the gals will have legs next weekend.  Indy dropped 54 percent to make 46 million -- less than Iron Man did in its second weekend, but more than Iron Man in their first 11 days, and 363.8 million worldwide to date.  The Strangers debuted in third place with 20 million -- not bad on nine million budget.  Iron Man had legs, pulling in another 14 million in its fifth weekend; it is increasingly likely to top 300 million in the US alone.  Prince Caspian tumbled 43 percent from second to fifth with 13 million; it topped 100 million this week, but Disney CEO Robert Iger admitted moving Narnia from the comfy Christmas season to mid-May was a mistake.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS suffered a massive fire Sunday that destroyed the building housing the King Kong exhibit and damaged a video library vault.

KURT COBAIN's ashes have been stolen; Courtney Love is said to be suicidal over the theft.

AMY WINEHOUSE was late to and distracted at her comeback gig.

BRADGELINA: Jolie revealed she owns real versions of the guns she toted in the movie Tomb Raider - and she and partner Brad Pitt wouldn't be afraid to use them.  Rumors that she has already given birth to twins are not true.

STEVEN TYLER claims he checked into rehab to recover from foot surgeries to repair problems caused by his stage moves.

KIRSTEN DUNST claimed she went to Cirque Lodge for depression, not substance abouse, but Defamer reports that the rehab facility says "if someone is suffering solely from chronic depression, we're not the place to go."

LINDSAY LOHAN talks to the Times of London about her troubles and her new projects.

KATE HUDSON & LANCE ARMSTRONG are becoming inseparable.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY sings "Blue Tahitian Moon" in a scene from The Edge of Love, which costars Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy. The screenplay was written by Knightley's mom, Sharman Macdonald.

AL QAEDA Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. An al-Qaeda trainer and explosives specialist involved in a range of European terrorist networks has been killed in Pakistan, the latest senior militant to die in a spate of controversial US missile strikes. Meanwhile, Muslim extremist women are challenging al Qaeda's refusal to include - or at least acknowledge - women in its ranks.

IRAN: Now that the US has backed off and provided its info to the UN's nuclear watchdog, over the last few months, the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency have come to worry that Iran - before suspending its work nearly five years ago - may have made real progress toward designing a deadly weapon.

IRAQ: As the Washington Post editorial board notes, there has a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi govt and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and US forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda.  Moreover, for all of that, US casualties are at a four-year low.  Prime Minister al-Maliki is facing growing opposition to a proposed security agreement that would set out how long American forces and military bases stayed in Iraq.  The govt has sent teams to four countries that have military pacts with the US ahead of entering a similar status of forces agreement (SoFA), Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Sunday -- which may alleviate some concerns.

BILBO the LIFEGUARD DOG may be allowed to return to the beach after his sacking earlier this month prompted a public outcry.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A faux-albino foal; the technical term for the colt is a cremello blue-eyed cream. Pics at the link.

HECTOR the TERRIER got his head wedged in an owl-shaped pot after chasing a mouse into it.  Firefighters had to use the jaws of life to free the dog.  Owl-shaped pot would have been a good title for a Nirvana song, had Kurt Cobain lived. Pics at the link.

SPINY NORMAN: A New Zealand man who assaulted a teen by hitting him with a spine-covered hedgehog has been fined by a court and ordered to pay most of his fine to his victim.

TURKEY VULTURES will have a smorgasboard in the Land of Lincoln. The state's transportation department says it won't be picking up as much roadkill left along roads because it spent too much of its budget during the winter.