THE FLAMING LIPS are "Watching the Planets" for Conan.

JAY FARRAR and BEN GIBBARD are streaming their album, based on Jack kerouac's Big Sur, via NPR.

CASIOTONE for the PAINFULLY ALONE does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from the XX, Vampire Weekend, Alec Ounsworth and more feature in the latest installment of the long-running NPR series.

ROSANNE CASH has an interview streaming via Morning Edition.

DAVENDRA BANHART premiered an unassuming little video for "Walillamdzi" at the 'Gum.

MALCOLM McLAREN: The progenitor of punk talks to the Times of London about the Sex Pistols, his family and his work - with never a word about love.

WILCO: Jeff Tweedy talks to The A.V. Club about people's "willingness to share opinions before they're even formed," including those about his hair.

SUFJAN STEVENS is having a creative crisis.

BON IVER will not be playing for an "indefinite" period of time or at least "until next year."

THE JACKSONS are at odds over the inclusion of Michael Jackson's three children in an upcoming A&E reality show about the infamous family. Katherine Jackson says Jacko's kids will not appear on any TV reality show in her lifetime. Jacko is getting a tribute on Dancing With the Stars.

CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO, WWF wrestler and manager, is dead at the age of 76.

JESSICA SIMPSON speaks publicly about the loss of her dog to a coyote. Our long national nightmare is over.

PAM ANDERSON shocked the Hollywood Style Awards over the weekend by recruiting a shy, 9-year-old girl to hold up her risqué dress all night.

DR. PHIL: Slapped with another creepy lawsuit.

MEGAN FOX will feature in the new Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans campaigns.

KRISTEN STEWART and ROBERT PATTINSON: OK! magazine takes pics in their pad.

CHRIS PINE (Capt. Kirk 2.0) may play CIA analyst Jack Ryan in the reboot of the franchise based on the Tom Clancy novels.

AFGHANISTAN: Gen. McChrystal is asking for up to 80K more American troops even as he warns that rampant government corruption there may prevent victory against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

MONSTER CAT: Let's go to the video.

RESPECT YOUR PET:  When they turn on their human masters, this will be why.

BUCKS are riskier to pet than deer.

AN ENGLISH FARMER was fined for keeping cows in the dark.

DICKIE PETERSEN, bassist/vocalist and founding member of the proto-punk-psych-metal combo Blue Cheer, passed away Monday morning in Germany, apparently from infection following cancer surgery. He was 61.  Blue Cheer was best known for its cover of "Summertime Blues," but here's two hours featuring the band from KSFU.

THE SWELL SEASON is advance streaming their Strict Joy album via NPR.

THE BEATLES: Listen to "Come Together" deconstructed as part of a BBC show on the Fab Four remasters. Waxy has that track, plus deconstructions of "A Day in the Life" and "She's Leaving Home" available for download.

WAVVES is profiled by the Arizona Republic, with a streaming playlist.

URBAN OUTFITTERS has a free mix to stream and download, featuring Girls, El Perro del Mar, The XX, White Denim, the Spinto Band, Edward Sharpe, Islands and more...

PHOENIX recently played "Girlfriend" for Craig Ferguson.

TITUS ANDRONICUS singer-guitarist Patrick Stickles chatted with The A.V. Club about NPR bands who people think of as being indie-rock, misconceptions and perceptions, and how to turn all that on its head.

BUILT TO SPILL's Doug Martsch talks to the Boston Herald about the artistic laissez-faire approach that works for the band.

THE DODOS: Meric Long talks to Greg Kot about moving to a more melodic approach on the band's new LP.

WILCO bassist John Stirratt talks to the National Post about being the other founding member of the band.

JANUARY JONES (Mad Men) does a cover story and photo spread for GQ.

MICHAEL JACKSON's posthumously-released song, "This Is It," was co-written by Paul Anka... and he's miffed at not getting credit. He'll end up getting paid.

DAVE LETTERMAN: Quinnipiac University says it will tell staff in charge of placing interns to be extra careful when sending students to the studio to work for him.

JON GOSSELIN, fading reality star, has been ordered to return 180K of the funds he withdrew from his joint bank account with Kate in violation of an arbitrator's order.

CHRISTIE BRINKLEY and ex PETER COOK have reportedly been discussing a proposed settlement over details of their divorce.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD, but the trial of people accused of feeding her drugs may put her baby daddy in a bind.

LINDSAY LOHAN may have walked off with borrowed one-of-a-kind accessories from Paris.

ZACH BRAFF: Rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated.

IAN McKELLEN talks to Empire about The Hobbit and Magneto.

IRAN: Russia is already backing away from supporting new sanctions against the Islamic thugocracy's nuclear program. Shocka.

AFGHANISTAN: Recruits to the Afghan Army are being rushed into combat with a barely acceptable level of training, according to senior British officers closely involved in the program.

PET HOARDING: A Thai man lives with 4600 scorpions.

RARE VEGETARIAN SPIDER discovered in Central America.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Militant rodents again steal flags from veterans' graves.

WILD STALLIONS fight in the heart of the English countryside.

FAUX FISH confuse visitors to London's Sea Life aquarium, in a classic bait-and-switch tactic.

THE DECEMBERISTS have released an animated video for "The Rake's Song," created and directed by art students in Moscow, complete with refs to Russian folklore.

NEW RELEASES: School of Seven Bells, Josh Rouse, Erin McKeon, the Blakes and more are streaming in full this week via Spinner.

JOE HENRY stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set streaming via KCRW.

STEVE EARLE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set streaming via KCRW.

CHRIS WALLA and J. ROBBINS write a song in two days, having never even met before they stepped into NPR's performance studio.

REGINA SPEKTOR played "Eet" and "The Calculation" live in NYC on Saturday night.

FANFARLO drummer Amos Memon tells the Yorkshire Evening Post and bassist Justin Finch tells Wales Online that they can't wait to get back to the US of A. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

GLEN HANSARD (The Frames, The Swell Season) talks to Billboard about the latter's upcoming Swift Joy LP, "which sounds more like Van Morrison than the delicately melancholy acoustic songs that first made the duo famous."

OKKERVIL RIVER: Will Scheff talks to the Golden Gate X-Press about life on tour and his experience playing at this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

AMY MILLAN talks to NOW about keeping the wheels turning, and waiting for the right stories to present themselves.

TOY STORY 3 now has a trailer online.

OPRAH WINFREY is sued for sex discrimination in a mile-high scandal.

MICHAEL JACKSON's mother will benefit from, but not inherit, any of Jacko's estate.

BILL HADER and his wife welcome a daughter, their first.

ANGELINA JOLIE may take over for Charlize Theron on The Tourist.

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS (Mad Men) married fiancé Geoffrey Arend at Il Buco restaurant in New York on Sunday.

X-MEN: Bryan Singer says he's interested in making another installment and has discussed the possibility with Twentieth Century Fox. And after Superman Returns and Valkyrie, who is surprised by that?

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX was directed by e-mail?

NORTH KOREA fired five short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, news reports said, even as South Korea proposed working-level talks with its communist neighbor.

AFGHANISTAN: The Obama administration is considering outbidding the Taliban to persuade Afghan villagers to lay down arms. Meanwhile, Mullah Omar is mounting a comeback of sorts.

CONAN the SCAREDY CAT: What's he afraid of?

A PLUCKY PIGEON has visited a Kingston golf club every day without fail since his friend, a pro at the club, nursed him back to health back in May.

A GAZA ZOO has got around animal import restrictions by dyeing stripes on donkeys to make 'zebras'.

A WEINER DOG who was paralyzed has taken his first steps after pioneering treatment by scientists at Cambridge University.

WHITE RABBITS have a mini-set to watch and download (at 320kbs, no less) via MySpace Transmissions.  Seelctions include "Percussion Gun," "Rudie Fails," "The Salesman (Tramp Life)," "They done Wrong/We Done Wrong," and "Right Where They Left."

JOE PERNICE reads from his novel and plays songs from its soundtrack at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

LOS LONELY BOYS and GORDON GANO played the World Cafe on Friday; you can stream both gigs on demand via NPR.

THE NOISETTES stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand via NPR.

OS MUTANTES played the World Cafe for a full gig streaming now via NPR.

CAKE gets the people-on-the-street treatment on "Short Skirt, Long Jacket," whic I heard twice by coincidence over the weekend.

THE GREAT AMERICAN ROCK BANDS, according to the A.V. Club staff.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle discusses some of the religious records that inspired his latest work at eMusic.

ONE NATION UNDER A MOOG: Simon Reynolds surveys how the synthesizer first dehumanised then re-humanised British pop, fulfilled the DIY promise of punk, and changed how bands looked forever.

TOM WAITS talks to The Guardian about playing the Devil in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Couples Retreat took the weekend with a larger than expected gross of 35.3 million; despite awful reviews, this could make 200 million worldwide.  Zombieland, facing some competition from the top film, dropped 39 percent to No.2, with 15 million -- but that's all gravy after basically breaking even in its opening weekend.  Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs dropped to No. 3, but held very well with 12 million; its domestic take has almost recuped its 100 million production budget.  The Toy Story 3-D double feature finished fourth, bringing another 7.6 million in on a rerelease, for a total 22.6 in almost free money.  Paranormal Activity rounded out the Top Five with 7 million -- playing only on 159 screens.  The top dozen made about 96 million; a year ago it was 86 million.

MICHAEL JACKSON has a new song debuting online today.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Sex Diet. Also, Holmes has won a battle with her Scientologist husband Cruise to enrol their daughter Suri in a Catholic pre-school.

TARA REID will be displaying her plastic surgery disasters in Playboy.

MARGE SIMPSON has become the first animated character to appear in Playboy, and will probably look better than Tara Reid.

HEIDI KLUM has given birth to a baby girl, according to Radar.

OZZY OSBOURNE has passed his driving test - 30 years after his first attempt.

RHIANNA secretly called Jessica Biel to say she's not chasing Justin Timberlake, according to tne National Enquirer.

JIMMY KIMMEL is dating a longtime staffer on his show.

EMMY ROSSUM explains why chicks dig Adam Duritz.

HAWAII FIVE-O may wash back on to your TV screen.

AL QAEDA in EUROPE? A brilliant young nuclear scientist arrested in France last week over alleged links to Al Qaeda had worked for a top-secret British nuclear research center.

IRAN: Three people arrested after Iran's disputed presidential election have been condemned to death despite a global outcry over trials of people who claimed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election was rigged.

AfPAK: The White House has been presented intelligence estimating Taliban-led forces battling US troops in Afghanistan have nearly quadrupled since 2006 and are increasingly independent of leaders in Pakistan. Pakistani commandos rescued 42 hostages early Sunday who were held by militants inside the nation's military headquarters, after gunmen dressed in army fatigues stormed the building in a brazen attack 18 hours earlier, according to the chief army spokesman.

COLUMBUS DAY:  I get it as a holiday, so I thought a few words might be in order. Over the course of my life, I have seen the image of Columbus swing from unvarnished hero to genocidal criminal. Columbus was certainly no sweetheart, but at the end of the 15th Century, it is fair to say that Europeans often did not treat each other all that well. Moreover, before the furriners showed up, Native North and South Americans engaged in slavery, tribal massacre, infanticide, scalping, human sacrifice, and the ritual skinning of slaves for their priests to wear. It was a far less civilized time all 'round. But the West is civilized today in part because of Columbus. Some four centuries-plus later, we all are still struggling to become more civilized, but focusing criticism o­n the more-civilized while giving the less civilized a pass is not particularly useful to that struggle.

CAT NURSES A CHIHUAHUA: Let's go to the video.

DOG skydiver.

COWS stare unamazed as they are seized by Pocono Animal Rescue for malnutrition.

MAN STRANGLES RAT after cigarette dispute.

GREAT PUMPKIN: Weighs 1725 lbs.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

... with THE MINUTEMEN! San Pedro, California's greatest musical export took apart rock, jazz and funk and put the pieces back together in a jagged collage.  They are caught here in an acoustic session for a cable-access show from Hollywood, circa 1985. Part 1 includes "Corona," "Themselves," "Badges," "I Felt Like A Gringo," and "Time" (Richard Hell). Part 2 includes "Lost" (Meat Puppets), "Ack Ack Ack Ack," "History Lesson Part II," and "Tour Spiel." Part 3 is "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand." Your bonus outtakes from the session are "The Red And The Black" (Blue Öyster Cult) and "Green River" (Creedence Clearwater Revival).

DINOSAUR, JR. and LOU BARLOW played DC's 9:30 Club last night, so you should be able to stream the whole gig on demand today via NPR.

YO LA TENGO returned to The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

THE 50 GREATEST COVER SONGS, according to SPIN, with embedded audio. BONUS: Covers that are better than the originals are discussed at The Current blog.

MOJO NIXON has 13 free albums for download at Amazon. 

RAY DAVIES and DAVID BOWIE duet on "Waterloo Sunset," live at the Tibet House Benefit, Carnegie Hall, New York in Feb. 2003.

POPCANDY PODCAST: Fanfarlo, Headlights, Rufus Wainwright, Pugwash and more are streaming via USA Today.

DESERT ISLAND DISCS, also from USA Today's Whitney Matheson.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS talks to the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot about a life on the road.

BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO stopped by the World Cafe for a mini-set streaming via NPR.

SKA: The history and future of the genre is essayed at PopMatters.

CUTOUT BIN: From Toni Basil en Espanol to the Chi-Lites, from Grand Funk to Crooked Fingers, from U2 to the Sweet, plus Flock of Seagulls, the Posies, the Beach Boys, Jim Reid, the Kinks, Sam and Dave, the Go! Team and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide release is Couples Retreat, which is currently scoring 7 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.

RUSSELL BRAND and KATY PERRY are heating up.

DAVE LETTERMAN is looking at a 300 million dollar divorce, according the the ever-reliable National Enquirer.  Meanwhile, his former assistant-galpal has been banned from his CBS set.

DR. PHIL is being sued by a woman who claims he held her captive inside his production offices, forced her to stare at a naked man - and then grabbed her left breast.

CHRISTIE BRINKLEY and ex PETER COOK want each other chucked in jail.

JOE FRANCIS GONE WILD, on video, ironically.

ELLEN PAGE is writing and producing an HBO comedy.

EMMY ROSSUM and ADAM DURITZ: Caught canoodling, as the actress ends her secret marriage.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS demanding behind closed doors that oil-producing nations get special financial assistance if a new climate pact calls for substantial reductions in the use of fossil fuels.

AFGHANISTAN: Anthony Loyd revisits his old regiment and reports on the daily ordeal of life on Afghanistan's bloodiest battlefront.

IRAQ: The US Marines complete their mission in Anbar province.  What follows is an open question.

WILLOW can read from cards, which has the Today Show staff fearing for their jobs.

BOOMER might be the world's tallest living dog. Pic at the link.

A DEAD DEER IN A CLOWN SUIT. In Sioux City, IA. And we have video.

A FOUR-WEEK-OLD KITTEH was the focus of a two-day rescue effort after she got stuck in the engine block of a car in a mall parking lot.