THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

...with THE ZOMBIES! After all it is the "Time of the Season," isn't it? Pate use to do a wicked version of that. You can also see the band's lip-synching almost drowned out by screaming fans when they perform "She's Not There" o­n Hullaballoo. Plus, "Tell Her No." Yes, it's the season of the Zombie Walk. The two that caught my attention will be in Toronto where the undead aspire to setting the Guiness World Record for the Largest Performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and the gathering in Pittsburgh, where the goal is the world's largest zombie gathering at the Monroeville Mall, site of George Romero's classic film, Dawn of the Dead. You can find the Zombie Walk near you through ZombieWalk.com. BONUS: The Cranberries. DOUBLE BONUS: White Zombie's "More Human Than Human." Which reminds me that Rob Zombie will be introducing zombie movies tonight o­n Turner Classic Movies.

EVAN DANDO talks to Harp about the first Lemonheads record in ten years, image, aging and the downsides of Zoloft. It includes the best first two interview questions I've read in a while.

WILLIE NELSON & RYAN ADAMS: Lost Highway Records is streaming chunks of the Adams-produced Nelson album. Adams also wrote "Blue Hotel." The album comes out o­n Halloween.

THE DECEMBERISTS guitarist Chris Funk talks to Harmonium about MySpace, filesharing, signing to a major, and the way a Decemberists song is put together. Organist and accordion player Jenny Conlee talks to the Fredericksburg Free Lance

OKKERVIL RIVER: The Black Sheep Boy is part of a scary video for "For Real." And thanks to Chromewaves, you can also watch it with a commentary track and find out that frontman Will Scheff has declared the Black Sheep Boy is dead.

GANG OF FOUR: The original line-up is working o­n a new album -- their first since 1981.

GREGG ALLMAN'S 1973 solo album, Laid Back, is this week's Shadow Classic o­n NPR, complete with three streaming tracks.

THE DECEMBERISTS frontman Colin Meloy explains five songs from The Crane Wife to Harp magazine. At the moment, four of them can be streamed via the Hype Machine.

SONGS ABOUT MAMMALS comprise this week's Culure Vulture playlist at London's Guardian. Sadly, "Mammal," by They Might Be Giants is not among them.

THE MUMMIES cover Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge" and bash out their own "(You Must Fight To Live o­n) The Planet Of The Apes." BONUS: Here's the end of the Karloff classic.

THE HOLD STEADY did a short set for The Current, which you can stream from MPR.

SEVENTEEN ESSENTIAL BOOKS ABOUT POPULAR MUSIC, courtesy of the A.V. Club. I would note that number six is Dave Marsh's Two Hearts, which is a combo of two books he wrote about the Boss Born to Run and Glory Days. The first is a great read; the second in o­ne long apologia from Marsh rationalizing why Springsteen ultimately did almost everything he said he would not do in the first book.

IMOGEN HEAP talks with the UK's Metro about selling "loads of records" in the US because of TV shows, MySpace and iTunes. She has 200K friends o­n MySpace, where you can stream a few songs, though there's currently new audio and video at her website.

KURT COBAIN: The Godfather of Grunge's corpse will be exploited, but it will be classy.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The supposedly sober supermodel and the troubled singer attended Moet & Chandon's annual fashion tribute in London this week, and apparently thought they needed to wear masks.

MADONNA went o­n The Oprah Winfrey Show to see if she can spin her way into being a victim of media manipulation, despite having amassed great fame and wealth through media manipulation. Madge gave canned answers to the Big O's puffball questions, o­ne of which suggested that this story "ignited a media firestorm like we've never seen." No exaggeration there...

VINCENT GALLO, the 45-year-old director of family fare like Brown Bunny, is hanging out with 16-year-old L.A. party girl Cory Kennedy: "With the psychotic, middle-aged Madonna out there o­n the loose buying up all the stolen Negro babies in Africa, I felt it my social and humanitarian duty to take in any young, beautiful and sexy orphaned Jew teens running wild in Beverly Hills. Cory's a great kid, and I'm proud to be her daddy." As much as I like the Madge slam, still creepy.

THE McCARTNEYS: Supposedly sober supermodel Kate Moss says leaked allegations by Heather Mills of abuse by Sir Paul are "utter b******t."

GREY'S ANATOMY actor Isaiah Washington has issued an apology for his behavior during an o­n-set argument with co-star Patrick Dempsey, including his "unfortunate use of words." After the fight, reports surfaced that Washington had used a homophobic slur; o­n Oct. 19, their costar T.R. Knight disclosed that he is gay.

NICOLE KIDMAN was trying to get pregnant before Keith Urban went into rehab, according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer.

DENISE RICHARDS and PAM ANDERSON are shooting a movie titled Blonde and Blonder in Vancouver. No word o­n which is which, but Pam is stage right, so I'm guessing she's Blonder.

BRITNEY SPEARS and Spenderline are spending more time apart

FRANK BLACK tells NME that there will be a new Pixies album, provided Kim Deal turns up to rehearse in January. He talks more about his new band with the A.V. Club. Here's his solo acoustic version of the classic "Duke of Earl" at a 1993 in-store.

THE HOLD STEADY included a free, limited edition comic with their new album in some stores, which you can download at Chromewaves, where Frank has even more linkage than I had the other day.

M WARD came up with the Kinks and Louie Armstrong when he shuffled his iPod for the A.V. Club. You can stream or download Ward's set for the Interface via AOL.

THE KING IS DEAD: Elvis Presley is no longer the top-earning dead celebrity. You can find out which musician replaced him at the link.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: Bradley's Almanac has a live set from Brandeis University o­n October 16th, which you can jukebox via the Hype Machine. The band also released a video for "Major Label Debut," which is misnamed (but very catchy), with plenty of fun and funny footage from their last tour. Be sure to watch for the surprise ending.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Keeping it seasonal with Donovan's solo singalong of "Season of the Witch" from October 25, 2003 and the cover version by Luna from the soundtrack of I Shot Andy Warhol.

THE DECEMBERISTS get a live review of their gig at the Wiltern in Variety, while frontman Colin Meloy tells the Dallas Morning News that he made sure the band's major-label debut "fit with our discography."

THE EVANGELICALS have released "The Halloween Song" which you can stream and download via MySpace. The band's So Gone album scored a respectable 8.1 from Pitchfork, which has more free MP3s for you.

WE ARE SCIENTISTS: Stereogum reprints a hysterical exchange between bassist Chris Cain and a disappointed fan o­n the band's message board. Plus, In keeping with the season, you can watch Cain discuss werewolves between songs at the famed Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Does rehab make you cranky? The troubled singer faced a police investigation in Rome after he was involved in a brawl with an Italian photographer outside his hotel, which left him covered in blood. The brawl occurred after Doherty broke a microphone stand and brandished it before fans during a Babyshambles concert at the Piper club. Doherty reportedly broke all the instruments o­nstage during the stormy concert.

THE McCARTNEYS: Heather Mills plans to sue the Daily Mail and the London Evening Standard over what she claims were "false, damaging and immensely upsetting" statements surrounding her divorce from Sir Paul. Interestingly, the news accounts are fuzzy as to whether this relates directly to leaked documents of abuse claims she is allegedly making against the ex-Fab. Ratther, the lawyers said it was "entirely false" that Mills had been offered a

THE RUNAWAYS' drummer Sandy West has died of lung cancer at 47. Bandmate Joan Jett: "I am overcome from the loss of my friend... She was an exuberant and powerful drummer." You can see West really pound the skins o­n the classic "Wild Thing" and with the Runaways o­n Lou Reed's "Rock and Roll." Jett, meanwhile, made NPR's Song of the Day with a cover of the Sweet's "A.C.D.C."

NEW RELEASES: Who's Left, Bright Eyes, Sparta (ex-At the Drive-In), Paul Stanley, The Walkmen remake of PussyCats, and The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack are all streaming in full from AOL this week. Pulp has a Comlete Peel Sessions disc. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin gets a re-release of their 2005 album, Broom, o­n a bigger indie label. Jeff Tweedy's Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest comes out o­n DVD.

COURTNEY LOVE producer Linda Perry told Billboard not o­nly that Love is "the queen of rock 'n' roll," but also that "Courtney Love's name should be right next to Bob Dylan when they say best lyricist of all time." Sorry if you just snorted your drink back out through your nose; I really should have warned you.

THE SHINS' next album, Wincing the Night Away, is not due until January 23rd, 2007. Rolling Stone has been digging their advance copy, and the album has leaked o­nto the internet. The lawyer-types are contacting music bloggers posting tracks and having them taken down. But things don't disappear quite as quickly from the Hype Machine, so you might still be able to stream the Spector-esque "Turn o­n Me," not to mention "Sleeping Lessons," "Phantom Limb" and "Australia." And even if they have disappered into the ethernet, you can enjoy the band's unplugged goof o­n "Hot For Teacher." Yes, that "Hot For Teacher."

THE 50 MOST ESSENTIAL CDs SINCE 2001, according to Harp magazine (via Each Note Secure, which discusses some obvious omissions).

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: John Hiatt does a little Dracula impression at the outset of this live take o­n "Something Wild" from Austin City Limits.

RICHARD HAWLEY: An Aquarium Drunkard has an interview and unplugged tracks to stream or download from SXSW 2006.

ART BRUT: USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson recently posted a brief live review and interview with frontman Eddie Argos which touches o­n a few points I didn't get to in my recent live review. And yes, it's a cheap excuse to point everyone back to the band's MySpace page, because they rawk.

MAXWELL'S, the New Jersey club well-known to fans of indie bands including the dB's, The Feelies, Yo La Tengo, and many more, is profiled in the Hudson Reporter.

A SAD DAY FOR MUSIC-BLOGGING: Frank Yang of Chromewaves is going to try to slow down a little, while Jennings of the bootleg-rich rbally is taking a more serious hiatus.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The supposedly sober supermodel arrived back from a romantic trip to Italy with the troubled singer wearing a ring o­n her wedding finger. She later tried to conceal the ring from the paparazzi.

MADONNA is going o­n the Oprah Winfrey Show this week to discuss her decision to adopt a 13-month-old boy from Malawi. Will she be asked about the boy's father's claim that he didn't know he was giving up custody permanently? If so, Madge will probably note that a senior Malawian government official has dismissed the father's claims as untrue.

WARNER BROS. stands accused of making empty promises to provide prosthetic limbs to orphaned African amputees and then reneging so that the studio's movie Blood Diamond could get extra publicity.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: For the first time this season, Cruise and Holmes were a no-show at Cruise's daughter Isabella's soccer game this weekend, re-igniting rumors that their wedding is imminent.

WESLEY SNIPES, indicted o­n US tax fraud charges, has been snapped in Namibia, where the actor is reportedly filming a movie titled, Gallowwalker.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH reportedly confessed during her pregnancy that Larry Birkhead was the father of her baby. The model is getting the boot from her Bahamas pad at the end of the month. And she can look forward to some fresh grief

THE ROLLING STONES: With Halloween a little over week away, my thoughts tend to drift toward the Band of the Living Dead. An Aquarium Drunkard has posted a streamable bootleg EP circa 1973, with the same title as a never officially-released Stones documentary, the title of which cannot be repeated here. Last week's Stevie Wonder-Stones clip is from that movie, as are these clips of Keef playing piano and talking about how to start a band, as well as the band dressing back stage and a live take o­n "Street Fighting Man."

PITCHFORK is trying to keep some indie street cred by snubbing Microsoft's offer to generate new content with them or create a new section o­n our site specifically for users of the new MS MP3 player, Zune.

WILCO played DC's 9:30 Club Thursday night; the gig featuring new and old songs is streaming from NPR now in Real and Windows format.

LLOYD COLE recently talked to London's Sunday Times about his new album, gardening and Joan Didion.

THIRTEEN SERIOUSLY SCARY ALBUM COVERS, courtesy of The A.V. Club. Cannibal Corpse makes the list; so does Barbra Streisand.

THE HOLD STEADY frontman Craig Finn talks about baseball, booze and Boys and Girls in America with Vancouver's Straight.com. Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler explain the new album's title and more for the Hartford Courant. And it turns out that keyboardist Franz Nicolay can definitiely pull off Zorro for Halloween in the band's new video for "Chips Ahoy," which also borrows a little from Monty Python's "Wicker's World" sketch, I think.

ISOBEL CAMPBELL tells London's Sunday Times that she is "a bit of an oddball for a girl," adding: "I