BUSY WEEKEND. Probably the same for you. But I have some things...

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  The Curse of La Llorona tops the chart with 26.5MM against a 9MM production budget, a semi-surprising showing perhaps due to being associated with The Conjuring. Another win for Aquaman director James Wan, listed as a producer here .Shazam! placed with 17.3MM on a 29 percent drop; it crosses the 300MM mark worldwide before Thanos arrives this weekend.  Breakthrough shows with 11.1MM (14.6MM over the long weekend, matching its reported production budget).  Captain Marvel zips back up to the fourth slot with 9.1MM as people prep for the Avengers, Little rounds out the Top Five with 8.5MM on a 45 percent drop. Below the fold, Hellboy cratered from third to tenth on a 68 percent plunge; that is what the biz calls a bomb.

JOHN SINGLETON, the Oscar nominated director and writer of Boyz N’ the Hood, has suffered a stroke.

ADELE and her husband Simon Konecki have separated after more than seven years of marriage.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS and Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum, have separated after less than a year of marriage.

MICHELLE BRANCH and the Black Keys' Patrick Carney were married Saturday evening.

CHARLIZE THERON reveals why her adopted child Jackson is wearing dresses.

AMANDA BYNES' lawyer gave an update on her mental condition.

SEAGRAM HEIRESS Clare Bronfman pleads guilty in the NXIVM sex slave case.

CONAN O'BRIEN finally got to inteview Robert Caro.

Face forward, true believers: I should be at something like full strength tomorrow.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with the YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS! Live at Cicero's in St. Louis, On November 23rd,1985, so this is Chuck Carroll-era YFFs.  Selections include: "Gus Theme," "White Bird," "If I Had A Hammer," "Power Mowers' Theme," "Where Is Groovy Town?", "Sharing Patrol," "Topsy Turvy," "Young Fresh Fellows Theme," "Hang On Sloopy," "All Messed Up," "Big House/ Love Boat Theme medley" "Mr. Salamander's Review," "Down By The Pharmacy," "Close to You/ Someone I Care About," "Aurora Bridge," "How Much About Last Night Do You Remember?" "This Little Mystery," "Searchin' USA," "Fair Exchange," and "My Friend Ringo."

THE NATIONAL, Live from France.

CRAIG FINN advance streams I Need A New War.

JOSH RITTER advance streams Fever Breaks.

SUNN O))) advance streams Life Metal.

RODRIGO Y GABRIELLA advance stream Mettavolution.

TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS: "I Think We're Alone Now," at the Village Square. No, really.

BIG THIEF have never sounded looser or more in tune with each other.

JASON BONHAM retracted  a claim that Jimmy Page gave hi cocaine at age 16.

THE 50 BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES, according to Vulture.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Helen Reddy's "Delta Dawn" a simple song with a complicated history.

WHY IS THIS SATURDAY DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER DAYS?  Because ABC has its annual showing of The Ten Commandments, a grand spectacle featuring acting from Edward G. Robinson and Anne Baxter that is so over-the-top that Yul Brynner starts to look good by comparison.  And while Robinson's Dathan never actually spoke the line "Where's your Messiah now?" in the movie, it  -- like "Play It Again, Sam" (not spoken in Casablanca) -- has become part of a part of our culture. The line actually comes from Billy Crystal, originally a bit from the Oscars, iirc. It later turned up o­n The Simpsons, with Chief Wiggum playing Dathan to Ned Flanders' Moses. SUNDAY is EASTER, so I'll probably break out my copy of Ben-Hur, or catch King of Kings on TCM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include The Curse of La Llorona, which is currently scoring 33 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Breakthrough, scoring 64 percent; and Penguins, scoring 90 percent.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR seems to be the only member of the cast who has read the full script of Avengers: Endgame.

CHILD'S PLAY has a trailer online.

HOBBS & SHAW has a trailer online.

STRANGER THINGS is headed for a trial over whether the Duffer Brothers stole the idea.

CHET COPPOCK, the Godfather of Chicago sports talk radio, died following an auto accident in South Carolina. He was 70 years old.

A PUP on a segway-type b0ard.

A WOOLY MAMMOTH'S cells were brefly reactivated. They spared no expense.

ANIMAL CRACKERS have been freed from their cages.

TWO DADS, ONE MOM, ONE EAGLE'S NEST, a lot of drama.

SHARON VAN ETTEN visits the World Cafe.

INSIGNIFICANT OTHER streams I'm So Glad I Feel This Way About You.

THE MYSTERY LIGHTS visit the Paste Studio.

BEN GIBBARD & RICHARD SWIFT's version of the song the cooked up for The Monkees: “Me And Magdalena.”

KURT VILE covers the Rolling Stones' "No Expectations."

FOUR TET shares "Teenage Birdsong."

MADONNA shares "Medellin."

WEEZER had TEARS FOR FEARS join them for “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” on Kimmel.

LEE FIELDS eflects on five decades of making music for and with people, discusses the line between the sacred and the secular, and offers up cosmic advice.

POST-PUNK: The Cerebral Genre.

MICK JAGGER is up and around after heart surgery.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Marvin Gaye's sex-music masterpiece "Let's Get It On."

TIMES 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL says something about somebody.

JOHN CENA may join the Suicide Squad sequel.

LORI LAUGHLIN fears her daughter may have to testify if she goes to trial in the college admissions scandal.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME releases another trailer, but this TV spot reveals another survivor.

DARK PHOENIX releases a final trailer, tho buzz is low on it.

A HIKER rescues an abandoned 'puppy,' that turns out to be a coyote.

A SEA TURTLE returns home to lay eggs... but it's paved over.

A DOG meets his best friend after a week.

WHY VULTURES recognize the border between Portugal and Spain.

THE TEMPTATIONS: "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)."

GARY CLARK JR plays a Tiny Desk Concert.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED features new tracks from Jesca Hoop, Chris Staples, Tank and the Bangas, and more.

JULIAN LYNCH covers Sarah McLachlan and Madonna for a Lagniappe Session.

THE SOFT CAVALRY: Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell and her husband Steve Clarke share "Dive."

THE DREAM SYNDICATE shares a video for "The Way In."

THE KINKS: Dave Davies said he and brother Ray Davies had spent a month writing songs together, and he was hopeful that a new album would arrive toward the end of 2019. (Thx, Jay!)

GET TOGETHER: The hippie national anthem.

NILE ROROGERS talks to NPR about the letter songwrites sent to Spotify's CEO in which they wrote of being "hurt and disappointed" and accusing Spotify of having "used us and tried to divide us."

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Stories' proto-disco jam "Brother Louie."

FELICITY HUFFMAN may spend four to ten months in jail if prosecutors have their way in the college admissions scandal.

STAR WARS: Ian McDiarmid tortures the fans.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME: The Russo brothers beg fans not to spoil the picture.

ANNE HATHAWAY, on five-day hangovers, Time's Up, and The Hustle.

RUSSELL CROWE's turn as Roger Ailes can vbe seen in the teaser trailer for The Loudest Voice.

GEORGE LUCAS: Still stanning for Jar-Jar Binks.

DANNY BOYLE  is to exec produce an Irvine Welsh-penned feature about seminal British record label Creation with Rupert Everett, Suki Waterhouse and Jason Flemyng joining the cast.

HACKER VOICE: "I'm in."

ONWARD, NOBLE STEED, INTO BATTLE!  "Whenever you're ready, Graham..."

A GOOD DOGGO helps with the shopping.

NYC will vaccinate raccoons for rabies in Manhattan parks.

DRAMARAMA give you "Anything, Anything" and a "Last Cigarette" for Twofer Tuesday.

THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH advance streams I Love You. It's A Fever Dream.

JENS LEKMAN & ANNIKA NORLIN stream "Correspondence."

PHOSPHORESCENT visits World Cafe to play and share how meeting his partner in a New England bar, having a child and almost dying from meningitis informed his new music.

MORRISSEY shares "I Thought You Were Dead."

BECK shares "Saw Lightning," which he wrote and produced with Pharrell.

SNAIL MAIL covers the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris."

NICK CAVE: "Perhaps rock music needs to die for a while."

ARETHA FRANKLIN won a posthumous, special Pulitzer citation for music.

BRIAN JOHNSON will "absolutely" tour again with AC/DC.

ON BELIEVING: The Paris Review meditates on "South Detroit." BTW: Journey is headed to Vegas, baby.

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Diana Ross' sex-jam comeback "Touch Me In The Morning."

LORI LAUGHLIN and Mossimo Giannulli have both entered pleas of not guilty to all the charges against them in the college admissions scandal.

KEANU REEVES is profiled in GQ magazine.

GAME OF THRONES: The final season premiere managed to score some record-breaking ratings.

JAY & SILENT BOB's reboot apparently gained an Avenger.

VIDEO DISC SALES are plummeting. Streaming is the new hotness.

GEORGIA ENGEL, who earned two Emmy noms for playing Ted Baxter’s significant other Georgette Franklin on The Mary Tyler Moore and three consecutive for Everybody Loves Raymond, has died. She was 70.

POLICE save a family of ducklings.

A FLORIDA MAN threatened to destroy a town with an army of turtles. Kowabunga.

A LEMUR, sunbathing.

A BABY ELEPHANT just wants to play.