BOOKER T. & THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS kick of a set Live in the Artists' Den with "Green Onions." Bettye LaVette makes a cameo.

LOS LOBOS stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

WIDESPREAD PANIC stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from Richard Thompson, Robert Plant, Maximum Balloon and more highlight the latest installment of the long running series.

THE DEL McCOURY BAND did five free songs for Daytrotter, including Richard Thompson's "1952 Black Vincent Lightning."

TOKYO POLICE CLUB tackles Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You" for The A.V. Club Undercover. And they crunch on it nicely.

KRISTIN HERSH talks to The Quietus about her solo record Crooked, a new Throwing Muses album and the death of the music industry.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND frontman Ezra Koenig talks to the Seattle Times about his music, rap, and his rap music (w/ audio).

LOU BARLOW talks to Express Night Out about working with the Missingmen.

ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM resurfaces in South America.

TIGER WOODS: Elin Nordegren breaks her nine-month silence in an exclusive interview with People magazine. Tiger responds.

LINDSAY LOHAN was released from her court-ordered rehabilitation at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The bill is a reported 40K per week.  Her lawyer claims Li-Lo will have rigorous outpatient treatment.

HEIDI MONTAG sat down exclusively with Life & Style to tell-all about her plastic surgery regrets, revealing that she wants her outrageous G implants removed. That it might make her sex tape more marketable is purely coincidental.

SANDRA BULLOCK will give her first TV interview since splitting with Jesse James on Tuesday.

JOHN TRAVOLTA & KELLY PRESTON are expecting a boy.

DAVID HASSELHOFF will compete on the 11th season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars, reports the new Us Weekly.

ANGELINA JOLIE will make her debut as a director - and a screenwriter - for an upcoming feature film: a romance set against the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

VAMPIRES have brought about seven billion dollars into Hollywood.

IRAN: Tehran will begin the search for new uranium deposits inside the country. Israeli President Peres warned the IAEA over Iran's nuclear activities. Iran's defense minister said that his country is ready to equip Lebanon's army with weapons. On the plus side, Iran's "ambassador of death" is more like the "ambassador of minor damage to unintended target."

YEMEN: For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, CIA analysts see one of al-Qaeda's offshoots - rather than the core group now based in Pakistan - as the most urgent threat to US security, officials said. Then again, the CIA is far from infallible.

AFGHANISTAN: Dozens of schoolgirls and teachers were sickened Wednesday by poison gas in Afghanistan, medical and government officials said. International Security Assistance Force officials say intell reports indicate some pockets of low insurgent morale. Afghan officials say US plans to begin drawing down forces in Afghanistan from next July are "invigorating" insurgents.

TOY POODLES jam on some free jazz.

DORMICE are getting bridges costing £190,000 in Sotuh Wales. 

40 DANGEROUS SNAKES, one man, 114 days, one tiny room.

PANDA BEAR bamboozled by a birthday cake.

BORN TO RUN turns 35 this week. The New York Post looks back at the creation of a work of madness. So why not the opening track, "Thunder Road," circa 1976?

LAURA MARLING played WFUV's Studio A; you can stream the gig on demand, with bonus tracks.

LAURENCE ARABIA played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR. 

TOKYO POLICE CLUB stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

SILVER JEWS: The Tanglewood Numbers Demos.

RICHARD BUCKNER: The Box Set (revisited).

MAVIS STAPLES & JEFF TWEEDY play Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Wrote A Song For Everyone."

THE BEST OF 2010 (so far), according to Muzzle of Bees.

EELS: Mark Oliver Everett sat down with PopMatters to discuss the new album, his unlikely success story and his upcoming tour.

LOCAL NATIVES are blurbed by SPIN.

DeVotchKa Stirs the Melting Pot.

TIGER WOODS: Elin Nordegren is both relieved and distraught now that her divorce from Tiger Woods has been finalized. Rachel Uchitel told a friend she wants him back and would "give up everything" to get him.

HEIDI MONTAG is reportedly willing to talk business about her sex tapes with future-ex Spencer Pratt and a Playboy playmate. It's always haggling over the price, isn't it?

LINDSAY LOHAN signed her rehab discharge papers on Tuesday.

THE FRENCH HOTEL allegedly suffered a break-in by a man with two knives.

MARIAH CAREY pregnancy rumors get a distinct non-denial from Nick Cannon.

MARTIN SHORT's wife dies at 58 from natural causes.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS has refused to delay his money battle over "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" with ex-wife Diandra despite his battle with throat cancer.

THE WALKING DEAD, a new series coming to AMC on Halloween, has a trailer online.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS: A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals in the country whether they could damage a man's spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralyzing him.

IRAN reported that the Bushehr nuclear reactor is online and running safely. Government officials said the startup of the Bushehr plant symbolizes resistance to the West and its failure to contain Iran. Police detained Iranian judiciary officials in Tehran for malpractice.

PAKISTAN has closed aid camps run by militant Islamist groups after the country's president warned that hardliners were using widespread floods to build a support base. Al Qaeda is gradually shifting its base from the unsafe and spy-infested tribal belt of Pakistan - which is under the radars of virtually all intelligence agencies - to more secure, urban areas of the country, which according to a Western diplomat, are "immune to drones."

A BULLDOG WATCHES TV: Let's go to the video.

MORE GATORS: A three-foot alligator, sporting a collar around its neck, has been found aimlessly strolling a Massachusetts city.  A smaller one was captured by "Alligator Bob" under the Belmont Avenue bridge in Chicago.

A WILD BOAR WRESTLING competition has had to be put on hold after the animals went missing ahead of the event.

MAN PUNCHES HORSE in downtown Darwin. Was it Mongo?

BRANDON FLOWERS (The Killers) tackles "Bette Davis Eyes."

NEW RELEASES: Albums from Eels, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Ra Ra Riot, J.P. Chrissie (Hynde) and the Fairground Boys, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Dandy Warhols, Cotton Jones, Les Savy Fav, Land of Talk, Magic Kids, Mogwai and more are streaming in full this week at Spinner.

JENNY & JOHNNY (Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and Johnathan Rice) are advance streaming I'm Having Fun Now.

ROSE ELINOR DOUGAL (formely of the Pipettes) is streaming Without Why.

PHILIP SELWAY of Radiohead is advance streaming Familial.

LED ZEPPELIN, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, January 9, 1970.

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS sync through "Too Much Talk" and "Him Or Me" for Jack Benny.

PHIL SPECTOR denies wearing a wig in an outtake from a new documentary that depicts the convicted homicidal music producer as a sociopath and a narcissist.

ONLINE MUSIC & CRITICISM A-Z, according to Pitchfork's Poptimist, Tom Ewing.

CORIN TUCKER (formerly of Sleater-Kinney) talks to Paste about her new solo project.

THE STOOGES are the subject of a documentary in the works from Jim Jarmusch.

TIGER WOODS is officially divorced from Elin Nordegren. Mistress No. 1 Rachel Uchitel has been accused of charming another married man, Celebrity Rehab alum Jeremy London.

HEIDI MONTAG & SPENCER PRATT seem a bit chummy, given the divorce and sex tape drama (emphasis on drama).

LINDSAY LOHAN apparently wants some form of apology or compensation from the courts. Good luck with that. She may be freed today.

VIVIEN LEIGH , the iconic Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind," was a hot mess off-screen - a slutty bisexual who battled mental illness for most of her adult life, an explosive new biography claims. Oh, fiddle-dee-dee... Ashley told me he likes to see a girl with a healthy appetite!

FANTASIA BARRINO: The overdose was no accident.

THE CREATIVE ARTS EMMYS went to these folks, including Betty White.

AFGHANISTAN: Gen. Petraeus says the momentum built up by the Taliban has been reversed in the south of the country and capital Kabul. However, Afghanistan is still more than a year away from building a security force with enough soldiers and police to protect the country.

IRAQ: Venezuela is more dangerous.

BIRTHDAY CAT: Let's go to the video.

(SMALL) ALLIGATOR captured after crawling out of a drain in Queens.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A cow with two heads, born in Serbia.

A KOALA BEAR somehow survived being struck by a car travelling at 50mph and getting caught in the car's grill.

CEE-LO GREEN: After taking the weekend to think about it, I'm starting the week with his upcoming single, "F*** You."  As you might guess from the title, it's really, really, really NSFW. In addition to the F-bombs, there are S-bombs, A-bombs and N-bombs.  But it's also insanely catchy.  There is a clean version of the song, which debuted on Trevor Nelson's show (at the 52 min mark), but it's not nearly as good.  They should have gone with funny sound effects, but even with that approach, the song would lose a lot, as it relies so heavily on the chasm between the music and the lyrics.

WAYNE KRAMER does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including the MC5 nugget, "High School."

RAY LaMONTAGNE and the Pariah Dogs played World Cafe Live; you can stream the gig on demand via NPR.

SUFJAN STEVENS is streaming his new EP, All Delighted People.

BEST COAST made you a mixtape, ranging from Pavement to Bread to Aretha Franklin. You're welcome.

SHOCKING BLUE: She's your "Venus."

ISOBELL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN talk to The Guardian about the contrast that makes this pair so fascinating.

NORTHERN SOUL: The Guardian explores the roots of Britain's most enduring subculture.

THE SWELL SEASON got a lot less swell when a man committed suicide by plummeting to the stage during a show.

RIP, Michael Been of The Call and Kenny Edwards of the Stone Poneys.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Expendables fought off five new movies to repeat at No.1 with 16.5 million.  Although that represents a 53 percent drop from its opening, The Expendables looks likely to recoup its budget domestically, with ample foreign receipts to follow.  Vampires Suck-ed in second place, with 12.2 million; it has almost recouped its budget since opening last Wednesday.  Eat Pray Love dropped 48 percent to the third slot with 12 million; that drop is a little steep for a "chick flick" without much competition.  Lottery Ticket debuted at No.2 with 11.1 million against a 17 million budget.  The Other Guys round out the Top Five with 10.1 million; it's being squeezed by Stallone & Co. but should still reach 100 million.  Below the fold, disappointing debuts from Piranha 3-D, Nanny McPhee Returns, and The Switch.  Particularly sad, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World plunges to the bottom of the Top Ten.

ANNA PAQUIN & STEPHEN MOYER of True Blood got hitched.

HEIDI MONTAG & SPENCER PRATT: It appears he has hit upon the idea of selling a sex tape featuring them to Vivid Entertainment.  He also claims to have a tape of his soon-to-be-ex with a Playboy Playmate.

JUDE LAW & SIENNA MILLER are sort of hitched.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS director Bryan Singer has been telling folks - including Harry Knowles - some of the details, notably that it will be a period piece set in the Sixties, with a James Bondian level of tech.

THE 25 MOST DISTURBING FILMS EVER, according to Total Film.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad welcomed his country's first domestically-built, long-range, unmanned bomber aircraft, calling it an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies. Iranian and Russian engineers began loading nuclear fuel into Iran's first atomic power plant Saturday amid international concern that the Islamic Republic is seeking a nuclear weapon.

IRAQ: General Odierno said Iran continues to fund Shia terror groups operating in Iraq, and that the US is ready to resume combat operations if needed.

DANISH RABBIT-HOPPING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Let's go to the video.

AN ANGRY GOAT chases builders from a third-floor flat in Germany.

A DOG in a wheelchair scales the highest peak in the Northeastern United States.

A GREAT DANE, A GOAT and a THREE-LEGGED RETRIEVER are reunited... Mass hysteria!

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE B-52s!  Granted, the quirky combo from Athens, GA, has had a long and storied career, but we'll stick to the early stuff this weekend.  So, from the self-titled debut, classics "Planet Claire" "Rock Lobster" and "Dance This Mess Around." And from the sophomore LP, Wild Planet, "Party Out of Bounds," "Give Me Back My Man", "Private Idaho" and "Dirty Back Road."  BONUS: "Song For A Future Generation," because it's the first song I heard them play live.

GORILLAZ stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT also stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

JESCA HOOP stopped by OPB for a chat and mini-set in audio and video.

SHARON VON ETTEN gets a twofer from World Cafe: Next.

ELVIN BISHOP stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE 50 BEST NEW BANDS OF 2010, according to NME, with videos -- or via a Soundcloud.

OF MONTREAL backed actor Paul Rudd and actor-director David Wain on Boston's classic "More Than A Feeling." 

THE ACORN: Rolf Klausener talks to Prefix about the changing of the group, the difficulties of writing No Ghost, and how location influences his songwriting.

ELF POWER: Andrew Rieger offers his thoughts to Prefix on Vic Chesnutt, the band's upcoming album (dedicated to Chestnutt), and the power of the collective model.

AMANDA PALMER gets a lengthy profile at The Phoenix.

AN ALTERNATIVE TOP 10 GUITAR LPs, from PopMatters.

THE 23 GREATEST SCI-FI SONGS, according to Paste.

THE WIT & WISDOM OF JOHN MELLENCAMP: "I think the Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb."  Also, "the China-Russians or something" will be taking over the country.

CUTOUT BIN: From Tom Waits to Dire Straits, from Drive-By Truckers to Dramarama, from the Beatles to the Roots, from the Dead Milkmen to Roadside Graves, plus the Modern Lovers, Iggy Pop, Wilco, the Jam and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Vampires Suck, which opened Wed and is currently scoring 04 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; Nanny McPhee Returns, which is scoring 80 percent; Piranha 3-D, scoring 78 percent (on a handfull of reviews; caveat emptor); The Switch, scoring 44 percent; and Lottery Ticket, at 33 percent.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Doctors overseeing her court ordered rehab have recommended to the judge overseeing her treatment that she spend no more than 30 days at UCLA Medical Center.  They have concluded she does not suffer from the drug or psychiatric problems that were previously diagnosed.

JESSE JAMES is indeed dating Kat Von D.

JENNIFER ANISTON & CHER are among the alleged victims of an alleged credit card scheme under investigation by the Secret Service.

HEIDI MONTAG is downright furious with Spencer Pratt's new claim that he plans to write a tell-all book about her private life - and is now threatening legal action to stop him.

BETTY WHITE is writing a couple of books.

IRAN: The Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that if attacked it will respond by targeting its enemies' interests around the world. Germany charged two people with shipping rocket supplies to Iran. A member of the Iranian parliament said Iran will not back down from its nuclear program in the face of a US attack.

AFGHANISTAN: Women and children seem to be taking the brunt of the violence directed by a resurgent Taliban, which will only stoke more concern about the wisdom of seeking reconciliation with the hardline Islamist group.

IRAQ: As the United States military prepares to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning a remarkable civilian effort, buttressed by a small army of contractors, to fill the void.

RAGING BULL: Let's go to the video.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT knocks out phones in Iowa City.

10 BLACK BEARS and a RACCOON guard a pot farm in British Columbia. No wonder they jones for the pic-a-nic baskets.

KANGAROO on the lam in Austria.