STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS are joined by Blitzen Trapper for a rendition of the James Gang's "Funk 49" in St. Louis. More Cowbell!

NEW RELEASES: Mavis Staples and Led Zeppelin are among those streaming in full this week via Spinner.  Merge Records is re-issuing albums from Camera Obscura, Magnetic Fields, and Polvo on vinyl.

STEVE ALBINI talks to The List about Shellac and All Tomorrow's Parties.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS has an interview + tracks streaming at NPR from All Things Considered.

THE U2 TOWER, slated to be th tallest building in Dublin, has been put on hold due to the slumping property market.

THE TOP TEN AUTUMN ALBUMS, according to Rawkblog.

THAT PETROL EMOTION plays "Big Decision" and "Swamp" on The Tube, circa 1987. It's your Twofer Tuesday. Whatcha gotta do in this day and age? Gotta agitate and educate and organize.

GARY GLITTER is commercial poison for Hewlett Packard.

THE NERVES will release their first full-length compilation Nov. 25th.

LAURA MARLING picks out a playlist of tracks that inspire her art for Drowned In Sound.

THE DESCENDENTS: Co-founder and original guitarist Frank Navetta died Friday, after a seeming sudden, undisclosed illness.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX maintains that he is quitting acting to pursue music, but friends reportedly fret that he may be off the wagon.

AMY WINEHOUSE has returned to the hospital for ongoing treatment, after a weekend at home.

GUY RITCHIE was threatened by a crazed, knife-wielding Madonna fan who burst onto the set of his new Shelock Holmes movie.

JOHN CLEESE is selling his second home - just weeks after settling a messy divorce.  So don't call him "Two-Sheds."

IRON MAN 2: Was dropping Terrence Howard about more than money?

HEROES: Co-exec producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were axed, reportedly for both creative and budgetary reasons.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE: The new James Bond movie shattered UK box office records. FNC's Roger Friedman did not like it, but he wanted the gadgets and comedy that were also missing from Casino Royale. The Communist Party in St. Petersburg says Olga Kurylenko has betrayed her roots. I'm thinking the Ukranian hottie sees it differently.  Meanwhile, a professor finds that the once improbable seeming Bond villains have become close to the real threats face faced by modern security services.

NATALIE DORMER talks to the Daily Mail about Heath Ledger, The Tudors, martial arts, poker and more...

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS claim they stopped a terror attack against the US in 2003.

SYRIA has mobilized some 3000 troops and heavy equipment near its border with eastern Lebanon, Beirut's As-Safir newspaper reported over the weekend.

IRAQ: The US is actively transferring ownership of Iraq's troubled Diyala Province, using a tough-love approach to force Iraq to take on greater control ahead of whatever security pact may be entered into by the two nations. The Iraqi government plans to cut salaries for the estimated 100K members of the Sons of Iraq, a move certain to aggravate building tensions between the Sunni volunteer force and the Shiite-led government.

RHINO ATTACK DRILL, complete with pantomime rhino: Let's go to the video.

CAT CAMS: Inquisitive owners can find out exactly what their pets are getting up to - by hanging tiny digital cameras from their necks.  Pics at the link.

PYTHON in a TOILET leads Dutch authorities to uncover an illegal exotic animal trading ring set up in a hotel.

CRICKET-FIGHTING: Shanghai police have smashed a professional cricket fighting ring in a raid that snared the city's most notorious handler of the insects, according to state media.

THE BIRDS: An elderly woman has been forced to have her leg amputated after it became infected and then gangrenous when she was pecked by a pet magpie.

WILCO performs an exclusive, "Wilco: The Song" on the Colbert Report.

MATADOR has released a downloadable Fall sampler, including tracks from Belle & Sebastian, Lou Reed, A.C. Newman, Shearwater and more...

OKKERVIL RIVER: Frontman Will Scheff reveals the real characters that populate The Satnd-Ins album during a chat and mini-set at the World Cafe. 

NOAH & THE WHALE: Charlie Fink talks to the Independent about the unliklely UK success of the single from the band's debut, and more.  Three embedded videos at the link.

THE BREEDERS: Kim Deal talks about atheism -- political and otherwise -- with SF Station. (Thx, LHB.)

CARBON/SILICON invite Lauren Jones (daughter of Mick) onstage for a rendition of "Hitsville UK," introduced by Mick's reading of a 30-year-old review of the original single. No consumer trials. No AOR. But it shuffled up on my iPod over the weekend.

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

DeVotchKa talks to Aquarium Drunkard about their history, unique sound, and the ever-evolving world of music licensing and placement. Streamable MP3s at the link.

DEERHOOF drummer Greg Saunier talks to the Philly City Paper about the band's current tour and their brand-new record Offend Maggie.

THE DECEMBERISTS' bassist Nate Query spoke to the Austin American-Statesman about the band's politics, the singles series and next year's album, "Hazards of Love."

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: High School Musical 3 repeats atop the box office with 15 million -- a 64.2 percent drop that likely reflects the fact that Halloweeen fell on a Friday, depressing attendance across the board.  Zack and Miri came in second with 10.6 million, and it's hard to evaluate this result.  On top of the Halloween factor, this could be seen as a typical Kevin Smith opening -- or a bad Seth Rogen opening... and the subject itself likely limits the potential audience.  Moreover, the subject might also suggest that people might prefer to see it on home video than go to a theater to see it.  Saw V dropped 66 percent to third place, but has made almost 46 million on an 11 million production budget.  The expansion of The Changeling lifted the Eastwood/Jolie movie to fourth place, making 9.4 million; it also had a high per-screen average.  The Haunting of Molly Hartley rounded out the Top Five with six million.

ZACK & MIRI: Director Kevin Smith was a pioneer of the raunchy-and-sweet comedy combo that has made gazillions for Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, so Rogen is a natural match for this picture.  Rogen apparently suggested the lovely Elizabeth Banks for Miri, and she gets a chance to stretch her comedy chops, which were already evident her all-too-brief turns as J. Jonah Jameson's secretary Betty Brant in the Spider-Man movies.  Their performances are key, as the plot -- outside of its controversial subject-matter -- is a slacker growing-up tale of the sort we have already seen in Knocked Up or even Smith's Clerks II.  Fortunately, they have the necessary chemisty, along with good support from Craig Robinson and memorable cameos from people including Justin Long and Barndon Routh.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, Jonathan Demme's latest movie is a different kind of Demme movie -- more like a Robert Altman slice-of-life than the warped comedy of Something Wild and Married to the Mob or more serious efforts like Silence of the Lambs or The Manchurian Candidate remake. And quite a bit different from his rockumentaries, though Robyn Hitchcock does play a bit.  On its own terms, it works quite well, primarily of strong performances from Anne Hathaway as Rachel's sister Kim and Rosemarie DeWitt (a/k/a "Midge" from Mad Men) as Rachel.  Demme creates a world that is certainly interesting enough to visit, though I'm not sure I would want to live there.

TOM CRUISE and the Church of Scientology reportedly are the targets of an amended Florida lawsuit that seeks more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

JESSICA SIMSPON watched in shock as her BFF/hair stylist Ken Paves had his face busted open during a crazy paparazzi crush on their way out of Madeo late Saturday night.

MADONNA & A-ROD reportedly had a secret meetup at Jerry Seinfeld's place in the Hamptons.

SIENNA MILLER has moved back to London amid reports that her relationship with married US actor Balthazar Getty is on the rocks.

JIMMY KIMMEL & SARAH SILVERMAN played their "are they reunited" status for laughs on his show.

HEIDI KLUM impressed as Kali for Halloween.

NORTH KOREA: More pictures of 66-year-old Kim Jong II were issued by the Stalinist regime to put to rest claims that he is dying - but they have only given rise to added speculation about his health.

IRAN stepped up its rhetoric against the US by threatening to use suicide-bomber attacks against America. 

IRAQ: Officials in Mosul have warned that the US must launch a widespread offensive against Syria to have any hope of taking control of al-Qaeda's last bastion in Iraq. US deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war, while Iraqi deaths fell to their lowest monthly levels of the year. Iraq's prime minister is pushing the idea that the US drawdown is in sight to sell the security deal with Washington to Iran.

THE MOST GLAMOROUS GOAT in all Arabia -- and the most expensive. But now, for a mere £16,500, plus shipping, one of these beauties can now be yours. Most of the goats in the competition were bred from one star goat, Burgan, who was not on display at the show as the owners fear he could be afflicted by the "evil eye."

GIANT FRUIT BATS with a wingspan of more than five feet have made a spectacular return from the brink of extinction on Pemba island off Tanzania.

WHEN A NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY ran to his mother shouting that there was a cheetah in the garden, she dismissed his claims as childhood excitement. She was mistaken. BONUS: Cheetahs on a Plane.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant squirrel caused a massive power outage in Richmond, VA Halloween, morning.

OTTO the OCTOPUS has caused havoc in his aquarium by performing juggling tricks using his fellow occupants, smashing rocks against the glass and turning off the power by shortcircuiting a lamp.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...STREAMING FROM THE CASTLE EAST! This fan-made 1973 video for "The Monster Mash" is today's must-see clip (natch), though you can also see Bobby "Boris" Pickett perform it live at Little Steven's Halloween a Go-Go 2005. The covers by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and The Misfits are pretty good also -- the latter uses clips from the Rankin-Bass animated classic, Mad Monster Party.

THE FLAMING LIPS led the March Of 1,000 Flaming Skeletons, as part of Oklahoma City's inaugural Ghouls Gone Wild Halloween Parade.  Video at the link.

JIM CARROLL sings about "People Who Died."

FOLK ALLEY celebrates Halloween with a special 5-hour stream of spooky folk music, including ghost stories, murder ballads, gory tales, supernatural songs, and myths of death, witches, goblins and vampires.  NPR has highlights.

HENRI MANCINI: "Experiment in Terror." A sentimental favorite to those who grew up watching "Creature Features" on WGN before it went superstation.

HALLOWEEN A/V: PopMatters has quite the collection of streaming Halloween videos and audio, from Bauhaus to Tegan & Sara to Stevie Wonder to AC/DC to Cream... though imho, there's no beating Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

WARREN ZEVON is on that PopMatters list, but I prefer a live trifecta of "Werewolves of London," "Excitable Boy" and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN won't put on his usual Halloween display for New Jersey's trick-or-treaters at his home out of concern for the safety of families in the town of Rumson, NJ.

KISS got their first television exposure in 1976 on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special.

"DO THEY KNOW IT'S HALLOWEEN?" is the all-star charity send-up of Band-Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" featuring Roky Erikson, Elvira, plus members from Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, Smoosh, Rilo Kiley, Sparks and many more.

TRICK OR TREAT BIN: From Van Halen to Screamin' Lord Sutch, from Otis Redding to Nick Cave, from KISS to the Strangeloves, from the Beatles to the Mummies and more  -- this Friday's Halloween-themed finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM.

THE TIME WARP:  Let's do it again.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Kevin Smith's Zack & Miri, which is currently scoring 62 on the ol' Tomatometer and The Haunting of Molly Hartley, which is unsurprisingly unscreened for critics.  The Changeling also expands wide, with a score of 53 percent. Guy Ritchie's RockNRolla goes near-wide with 61 percent.

THE 11 BEST OLD SCHOOL HORROR TRAILERS, according to Maxim magazine. Yeah, I read it for the articles.

IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, in its entirety, Charlie Brown.  Every year, the bootleg video rises from the Internet patch.

PUMPKINS WITH HUMAN FACES: An idea for next year.

FIVE THINGS you may not know about Halloween.

THE NIGHT of the LIVING DEAD turns 40 with PopMatters compiling 30 articles that uniquely analyze, dissect, discuss, and re-appreciate the cultural, political, social, ideological, philosophical, and psychological meanings of this groundbreaking horror film. 

WAR of the WORLDS:  The 70th anniversary of the infamous Orson Welles broadcast was yesterday.  You can stream it from Radio Heard Here or the Internet Archive.

THE WILHELM SCREAM: The repeatedly used film and television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums, now appearing as an in-joke in many films, is the subject of a Masters of Horror segment.

23 UNUSUAL VAMPIRE VARIATIONS, courtesy of The A.V. Club.

GHOST SIGHTINGS: Are they really caused by your alarm clock? If not, who you gonna call?

"THRILLER" performed by French community college students is less dancetastic than the filipino prisoners, but the gave it ol' community college try.

PETS IN COSTUMES: Despite the dangers, here's an obligatory gallery or two or three.  They will turn on the humans some day.

VAMPIRE MOTHS: New species identified in Siberia is vegetarian. Video at the link.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant squirrel attacks early voting in Florida.

GIANT GRIFFON VULTURE attacks Britons as they watched a show at the popular Jungle Park in Tenerife.

THE KILLERS play a new song, "Losing Touch," at the House of Blues in Vegas.  Sounding a touch like the Psychedelic Furs.

JENNY SCHEINMAN, who has backed up Lou Reed, Bono, Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams, played the Village Vanguard last night, so you should be able to stream the gig on demand today via NPR.

ELVIS COSTELLO is interviewed by Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.  Yes, really.

EEF BARZELAY of Clem Snide does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, two previously unreleased. 

ROBERT HARRISON: The pop classicist of Cotton Mather and Future Clouds & Radar gets some love from Heather Browne.  Streaming audio at the link.

BEACH HOUSE play "Used To Be"... on a beach, oddly enough.

DAVID BYRNE & BRIAN ENO:  Byrne talks to Greg Kot about how his songwriting and singing has changed over the 19 years since his last album with Eno, plus a bit about the self-release via the Internet.

GENE SIMMONS: The KISS bassist has a new axe controller for the Guitar Hero and Rock Band videogames.

THE WORLD of BLUEGRASS 2008: A survey and recommendations from... the Wall Street Journal.

BTW, WHICH ONE'S PINK? 10 things you probably didn't know about Pink Floyd.

BRITNEY SPEARS, LINDSAY LOHAN & THE FRENCH HOTEL in talks for an HBO sitcom?  Not a chance, but too funny to not share.

BRADGELINA: Six nannies, no waiting. Plus, a fresh round of wedding and pregnancy rumors.

MADONNA tried to control husband Guy Ritchie with a marriage contract which urged the film director not to shout at his wife and to devote time to sex, according to the Daily Mail.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. & DON CHEADLE sign on for The Avengers, as well as the Iron Man sequel.  JON FAVREAU does a nice interview on related topics at Ain't It Cool News.

KEVIN SMITH talks to The A.V. Club about Zack And Miri, star Seth Rogen, his battle with the MPAA, and why nobody ever wins on the Internet.

JCVD: Jean-Claude Van Damme.  I may have to see this.

ELVIS PRESLEY repeats as the Top Earning Dead Celebrity, according to Forbes magazine.  Heath Ledger rockets into third place.  Full list at the link.

THE ITALIAN JOB: Don't try this at home, kids.

IRAN opened a new naval base east of the Strait of Hormuz; an admiral said Iran could "prevent the entry of any enemy naval units" into the Persian Gulf.

IRAQ wants to amend a draft security pact to ban US forces from striking neighboring countries from Iraqi territory, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. Extremism is waning in Baghdad, but blast walls are staying up for now. Wasit province became the 13th of Iraq's 18 provinces transferred to Iraqi control. 

CAT BURGLAR goes for the peanuts. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

CARLA the ANGELFISH has a life-saving hernia operation. Pic at the link.

CENTIPEDE ATTACK carries a potential sentence of three years prison and a caning.

LOBSTERS enjoy the global economic panic.

THE POOCH PILL: 75 million dollars is apparently available to anyone who can invent a pooch pill and a cat contraceptive.

MATT & KIM are still ludicrously happy in the video for "Daylight."

LED ZEPPELIN is reuniting without Robert Plant? Huh? Wha?

THE ELEPHANT 6 ORCHESTRA, including Robert Schneider (The Apples in Stereo) and the famously reclusive Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), took the stage together for a sprawling live performance at Chicago's Bottom Lounge on Oct. 21; you can stream the extravaganza in full via NPR.

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

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

ANDREW BIRD & YO-YO MA jam on the strings.  And whistle.

EARLIMART does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE FLAMING LIPS, THE B-52s and B.B. KING are among those helping NBC re-invent its famous chime. Video at the link. Entertainment Weekly says that "You may not know that the notes to NBC's famous chimes are G, E, and C," but it makes perfect sense if you think about the owner. Stereogum has a new track, "Once Beyond Hopelessness," along with video related to the Christmas on Mars DVD.

SNOW PATROL lead singer and guitarist Gary Lightbody talks to JAM! about how the idea of taking a year-long break before making its next album went by the wayside.

ORANGE JUICE is reuniting to benefit a Scottish charity that raises money to fund music therapists. Nordoff-Robbins helped guitarist Edwyn Collins recover from the near-fatal brain hemorrhages he suffered in 2005.  See the gallery of birds that helped him recover.

BRITNEY SPEARS is now under the indefinite conservatorship of her father, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Tuesday. The pop tart is also rumored to be on the SNL slate.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX is quitting acting to pursue his music.  Or so he says now.

MADONNA is facing a major fall-out with her Kabbalah leaders who are demanding an immediate out of court settlement to her divorce from Guy Ritchie.

JESSICA SIMPSON: The pneumatic blonde's Major Movie Star never played US theaters, but it's No.1 in Russia. As is Puppet Show.

BRADGELINA: Jolie made a surprise appearance at Monday night's Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala, to pay tribute to director Clint Eastwood. "There are some people in this business that are icons, and we often wonder if, when we meet them, they'll live up to what we imagine them to be," she told the audience. "And Clint Eastwood in person is even better."

30 ROCK: You can watch the premiere early on the Peacock's website.

QUANTUM of SOLACE: Is super-spy James Bond critic- and recession-proof? The Guardian's Theo Hobson does not love him, though it seems like he may not have seen any recent Bond flicks.

JIMMY KIMMEL & SARAH SILVERMAN are reunited... on Jimmy's show Thursday.

JESSICA BIEL is feeling her age, but says no to plastic surgery.

KATE HUDSON's Halloween party was busted by the LAPD.  Hudson "was dressed as a '60s flight attendant," which put me in mind of her stew spiel from Almost Famous.

EVA MENDES flaunts her genes.

SYRIA: The top AQI operative killed during a US raid on a Syrian compound just over the Iraq border was about to carry out an attack in Iraq, US officials say. The attack may have had tacit support from Syria.

IRAQ: Security forces conducted a massive sweep throughout Basra province Tuesday, with Iraqi Army and police units detaining 180 "suspects," including a Pakistani national. The Iraqi interior minister said scrapping the draft US-Iraq security pact would be a strategic mistake. The US military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a pact.  Tensions between Kurdistan and the central government of Iraq continued to bubble, as a parliamentary committee rejected a new draft of an oil law, and Kurdish politicians denounced the government's effort to create semi-tribal councils as a counterweight to Kurdish political power in Kirkuk.

PUPPY & LION CUB: Friends or foes?  More awww...some pics at the link

CAT ADOPTS PUPPY: Jelly Bean and Baby Bear, living together; a disaster of Biblical proportions. Because it's that time of year.

MISSION GOLDEN-EYED TREE FROGS: You know what turns them on? .Sir David Attenborough.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: An English chef takes matters into his own hands.

A CHINESE RETIREE has been reunited with his pet dog - a month after he left it in his car and forgot where he parked it.