LYKKE LI & BON IVER perform "Dance Dance Dance" at a fountain in L.A.  IMHO, she really out to pursue a more acoustic sound generally.

NEW RELEASES: The Clash, Pretenders, Of Montreal, Annuals, Crooked Fingers, Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos, The Little Ones, The Spinto Band and almsot unbelievably more are all streaming in full this week from Spinner.

KEANE is streaming its Perfect Symmetry album via Last.fm.

LIZ PHAIR performed Exile in Guyville in full at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif., on Oct. 5. It's streaming on demand -- with all appropos advisories -- via NPR.

ROBERT POLLARD talks to the Chicago Sun-Times about his collage work (visual and musical) and his prolific output: "I'm working on three or four projects at the same time. If I didn't have this entrepreneurial spirit, I'd probably have to get another job."

JOSE GONZALEZ performs "Abram" and "Time to Send Someone Away" for a hushed group of pleasantly surprised visitors at the Blanton Museum, amid large, brightly colored paintings and installations from Brazil, Cuba, and Argentina. Two. For. Tuesday.

JULIANA HATFIELD talks to the L.A. Times about her memoir and virginity.

COUNTRY vs. RAP: An interesting blog comment. And the main post. I have always been disappointed that funny indie music gets dismissed as novelty. (Thx, Amber.)

NICK CAVE talks to J.D. Considine about roles he would rather not assume.

PETER HOOK talks to the Scotsman about being one of the 24 hour party people, ahead of his memoir about the legendary Hacienda club.

ANNE HATHAWAY laughs at herself in her SNL monologue.

AMY WINEHOUSE: The troubled chanteuse is the latest target of Scientologists.

DAVID DUCHOVNY has checked out of sex rehab, according to his lawyer.

EDDIE VAN HALEN is engaged to his girlfriend-publicist Janie Liszewski.

KIRSTEN DUNST says he has grown up and gained perspective from her stint in rehab.

NICOLE KIDMAN has found "a deep and more profound love" with Keith Urban -- like the love between Tom-Kat.

JESSICA BIEL & JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE engaged? That's what the Sunday Mirror claims, anyway...

QUANTUM of SOLACE: The next Bond flick will contain an homage to Goldfinger (Spoiler, obvs.)

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country's bloody conflict - and claim to be severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.

IRAN complains that it would be "unsuitable" for both producers and consumers for oil to dip below 100 bucks a barrel.

IRAQ: Rising Iraqi Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim has extended an olive branch to rival Sunni leaders and tribes during a whistlestop tour of Sunni enclaves ahead of key provincial elections.  Iraqis hope that rebuilding the the Golden Mosque is Samarrah will aid sectarian reconciliation. Violent attacks in northern Iraq have dropped by 60 percent in the past year, and progress in the region has left the insurgency broken, according to a senior commander in the area.

 A BUNNY DOG-PADDLES: Let's go to the video.

GOAT CONDOMS are deployed to save herds in Kenya from an ongoing drought.

PYTHON tries to eat woman's head, has to be hosed down by zoo personnel.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Militant Red Squirrels tap the ale market for funding.

RUNAWAY SHEEP tasered on the A55 dual carriageway near Bodelwyddan in north Wales.

DEPARTMENT of EAGLES brought members of Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors to help out on "No One Does It Like You," their network TV debut on Conan. Their In Ear Park album drops tomorrow.

BASIA BULAT gets a segment+songs on All Things Considered, streaming via NPR.

THE PRETENDERS: Chrissie Hynde talks to the L.A. Times about her new album, her vegetarian restaurant in Akron, and staying positive.

ADELE stopped by NPR's New York bureau for a chat and an A/V threefer streaming on demand via NPR.

FLEET FOXES: Robin Pecknold talks to the Boston Herald and manages to make me feel old and not-old simultaneously: "I was too young for (grunge) to matter to me. By the time I was a teen I was listening exclusively to '60s and '70s music. In seventh and eighth grade it's more rebellious to listen to the Zombies than whatever emo band was big at Hot Topic..."

CUT COPY made its US TV debut playing "Lights and Music" on the Last Call show.

ARDENT MUSIC: The label that launched Big Star returns with a new secular-music imprint.

ANDREW BIRD has released an advance track, "Oh No," from the Noble Beast album due next January.

THE SEVENTH SEAL OF SMUG: If hipsters really are the harbingers of cultural end-times, then what sort of apocalypse have they wrought?

SOOOOOUL TRAIN was the cover story of this week's Chicago Reader; the online version comes with photo galleries and embedded videos.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Beverly Hills Chihuahua tops the receipts with 29 million, proving the enduring appeal of talking animals.  And it got enough good reviews that it might have legs beyond next weekend's City of Ember (which many may not know is aimed at families).  Eagle Eye drops to second, but not precipitously, taking in 17.7 million.  Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist opened in third place with 12 million.  Sony bought this one for nine million, so this looks to be profitable by next weekend, maybe a hit if it gets good word-of-mouth.  Nights in Rodanthe dropped to fourth place, and may yet be Gere's best performer since Shall We Dance in 2004.  The expansion of Appaloosa paid off, exceeding expectations with 5 million.  The rest of the weekend's new releases opened in ninth through 12th place for a collective ouch.

NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST was a charming if mostly insubstantial slice-of-indie life rom-com, carried by the performances of Michael Cera and Kat Dennings.  NPR's Day to Day profiles the book's authors, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, with audio of two songs from the movie's delightful soundtrack. The Scotsman talks to Michael Cera: "I don't really want to be famous, and I'm kind of scared that might be happening." The NYDN rates the hipness of the soundtrack.

AN AMERICAN CAROL proves that conservatives can make a movie mocking Michael Moore that is every bit as didactic and heavy-handed as a movie by Michael Moore.

O.J. SIMPSON was found guilty of all 12 counts in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas, Nevada, casino hotel last year.  The verdict was handed down came 13 years to the day Simpson was acquitted in the highly publicized murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman. He could face life in prison.

HOWARD STERN and his longtime girlfriend Beth Ostrosky were married in New York City on Friday night, according to guests who attended the celebration.

BRITNEY SPEARS' parents have reportedly slapped a six-month sex ban on their daughter to prevent any bumps in the road on her way back to the top.

ELIZABETH HURLEY has a bizarre static electricity-induced wardrobe malfunction at a charity event in New York.

LINDSAY LOHAN talks to Marie Claire about friends, family and rebuilding her career.

ADAM GADAHN al Qaeda's American spokesman, has resurfaced in a newly released videotape, squashing the rumors that he died in a US airstrike earlier this year.

IRAQ: Coalition forces captured ten AQI operatives in northern and central Iraq. Iraqi forces detained a senior AQI leader and 14 operatives in Mosul. Police captured a senior AQI leader in Wasit province.

ORPHAN ORANGUTANS are wheeled into the forest daily by Borneo Orangutan Survival International to learn how to be orangutans. Pics at the link.

THE ANTI-BEAVER LOBBY is trying to halt plans to reintroduce beaver to Scotland 400 years after it was persecuted to extinction.

ELEPHANTS march through a hotel lobby in Zambia after it was built on their migration trail. Pics at the link.

FISH PEDICURES: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

GIANT SALAMANDERS that bark like dogs are discovered near Seattle, WA.

THE WORLD'S MOST ENDANGERED TURTLES mate, but the eggs don't hatch.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with BIG STAR!  Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens brought in Posies Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer to reform the ever-influential band in the 1990s and have toured sporadically through the present day.  Lets start with "In The Street" on a late night TV show in 1994, and  "Ballad of El Goodo" from what might have been that first gig in 1993.  And here are three different bootlegs from London on August 28th of this year -- "Feel," "I Am The Cosmos" (w/Auer singing for the late Chris Bell), and "Back Of A Car" (whicj may have the best video quality, if slightly truncated).

NO DEPRESSION has risen from the ashes. The big feature at the moment is Lucinda Williams.

OKKERVIL RIVER frontman Will Sheff shares some of his favorite (and fairly obscure) music with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. The two talk also about Okkervil River's latest album.

THE NEW YORK DOLLS are the subject of a new photobook by rock photographer Bob Gruen. RS has a gallery.

THESE UNITED STATES do another four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

RICK ASTLEY has become the surprise contender for best act ever at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool. You know why.

THE LOST MYSTERY OF RECORD COLLECTIONS: There is an intangible joy about being able to hold the object in your hand.

MARC BOLAN of T.Rex is the subject of a 1971 blast from the past, courtesy of Crawdaddy.

SILVER JEWS: David Berman talks to The Stranger about touring -- and takes a few shots at Sonic Youth.

CUTOUT BIN: From Buzzcocks to Neil Diamond, from CCR to GbV to MMJ, from Alex Chilton w/ the dB's to Dropkick Murphys covering Thin Lizzy, to the Righteous Bros., the Everly Bros. the Isley Bros. and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which is currently scoring 64 percent on light reviews at Rotten Tomatoes; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, currently scoring 60 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, currently scoring 37 percent on light reviews; Blindness, scoring 38 percent; American Carol, which has gone unscreened by critics; and Flash of Genius, which is scoring 71 percent.  Appaloosa expands to wide release, with 73 percent.

BLINDNESS, btw, will be protested by blind activists, who think that moviegoers are too dumb to know the difference between real blind people and people who suddenly are struck blind by a sci-fi virus. You can watch the first five minutes at Yahoo!Movies.

BRITNEY SPEARS wants to purchase the sex tape she made with ex-lover Adnan Ghalib so she can destroy it for good, according to a pal. OTOH, Ghalib suddenly is denying everything.  Meanwhile, Spears' cousin and former assistant, Alli Sims, told Page Six she's still not allowed to be in contact with the pop tart.

SHARON STONE denies that she wanted her 8-year-old son Roan to receive Botox treatments for his "foot odor." 

TINA FEY is the subject of a book bidding war reaching the six million dollar range.

30 UNFORGETTABLE NUDE SCENES: 30 SFW photos.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE, the next Bond flick, has a new trailer up at Yahoo!Movies.

PAKISTAN: Flirting with GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin gets Pres. Asif Ali Zardari in trouble with Pakistan's hard-line mosques and its feminists.

AFGHANISTAN (Sort of): Training taking place this month in the Mojave Desert at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center aims to give troops deploying to Afghanistan a preview of not only the terrain but also the culture and customs.

IRAQ: The Iraqi government has assumed control over 45K members of the Sons of Iraq in Baghdad. Iraqi forces captured seven Special Groups operatives during raids throughout central Iraq and five more in Basra.

KRAKATOA the KOMODO DRAGON celebrates his eighth birthday at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL (east of Java). Slideshow at the link.

A 17-FT PYTHON should not be confused with a tree branch.

BILLY GOAT excluded from Wrigley Field, Dodgers beat the Cubs in Game 1 of their National League Division Series.

THE ATLANTIC WOLFFISH: With a face only a mother could love, it's mean, ferocious-looking, delicious and possibly endangered. Pics and video at the link.

CAT FRAMED in deadly car crash.

A VISAYAN WARTY PIGLET is born at the Brevard Zoo in FL. Awww...some pic and video at the link.

FLEET FOXES try their trademark harmonies on a herd of goats in "He Doesn't Know Why" And I don't either.

OASIS is streaming their upcoming album, Dig Out Your Soul, via MySpaceMusic.

MARGOT and the NUCLEAR SO & SO's are calling the upcoming vinyl-only Animal! their second album, while calling the CD release Not Animal "a label-compiled collection of songs."  You can stream one of them in full via MySpaceMusic.

CALEXICO stopped by WNYC's Soundcheck for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via NPR.

PHISH is reuniting for shows in Hampton VA and TBD in 2009.

DEERHOOF: The experimental band experiments by recording an album like a normal band would record an album. And I suppose "Fresh Born" is about as normal as Deerhoof has ever sounded.

THE DECEMBERISTS' upcoming single, "Valerie Plame," has leaked online.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACKS: The Independent excerpts Nigel Williamson's new book on rock'n'roll obscurities.

PAUL McCARTNEY is releasing a second dance music album as the Fireman. Audio at the link.

BEN LEE talks to ArtVoice about an indie career stretching from age 14 to the ripe old age of 30.

ANNE HATHAWAY got grilled on her convicted con man ex by Dave Letterman. But no questions about the other thing.  There's video, barring lawyers.

LINDSAY LOHAN & SAMANTHA RONSON make the cover of OK! magazine.  You don't get more out than that. NTTAWWT.

JESSICA SIMPSON & TONY ROMO were spotted checking out big diamond rings in the original Neiman Marcus in Dallas.

SIENNA MILLER has accepted roughly 27K in damages and an apology from Britain's Daily Star tabloid after it published a photo taken of her in L.A. in which she was clearly in distress and being harassed by the paparazzi.

BRADGELINA are thinking of adopting again. This time, they're thinking about a kid from Namibia, Bolivia or Paraguay.

NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST co-stars Michael Cera and Kat Dennings talk to The A.V. Club about flannel, music, and being total poseurs.

PAKISTAN: The escalating insurgency in Afghanistan is being spearheaded by a trio of warlords who came to prominence in the CIA-backed war to oust the Soviets but who now direct attacks against US forces from havens in Pakistan, according to US military and intelligence officials.  NBC's Richard Engel reports on the Talibanization of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city.

IRAQ: The number of civilians killed in Iraq last month more than halved to 359 compared to a year ago, Iraqi government figures showed (as did US combat deaths, as previously noted).

PUNK TURTLE: His spiky green hairdo is actually algae growing on his head.

A TINY BABY DEER, delivered three weeks early by Caesarean section.  Awww...some pic at the link. Another pic here.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: They are catching up to humans.

BROCK the DOG does not care if won the lottery, so be quiet,

A DOG is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark.  Videos at the link.

PEPPER the GOLDEN RETREIVER was retreived in St. Petersberg, FL -- 400 miles from his Atlanta home.

CARIBOU won Canada's Polaris Music Prize.  The Guardian music blog is not pleased.  Grand Juror Frank Yang is pleased, and blogs what he's allowed to say about the process. Its as good a reason as any to relink the video for the trippy "Melody Day."

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

CALEXICO: Joey Burns talks to the L.A. Times about why the band's new album should not be labeled "a return to form" after the  band's less Southwestern, more pop-focused release "Garden Ruin."

TITUS ANDRONICUS does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased. What's not to like about a band that names its album, The Airing of Grievances?

RYAN ADAMS explains at the Guardian why his blog is like a spider plant.

NICOLE ATKINS talks to the Shreveport Times about her new album and her American Express commercial: "I was like, 'Robert De Niro is in those commercials.' But it definitely enabled me to move out of my parents' house as well." She gave the interview after appearing on Later... with Jools Holland, where she played "Maybe Tonight" and "The Way It Is."

FLEA, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, has just enrolled as a freshman at the University of Southern California's music program.

THOSE DANCING DAYS bassist Mimmi Evrell tals to Drowned In Sound about influences, other new bands and eBay hoaxes.  Videos at the link, too.

TAKE FIVE: Sara Fishko of WNYC introduces people to 5/4 time, from Tchaikovsky to Lalo Schifrin's theme for Mission Impossible.

DUFFY fears she's on the verge of a breakdown. Mercy!

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE talked more about her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on Oprah.  Video at the link.

SHARON STONE suggested that her son have Botox injections in his feet to resolve a problem he had with foot odor.  That's one example cited by the judge who rejected her request to move her son down to L.A. in the bitter, ongoing battle between Stone and ex-husband, Phil Bronstein.

JANET JACKSON was been released from Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital after a two-hour stay on Monday night.  Jackson cancelled her gig after falling ill during a soundcheck.

MEGAN FOX: The firefighter who broke her heart and made her run into the arms of a female stripper is interviewed by the uber-reliable News of the World.

ANNE HATHAWAY Esquire rumor debunked.

SPIDER-MAN 4: Kirsten Dunst sounds set to join Tobey Maguire and director Sam Aimi for another round, hopefully better than the last one.

KENNETH BRANAGH is negotiating to direct the live-action adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor.

THE SPIRIT has a new trailer online in glorious Quicktime, via Moviefone.

JENNY McCARTHY & AMANDA PEET are having a catfight over childhood vaccinations.  I think this dispute could be resolved in a tank of Jell-O.

P.J. O'ROURKE, humorist extrodinaire, has been diagnosed with cancer, of a very treatable kind: "I'm told I have a 95 percent chance of survival. Come to think of it -- as a drinking, smoking, saturated-fat hound -- my chance of survival has been improved by cancer."

THE STANS: The leader of Pakistan's Taliban is dead from kidney failure, sources told CNN. But US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal are highly skeptical of the report and see no evidence he is dead. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's government signalled it was open to a deal with the Taliban as Pres. Karzai revealed he had used Saudi Arabian envoys to relay messages of peace. The Long War Journal looks at the limits of tribal resistance to the Taliban in the Northwest region of the country.

IRAQ: Time magazine looks at the tricky business of disbanding the Sons of Iraq. The number of Iraqi security forces killed in September rose by nearly a third over the same period last year. while US troop deaths for the same period fell by nearly 40 percent. Security forces detained 21 policemen believed to be behind the Saadiya bombing. Coalition forces detained seven AQI operatives in and around Baghdad. Three AQI fighters were killed in Baqubah. The Hillah SWAT found numerous illegal weapons in an office run by the Badr Corporation. Coalition Detainee Operations released over 14K prisoners this year.

CRAB RIDES A JELLYFISH off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Let's go to the video.

WHEN THE STRAY CAT ON YOUR PORCH turns out to be a 80-90 lb. mountain lion.  Video at the link.

A BEAR checks into a hospital in Lake Tahoe, is put off by the paperwork. Video at the link.

DOLPHINS DIET after a poor performance at the Kinosaki Marine World in western Japan.

BEAVERS blamed for likely bank failure.  There's a lot of that going around these days.