THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL!  Been a while since I featured Fogerty & Co., so here are live clips of "Travelin' Band," "Proud Mary," "Born on the Bayou" and "Green River."  You might also check out the synced clips for "Fortunate Son" (because the song is so good) and "Down on the Corner" (because the visuals are amusing).

CRACKER stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

BEN LEE also stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

NOMO stpped by OPB for a chat and mini-set in audio and video.

THE TOP SUMMERTIME SONGS, according to Spinner, comes with streaming audio, though there is some Mungo Jerry to avoid.

PAUL McCARTNEY stopped by the Ed Sullivan Theater after 45 years, for an interview and performances including "Get Back" and "Band On the Run."

HOW I STOPPED WORRYING and learned to love Phish. Carrie Brownstein is trying, anyway.

NEKO CASE talks to the Kansas City Star about songwriting, incorporating old songs into new sets, cameos, and more...

FIERY FURNACES: Matt Friedberger shuffles his iPod for The A.V. Club. 

THE CUTOUT BIN: From the Clash to Cream, from Grizzly Bear to ZZ Top, from the Velvet Underground to Glen Campbell, plus Tommy Keene, the New York Dolls, Bruce Springsteen, the Replacements and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide release is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, currently scoring 87 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.  500 Days of Summer, currently scoring 91 percent, opens in limited release.

MISCHA BARTON was removed by police from her West Hollywood home Wednesday, related to a "medical issue."

JESSICA SIMPSON is dazed and confused after being dumped by Dallas QB Tony Romo a day before her 29th birthday.

ORLANDO BLOOM wuz robbed! Burglars made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from his Hollywood Hills home.

MADONNA's tour set in Marseille, France collapsed yesterday, killing one person and injuring six.

WHIP IT, the roller-derby flick starring Ellen Page and directed by Drew Barrymore, has a trailer online.

AMY WINEHOUSE is officially divorced.

IRON MAN 2 is featured in Entertainment Weekly's Comic-Con issue.

IRAN: 28-year-old protester Taraneh Mousavi (and others) are getting raped in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.  Iranian leaders are turning inward and rejecting engagement with the West as they blame outsiders for street protests. Iran's vice-president -- and nuclear chief --  has resigned. Israeli warships have deployed to the Red Sea for what has been described as a rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran.

UNDERWATER FARTING PENGUIN: Let's go to the video.

PIGS OF THE CARIBBEAN: Awww...some pics.

A FLORIDA PIG was tazed and taken into custody after the animal led Chipley police on a merry chase through downtown.

PET AIRWAYS: On Tuesday, the first flight for the first-ever all-pet airline took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y.

WILCO & FEIST perform "You & I" at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

THE DODOS are advance streaming their new album, Time to Die.

BAT FOR LASHES: Natasha Khan plays four acoustic songs for Xfm.

THOM YORKE has a new track, "All For the Best," premiering at Stereogum.

MARTIN SEXTON played a mini-set on the Mountain Stage, now streaming via NPR.

RAPHAEL SAADIQ has a new, but grainy, black-and-white video, for "Let's Take a Walk."

THE RAVEONETTES: Sune Rose Wagner talks to Flavorwire about the duo's upcoming October release, In and Out of Control.

JIM JAMES of My Morning Jacket talks to Spinner about his upcoming George Harrison tribute EP (under the name Yim Yames).

SONIC YOUTH: Thurston Moore talks to PAPER as part of the mag's "guru" series.

THE FELICE BROS. are prepared for an emergency.

MICHAEL JACKSON: The LAPD is treating Jacks's death as a homicide, as evidence points to the anesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of Jackson's death. Bill Wyman tackles the revisionist history following his death. Us Weekly has video of Jacko's hair igniting during that infamous Pepsi ad shoot; the incident is said to have been the start of Jacko's pill-popping.

ROBERT REDFORD married artist Sibylle Szaggars last weekend at a luxury hotel in Hamburg, Germany, in front of 30 family and friends, according to AP reports.

MADONNA: Despite gruelling two-hour workouts, six days a week, it seems the 50-year-old is struggling to stave off one of the tell-tell signs of aging - the dreaded "bingo wings."

RENEE ZELLEWEGER is chowing down for a third Bridget Jones movie. How's that career going?

JADA PINKETT SMITH: Oversharing, with diminishing returns.

HARRY POTTER  and the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, scoring 89 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, earned a record 22.2 million at Wednesday midnight showings in the United States.  But if you go, you won't see Harry facing Voldemort in a rap battle.

STEVEN SODERBERGH: His biopic of Che Guevara recouped half its budget and his Brad Pitt-starring baseball film was pulled five days before the shoot began. The director of Traffic and Erin Brockovich tells The Guardian why he might just disappear. 

CELEBRITY FACE-LIFTS: Not exactly an ad for face-lifts, either.

GLOBAL WARMING: Could the best climate models all be wrong? Maybe so, says a new study published online today in the journal Nature Geoscience.

PAKISTAN: The Pakistani military is attempting to isolate and destroy Baitullah Mehsud, and does not intend to conduct a counterinsurgency in South Waziristan. Some of the locals are confident the Taliban are being defeated in the Swat valley.

IRAN just cannot stop hanging people.  Ali Akbar Hasehemi Rafsanjani's Friday sermon is viewed as pivotal by some political observers in Iran.

EXTREME CAT HOARDING, courtesy of Animal Planet.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Animals in diapers.

SNAKE on a WINDSHIELD: The secret is not freaking out so much that you can't roll up the windows.

A SWEARING PARROT stolen in a burglary in Newcastle has been returned to its owner.

JULIE DOIRON delivers the "Consolation Prize" from her new album, I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day.

THE DEAD WEATHER (featuring members of The White Stripes and The Kills) played DC's 9:30 Club last night, so you should be able to stream the gig on demand via NPR.

BLITZEN TRAPPER did the three free songs thing for Daytrotter.

MISSION OF BURMA has an advance track, "1, 2, 3, Partyy!", posted at the Matablog, along with details about their upcoming LP. You can stream the song via the HM.

MODEST MOUSE provided an advance track, "Perpetual Motion Machine," to SPIN.

STEEL HARMONY plays Joy Division's "Transmission" as only a Caribbean steelband riding a lorry through Manchester can. Remember, gang, you probably would never have gotten to see and hear this before the Internet.

MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUES have had an enormous impact on American music; Charley Patton, Son House and Robert Johnson are among those featured at NPR.

BOWERBIRDS: Phil Moore talks to Paste about the band's recent European tour, his reservations about living in the woods, and what it's like to write love songs for his bandmate.

RICHARD HELL has re-recorded his 1982 album Destiny Street because the original sounded like a "high-pitched sludge of guitar noise."

U2: Environmentalists claim the Irish stadium rockers' tour will create enough carbon to send Bono & Co. to Mars.

MICHAEL JACKSON's baby mama Debbie Rowe has sold her kids again - this time squeezing about 4 million from her former mother-in-law in exchange for giving up her parental rights, a family source told The New York Post.  Elizabeth Taylor was hospitalized while grieving the singer's death. Jacko's toxicology reports are due as soon as Friday.

JOHNNY DEPP would take his kids to Disneyland if he wasn't famous. They'll have to settle for his private island in the Caribbean.

JOHN MAYER broke up Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson? Too good to check!

KATE HUDSON & A-ROD spent the weekend at the exclusive Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach.

AMY ADAMS has been engaged for a year and she still hasn't even locked down a wedding date.

DIRTY HIPPIES sang a medley of songs from "Hair" for Conan.

ANNE HATHAWAY delivered pizza at 3 a.m. to fans camping for tickets to her final performance of Shakespeare in the Park.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS  is officially hosting the prime-time Emmys.

KAROLINA KURKOVA is pregnant, though she doesn't look it in any of the accompanying photos.

PAKISTAN: The displaced are headed back to the Swat valley, but many of the refugees have lost their crops, and will need support for many months.

IRAN: Reformists fear that Ahmadinejad will launch a new era of social repression after street rallies last week failed to shake the Islamist regime. A top Iranian general said government troops are "ready to sacrifice our lives" rather than back down in the face of protests over June's disputed presidential election.

A BABY SEA LION learns to swim at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

CATS CONTROL HUMANS: Confirmed by science.

THE MALTESE PUPPY: Scooter has stopped growing at the towering height of three inches - almost an inch smaller than the current small-dog record holder, Boo Boo, a long-haired chihuahua living in the US.

SMOKEY the CHIHUAHUA survives walking around for three days with a fork lodged in his head.

BTW, OVER EIGHT MILLION SERVED: Thanks for dropping by! 

BLITZEN TRAPPER have a new video out for "Black River Killer."

NEW RELEASES: Dead Weather, Blue Roses, Beastie Boys, David Bowie and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

BILL CALLAHAN, formerly known as Smog, plays a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

ST. VINCENT: Annie Clark played live on this week's edition of Sound Opinions.

THE RENTALS are streaming their new album from their website.

THE WHO: "I'm One" and "Dr. Jimmy" at the Cow Palace in 1973 provide your Twofer Tuesday.

TOP ROCK DOCS, according to Paste.

METRIC ran into you-know-who at Stonehenge! (Thx, Chromewaves.)

YO LA TENGO talk to The Line of Best Fit about playing in the UK, keeping it fresh and popular songs.

SON VOLT: Jay Farrar and Kim Ruehl of NoDepression cotribute to a profile in the Arizona Republic.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Cruel stage dad Joe Jackson won't be getting his hands on his son's children any time soon, under a secret custody deal struck by Michael Jackson's mom, Katherine, and baby incubator Debbie Rowe, sources tell the NYP.

RYAN SEACREST has closed what is believed to be the biggest deal ever for a reality emcee (45 million) and will triple his current salary.

JESSICA SIMPSON & TONY ROMO: Dunzo. The Dallas QB dumped the pneumatic blonde the night before her 29th birthday.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson has directed a new video for his Russian galpal.

BRADGELINA may be looking to buy into the Apthorp, the century-old upper West Side landmark in NYC that's undergoing a condo conversion.

MOLLY RINGWALD gave birth to a boy and a girl on Friday.

WATCHMEN: Latino Review has a deleted scene from the director's cut coming to DVD on the 21st.

NATALIE PORTMAN has been cast as the female lead in "Thor," Marvel Studios' adaptation of its comic book featuring the Norse god of thunder.

HONG KONG PHOOEY is coming to the big screen. Did we learn nothing from Underdog?

NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a news report said Monday.

AFGHANISTAN: Michael Yon is "Searching for Kuchi & Finding Lizards."

IRAQ: Officials tightened security around churches in Baghdad and in two mostly Christian towns on Monday and braced for possible violence this weekend when huge crowds visit a holy Shiite shrine in the capital.

IRAN: The Lede is continuing to track the reaction to the presidential vote, and the disputed results.

CAT & MONKEY, living together... mass hysteria!

FROGS knocked out power to nearly 500 homes in the Waterford Lakes community in Florida. No word of squirrel involvement. Yet.

A MASSIVE SQUID washed up in La Jolla, CA, after a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered 19 miles out to sea.

A WHISTLING DEER is causing false alarms for a mountain rescue team in the UK.

LINDA the PENGUIN has split up two male penguins who lived as a nesting couple for six years at the San Francisco Zoo, caretakers said.

CONOR OBERST & THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND get "Spoiled" at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

ILLINOIS played the World Cafe on Friday, you can stream the whole gig now via NPR.

BLACK FRANCIS (a/k/a Frank Black) stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR.

JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

PHOENIX stopped by WFUV for a chat and mini-set streaming via NPR.

CASS McCOMBS claims "You Saved My Life," though it doesn't really sound like that.

SONIC YOUTH: Thurston Moore talks to the Seattle Times about leaving Geffen, his solo LPs, loving records and much more...

TORTOISE: Dan Bitney e-mailed Drowned In Sound about the new album, the sum of their various personal sounds and, occasionally, reptiles and marimbas...

WILCO: Jeff Tweedy talks to the Boston Globe about using the studio, touring minor-league ballparks, and more...

TINY VIPERS: Jesy Fortino talks to the Seattle Times about how the landscape around her childhood home in Issaquah influenced her music.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Bruno lounges atop the box office with 30.4 million, which is good but not great.  Universal paid 42.5 million upfront without seeing a script; Bruno will probably gross somewhere around 100 mill.  But for comparison, The Hangover had a 45 million opening.  Ice Age 3 kept the second slot making 28.5 on a mere 31 percent drop, it has grossed 120.6 million domestically so far on a 90 million budget.  Next week Harry Potter likely will hit these dinosaurs like an asteroid.  Transformers 2 drops 43 percent, but it's second fastest film of all time to reach 300 million here, while making about the same in the foreign markets.  Public Enemies drops a slightly larger-than-expected 44 percent, making 14.1 million in the fourth slot. Mann, Depp & Co may have a hard time making back its budget in the US, but Universal retained the foreign rights.  The Proposal rounds out the Top Five, with a lsight 18 percent drop that shows the power of counter-programming.  Bullock & Reynolds have raked in 113,7 million on a 40 million budget.  Below the fold, I Love You, Beth Cooper opened in seventh with five million, and will be lucky to make back its 18 million budget.

MICHAEL JACKSON: La Toya reveals that she suspects Jacko was murdered. Investigators have not ruled out homicide in his death.  Jackson's corpse had the hallmarks of longtime intravenous drug use, including arms riddled with needle marks and collapsed veins, say sources familiar with the medical examiner's preliminary findings. A doctor who treated Michael Jackson claimed the singer self-injected Demerol into his system, but that seems to be the tip of the needle. Jacko's body is being held at the crypt of Motown founder Berry Gordy. According to a friend of Jackson, the famous sequined white glove was really used to cloak the early stages of his skin disease.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson is headed back to the big screen, playing "a depressed man who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet."

BRITNEY SPEARS ex-bf Adnan Ghalib will stand trial for felony assault with a deadly weapon, battery and hit-and-run. A family insider says Britney was caught by her conservator/dad Jamie Spears popping over-the-counter diet pills and washing them down with Red Bull before a performance on her Circus tour, reports gossip site Betty Confidential. 

LINDSAY LOHAN and her fashion-line partner are starting a production company.

HARRY POTTER & the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE has a new clip posted at MTV. Daniel Radcliffe has been unmasked as a budding poet whose work has appeared in an underground fashion publication. Emma Watson can't wait to head to the US for college this fall but has one requirement for her roommate: no diehard fans. Rupert Grint says kissing Watson onscrees was "a very weird kind of experience."

RYAN REYNOLDS has landed the coveted role of "Green Lantern," getting the starring role in Warner Bros.' live-action film based on the DC Comics hero. This is his third super-hero, iirc.

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? Superman and Batman took on New York's Finest in an epic Crossroads of the World battle that left the Caped Crusader in cuffs.

PAKISTAN: Spokesman Mullah Omar claimed the Swat Taliban's leaders are safe and said they went underground at the onset of the Malakand operation. Pakistan army spokesperson General Athar Abbas said that Pakistan continues to have ties with the Taliban and would happily get them to negotiate with the Americans if the US could promise to get the Indians out of Pakistan. But if the western coalition is not `convinced', Pakistan can turn "ugly" on India again.

IRAN The Lede is continuing to track the reaction to the presidential vote, and the disputed results.

GUINEA PIGS EAT WATERMELON: Let's go to the video.

ELEPHANT MOISTURIZER: A growth industry.

BARN BUDDY PROGRAM gives stray cats a place to call home.