MATMOS plays Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy" for the A.V. Club Undercover. (Or is it The Strangeloves?) Their topical rewrite is called "I Want Snowden."

JIM JAMES plays a set at the Newport Folk Festival.

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF played a set at the Newport Folk Festival.

KING KRULE advance streams 6 Feet Beneath The Moon.

DEER TICK stopped by Studio 1A at KUTX for a chat and mini-set. 

YUCK drops "Middle Sea" as a single ahead of Glow & Behold.

THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS cover "Six Days on the Road."

MARTIN HANNETT'S LOST TAPES of Joy Division, New Order, Psychedelic Furs, Magazine, the Durutti Column, and more were rescued from the trash... but none of the bands seem interested.

THE BREEDERS' Last Splash, Reconsidered 20 Years Later. Get Off My Lawn.

PATTI SMITH plans to perform the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson.

INDIE SONGS about pop stars.

TAYLOR SWIFT hates JUSTIN BIEBER.

SIMON COWELL's baby mama quickly settles her nasty divorce.

BACHELOR star Gia Allemand hanged herself. She was 29.

DAVID ARQUETTE has been dumped from his latest film project, after months of hard partying and booze benders.

50 SHARDES OF GREY's author, E.L. James, tops the Forbes top-earning authors of 2013 list.

WERNER HERZOG: Making the world better one film at a time.

SWEDEN: Due to the historic murders of Prime Minister Olof Palme and Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Sweden has been labelled as a "high risk" country by a US security team in the lead-up to President Obama's official visit in September.

EGYPTIAN security officers stormed two encampments packed with supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, on Wednesday in a scorched-earth assault that killed hundreds, set off a violent backlash across Egypt and underscored the new government’s determination to crush the Islamists who dominated two years of free elections. The Muslim Brotherhood vowed to continue sit-ins as the presidency announced a one-month national state of emergency. Morsi supporters reportedly torched three churches. Egyptian VP Mohamed ElBaradei resigned in response to the crackdown on Morsi supporters.

LIBYA: A Benghazi Special Forces colonel was injured by a car bomb attack on his vehicle, and a female journalist in Benghazi was shot at and threatened.

DOWNWARD FACING DOG: A Chihuahua does Yoga.

MONKEY LUST and the science of human desire.

A FARMER in western Sweden is under pressure to find female companionship for his lone male pig, with authorities threatening to take the hog away if he fails to comply.

A COPPERHEAD bites itself after decapitation.

MAC McCAUGHAN & KELLY HOGAN play Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In The City" and Jonathan Richman's "That Summer Feeling" for the A.V. Club Undercover, atop a double-decker bus in Chi-town.

CROCODILES advance stream Crimes of Passion.

PURE BATHING CULTURE advance streams Moon Tides.

DRENGE is advance streaming their self-titled debut.

BRAIDS advance streams Flourish.

CULTS drops "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" ahead of Static. 

CHARLATANS drummer Jon Brookes died from bain cancer. He was 44.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE: Kevin Shields talks to Pitchfork about the long and laborious process of recording the follow-up to Loveless.

YO LA TENGO: James McNew talks to the Daily Swarm about what keeps driving the veteran indie band.

ELVIS COSTELLO, ranked by Stereogum.

FAMKE JANSSEN claims she's been targeted in a crime so creepy, it will make your skin crawl.

LINDSAY LOHAN had a secret meeting in rehabwith Ben Affleck, who advised her on staying sober and making a comeback.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST are secretly planning a big wedding.

JIMMY FALLON and his wife struggled with fertility for five years before welcoming daughter Winnie via a surrogate on July 23.

BRITNEY SPEARS spent 7 million last year, but remains a bargain shopper.

KRISTEN STEWART enrolls at UCLA?

AN AMERICAN DRONE STRIKE has killed four suspected al Qaeda militants associated with the latest threat that prompted the closing of US embassies across the Middle East and North Africa, according to a senior US official.

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Syrian conflict has become a regional one "that stretches from Beirut to Damascus to Baghdad" and will not be resolved quickly or easily.

EGYPT: Supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi called for protests to condemn Morsi's ouster as well as Zionism. Supports and opponents of Morsi reportedly clashed in the streets of Cairo.

IRAQ: Al Qaeda in Iraq killed 26 people in bombings and attacks in Balad, Baqubah, and Fallujah.

A BABY PANDA meets her mother.

A GOLDENDOODLE protects a schoolgirl from a potentially fatal nut allergy.

AN ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE is hunted by a German town after attacking a young boy.

A MISSING BORDER COLLIE was found in a tree in Davenport, IA.

TELEKINESIS plays Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" for the A.V. Club Undercover.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS play a set at the Newport Folk Festival. 

TIFT MERRITT played a set at the Newport Folk Festival, with a cameo from Andrew Bird.

FUTUREBIRDS play psych-tinged folk-rock live in the KEXP studio.

JAKE BUGG performs an acoustic mini-set at The Current. 

JANE'S ADDICTION drops "Another Soulmate" as a single.

NINE INCH NAILS drops "Copy of A" as a single.

JAN & DEAN:  I figured I'd slip in "Surf City" for the dog days of Summer.  Toss in an off-the-TV clip of "Dead Man's Curve" from their comeback and you have Twofer Tuesday, not to mention an argument between Barry & Dick.  FYI, technically, neither Barry nor Dick is right, though Dick is closer to the truth.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle talks to Weekend Edition about recording All Hail West Texas on a boombox.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT: Scott Hutchison talked songwriting with Chicago magazine ahead of Lollapalooza.

NEKO CASE talked to Vue Weekly about the more personal songs on The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

REM's rare fan club singles could be released as a charity box set, guitarist Peter Buck has told the BBC.

AMANDA BYNES' psychiatric hold was extended for another 30 days.

JUSTIN BIEBER jammed out a naked serenade for his grandma. There's a picture.

PAULA DEEN: In one of the most supremely ironic court decisions in a long time, a judge threw out the racial discrimination claim that caused the celeb her career.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE is on the cover of Vogue.

GEORGE LUCAS and his wife welcomed their first biological child. No word on the midichlorian count.

ANGUS T. JONES, cut as a lead from Two and a Half Men six weeks ago, has close friends and family worried about his well-being.

WORLD WAR Z has become Brad Pitt's highest-grossing film.

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED: Behind-the-scenes footage from the shelved Jerry Lewis Holocaust movie surfaced online.

A SENIOR US OFFICIAL said the recent al Qaeda threat "expanded the scope of people we could go after" in Yemen because it shed light on those who are providing direct support for terrorism.

EGYPT: Authorities said they have postponed plans to disperse two Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo. A Muslim Brotherhood official said authorities would be able to disperse the sit-ins only "through a massacre of tens of thousands". The detention of former president Mohammed Morsi was extended for the second time.

IRAQ: After almost eight years in power, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is showing signs he never wants to leave.

DOGS break up a cat fight.

THE BUTTER COW, an Iowa State Fair tradition since 1911,was vandalized by the group Iowans for Animal Liberation. BONUS: There are more than 60 foods on-a-stick at this years fair; they celebrate them in song.

JURASSIC SQUIRREL: 165m years ago, when feathered dinosaurs shared the land.

SLOTH HOARDING: Monique Pool came to the rescue of the sloths when their habitat was marked for destruction - but she never expected to find 200 of them.

TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS play The Ramones' "Go Lil' Camaro Go" for The A.V. Club Undercover.

SUPERCHUNK is advance streaming I Hate Music.

NO AGE is advance streaming An Object.

TY SEGALL is advance streaming Sleeper.

JULIA HOLTER is advance streaming Loud City Song.

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: "Summerlove Sensation."

HARRY NILSSON: American Beatle, filthy drunk, and the great lost music genius of the 1970s.

JOHN VANDERSLICE: Engadget tours his Tiny Telephone studio.

THE CIVIL WARS: Joy Williams talks to the CBC about the band's tension-laden second LP.The New York Times performs an autopsy of sorts.

EYDIE GORME, who – performing everything from ballads to bossa nova with singing partner and husband Steve Lawrence – made an indelible impression on American audiences during the swingin' '60s, died Saturday after a brief illness. She was 84.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Elysium tops the chart with 30.4 million against its 115 million budget.  That's disappointing for both the film and Matt Damon, whose post-Bourne career has been less than stellar. Consider that We're The Millers places with 26.6 million, but 38 million since opening Wednesday against a 37 million budget.  In which movie would you prefer to have invested? Last week, I was talking with my Dad about Jennifer Aniston's post-Friends career -- I don't care for most of her choices, but she's had a string of 100 million-plus pictures with considerably lower budgets.  Planes shows with 22.5 million against a 50 million budget.  That low budget will put Planes in the black, but it verges on bait-and-switch -- this poorly reveiwed kiddie-fare is the work of Disney's straight-to-video unit, not Pixar.  Percy Jackson debuts in the No. 4 slot with 14.6 million, a blah performance for a blah sequel in a blah franchise.  2 Guns rounds out the Top 5 with 11.1 million. That's a 59 percent plunge from its No. 1 debut, but still a lock to make money once the worldwide receipts are tallied.

LINDSAY LOHAN was reportedly up late partying with The Wanted, eight days out of rehab. Her rep denies, natch.

VINCE VAUGHN and his wife Kyla welcomed their second child, a son.

JAY LENO's final Tonight Show will air Feb. 6. The cast and crew will be paid through next September.

ASHLEY TISDALE is engaged to her musician boyfriend Christopher French.

CHRIS BROWN suffers a seizure, blames the media.

USHER wins his child custody battle.

SYRIA: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented the deaths of 106423 people since the start of the conflict in March 2011, but estimated that the actual number of casualties is twice that.

IRAN's new defense minister masterminded the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon.

IRAQ: Al Qaeda in Iraq killed 69 people in a wave of car bombings in major cities throughout Iraq. Dozens of tribal leaders in Anbar province vowed not to shelter al Qaeda leaders and fighters who escaped from Abu Ghraib prison last month.

CAT vs HORSE: Who you got?

A BEAR stops by an Idaho kitchen for stir-fry.

KITTEN rescued in TV studio.

A CROTCH CHOMPING FISH invades the southeastern coast of Sweden.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with JOHN HUGHES! The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, buds, wasteoids, dweebies and dickheads, they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. The writer/director behind "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Weird Science," National Lampoon's "Vacation" movies, "Home Alone," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and many more died Aug 5, 2009.  Hughes masterfully married music to movies, so I pay video tribute to him today, starting (of course) with "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds from The Breakfast Club (the drumming o­n this song is impeccable), and Karla DeVito's "We Are Not Alone," along with the Ramones playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" (from National Lampoon's Vacation), David Bowie's "Young Americans" and The Vapors o­ne-hit wonder, "Turning Japanese" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" (all from Sixteen Candles, which opens to a clip of veteran WLS DJs Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards), Van Halen's cover of "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and General Public's "Tenderness" (both from Weird Science), the Psychedelic Furs re-recorded title track from Pretty In Pink, which also featured Jon Cryer lip-synching to Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" (that last clip is a blistering live take from the 1967 Stax tour -- and excellent, btw), The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" (a Hughes perennial), and OMD's "If You Leave," plus two more from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Danke Schoen" and "Twist and Shout" (which was shot o­n Dearborn and Randolph Streets in Chicago, with International Polka Queen Vlasta atop the float, though Cameron and Sloane were in front of the Post Office), plus Yello's unforgettable-no-matter-how-you-try "Oh, Yeah." Videos are scarce for Some Kind of Wonderful, but I found Flesh for Lulu's "I Go Crazy" and the March Violets' take on the Stones' "Miss Amanda Jones."

FRANZ FEDRINAND played sessions at Morning Becomes Eclectic and WNYC Soundcheck.

SAVAGES play a savage mini-set at WNYC Soundcheck.

KENDRA MORRIS plays a mini-set of her own stuff at WNYC Soundcheck, but also check out the embedded, soulful cover of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

THE MONKEES' teaser reel and unseen pilot are embedded at Dangerous Minds. 

THE AVETT BROS drop "Another Is Waiting" ahead of Magpie and the Dandelion.

COOKIE MONSTER spoofs Icona Pop's hit song "I Love It".

PHOENIX talks to The Grid about writing songs like nature films, rejecting high society, and loving a Beastie Boy.  (Thx,Chromewaves.)

ROSE ELINOR DOUGALL: The fmr Pipette talks to The Quietus about her new music.

JON WURSTER, one of indie rock's best-known drummers, tals to Consequence of Sound about four years of sobriety.

THE STORIES BEHIND 22 Classic Album Covers.

CUTOUT BIN: From Sinatra to Steely Dan, from Big Star to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, fromBob Dylan to Run-DMC, plus Crowded House, the Beach Boys, Blondie, The Beatles mashed up with Nine Inch Nails and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are: Pixar's Planes, which is currently scoring 26 ercent on the ol' Tomatometer (as I feared from the trailer);  Elysium, which is currently scoring 71 percent;  We're the Millers, which opened Wednesday and stands at 40 percent; and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, which also openedWed and stands at 33 percent.

LEAH REMINI filed a missing persons report on Shelly Miscavige, the wife of the leader of the Church of Scientology.

BRUCE WILLIS reportedly demanded a million a day for The Expendables 3.

AMANDA BYNES' parents hope doctors will seek a legal ruling to keep the troubled actress locked up for at least another 30 days.

KATE UPTON in Elle magazine, in time for Gratuitous Friday.

BEYONCE cut her hair; David Crosby hardest hit.

SIMON COWELL & HOWARD STERN top the Forbes list of TV's Highest-Paid Celebs.

KAREN BLACK, the Oscar nominee known for her roles in Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Airport 1975, The Day of the Locust, Robert Altman’s Nashville and Hitchcock’s Family Plot, has died at 74 after a battle with cancer.

THE ARAB SPRING: A gift to Al Qaeda?

IRAN: A letter purportedly signed by over 50 prominent political prisoners, most of whom are currently incarcerated, was sent to President Obama urging him to seek dialogue with new president Rouhani, to remove sanctions, and to seek a "dignified" solution to the issue of Iran's nuclear program. Two days ago, in his first press conference, President Rouhani called for direct talks with the US on the nuclear issue, but said the US must take the initiative; the US said the ball was in Iran's court.

SYRIA: Rebels led by two al Qaeda affiliates, the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, have killed over 200 people, captured dozens of villages, and seized an airport over the past two days in an Alawite area. Rebels are targeting aviation hubs in Aleppo as well, including the Kweiris military airport, the Neyrab military airport, and Aleppo International airport.

EGYPT: Supporters of former president Morsi took to the streets despite calls by authorities to end ongoing sit-ins.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A Bear On A Jet-Ski. Compelling and rich.

SPIDERS delayed flights in Kansas on Saturday after the pests took over an air traffic control center.

PIGS enjoy a mudslide in Holland.

100 SEA TURTLE HATCHLINGS were saved by a police officer in Sarasota.