SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS brought "Better Things" to Fallon.

THE CLIENTELE stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

OWEN PALLETT stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set.

JEREMY MESSERSMITH stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set. 

ROY ORBISON got a feature plus tracks from All Things Considered.

NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS frontman A.C. Newman is guest-blogging at Rolling Stone, starting with the influence of Cheap trick and Black Sabbath on "Your Hands (Together)." He's also got blog love for Felt.

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn talks to the Herald (Scotland) about filling the void left by the Replacements, Husker Dü and Buffalo Tom. (Thx, LHB.)

SPOON frontman Britt Daniel talks to the Sydney Morning Herald about luck being the residue of effort.

THE WHITE STRIPES: Jack believes Meg has beaten her anxiety issues, which would pave the way for new work.

CHARLIE SHEEN has surrendered legal custody of the two kids he had with Denise Richards. Gawker looks at his current pre-nup.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS gets a misspelled star on the Walk of Fame. Congrats, Luis!

SANDRA BULLOCK is beefing up her divorce team.

KENDRA WILKINSON has become involved in a messy legal battle to stop the release of a sordid sex tape, according to RadarOnline. Hef's ex gal pal has a sex tape? I. Am. Stunned.

LINDSAY LOHAN has not attended the required number of alcohol ed courses - and school officials are saying Lindsay has "a bad attitude" and "entitlement issues."  Shocka.

MADONNA is Interview-ed by director Gus Van Sant.

MACHETE dropped an "illegal" trailer, ripped from today's headlines. Remember - it's the trailer for a movie inspired by a trailer. Do I need to mention it's NSFW?

TERROR in NYC: The Connecticut man charged yesterday with the botched Times Square car bombing confessed to trying to slaughter innocent people in retaliation for US drone attacks that wiped out the leadership of his beloved Taliban, according to the NYP. US and Pakistani investigators are giving increased credence to links between Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad and the Pakistan Taliban; if the links are verified, it would mark a stark shift in how the Pakistan Taliban-an affiliate of the Taliban in Afghanistan-and related jihadist groups in Pakistan pursue their goals.

IRAN: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will increase control of Iran's energy sector.

IRAQ: An agreement to form an alliance between Iranian-backed Shiite blocs gives the final say on political disputes to Iraq's top clerics, solidifying a role for the Shiite religious leadership in the country's likely new government.

A GIANT CARP washed up in the Tennessee flood.

A 200-LB BEAR was rescued from a tree in Oxnard, CA.

A YOUNG STAG was rescued from a school gate in Cold Ash, Berkshire.

CLOUDED LEOPARD CUBS born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute on Feb. 14 have been determined to be male. Awww...some pic.

CINCO DE MAYO STARTS HERE: 

LOS LOBOS: "I Got Loaded," from their fabulous first full-lengther, How Will the Wolf Survive? With a bit of "Turn On Your Love Light" in the middle. "Evangeline" was on that album, too.

PEE WEE HERMAN: "Tequila." Obvs.

HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS: Rare video of "A Taste of Honey" from 1967.

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO reels off about a minute of "Whole Lotta Love" before covering "All the Young Dudes."

JIMMY BUFFETT: Margaritaville. Obvs.

LIZ PHAIR: "Cinco de Mayo." Obvs.

THE NEW PR0NOGRAPHERS are profiled by the Vancouver Sun, with Carl Newman mentioning the band's parallels with Broken Social Scene.

PAVEMENT guitarist Scott Kannberg, aka Spiral Stairs, talks to The Scotsman about the reunion.

THE BLACK KEYS: Pat Carney talks to Billboard about the new album's creative process.

CAGE THE ELEPHANT: At the San Antonio Current, Matt Schultz gamely addresses the common (for him) question about the influence of his impoverished, Christian upbringing on the band's sound.

DAVID BOREANAZ & JAIME BERGMAN: RadarOnlie claims that he cheated on her with... wait for it... Tiger Woods' mistress Rachel Uchitel... while Bergman was pregnant. And Uchitel and another woman have retained Gloria Allred as an attorney, which increases the probability that this will be an ugly, public mess, with charges of extortion, etc.

KEANU REEVES & CHARLIZE THERON shared a romantic dinner at a Beverly Hills restaurant - and a really intimate goodbye hug and kiss on the way out.

TIGER WOODS: In Part II of his investigation into the Tiger Woods scandal, Vanity Fair's, Mark Seal delves further into the peculiar world of the billionaire golfer, and examines how disastrously he and his advisers handled the scandal that shattered his carefully constructed image. ALSO: Woods used the same off-color joke as a pick-up line for at least a decade.

BRET MICHAELS is out of the hospital, in stable condition and on his way to a full recovery.

JENNA JAMESON and one of her two boys with Tito Ortiz were rushed to the hospital in an ambulance Monday night around midnight - and were taken from their O.C. home on a stretcher. It appears the boy had a stomach flu.

CAMERON DIAZ was photographed leaving Alex Rodriguez's NYC apartment building Sunday morning.

JAMES FRANCO dodged some dicey questions alluding to his sexuality at a panel discussion following Sunday's Tribeca Film Fest premiere of his doc, "Saturday Night."

COREY HAIM died of a bad heart and pneumonia, not drugs, according to the L.A. County Coroner's report.

TERROR in NYC: The suspect in a failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square admitted his role in the plot and told investigators he had received training in bomb-making in his native Pakistan. A Pakistani intelligence official said Tuesday that at least two persons were arrested in that country as investigators pursued leads overseas.

AFGHANISTAN: The number of US forces in Afghanistan will soon outnumber those in Iraq.

IRAQ: Security forces captured the leader of Ansar al Islam. In post-election Iraq, the Shiite Mahdi Army is quietly regrouping, while the Sunni Awakening is frustrated.

ULTIMATE PROTECTION CAT: Let's go to the surveillance video.

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BEAVER DAM -- more than twice the length of the Hoover dam -- can be seen from space.

DEER crash a bar to see the Bucks.

WOOLY MAMMOTHS could one day walk the Earth again. What could go wrong?

THE HOLD STEADY brought "The Weekenders" to the Ed Sullivan Theater.

NEW RELEASES: The Hold Steady, Broken Social Scene, New Pr0nographers, Free Energy, Minus the Bear, and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

THE DEAD WEATHER is advance streaming Sea of Cowards (for more than 24 hours this time).

THE NATIONAL's advance stream of High Violet comes to NPR.

GOGOL BORDELLO stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE was featured on Weekend Edition Sunday.

X stopped by 30 Rock to play "Hot House" and "Breathless," lo these many moons ago.

GALAXIE 500: An Oral History, featuring Dean, Naomi, Byron Coley and more...

SAMBASSADEUR: Anna Persson talked to Under the Radar about the band's history, its new album, and the reason the four-piece has never yet set foot on US soil. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

THE BESNARD LAKES: Jace Lasek talks to Straight.com about relentless touring and prog rock.

FOUR TYPES OF MUSIC PURCHASERS: Lessons for musicians from the merch table.

CHARLIE SHEEN & BROOKE MUELLER issued a joint statement denying both parts of a report that the couple have reached a secret financial deal for their impending divorce.

HALLE BERRY kicked Gabriel Aubry out of the house months ago.

DAVID BOREANAZ admits he cheated on wife Jaime Bergman after a former mistress threatened to go public.

JENNA JAMESON and TITO ORTIZ are reconciling, once the retraining order dissolves.

LINDSAY LOHAN's ex-con dad claims he's going start conservatorship proceedings for Li-Lo. Meanwhile, photographer  Tyler Shields claims Lohan will play Linda Lovelace in an indie flick called Inferno.

JOHHNY DEPP saved a friend from a mugging in L.A.

SETH GREEN married model-actress Clare Grant on Saturday.

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN's vanished ex-lover has a dossier filled with guns, lies and missing money.

LYNN REDGRAVE, twice-Oscar nominated member of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died at 67, following a long battle with breast cancer.

SPIDER-MAN thwarted a robbery attempt at a comic shop in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, with the aid of The Flash and some trusted Jedi Knights wielding lightsabers.

TERROR in NYC: Authorities arrested a US citizen of Pakistani descent, Shahzad Faisal, as a suspect in the attempted weekend car bombing in Times Square.  Officials said Monday that they have developed domestic and international leads in a plot that appears more complex now than it did when the investigation began.  Forensic evidence uncovered in the vehicle led them to a Middle Eastern man's name that was familiar to counter terrorism investigators.

IRAQ: The head of the Independent High Election Commission said the vote recount will not change the election result.

MARU the box cat gets a tambourine.

BRITAIN faces an invasion of parakeets, electric ants and super wasps, experts warn.

A GERMAN has unofficially married his cat after the animal fell ill and vets told him it might not live much longer, Bild newspaper reports. (Thx, Lance!)

MOST PETS are right or left handed, just like humans, scientists have discovered.

THE BLACK KEYS have a new video for "Next Girl"... and they hate it! Or do they?

THE HOLD STEADY played the World Cafe Friday; you can stream the whole gig on demand via NPR.

THE SHOUT OUT LOUDS and FREELANCE WHALES palyed DC's 9:30 Club last night; you can stream both sets on demand via NPR.

BEN LEE did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE ACORN drops "No Ghost" as the advance title track of their next LP.

THE MEMBERS: "Working Girl," from the "Where Are They Now?" file.

WILL OWSLEY, the Middle Tennessee-based singer, songwriter, engineer and guitarist known professionally as Owsley, died April 30 of an apparent suicide.

ROBERT POLLARD talks to SPIN about scoring 4192, an upcoming documentary about Pete Rose. There's a song to download at the link, too.

IS DYLAN A PHONY? Sean Wilentz defends Bob from Joni Mitchell.

THE DECEMBERISTS' Colin Meloy will write three novels for middle-school students.

APPLE is shutting down the LaLa streaming music service. Most think the tech will turn up in a cloud version of iTunes, but it may not be imminent.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street takes the weekend with 32.2 million, almost guaranteeing a profit on a 35 million budget. How to Train Your Dragon drops back to the second slot, but shows another 10.8 million of legs in its sixth weekend. Date Night was also leggy in the No. 3 slot, taking in another 7.6 million, for a 73.6 million total on a 55 million budget. The Back-up Plan dropped 41 percent in fourth place, though it will likley end up profitable on a 35 million budget.  Furry Vengeance rounds out the Top Five with 6.5 million.  Below the fold, Kick-Ass and Death at a Funeral took over 50 percent drops, though both are already profitable.

HALLE BERRY has split from baby daddy Gabriel Aubrey. To the surprise of no one, he's bummed.

CHARLIE SHEEN's are deep in plea negotiations with Aspen prosecutors and a deal is close -- in large part because Charlie's show is hanging in the balance.

LINDSAY LOHAN has violated the terms of her DUI probation and could be headed to jail. Ex-galpal Samantha Ronson has been mocking Li-Lo's substance abuse on Twitter, as friends reportedly have been advising the actress to go back to rehab.

JESSICA SIMPSON wants to be Michelle Obama, though the position seems to be taken. The pneumatic blonde recently declared that she is "looking for a normal man," which would seem to rule out people looking to be President.

MARLEY SHELTON was busted for DUI over the weekend.

THE NEXT BATMAN MOVIE is set for July 20, 2012.

TERROR in the USA: Three heroic cops and a quick-thinking street vendor stopped a madman from detonating a car bomb in the heart of NYC's Times Square Saturday night. The attempt echoes a failed 2007 attack in London. Bill Roggio notes there may be a link to the Taliban, but Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says there is no evidence of a Taliban link and police are interested in a white man in his 40s as a possible suspect. In addition to gasoline and propane, the car also contained a non-explosive grade of fertilizer.

TINY TORTOISE comes when called? I'm not convinced, but it's still a cute tortoise.

A STRAY HOUSE CAT nurses three orphan bobcats. Aww...some pics at the link.

THE SWARM: A beekeeper had to be called after a swarm of 20K bees attached themselves to an Australian woman's washing.

HEY, IS THAN AN EEL IN YOUR... oh, wait... that's just wrong.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with THE BYRDS! The turning of the seasons had me in the mood for this rare live threefer of "Turn! Turn! Turn!", "Bells of Rhymney" and "Mr. Tambourine Man", introduced by... David McCallum? There are more screaming girls, plus go-go dancers when they hit Shivaree for "All I Really Want to Do" and "Feel A Whole Lot Better."  There are even more dancers when they cover Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" for Shindig! on June 23, 1965, while I'm pretty sure that's Ed Wynn introducing "Chimes of Freedom."

UPDATE: THE DEAD WEATHER is advance streaming Sea of Cowards for 24 hours.

JAKOB DYLAN -- plus Neko Case and Kelly Hogan -- did four free songs for Daytrotter. He was also interviewed on WNYC by Oscar Brand, whose show marked the radio debut of Jakob's Ddd a few years back.

ROGUE WAVE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set.

JOSH ROUSE also stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a chat and mini-set.

THE TISDALES stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set of blue-collar rock with a touch of '70s pop.

HUSKER DU: "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill," live at First Ave, circa 1985.

HORSE FEATHERS: Justin Ringle spoke to The Faster Times about the writing process for the new record, how he got into folk music and how he got out of northern Idaho. (Thx, LHB.)

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn talks to Spinner about the beauty and power of music, with a shot for the former Oar Folkjokeopus.

FLAMING LIPS dummer Steven Drozd has been hospitalized, but the band says he's going to be just fine.

ESSENTIAL LIVE ALBUMS, according to the Top 13.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Sweet to James Brown, from the Who to Loxley, from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to the Swingin' Neckbreakers, plus the Jam, Prince, the Posies, Lou Reed, Katrina & the Waves and more -- this week's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide releases are the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, which is currently scoring 08 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Furry Vengeance, which is currently scoring the coveted 00 percent.

JENNA JAMESON and TITO ORTIZ are withdrawing allegations that led to Tito's felony domestic violence arrest earlier this week.

SANDRA BULLOCK's divorce from Jesse James will likely be a clean break.

CHELSEA HANDLER: Did the night comedy show host make a sex tape -- or a raunchy audition tape?

CONAN O'BRIEN tells 60 Minutes he would have left NBC rather than do what Jay Leno did to him.

LINDSAY LOHAN called into a radio show to discuss recent claims by her father that she is out of control and in need of an intervention.

KATIE HOLMES is playing Jackie Kennedy in an eight-part miniseries about the political dynasty. Yes, really.

HEIDI MONTAG: Sources on the set of The Hills fear that she is developing a dangerous addiction to painkillers -- months after her recovery from ten plastic surgeries.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. talks addiction, prison and sobriety in the Rolling Stone hitting newsstands today. Jack Nicholson has a cameo.

THE 2010 TIME 100 Most Influential People, with blurbs from notables.

J.J. ABRAMS will be collaborating with Steven Spielberg on a secret project described as "a tip of the hat to (Spielberg's) movies of the 70's and early 80's."

IRAN: The US is planning to soften sanctions on Iran. Meanwhile, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest."

AFGHANISTAN: A Pentagon report says the Taliban are getting stronger.

SURFING SHEEP: Let's go to the video.

BIG JAKE: The Guinness World Record holder for world's tallest living horse.

A ROGUE ELEPHANT in southern India accused of killing at least 10 female elephants during a testosterone-induced 'sex rampage'.

AWESOME ANIMAL PICS: A whole mess of 'em.