BLITZEN TRAPPER drops a video for "Girl in a Coat."

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM is advance streaming Handwritten.

DELTA RAE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

HOT CHIP stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

MEGAN REILLY stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

BOB BABBITT, the Funk Bros bassist who played on Stevie Wonder's 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours', Smokey Robinson's 'The Tears of a Clown', and over 200 more Top 40 hit singles, died at the age of 74 from brain cancer.

JAPANDROIDS talk to Loud & Quiet about the evolution from Post Nothing to Celebration Rock. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

MAXIMO PARK talks to DIY about The National Health.

KITTY WELLS, the first female country star died from of complications from a stroke. She was 92 years old.

ROBERT PLANT & PATTI GRIFFIN: Married?

DEMI MOORE's three daughters are contemplating getting a restraining order against their troubled mother, according to RadarOnline.

KATIE & SURI HOLMES: Struck by a garbage truck! Just a fender-bender, really. Tom Cruise turned up to visit his daughter.

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, from 3rd Rock to The Dark Knight Rises, is profiled by GQ.

RUSSELL BRAND: Rebounding from Katy Perry with Jordana Brewster's younger sister.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER was all over a 25-year-old chick at a party over the weekend.

MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN is on a respirator after suffering a heart attack. His girlfriend Omarosa Stallworth performed CPR to resuscitate him when he was undergoing cardiac arrest .

JOHNNY DEPP will star in The Grand Budapest Hotel, the next film that Wes Anderson wrote and will direct.

TOTAL RECALL: Yes, the remake brings back the three-breasted hooker.

SYRIA: Rebels and government troops clashed in central Damascus for a third day in the fiercest fighting inside the capital since the revolt against Assad erupted last year, but neither side appeared able to deliver a decisive blow.

AFGHANISTAN: What is emerging in ever starker relief is a governance vacuum as US forces begin to draw down.

A DISABLED TABBY gets around on wheels.

A CIRCUS TIGER urinates on the one percent.

SNAKE IN A BATHROOM... for six months?

BOO the POMERANIAN has taken an executive position with Virgin America airlines.

JON LORD, the keyboardist whose powerful, driving tones helped turn Deep Purple and Whitesnake into two of the most popular hard rock acts in a generation, died Monday. He was 71. Which means I have to hear "Hush."

NEW RELEASES from Citizen Cope, Angus Stone, Hot Panda, the Appleseed Collective, Limblifter and more are streaming this week via Spinner.

LAURA MARLING played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR, including an unrecorded song.

PAUL McCARTNEY: The Alternative Red Rose Speedway.

LAETITIA SADLER (Stereolab) is advance streaming Silencio.

GREEN DAY drops "Oh Love" ahead of ¡Uno!.

THE KINKS: "Last of the Steam Powered Trains" and "Picture Book," circa 1969, from the album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, for Twofer Tuesday.

THE ROLLING STONES: The L.A. Times reviews its early coverage of the band. The Guardian has an interactive gallery spanning 50 years of coverage.

PATRICK WATSON sat with PopMatters to discuss his inspirations and the journey that led him to exploring his own adventure in his backyard on Montreal.

ANDREW BIRD talks to MLive about getting the energy of a live performance and crafting well-sculpted pop songs on thesame LP. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

DECODED: What is a band really telling us when they try to justify a new direction?

LINDSAY LOHAN: A California oversight panel has disciplined two Beverly Hills judges for their handling of a Li-Lo drunken driving case.  Also, she's going to have another sister.

UMA THURMAN gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday; it's her third child.

SYLVESTER STALLONE is devastated by the death of his son Sage Stallone and wants "the speculation and questionable reporting" to stop

KATY PERRY & RUSSELL BRAND are officially single.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: Early reviews rave.

JASON KIDD was carried out of a club before picking up a DUI arrest.

WILLIAM SHATNER is making a documentary about Trek fans; here's the trailer.

YEMEN: Salafists are seeking a greater role in the country's political transition. Shocka.

GERMANY: A leader of the Salafist movement in Frankfurt, was arrested by German authorities in Istanbul. He is accused of belonging to a terrorist group and recruiting fighters for jihad in Afghanistan.

EGYPT's top military official stepped up his feud with the Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday, saying the army would prevent Egypt from falling to a "certain group," according to the state news agency.

SURFING GOATS catch some tasty waves in San Diego. Everybody's heard about the goats.

STUBBS the CAT celebrated 15 years as the Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska.

A WALLABY is on the loose in Edmonton.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Militant rodents may be the number one enemy of data centers.

THE SHINS drop a clip for "It's Only Life."

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

PASSION PIT is advance streaming Gossamer.

PURITY RING is advance streaming Shrines.

BRANDI CARLISLE played a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

ROGER McGUINN performs "King of the Hill" -- a song about "Papa" John Phillips -- for Carson.

PAUL McCARTNEY joined BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in Hyde Park, only to be silenced after defying the sound curfew.  Little Steven Van Zandt was not amused.

DIRTY PROJECTORS: Amber Coffman talks to Spinner about the inner workingsof the band, how Bjork likes to party, and more.

KISS tell their rock'n'roll tale in their own words.

THE JAM: A sculpture tribute to the band was unveiled in Surrey by its drummer, Rick Buckler.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Ice Age: Continental Drift tops the chart with 46 million -- a bit higher than tracking numbers predicted, arguably lower thanpast installments (Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which was released over the July 4 weekend in 2009 earned 41.7 million Friday-to-Sunday, but had a five-day gross of 66.7 million).  Even so, Ice Age flicks are relatively cheap for animation and rake in tons more on licensing.  The Amazing Spider-Man places with 35 million on an okay 43.6 percent drop; it brreaks the 200 million mark, butas The Dark Knight Rises this weekend, this will likely be the first Spidey to fall short of 300 million domestic.  Ted shows with another 22.1 million on a leggy 31 percent drop; it's close to 160 million domestic on a 50 million budget.  Brave, facing competition from Ice Age, brings in 10.7 million; its domestic total stands around 195 million and will likely finish at around 225 million, just ahead of Wall-E.  Magic Mike rounds out the Top 5 with another 9 million and 91.9 million against the studio's 7 million distribution deal.

RYAN REYNOLDS & BLAKE LIVELY: Married?

SYLVESTER STALLONE's son Sage apparently died of a pill overdose and was not found for three days.

TOM CRUISE & KATIE HOLMES: Come September, Suri Cruise will attend an all-girls school in New York City.

LINDSAY LOHAN's brakes couldn't have failed last month before she slammed her Porsche into an 18-wheeler.

SEAN PENN completed his 36 hours of anger management classes, after blowing up on a photographer in L.A. back in 2009. Only took years!

DJANGO UNCHAINED: A prequel to Shaft?

THE 50 BEST MOVIES You've Never Seen, according to Entertainment Weekly. I've seen only eight of them, iirc.

THE UNITED STATES: Parviz Khaki, an Iranian citizen, and Zongcheng Yi, a resident of China, were indicted on conspiracy charges for attempting to provide Iran with US materials for gas centrifuges used in enriching uranium.

PAKISTAN: Tough new visa rules have sparked a wedding rush, with couples racing to beat a deadline for bringing husbands and wives to Britain.

AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bomber killed a prominent Afghan member of parliament, the western zone police commander, a provincial intelligence chief, and several senior Afghan officials, in an attack at a wedding in Samangan.

AN AMAZONIAN FISH WITH TEETH, said to bite men's testicles, turns up in Illinois. Just when you thought it was safe.

A BABY DEER whose mother likely was killed by a car in Bellingham, WA, was rescued by a trooper and taken to an Arlington wildlife rescue center.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: An estimated 4000 Arizona Public Service customers lost power for nearly 45 minutes Friday morning after a militant squirrel got into a Cave Creek substation.

A DOG AND A SPIDER were held as part of a string of bizarre crimes in Leavenworth, KS.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE MC5! Live on Germany's Beat Club in 1972.  Your setlist includes: "Kick Out the Jams," (NSFW) "Ramblin' Rose," "Motor City's Burning," "Tonight," and "Black to Comm."

MATES OF STATE droped into KEXP to play a live set featuring songs from their newest album Mountaintops and a new, unreleased tune.

LAURA MARLING stopped by KEXP to play an acoustic set of folk songs from her latest album, A Creature I Don't Know.

LOWER DENS stopped by KEXP to perform a set of spacious, swirling tunes from their newest album Nootropics.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from Dinosaur Jr., Taken By Trees, Baroness and more feature in the latest installment of the series.

PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL is streaming via YouTube starting this afternoon.

SUSANNA HOFFS: "Feel Like Making Love." Indeed.

BEST COAST: Bethany Cosentino emails The Phoenix as part of a piece about her rising star.

EISLEY: The DuPree sisters are interviewed by PopMatters.

CATE LeBON talks to The Quietus about her musical background, her inspiration for the new album and why her lyrical darkness can give Nick Cave a run for his money.

HOW A 20-YEAR-OLD LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING and Love Vinyl.

CUTOUT BIN: From Fatboy Slim to the Dead Kennedys, from T. Rex to the Police, from Labelle to the Flying Burrito Bros., plus the Alabama Shakes, the Beach Boys, the Sweet, Otis Redding and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT is this weekend's sole wide release, currently scoring 42 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.

TOM CRUISE is threatening to sue the National Enquirer over a cover story that claims the actor is a "monster" who "abused" wife Katie Holmes and subjected daughter Suri to a five-month stay in a "tiny, windowless room."

DEMI MOORE and her daughters are not on speaking terms.

JENNIFER LOPEZ has not made up her mind on her future with "American Idol." Steven Tyler is quitting. And Randy Jackson may be leaving, dawg.

SPIKE LEE talks to New York magazine about his new film, Michael Jordan, Mitt Romney, the state of Hollywood and more.

JANE FONDA finally discovers intimacy at 74.

THE HIGHEST PAID CELEBS UNDER 30, according to Forbes.

THE 15 BEST MOVIE EXPLOSIONS, according to Paste.

THE 90 BEST MOVIES of the 90s, according to Paste.

THE UNITED STATES: Ibrahim al-Qosi, a Guantanamo detainee and former cook for Osama bin Laden, was released to his native Sudan. Qosi, who also served al Qaeda as a logistician and bookkeeper, admitted to terror charges in a plea deal in 2010.

EGYPT: A satellite TV channel with only fully-veiled women 'is part of a fight against discrimination.'

SYRIA: Sunni Muslims soldiers who form the bulk of the Army are abandoning Assad.

IRAN: A former general of the powerful Revolutionary Guards has accused the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of having blood on his hands over the brutal crackdown on the opposition, and described government claims that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful as a "sheer lie".

PAKISTAN: While the Obama administration has hailed the reopening of NATO's supply lines into Afghanistan as a major success, the prevailing dynamic of the deal is Pakistan's continuing duality in supporting the US's enemies while taking its money to fight them.

KITTEH vs BUNNEH: Who you got?

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A piglet with two mouths and three eyes.

FINALLY: The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on 30 August in Minneapolis.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant grey squirrel dyes itself to avoid being culled.

DISCO DEMOLITION NIGHT: Today is the 33rd anniversary of Disco Demolition Night, a promo event occurring during a scheduled twi-nite doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers that would prove to be the most ill-conceived promotional idea since the infamous "Ten Cent Beer Night" in Cleveland in 1974. Though some incorrectly think it had to do with racism, homophobia, etc., the event had much more to do with the fact that Chicago radio station WDAI forced out morning host Steve Dahl o­n Chirstmas Eve 1978, to switch to a disco format. A man who is cashiered wearing a Santa suit tends to carry a grudge. Dahl re-surfaced at WLUP with "Do You Think I'm Disco?" -- a parody of Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy?" with lyrics that targeted yuppie narcissism and materialism. He also did a bit where he pretended to blow-up disco records, which Mike Veeck, the son of Sox owner (and legendary showman) Bill Veeck, thought could be turned into a promotion whereby admission was 98 cents (because WLUP was FM 98) for anyone who brought a disco record to be blown up between the two games. It was far more successful and less controllable than either Dahl or Veeck imagined, with young people storming the park to enter, creating a fog of marijuana smoke in the stands, sailing records like frisbees, throwing firecrackers and ultimately storming the diamond after the scheduled demolition had concluded and Dahl was en route to the announcer's booth for the second game. This footage of the event from from stellamasters, along with the aftermath at FuzzyMemories and this compilation of local news coverage from the night is pretty darned good, with cameos from Bill Kurtis and Greg Gumbel.

BLITZEN TRAPPER stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

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

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS stopped by WFUV to play and talk about song structure, life on the road and Neil Diamond.

LEE FIELDS brought his band The Expressions to WFUV for some Studio A performances of classic funk and soul.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, with DEV HYNES (Lightspeed Champion, Blood Orange) cover Green Day's "Hitchin' a Ride."

DIRTY PROJECTORS guitarist and vocalist Amber Coffman talks to Prefix about the unique process that led to Swing Lo Magellan.

THE BEACH BOYS are still looking at an impossible future.

EIGHT GREAT COMEBACK ALBUMS, according to Paste.

REVERB turns 65.

TOM CRUISE & KATIE HOLMES: She set the wheels in motion for her divorce using a throwaway cellphone provided by a friend to initially talk to her lawyers and avoid her husband knowing about the conversations, according to a source familiar with the divorce. And she got emotional support from Nicole Kidman.

CHARLIE SHEEN would like to judge American Idol... if his conditions are met.

AMBER HEARD had a difficult few weeks after claims that she's the reason for Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis' split.

PETER O'TOOLE announced that he is retiring from acting. The dude is a legend. I greatly enjoyed his recent interview session on TCM.

DAVID LYNCH is going to be a dad again, at the ripe age of 66.

WES ANDERSON, with Moonrise Kingdom finally playing somewhere relatively near you, is already approaching Johnny Depp, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe and Angela Lansbury about his next film.

TEN ESSENTIAL SPAGHETTI WESTERNS, according to FlavorWire.

NINE TIMELESS MOVIES About the College Transition.

THE UNITED STATES should recruit computer hackers to wage war on al Qaeda, according to a leading military thinker and government adviser.

YEMEN: A suicide bomber killed more than 20 people in an attack that targeted police cadets outside of a training center in Sana'a.

LIBYA: Despite electoral victories in Egypt and Tunisia, the Islamists concede they have not won the parliamentary polls in Libya. Here's why.

PUGS struggle with English.

"PIGGY BANK" has a new meaning in a town east of Vienna after a surveillance camera caught a wild pig on a night foray to a local branch of one of Austria's financial institutions.

ASIAN CARP will be served free at the Taste of Chicago.  Everyone else has to buy those beer tickets.

A NEW CRUSTACEAN SPECIES is named after reggae legend Bob Marley.  Serve it with stoned crab.