THE CLASH: NEW YEAR'S DAY '77--a new BBC Documentary--is streaming on the Tube.

DR DOG is streaming Live at a Flamingo Hotel.

DAMIEN RICE stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

TREY ANASTASIO played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

VIET CONG casts “Silhouettes" ahead of their self titled debut.A twist on the early Factory sound, methinks.

POP ETC goes full 80s-synthy while "Running In Circles."

THE WHO: "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (with some great Moon moments) and Pate fave "The Kids Are Alright" are your first Twofer 2015.

THOM YORKE may have made 20 million dollars from his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes.

FUNKY DRUMMERS: Morning Edition profiles Clyde Stubblefield and John "Jabo" Starks, who created the grooves on many of James Brown's biggest hits, to kick off "Beat Week."

MADONNA, once the queen of controversial publicity, may not understand the age of social media.

THE DALAI LAMA may be opening for Lionel Richie at Glastonbury?

CAMERON DIAZ & BENJI MADDEN were reportedly getting married last night.

RYAN REYNOLDS & BLAKE LIVELY welcomed their first child over the holidays.

KEISHA KNIGHT PULLIAM was fired by Donald Trump on Celebrity Apprentice for not talking to Bill Cosby.

ROB LOWE hopped on a jet ski to help search for survivors after a 74-foot sailboat ran into trouble off the Kona coast.

OLIVIER MARTINEZ is the named suspect in a battery investigation after things got out of control at LAX.

KATE HUDSON was spotted grocery shopping with her baby daddy, Matt Bellamy.

LIBYA: A ground invasion of the capital is imminent.

SAUDI ARABIA: Four heavily armed men from Iraq attacked a Saudi border patrol early Monday, firing automatic weapons and detonating suicide belts in a confrontation that left three guards and all the assailants dead, Saudi officials said.

IRAQ: U.S. troops have started training Iraqi military forces at two bases in Iraq as they work to build a force that can take the offensive against Islamic State militants who overran part of the country last year, the Pentagon said on Monday.

A TIGER leaps to catch meat, in slow motion.

MAN HUNTS DEER: Deer Gets Revenge.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: British landowners are to be paid millions of pounds of public money to cull grey squirrels under the first national plan for managing their numbers.

A SPRINGER SPANIEL found an 18000-dollar diamond under a hedgerow.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE drops a disturbing video for "Golden Facelift."

DAN MANGAN + BLACKSMITH is advance streaming Club Meds.

KAT DAHLIA is advance streaming My Garden.

ANONYMOUS 4 is advance streaming 1865.

DEATH GRIPS is supposedly defunct, but streaming an instrumental album called Fashion Week.

JENS LEKMAN drops “Postcard #1," because it's his new year's resolution for 2015 to share his thoughts weekly.

NANCY SINATRA: "These Boots Are Made For Walking." Are you ready?

BILLY JOEL, defended by NPR's Linda Holmes.

BOSTON CALLING: The Guardian calls the city the heart of America's DIY renaissance.

BONO may never play guitar again, following a cycling accident that left him with a titanium elbow.

60 BIG ALBUM  ANNIVERSARIES compiled by NME.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies topped the chart with 21.9 million.  This final installment has topped the chart for every day of its release, except for Christmas.  It is tracking about where the prior Hobbit flicks have been, but lower than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Into The Woods places with 19 million, again edging out Unbroken, which shows with 18.4 million. Both of these had budgets in the 50-65 million range and should turn a tidy profit once they run overseas.  The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Death takes the fourth slot with a much-stronger-than-expected 15.1 million debut (gurus projected 9-11 million).  As such it's likely to profit on a presumably low budget (the original cost only 15 million and included Daniel radcliffe in the cast).  Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb rounds out the Top Five with 14.5 million, which means the film may not reach profitability in theaters, but probably not too big a loss before heading to the home market.

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT quietly married girlfriend Tasha McCauley on Dec. 20.

EDWARD HERRMANN, the towering, melodious-voiced actor who brought Franklin D. Roosevelt to life in films and documentaries, won a Tony Award and charmed audiences as the stuffy dad on TV's Gilmore Girls, died Wednesday. He was 71.

STUART SCOTT, a longtime anchor at ESPN, died Sunday morning at the age of 49, following a long battle with cancer.

MILA KUNIS & ASHTON KUTCHER: Secretly married?

CHARLIZE THERON & SEAN PENN are reportedly secretly engaged.

TAYE DIGGS & IDINA MENZEL finalized their divorce.

SLASH has filed for divorce.

GIADA DE LAURENTIS...and John Mayer?

JAMIE-LYNN SPEARS pulled a knife to break up a fight.

PRINCE ANDREW denied any contact with a woman who claims he abused her as an underaged sex slave during an orgy.

SAM RAIMI hated Spider-Man 3 as much as you did.

DONNA DOUGLAS, best known as Elly May Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies, died at the age of 81. She also had some small roles in films and bigger ones on TV series, including a memorable Twilight Zone episode, "Eye of the Beholder." Max Baer (Jethro) remembers.

NIGERIA: Boko Haram fighters took over a Nigerian military base in the Borno state town of Baga, killing a number of people and sending others fleeing into neighboring Chad.

SYRIA: Representatives of a Syrian rebel group claim the US ignored a an early plan to stop the Islamic State.

KIBO is excited about dinner.

A CHINESE real estate developer who bought and ate three endangered tigers to entertain friends has been sentenced to 13 years in jail and 1.55 million yuan ($329,500).

A BRAZILLIAN MAN puts three live tarantulas in his mouth.

A GOLDFISH underwent surgery for constipation.

...But THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH is this weekend's sole wide release, currently scoring 33 percent on the ol' Tomatometer. So go see The Imitation Game or something, and rejoin me on Monday. Happy New Year!

THE NEW YEAR STARTS HERE (see y'all Friday. Or Monday. Not sure yet.):

...with THE BEAT FARMERS!  Making a tradition of this more sober than usual, professionally-shot, early BF gig recorded at Universal Studios, including "There She Goes Again" (VU); "Road to Ruin," "Bigger Fool," "Reason to Believe" (Springsteen), "Powderfinger" (N. Young), "Happy Boy," "Big Ugly Wheels," "Bigger Stones," "Gun Sale at the Church," "Dallas Blues," "I Wanna Be Free," "Lakeside Trailer Park," "Death Train," and "Seven Year Itch."  If you're new to the band, my picks would be "Bigger Stones," "Happy Boy" and the cover of your choice.  BONUS:  Now how much would you pay?  But wait... there's more!  If you really want to see someone put the "bar" in "bar band," watch these NSFW clips from Houston, TX of the late Country Dick Montana leading the band through "Lucille" (K. Rogers) -- complete with his favorite beer bottle stunts -- followed by "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Wino," "Are You Drinkin' With Me, Jesus?" and "Mondo."  SUPER-SPECIAL BONUS: Country Dick rolls out "California Kid" and "Anarchy in the UK" (Language warning).

LAZYEYES streams their New Year EP.

MICHAEL STIPE performed a surprise mini-set, opening for Patti Smith in NYC.

THE BEST of 2014, as picked by David Dye, Bob Boilen, Ann Powers, Robin Hilton, and Stephen Thompson.

LOU REED Hears The Ramones For The First Time.

TINY DESK CONCERTS: NPR rounds up 2014.

U2: Crushingly obvious, I know. But this version of the video is not on the Tube, for some reason.

NICK CAVE & SHANE MacGOWAN: "What a Wonderful World."

ABBA wishes you a "Happy New Year,"  but it doesn't sound anywhere as celebratory as "Take A Chance On Me." 

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS perform "This Year" at the M-Shop in Ames, IA.

OTIS & CARLA have a "New Year's Resolution."

CLAUDE PATE: Don't forget you can stream a live version of "New Year" at PateSpace, or a fan-made video on the Tube, which has comments from a member of The Eclectics and Friend of Pate Ken King.

JOE JACKSON: Pate frequently attempted "One More Time" to hilarious effect, so today I stick with Joe's early material, including "Sunday Papers" live on the OGWT, "Kinda Kute" on the Kenny Everett Video Show, a Beat Crazy-era run of "On Your Radio" the official clip for "It's Different For Girls" and a bracing live take on "I'm The Man." That last one is taken from the Rock Goes To College show, which also boasts this pulsing version of his signature "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"  BONUS: The appropos finale, "Got The Time?"

THE 101 MOST ANTICIPATED LPs of 2015.

THE GUMMY AWARDS: Stereogum's Best Of 2014 readers’ poll.

THE BEST LPs of 2014, according to The Guardian staff.

IN MEMORIAM 1: Musicians and entertainers remembered by NPR Music.

IN MEMORIAM 2: Stereogum's Bands We Lost in 2014.

THE ZOMBIES: "This Will Be Our Year."

JEREMY RENNER's wife wants out of their marriage after just 10 months.

GIADA DE LAURENTIS and her husband of 11 years, Todd Thompson, have called it quits.  She hit the bar first.

CHRIS ROCK was just tired of being married.

KALEY CUOCO-SWEETING does not consider herself a feminist and likes cooking for her husband.

CHARLIZE THERON & SEAN PENN are discussing when and where they will have a wedding.

ANGELINA JOLIE credits the late Louis Zamperini with teaching her to embrace spirituality.

THE WORST FILMS of 2014, according to The A.V. Club and the Daily Beast.

UKRAINE's President said on Monday he would meet the leaders of Russia, France and Germany on Jan. 15 in an attempt to restore peace to Kiev's eastern territories and acknowledged Kiev lacked the resources to regain control by military means.

RUSSIA's Supreme Court decided in closed session Monday to designate the Islamic State and the Al Nusrah Front as terrorist groups and ban them from the country.

AFGHANISTAN: Women fear oppression as the US withdraws.

A DEDICATED DOG as filmed chasing an ambulance carrying its homeless owner after the man suffered an epileptic fit in the streets of Brazil.

A CAT accidentally sold with a mattress is found via social media.

DOGS masqueraded as pandas in an Italian circus.

THE NYE POSSUM DROP won't feature a possum, after agitation from PETA.

KING TUFF played "Eyes of the Muse" for Conan.

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS performs in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

SUZANNE VEGA played Holiday Cheer for WFUV at the Beacon Theater.

JONATHAN WILSO played Holiday Cheer for WFUV at the Beacon Theater.

NYCTAPER's Top 10 concerts of 2014 includes streaming tracks.

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD play a medley of "For What It's Worth" and "Mr. Soul."

TEGAN & SARA: The former talksd to SPIN about the making of So Jealous, going bowling with Meg White in 2004, and why she's "not in the business" of pleasing anyone but herself.

BRIAN RITCHIE talks to The Guardian about the Violent Femmes, Robert Plant, the Japanese bamboo flute, and more.

THE PITCHFORK READERS' POLL is released.

BON SCOTT, the original frontman for AC/DC, may get a new documentary and a biopic.

SOFIA VERGARA is engaged to Joe Manganiello.

CHRISTINA AGUILERA freaked out in the Magic Kingdom.

CHRIS ROCK claims his estranged wife is keeping his kids from him.

KHLOE KARDASHIAN would divorce LAMAR ODOM, if she could find him.

TAYLOR SWIFT has been named DoSomething.org's most charitable celeb, topping a list of stars including Laverne Cox, Beyonce, and Emma Watson.

THE 20 Most Pirated Films of 2014.

AFGHANISTAN: US airstrikes remain crucial to Afghan forces battling the Taliban.

PAKISTAN: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ordered the conditional release of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi - the alleged mastermind of Mumbai attacks - on the condition that the accused submits a security bond worth Rs1 million.

A CAT demands to be scritched.

THE PLIGHT OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY:  The population of monarch butterflies, one of the most popular species in the United States, has been in a steep decline across the country.

OCTOPUS vs SEAL: Who you got?

A SCARY HEDGEHOG prompted an emergency police call. Dinsdale!