BUDDY HARMAN, whose percussion work on more than 18,000 recordings established him as country music's best-known and most-recorded drummer, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 79. You heard him on tracks like Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," Patsy Cline's "Crazy," Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man," Loretta Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter" and Elvis Presley's "Little Sister."

BON IVER: Justin Vernon chats and plays a couple for WNYC's Soundcheck.

CENTROMATIC has a new track, "Christmas '83 (Make Fun of My Sweaters)," while Will Johnson talks to the 'Gum.

THE DECEMBERISTS are launching Always the Bridesmaid: A Singles Series this Fall, both as downloads and on vinyl.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS: Patterson Hood gives the Independent Mail his Top Ten Favorite Albums, with alternates.  Hard to argue any of them.

JIMMY PAGE & LEONA LEWIS brought a "Whole Lotta Love" to the closing ceremonies at the Olympics in Beijing.  Some lyrics were avoided.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS  talks about her upcoming album, Little Honey, at Rolling Stone.

RODNEY CROWELL & JENNY SCHEINMAN played the World Cafe on Friday. You can stream the gig on demand via NPR.

FLESHMAP breaks down the percentage of various body parts found in various genres of music.

PAUL McCARTNEY has taken galpal Nancy Shevell to meet the family.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Tropic Thunder repeats at number one, making 16.1 million.  It has made 65.7 million to date, giving it a decent shot at recouping its 92 million budget in the US during the dog days of cinema.  The House Bunny opens in second place with 15.1 million, probably not bad for Anna Faris's first star vehicle, esp. with a 25 mil budget.  Death Race opened in third place 12.3 million; it will have to make profit on its 45 million budget overseas (but likely will). The Dark Knight drops to fourth, but makes 10.3 million on a mere 37.1 percent drop; it has made over 870 million worldwide so far.  Star Wars: The Clone Wars rounds out the Top Five, but craters 61.3 percent with a 5.7 million take.  The longstots opened in eighth place, while The Rocker debuted in twelfth.

RACHEL McADAMS & RYAN GOSLING were... wait for it... caught canoodling by cameras in Toronto.

JASON LEE and galpal Ceren Alkac, are the parents of a girl. We can hope she won't be named Earl.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON is not Woody Allen's muse, though he thinks "she is one of the great American actresses."

LINDSAY LOHAN denies rumors that she was with Courtenay Semel before DJ Samantha Ronson.

MICHAEL PHELPS was... wait for it... caught canoodling Aussie Olympian swimmer Stephanie Rice, just weeks after she split from Aussie swimmer Eamon Sullivan. Not a shock once you learn that the Olympic City is thisclose to Sodom and Gommorah. BONUS: Another helping of Rice.

SHAQ has been slapped with a restraining order by hip-hopper MaryJane.

MILEY CYRUS is having her sweet 16 bash at Disneyland on Gay Day.  NTTAWWT.

MAD MEN: John Slattery ("Roger Sterling") thalks to TV Guide about the best job he ever had, and getting an Emmy nomination.

WATCHMEN: Kevin Smith has seen it: "It's f---ing astounding. The Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed prevents me from saying much, but I can spout the following with complete joygasmic enthusiasm: Snyder and Co. have pulled it off..."  Meanwhile, the New York Times picks up the story on the dispute over the film rights.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: The couple is not separated, but they are not exactly together, either.  If you want to see some of his work in Tropic Thunder, the lawyers have missed this Japanese site.  In this scene, Ben Stiller's character has been kidnapped by a Vietnamese drug ring and are trying to ransom him to his agent (Matthew McConaughey), who mistakes the drug ring for a rival agency.  Cruise plays the movie's ruthless producer, Les Grossman. Warning for language.

OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS: A court in Saudi Arabia is reported to be preparing to hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl who has been married off to a man in his 50s.

TERROR in the USA: An unmanned drone plane being built by an engineer on Long Island sparked a large counter-terrorism investigation across the New York area. Pics, video at the link.

GEORGIA, GEORGIA: Russian troops are finally leaving Gori, though the US and France said the Russians are not living up to the ceasefire agreement.

IRAQ: Muqtada al-Sadr plans to live in Iran for years to come, a key aide says.  The WSJ covers how the improved Iraqi Army helped pave the way for the proposed US-Iraq security pact.

YODA the four-eared cat has become a celebrity since a Flickr photo was purchased by a UK agency. A a microchip has been placed in one of his four ears after adopting him to thwart would-be kittynappers.

COLIN the WHALE was actually Collette, scientists discovered after the lost humpback was euthanized.  It is believed a whale carcass being eaten by sharks near Eden on the NSW  South Coast may have been her mother.

A BABY ABANDONED IN WINTER by her 14-year-old mother was found safe in a dog pen with a mother dog and her brood of puppies near the city of La Plata, Argentina.

GATORS and SNAKES are among the critters roaming the flooded streets, backyards and doorsteps of central Florida in the wake of Tropical Storm Fay.

FOUR HORSES in the Olympic equestrian team jumping competition were suspended in a doping scandal.