THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with HUSKER DU! Recorded live at the Stone in San Francisco, on March 1, 1985. Part 1 includes "Diane" "Hate Paper Doll" and "Green Eyes." Part 2 includes "Divide and Conquer," "Pink Turns To Blue" and "Eight Miles High." Part 3 features "Makes No Sense At All" and "Louie, Louie" (w/ members of the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets).

THE HOLD STEADY: Frontman and MN Twins fan Craig Finn plays ball in a chat seesion on ESPN.com, with a fair amount on Kent Hrbek, though rock fans may be more interested in his take on the 70s: "I just read Neil Young's bio. The things that went down in the 70s for sure don't go down in the 2000s. After the show we get on the bus and go away. I don't understand when all this stuff is supposed to happen." Plus a link to stream the band's version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

THE TOP 100 HOT 100 HITS of ALL TIME, according to Billboard -- one of a number of new charts, including "Artists With The Most Hot 100 Appearances" (The King is King, but the Fabs are Four), "One-Hit Wonders" and "Cover Me: Same Songs to Hit No. 1 By Two Different Artists," to name just a few. Plenty of A/V links as well.

THE EAGLES OF DEATH METAL answer a few questions for the Houston Chronicle.

JAY NASH & FRIENDS... do the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS roll out more retro British pop in "My Mistakes Were Made For You."

THE 80s REDUX: At he NPR Monitor Mix blog, drummer Carrie Brownstein defends the decade a little more, even wading into the comments section to remind people she already wrote about the genius of The Replacements. 

BILLY IDOL talks to the Las Vegas Sun about the upsides and downsides of the current technological age.

MATTHEW SWEET talks to JamBase about the upsides and downsides of the current technological age.  And he talks to Paste about a broad array of musical topics.

RHETT MILLER talks to the San Antonio Current about the mean side of Owen Wilson and more...

CUTOUT BIN: From Green to the Black Keys, from Morrissey to Johnny Thunders, from Let's Active to Kenny Rogers to the Flaming Lips covering David Bowie, from Rhythm Heritage to Buffalo Springfield to M Ward, the Minutemen and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include the remake of The Women, currently scoring 7 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; the Pacino-DeNiro thriller Righteous Kill, currently scoring 17 percent on thin reviews; The Coen Bros.' Burn After Reading, which is scoring 76 percent overall (but only 50 percent among the "cream of the crop" critics); and Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, wich goes unscreened for critics, per usual.

LINDSAY LOHAN & SAMANTHA RONSON: Sam used her DJ slot at Chateau Marmont to announce: "By the end of this year, my love will be Mrs Ronson" -- eliminating all doubt as to who wears the pants in that relationship.

ANNE HATHAWAY: The Smoking Gun catalogs the expensive jewelry the actress had to surrender to the feds when her ex-boyfriend was busted and pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

KANYE WEST was arrested at LAX for felony vandalism in a confrontation with a paprazzo.  More details via TMZ.

SARAH McLACHLAN and her hubby-drummer have called it quits after 11 years.

JESSICA SIMPSON: Wearing a skirt for a windy outdoor show was a bad choice.

JENNIFER ANISTON: Going out with Gerard Butler ("300")?

MAD MEN: John Slattery ("Roger Sterling" talks to USA Today about his Emmy nomination and originally wanting the lead in the acclaimed AMC drama: "Yeah, but who wouldn't? James Bond would want the role of Don Draper."

THE STANS: Pres. Bush secretly approved orders allowing US Special Ops ground missions in Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government. A raid last week involved more than two dozen members of the Navy Seals who spent several hours on the ground and killed about two dozen suspected al- Qaeda fighters who had been conducting attacks against a US forward operating base across the border in Afghanistan.  Joint Chiefs Chair Mullen is warning that thousands more US troops as well as greater US military involvement across the border in Pakistan's tribal areas are needed to battle an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan.

IRAQ is still waiting for a response from the US to proposals regarding the controversial security deal between the two countries. Iraqi soldiers arrested three leaders of Al-Qaeda in a raid in Diyala province late Wednesday, and killed three would-be suicide bombers. The US military has intercepted a letter in which senior Al Qaeda operatives reveal their fury over militants' failure to keep up with the campaign against US-led forces in Iraq.

ANGORA KITTY saved from fire is given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

PUPPY survives eating six pounds of rocks. Video at the link.

SCOOBY-DOO has become the first animal in the world to appear as a witness in a murder trial.  Yes, really. And the guy would have gotten away with it, too, if not for those meddling kids.

AND THERE WERE PIGS ALL OVER THE HIGHWAY, 25 miles south of Des Moines, IA, closing I-35 for about nine hours. Video at the link.

MOUSE sabotages trafic stop. No word yet on involvement with any squirrel conspiracy.

SHARK ALERT in effect for all of Hawaii.