CROOKED FINGERS premieres the video for "Let's Not Pretend" at the 'Gum.

AIMEE MANN does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter.

RAY LaMONTAGNE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

THE FEELIES: Glenn Mercer talks to PopMatters about the band's break-up, getting ahold of their catalog, and scheduling some (more) reuinion dates for the Fall.

CALEXICO: Joey Burns talks to Glide about album themes, collaborations, and Dylan's John Wesley Harding.

THE AVETT BROTHERS: Their video for "Murder InThe City" is pretty basic, but more isn't necessary.

BIRDMONSTER gets a streaming twofer as the Worldd Cafe's "Next" artist this week.

NELLIE McKAY answers the infamous 20 questions for PopMatters.

LAMBCHOP: Kurt Wagner talks to Pitchfork about the band's new direction on its 10th album.

CAT POWER will release her Dark End of the Street EP, on Dec. 9, featuring unreleased covers culled from the Jukebox sessions, including Aretha Franklin, Sandy Denny, CCR, Otis Redding and James Carr.

HALLE BERRY is Esquire magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive.  Acceptance speech and pics at the link. Her beau Gabriel Aubry tells Usmagazine.com that they are working on having another baby. I imagine he wants to practice a lot.

BRITNEY SPEARS does the "three trashy looks that didn't make the 'Toxic' video" thing in her next video.

JOHNNY DEPP will pick up a staggering £32 million for starring in a fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean film --  the highest up-front paycheck in showbiz history.

BRADGELINA: Jolie says the birth of her fifth and sixth children has all but put the stoppers on her sex life with Brad Pitt. Can't they send the kids out with Alice and Sam the Butcher? 

MADONNA says Sarah Palin can't come to her party. Not that Palin has expressed any interest.

JIMMY KIMMEL & SARAH SILVERMAN: More reunion rumors.

WATCHMEN: A video journal for the highly-anticipated graphic novel adaptation begins at Sci-Fi Wire.  The first entry finds Billy Crudup in a motion-capture suit that would not be out of place in Tron.  ALSO: You can stream a Q&A with director Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons via SuperheroHype. Creator Alan Moore is opposed to the adaptation, as usual.

ROSE McGOWAN, with Barabarella off the table, may star in a Linda Lovelace biopic. Which would be more interesting if it was being directed by Vincent Gallo, but no such luck.

HUGH HEFNER & HOLLY MADISON: Dunzo. Could not have seen that coming. Think it was the 54-year age gap?

THE TALIBAN have not broken ranks with al Qaeda, senior US military and intelligence sources told The Long War Journal. They have also threatened to attack polling stations and candidates during Afghanistan's second presidential election, due to be held next summer, as the lengthy and dangerous process of voter registration began yesterday.

IRAQ: The return of an Arab League mission chief this week to the organization's Baghdad office to fill a position that has been vacant since January 2007 is the latest signal that Arab countries are making a belated diplomatic comeback to the war-torn "brotherly" country. The US is preparing to hand control of Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace and swaths of the Green Zone (or International Zone) to the Iraqi Government in one of the most symbolic examples of the country's increasing sovereignty.

MOOSE on the LOOSE: Put down for public safety in Ishpeming, MI. Two calves escaped their mother's fate. Video at the link.

RABID BATS are not a good subject for show and tell.

FELINE RELAXATION TECHNIQUES: Pics at the link.

CAT-LOVING STRAIGHT SINGLE MEN: Trend or twaddle?

WILD BOARS are breeding at a huge rate in Germany and wreaking greater havoc than in any other European country by destroying crops, killing pets and even attacking people, according to a new study.