THE PRIMITIVES co-founder Steve Dullaghan was found dead at age 45. He co-wrote their biggest hit, "Crash."

NEW RELEASES REDUX: Spinner finally updated with full album streams from M Ward, Benjy Feree, Vetiver, Abe Vigoda and more...

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Morrissey, Coconut Records, a Sufjan Stevens remix and more are featured in the latest installment of the long-running NPR series.

LAURA GIBSON is giving a first listen to her Beasts of Seasons album via NPR.

SPINAL TAP: Derek Smalls looks back at the rockumentary for The Observer... and mentions that "Guest, McKean, and Shearer - are rumoured to be preparing acoustic shows that will include Tap songs among other, less powerful, selections."

GERRY RAFFERTY has been missing for nearly six months after mysteriously disappearing from St Thomas's Hospital in London last August?  It turns out that the singer is living in hiding in the south of England, being cared for by a friend.  You just had to know where to look.

IT'S SLOWCORE WEEK at Drowned In Sound, starting with a video-laden introduction and pieces on Galaxie 500, Slint and Codeine.

FLEET FOXES' Robin Peckhold covers Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe" under the White Antelope moniker.

PIRATE BAY TRIAL: Half of the charges levelled at the founders of the file-sharing site have been dropped. And the trial is being Twittered.

JASON ISBELL talks to the Nashville City Paper about playing more than 200 shows annually.

DAPTONE RECORDS, home of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, wuz robbed!

THE JACKO AUCTION:  The contents of Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch are on the block in April.  Photo gallery at The Guardian.

RHIANNA has declined to officially comment on Chris Brown's "apology" for beating her, but sources say she is "appalled" by Brown's statement.

JESSICA BIEL & JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE are moving to the Big Apple.

JENNIFER ANISTON & JOHN MAYER were... wait for it... caught canoodling on camera on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.

LILY ALLEN & PEREZ HILTON had a catfight on Twitter, with the singer calling the blogger a "little parasite" and a "bitter lonely old queen."

ANNE HATHAWAY does a Q&A on her Rachel Getting Married role at the HuffPo.

WATCHMEN: /Film rounds up four new clips from around teh Internets.

JONNY QWEST news at IESB, much of it predictable, not much of it good.

IRAN: Israel is using hitmen, sabotage, front companies and double agents to disrupt the regime's illicit nuclear weapons project, experts say.

AFGHANISTAN by the numbers, compiled by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann of the New America Foundation. The newest number, however, is 17K.  Matthew P. Dearing and Matthew C. DuPee, Research Associates with the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School, want to focus on building up Afghan civilian defense forces locally, as does a new report from the US Institute of Peace.

IRAQ is regaining its place in the region and is no longer seen as a US puppet, according to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. Meanwhile, violence nationwide in Iraq is at its lowest point in five years and its dampening, combined with restrictions on US unilateral action, has made boredom a real enemy for many American combat soldiers and Marines.

A DRUGGED-UP CELEBRITY CHIMP that appeared in a television advertisement with Morgan Fairchild and was in a show with the singer Sheryl Crow was shot dead by police after savaging a woman in Connecticut.  The woman remained listed in "extremely critical" condition on Tuesday, as police officials investigated whether illness might have changed the animal's behavior.  The owner is being harassed by PETA.

AN ALLIGATOR falls in love with a sanitation truck. Video at the link.

A MOOSE falls in lust with a buffalo statue.

AMOROUS BRUSH TURKEYS are raping chickens as their numbers rise in Brisbane and they look for a mate, according to a leading Queensland biologist.

A BEAVER has been spotted in Detroit, following a 75-year absence from the city, ecologists say.  You knew the Motor City was in bad shape, but not this bad.