IRON & WINE did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including 3 new ones. There's also video.

THE YOUNG REPUBLIC did a set in audio and video at Laundro-Matinee, including a Tom Waits cover.

YELLOW OSTRICH gets a break via KEXP and NPR.

BRAIDS are advance streaming Native Speaker.

DISTRACTIONS are streaming the remixed / remastered edition of Dark Green Sea.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND & BLACK KEYS faced off on the Colbert Report.

OF MONTREAL: Kevin Barnes tells SPIN the band is already debuting new material that will appear on an upcoming EP titled The Controller Sphere. The band has also released a digital box set.

THE DECEMBERISTS: Colin Meloy tells Exclaim! that he's ready to put the Decemberists on hiatus after The King Is Dead. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

TOM TOM CLUB: Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth celebrate their 30th anniversary by talking about the "Genius of Love" and more.

THE YEAR in MUSIC WRITING, courtesy of PopMatters.

KATE HUDSON is pregnant with boyfriend Matthew Bellamy's baby.

JOHN TRAVOLTA & KELLY PRESTON show off their new baby.

NATALIE PORTMAN is excited about getting fat.

CHARLIE SHEEN: TMZ reports that Bombshell McGee was the number two chick in Charlie Sheen's Las Vegas prontourage.

KELSEY GRAMMER's soon-to-be ex-wife strongly insinuated that he likes to dress up in women's clothes.

LINDSAY LOHAN: The Riverside County DA wants further investigation into Li-Lo's alleged violent incident at Betty Ford.

NICOLE KIDMAN fesses up to Botox use.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: W Magazine is on set with director David Fincher.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES begins looking for its female lead.

LEBANON: Members of the powerful Hezbollah movement and its allies brought down the unity government after resigning from Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Cabinet.

IRAN that time is running out on a possible nuclear fuel swap deal. More Christian missionaries were arrested in Iran.

PAKISTAN will mount military assaults against terrorists in North Waziristan, a haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda along the Afghan border, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States vowed.

A BABY ELEPHANT plays on the beach.

MASS BIRD DEATH: There was nothing mysterious about the death of a flock of birds in Romania last week -- they were simply drunk, veterinarians said.

GUINEA PIGS implicated in cannabis bust.

MICRO-PIG gets considerably less micro.