THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with BIG STAR! Live in Oxford, circa 2001, courtesy of Friend of Pate Ken King and social media.  Posies Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer join the legendary Alex Chilton and original drummer Jody Stephens for a full set of timeless and influential power pop.  Your setlist inludes "In the Street," "Don't Lie to Me," "When My Baby's Beside Me," "I Am the Cosmos" (Chris Bell), "Way Out West," " 'Til the End of the Day" (The Kinks), "The Ballad of El Goodo," "Back of a Car," "Thirteen," "Baby Strange" (T. Rex), "Feel," "September Gurls," "Thank You Friends," a blues jam that turns into "Snatch It Back and Hold It" (Junior Wells, Buddy Guy), "Patty Girl" (Gary and the Hornets), "Hot Thing," and "Slut" (Todd Rundgren).

THE MARS VOLTA is advance streaming Noctourniquet.

THE WEDDING PRESENT stops by WNYC Soundcheck to talk and play songs old and new.

RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set

LANA DEL REY stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

THE ROLLING STONES, Live in Perth, Feb. 24, 1973.

THE dB's, Live at Criminal Records, April 11, 2011. (Thx again, Ken!)

THE DEL FUEGOS from Boston Mass., with "Don't Run Wild."

SHARON VAN ETTEN talks to The Quietus about Tramp, toughening up and learning to camouflage heartache.

KATHLEEN EDWARDS talks to DIY about chaning things up on Voyageur. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

ROCK & SOUL: PopMatters considers whether music critcism is racist.  Somehow, the author missed this.  Related: Rock music makes you racist. It's science!

DEVO's PARADOX: Why some art can't be appreciated in its own time.

CUTOUT BIN: From the Apples In Stereo to Carla Thomas, from Tony Orlando & Dawn to Fear, from Carly Simon to the Feelies, plus Big Star, Smashmouth, The Heavy, Springsteen, the Waterboys and more  -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

THE HUNGER GAMES, currently scoring 88 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, is this weekend's sole wide release. And the midnight showings near me were already sold out by the time I checked for tickets. The estimated opening is somewhere around 125 million.

WHITNEY HOUSTON died from drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use," the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Thursday. The manner of death was listed as an "accident."

HILARY DUFF and her husband of 18 months, NHL star Mike Comrie, welcomed their first child.

KIM KARDASHIAN explains why she ignored her family's opinions of her ex, Kris Humphries.

RHIANNA visited ASHTON KUTCHER late at night. Hmm.

KATHY BATES will play Charlie Harper's ghost on "Two and a Half Men."  And Charlie Sheen is delighted.

GWYNETH PALTROW slags KATE MOSS. Not unlike Predator vs Alien.

"THE SITUATION"  is in rehab not just for prescription drugs, but also for alcohol, according to TMZ; if true, it could pose big problems for next season's "Jersey Shore."

TERROR in FRANCE: Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old Frenchman who claimed responsibility for killing four men and three children was shot dead on Thursday after security forces stormed the apartment where he had been holed up for more than 30 hours, French officials said. His killing foiled hopes that he might answer crucial questions on the shadowy path of homegrown terrorists and what networks might aid them.

EGYPT: Muslim Brotherhood officials said on Wednesday that the group was debating whether to field its own candidate in Egypt's upcoming presidential contest, after failing to persuade several outside figures to run with the group's backing.

AFGHANISTAN: Disagreement within the Taliban over peace talks is damaging peace negotiations, the Foreign Relations Advisor of the Afghan High Peace Council Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar said Thursday.

A PUPPEH... and a patient cat.

CHICKEN on the LAM captured in Manitowoc.

A PET LIZARD's chemotherapy causes wedding postponement.

WOUNDED BLACK BEARS sleep it off.

THE BLUE-TAILED SKINK goes extinct.