THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with JOHN HUGHES! The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, buds, wasteoids, dweebies and dickheads, they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. The writer/director behind "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Weird Science," National Lampoon's "Vacation" movies, "Home Alone," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and many more died at the age of 59, three years ago Monday.  Hughes masterfully married music to movies, so I pay video tribute to him today, starting (of course) with "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds from The Breakfast Club (the drumming o­n this song is impeccable), and Karla DeVito's "We Are Not Alone," along with the Ramones playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" (from National Lampoon's Vacation), David Bowie's "Young Americans" and The Vapors o­ne-hit wonder, "Turning Japanese" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" (all from Sixteen Candles, which opens to a clip of veteran WLS DJs Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards), Van Halen's cover of "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and General Public's "Tenderness" (both from Weird Science), the Psychedelic Furs re-recorded title track from Pretty In Pink, which also featured Jon Cryer lip-synching to Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness", The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" (a Hughes perennial), and OMD's "If You Leave," plus two more from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Danke Schoen" and "Twist and Shout" (which was shot o­n Dearborn and Randolph Streets in Chicago, with International Polka Queen Vlasta atop the float, though Cameron and Sloane were in front of the Post Office), plus Yello's unforgettable-no-matter-how-you-try "Oh, Yeah." Videos are scarce for Some Kind of Wonderful, but I found Flesh for Lulu's "I Go Crazy" and the March Violets' take on the Stones' "Miss Amanda Jones."

SOUL ASYLUM, live at the UBS Forum, via The Current.

BEST COAST stopped by The Current to play a few songs.

CHARLES BRADLEY brought his funky, live-wire energy to a soulful set at Newport 2012.

tUnE-yArDs: Merrill Garbus and her band brought her looping and loopy grooves to life at Newport 2012.

R STEVIE MOORE is advance streaming Lo Fi High Fives. "Here Comes Summer Again" ought to be on the new Beach Boys LP.

JOHN CALE drops the psychedelic "I Wanna Talk 2 U," with an assist from Danger Mouse, iirc.

BOB DYLAN drops "Early Roman Kings" in an unusual spot.

CREAM syncs "I Feel Free" at the Beat Club.

THE ENGLISH BEAT: Dave Wakeling discusses the band's catalog with The A.V. Club.

DINOSAUR JR: J Mascis talks to Drowned in Sound about Black Sabbath, Lou Barlow, and more...

HERE WE GO MAGIC is profiled at SPIN.

THE 10 BEST OTIS REDDING SONGS, according to Paste.

CUTOUT BIN: From Bruce Springsteen to the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, from Blur to the Byrds, from Cee-Lo Green to the Doobie Bros., plus Led Zeppelin, Redd Kross, Archie Bell & the Drells, Del McCoury and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are the Total Recall reboot, which is currently scoring 27 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, scoring 33 percent.

KRISTEN STEWART & ROBERT PATTINSON have finally started talking to each other again? Meanwhile, Rupert Sanders has been told by wife Liberty Ross to forget about directing Snow White and the Huntsman 2 if he wants to win her back.

MACAULAY CULKIN denies reports claiming he's a chronic dopehead with 6 months to live.

KATY PERRY & JOHN MAYER were seen leaving the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood.

MILEY CYRUS' Los Angeles home was swarmed by police, fire and rescue squads responding to a report of a possible home invasion, but the pop star was apparently the victim of a "swatting" prank.  Or at least it will be called a prank until the police accidentally shoot someone.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON has been so scarred by her phone being hacked that she's ditched virtually all technology and fears she's being watched all the time, according to the ever-reliable Star magazine.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD gets its villain.

BFI'S GREATEST FILMS: The 50-year reign of Citizen Kane is over.

SKYFALL: The next James Bond flick has an international trailer online.

SPAIN: Three members of an al Qaeda cell, including a Turkish man, were detained during raids in San Roque and Almuradiel.

SYRIA: Assad digs in for a fight to the death.

CORGI CAM: All day. All night. All Corgi.

ORPHAN KANGAROO & WOMBAT, sharing a pouch...Mass hysteria!

MAN vs MOUSE: Not so fast.

PYTHONS in a BACK YARD: Yes, plural.

A GREAT WHITE SHARK likely attacked a swimmer off Cape Cod. What say you, Police Chief Brody?