THE AFGHAN WHIGS drop "Algiers" ahead of their reunion LP, Do The Beast.

FRANKIE COSMOS advance streams Zentropy.

LUSHES advance stream What Am I Doing.

EAGULLS advance stream their self-titled LP.

JASON ISBELL and Amanda Shires perform songs from Southeastern in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

KEVIN DREW has a "Mexican Aftershow Party" ahead of Darkings. He'll be touring with fmr BSS-bandmate (and more) Leslie Feist.

THE HORRORS drop "I See You" ahead of Luminous.

POURS drops "Carry the Oar" and "Unveiled" ahead of their debut LP.

SOUNDGARDEN shares a rehearsal version of "The Day I Tried To Live" ahead of the Superunknown 20th-anniversary reissue.

JASON and the SCORCHERS cover "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and play "Harvest Moon" for Twofer Tuesday.

BOB MOULD talks to The Quietus of the reissue of his excellent solo debut, Workbook.

DONOVAN talks to The Guardian about polio, the media, the internet, and more...

KISS won't play during their Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction, because they cannot agree on a lineup.

THE SMITHS, ranked by NME. 

HAROLD RAMIS, a member of Second City, SCTV, and one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy filmmakers (National Lampoon's Animal House, Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, National Lampoon's Vacation, Groundhog Day and Analyze This, to name a few), died Monday from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels. He was 69.  In 2004, Tad Friend made the case that Ramis is the father of the modern comedy. He also may have motivated John Hughes (who, like Ramis, ultimately returned to Chicagoland) to become a director. This blog annually pays tribute to Groundhog Day; here's video of Ramis discussing the reaction to the film.

MARIA VON TRAPP, last surviving member of the family that inspired The Sound of Music, died on Saturday. She was 99 years old.

ALEC BALDWIN is threatening to leave New York, much as he once threatened to leave the US generally.

SAM WORTHINGTON was arrested after punching a photographer in the face.

PAULA PATTON is separating from Robin Thicke.

JOSH BROLIN was caught canoodling his assistant.

AMANDA SEYFRIED is going to play the female lead in Ted 2.

AMERICAN IDOL will lose money this year.

ERIN ANDREWS replaces Brooke Burke-Charvet on Dancing With the Stars.

THE NAACP IMAGE AWARDS went to these folks.

UKRAINE's acting government issued an arrest warrant against President Viktor Yanukovich on charges of mass murder and warned the international community that the country needs 35 billion in aid to avert default. Russia said the turmoil in Ukraine represented a threat to its own citizens.

VENEZUELA: Protests continued Monday across the country amid growing reports of police repression and scarcities of basic goods, which provoked rare public criticism of President Nicolas Maduro by a political ally. A meeting billed as a national dialogue for local and state officials convened Monday without the country's most prominent opposition leader.

CHINA is training for war with Japan.

EGYPT: Prime Minister Beblawi announced that the current Egyptian cabinet had resigned. A court upheld the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

SAUDI ARABIA is reportedly seeking Pakistan's help in the provision of antiaircraft and antitank weapons for Syrian rebels.

IRAN has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth 195 million, according to documents seen by Reuters - a move that would break a U.N. embargo on weapons sales by Tehran.

A RARE PANTHER CUB is nursed back from hypothermia.

A BABY MOOSE attacked a man during a wildlife study in Maine.

GARY THE GOAT tours Australia.

CAN MACAQUE MONKEYS predict the next banking crisis?

DUM DUM GIRLS  drop a video for "Too True To Be Good."

LINDA PERHACS advance streams The Soul of All Natural Things.

DIANE CLUCK advance streams Boneset.

NOTHING advance streams Guilty of Everything.

FUTURE ISLANDS stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

THE HOLD STEADY guitarist Tad Kubler spoke to BrooklynVegan about the band's new record, the pros and cons of playing Brooklyn, and the band's PledgeMusic Campaign.

SLOWDIVE is profiled by Noisey.

TOM WILSON: The Greatest Producer (Most of) You Have Never Heard Of.

THE 25 BEST-LOVED ONE-HIT WONDERS, according to Spotify and BuzzFeed.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Lego Movie threepeats atop the chart with 31.5 million -- and to give you an idea haw big that is, consider that's a million better than Gravity did in its third weekend, and 9 million better than Frozen's third frame.  There will be more big releases next weekens, but Mr Peabody doesn't arrive for another two weekends.  3 Days to Kill places with a 12.3 million debut; Kevin Coster opened The Guardian with 18 million in 2006, but at least this one had a mere 28 million budget.  Pompeii shows with a 10 million debut against a 100 million budget; Ouch.  The Robocop remake takes fourth with 9.4 million and a 43 million domestic total against 100 million; in this case, the sting is lessened by 100 million in overseas grosses.  The Monuments Men rounds out the Top 5 with 8.1 million and 58 million total (85 million worldwide) against a 70 million budget.  Below the fold, it looks like Frozen will end up as the 18th biggest all-time grosser.

JUSTIN BIEBER has rejected a plea bargain which included random drug testing.

LAMAR ODOM is still holding out hope that things will work out between him and his estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian.

LIAM NEESON says the sudden death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, still doesn't seem real, even five years after she died in a skiing accident.

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY is not the romantic he seems on screen.

RHIANNNA was the subject of a homophobia hoax. Beyond ceebrities, these hoaxes seem to be on the rise.

LUDACRIS is fighting for custody of his child.

SNOOKI is secretly planning to give birth again.

THE WARRIORS: Writer-director Walter Hill comes out to play with Esquire 35 years after the controverial film's release.

UKRAINE: Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov, handed presidential powers as lawmakers prepare to form a coalition government, warned that the economy was in a “pre-default situation.” The political crisis polarized sentiment in largely between its western and central regions bordering the EU and those in the south and east that are home to more Russian speakers and ethnic Russians.

VENEZUELA: Embattled President Nicolas Maduro called Sunday for a national peace conference this week to end three weeks of rioting that have claimed at least 11 lives in the South American country. Despite his call for national reconciliation, Maduro repeatedly called his opponents fascists and right-wing extremists. Tens of thousands of white-clad demonstrators flooded the streets of eastern Caracas Saturday in the largest show of strength so far against President Nicholás Maduro’s rule.

EGYPT: Prosecutors Sunday accused deposed president Mohamed Morsi of leaking state secrets to Iran's Revolutionary Guards as part of a plot to destabilise Egypt, at the second hearing of his trial for espionage.

SYRIA: Abu Khalid al Suri, al Qaeda's chief representative in Syria, was killed in Aleppo; the Islamic Front announced his death. An activist group said Suri was killed when at least one Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide bomber detonated in an Aleppo office, killing six Ahrar al Sham fighters and injuring one of its emirs.

ELEPHANTS reunite after 37 years.

MERCURY THE KITTEN adapts to life on two legs.

ROO THE CHIHUAHUA, also two-legged, befriends a chicken.

MJ THE ANTEATER is born at the Staten Island Zoo.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with MARSHALL CRENSHAW! Live at the Ritz, June 6, 1985. Use a free trial at Paste (actually, use the link and try playing the first video -- you may be able to close the signup box w/o signing up for the free trial) to watch a set from this early Pate influencer, including: "Blues Is King," "Whenever You're On My Mind," "Shake Rattle And Roll," "Our Town," "Maryann," "Right Now," "The Distance Between Me And You," "Someday Someway," "Little Wild One," " I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)," "Yvonne," "There She Goes Again," "Cynical Girl," "Shake Up Their Minds," and "Soldier Of Love."

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

CATE Le BON plays a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR.

POI DOG PONDERING stopped by KUTX for a mini-set.

ARTHUR BROWN brought his crazy world to KUTX, sans "Fire."

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: "Shout." Shindig. Friday. A little bit louder now.

R.E.M..: Ten of their best.

EFFED UP: Stereogum goes behind the scenes of the band's fourth LP.

QUEEN played The Game, and broke all the rules.

JOHN GRANT talks to Drowned in Sound about Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlak, his BRITs nomination, and more.

CUTOUT BIN: Fron Neko Case to Guns N' Roses, from the Ramones to Phil Collins, from George Harrison to Dinosaur Jr, plus Camper Van Beethoven, Teenage Fanclub, Blitzen Trapper, Robyn Hitchcock 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: 3 Days To Kill, currently scoring 28 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Pompeii, also scoring 28 percent.

CHRISTINA AGUILERA is pregnant, a week after she announced her Valentine's Day engagement to boyfriend Matt Rutler.

CHARLIE SHEEN's fiancee is already married. Oops.

AMY ADAMS broke down Inside the Actors' Studio while discussing Philip Seymour Hoffman.

MILA KUNIS tlkas to Cosmopolitan about booze and whether she sees herself as sexy. But she won't talk about Jennifer Lawrence.

MILEY CYRUS: Selling below face value?

JUSTIN BIEBER returns to a Hooters waitress.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR reboot announces a cast.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY has a trailer online. With ooga-chuckas.

VENEZUELA: Prosecutors dropped the most serious charges against opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who remains in custody at a military prison.  Security forces and demonstrators faced off in streets blocked by burning barricades in several provincial cities on Thursday as protests escalated against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government.  Not even Madonna digs him; no word yet from Sean Penn.

UKRAINE: The EU has agreed to impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials "responsible for violence and excessive force" after the bloodiest day of clashes in Kiev. As the clashes escalated, parliament was evacuated.

LIBYA voted Thursday for a 60-member panel to draft a new constitution, the latest step in a rocky political transition that has been plagued by violence and power struggles. Turnout was low in the election.  Ansar al Sharia in Libya issued a statement vowing it will no longer accept oppression, denouncing democracy, calling for sharia law, and threatening that the hands of "our people in Benghazi" and in other areas "are on the triggers."

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban insurgents will increasingly threaten Afghan stability after international forces withdraw in December, and Kabul will need more troops than currently envisioned to provide basic security, according to a new independent strategy review.

A BOY AND HIS DOG: Like you're not crying.

RUDOLPH the REINDEER s having a glittering antler makeover — the latest attempt to halt some of the thousands of road deaths of the roaming caribou in the wilds of Finland.

DOES AN OCTOPUS make a good pet?

EVERYBODY MOOS: Cows make more milk when listening to R.E.M.

SPRINGSTEEN covers INXS's "Don't Change" in Sydney.

DR DOG stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set. 

HOSPITALITY plays a mini-set in the WNYC Soundcheck studio. 

YELLOW OSTRICH is streaming their Carl Sagan-inspired album, Cosmos.

FRIEND ROULETTE streams their forthcoming Grow Younger EP.

YUCK drops "Another One" from the upcoming Southern Skies EP.

THE MOODY BLUES hit the charts with "Go Now" before going psychedelic.

CONOR OBERST filed a defamation suit against the woman who accused him of rape.

ST VINCENT: Annie Clark talks to Pitchfork about where her art ends and her life begins.

CLOUD NOTHINGS frontman Dylan Baldi talks to Drowned in Sound about Here and Nowhere Else.

PHANTOGRAM: Josh Carter talks to PopMatters about the band's style, signing to a major label, and more...

MILEY CYRUS & JARED LETO are hooking up, reports Us Weekly.

GWYNETH PALTROW's representatives have denied a report that she has been having an affair with entertainment lawyer Kevin Yorn, a story originating on a secret-sharing app.

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN's dying wish was to keep his children far, far away from Hollywood.

LINDSAY LOHAN threatened to sue Fox News over a story claiming she snorted lines of cocaine with her mother Dina.

RAY RICE: The Baltimore Ravens RB was recorded dragging his apparently unconscious fiancee out of an elevator in an Atlantic City casino ... moments after cops say they attacked each other on the property.

EMMA STONE denied a naked selfie on the internet is of her.

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY talks to Variety about this hot stretch in his career.

UKRAINE: Expressing alarm at the lethal escalation of political violence, the European Union and the United States scrambled for a quick response Wednesday, threatening punitive sanctions against senior figures in the Ukrainian government. The US is looking to the EU to take the lead in formulating a tough response after the standoff between President Viktor Yanukovych and anti-government protesters exploded into violence.

RUSSIA Members of the PussyRiot punk group say they were whipped by Cossacks who are helping to patrol Sochi during the Winter Olympic Games.

VENEZUELA: Protesters were still in the streets after opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez's arrest Tuesday, demanding better security, an end to scarcities and protected freedom of speech.

LEBANON: Two cars packed with explosives blew up in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut, killing at least six people, in the latest attack on the pro-Iran militant group that's fighting on President Bashar al-Assad's side in Syria.

SYRIA: Salim Idriss, the recently sacked head of the Free Syrian Army, rejected the dismissal; several top FSA commanders expressed support for him as their leader.

GOATS ON A STEEL RIBBON: Let's go to the video. (h/t Zoey.)

RABBITS stampede through the streets of Okunoshima.

DISCOVERED: The 'very hairy' marsupial which dies from 'frantic' mating.

ASIAN ELEPHANTS console each other like humans.

BOB CASALE, who played guitar with Devo alongside his brother Gerald from the original incarnation of the groundbreaking Akron new wave band in 1973 all the way through their recent tours, died suddenly on February 17th of heart failure. He was 61.  Here's Devo on Fridays in 1980, playing "Girl U Want" and "Gates of Steel," along with "Whip It" and "Uncontrollable Urge" -- each with costume changes.  The band returned in 1981, where they played "Theme From Adventures of The Smart Patrol" and "Jerkin' Back 'n' Forth," followed by "I Saw Jesus" and "Through Being Cool," then their cover of "Working in a Coal Mine."  BONUS: Vintage Devo, covering "Satisfaction" on French TV.

ST VINCENT advance streams her self-titled third album.

BLEEDING RAINBOW advance streams Interrupt.

MOZES & THE FIRSTBORN advance stream their self-titled album.

IDA MARIA streams her Accidental Happiness EP.

HARRY NILSSON: "Everybody's Talking" on Swedish TV, circa 1969.

KEVIN DREW talks to Stereogum about his new album, Darlings. 

EXENE CERVENKA, the frontwoman for the seminal L.A. punk band X, is moving to Texas, declaring California "a liberal oppressive police state and regulations and taxes and fees."

ABBA admits they wore glittering hotpants, sequined jumpsuits and platform heels for the tax deduction.

THE TOP 100 RICHEST MUSICIANS, according to The Richest. 

LEIGHTON MEESTER & ADAM BRODY married in a super-secret wedding.

JIMMY FALLON's Tonight Show debut had the show's second biggest audience, behind Leno’s final episodes. The debut featured a number of cameos, including one from Joan Rivers, who had been exiled from the show for nearly 30 years.

MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ & CARA DELEVIGNE are an item.

CHARLIE SHEEN is game to have more kids with his new fiancee.

ROBERT PATTINSON doesn't want to be famous anymore. But no mention of returning the money.

LAMAR ODOM is headed to Spain to play for the team Laboral Kutxa.

JASON BIGGS and his wife Jenny Mollen have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Sid.

UKRAINE: Downtown Kiev was aglow in fire early Wednesday, as demonstrators undeterred by a bloody day on the streets staked their claim to the heart of the Ukrainian capital and, they hope, the heart of the country itself.

VENEZUELAN opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez turned himself in to authorities Tuesday to face what he calls trumped-up homicide charges, after urging supporters to stay in the streets and protest peacefully against the government. Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas chief of <span class="taxInlineTagLink">Human Rights Watch</span>, was critical over the lack of proof of a crime and said the "international community should demand Lopez's "immediate release.... The arrest is an egregious violation of one of the basic principles of due process, that you can't jail someone without evidence."

EGYPT: A Cairo court postponed making a decision on whether Hamas is a terrorist organization.

IRAN: Talks aimed at reaching a long-term agreement on Iran's nuclear program kicked off Tuesday, but even in the nascent stages, both US and Iranian officials are working to strangle expectations.

A CAT crashed through the roof of an Olympic venue, sticks the landing.

A MONKEY can use his thoughts to control the movements of a second, sleeping monkey.

FLORIDA is the worldwide leader in shark attacks.

THE RATTLESNAKE that took a deadly bite out of Snake Salvation pastor Jamie Coots will not be killed ... in fact, the family will deploy the snake during next Saturday's service.