ST. VINCENT rehearses a new song, "An Actor  Out of Work," at SxSW for NPR.

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS do the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including a cover of the James Gang's "Funk 49" with a cameo from Blitzen Trapper.

BOB MOULD stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR

ELENI MANDELL also stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

BAT FOR LASHES is advance streaming the new album, due next Tuesday.

THE BEASTIE BOYS are streaming their reissue of 1992's Check Your Head with remastered tracks, rarities, B-sides, live tracks and remixes.

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN: "April Skies," natch.

THE DECEMBERISTS: Colin Meloy talks to The A.V. Club the origins of The Hazards of Love, the expectations and stereotypes facing his no-longer-indie "indie" band, and why the press just didn't get Morrissey back in his salad days.

THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn talks to the Grand Rapids Press about playing to seated audiences, the role faith plays in his songwriting, and more...

U2: Neighbors of The Edge have become more than a little skeptical about his green credentials after seeing plans for a stunning £30million mansion he wants to build on top of an unspoilt mountain.

BOOKER T. JONES explains to Billboard why he picked the Drive-By Truckers as his latest backing band.

BRITNEY SPEARS found an on-tour playmate in a hunky 21-year-old backup dancer while father Jamie was tending to business in L.A. late this month.  She had such good luck marrying a backup dancer, so why not?

OPRAH WINFREY's elite boarding school for girls in South Africa has been rocked by its second sex scandal in fewer than two years.

ALYSON HANNIGAN of American Pie and How I Met Your Mother gave birth to a daughter on her own birthday.

MADONNA took her adopted son David to meet his father in Malawi.

STAR TREK: Paramount is already moving ahead on a sequel to the J.J. Abrams reboot.

YEAR ONE: The full trailer still isn't doing it for me, but it's an improvement over the SuperBowl ad, anyway.

SHERLOCK HOLMES, in the hands of Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey, Jr., may have a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe.

BILL HADER & KRISTEN WIIG of SNL talk to New York Magazine about playing an eccentric, co-dependent couple in the upcoming Adventureland.

IRAN: The message from Israel's new prime minister is stark: if the Obama administration doesn't prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, Israel may be forced to attack.

THE STANS: Finally, the world, from the United States to Iran, is recognizing their own self interest in taking on the opium and heroin traffickers in Afghanistan.  Meanwhile, Pres. Karzai, has signed a law which legalizes marital rape, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, women's groups and the United Nations warn.  The US offered Taliban fighters who renounce violence in Afghanistan an "honorable form of reconciliation" on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban threatened to carry out a terrorist attack on Washington DC, and said his forces were behind an assault on a police academy in eastern Pakistan.

BABY LEAF-MONKEY, Awww...some video.

GIANT WHALE sedated at sea for rescue operation.

GIANT WORM launched a sustained attack on the coral reef in a display tank at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months. Ewww...some pic at the link.

SMALL GATOR stops in a Florida home for a quick bite.