GRIZZLY BEAR returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater to play, "Ready, Able."

THE MEAT PUPPETS have a feature + tracks streaming via NPR.

THE JAYHAWKS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set, streaming via MPR.

DIRTY PROJECTORS stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE HANDSOME FAMILY did four free songs for Daytrotter.

SEALS & CROFT: "Summer Breeze."

PITCHFORK MUSIC FEST: I was unable to attend this year, but you can get recaps from Aquarium Drunkard and All Songs Considered. And you may want to check Pitchfork today, as they were streaming bits of the lineup over the weekend.

RHETT MILLER: Should you ever meet the Old 97s frontman, be sure to tell him he has not aged well.

NEKO CASE talks to Kentucky.com about not wanting to be pigeon-holed.

WOXY is moving from Cincinnati to Austin. Of course, once you're on the 'net, you're everywhere.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: As expected, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince dominated with 79.5 million over the 3-day weekend, having made 159.7 million in the US since Tuesday midnight.  The falloff from that record-breaking premiere suggests the franchise is becoming increasingly front-loaded.  Some execs might worry about that, but for the fact that we are now staring down the big finale (albeit split over two movies), and the 5-day haul is  bigger than any other Potter film.  Ice Age 3 comes in second, with 17.7 million, which may be Potter spillover, but may be legs.  Transformers 2 takes the third spot adding another 13.7 million to its 363.8 million in the US alone.  Bruno drops 73 percent from No.1 to No.4, suggesting this was even more frontloaded than the Potter flick.  Indeed, when the actual numbers some in, Bruno could be No. 5 -- both The Hangover and The Proposal are withing striking distance.  A year after The Dark Knight premiered, the Top 12 movies made 39% less than last year.

HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE was on my weekend slate, generally meeting my expectations. I should explain that this is a series where I have preferred the odd-numbered movies to the even-numbered ones, so I was expecting to like this less that Order of the Phoenix -- and did.  I liked the movie overall, and am always pleased with the development that the young actors show in each movie.  But as noted above -- minus one shocking development for casual fans -- this movie serves largely as a set-up for the Deathly Hallows movies, and focused more on the adolescent entanglements of the students than big set-pieces.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER also opened near me this weekend -- and lived up to my much higher expectations for it.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who most probablys till think of as the kid fro Third Rock From the Sun or 10 Things I Hate About You) is so good that you don't mind that he is really the main character, instead of the lovely Zooey Deschanel, who gets a star turn in an indie dramedy that is not really a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.  As the narrator says in the trailer you should watch now, this is not a love story.  But it is a good one.

THE HURT LOCKER: I was remiss in not reviewing this immediately. Director Kathryn Bigelow has made the first Iraq War film that is not didactic or preachy from either side, but a war movie that is part thriller and part character study of the members of a bomb disosal unit in the last days of their rotation, circa 1984.  The first eight minutes are on Hulu to whet your appetite.

PUBLIC ENEMIES clears my backlog of reviews.  It was a good, but not great, look at the end of John Dillinger -- and of a certain chapter of gangster history.  It is a case where the whole is less than the sum of it parts.  Michael Mann's direction is fine, and the main performances from Johnny Depp & Co. are also fine.  And the technical work is quite good (with plenty of greatChicago locations for locals like me). The problem probably rests with the script, which is quite matter-of-fact.  We are used to seeing gangsters either glamorized or humanized.  This film touches on those issues, but largely avoids them.  I might admire the ethics of that, but it makes for a less gripping movie.

WALTER CRONKITE, who pioneered and then mastered the role of television news anchorman with such plain-spoken grace that he was called the most trusted man in America, died Friday at his home in New York. He was 92. CBS News has a special tribute on their website, including video of his anchoring the JFK assassination.  But as today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, it seems like the clip to watch.

MISCHA BARTON, whose career cooled following her exit from the hit television show "The O.C.," has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for psychiatric observation.  According to the ever-relaible NYP, Barton was so high on coke following a marathon three-day bender that friends called cops afraid she would kill herself.

KATHERINE HEIGL & GERARD BUTLER, co-starring in the upcoming The Ugly Truth, were forced to evacuate the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles during a bomb scare. The punchline writes itself.

IRAN: Protesters clashed with security forces in Tehran after a sermon in which top cleric Hashemi Rafsanjani criticizes the election and calls for rule of law, unity and dialogue. A serving member of the paramilitary Basiji militia tells the Jerusalem Post of his role in suppressing opposition street protests in recent weeks, and his earlier service in the force, including his enforced participation in the rape of young Iranian girls prior to their execution.

IRAQ: The Iraqi government has moved to sharply restrict the movement and activities of US forces in a new reading of a six-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that has startled American commanders and raised concerns about the safety of their troops.

PUPPY & FAWN, playing together... mass hysteria!

BUZZARDS & DREADFUL CROWS attack joggers in Britain (home of the late Alfred Hitchcock).

WILD CAMELS are wreaking havoc in huge parts of Australia, eating the vegetation, destroying property, fouling and consuming water sources, desecrating indigenous sites and causing road accidents.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A puppy with five legs... for the low price of four grand. A touching story, actually.