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 Lamppon's "Vacation" movies, "Home Alone," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and many more has died at the age of 59, evidently from a heart attack while taking a morning walk in Manhattan (though he spent most of his time on a farm in Northen Illinois).  Ben Stein, who will always be known for "Bueller," remembered Hughes today on FBC. Newsweek covers the careers he launched. The L.A. Times covers the fashions of his films.  But 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" (that last clip is a blistering live take from the 1967 Stax tour -- and excellent, btw), 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, "Twist and Shout" (which was shot o­n Dearborn and Randolph Streets in Chicago, with International Polka Queen Vlasta atop the float), and Yello's unforgettable-no-matter-how-you-try "Oh, Yeah." Videos are scarce for Some Kind of Wonderful, but I found audio of Flesh for Lulu's "I Go Crazy" and the March Violets' take on the Stones' "Miss Amanda Jones."  Rest In Peace, John Hughes... and thank you.

WILCO stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set, which (after a week) is finally streaming via NPR.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK stopped by the WFUV studios for a solo session streaming via NPR.

PATTERSON HOOD and the SCREWTOPIANS did five free songs for Daytrotter, one previously unreleased.

THE NOISETTES stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand via MPR.

NO AGE is streaming their new EP through SubPop.

NEKO CASE is interviewed by the Edmonton Journal and SEE.

BLITZEN TRAPPER singer Erik Earley talks to OnMilwaukee about the band's range of sounds and influences, and more...

OUT: THE ALBUM, In: The App?

CUTOUT BIN: From the Replacements, Soul Asylum and Husker Du to the Beatles, the Byrds and the Kinks, plus T. Rex, the Velvet Underground, more trubute to John Hughes and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide releases include G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which is scoring 59 percent on the ol Tomatometer -- but which was not screened for most of the big critics, Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia, currently scoring 61 percent on the meter, and A Perfect Getaway, which is scoring 46 percent overall, but 78 percent with the big critics.

STEVEN TYLER of Aerosmith was airlifted to a hospital after falling from stage during a concert at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in western South Dakota. Let's go to the video.

PAULA ABDUL may be returning to American Idol, as the conflict is ultimately all about money ... and buzz leading up to season 9.

VANESSA HUDGENS of High School Musical won't be commenting on the nude pics surfacing on the Internet.

BRAVE NEW WORLD: Aldous Huxley's classic has been greenlit for a big screen treatment by director Ridley Scott, and possibly Leonardo DiCaprio.

THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT, starring John C. Reilly, has a trailer online.

PAKISTAN: "There is strong indication" that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike Wednesday, a senior administration official told ABC News.  The Long War Journal hears that Meshud probably lives. UPDATE: ... or maybe he is dead!

AFGHANISTAN: New NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a surprise visit to Kabul pledged to minimize the level of civilian casualties.  The Small Wars Journal will hook you up with a report on going tribal. 

IRAQ: In the first such meeting in a year between the two rivals, Prime Minister al-Maliki and Kurdish Pres. Barzani pledged to resolve disputes over land and oil that have threatened to spill into fighting.

A LLAMA works as caddy  -- a clip twice as funny because the dude at the far right looks like Carl Spackler.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Animals with casts.

MOMMA DUCK rescues her young.

A GIANT CATFISH attacked an Austrian tourist while he was fishing on a lake outside Gyor, west Hungary, lifeguards said.