THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE YARDBIRDS! Live circa 1967, featuring someone the announcer calls "Timmy Page."  Your setlist inlcudes "Shapes of Things," "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," "Over Under Sideways Down," and "I'm a Man."

BOAT stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set in audio and video, including a musical allusion to GbV's "Motor Away." Sloppy pop from Seattle. Friends with Tullycraft.

SOLID GOLD did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, including a cover of Chris Issak's "Wicked Game."

PERRO DEL MAR and TAKEN BY TREES stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a twin bill.

LAURA VEIRS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

WILD BEASTS also stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

JAWBREAKER: Captain's Dead has a collection of odds and sods, including deconstructions of the Psychedelic Furs' "Into You Like a Train," REM's "Pretty Persuasion" and U2's "With or Without You" (which actually turns into another 80s classic).

ELLIOT SMITH: Kill Rock Stars is offering two free downloads from their reissues of his first and last full albums.

FUNKADELIC: "I Got a Thing" on Upbeat in 1970. The intro and outro are almost as good as the song.

BEACH HOUSE is profiled by The Irish Times.

THE TEN MOST DOWNLOADED SONGS FROM iTUNES: Read 'em and weep.

PANDORA is coming to TiVo.

YOU COULDN'T IGNORE ME IF YOU TRIED: I heard the author of this book about The Brat Pack, John Hughes, And Their Impact on a Generation, and it sounded interesting.  The promo site will hook you up with videos from the youth films of the 80s.

WILCO (The Sandwich Shop).

THE CUTOUT BIN: From Duane Eddy to Echo & the Bunnymen, from the Jesus & Mary Chain to the Jackson 5, from Howlin' Wolf to Big Country, plus the Dead Kennedys, Jimmy Soul, the Damned, Herb Alpert and more -- this weekend's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, currently scoring 57 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Brooklyn's Finest, which is scoring 33 percent.

ALICE in WONDERLAND: Against my better judgment, I ventured to the advance screening, solely as a courtesy to you, the reader.  And while Tim Burton was eminently well-suited to breathe life into the work of Lewis Carroll (and even moreso Sir John Tenniel), I found Burton's re-imagining of this material as a battle quest in the vein of Tolkien/Narnia ultimately unimaginitive.  Johnny Depp does his thing well enough as the Mad Hatter, though I enjoyed Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen more, and Anne Hathaway's White Queen much less.  Not a bad movie, and sure to do well.  But I cannot help thinking it a missed opportunity.

THE OSCARS: Predictions from Roger Ebert and many, many more.

TIGER WOODS: Elin has agreed to move home with Tiger, according to RadarOnline.

JOHNNY DEPP's longtime gal pal reportedly asked him to quit a film with Angelina Jolie.

LINDSAY LOHAN and BOY GEORGE exchanged beauty secrets in London.

HEIDI MONTAG's plastic surgeon refuses to perform any more work on her.

BRITNEY SPEARS' boyfriend hates her music.

THE SHADOW may be headed back to the big screen.

PAKISTAN intelligence has detained Mullah Omar's son-in-law, the fmr chief administrator of the Taliban.

AFGHANISTAN: US forces who pushed the Taliban out of their main stronghold in Marjah, southern Afghanistan, have found residents there deeply sceptical of the Afghan government's promises to rebuild.

IRAQ: Despite various warnings of an increase in violence before Iraq's March 7, 2010 parliamentary elections, the latest casualty counts do not show a significant increase in deaths.

MARU the BOX CAT has a brand new bag.

BENGAL TIGERS have a pool party.

POLAR BEAR & CUB trapped on a melting ice floe. But they'll probably be OK.

A HEN and PUPPIES, living together... Mass hysteria!