U2: Crushingly obvious, I know.

WELCOME... TO THE NEW YEAR: You can stream a live version of Pate's "New Year" (and three others from the 2003 reunion) at PateSpace.

THE DECEMBERISTS are advance streaming The King Is Dead LP, with special guests Gillian Welch and Peter Buck.

BROKEN BELLS played First Ave on December 6th, 2010; you can stream the whole gig on demand.

CRIS KIRKWOOD of the Meat Puppets did three free songs for Daytrotter, two of which were popularized by Geogre Jones.

SOUL-SIDES: Oliver Wang lists his Faves for 2010.

ABBA wishes you a "Happy New Year,"  but it doesn't sound anywhere as celebratory as "Take A Chance On Me."

THE YEAR IN MUSIC: Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot of Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions radio program join World Cafe host David Dye for a discussion.

A 2011 MUSIC PREVIEW from The Guardian... and All Things Considered... and the L.A. Times.

WARPAINT: Jenny Lee Lindberg and her sister, Shannyn Sossamon, talk musical roots and family ties with Nowness. (Thx, Chromewaves.)

QUEEN ELIZABETH II  bestowed New Year's Honors on Annie Lennox, Trevor Horn and Richard Thompson.

CHUCK BERRY was at his home near St. Louis and in good health Sunday after falling ill from exhaustion during a concert the previous night in Chicago.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Little Fockers edges True Grit at the top of the chart, with an estimated 26.3 million vs 24.5 million -- but the order could change when the actual receipts are tallied.  After all, Fockers dropped 14.7 percent while True Grit dropped a tiny 1.4 percent.  Also, the bigger picture is that Fockers broke the 100 million mark and matched the production budget, while True Grit has raked in 86.8 million on a mere 38 million budget.  Rooster Cogburn hands the Coen Bros their first full-on blockbuster; I would not be surprised if it ends up with a bigger total than Fockers at the ends of their runs. Tron Legacy holds the third slot with 18.3 million on a small 4.4 percent drop.  Still, even with a 130 million total to date against a 170 million budget, Disney is likely disappointed.  Yogi Bear actually climbed a slot, rising 66 percent from last weekend to pull in 13 million.  Apparently, New Year's weekend proved more kid-friendly than Christmas weekend. Who knew? That hypothersis is also supported by the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader rounding out the Top Five with 10.5 million (a 10.8 percent increase) and Tangled climbing back to sixth place (a 55.7 percent increase over last weekend).  Then again, there were a lot of hefty increases for the smaller films below the fold with The Fighter, Black Swan and The King's Speech likely benefitting from people starting in on awards season selections.

SHANIA TWAIN got married to Frederic Thiebaud in Puerto Rico on New Year's Day.

VALERIE BERTINELLI married her boyfriend of seven years, financial planner Tom Vitale, over the weekend.

JOHN MELLENCAMP & ELAINE IRWIN have ended their 18-year marriage.

VAL KILMER owes nearly 500K in federal taxes.

LINDSAY LOHAN's ex-con Dad hired an R&B singer to write a dance song for his estranged daughter while she's in rehab.

RUSSELL BRAND posted a rather unflattering picture of his wife Katy Perry on his Twitter page that shows the singer without a scrap of make-up.

FORMER PLAYMATES tell of the grubby world inside Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire.

24: 20th Century Fox has nixed a script that would have continued the storyline of the rogue CTU agent Jack Bauer.

FILM LISTS: PopMatters serves up a Best and Worst of 2010. The Daily Beast lists overlooked films. IndieWire has a Best list. At Salon, Matt Zoller Seitz has a Best Scenes list.

AFGHANISTAN: As 2011 begins, there are, say senior US military officials, some clear differences emerging in the way Gen. Petraeus is now handling the Afghanistan theater. Chief among the changes is one that represents something of a gamble to some in the Pentagon.

IRAQ: The number of civilians killed in violence in Iraq fell last year and December was the least deadly month of 2010, official figures showed on Saturday.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A bio-engineered singing mouse.

A RARE, MINIATURE PANDA COW was born in Lakeland, CO.

HOSTILE CAMEL tazed into submission.

KITTEH leads officials on chase, gets adopted by deputy.