SMITH WESTERNS take on Tom Petty's "American Girl" for The A.V. Club Undercover. And it did not go over well with some.

THE HEAD and the HEART are profiled by Rolling Stone, which also streams their album.

FUTURE ISLANDS play a Tiny Desk Concert at the NPR offices.

UNCLE TUPELO: Live and Otherwise (Demo Tape).

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: 15 Minutes (A rare UK tribute LP, ft. Nirvana, Echo & the Bunnymen, Eleventh Dream Day, Buffalo Tom and more).

DAVID BAZAN drops "Wolves at the Door" as a free track from Strange Negotiations.

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND, "Blinded by the Light," Live in '75.

PEARL JAM are spending 2011 celebrating their 20th anniversary by headlining their own festival in Wisconsin, touring, releasing a documentary by director Cameron Crowe with an accompanying soundtrack album, and publishing a book.

THE ANTLERS: Peter Silberman takes Drowned In Sound track-by-track through Burst Apart.

BLAKE SENNETT discusses The Elected, Rilo Kiley (RIP), Phillip Roth, the iPad, Chicago venues, and more with Consequence of Sound.

BRIAN WILSON, who said last week that he was planning to retire from performing live in 2012, told BBC 6Music he is thinking about playing with the Beach Boys again for the first time in almost 20 years.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER had numerous, late night rendezvous with various women at his Santa Monica office building ... and some of the women were mysteriously carrying legal-sized manila envelopes ... sources who were present tell TMZ. UPDATE: They also have pics of the mother and son.)  The WaPo asks, "How did he keep the 'love child' secret so long?"

CHARLIE SHEEN - who scored the biggest paycheck in TV before getting the boot - had to borrow ten million bucks from Warner Bros. during his last season on "Two and a Half Men."

LEO DiCAPRIO... and Blake Lively?

MARIAH CAREY brings her kids home from the hospital, but will get a home visit from DCFS.

KELSEY GRAMMER filed legal papers to get sole physical custody of the two children he had with his ex-wife Camille. She's telling friends the kids have already made it clear they want to live with her.

MEL GIBSON: Topless in Cannes. The horror... But you know in France they love The Beaver.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS is set to play Glinda in Disney's fantasy prequel pic Oz, the Great and Powerful.

KILLING BIN LADEN: Those who planned the secret mission to get Osama bin Laden in Pakistan knew it was a one-shot deal, and it nearly went terribly wrong.

EGYPT: According to an Egyptian daily, fmr pres Mubarak will explain that some of his mistakes were due to 'faulty information'; he will also reportedly tell the people that he is willing to give up assets pending investigations.

PAKISTAN: NATO helicopters crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan and fired on a Pakistani border post early Tuesday, injuring two paramilitary soldiers, according to the Pakistani army. Pakistani security forces arrested a senior al-Qaida operative in Karachi on Tuesday, signalling the first major move against Osama bin Laden's network inside Pakistan since his death.

A RABBIT humps a dog...Mass hysteria!

A 500-LB RUNAWAY PIG was shot by Washington State Patrol trooper after his stun gun failed to slow the raging swine.

A TEACUP CHIHUAHUA, however, really should not have been shot.

SPIDER-SMUGGLING: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.