THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE ENGLISH BEAT!  Why? Mostly because they cranked out great ska-pop.  My personal fave may still be "Best Friend," but you might prefer more signature songs like "Mirror in the Bathroom,"  "Save It For Later,"  "I Confess" or "Doors of Your Heart." Or their adaptations of covers like Smokey's "Tears Of A Clown" and the Andy Williams number "Can't Get Used To Losing You."

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE, Live at the MN Zoo. Songs include "Cosmic Love," "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" and "Dog Days Are Over."

R.E.M. is streaming the deluxe reissue of Lifes Rich Pageant, including the bonus disc of demos.

LYKKE LI stopped by the World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

THE 10 GREATEST POWER POP BANDS, courtesy of Gibson (and Ken King), with embedded video. BONUS: Pate's Power Pop feature from May.

NME'S 100 GREATEST MUSIC VIDEOS, summarized at Stereogum and critiqued at Prefix. IMHO, if your list purports to be an "all-time" list, ignoring the classics is dumb.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: The Early Uber Collection.

SUMMER MUSIC MEMORIES, courtesy of All Songs Considered.

KING KHAN & THE SHRINES work it like Wilson Pickett in "Land of the Freak."

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE  talks to Interview his new sound, his sartorial soul brother, the strained relationship with his father, and the "normal," if vuvuzela-backed, dream job from his childhood.

CENTRO-MATIC: Will Johnson talks to the Illinois Entertainer about writing Candidate Waltz on bass, and to Blurt about completing the album by email (Thx, Chromewaves.)

CUT COPY talks to Drowned in Sound about creativity, Can and Chicago house.

PETER CASE (Nerves, Plimsouls, solo) talks to Glide about tours, songwriting workshops, reunions, his archives and more... (Thx, LHB.)

THE BLACK SHIPS: Nick McCabe talks to Drowned in Sound about his new band, which includes members of Portishead, Goldfrapp and The Verve.

WHAT YOUR FAVORITE 80s BAND Says About You.

CUTOUT BIN: From David Johansen to The Drifters, from Badfinger to Sonic Youth, from Sly & the Family Stone to New Order, plus the Posies, Stone Roses, Journey, the Boomtown Rats and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are now streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Zookeeper, which is currently scoring 12 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Horrible Bosses, which is scoring 79 percent.

BEN AFFLECK lost 400K to movie mogul Ron Meyer in the recently exposed H'wood poker ring.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER has been spending time with his out-of-wedlock son recently in an effort to rebuild their relationship, according to RadarOnline. Meanwhile, his future ex, Maria Shriver, is buying a ten million dollar home in L.A.

LINDSAY LOHAN returns to form in Vanity Fair Italy shoot...and says she never should have gone to jail.

LADY GAGA has been branded ‘sick' and ‘obsessed' in an explosive new tell-all which documents her alleged drug abuse and dangerous diet.

JENNIFER ANISTON treated The Break-Up as therapeutic after his divorce from Brad Pitt.

HARRY POTTER and the DEATHLY HALLOWS (Pt 2): Eight new clips.

DANIEL CRAIG and his interviewer are interviewed at Esquire.

THE 20 BEST MOVIES OF 2011 (So Far), according to Paste.

YEMEN: Pres Saleh made an appearance on Yemeni television. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda are nimbly capitalizing on the tumult.

PAKISTAN: A Pakistani general strongly denied a report that he took three million in cash in exchange for helping smuggle nuclear technology to North Korea in the late 1990s, while the nation's foreign office called the story "preposterous."

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban fighters attacked and overran several Afghan border police posts on Wednesday, killing nearly two dozen police officers in a remote area of northeastern Afghanistan, according to the provincial governor.

KITTEN, rescued with a leafblower.

DUCKLINGS, rescued by duct tape.

DIGIT the GORILLA is living with a zoo manager and his wife in their home near Lyon, France.

SQUIRREL vs LAMBORGHINI: Who you got?

NEW ZEALAND'S GREAT WHITE SHARKS  enjoy an annual "tropical holiday", swimming thousands of kilometres (miles) to warm South Pacific waters before returning home. What say you, Police Chief Brody?