THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE END OF THE WORLD!  This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Cubam Missile Crisis, which seemed an apt occasion for revisiting apocalyptic pop. Thus, it starts with an earthquake, birds, snakes and R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." U2 can keep you rocking (yet Biblical) "Until the End of the World." And (to paraphrase the National Lampoon) who can forget Barry McGuire's immortal "Eve of Destruction," especially as introduced by Jerry Lewis? Mad Men fans will remember Skeeter Davis singing "The End of the World," a song fairly contemporary to the missile crisis. Also in a country vein is Johnny Cash's "When The Man Comes Around" (I picked the Dawn of the Dead credits for this one because it also ties in nicely to the premiere of season 3 of The Walking Dead). Prince is more upbeat about the idea on "1999."  However, the selections that would be most in Pate's repertoire would be The Clash's "London Calling" (tho "Four Horsemen" also appears on the double-LP) and Elvis Costello's "Waiting For the End of the World."

CALEXICO played World Cafe Live; you can stream the whole gig on demand.

BAND OF HORSES play a career-spanning set in the intimate setting of Apogee's Berkeley St Studios for Morning Becomes Eclectic.

SPAIN: Josh Haden and his triplet sisters -- Petra, Tanya and Rachel -- play a session at Morning Becomes Eclectic.

PETER GABRIEL features himself and a handful of classics during a Guest DJ stint on All Songs Considered.

WALL OF VOODOO: Listen to the "Mexican Radio."

BAT FOR LASHES: I would link this Pitchfork cover story just for the incredible layout (scroll slowly), but there's more.

PYLON gets profiled by a local section of the New York Times.

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT talks to PopMatters about her family, her new album and more...

CUTOUT BIN: From Deep Purple to The Smiths, from Chic to the Three O'Clock, from Iggy Pop to Tammi Terrell, plus Lloyd Cole, The Heavy, Soft Boys, Minutemen  and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Paranormal Activity 4, which is currently scoring 34 percent on the ol' Tomatometers; and Alex Cross, which is scoring 13 percent.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & JESSICA BIEL hosted over 50 guests in Puglia, Italy for a pre-wedding beach party dinner.

EVAN RACHEL WOOD & JAMIE BELL picked up their wedding license.

KRISTEN STEWART & ROBERT PATTINSON were caught canoodling on camera, just in time for that Twilight press junket.

RUPERT SANDERS & LIBERTY ROSS are also hugging it out after his reported fling with Kristen Stewart.

UMA THURMAN revealed her daughter's name. You don't want to know. You so don't want to know. I warned you.

ASHTON KUTCHER tops the Forbes list of TV's highest-paid actors.

TOM CRUISE adds sci-fi to his "to do" list.

TWILIGHT: The franchise looks to lumber on undead after Breaking dawn, Pt. 2.

THE UNITED STATES: Authorities charged Bangladeshi student Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis in an FBI sting operation in which Nafis thought he was executing an al Qaeda plot to blow up the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan. In another New York courtroom, Iranian-American citizen Manssor Arbabsiar pled guilty to plotting with Iran's Quds Force to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the US.

SYRIA: Rebels forces shot down a helicopter over Idib. Rebel acquisition of heavy weapons has forced government aircraft to bomb from higher altitudes. Heavy air attacks struck Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

PAKISTAN: The government was forced to drop a move to seek parliament's support for action against militants in the wake of the Taliban attack on teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, due to stiff opposition from PML-N of former PM Nawaz Sharif. The alleged organizer of the Taliban shooting of a Pakistani schoolgirl was captured during a 2009 military offensive against the hardline Islamist group but released after three months.

ROBOSQUIRREL cost taxpayers over 300K. We had the video back in March!

ALVIN! Warnings are posted for visitors to South Lake Tahoe areas after a convulsing chipmunk was diagnosed with the plague. Obligatory.

SMALLER TREE FROGS are more likely to "cheat" their way to a mate by lurking near the sound of an attractive call, rather than calling more frequently than their larger rivals.

A BLACK RAT SNAKE was rescued from a road by Salem, NJ, police.