THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

... with XTC! Live on Rockpalast, February 10, 1982. Your setlist includes: "Respectable Street" (still one of my faves), "Towers of London," "Runaways," "Jason and the Argonauts," "Burning With Optimism's Flames," "Snowman," "Ball And Chain," "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)," "No Thugs In Our House" (another fave), "Senses Working Overtime" (ditto), "Making Plans For Nigel," "Living Through Another Cuba," "Generals and Majors," "Real By Reel," and "Life Begins At The Hop."

DIRTY PROJECTORS visited WNYC Soundcheck for an unplugged set in the studio -- and to make some predictions for 2013.

DAVID BYRNE & ST. VINCENT perform a full set, culminating with "Burning Down the House," at NPR.

THE HELIO SEQUENCE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session.

TOWNES VAN ZANDT, Live in Mpls, 1973.

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN drops “Someday Our Love Will Sell Us Out” from their first LP of new stuff in eight years.

GUIDED BY VOICES drop "Copy Zero" ahead of a new EP.

TEGAN & SARA cover the Stones' "Fool To Cry" for HBO's Girls Season 2 soundtrack.

THE BESNARD LAKES drop "People Of The Sticks."

WHITE RABBITS cover "Instant Karma." Gonna knock you right on the head.

MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle spoke to Spinner on his new son's strange affinity for "Scarface," his opinions of his own songs and the importance of throwing things away.

BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB: Robert Levon Been and drummer Leah Shapiro talk to Rolling Stone about coping with the loss of Been's father, former Call frontman Michael Been.

SOLANGE KNOWLES talks to The Guardian about her sister, her career, and her new project with Dev Hynes.

THE 16 BEST POSTHUMOUS ALBUMS, according to Spinner.

CUTOUT BIN: From the La's to AC/DC, from Don Dixon to Paul Anka, from Marvin Gaye to the Violent Femmes. plus Robyn Hitchcock, CCR, the Velvet Underground, the Jam and more -- this year's final fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include: Gangster Squad, which is currently scoring 36 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and A Haunted House, which was not screened for critics. In addition, Zero Dark Thirty expands wide, scoring 94 percent (Here's my take from Monday).

LINDSAY LOHAN: Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie.

BRITNEY SPEARS: Y'all can't fire me; I quit.

THE OSCAR nominations went to these folks. Congrats.

ELTON JOHN and David Furnish have welcomed their second baby via surrogate.

LILY ALLEN and husband Sam Cooper became second-time parents when Allen recently gave birth to a baby girl in London.

CHARLIE SHEEN is covering a huge chunk of the funeral costs for the paparazzo who died while covering Justin Bieber.

IRAN is the likely culprit in a wave of cyber-attacks on US banks. Iran's oil minister acknowledged that oil exports have fallen by more than 40 percent due to economic sanctions. Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, warned the Iranians not to criticize upcoming presidential elections.

PAKISTANI transporters who carry NATO supplies to land-locked Afghanistan have gone on strike, disrupting the flow of goods to Western forces in a protest against a new customs regime aimed at cutting theft.

AFGHANISTAN: Lawmakers said disaster and civil war would follow if Washington pushed ahead with a suggestion to withdraw all its troops from the country after 2014.

A QUOKKA: I had no idea.

DOLPHIN STAMPEDE in the waters off Dana Point in SoCal.  So long, and thanks for all the fish.

QANTAS had its own dramatic ''snakes on a plane'' episode when a three-meter python joined passengers on an early morning flight to Papua New Guinea.

A NEW CAT BREED uglier than the sphynx.