THE DECEMBERISTS soundcheck big hunks of Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" at Western Washington University, plus clips from the concert at Volume-Knob.

WILCO frontman Jeff Tweedy gives The London Times, among other things, the quote of the week or month: "It took me years to work out what went into a great pop song... But even if I know the recipe it doesn't mean I have the ingredients. The way I see it, Abba made 'Dancing Queen' and, from that moment on, every musician who has heard it faces the struggle to come to terms with their own imperfection."

THE NATIONAL:  The band's Boxer album does not come out until May 22, but you can stream the whole album now.

ELVIS COSTELLO will not only appear on The Late Show With David Letterman tonight, but also on a post-show live webcast  at about 8:25 p.m. EST.

SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS -- whose Daptone Records recently signed to the World's Fair label group -- have a new track streaming at Pitchfork.  More classic funky soul music, with a few twists.

BOB GELDOF, who organized the Live Aid and Live 8 benefit concerts, criticized the Live Earth music events Al Gore is putting together this summer, saying they lack a specific goal and that the name has people thinkig Geldof is involved.

THE ROCK BOTTOM REMAINDERS counts humorist Dave Barry among its members, and you never know who will be sitting in, like Roger McGuinn and Steve Martin on Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere."

WARNER MUSIC:  If you want to know why at least one major label is bleeding money, Roger Friedman will fill you in.

BEN GIBBARD played DC's 9:30 Club May 10th, so you can steam the gig via NPR on demand.  John Krasinski from The Office makes a cameo, grabbing a guitar and singing alittle Wilco.

GETTING POPPED AT THE POPS?  Police are investigating a fight that broke out between two men during last week's Boston Pops concert, which later featured a guest appearance by Ben Folds.  Idolator has your video.

PETE DOHERTY UPDATE:  The troubled singer has unveiled his first public exhibition of his paintings and prints - produced in his own blood.  Pics at the link.

JOHN TRAVOLTA is accused of mistreating his autistic son by an Ocala, Florida restaurant manager, who blames Scientology.  Meanwhile, the Daily Mail claims Travolta is trying to suppress a BBC documentary on Scientology.  Both sides took to the Tube with Scientolgy allies posting video of presenter John Sweeney lashing out at a Scientologist, while the Beeb has posted a clip of a Scientology spokesman getting snippy with Sweeney.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  Spider-Man 3 topped the box office again -- as expected -- with 60 million, but dropped 60% and missed its chance to become the fastest to break the 200 mill mark (tying Spider-Man 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at eight days).  Then again, Dead Man's Chest dropped 54% in its second weekend, so the question is only the amount of profit.  New releases 28 Weeks Later and Georgia Rule came in a distant second and third, at 10 million and 5.8 million, respectively -- which means Georgia Rule didn't work as counter-programming to the web-slinger.  Disturbia placed a decent fourth on an 18% drop, followed by the debut of Delta Farce with 3.5 million.  Fracture made 2.9 million, while The Invisible made 2.2 million.  Hot Fuzz moved up to the eighth slot with 1.6 million -- it has made more than Shaun of the Dead here and 67 million worldwide.  Next and Meet the Robinsons round out the Top Ten just a few tens of thousands behind Hot Fuzz.

JANE FONDA and LINDSAY LOHAN were snapped taking to the dance floor at NYC's China Club after the premiere of Georgia Rule.

GEORGE MICHAEL has revealed he's starring in a new American TV sit-com with Trainspotting star Johnny Lee Miller.

PRINCE was straddled by a stalker at a secret gig in London.  Pic at the link.

BRADGELINA are working the domestic bliss publicly, with Jolie saying that Pitt completes her, while Pitt gushes that becoming a father is the best thing he ever did.

SHERYL CROW announced on her website that she has adopted a baby two-week-old boy, who presumably won't be using toilet paper for awhile.  Yeah, she tried to laugh off her advocacy of limits on toilet paperas a joke, so she probably wasn't laughing when Good Morning America gave fawning coverage of the family that uses no toilet paper.

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO, another celebrity green, is being sued for allegedly "maliciously" crossing onto his neighbors' property, cutting and removing hedges, excavating "earth, granite and bedrock," all for the construction of his personal basketball court.

THE OFFICE has been renewed for 24 episodes, including 4 hour-long specials.  The network had sought to make every episode an hour.

JOAN COLLINS and LINDA EVANS are in another catfight, something I had to note for my fellow Dynasty-mocker, Dale.

JESSICA SIMPSON shows off an impressive set of balloons during a nautical-themed photo shoot Wednesday at NYC's Coney Island in Brooklyn.  Pics at the link; the pic above is not one of them.

THE HAMAS MOUSE is back on Al-Aqsa TV, brainwashing kids with Islamist jihadi propaganda.  Here's video of the Mouse claiming he cheated on a test because the Jews destroyed his home, along with kindly Uncle Azim dreaming of the day Islamists re-conquer Spain and Portugal.

TURKEY:  Some 1.5 million Turks streamed into the port of Izmir to protest the pro-Islamic ruling party, increasing pressure on the government ahead of early elections.

AFGHANISTAN:  NATO and Afghan forces have killed the Taliban's top military commander.

IRAQ:  Reuters reported that the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq -- Iraq's most powerful Shiite party -- would make key changes to its platform that would align it with Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani -- and distance it from Iran.  The media bureau of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, formerly SCIRI, issued a statement late Saturday claiming this was "inaccurate analysis."  However, the change of name -- eliminating the "Revolution" which referred to Iran -- suggests at least a rhetorical shift away from Iran at a time when the Shiite Sadrists seem more aligned with Iran.  Al Qaeda has hit the Kurds for the second time in five days.  Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi --a Sunni Arab --  has backed down from a threat to withdrawal from the government, while Prime Minister al-Maliki has offered to give a greater role to Sunnis in securing their regions.  Also, there seem to be even more doubts that the parliament will set a timetable for US withdrawal.  PM al-Maliki also said he would send more troops to Diyala province to help halt sectarian fighting that has forced out hundreds of families in the past five days -- an issue that had caused the last session of parliament to end in a walkout by reps from Diyala.  Iraq's national security advisor told ABCNews that Syria is continuing to harbor and support Islamists responsible for killing both Iraqis and Americans.

GOAT DRESSING is apparently a competition at the gay rodeo.  Actually, I suspect this is a hoax -- NTTAWWT if it's real.

A PENGUIN has turned up 3,000 miles from home... and may be rejected by his new community.  And it seems unlikely that he will win them over with his dancing.

A HORSE IS A HORSE, of course, of course... even if you paint stripes on it and charge people to have pictures taken with the "zebra."

SUICIDE GOOSE sparks a power outage In PN that caused at least 25 gallons of oil to spill into the Ohio River.  How long until the geese form an Axis of Evil with the squirrels? (Thanks, Dad.)

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:  A calf with two noses.  In fact, the secnd one looks like a pig snout!  (Thanks again, Dad.)