Charlie Chesterman, the frontman of Boston college-radio favorites Scruffy the Cat, part of the late-’80s cowpunk scene that helped spawn the alt-country movement, lost his ongoing battle with cancer on Monday, according to posts on Facebook this morning by friends, including former bandmate Stephen Fredette,

Last week Jane’s Addiction received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of debut studio album Nothing’s Shocking, the band played a short set for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” part of which was aired on last night’s show and posted on the program’s YouTube channel.

Erasure releases its new Christmas-themed album Snow Globe one week from today, but fans can get an early jump on the release, which is now streaming in full via USA Today. Below, you can listen to the full 13-track album — featuring new renditions of “Silent Night,” “White Christmas” and more.

We’ve reached November, which means it’s time for our year-long Best of the ’80s poll to continue on to 1989 as we again ask Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers to help rank the releases of each year of the decade throughout 2013 — concluding, next month, with a giant poll to determine the best records of the entire 1980s.

Here’s a delightful clip that made the rounds over the weekend: A guitar-slinging busker is filmed singing Bronski Beat’s 1984 single “Smalltown Boy” on a Berlin sidewalk when none other than Jimmy Somerville himself, apparently out walking his dog, stops by and pitches it.

This week’s new releases include an expanded 2CD/1DVD reissue of David Bowie’s 7-month-old album ‘The Next Day,’ featuring five brand-new songs, plus an audiophile reissue of XTC’s ‘Nonsuch’ with multiple new mixes, and a new studio album, ‘Tres Cabrones,’ from The Melvins.

The Cure tonight performed what’s been billed as its final show of 2013, a headlining performance at New Orleans Voodoo Music Experience that saw Robert Smith and Co. drop yet another shocker on fans: the first-ever live performance of “Burn,” the band’s contribution to the soundtrack to 1994’s “The Crow.”