Parolophone Records today is marking what would have been David Bowie’s 71st birthday with the digital release of a previously unheard demo version of the singer’s 1983 hit single “Let’s Dance,” the fruit of his collaboration with Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers. Stream the full song right here.

“Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Matt Sebastian, airs 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. EDT every Sunday on Sirius XM satellite radio’s 1st Wave (Channel 33). The most recent two episodes also are available via Sirius XM’s On Demand service for online subscribers. Check out the full playlist, and make requests for next week, here.

Three-quarters of R.E.M. — Peter Buck, Mike Mills and drummer-turned-farmer Bill Berry — reunited onstage tonight in Portland, Ore., at the second of two benefit concerts for Scott McCaughey, the longtime R.E.M. sideman who suffered a stroke in November. See video from the reunion performances here.

Some personal news from Reeves Gabrels — guitarist for The Cure and former David Bowie sideman — got major play today, as his wedding to Susan Van Wie Kastan, a marketing communications consultant, landed a write-up in the New York Times’ wedding section. No word whether Robert Smith will be there.

[tweetmeme]Simple Minds today offered up the first taste of the band’s forthcoming album Walk Between Worlds, debuting an effects- and mirror-heavy music video for “Magic,” the driving first single off the new record, which is due out Feb. 2 via BMG. You can check the song right here.

John Dent, the mastering engineer who worked on albums by U2, Love and Rockets, The Stranglers, Bob Marley and others, and is credited by Andy Partridge with figuring out XTC’s Skylarking suffered for years from “reversed polarity,” died of cancer last week at 63.

The Showtime cable network has released a trailer ahead of its airing of the new XTC  documentary “This Is Pop,” a 30-second tease that’s a fraction as long as the nearly 6 1/2-minute trailer that leaked earlier this year. Still, for fans in the U.S., where the doc has yet to air, it’s a tantalizing glimpse of the film that will screen Jan. 11.

The Stray Cats, the high-octane rockabilly trio that became an unlikely New Wave-era breakout in the early 1980s, will reunite for the first time in nine years this April to perform at the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, guitarist/frontman Brian Setzer announced this week. The band will play on April 21.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival unveiled the mammoth lineup for its two-weekend extravaganza this April, a bill that features legendary Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and 164 other musical acts, some whose names are written in really, really small type. Check out the full lineup, people.

Just a quick note for you “Dark Wave” listeners out there: This weekend’s usual Sunday night show is being pre-empted by New Year’s Eve programming on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave, but we’ll be back on the air with the darker side of classic alternative at the usual time in the New Year, starting on Jan. 7.

We end the year at Slicing Up Eyeballs HQ by looking back at the past 12 months — or in this case, the 10½ since our relaunch — to see what’s been of most interest to you, our readers. In 2017, that included news about R.E.M., Morrissey, The Cure, Depeche Mode and more. Check out our full Top 20 list right here.

“The Go-Betweens: Right Here,” director Kriv Stenders’ new documentary about the beloved Australian indie-rock act that premiered last summer at the Sydney Film Festival, can now be seen by fans in the U.S. thanks to a Vimeo streaming deal. The film, previewed below, can be rented for $4.99 or bought for $9.99.

Holly Anderson, the poet and artist whose “White Story” — which she once described as “an anthem to being disconnected” — was turned into the Mission of Burma song “Mica” on the band’s 1982 debut album Vs., died last week, according to the St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press.