When not playing bass in Guns N’ Roses or Soul Asylum, former Replacements member Tommy Stinson has found time to whittle away at a new album of his own — and that follow-up to his 2004 solo debut ‘Village Gorilla Head’ is now complete and will be out later this summer.

New York City’s Baruch College played host Saturday night to a star-studded tribute to Big Star’s beloved ‘Third/Sister Lovers’ album, performed by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills, plus Matthew Sweet, members of Teenage Fanclub and Yo La Tengo, and surviving Big Star member Jody Stephens.

Contemporary indie acts such as Ted Leo, St. Vincent and Dan Deacon will cover the music of their predecessors at this May’s Our Band Could Be Your Concert, a 10th anniversary celebration of Michael Azerrad’s ’80s underground bible ‘Our Band Could Be Your Life’ and a tribute to the bands that book chronicled.

Thirty-three years ago tonight, Elvis Costello & The Attractions staged one of the more infamous stunts in ‘Saturday Night Live’ history, pulling the plug on their label-approved song ‘Less Than Zero’ less than 10 seconds in and instead ripping through ‘Radio Radio.’

Former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson today released a free song called ‘One Man Mutiny’ as a thank you to fans who helped him raise more than $50,000 in a recent auction to benefit Haiti. Download it here.

Paul Westerberg is mixing old and new formats this week by issuing a pair of new songs — under the pseudonym Mr. F — on limited-edition, multicolored 7-inch vinyl that comes with a code to download a third, digital-only track.

The A.V. Club wraps up its summer-long web series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ with this final installment: Shambling indie rockers The Walkman take on R.E.M.’s 1985 single ‘Driver 8,’ from the just-reissued ‘Fables of the Reconstruction.’

The A.V. Club’s web series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ follows up last week’s installment — Superchunk tearing through The Cure’s ‘Inbetween Days’ — with another iconic ’80s college-rock tune: The Replacements’ ‘I Will Dare,’ as reimagined by Mates of State.

This week’s installment of the A.V. Club’s series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ features indie rockers Superchunk tearing through a cover of The Cure’s classic 1985 single ‘Inbetween Days.’

This week on the A.V. Club’s ‘Undercover’ series, Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump goes solo-acoustic to offer his take on The Wedding Present’s 1987 single ‘My Favourite Dress.’

The penultimate album by The Replacements — 1989’s ‘Don’t Tell a Soul’ — is set to be reissued on 180-gram audiophile vinyl by Original Recordings Group on Aug. 17 — the first time the long out-of-print album has appeared on vinyl since its original release.

The directors of the upcoming documentary ’40 Nights of Rock & Roll’ managed to drag former Replacements leader Paul Westerberg out of semi-seclusion last week to play some songs and talk rock at Minneapolis’ Target Field — and here’s a video teaser to prove it.

As it marks its own 25th anniversary this year, Spin magazine has churned out a list of the 125 best albums of the past quarter century — an honor roll topped by U2’s 1991 left turn ‘Achtung Baby,’ a record the mag says ‘genetically engineer(ed) rock music into the hybridized mutant we know today.’