​You might have heard that the much-discussed singer Lana Del Rey had her U.S. television debut this past weekend on Saturday Night Live, and that the hive mind of public opinion declared that her performances, of "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" did not go well. The satirical indie-chronicle Hipster Runoff's declaration that she "effing TANK[ED]" was echoed by even the most opinion-averse media outlets, with even the publicist-friendly Us wondering if she "bomb[ed]."

While the two performances were low-energy and marked by Del Rey attempting to rein in her voice and seeming not entirely sure of what to do with her corporeal self more than anything else, they didn't seem that much different than her first TV appearance when she performed "Games" on the UK television show Later With Jools Holland back in October. Still, even some who were on the Lana Del Train in the autumn seemed to be taken aback by Saturday's display, resulting in a Great Big Pile On Lana that seemed more intense and widespread than the ones that have occurred any other time her name was mentioned since "Video Games"'s YouTube debut. What happened?

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​Saturday night marked the opening of UCBeast—the Upright Citizens Brigade's East Village outpost, located at East Third Street between A and B—and among the people offering up monologues that evening was one Ian MacKaye. According to friend of SOTC Andrew Krucoff, who was on hand, "Ian could take any suggestion and quickly run it through his Google mind search to pick a club/bar/venue space with same name, and roll a story from that." Among the stories offered up by the DIY legend: the tale of Fear's 1981 Saturday Night Live performance, which was full of slam-dancing and general chaos and which resulted in overheated New York Post pieces overestimating the damage. A clip of that 30-years-old-this-week performance by the LA punkers after the jump. (That's apparently MacKaye yelling "New York suuuuucks!" at the four-minute mark, by the way.)

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​This past Saturday, Drake was the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and he not only got a chance to perform a couple of tracks off Take Care (Cash Money), out November 15, he also showed off the acting chops he developed while toiling away in the Canadian TV salt mines. Clips galore below.

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Last May the season finale of Saturday Night Live was prefaced by Lady Gaga fans setting up a mini-campsite in the middle of Rockefeller Center so they could get the chance to see their heroine perform on the show. Not to be outdone by silly fans of pop music, a bunch of Radiohead fans have also started a vigil of their own in anticipation of the band performing on tonight's Alec Baldwin-hosted season premiere; in the video above, you can see them lined up in last night's drizzle, talking about "a loootttt of advertising" and prepping for campfire moan-alongs to tracks from The King Of Limbs. (Be sure to peep the guy getting creative with mail crates at the 0:30 mark.) Two questions come to mind: First, did Radiohead send over any pizzas yet, and two, I wonder how many citizens of this temporary neighborhood set up their web browsers so they'd be pointed at the correct Ticketmaster page on Monday morning before they left their houses? [via @tcostello/Twitter]

Four songs from this past season of Saturday Night Live—three by the Andy Samberg-led pop-comedy troupe the Lonely Island, and Justin Timberlake's protestation that he's so over being a pop star—have been nominated for Emmys in the Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics category. (That's four of the category's six slots, for those of you who were counting.) As it happens I listened to the still-giggle-worthy "Jack Sparrow," the Michael Bolton-assisted paean to the club and summer blockbusters, this morning while trying out Spotify (about which more later), and it's one of the three Lonely Island tracks up to bring home the trophy on Sept. 18. (Sorry, "Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie And Clyde.") The full slate of original-song nominees after the jump, plus a bonus "hey this track got robbed!" entry from one of this season's best new shows.

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​Today is the official release date for Lady Gaga's long-incubating Born This Way, and it's being accompanied by aggressive efforts to move copies--today the album's retailing for 99 cents at Amazon MP3, while Best Buy is doling out free CDs to anyone who signs up for a smartphone contract this week--as well as promotional appearances from Gaga herself. Tonight she'll be signing things at Best Buy in Union Square; Wednesday she'll perform on the American Idol finale; and on Saturday she joined Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live, performing three BTW tracks (and breaking water to close things out), transforming into an ersatz Stacey Q for a Digital Short, and appearing in a couple of sketches, one of which served as a sort of metacommentary on what a pop star has to do to be famous these days.

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​Damp, it seems from this photo taken a few hours ago. But hey, Gaga did send pizza yesterday, although you'd think people waiting out in the rain for four days deserve a few more accoutrements, or at least a way to get their hair into Little Monster-rrific shape before their heroine takes the stage. Well, stay strong, tarp-covered Gaga fans--there are only 33 hours until Saturday Night Live starts, and there's only a 60% chance of precipitation predicted for tonight! [Previously]

​"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," goes the motto of the Post Office, but it also could be applied to fans of Lady Gaga, who are already camped out outside the NBC studios in hopes of seeing their patron saint perform on the Saturday Night Live finale this weekend; Gaga tweeted the photo at left, along with promises of treats for the campers, shortly after she hinted that a "dreamy" guest star would be joining her this weekend. (?uestlove also tweeted a photo of Gaga fans yesterday with a bit of astonishment at peoples' willingness to wait 96 hours just to see their heroine, but the line has definitely grown since then.) No word on how many of those people are just as excited to see this week's SNL host Justin Timberlake, although I'd love to do a survey gauging how many of them share the opinion of this reporter and think that he really needs to get back to making music--and knocking off the "voicing animated characters in crap movies" dilly-dallying--ASAP.

So this "Betty White on Saturday Night Live" thing -- a rousing success, no? The "Depends" joke you knew was coming was pretty great anyway, right? And then there was Jay-Z, giving one fantastic performance and one fantastically awful one. Dude's got range.

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Well actually, there was a lot to like here--a little string quartet and two foxy, bejeweled back-up singers on "Giving Up the Gun" in particular, which remains a really satisfyingly grown-up song coming from a band this young. And "Cousins" has like 50% less stressed-out guitar face than it did when VW first start playing it on late night TV shows! A win all around, and a nice pairing with the always charming Zach Galifianakis. Real talk though: Ezra needs to give the red APC Nikes a rest--it's been like a year now, dude. If Rostam can put the scarves back in the closet, you can do it too.

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