What Will Neil Young Sing?

When the Winter Olympics kicked off two weeks ago with Canadian Joni Mitchell singing "Both Sides Now" my first thought was "Where's Neil Young?" Arguably -- okay, maybe not arguably -- Canada's most significant musical artist, Young was missing from the opening ceremonies and I hoped the Canadian Olympic brass would show enough mettle not to freeze him out.

Not to fear. Young (along with fellow Canadian Avril Levigne) will be the featured performer at the closing ceremonies tonight. But what will he sing? As is often the case, what he will sing and what he should sing are probably not going to be the same. Though he's equally at home with electric or acoustic guitars, the setting begs for some sort of solo acoustic performance -- so figure on a selection particularly suited to solo Young on his Martin. The obvious choice is "Heart of Gold" from the 1972 Harvest record that made him an international star. It's well known, it was written and performed for years as an acoustic song, and it hits appropriate Olympic "searching for a heart of gold" themes. So that's where I'm putting my money.



But what Young should do is tip his hat to two of his inspirations, early Canadian folk pioneer duo Ian & Sylvia who wrote and sang folk hit after folk hit including everlasting staples such as Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind" and Ian's "Some Day Soon." But the inspired choice, which Young has performed live and which he recorded on Comes a Time, is Ian's "Four Strong Winds," a gorgeous and bittersweet ballad that not only name-checks Alberta but which was written for the thousands of Canada's seasonal workers who move across the country every year from tobacco harvest to wheat harvest, to apple harvest -- often forced to leave loved ones behind.

That's the inspired choice.

Thom Yorke Headed On Tour With New Band

Thom Yorke is heading out on tour again, though this time it won't be with Radiohead. Billboard is reporting that Yorke and his newly named side project Atoms For Peace will be hitting the road this spring. The band includes Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck drummer Joey Waronker, Nigel Godrich, and Forro In The Dark percussionist Mauro Refosco.

The tour kicks off on April 5th in New York City, rolls through Chicago's Aragon Ballroom on April 10th and 11th, and concludes with a performance at the Coachella Music Festival in California.

No news as of yet regarding an album from the band, though we will keep you posted as information becomes available.

Billy Corgan On The Offensive

Billy Corgan vs. the record industry. No doubt an interesting war. And Billy Corgan has launched the first attack. For the first time ever, The Smashing Pumpkins will be releasing their brand new songs not as an album, but as individual downloads on the Smashing Pumpkins website. Corgan, who was recently in Chicago for a benefit show at The LaSalle Power Company, said "I think a song at a time over the course of three to four years makes sense. I figured this was the best way to skip all that drama. All that drama is really boring."

The band plans on releasing 44 new songs when all is said and done. The project, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, is already underway with two songs, A Song For A Sun and Widow Wake My Mind, currently available for download. Check out both songs below.


A Song For A Sun


Widow Wake My Mind

Corgan’s first shot was a big one. Can the record industry respond? Sure. Will they? Probably not. When doing battle in the world of free downloads, they can’t win. The fans sure pick up a victory though. Three to four years of new Pumpkins music is never a bad thing. Click here or check back with us for updates on when additional downloads are available.

Patti Smith Won't Give Up

The Mother Earth of punk rock returned to the city of her birth Saturday night and from the opening notes of "Frederick" she sent a jolt through the SRO crowd at the Park West. Headlining a Hopefest benefit for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the 63-year-old Smith strolled onstage, her long scraggly hair looking surprisingly restrained beneath a knitted cap. But the smooth melody of "Frederick" led to a haunting "Redondo Beach," and when Smith's band kicked into the opening build up of "Free Money" the energy surged and she ripped her cap off and her hair was hanging free and loose, and that's how the rest of this top-notch rock concert went.



Smith occasionally played acoustic rhythm guitar, but mainly she sang, and she was in great voice, barely discernable from her 35-year-old debut Horses. Her long-time band is tight and that enables Smith to be as comfortable onstage as any performer can be. The music moves through her, and she moves freely with it, dancing, swaying, arms waving and reaching, fists pumping and punching, fingers flicking and grasping in a sometimes delicate, sometimes raging dance.

Along with better-known pieces "Dancing Barefoot," Because the Night," "People Have the Power," and her distinctive set-closing punk-rock version of Them's "Gloria," Smith hip-checked her catalog all night, plucking "Ask the Angels," and "Pissing in a River," from Radio Ethiopia ; "Paths That Cross" from Dream of Life; and "Beneath the Southern Cross" and "Wing" from Gone Again. With a nod to poet Jim Carroll she put her own Ramone's-style spin on "People Who Died," possibly the funniest song about death, which Smith imbued with a sense of sadness and loss but punctuated with the hopeful cry "You will be remembered!" And with her encore of the O'Jay's "Love Train," which she introduced as her "song for 2010," she ripped her heart from her sleeve and put it straight into her mouth, imploring "Join hands" and "Everybody wants to be happy," and urging "Don't give up! Don't give up! Don't give up!"

Patti Smith in all her G-L-O-R-Y.

And, she is without a doubt the best spitter in the history of rock and roll.

Video Of The Week: Silverchair Still Rocks

The video of the week this week comes from the legendary Australian band, Silverchair. Though they've had their ups and downs as a group, these guys can still rock. This video proves it.

At Sydney's Wave Aid event in 2005, Silverchair returned after a two year hiatus and kicked their set off with a staggering version of Israel's Son. The crowd response is unforgettable as the hundreds of thousands of people in attendance give the reunited band a Beatles like reaction. It's truly a sight to see.

Avenged Sevenfold Announces New Drummer

According to Blabbermouth.net, Avenged Sevenfold has chosen Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater to play drums on their upcoming album. The band tragically lost their long time drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan, on December 28th of 2009.

Portnoy said "I am treating my participation on this album with the utmost respect for Jimmy's memory and am remaining as true as possible to the drum parts that he wrote for the songs and the record he wanted to make."

Avenged Sevenfold released a statement as well saying "Jimmy helped leave this world an amazing gift and now it's our job to make sure to deliver that gift to our fans. We asked Jimmy's all-time favorite drummer Mike Portnoy to record on behalf of him. Mike said it would be an honor and without question that's what Jim would have wanted."

An official release date for the new record is not available at this time. Continue to check back for further information.

Lollapalooza Headliner Rumors Swirling

Rumors are running rampant over the "tipped" headliners that may be performing at this year's Lollapalooza in Chicago. Billboard.com is reporting that Green Day, Lady Gaga, and the reunited Soundgarden are among the rumored artists set to play and headline the annual summer festival.

Other rumored artists, according to the leak, are Arcade Fire and the Strokes. These two bands may be among the three additional headliners annouced when the full Lollapalooza lineup is released; something that generally happens sometime in April.

This year Lollapalooza takes place August 6th-8th in Grant Park on Chicago's lakefront. Stay tuned for updated rumors and information regarding Lollapalooza 2010.

New U2 Album Set For June

U2 is at it again. In an interview with the Irish Independent, Bono said that the band’s new album will be ready by June and will be titled Songs Of Ascent. An exact release date was not available. He also hinted that, conceptually, the new record will be like a sister album to No Line On The Horizon, much like Zooropa was to Achtung Baby.

U2 has concert dates already set for Chicago in 2010. They will roll into Soldier Field on July 6. Tickets are already on sale. Stay tuned to Straight Lines Music for more information on updated tour dates and the new CD.

Chicago Weekend Concert Info 2/12-2/14

Here is your Chicago Weekend Concet Info for this week!

Bottom Lounge
2/12 - The Fold, The Scissors, The Insecurities, Last Fast Action, Just Left
2/13 - Stellar Road, 56 Hope Road, Backyard Cohort, Mastrueno

Cubby Bear
2/12 - George Clinton and The Parliament Funkadelic
2/13 - Empire, Kazy, Awake In Reno

Schubas
2/12 - NOMO, The Lowly Ensemble
2/13 - Trevor Hall, Tomorrows Bad Seeds
2/14 - Trevor Hall, Tomorrows Bad Seeds

Lincoln Hall
2/12 - Empires, This is Me Smiling, The Fireship
2/13 - Gene Ween, The Lonesome Organist
2/14 - The Dirty Rooks, Jon Langford, The Delta Routine

Elbo Room
2/12 - Me Against Myself, Drama Junkies, Cycle Something, Saturday June
2/13 - Matt Reed & TGP, The Attic, Stay Awake, Zammis
2/14 - Stereo Sexy, Dirty Switch, Nightkidz

Clapton's Crossroads, Back In Chicago

The 3rd Crossroads Guitar Festival is returning to Chicago this summer and Eric Clapton isn’t coming alone. Jeff Beck, The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Steve Winwood, John Mayer, and Sheryl Crow, will all be playing at the festival to help raise money for Clapton’s addiction treatment and education facility, the Crossroads Centre. Other artists that will be at the day long festival include, Robert Randolph, Keb’Mo’, Albert Lee, and Jimmie Vaughan.

What a lineup. Billboard.com is reporting that it is unconfirmed at the moment as to who will be playing with Clapton at the festival. Though with Jeff Beck, John Mayer, and Steve Winwood backstage, can he really go wrong once he finally decides?

The festival will take place on June 26th at Toyota Park in Chicago. Tickets are $100 and go on-sale Saturday, February 20th, at 10am.

For updates, check back here or head to the festival website at http://www.crossroadsguitarfestival.com/

Neil Young's Weather Forecast

The East Coast has more than two feet of snow on the ground and Chicago is in the midst of getting hit with 10 or more inches over the next 24 hours. How long...how long can this go on? How about Winterlong!

Them Crooked Vultures Rock SNL

This weekend, Them Crooked Vultures, the new supergroup of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme, took to the Saturday Night Live stage and did not disappoint. The band tore through "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and a blistering performance of “New Fang” that highlighted all to well the ferocity that is Dave Grohl’s drumming. Check it out below.



Them Crooked Vulture’s summer calendar is slowly filling up with festival shows like Coachella and the rumor mill is churning about where else the band will perform this year. Can you say Lollapalooza?

"Don't Miss" Gil Scott-Heron...For Free!

How often can you hear a groundbreaking and maybe even earth-shattering performer in a small venue...for free? Anyone interested in soul, politics, or how music evolved into hip-hop has an opportunity to hear one of the original voices when Gil Scott-Heron performs at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at Columbia College Chicago's Stage Two.

The 60-year-old Scott-Heron is an author, poet and musician -- and throughout his career he has tied poetry to music, often with a heavy dose of politics and cultural commentary. Supported by everything from minimalist drums to a full band and jazz combos, Scott-Heron was a "soul talker" who made what many consider to be the first inroads toward hip-hop (just as many consider Bob Dylan and "Subterranian Homesick Blues" an early foray into rap). Two early LPs -- Pieces of Man and Winter in America -- arguably form part of the bedrock of African-American music today. Writing and performing in the late 1960s and early 1970s Scott-Heron was viewed as a black militant, and his music demonstrated restrained activism. He is best known for his recording, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," originally released on a 1970 LP titled Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, where he was accompanied only by congas and bongo drums. A later recording with a full band was released as a B-side recording and included on Pieces of Man.

In 1979 Scott-Heron participated in the No Nukes concerts in New York City and he can be heard on the CD and LP lamenting how "We Almost Lost Detroit."

Don't be surprised at what you'll hear at the performance because it will likely range from his pure poetry, to his early anti-consumer rants, to his militant pieces and his more recent jazz poetry. And with a little luck you'll hear "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," as pure a piece of 60s protest music as there was.

The Columbia College Chicago Stage Two is at 618 S. Michigan Ave. on the second floor. For more info visit www.colum.edu or call the Columbia College African-American Cultural Affairs Department at 312-369-7569.

Chicago Weekend Concert Info 2/5-2/7

Here is your Chicago Weekend Concert Info!!

Cubby Bear
2/5 – Tweezer, Raised On Zenith, Glasko, Aktar Aktar
2/6 – North Mississippi Allstars

Bottom Lounge
2/5 – The Green Room Rockers, Chase Long Beach, Outlaw Nation, Counterpunch
2/6 – The Bama Lamas, The Mediums, The Ruiners, Prizzy Prizzy Please

Schubas
2/5 – David Mcmillin, Kelsey Wild
2/6 – Sarah & The Tallboys, Jack Callahan
2/7 – Zach Deputy

Lincoln Hall
2/5 – Bishop Allen, Unicycle Loves You, Kid, You’ll Move Mountains
2/6 – AM Taxi, Royal Bangs, Big Science

Straight Lines Music Exclusive: Glasko

Upcoming Glasko Shows
2/5 - Cubby Bear, Chicago
2/23 - Elbo Room, Chicago

For more information click here or head to www.glaskomusic.com

Grammys: Taking "Note" of the 2010 Show

The 2010 Grammys are done, and as usual they honored middle-of-the-road music and Big Selling music instead of recognizing artists who push the envelope at least a little bit. It happens every year - I mean the Beatles didn't receive a Grammy for music until Let It Be, which makes that a career award instead of recognition of that particular LP (the same happened with Steely Dan when Two Against Nature beat out Eminem). So here are some High Notes and Sour Notes from this year's event.

Sour Note: Some sharp-eyed music critic who knows way more about Britney Spears than I do (and than he should) noticed that with Neil Young getting a Grammy for design (design!) of his way-ahead-of-its time Archives Volume 1 he is now tied with Spears for Grammys at 1. At the very least the award should have been for the music in the box.

High Note: Beyonce takes over the Staple Center with a dominating, high-energy, and right-on vocal performance of "Halo," though I thought her head was going to come unscrewed in the middle of the song.

High Note: Pink proves there's no reason -- ever -- to lipsynch in a concert as she hits all the right notes in her breathless Cirque du Soleil performance. The lady performs without a net!

Sour Note: Taylor Swift sings "Fearless" instead of either of the two songs that pushed her CD of the same name to the top all year.

Sour Note: She follows that up with a weak duet with former Fleetwood Mac gypsy vixen Stevie Nicks who now needs only a teacup to carry the only two notes she can hit. Swift compounds the Nicks mistake by singing flat for most of "Rhiannon," then carries her flatness through to the two verses she did sing of "You Belong With Me."

High Note: Grammys get it right asking Jeff Beck to honor Les Paul with Paul's signature "How High the Moon," but...

Sour Note: ...What's up with Imelda May on the vocals? Either she was lipsynching or they were tweaking her vocals from the sound trailer. And where was the chorus we heard during the song? Paul's original partner, Mary Ford, would have done a better job...and she's dead.

High Note: While I'm not much for stage versions of rock albums the Grammys did a nice job of offering a sneak peak of the American Idiot show that's going to open on Broadway later this year. "21 Guns" sounded pretty good, even with two women singing it, and the song found its roots when Billy Joe Armstrong and the rest of Green Day took it over midway through.

High Note: Green Day wins rock album of the year. The first four cuts on that CD fit together as well as any four consecutive cuts you can find, and the rest of the CD backs them all up.

Sour Note: Li'l Wayne and his two rapper friends. They were joking, right? I mean, the Grammy awards might be for the industry but the Grammy performances are for the TV audience, and there's no excuse to perform a rap song -- or any song -- that gets censored as much as that one was. There was more silence during that song than there is during a Lovie Smith or Lou Piniella post-game press conference -- and all it did was reinforce the audience view -- the TV audience view -- that rap is ugly, with no meaning, performed by a bunch of thugs. Maybe give them three sour notes.

High Note: Lady Gaga and Elton John. The Grammys do come up with interesting pairings and this was one. Gaga kicked off the show with a lot of energy and smacked upside the head anyone who hasn't been paying attention that there's something new out there -- even if she has taken her cues from style-over-substance Madonna. Still, she had the chops at the piano, and swinging into Elton's "Your Song" was a nice tip of one of her many hats to a showman who could have (and would have..and actually might have) worn her outfits in his heyday. Perfect pairing.

High Note: Kings of Leon gets what they deserve -- and what I figured wouldn't happen -- for Use Somebody.

High Note: Jeff Beck gets recognized for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, tackling and taking down Lennon & McCartney's sacred cow, "A Day in the Life," which until Beck went at it only Neil Young had taken a shot at (as a concert encore).

The Red Hot Chili Peppers Debut New Guitarist

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have their new guitarist. Or so we think. Billboard.com is reporting that the band played with Josh Klinghoffer at a person of the year event honoring Neil Young. Klinghoffer and the group honored Neil with a version of “A Man Needs A Maid”.

The Chili Peppers have been searching for a replacement guitarist since longtime band mate, John Frusciante, left the group a few months ago. No word yet on whether or not Klinghoffer is the official replacement.

Taylor And Beyonce Rule The Grammys

And the Taylor Swift train keeps chugging along. Taylor won the big one again, though this time it was the biggest of the big; the Grammy for album of the year. Not that this was a surprise, seeing as her record, Fearless, has been the big winner at various award shows throughout the past year. Still, it’s pretty amazing to look back and see just how far she has come. It would be hard for anyone to follow the success of an album like Fearless, though if this year is any indication, Taylor Swift probably can.

Other big winners last night at the Grammys were Beyonce, who took home six trophies, including song of the year for “Single Ladies”. “Use Somebody” nabbed the inebriated Kings Of Leon trophies for record of the year and best rock song. Green Day took home the Grammy for best rock album thanks to 21st Century Breakdown and also had one of the more memorable performances of the evening by giving everyone a taste of their American Idiot Broadway show. Check out the video of that performance below.



For more details and a full list of winners, click here.