I was never too big on Joan but when I saw her during a traveling version of the Newport Folk Festival back in the 90s she did an Indigo Girls cover and also broke into her dead on Dylan impersonation at one point that had everyone rolling in the aisles. I've had a newfound respect for her ever since. As for Dylan and the Dead, the album from that tour has gotten some less than rave reviews but I understand there was actually some pretty standout shows. Also, Silvio came out of that pairing which is one of my favorite Dylan songs. I also need to pick up the album below and have been meaning to for years. One of the many highlights from my first ever Grateful Dead show back in '89 was hearing them break into Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again.

Dylan on Dharma & Greg

I'll admit I much prefer his work with the Beatles over the vast majority of his solo material but if you're going to a Paul McCartney concert one should fully expect him to perform a good deal of his own stuff as well.

Even though I'm a big fan I never did see him in concert until the early 90s when he was on tour with Santana. I also had a hard time making out what songs he was playing. Oftentimes he would be halfway through one before I recognized it. His playing was superb but his vocal delivery and the sometimes radical rearrangements of the songs are what threw me off. The next time I saw him (this time with Paul Simon) was a completely different ballgame. I could make out the lyrics distinctly and he was very animated onstage, dancing a jig and even placing a cellphone call to his buddy Elvis Costello at one point. Unfortunately I haven't seen him in concert since the tour for Love & Theft back in the early 00s.

A comedy short from Seth MacFarlane: Backstage With Bob Dylan

I've heard a few here and there but not the entire record. From what I understand it's good but not necessarily great. If you want to sample it there should be a few videos on YouTube. You can also check out the film I just posted about on Neil's website.

To coincide with the release of his new record, Fork In the Road, Neil Young has put a short film up on his website.

Not I. I recently invested in my first ever digital camera and even had it on hand but didn't bring it into the show.

Thanks, I'll definitely keep that in mind. By the way, here's a link to some photos from last night's show plus photos from some previous Hitchcock appearances in the area (including my first ever Robyn concert from 2008 also at the Cradle).

Brief writeup on last night's Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 show at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro from Raleigh, News & Observer music writer David Menconi's On the Beat blog here.

There's a similarly packaged box set of singles but it's also quite pricey:

Mixing Up the Medicine

I guess I first heard of him via R.E.M. when Peter Buck would make fairly frequent guest appearances on his records back in the 80s. With most of the touring version of R.E.M. and the Minus Five as his backing band, the Venus 3 (Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin) I decided to check him out a couple of years ago and loved it. As the show went on I noticed more and more songs I was familiar with from the days of 120 Minutes and PostModern MTV. I still haven't picked up any of his older stuff but I can definitely call myself a Robyn Hitchcock fan these days.

Aside from the college stations and ones that carry NPR I gave up on local radio several years ago and signed up for satellite. Prior to that there was at least one AOR (Album Oriented Rock) station that did the Beatles A To Z weekends. While that was great and I'm a huge Beatles fan, it led to me getting a bit burnt out on the Beatles at one time. By the way, Breakfast With Beatles still lives on.

Excellent show by these guys earlier this evening at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. Hitchcock even broke out a couple of songs he's never done before live, including I'm A Reptile.

News on Skynyrd's upcoming UK concert tour and their new record, God & Guns. Info on the Mississippi Kid Festival that's being held in support of Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Can't say I support bootleggers at all but I guess like a lot of us they got tired of waiting for the remasters and did something to meet the very obvious demand. More info on those recordings here..

U2 just confirmed a Raleigh date for October at Carter-Finley Stadium. Due to the economy they've said they'll make ticket prices "reasonable". If I'm not mistaken I believe I've read they'll start at $30 (before inconvenience charges). If that turns out to be true I may have to pop my live U2 cherry even it means sitting in the nosebleed section.

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 w/ Erie Choir Wednesday, April 8th Cat's Cradle Raleigh, NC

I held out for years on buying any Beatles on CD in hopes of their catalog eventually being remastered. Years ago I saw a limited edition box set on sale at a Turtles outside of Athens, GA but it was far more than I could afford at the time. A few years after that the Turtles chain went out of business and started marking everything down. Fortunately one of their local stores had a copy of the same box so I didn't wait too long before snatching it up. Still, I'd like to buy the new remasters at some point but I'm sure they'll be pricey as well. The limited edition box:

The Beatles' Remastered Albums Due September 9, 2009

I love Pearl Jam's version of that song.

The one and only time I ever saw Let's Active is when they opened for R.E.M. at Duke on the Pagentry tour in '86. It was Mitch's birthday so R.E.M. came out to sit in on their last song which was Hush. I've since seen Mitch a few times since then (including sitting in with R.E.M. last summer) but not a full on Mitch show, I need to fix that. Not sure I've heard any music by either Tiny Lights or Winter Hours but they do ring a bell. I'll have to do some reading up on them. I guess I understand Twitter but it hasn't gotten my attention enough yet to sign up or check it out. It is definitely everywhere these days though. Maybe things like that, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, etc. are what Andy Warhol meant when he said in the future everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame.

I first stumbled upon the local scene via the Mondo Montage, More Mondo and Welcome To Comboland (which have sadly never been made available on CD) compilations which led me to the Db's, Let's Active, Arrogance, the Connells, Southern Culture on the Skids, and tons of others, including R.E.M. Even though R.E.M. aren't from here they frequently gigged in the area and got lots of airplay on WQDR out of Raleigh. I have a friend that's been on Twitter for at least the last couple of years. Amazing how it's taken off so much lately. I guess it has to do with the Facebook/social networking craze that's taking place. I may look into it eventually but right now I've already got enough web sites/email lists to keep me busy.

Even though I'm a Db's fan I've only seen him two or three times over the years (once in an impromptu version of Whiskeytown at one of their reunion shows). Most recently he and Holsapple debuted a song from their upcoming record at the 40 anniversary celebration for Arrogance (which includes Don Dixon who co-produced R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning along with many other albums) in Durham a few weekends ago. In case you're interested, No Depression's website has a list of upcoming releases here.