THE CONCEPT OF WILLIE NELSON Confession: Something was missing in my recent bit on Willie Nelson’s 80th birthday. But I only realized it last week during a long walk home crosstown from the Cutting Room, where I and my new two friends had just seen Buster Poindexter (more on that later). During the show’s intermission, Lincoln Foley Schofield, the club’s booker, asked me how I liked the Willie celebration. It hadn’t even been a week, and I’d... 

DARLENE LOVE – 20 FEET Darlene Love, who at this point deserves to be called the Eighth Wonder of the World, noted after an outdoor screening at Open Road Rooftop (the roof of a former high school on the Lower East Side) of Twenty Feet From Stardom how most of the background singers that are the subject of the film—herself included—came from church music beginnings. She had just finished reprising live “Lean On Me,” which she performs,... 

WILLIE NELSON Consider this most varied grouping: Barbra Streisand, Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson, Tony Bennett, Bono, John Mayer, Elvis Costello, Cyndi Lauper, Steven Tyler, Paul Anka, Carlos Santana, Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne, Emmylou Harris, Sandra Bernhard, Dan Akroyd, Brad Paisley, Iggy Pop, Steve Earle, Tom Morello, Daryl Hall , John Oates, Marky Ramone, Lemmy, Tom Kenny, Vince Gill, B.J. Thomas, Howard Stern, Billy F Gibbons, Ranger... 

THE ROLLING STONES & CARRIE UNDERWOOD Carrie Underwood Speaking of the Stones, did you see where Carrie Underwood came out to sing on “It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It)” during their show in Toronto? Reminds me of the first time I saw the Stones, 1975 tour, County Stadium, Milwaukee. The Eagles and Rufus opened. I’m with Lebowski on The Eagles, and could just as easily have seen the Stones without Rufus. I don’t remember who... 

FOGERTY & BURDON—FORTUNATE ONES The latest Rolling Stones round of touring brought forth the predictably two-part, contradictory media response: 1. They’re too old to rock ‘n’ roll and should have hung it up decades ago, and 2. Isn’t it incredible how Mick Jagger can run around the stage at 70? Quickly, no, the Stones aren’t too old to rock ’n’ roll, not so long as fans are still willing to shell out the big bucks to watch. And,... 

AMBOY DUKES Marshall Crenshaw Not often you’re confronted with an ethical dilemma at a rock show. It happened last week at Marshall Crenshaw’s show at New York’s City Winery, first song. I was probably the only one with the problem, maybe the only one who recognized it. Crenshaw didn’t say anything before or after opening with the case in point, “Journey to the Center of the Mind.” Actually, besides three people I knew in the audience,... 

GEORGE JONES’ SHOES  So let’s ask the question, even though we’ve been told time and again in the days following the death of the great George Jones that the answer is “no one,” “Who’s gonna fill his shoes?” Actually, his funeral, if not offering a direct answer, put up several artists who at the very least should be standing beside him now in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Starting with Tanya Tucker, who was spectacular in opening... 

BOSTON Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand) Amazing how programmed we are to expect or seek out music to go with every major (and minor) event in our lives—and how bad it so often is. MSNBC is particularly bad during the day, mostly in trying to be hip. I’ve actually heard Elvis Costello and the Sex Pistols coming out of Morning Joe commercial breaks—my fault for falling asleep watching the channel the night before. Yesterday, predictably,... 

LES BLANK A National Treasure Les Blank died last Sunday at 77. Taylor Hackford called him a “national treasure.” “Although his films are not well known at the moment, they’ll take their place,” he told The New York Times. “Films are great when they live a long time, and I think Les’ will live.” Blank was quietly renowned for intimate documentaries exploring comparatively unknown music genres and regional cultures (Cajun/Zydeco titles... 

Merle Kilgore, Cindy Walker, BMI’s Frances Preston SONGWRITER MERLE KILGORE The Tall Texan Merle Kilgore with Elvis Presley Hard to believe that it’s been eight years now since we lost that cuddly bear Merle Kilgore, best known at the end for being Hank Williams, Jr.’s longtime manager/cheerleader—though he had also worked with Hank, Sr., carrying his guitar at the Louisiana Hayride when he was 14. But Kilgore also had great success as a... 

Joel Coen did an interview last week in The New York Times about his and brother Ethan’s much-anticipated—but aren’t all CoBros films “much anticipated”?–film Inside Llewyn Davis. Based very loosely on Dave Van Ronk’s posthumous 2005 memoir The Mayor of MacDougal Street (written with Elijah Wald), Inside Llewyn Davis takes a darkly funny, typically ambiguous CoBros look at the pre-Dylan 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene,... 

MADONNA CAN’T STOP SHOCKING At 54, Madonna’s still got it: Breast baring in Turkey, mooning in Italy, and supporting gay rights and Pussy Riot in Russia Whatever you think of her—that is, if you think of her at all—there can be no denying that Madonna’s current MDNA tour show is spectacular. Though short of Stones-Age, the 54-year-old icon is still long past her performing prime, yet remains Jagger-like in her ability to work a...