Odds and Ends

I've got another Ani Difranco show coming up in a couple of days at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, MA. That's about an hour's drive away. I'm pretty excited about it. I've yet to be disappointed by one of Mr. Difranco's performances: over the years, they've ranged from pretty good to fantastic.

I recently discovered--by accident, while surfing the net looking for something else--that Neil Young's newest album came out. Of course, I shelled out the bucks for it. This is probably the one and only popular recording artist whose product I'll pay for, sight unseen and sound unheard. That said, I'll probably pass on the Neil Young Archives. Much as I love the guy's music, this seems like overexpensive overkill to me. Anyway, the new one is called Fork in the Road. It's a rocker, but without Crazy Horse...more like Living with War than Greendale or Broken Arrow. It was recorded with the rhythm section of Rick Rosas and Chad Cromwell. They are more of a straight-up rock band than Crazy Horse, but the crude, offhand crunch of the guitars sounds a lot like Neil and the Horse. Pay attention to the rhythm to hear the difference. I've only listened to it a couple of times but, so far, I like it. I'll post something more substantial about it sometime soon.