'In History's Page, Let Every Stage..'

Happy Australia Day.

Some people can make the guitar sound like an orchestra. Some can make it sound like a gospel choir. This guy can pretty much make it sound like everything at the same time. I've only ever seen Tommy Emmanuel on video (with the advantage of being able to rewind and say "wow, did he just do that?") but the man is amazing, is driven by a pure love of music and is on tour in the US this month.





And here's my favourite Australian band - yes, I know the Finn brothers are from New Zealand, but hey, any excuse to hear a great, great song. (Update: just today it was announced that Crowded House are releasing a new album in March and touring to support it.)




Finally, and not Aussie-related at all, it's Lucinda Williams' 57th birthday today. My wife's a big fan, so this is for you...

'Was it something I did in another life..?'

Today would have been Warren Zevon's 63rd birthday.

Wonderful voice, brilliantly witty songwriter and just an excellent musician and performer.

He's one of my absolute all-time inspirations and is sorely missed. I had the extreme good fortune to see him play at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1985 and I love his songs as much today as when I first heard them.

If you get a chance, check out the heartbreaking documentary VH1 did about the recording of his final album and how he kept going to complete it as his friends and collaborators rallied round. In the meantime, I'll let his music speak for itself.

Here's an acoustic 'Lawyers Guns And Money' from a BBC show 15 years ago:



Here's 'Johnny Strikes Up The Band' from the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, 1982:



And here's his famous final TV appearance, recorded following his diagnosis, with a clearly emotional David Letterman.

Goodnight and thanks.

'Hallelujah..'

If you ever doubted music's power to reach within our soul, whoever we are, whichever our station in life, or whatever our fortune by an accident of where we were born, then listen to this.

Tonight's Haiti telethon was reverential, respectful, and, at least in part, with Wyclef Jean's spirited finale, redemptive.

There were many remarkable performances - Bruce sang 'We Shall Overcome', Sting and The Roots blew the roof off with 'Driven To Tears', while Stevie Wonder's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' was damn near perfect.

But this - this - version of Leonard Cohen's signature anthem by Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris, was simply breathtaking.

God bless music.

(You can download all of tonight's performances through iTunes in support of the disaster relief efforts in Haiti)

'May your dreams be realized..'

'When Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half..'

Happy 68th Birthday, Clarence Clemons.

Over the holidays I read his book "Big Man" which came out towards the end of the Working On A Dream tour. The sub-title is "Real Life and Tall Tales" and it's just that - a collection of true recollections and narratives which fall into something of a grey area, hence they're printed on grey pages in the book.

Clarence's co-author Don Reo introduces one of them with "Most of Clarence's stories are only partially bullshit. It's only fair to tell you that I think the next one is complete bullshit."

The book's great to dip into and well worth reading, especially for E Street fans. As he says himself, it's impossible to tell his story without talking at length about Bruce. Here's Clarence's recent appearance on The Daily Show, and below, he talks about getting his first saxophone:




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Tonight at 9pm on PBS is the debut of the American Masters documentary on the life of Sam Cooke. Here's Ken Shane's review for PopDose. (On my local station, WNET, it's being followed by the one on Marvin Gaye)

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Tickets went on sale today for the Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band show next month at BAM. Eric Clapton, Paul Simon and Martha Wainwright are on the bill.

'All our words are written down in chalk..'