​Just when we thought the Double Rainbow meme had run its course and then some, Jimmy Fallon busts out his uncanny Neil Young impression, the same night Lynyrd Skynyrd's least favorite canuck visits us (less than transcendentally). What does it mean?

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​Daft Punk's attachment to the upcoming Tron movie has been the subject of excitement since it was announced almost a year ago. The result has been endless speculation, fakes, and tidbits being released. Well today somebody leaked the whole damn thing to Youtube. Maybe.
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​Who says climate change doesn't exist? It's been a week full of tropical sweat and torrential downpours that have been keeping us inside where it's nice and cool, and we're all about to burst. Let's make this weekend all about rocking and rolling no matter what the weather! Don't worry about the pit stains, it's not like you're going to church (unless you are.) Here's a quick list of shows that are a great reason to give the heat a big fat bird...

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​You're front row, dead center at a show for your favorite band, they've just played your second favorite song, and you can't wait to hear what's next. There's a short pause in between songs--the singer thanks the crowd, the bassist cracks a private joke to the drummer, and meanwhile, in a matter of seconds, some guy walks on stage from the side, hands the guitar player a new guitar, and walks off with the old one. It's happened a million times at a million shows, but every time, you notice the guy with the guitar. And every time, you think the same thing: "Who the hell is that guy?"

That guy, if you're watching the Hold Steady, is Dusty Miller, and there's a whole lot more to it than swapping out guitars.

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​The Pist were as popular as a mid-nineties, socially-pissed, recidivist hardcore band could be, which makes them almost infamous and largely unknown..except maybe in our towns. Minneapolis and Saint Paul have been considered punk as fuck for as long as that word has, it's just a fact. And that's the very reason The Pist have deigned us down enough to throw a reunion show this weekend, and at The Bedlam no less.

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photo by: Steve Cohen

​While more than a decade of active music journalism has made me as jaded as the next overly critical jerk, that cynicism goes right out the window when it comes to Neil Young. Young was my first childhood musical hero, and one of the few I haven't distanced myself from with age and hindsight (sorry, Toad the Wet Sprocket), or become disillusioned with entirely (here's looking at you, Ryan Adams). That being said, I know Young's a mere mortal, despite a forty-years-plus stellar music career speaking to the contrary. The recorded highs have been somewhat few and far between over the last ten years - I'd argue only 2006's vitriolic Living With War definitively holds up with his best work - and last year's loopy concept album about automobiles, Fork in the Road, could have been lovably eccentric if it weren't such a musical car wreck.

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photo via Retribution Gospel Choir's Myspace

​Alan Sparhawk's relatively aggressive, tightly yet epically sprawling, and stunningly composed project Retribution Gospel Choir recently recorded a session at The Current, playing their songs "Working Hard," "Hide It Away," and "Your Bird." Lucky for everyone else NPR's Music division grabbed and ran with it.

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​A little less than a year ago Chris Strouth used a new tool to solve an old problem: finding a kidney to combat his IGA nephropathy (Harold, for short). He went to Twitter. You can read more about that story here and here, but suffice it to say: his 140-character gambit worked, and his new kidney been filtering blood and urine like a charm for almost a year now. Naturally he wanted to celebrate, which he did in February at the 501 Club with the event New Kidney On the Block. This Sunday he's set to do it again with a long lineup of friends and compatriots on Club Jäger's gigantic and gorgeous patio.

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​A collection of somewhere between eight and 16 cellos will gather on the Cedar Cultural Center's patio this evening for an outdoor performance that is sure to be unique. The Portland Cello Project has achieved prominence in its hometown by collaboration with indie rock musicians and mixing everything from classical to contemporary songs into their performances.

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Photo by Nick Vlcek

​Local indie-pop band Fort Wilson Riot is preparing to release its sophomore album at the Kitty Cat Klub this weekend, and in preparation for their release show we sat down with the band (now a two-piece with Amy Hager and Jacob Mullis) to talk about their ever-evolving sound. Here's a link to the article, along with a few other items that ran in this week's print edition:

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