American Tune

"Magnificent" doesn't begin to describe this. Or, well, it does, but doesn't go nearly far enough. Stately, classy, gorgeous, transcendent. Paul Simon pretty clearly has a pretty healthy ego, and why on earth shouldn't/wouldn't he? And yet he's musically sophisticated enough, I'd expect, to listen to a cover of this calibre and still be awed.

RIP Allen Toussaint

Like a lot of rock fans, I first became aware of Allen Toussaint thanks to his incredible work on the Band's Rock of Ages LP. But it doesn't take much further investigation to realize—in fact, if you're a serious music fan, it's hard not to be aware—just what a monster musician he was, or what a loss his passing is.