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By this point I've totally given up on the Grammy Awards, but now there's a reason to watch it, come Feb 12. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band has been added to the list of performers, which comes as a huge but pleasant surprise. This would mark their first public performance without Clarence Clemons. Will it be a tribute (and will we get to see the new sax player), or will it be Bruce's new single, We Take Care Of Our Own? Given the way Grammy performances has worked in the past, in line with efforts to promote new singles/albums, it's probably the latter, though with Bruce you never know. Still it's gonna be exciting finally seeing the guys back together on primetime television again. Then on March 9, the band will be playing a special pre-tour show at the historic Apollo Theater, to be broadcast live on SiriusXM Radio, so look out for that too.

On a side note, I know getting tickets for the North American shows have been major disasters, especially for those NY/NJ gigs. Seems like Spring 2009 all over again, the fucking scalpers still have the upper hand. And we're not talking about those people who sell tickets way above face value outside the venues, we're talking corporations linked to Ticketmaster. I feel sorry for all the real fans getting shut out. Thank God this isn't a big issue in Europe. I'm sure when they return to the States in the summer to play stadiums and ball parks, it'll be much easier getting tix. Also, it has been said that this is gonna be a long tour, taking up more than a year, so chances of them venturing out to Australia, Asia and South America in 2013 are quite likely.

Another big Grammy-related news is the 2012 MusiCares Person Of The Year ceremony honoring Paul McCartney. Neil Young & Crazy Horse are one of the bands paying tribute to Sir Paul, their first performance together since 2004. Just one sure-fire sign that they may be touring or releasing a new album very soon; the other one being the recently recorded 37min jam video posted (Fuckin' Up and Cortez The Killer) on the official website, which every fan must've seen by now. It sounds exactly what you'd expect from the Horse; they haven't lost their chops one bit. Ultra-casual, ultra-raw, and lots of kick-ass attitude.

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New releases:
Still waiting for the Leonard Cohen, Kathleen Edwards and Craig Finn albums to arrive. I tell ya, our country's music stores are fucking slow bringing in all the good stuff, so I resort to Amazon.

40th Anniversary L.A. Woman by The Doors. Average packaging, decent liner notes by David Fricke. It's in the original stereo mix, but remastered, thankfully quite different from the one that was released in '07 (that was the remix, also done by engineer Bruce Botnick). The second disc contains alternate versions of seven songs, which certainly justifies getting this set, but the interesting stuff lies in the studio chatter before and after the takes. Jim Morrison sounded rather chipper. Though we all know what happened when he left the sessions for Paris.

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Finally, the Stones Archive has just released the second official bootleg: Hampton Coliseum, Live 1981. Very very good setlist, contains epic versions of Beast Of Burden, Imagination, Miss You and Jumping Jack Flash and a couple of new ones then from Tattoo You; for those who liked the loose, raw vibe (and outstanding mix by Bob Clearmountain) on Brussels Affair, getting this one's a no-brainer! Still I prefer the first one, cause Mick Taylor was in the band.




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