There comes (a time and) a bridge to the Bridge.  Neil Young’s 25th Annual Bridge School Benefit will be webcast this Saturday on YouTube and Facebook.  Check out the announcement below from YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_E-zFjJec&feature=player_embedded

Our apologies in advance to all Jane’s Addiction fans.  While we acknowledge that band has given us some great songs and performances over the years, we couldn’t help but notice recently (when Jane’s Addiction played the Jimmy Kimmel Show the other night) how much Perry Farrell‘s stage look and persona now resembles TV show Modern Family’s dork-dad, Phil Dunphy (actor Ty Burrell).  Sadly, the similarities are not just in appearance, but also in performance (as we envision dorky-Dunphy performing as a rock ‘n roller).

Just check out the video below, where the resemblance is more clear than the pictures above.  Starting at 0:25 it’s full-on, Dunphy dork-rock.  Of particular note is Farrell’s shimmy at 3:13.  Stop it Phil, you’re killin’ us!!

On top of this, the jury is still out as to what percentage of Farrell’s actual vocals were involved in the chorus of this song.  Perry looks like Fred Astaire up there trying to tap dance all the Milli Vanilli effects/gloss on his pedal board.

The bottom line is that Farrell’s (and the band’s) stodgy stage antics, at least on Kimmel, amount to mere arena-rock caricature.  Just sayin’.  And the poses and playing of David Navarro?  Don’t get us started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFRTS2y9iMg

Wilco recently appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert.  Check it out below.

Bon Iver and Feist (and some other band–OK, Mastodon–we don’t have time for) appeared on Later…with Jools Holland on BBC2 last night.  Check out Bon Iver (big band version) performing their song, Towers, off their recent album. And then check out Feist (with Mountain Man again providing perfect harmony vocals together with a great horn section and dual-drummer attack) slay on How Come You Never Go There and The Bad in Each Other. We are huge fans of the new Feist album, “Metals.”  Highly recommended.

We’ve about milked the HSBF for all it’s worth here in post-ville.  So let’s call it a wrap with some remaining videos shot at the event.

First up from Day 1 of HSBF is Bright Eyes (Best Set of Day Winner) and guest M. Ward performing a Monsters of Folk song, Smoke Without Fire.  Bear with the video as it starts out fuzzy, but quickly gets better.  This song provided some of the more memorable moments of HSBF.  The song is great (particularly enjoyable are Mike Mogis’ pedal steel and Nate Walcott’s flugelhorn embellishments), but (sadly?) what will be remembered about this performance is the Conductor of Hands guy who can be seen in a white baseball hat up on a rise behind the band.  He begins waving his hands and carrying on pretty early in the song, and eventually has the entire crowd waving along.  When M. Ward first stepped up to the mike to sing, he could only have been wondering:  what the heck is going on here?  The musicians did their best to ignore the Conductor, but it became laughable.  A classic Hardly Strictly moment in Golden Gate Park.  That’s what you get “for free” sometimes.  Consider it the Conductor’s 15-seconds of fame.

Then check out the poignant This is the First Day of My Life (featuring great, Garth Hudson-esque organ from Nate Walcott), and then Old Soul Song (for the New World Order) (apologies for the sound and the video quality at times, but Conor’s energy is nonetheless infectious).

Next up from Day 2 is Robyn Hitchcock, with guests Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Abigail Washburn. The first song is the long and winding (and so worth it), (A Man Has Got to Know His Limitations) Briggs with it’s haunting chorus:

“We were riding in your car in San Francisco
We were riding through the weather and the rain
Riding in your car in San Francisco
But we’re never gonna ride that way again”

Check out the beautiful harmonies from the guests and guitar playing by both Rawlings and the multi-talented Hitchcock.

And then check out Hitchcock and crew perform his crowd-favorite, Queen Elvis. Nice do-wop-ish vocal effects by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.  If you’re not familiar with Robyn Hitchcock, do yourselves a favor and check out his stirring and fantastical songs.  Check out any and all of his albums, but also Jonathan Demme’s great film, Storefront Hitchcock.

Finally, below are three videos from the Best Set of Day 2, Broken Social Scene (featuring Stars’ Amy Millan). First up in the beautiful Golden Gate Park setting is the all-time World Sick, followed by 7/4 Shoreline (nice harmonies and horns at end) and the languid Shampoo Suicide.  The band was in great form, and Kevin Drew’s vocals were as good as we’ve heard from that good soul.  We wish them well in their current “long hiatus,” but hope they will come around again, renewed and shelling out their scintillating songs.

We’ll write another day about Neil Young and our endless numbered nights and days spent lifted from the depths by his songs.  Let’s just start with the looks on these Bridge School kids faces in the above photo. Wow, that hurts and heals all in one motion.

Recently we’ve noticed contemporary artists unabashedly making good use of Neil’s stirring melodies to open their songs, and yet ultimately making these songs their own.  Put another way:  these artists have great taste in music and honor Neil with their open use of his themes, and especially by creating stirring originals stirred up by Young’s original melodies.  And no attribution is needed.  As Neil titled his second album:  everybody knows.  And Young admitted long ago (in song) to using the same tactics–he calls it a “Borrowed Tune.”

Below are three recent examples of such use, coupled with Young’s originals.  Please let us know of any other examples of others’ use of Young’s melodies in their songs.  Keep in mind we’re not talking about cover songs of or by Young, but instead uses of Neil’s melodies in others’ songs.

First up is Gillian Welch’s song, The Way It Will Be, off her new album, The Harrow & the Harvest. Check out Gillian’s open use of Neil’s harrowing melody from the title song off his album, “On the Beach.” Welch and David Rawlings begin with Neil’s melodic theme, but then add thereto to give us a great new song for the ages.

Gillian Welch–The Way It Will Be

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/03-The-Way-It-Will-Be.mp3|titles=03 The Way It Will Be]

Here’s a visual of that song:

And here’s the audio of that original beauty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKgj1FNToWY

Next up is Megafaun (whose new, eponymous album is in heavy rotation at Chez Lefort) with their stellar song, State/Meant. The song initially borrows heavily from Young’s Cortez the Killer, but then (like Welch) manages to mix in additional musical thoughts and throughlines to render a killer song of their own.

Megafaun–State/Meant

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/State_Meant.mp3|titles=State_Meant]

Here’s a video of Megafaun delivering:

And here’s the real deal:  Cortez the Killer, as done by the great Young himself.  Don’t judge; just get out of the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDIkb5CDUY

Finally, we come full circle with Welch’s beau, David Rawlings, paying direct homage (from a Daytrotter Session with Bright Eyes’ Nate Wolcott on trumpet) to Young and to Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes’ leader) by crafting a medley of Oberst’s song, Method Acting, with Young’s Cortez the Killer.  In so doing, Rawlings honors Young doubly by covering Young’s great song and exposing Oberst’s similar use of Neil’s melody.  Oberst, Rawlings and Megafaun all know a worthwhile melody when they hear it.  Long live Neil Young.

David Rawlings Machine–Method Acting/Cortez the Killer

[audio:https://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/003-Method-Acting-Cortez-The-Killer3.mp3|titles=003-Method Acting – Cortez The Killer]

And for you visual learners out there, here’s a video of the medley performed live:

Speaking of debts owed, the annual Bridge School Benefit Concert (at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View), put on by Neil and Peggi Young and a vast cast of good (musical) souls, is happening this coming Saturday and Sunday (October 22nd and 23rd).  Montreal’s fabulous Arcade Fire is the notable first-time addition to this year’s lineup, and the whole weekend is always a talent-filled love-fest.  The photo at top is from the 2010 Bridge School Benefit Concert.  Check out the lineup HERE and head on up.

Many have fallen under the spell of British singer-songwriter Laura Marling.  We have been resistant, not really hooking into the hoopla for her (mostly) plaintive songs and delivery.  But in a recent Ryan Adams interview Adams said that Marling’s 2010 album “I Speak Because I Can” (2010 Mercury Prize winner) left him “reeling.”  That got our attention.

And then we stumbled upon her recent performances on WNYC’s Spinning Air program.  We’re still waiting to be completely won over by Marling (former Noah and the Whale member) and her music, but the videos below don’t hurt her cause with us.  At a minimum, she has a way with words, and her right hand certainly knows what it’s doing around a classical guitar.  To our ears, Marling can cleave a little too close to certain seminal female influencers (Joni Mitchell in particular–you’ll hear it in her vibrato on Night after Night below), but we’ll listen with more open ears from here on out.

Check out Marling performing three songs (Night After Night, Sophia, and I Was Just a Card) off of her new album “A Creature I Don’t Know,” and then a brand new untitled song that planes the refrain “Pray for Me.“

We have been huge fans of Kathleen Edwards from the outset of her career, starting with 2003’s “Failer,” then with 2005’s “Back to Me,” and then her last album, 2008’s phenomenal “Asking for Flowers.”  She’s about to release a new album entitled “Voyager,” on our favorite day of the year (January 17th).  The new album was recorded in Wisconsin (in boyfriend Justin Vernon‘s neck of the woods) and Edwards hometown, Toronto.  The album was co-produced by Vernon and features collaborations with members of Bon Iver, the fabulous Megafaun and the storming Stornoway, as well as (s)Norah Jones. Based on the two tracks below it sounds like a departure of sorts, but with the same great songwriting we’ve come to expect from Edwards.

Photo by Kathleen Edwards

Check out two new songs, the first off of the new album and the second one a new track that “didn’t fit the album” : Change the Sheets and Wapusk (featuring Bon Iver).

Kathleen Edwards – Change The Sheets by Rounder Records

And here’s Wapusk:

Kathleen Edwards – Wapusk (featuring Bon Iver) by Kathleen Edwards

And then you can go over to Edwards’ website and get caught up on some of her back catalog HERE