The documentary about Smith, perhaps the most charismatic (not to mention talented) woman in rock music, premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Reuters said the film “gets unusually close to its subject. Experimental camera work and editing makes for a fittingly unconventional portrait of one of the pioneers of punk music.”

Also, a companion book by Sebring that features his photographs of Smith, along with Polaroid taken by Smith, will be released in August.

Finally, a double-CD featuring Smith and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine performing The Coral Sea will be released July 11. The CDs capture Smith’s and Shield’s performances June 22, 2005, and Sept. 12, 2006, at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. The performances are based on Smith’s 1996 book The Coral Sea, which is a tribute to artist Robert Mapplethorpe, who took the photograph of Smith that graces the cover of her debut album, Horses.

It’s even better news that Byrne (without Eno) plans to tour later this year, promising that about 40 percent of his material will be drawn from his collaborations with Eno. That means Byrne will be playing songs from More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music and Remain in Light, three Talking Heads’ albums Eno played on and helped produce.

It would be great news if Byrne announced he would be touring with Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrision _ his former band mates in Talking Heads.

Alas, that is one reunion not expected to happen _ at least for now. Though bands like the Pixies, the Police and the Eagles have managed to set aside deep differences and unexpectedly reunite, that kind of reconcilation seems beyond the reach of the Heads, which is most unfortunate.

The Heads were one of the most interesting, most intelligent, most adventurous bands to emerge in the 1970s. And the band absolutely killed in concert. The Stop Making Sense tour, documented by filmmaker Jonathan Demme in perhaps the best concert film ever made, showcased a band at the absolute peak of its creative powers. I was fortunate enough to see the show at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center and it remains one of the most powerful concerts I’ve ever witnessed

It’s doubtful a reunited Talking Heads could again scale that peak, but I bet it could come damn close. None of the former band mates are all that old (at 59, Harrison is the oldest), all have remained musically active and all four can still play. I’m sure they could convince collaborators like Adrian Belew, Bernie Worrell and Nona Hendryx to come along for the ride.

Whether they can recapture the chemistry that made the band so special in its heyday is a question mark, but if the Pixies can do it, why not the Heads?

According to an Associated Press story, Blu-ray discs hold more data than DVDs, are easily updated over the Internet and offer better picture and sound quality. Young noted that earlier technology didn’t offer the ability to browse archival material while listening to the songs in high-resolution audio and went on to say in a statement, “Previous technology required unacceptable quality compromises. I am glad we waited and got it right.”

What a smug, arrogant dillweed. I’ve waited years and years and year for this stuff and he’s releasing it in a format I don’t own and have no intention of ever owning. And I’m certainly not going to buy it just to have the privilege of lining Young’s pockets.

 All I want is to hear the music and read any thoughts he might have about it. Disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction to this news. What’s he thinking?  

Some bands are like that; you can’t remove one piece without bringing down the whole shebang. I believe the surviving members of Led Zeppelin understand that, despite the fitful reunions that have happened over the years, and I wish the surviving members of the Who had a better grasp of it. I’m convinced the celestial genius of the Beatles only became possible when the four musical pieces (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr) began moving in the same orbit.

I believe that Berry’s band mates (Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mile Mills) strongly believed in that theory when Berry left. Though they continued on as R.E.M., it seemed as if they were intent on denying their past and reimagining the band as some kind of three-legged beast.

With each album, the band limped further and further away from the qualities that made it great until finally it released Around the Sun, a thoroughly dreadful album that sounded absolutely nothing like R.E.M. It’s one of those albums you play once and forget about - forever. After that disaster, it was my wish that Stipe, Buck and Mills would see fit to put R.E.M. out of its misery. 

Imagine my surprise when, months ago, WXPN played a song called Supernatural  Superserious from the then-yet-to-be-released new R.E.M. album that actually made me turn up the volume on the car radio. Supernatural Superserious hearkens back to R.E.M.’s glory days: It’s driven by Buck’s slashing guitar attack, featuresan emotional vocal by Stipe, some odd backup singing by Mills and lyrics just elliptical enough to remain mysterious. It’s a really good song.

Defying all odds and all expectations, it turns out Supernatural Superserious is a good song on a new R.E.M. album that features a bunch of good songs. Accelerate, released on April Fools Day, roars by in just 36 minutes, but all of those minutes are enjoyable. I don’t think Accelerate deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as masterpieces like Murmur or Document but it’s easily the best thing the band has done since 1992’s Automatic for the People.

I still wish they had retired the R.E.M. name when Berry left the band but I’m happy Stipe, Buck and Mills are still capable of making vital music.    

I wasn’t surprised to hear Springsteen. After all, he’s endorsed Obama and he’s a favorite of presidential candidates (remember Ronald Regan’s misguided use of Born in the U.S.A.) I was just surprised to hear that particular song, which is one of Springsteen’s best but not something I expect to hear at a political rally.

I understand why Obama’s people are attracted to it; the surging chorus speak of hopes and dreams and bright futures. The song itself, however, is a specific story about a fictional New York City firefighter sent to battle the blaze at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Left the house this morning/Bells ringing filled the air/Wearin’ the cross of my calling/On wheels of fire I come rollin’ down here

The song describes the fireman, saddled with a 60-pound airpack on his back and carrying a fire hose, as he climbs the stairs inside the World Trade Center.

As he climbs in an attempt to fight the fire, it is clear he is rising to meet both his death and his God.

There’s spirits above and behind me/Faces gone black, eyes burnin’ bright/May their precious blood bind me/Lord, as I stand before your fiery light 

There is a litany of contrasting images before the song explodes into a reprise of the chorus.

Sky of blackness and sorrow (a dream of life)/Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)/Sky of glory and sadness (a dream of life)/Sky of mercy, sky of fear (a dream of life)/Sky of memory and shadow (a dream of life)/Your burnin’ wind fills my arms tonight/Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)/Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life 

Come on up for the rising/Come on up, lay your hands in mine/Come on up for the rising/Come on up for the rising tonight

It’s an extraordinarily moving song, one that brought tears to my eyes the first time I understood the song’s narrative and recognized the story Springsteen was telling. It can still bring tears to my eyes if I surrender myself to its emotional power.

I guess it’s not necessarily a bad song to play at a political rally, but I wonder about the intent.

Obama’s people ended the rally by playing Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams, a safe, almost by-the-numbers tune. The intent of this one could not be misconstrued.

I will provide for you/And I’ll stand by your side/You’ll need a good companion for this part of the ride/Leave behind your sorrows/Let this day be the last/Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine/And all this darkness past

Dylan was awarded a special citation for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrcial compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

Hear, hear. It is the first Pulitzer ever awarded to a rock musician and no one is more deserving.

Dylan, 66, perhaps the most important cultural figure of the 20th Century, has put together a body of work unparalleled in popular music. From his debut album, released in 1962, to his most recent, Modern Love, which came out two years ago, Dylan has remained remarkably relevant. His songs, including Blowin’ in the Wind, Mr. Tambourine Man and Like a Rolling Stone, are among the most familiar tunes ever recorded.

Most telling, Dylan, though he remains rooted in American folk and blues, has made his mark in almost every genre imaginable. Some of those genres, including folk-rock, country-rock and pop-gospel, he helped invent. Dylan’s catalog is so deep, so rich, so varied that you can bounce from album to album and experience an artist endlessly reinventing himself. Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, Saved and Time Out of Mind are so different it’s sometimes difficult to fathom it’s the work of the same artist.

Dylan remains a polemical figure. His transition from folk to rock caused an uproar and his subsequent tours with the musicians who would become the Band arguably ranks as the most revolutionary act in the history of rock music.

Compare what Dylan and the Band were playing in 1965 to the music being made by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Clearly, Dylan was out there all by his lonesome, making music unimaginable just a couple of years earlier.

A near-fatal motorcycle accident forced Dylan off the edge in 1966 and the singer-songwriter retrenched. When he came back, Dylan, who usually zigged when others zagged, released John Wesley Harding, a  simple, quiet acoustic album completely disconnected from the elaborately produced psychedelia that was all the rage at the time.

Since then, Dylan has been written off as a has-been time and time again. But he always comes back. Blood on the Tracks,  a work of great confessional songwriting that is one of his best-loved albums, came out of nowhere in 1975 and he faced down his own mortality with Time Out of Mind, the spookiest album he’s ever made. And that album was the start of a trilogy that includes Love and Theft and Modern Times. They are three of his best albums and whet the appetite for what might come next.

I certainly don’t need the folks handing out Pulitzer Prizes to tell me Bob Dylan is a great artist, but it lifts my spirits to see him receive this kind of recognition.

In my not-so-humble opinion, Ritter, 31, is the most exciting young singer-songwriter working today. His last two albums - The Animal Years (2006) and The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (2007) - are jaw-droppingly good. Both are easily among the best albums released in their respective years.

Ritter has the total package - a great voice, a gift for melody, and best of all, a wondrous way with words. Ritter, whose imagination seems boundless, is clever, insightful, funny, profound, witty and daring - often in the same song.

There’s a song on Historical Conquests called The Temptation of Adams that knocked me on my butt when I realized what was going on. The song is about, of all things, a love affair inside a nuclear missile silo. It’s absolutely brilliant, one of the most inventive songs I’ve heard in many a year.

And I can think of at least a dozen more Ritter songs I like just as much. This guy is the real deal. Trust me.

It’s dominated by classic rockers still able to draw olds fans on the concert circuit but unable to generate much excitement with new music. These include Chicago and the Doobie Brothers (June 18), Billy Joel (July 10), Yes (July 16), Rush (July 17) and Cheap Trick, Heart and Journey (Aug. 31).

The two most promising concerts of the summer are Dave Matthews Band and the Black Crowes on June 27 and Counting Crows and Maroon 5 on Aug. 5. All of those bands will be playing new material.

There is one concert for the younger set as the Jonas Brothers, who will be accompanied by Avril Lavigne, are scheduled to perform on July 25.

At my age, I’m not much interested in attending these types of outdoors shows anymore, but the DMB/Black Crowes show is tempting. I’ll take a pass on everything else.

This is good stuff: a great performance, terrific sound and wonderful songs.  The 3D effects add to the experience, putting the viewer in the middle of the action, and the crowds in South America, where several concerts were filmed during the band’s 2006 Vertigo tour, are rapturous.

The film, which is playing at the IMAX theater in Harrisburg’s Whitaker Center through May 7, is not a documentary; there are no backstage peeks at the band getting ready for a performance or interviews with the musicians’ coterie. Instead, it’s a close-up (and I do mean close-up) look at a great band doing what it does best - performing. Those who haven’t seen U2 in concert will likley be surprised at just how much sound the three instrumentalists (guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.) generate and just how charismatic singer Bono is.

The only real criticism I’ve heard leveled at the movie has come from those put off by Bono’s insistence on mixing a message into his music. No one should be surprised, however, as Bono has been a longtime proponent of the notion that people should put aside their prejudices and reach across racial, religious and class lines to help the less fortunate of the world.

I suppose he can sound sanctimonious at times and perhaps that can be grating to some. I also realize these are cynical times but to take shots at Bono for trying to promulgate brotherhood seems misguided at best. What’s the problem?

As Nick Lowe wrote and Elvis Costello so winningly sang, What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?    

Glad I did. The tribute to Joni Mitchell is a good album _ excellent songs by one of the most gifted songwriters of her generation, virtuoso playing by Hancock and his talented band (including bassist Dave Holland and saxophonist Wayne Shorter) and well-turned appearances by a clutch of singers, including Mitchell herself, Tina Turner, Norah Jones and Corinne Bailey Rae.

Was it the best album released in 2007? I don’t think so.

That said, I’m really really happy the Grammy people chose to honor jazz music in general and Herbie Hancock in particular. Jazz is a sorely neglected art form that needs all the attention it can get and Hancock is one of this country’s most gifted artists. Few musicians are more deserving of the recognition.

However, I do not believe Hancock’s album was even the best jazz album released last year; I believe that distinction belongs to Terence Blanchard, a New Orleans native who released the emotionally charged A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina). A Tale of God’s Will, a collaborative effort with songs written by trumpeter Blanchard and members of his terrific band (Derrick Hodge, bass; Brice Winston, saxophones; Aaron Parks, piano; Kendrick Scott, drums) is as passionate of piece of music as I’ve heard in years. From the opening notes, the listener is trapped in a powerful story that moves inexorably toward its mournful conclusion, touching upon every imaginable emotion along the way. This is instrumental music at its finest. The players’ investment in the music _ both emotionally and intellectually _ is palpable.

My admiration for A Tale of God’s Will is boundless. Though it’s a word that’s overused these days, I do believe it is a masterpiece that deserves to be remembered as long as the disaster that spawned it.

Happily, it was awarded the Grammy for best album by a large jazz ensemble. I don’t believe, however, that award is adequate.