Neil Young

Catch Neil Young live for his Chrome Dreams II tour. Don't miss the chance to hear one of the most influential singer/songwriters, who began his solo career in the late 1960s. Young performs at 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow at DAR Constitution Hall, 18th and D streets Northwest, Washington. Ticket prices are $67 to $157. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.com.

It's been 40 years since Elton John first performed in Baltimore, and a decade since he performed in the city proper. On Saturday, he'll return with a show at 1st Mariner Arena , where he'll play some of his greatest hits. But the show will also find John rejuvenated in ways he hasn't been on previous tours, even with Billy Joel in Washington two years ago. That's because he'll play selections from his new album, "The Union," where he exhibits the kind of swagger that brought him prominence and a legion of American fans in his first stateside tours in the 1970s.

If Neil Young has confounded his audience over the years by switching styles the way other people change hairstyles, think of what he has done to his on-and-off band Crazy Horse.They were called the Rockets in 1969 when Mr. Young first hooked up with them to record his second album "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere."From then on, the band, which originally included Danny Whitten, Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot, became known as Crazy Horse. It collaborated with Mr. Young on such triumphs as "After the Goldrush," "Zuma," "Rust Never Sleeps," "Live Rust" and the underrated "re-ac-tor."

Catch Neil Young live for his Chrome Dreams II tour. Don't miss the chance to hear one of the most influential singer/songwriters, who began his solo career in the late 1960s. Young performs at 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow at DAR Constitution Hall, 18th and D streets Northwest, Washington. Ticket prices are $67 to $157. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.com.

HARVEST MOONNeil Young (Reprise 45057)Although the title and timing seem to suggest that "Harvest Moon" is Neil Young's attempt to recapture the 20-year-old magic of the enduringly popular "Harvest," its sound argues that this new album is actually more of an update than a remake. Gone are the occasional flashes of orchestral grandeur -- the one aspect of the original that now seems hokey -- and Young plays down the stoner despair of songs like "Old Man" or "The Needle and the Damage Done" in favor of the laid-back lassitude of country rockers like "From Hank to Hendrix" and "Natural Beauty."

In 1978, the first punk rock movement reached an epiphany of sorts when the Sex Pistols imploded after a performance at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Given the havoc the band had wreaked in Britain during the previous 14 months, many in the music industry hoped the Pistols would make an equally big noise in this country; the group's high-profile disintegration was unexpected.It was also wonderfully appropriate. Rather than follow the usual route and see his notoriety turn into celebrity and, eventually, respectability, Johnny Rotten lunged for the exit, pausing only long enough to sneer, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

At his extraordinary June 22 concert at Detroit's DTE Energy Music Theatre, Neil Young spent the first hour-and-a-half performing his new concept album in its entirety instead of trotting out his old hits. In addition, a couple of dozen enthusiastic cast members acted out the narrative of Young's self-described musical novel amid homey sets while lip-synching to the songs that Young himself was singing. The staging and choreography were more along the lines of a high school drama class than anything done by Twyla Tharp or Jerome Robbins, but the presentation could not have been more charming, heartfelt and true to Young's unique vision, which prefers Leave It to Beaver to anything high-tech.

Largo -- Anyone who remembers Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel and his amplifiers that went up to 11 ("It's One Louder Than Ten" he'd explain) would have appreciated the look and sound of Neil Young's show at the Capital Centre last night. It wasn't just that Young had decked the stage with towering amps, including a pair of Fender Bassman cabinets 12 feet high; he also made sure his massive props were accompanied by an equally outsized sound.From the moment he and his backing band, Crazy Horse, hit the stage, the audience was awash in electric thunder.

Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Jonathan Demme's 2006 concert film of Young's two-night stand at a Nashville auditorium, will be shown outdoors tomorrow at Belvedere Square, at the corner of York Road and Belvedere Avenue. In his review of the film, Sun critic Michael Sragow referred to it as an "intimate epic ... a performance film that conjures a vision of American life as moving, funny and rueful as John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln." The evening begins at 8:30 p.m. with a shorts program; the film starts at 9 p.m. Admission is free.

For the last dozen years or so, Neil Young albums have come in basically two versions. The most common is Electric Young, the sound that powered the likes of "Ragged Glory," "Mirror Ball" and "Sleeps with Angels." Although its raging guitars and sledgehammer drumming suggest the sonic fury of hard rock, Young's wan voice and mournful melodies keep things from ever seeming too heavy or aggressive. Then there's Acoustic Young. This is a sound that was first introduced with "Harvest" in 1972, and which Young revives about every seven years.

1. United 93. The tragic yet heroic tale of the passengers who took fate into their hands on Sept. 11, 2001, and overpowered their hijackers is the best movie of the year. We all know, or think we know, the story: Citizens unite when they learn terrorists plan to use their plane as a suicide bomb. But the movie also boldly examines the U.S. authorities' inept attempt to frame an effective response. And even more than a blend of tribute and cautionary tale, the film becomes a flight of realistic poetry.

Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Jonathan Demme's 2006 concert film of Young's two-night stand at a Nashville auditorium, will be shown outdoors tomorrow at Belvedere Square, at the corner of York Road and Belvedere Avenue. In his review of the film, Sun critic Michael Sragow referred to it as an "intimate epic ... a performance film that conjures a vision of American life as moving, funny and rueful as John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln." The evening begins at 8:30 p.m. with a shorts program; the film starts at 9 p.m. Admission is free.

Allison Moorer [Sugar Hill] B There's still some of the Neil Young/Crazy Horse hurricane-force power that characterized her 2004 album Duel, but this time the Alabama singer-songwriter and producer Steve Earle (her husband) are more interested in showing off Moorer's power-pop chops, veering wide and far from her country roots. That leads to a few cuts that scream "hit single," but light and breezy romance has never been what has made Moorer worth seeking out. The leadoff track, "Work to Do," and the "Got to Get You Into My Life"-inspired "If It's Just for Today" bring a level of thoughtfulness to bouncy and hummable tunes that puts them a notch above most of what's on Top 40 radio - not that these are likely to wind up there.

Downloaded singles 1.SOS (edited), Rihanna 2.Bad Day, Daniel Powter 3.Over My Head (Cable Car), The Fray 4.Snap Yo Fingers, Lil John featuring E-40 and Sean Paul 5.Ridin', Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone [Courtesy iTunes] Downloaded albums 1.Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers 2.Surprise, Paul Simon 3.What's Left of Me, Nick Lachey 4.Living With War, Neil Young 5.St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkely [Courtesy iTunes] Downloaded videos 1.?, Lost 2.Casino Night - Season Finale, The Office 3.Two for the Road, Lost 4.Conflict Resolution, The Office 5.Tsst, South Park [Courtesy iTunes]

Jonathan Demme's Neil Young: Heart of Gold turns two Young performances at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on Aug. 18 and 19, 2005, into an intimate epic. Demme, like his star, knows the power and eloquence of plain utterance. But to generate this movie's tsunami of emotion, the director doesn't rely on the yearning, anger and affection that pour out from Young's Prairie Wind album. Shot by shot, choice by choice, he magnifies the feelings and multiplies the meanings of each verse or chord, each glance between performers or faraway look in their eyes.

Just showing up on the Oscars ballot can give a picture a big boost, convincing undecided moviegoers that it must be good if it's up for an Academy Award. OK, so when was the last time the Academy Awards changed your mind about seeing a film ... and you hated it? Or loved it? WHAT YOU SAY I wasn't going to go. But when I did, I was very disappointed in Lost in Translation [2003] starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. I kept waiting for something to happen. I longed for some kind of plot.

With Strange Little Girls, Tori Amos' cover-girl power takes center stage as she seizes classics and not-so-classics and makes them uniquely, strangely her own. The album of remakes, some relatively faithful, others just plain weird, will be a slight disappointment to rabid fans hungering for new Tori tunes since 1999's To Venus and Back. But she infuses the covers, from artists as diverse as Lou Reed and Depeche Mode, with spiritual, typically Tori attitude that not only brings out previously undiscovered elements of the original songs, but also shows her respect for her inspirations and influences on a scale that makes you want to go out and sing karaoke with her. Amos has always been a master of diverse covers, though her most impressive, including the Rolling Stones' "Angie," Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," are normally relegated to single B-sides, hard-to-find bootleg albums or concert performances.

Jonathan Demme's Neil Young: Heart of Gold turns two Young performances at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on Aug. 18 and 19, 2005, into an intimate epic. Demme, like his star, knows the power and eloquence of plain utterance. But to generate this movie's tsunami of emotion, the director doesn't rely on the yearning, anger and affection that pour out from Young's Prairie Wind album. Shot by shot, choice by choice, he magnifies the feelings and multiplies the meanings of each verse or chord, each glance between performers or faraway look in their eyes.

WHEN I call Lizz Wright in New York City, where the singer-songwriter is booked for a club date, I'm straight up with her. "Listen," I say, softening the edges of my voice a little. "I wasn't feelin' your album. Not at all." "Thanks for being honest about it," the artist says, her voice calm and inviting, much like her music. "It is really different from the first." "Yeah. But the more I got into it, I opened up to it. It wasn't what I expected. No lie, though: It's beautiful, Lizz." "Really?

At his extraordinary June 22 concert at Detroit's DTE Energy Music Theatre, Neil Young spent the first hour-and-a-half performing his new concept album in its entirety instead of trotting out his old hits. In addition, a couple of dozen enthusiastic cast members acted out the narrative of Young's self-described musical novel amid homey sets while lip-synching to the songs that Young himself was singing. The staging and choreography were more along the lines of a high school drama class than anything done by Twyla Tharp or Jerome Robbins, but the presentation could not have been more charming, heartfelt and true to Young's unique vision, which prefers Leave It to Beaver to anything high-tech.