YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE DVD

This was released a few weeks ago, without too much hype, but you need to know about it: A Musicares Tribute To Neil Young.

Shot January 29, 2010 at the NARAS 2010 Musicares Person Of The Year event, the show featured some pretty incredible artists paying tribute to Neil.  Some of the highlights included Norah Jones' "Tell Me Why," Ben Harper's "Ohio," Wilco's "Broken Arrow," James Taylor's "Heart Of Gold" (I think he actually sang backing vocals on the original version) and John Mellencamp's "Down By The River." Also a sort of supergroup: Elton John, Leon Russell, Sheryl Crow and Neko Case doing "Helpless." I think it was the first time Elton and Leon performed together.

Also on the bill: John Fogerty, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Dave Matthews, Dierks Bentley, Booker T. Jones, Josh Groban (!), Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Crosby Stills & Nash. I think The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed for the first time with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer ("A Man Needs A Maid") but it's not on the DVD.   Neil was there also, he just sort of gave a thank you speech (if you've seen his speeches at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, you know what his speeches are like), he didn't perform at all.

The event, and the DVD, raises money for NARAS' MusiCares, which "offers a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need," including "financial medical and personal emergencies." Learn more about MusiCares here.  

TONIGHT ON FUSE - THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY

Tonight Fuse will broadcast an edited version of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Dr. John, Darlene Love, Neil Diamond and Leon Russell were all inducted at this year's ceremony. There were some great speeches and performances, from what I heard, so check it out!

For those of you on Twitter - on Monday night during the actual ceremony, it seemed that people were Tweeting using the hashtag #rockhall2011.  But I think tonight during the broadcast, the hashtag is #fuserockhall.

Hopefully, there will be some people using #rockhall2012, debating who they think should get in next year!

LEON RUSSELL - A REAL LIFE TESTIMONIAL

Finding someone to write a guest post about Leon Russell, who is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was pretty easy.  Chris is a familiar face at the coffee house that I sometimes go to, and recently when we were both there, the new Elton John/Leon Russell album, The Union, was playing. Chris mentioned being a HUGE Leon fan, and noted that he wasn't really into Elton. He strikes me as a nicer version of the "Barry" character who works in the record store in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. He's not into bullshit, and wants to listen to the real deal when he listens to music. He doesn't need to be pandered or "marketed" to. No surprise that he's a fan of Leon's. Here's his guest post about the man.  Thanks, Chris.


"The first time I heard Leon Russell I was watching Saturday Night Live rerun that had been filmed years before I was even born ('editor's note' - most likely the May 15 1976 episode). He was the musical guest that night and while I can’t remember the song that was performed, I liked his look - big beard (that had not yet gone white) and a badass top hat, especially. He reminded me of Dr. John.

At some point I looked into his back catalog and picked up his self-titled debut with his whiskered, unsmiling face against an electric blue background. I fell into it immediately. He played the sort of R&B-studded Southern rock that I was very much into at the time, with a stronger sense of songcraft and less guitar noodling than a lot of the other bands. There are no sharp edges to his voice when he sings, only a round, slurred Oklahoma drawl that he played up very effectively over the bump and shuffle of his backing band. This was wonderful to a faux-jaded teenager like me. I even liked his re-imagined covers he put on the album. To this day, his gospel shakedown of John Lennon's 'Give Peace A Chance' remains one of my favorite covers.

Russell was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tonight, almost certainly due to the album released last year that he shared with another talented musician. He was a brilliant and sought-after session man before anyone had ever heard of him, and he deserves the acclaim he’s gotten lately. Give Leon Russell a listen and see for yourself."

Here's my beginner's guide to Leon: on April 5, EMI releases The Best Of Leon Russell, a single CD collection, featuring mostly '70s material, but it also has "If It Wasn't For Bad" from The Union. The Leon celebration doesn't end tonight.  Leon is being inducted into The Songwriter's Hall of Fame later this year.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THIS YEAR'S ROCK HALL INDUCTEES

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET, I can be heard on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick, talking about music. Tomorrow, I'll be talking about this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.  The induction ceremony is Monday, but it will air on Fuse Sunday, March 20 at 9 pm.

This year's inductees include Alice Cooper, one of the most influential artists in hard rock, metal, punk and glam. Alice will be inducted by Rob Zombie, who is a good choice (alternatively, I would have thought Lady Gaga would have made a weird bit of sense, but she would have taken attention away from the entire ceremony). Last year, I listed Alice (and that's the Alice Cooper Band, not just the singer) as one of the artists who should be inducted this year, and I'm glad it happened. See my beginner's guide to Alice here, and stay tuned for a guest post from an Alice fan... well, he's not just a "fan," his entire life was changed by Alice Cooper.

Tom Waits, who brings the essential element of "weird" to rock and roll. He is sort of a "left-field" pick, but no more so than Leonard Cohen or The Velvet Underground or Frank Zappa.  Like Alice, Tom Waits is someone I really hoped would get in this year. Neil Young is going to do the speech about Tom. You know I'm a huge Neil fan, but that honor should have gone to Primus, in my opinion. See my beginner's guide here, and stay tuned for a testimonial from a friend of mine.

Dr. John, representing New Orleans, and rocking piano players.  Beginner's guide and testimonial coming up. John Legend is doing the honors: I am a fan of John's, and I'm sure he'll do a great speech.  I would have gone for one of his peers, like Bonnie Raitt or Jimmie Vaughan.

Darlene Love, one of the great unsung singers!  I know Little Steven campaigned for her, but Bette Midler is doing the honors.  I'm sure that will be a phenomenal speech! See my very simple beginner's guide here, and get ready for a short, sweet, rock star guest post about Darlene.

Neil Diamond, who I have said I don't think belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Songwriters Hall of Fame?  No question. I just don't see him as rock and roll. I have written about the guy and given him credit, so there's no hate there. Paul Simon handles that speech.  My friend, musician/filmmaker/media executive Benjamin Wagner, will be writing a guest post on what makes Neil great.

And finally, Leon Russell, who is getting the Award for Recording Excellence (which replaces the Sideman category). Obviously, Elton John is speaking about him (by the way, Elton guest hosts Saturday Night Live April 2, and is the musical guest along with Leon).

 Next week on Larry's show, I'll discuss who I think deserves to be inducted in 2012.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ:GREAT TEAM-UPs

For those who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am-ish, I go on SIRIUS XM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick (co-hosted by Keith Price) to talk about music. Sometimes I have a theme, and tomorrow I'm going to be talking about recently released "team-up" albums. (We may also talk about the late, great Solomon Burke as well).

First off is the album by John Legend & The Roots, Wake Up. It's an album of covers of socially conscious R&B and soul covers from the '60s and '70s (as well as one new song written for the documentary Waiting For Superman). Yes, the album was inspired by Barack Obama's election, and was originally supposed to be an EP, but ended up becomming a full length album. Some people think that John Legend is too polite and that he lacks grit. ?uestlove who co-produced the album helped to change that. And as smooth as John is, he is very socially conscious, and you can definitely hear grit and fury in the cover of Bill Withers' "I Can't Write Left Handed." Lots of the songs are pretty obscure, I'd chalk that up to ?uestlove, who probably chose the songs. My one criticism: why have guest MCs, even such great ones as Common and C.L. Smooth when Black Thought is in the group (he's only on two songs). Anyway, I really dig this album.

Fistful Of Mercy is a new group that features one of my favorite artists, Ben Harper. The band also features Joseph Arthur and Dhani Harrison. They just released their debut album, As I Call You Down. It isn't my favorite thing Ben has done, but it has some really great songs. I recently filmed a performance by the group, I'll be posting a song soon.

Finally, the new duo album by Elton John and Leon Russell, The Union (produced by - of course! - T-Bone Burnett!). Leon was a huge influence on Elton, and Elton reached out to him a while back. Discovering that Leon wasn't in a great place, and bummed that he seemed to be forgotten, Elton invited him to do an album together. It shows what a giving and generous guy Elton is, despite the whole "tantrums and tiaras" thing. So that makes me want to like it. I think it is his best album since 2001's Songs From The West Coast (one of my favorite Elton albums), but not quite as good as that one. Still, there are some great songs, including the first single "If It Wasn't For Bad" (written by Leon) and "Hey Ahab" (written by Elton and Bernie Taupin).

ELTON JOHN/LEON RUSSELL ALBUM IN THE WORKS

This is pretty cool. Elton John and Leon Russell are recording an album together, produced by T-Bone Burnett. Some people seem to find this a surprising combo, but when Elton was Elvis Costello's guest on Spectacle, he talked about Leon Russell's influence on him. All the songs for this album have been written by Elton and Bernie Taupin. Taupin wrote about it a bit on his website, saying that it is different from the classic Elton/Bernie songs, and that there are "Stones like rockers, country tinged ballads, gospel and even a Sinatra-like weepy similar to 'In The Wee Small Hours.'" That sounds pretty awesome.