Prince vs. Springsteen vs. Neil Young: Who's got the best backing band?

Nice job by Marc Hirsh of MSNBC today rating the best backing bands in the business. The J.B.'s (James Brown), The Attractions (Elvis Costello), the E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen), Crazy Horse (Neil Young) and The Revolution (Prince) are all worthy of consideration for the title. What's truly bizarre is how Hirsh managed to exclude two others who definitely belong in this category. No Heartbreakers (Tom Petty)? And sacrilege of sacrileges, he left out the only backing unit ever to have the nerve to call themselves simply The Band (Bob Dylan, and they lived up to the name)? Can't give this column more than a B with those two glaring exclusions...

Chris Cubeta covers Neil Young

Wowza. I'm not much of a download surfer, and I generally leave the MP3 blogging to the very best on the Web, Heather Browne, but looky looky what I found. One of the most exciting indie acts in the land, Chris Cubeta and the Liars Club, recently posted their cover of Neil Young's post-Kent State classic "Ohio" on their blog and it is absolutely SMOKING. It's a song that demands total commitment and CC & the LC bring it with authority. Not to be missed!

Saturday roundup redux

Drop everything because here comes another Saturday roundup...

• New benefit CD Cinnamon Girl -- Women Artists Cover Neil Young For Charity officially drops Tuesday, February 12th worldwide and on iTunes. The double-CD from American Laundromat Records focuses on Neil's early work (1969-1979) and features 21 new cover versions of his most popular songs by Tanya Donelly, Britta Phillips, Lori McKenna, Jill Sobule with John Doe, Josie Cotton, Kristin Hersh, The Watson Twins, Darcie Miner, Elk City and many more. All proceeds from the project are donated to Casting For Recovery, a national non-profit support and educational program for women who have or have had breast cancer.

• Haale (as in halle-lujah, or jale-peno ), is a downtown New Yorker of Iranian descent. Her full-length debut No Ceiling melds the Persian influence of her bloodline — including the work of the mystical poet Rumi and the Sufi trance tradition -- with her fondness for Hendrix, Dylan, Radiohead, and psychedelia. No Ceiling sounds as different and intriguing as they come today, and will be released March 18, 2008 on Channel A Music.

• The Mimi Fishman Foundation has launched another on-line charity auction. The latest auction, which concludes February 21, 2008, includes rare and signed memorabilia donated by Phish, Oysterhead, moe., Michael Kang (The String Cheese Incident), and artist Scramble Campbell. Items include: signed Oysterhead poster (Trey Anastasio, Stewart Copeland of the Police, and Les Claypool); signed Trey Anastasio Band poster; hand written lyrics from Michael Kang of the The String Cheese Incident; signed poster and more from moe.; signed Page McConnell (Phish) poster; rare Phish shirts (Coventry, 20th Anniversary show). To view and/or bid on the auction, as well as read about the charities the auction supports, visit the Mimi Fishman Foundation Auction Page.