Phil Ochs was Bob Dylan’s chief rival as a Folk-based protest singer in the 1960s — Christopher Hitchens, interviewed in this documentary, maintains Ochs was better, more politically pointed and with a more sarcastic and thought-provoking lyrical bite. But while Dylan went electric and became a Rock & Roll star, Ochs struggled with the transition to Pop, although his first ambitious attempt — a heavily orchestrated album called Pleasures of the Harbor — had astonishing variety and great beauty.  

With last fall’s release of The Grand Theatre Volume One, Old 97’s added yet another twang-fueled burst of Power Pop/Roots music to their illustrious and lengthy career. The Dallas quartet began in 1993 as an AltCountry-styled Indie band, spent time on a major label, got dropped and then rebounded on wide-reaching independent label New West Records.  

Those prankster Brits are scheming to “fix” the No. 1 UK single at Christmastime once again. Last year, an online campaign allowed Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 track “Killing in the Name” to win. This year's John Cage's "4'33'" is in the running. The song is 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.  

Despite undoubtedly being called a Communist innumerable times during his storied career, China's ministry of culture has declined to give Bob Dylan permission to play Beijing and Shanghai. The ban is believed to be due to the legend's past affiliation with the counter-cultural movement of the '60s and Bjork's pro-Tibet statements during a concert in China two years ago.  

Jakob Dylan, fighting to regain the long-lost career momentum he had with The Wallflowers' 1996 multimillion-selling, Grammy-winning 'Bringing Down the Horse,' is on tour to showcase a new Roots Rock album, 'Women and Country.' The new album prominently features Neko Case and Kelly Hogan on supporting vocals, and the two singers will be on stage with Dylan in Covington.  

Aw, now this is how all musical feuds should end. When the poor little Indie Rock band Coldplay was recently confronted with a major touring problem (the band's jet wasn't working properly) U2 reportedly jumped to their assistance immediately and loaned the group its own private jet!  

The soundtrack to Todd Haynes' new movie about Bob Dylan is, in many ways, as inspired and daring (and successful) as the film. The 34 songs on two discs include only one actual Dylan recordi  

Steve Earle once noted that Townes Van Zandt was a great songwriter but maybe not the best role model. Earle would know: Just as his friend did, he's collected wrong moves like charms for a bracelet.