Music

Pere Ubu made some of the darkest and most creative music of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Thirty five years after its release, The Modern Dance would easily make my top 10 of all time. We hear the word "industrial" bandied about to describe music — The Modern Dance exemplified that genre.

One year ago, when I began graduate study in ethnomusicology at UCLA, I found myself undergoing what has become a familiar ritual. As I played my trombone in a near-empty classroom accompanied by a play-a-long recording, it occurred to me that I was in the midst of my sixth college big band audition. A professor — in this special case, guitar legend Kenny Burrell — led the proceedings. When he engulfed my hand in his massive grip, I learned that I was in.

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Pablo Helguera is a New York-based artist working with sculpture, drawing, photography and performance. You can see more of his work at Artworld Salon and on his own site.

• Sandy has wreaked havoc for many musicians in the Northeast, along with everyone else up here. The New Amsterdam label for new music, located in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood, says it took quite a hit: "Our space was flooded with almost four feet of polluted sea water. As a result, about 70% of our catalog of CDs has been destroyed — CDs we hold on behalf of our artists (we do not own them). Literally ALL of our financial records were destroyed, including our back-up hard-drive.

Neil Young made me write this. Before last Thursday, when ol' Shakey and his golden garage band Crazy Horse stomped through my local amphitheater, the last thing I'd thought I'd be excited about was a bunch of guys hovering around 70, playing loud rock and roll into the night.

Although Nick Waterhouse wears his classic soul influences on his sleeve, behind his Buddy Holly glasses lies a timeless talent for spirited rock and rhythms that anyone can appreciate. His debut album, Time's All Gone, has received positive reviews, as have his raucous, house-party-flavored live shows.

Singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards makes his second appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minn. Edwards opens with the song for which he's best known: his infectious Top 5 hit from 1972, "Sunshine." He's backed by the Mountain Stage band for all but the final song of his set, the rousing "This Island Earth," which he sings a cappella. When he finishes, host Larry Groce tells the audience, "If you think he's not a good singer, try singing that one yourself."