On a purely objective note, I was curious to know more about the band itself, a group of boomers who are still rocking and rolling. I wanted to know how they've achieved their balance of staying power and freshness.
It's a week of reunions. Everyone wants to sing with Tony Bennett, the Jayhawks want one more shot at the Americana brass ring, and the superstars in SuperHeavy want nothing less than global domination.
Steve Earle spoke to me from Liuzza's in New Orleans, where he had just ordered a Po Boy, and where he is currently filming the second season of HBO's Treme.
Basically, The Other Side Of Zero -- the new album by Elizabeth & The Catapult -- is a commentary on the parallels of Elizabeth Ziman's New York City life and Leonard Cohen's inability to achieve Buddhist ideals.
Here's a playlist for everyone who's been impacted already by the volcano, put together in the hopes that we all go from "Burnin' Sky" to "No More Cloudy Days" very soon.
Decades before Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Son Volt and The Jayhawks re-introduced and expanded the parameters of roots-rock, there was a scrappy little group, originally hailing from El Cerrito, California.