It’s nearly impossible to get your head around the magnetism that Irish rockers Thin Lizzy retain nearly a quarter century after the band’s founder and mastermind, Phil Lynott, died as a result of herion abuse.

I’ve always been one of those drawn to it myself and have never been able to put my finger on it. But consider that everyone from Bob Geldoff, to a young Bono, to Van Morrison attended Lynott’s funeral in 1986, and that there’s a bronze statue of Lynott standing in the heart of Dublin today.

Then there’s the fan base, loyal to this day. And Lynott seemed to inspire loyalty, enough so that even as the band has continued to play with different front men over the years, Lynott’s family and former bandmates have always made it clear it was more of a tribute than a frail attempt to replace him.

Then, just to bring the point home last year, they released the first Thin Lizzy album in decades.

And that’s why we’re here today.

‘Still Dangerous’ was Thin Lizzy’s first release since the bassist/singer/songwriter died – aside from a seemingly countless number of ‘best of’ collections.

It was a project spearheaded by Lynott’s mother, Philomena, and a number of his former bandmates, including former longtime Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham, longtime friend and guitar player Gary Moore, Lizzy drummer and co-founder Brian Downey, and guitar player Brian Robertson.

Such was the loyalty that Lynott inspired, all these years later. So what of the album?

‘Still Dangerous’ is a collection of live recordings from Lizzy’s 1977 world tour, the same shows that spawned their 1978 release, ‘Live and Dangerous’ – considered by hard rock insiders as one of the greatest live albums of the era.

The tour was significant for a variety of reasons. It followed the band’s 1977 release, ‘Bad Reputation,’ which included the hit “Dancing in the Moonlight.” And ‘Bad Reputation’ was released the year after ’Jailbreak,’ the album that put Lizzy on the world map with ‘Boys Are Back In Town.’

(The album Lizzy released between those two, ‘Johnny the Fox,’ is unfairly overlooked. In fact, I forgot it myself in the first draft of this post. It, however, includes the tune ‘Don’t Believe a Word,’ a live staple for the band.)

Most importantly, it was the last tour the band did with the guitar duo of Gorham and Robertson. It was the innovative Gorham/Robertson guitar harmonies that propelled Lizzy to a rock fame that they never fully recaptured after Robertson departed.

Think of the guitar chorus from “Boys Are Back In Town” and you’ll figure out what I mean.

So for Lizzy fanatics ‘Still Dangerous’ is noteworthy for the era it captures. It’s also billed as a stripped-down version of ‘Live and Dangerous’ – there are no overdubs on this one. It’s all from the sound board. And it’s also abridged – there are 10 cuts on ‘Still Dangerous’ compared to the 17 cuts from ‘Live and Dangerous.’

But ‘Still Dangerous’ has some gems, including previously unreleased live versions of “Me And The Boys” and two cuts from the ‘Bad Reputation’ album: “Opium Trail” and “Soldier of Fortune,” one of the best examples of Lizzy’s dual-guitar harmonies.

There are also new live mixes of Lizzy classics like ‘Boys Are Back In Town” and “Dancing In The Moonlight,” as well as a new on-stage version of the band’s best least-known tune, “Cowboy Song.”

So, is this album solely for Thin Lizzy insiders? Perhaps.

But ‘Still Dangerous’ does put on display the band’s unique recipe for success. Namely Lynott’s songwriting, which was largely inspired by traditional Irish folk music, coupled with lyrics drawn from his own poetry. Then there are those guitar harmonies.

Maybe it’s enough to win converts all these years later.

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We’re already big fans of second-generation guitar wiz Murali Coryell.

In recent months we’ve posted both an interview and a profile of Coryell, the son of legenary jazz guitarist Larry Coryell, noting that musical genius certainly didn’t skip a generation in the Coryell family — Murali’s brother Julian is an accomplished jazz guitar player.

Now we learn he’s in the midst of a two-week tour behind his latest album, Sugar Lips. So, we’re going one step further and letting you know where you can catch Murali’s jazz-blues stylings.

Murali Coryell lives and works out of upstate New York, so keep an eye out for shows in the area. Unfortunately, you might have to travel a bit to catch him on this leg of the tour.

But who knows, maybe you’ll be in the right place at the right time.

If  not, don’t worry. He’ll be back around. Here are the current tour dates:

• Tonight – Big Cities Lounge, 905 E. State St., Rockford, IL

• Tomorrow – The Washington, 306 Washington Street, Burlington, IA

• Sunday, Feb. 7 – BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soupes, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, MO

• Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Buddy Guy’s Legends, 754 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL

• Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Blues On Grand, 1501 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA

• Friday, Feb. 12 – Nathan P. Murphy’s, 218 S. Campbell Ave., Springfield, MO

• Saturday, Feb. 13 – Memphis On Main, 55 E. Main St., Champaign, IL

• Sunday, Feb. 14 – Huey’s Downtown, 77 S. Second St., Memphis, TN

• Friday, Feb. 26 – Tin Pan Alley, 7909 Old Post Rd., Red Hook, NY

That’s it for now. Like I said, hopefully you’ll be traveling near one of these shows later this month. If so, Coryell comes highly recommended for blues guitar fans.

We’ll try to keep you posted on more local shows down the line.

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Ringo Starr and his All-Star Band are back at Radio City Music Hall this summer, and tickets are now on sale — today for Radio City insiders and tomorrow for everyone else.

The onetime Beatle has been doing this for several years, and it’s always a great nostalgia show with an ever-changing mix of artists.

And Starr still gets behind the drum kit.

I took my son to see this show last time Ringo brought the crew around. It was his first concert and worth the price of admission. He’s since graduated to Metallica and Green Day, but as an introductory show it was perfect.

Not that it’s a show for kids only. What Ringo does is build a band with musicians who had success in the past. The show we went to included Billy Squier on guitar, Edgar Winter on keyboards and horns, and Gary Wright on keyboards.

And the way it works is each member of the band does two of their past hits — “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” for Winter; “The Stroke” and “Lonely Is The Night” for Squier. Gary Wright does his pop hit, “Dream Weaver.” You get the idea.

Of course, you also get a good selection of Ringo and Beatles hits, from “It Don’t Come Easy” to “Yellow Submarine.”

So, that’s the kind of show it is, and if that’s something you’d get into I’d recommend the show. Certainly, if you have kids who are getting into  music it’s a nice introduction to live shows at a pretty good venue.

This time around Ringo’s bringing back Winter, Wright and drummer Greg Bissonette. But he’s rounding out the band with Richard Page from Mr. Mister and Wally Palmer from the Romantics. He’s also got Rick Derringer on guitar, and that should be a treat.

Derringer, if you never heard of him, was just a teenager when he scored the hit “Hang On Sloopy” with the McCoys. He went on to play with both Johnny and Edgar Winter for years, including on Edgar’s classic They Only Come Out At Night album, where he split guitar duties with Ronnie Montrose.

Anyway, Ringo’s Big Apple show will be on July 7, and is part of a tour behind his latest album, Y Not. Also, with Ringo’s star power you never know who shows up. We had Levon Helm make an appearance at our show.

Check out the details here on the Radio City website.

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If Dave Alvin isn’t the hardest working man in the music business he’s certainly a close second.

The legendary roots rocker got his start with The Blasters. But 30 years later he’s proven as prolific — and busy — as anyone in music.

And he certainly knows what to do with a guitar.

Alvin formed The Blasters with his brother, Phil, in 1979. The band quickly created a buzz in L.A., and released their debut album, American Music, that same year. It didn’t take long for the band to build a cult following founded on their hectic touring and recording schedule — they produced more than a half-dozen albums.

However, none of it translated to commercial success. In 1986 The Blasters called it quits, going in separate directions.

But Alvin wasn’t ready to take a break.

Not long after the demise of The Blasters, rockabilly-inspired guitarist Billy Zoom left the L.A. punk band X, and Alvin stepped in to fill his spot.

His stint with X was short-lived, but it was far from his last project. Over the years that followed Alvin played with a slew of bands, including the Flesh Eaters, The Gun Club, The Guilty Men, and, more recently, Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women.

He’s also had a busy career on his own. Since releasing his first solo, 1987’s Romeo’s Escape, Alvin has released more than a dozen more solo albums, even as he continues working on side projects

Two of his most recent projects have ended tragically, however. His tenure with The Guilty Men ended when accordian player Chris Gaffney, Alvin’s longtime friend and bandmate, died. Grief-stricken, Alvin disbanded the group.

But he returned with The Guilty Women, an all-female band that grew out of jam sessions he put together after Gaffney’s death.

Alvin captured some of the band’s magic on tape, and last year released Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women before taking the group on the road.

Unfortunately, tragedy soon followed there as well, when bandmember Amy Ferris committed suicide during the group’s most recent tour. The Guilty Women finished out the tour, but the band’s future remains uncertain.

Still, rest assured that as far as the music goes, it won’t be long before you hear from Dave Alvin again.

(NOTE: This is part of my ongoing series of reports on guitar players who fly under the mainstream radar. Keep checking The Listening Room for future installments of guitar players you should know – JF)

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What hasn’t been written, spoken and sung about Feb. 3, 1959?

The thing is, whether or not the date itself is remembered, everyone seems to know what you’re talking about when  you say it’s the day the music died. Credit Don McLean with immortalizing the phrase in his folk classic “America Pie.”

But think about what happened that day, 51 years ago today: Some of the nation’s brightest music stars were wiped out before their prime. Consider that Buddy Holly, who influenced Elvis Costello and dozens of others, was a mere 22 years old when he died in the crash.

Ritchie Valens, who convinced musicians like Carlos Santana and Los Lobos that chicanos could make it in rock, was just 17, despite having already scored with a handful of hits. And J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, the old man in the group, was only 28.

That’s a lot of future musical potential.

Lord knows the music they would’ve made. Particularly Holly, who was already a musical innovator with a bright future ahead.

And I’ve always been intrigued by some of the side details of the incident. Some of the best known facts are that the bands were part of the Winter Dance Party tour through the Midwest at the start of 1959. The Feb. 2, 1959 show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, was added on short notice to fill in an opening in the tour.

Tired of bumpy and frigid bus rides, Holly chartered a flight. After the show the Big Bopper asked Holly’s guitarist, Waylon Jennings, for his seat because he had the flu. Jennings gave up his seat in the plane and lived to tell about it.

Published accounts differ on another famed moment – that Valens and musician Tommy Allsup flipped for a seat. Most accounts suggest that it happened earlier in the day, not at planeside. And the story is that Valens had never flown on a plane and was anxious to give it a try.

The rest is history. The plane took off in the early hours of Feb. 3 and crashed near Clear Lake, killing all on board, including 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson. They were headed to a show in Moorhead, Minnesota, but never made it.

One lesser known story is that Dion DeMucci, who was on the tour with Dion and the Belmonts, declined a seat on the plane because he thought the $36 fare was too costly for such a short plane ride.

Jennings, who has talked about giving up his seat for years, certainly emerged as a major artist. DiMucci’s fame faded, although he switched genres and had some success as a solo artist.

And you have to ask yourself the same question that you  might have about Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain or any of the host of artists who died too young: Would they have remained relevant artists?

Most likely yes. Of the Clear Lake fatalities, Holly certainly was poised to remain a major artist – and producer – in the future. Hard to judge with Valens and the Bopper. Of course, we’ll never know.

I suppose it doesn’t matter like it used to. Younger music fans would likely have difficulty naming any of the musicians on that plane. But the crash itself certainly has staying power, because 51 years later it’s still “The Day the Music Died,” and that says something.

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Sometimes it’s okay to steal.

So, today I’m stealing from a colleague. Noreen O’Donnell, our education writer, came across this cool item for her Hall Monitor blog. It’s one of those situations where we cross topics, and this one certainly hits on the music biz.

The story is that Mark Wood, one of the founding members of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, does musical workshops with school kids interested in music. And Wood and crew are bring their act to Harrison on Saturday. Should be cool.

Anyway, here’s Noreen’s piece on the whole thing:

Mark Wood, international recording artist, Emmy award-winning composer, and electric violinist, is performing with his band, The Mark Wood Experience, at the Harrison Performing Arts Center on Saturday

The show is at 7 p.m. The address is 255 Union Ave. in Harrison.

Wood is an original member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and has toured and performed with Celine Dion, Billy Joel and Lenny Kravitz. He starred in the Pepsi commercial produced by Kanya West.

Wood and 325 student musicians from all the Harrison schools will play Zeppelin, Cream, Kansas, Beatles, and more, incorporating strings, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments in a concert of classic rock music.

Tickets are available for Electrify Our Band! The Mark Wood Experience by going online to: www.HBPAEVENTS.com, or by calling (914) 552-8005.

“We go into schools all over the country, and this one is especially exciting because we are including the brass, choir and strings,” Wood said. “In working with all this great talent at that district, we’re going to empower and inspire them to reach higher in their goals in relationship to music – and also their lives – to push themselves into exciting new territory.”

Wood has created special arrangements for the Harrison High School Band, and will also be working with the Harrison Avenue, Purchase, Preston and Parsons elementary schools string instrumentalists, and the Louis M. Klein Middle School orchestra.

Singer Laura Kaye – who is a member of the Mark Wood Experience, and has sung with Aretha Franklin and James Brown – will be working with the high school chorus during the workshop and concert.

Wood will be joined by his son, 14-year-old Elijah Wood, on drums.

The Harrison High School Band, led by Ferdinand Pasqua and Charles Briem, is scheduled to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade down Fifth Avenue in March, and will be performing in an East Coast tour in April, which includes the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The group will compete in the Heritage Music Festival, and be featured artists on the Mall in our nation’s capital during that trip.

For more information on the Harrison High School Band, contact Charles Briem at (914) 630-3112 or by e-mail at briemc@harrisoncd.org.

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Obviously the Listening Room is good luck.

Yesterday, just hours after our piece on Buckwheat Zydeco and our interview with frontman Stanley Dural, Jr., the band won a Grammy.

Coincidence?

Seriously, we just wanted to relay our congratulations to Dural and the rest of Buckwheat Zydeco. The band took the award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album on Sunday.

It may not be the most high-profile Grammy, but certainly winning it puts Buckwheat at the top of the zydeco heap, where he deserves to be.

And there are always some remarkable musicians hidden away in the less publicized categories. This year that includes Steve Earle for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Derek Trucks Band for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott for Best Traditional Blues Album. There’s even Ziggy Marley for Best Musical Album for Children and Stephen Colbert for Best Comedy Album.

So, some of the Grammys are like great hidden tracks on a good album.

Here’s the complete list of winners and, again, a hearty congratulations to Buckwheat Zydeco. We’ll go with the notion that granting us the interview was a great career move.

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It’s no small irony that Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural once refused to play zydeco music.

Long before he became the genre’s biggest name, Dural had grown tired of the unique style of folk music that he grew up immersed in in his native Louisiana.

“My daddy played accordion,” he said this week. “And from the old school, the original roots of zydeco with only two instruments — the accordion and washboard.”

“So I heard it 24-7,” Dural said. “It’s just like you tell me you have 365 days for this year and you’re going to eat nothing but pork chop. I mean, somewhere within that span I’m going to get tired of pork chop. And I heard this music all the time. Man, I said, ‘No way, I’m not going to play this.’”

A musical prodigy, Dural instead delved into boogie-woogie piano, taking after performers like Little Richard and Fats Domino.

That wouldn’t last long.

In hindsight, it seems inevitable that he would end up playing zydeco, a form of American roots music that emerged in the 19th century from black communities in southwest Louisiana. Marked by upbeat rhythms typically played with an accordion and washboard, zydeco combines elements of French, Caribbean and blues music, and was traditionally sung in French Creole.

And today no one does it better than Buckwheat Zydeco, the Dural-led combo that continues to record and tour, nearly 40 years into his historic music career.

The band will be playing two shows in the New York metro area in the coming weeks, starting with a Feb. 6 show at BB King Blues Club & Grill in Manhattan. On Tuesday, Feb. 9, Buckwheat Zydeco will come even closer to home, with a scheduled show at The Bayou restaurant in Mount Vernon.

The band is touring behind the Grammy-nominated “Lay Your Burden Down,” their latest major-label release.

Dural, 62, credits zydeco legend Clifton Chenier with pulling him into zydeco in 1975. Home on a break from touring with his 15-piece band, Dural was asked by Chenier if he would play the organ for one show with his band.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what. Let me just go and do this one night, and put my organ on stage, play it, take it off, put it back and bring it back home,’ and say, see? I played zydeco and I still don’t like it,’” Dural recalled.

“And, man, I had no clue,” he said. “Surprised the hell out of me, because I wound up staying with Clifton over two years.”

Dural had been accustomed to the traditional music his father played at home. What Chenier had done was put a full band behind the accordion and washboard, which he also improvised to wear over the shoulders.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Dural said. “This man on stage with his big ole’ piano-note accordion. And he had a band. I had never heard zydeco with a band. He had the guitar, the bass and he had this horn, this man blowing saxophone that would never quit. And I said, ‘You know, this ain’t so bad.’”

It would be a gross understatement to say that Dural has since embraced the music. In fact, he sees it as a representation of his own heritage and cultural identity, with himself as a veritable goodwill ambassador.

“See, that’s the reason for playing zydeco music,” he said. “It’s a culture. It’s like the food.”

Dural’s music, however, always has his own spin — a remnant of his early love for R&B music.

Buckwheat Zydeco expands the realms of traditional zydeco, adapting its musical style to a variety of artists the band covers. For “Lay Your Burden Down,” they cover both Bruce Springsteen and Gov’t Mule, while also performing “When The Levee Breaks,” a Memphis Minnie song most commonly associated with heavy metal’s Led Zeppelin.

Dural calls them “legend songs,” which serve to both lure younger audiences as well as deliver poignant messages. “When The Levee Breaks,” for instance, is covered as a reference to the levees that collapsed in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

And the album’s title track, “Lay Your Burden Down,” is a plea to the people of Louisiana to put their worries aside, if for a moment.

“These songs are reality songs,” he explained. “‘When The Levee Breaks,’ which it did. So that relates to what’s going on in this universe. They’re very good songs and songs that, I would call them legend songs. So I invite people like Zeppelin, invite people like that to help with the CD.”

Dural says he’s lost track of how many albums he’s put out, and even how many legendary performers he’s teamed with — “Burden” includes Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes.

What he hasn’t lost track of is his love for the music, nor for the seemingly countless live shows that have taken him all over the globe serveral times over.

And he’s showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

“You know what is my thing? I keep my health and keep on doing what I’m doing until I can’t do it no more,” Dural said. “You know, I sit and talk with BB King when we meet up, and that’s my question to him. I know the answer but I’d like to hear him say it. I say, ‘B, why do you do it?’ He says, ‘Man, this is my heart. This is my love. This is what I do.’”

“You see, and that’s how I feel,” he said. “There’s a similarity. I wouldn’t want to get caught doing anything else.”

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Listening Room contributor Jared Zeide uncovers a hidden treasure and wonders what else he  might be missing.

The other day someone in my office gave away a box of tapes and in it was the Rolling Stones’ 1967 album Between the Buttons.  Since this was one of the few Stones albums I didn’t already own, it would be a treat to hear it.  I fast-forwarded past “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (which I’ve heard countless times) to the second song, “Yesterday’s Papers.” It was not a good song, it was a great song.  I thought to myself, “Where has this gem been?” I’ve been listening to the Stones for 21 years and I never managed to hear it.

Then it dawned on me that since I don’t have every Who, Hendrix, Grateful Dead or Doors album, I have probably missed out on gems of similar quality from these artists and many others.

It is not a valid assumption to believe that you have heard every great song from an artist because you have heard all the hits and you own all the allegedly “quintessential” albums.  There’s buried treasure out there, kids! Tom Petty even hosts a show called Buried Treasure on the XM Sirius satellite radio channel Deep Tracks where he plays such music.

Below are some treasures I have found.  Feel free to share some of yours – and happy hunting!

“Yesterday’s Papers,” Rolling Stones, from the 1967 album Between the Buttons.

“The Good’s Gone,” The Who, from the 1965 album The Who Sings My Generation.

“Hey Baby (New Rising Sun),” Jimi Hendrix, from the 1997 album First Rays of the New Rising Sun (previously unreleased recordings).

“Cymbaline,” Pink Floyd, from the 1969 soundtrack to the film More.

“It’s All Too Much,” the Beatles, from the 1969 album Yellow Submarine.

“You’re Lost Little Girl,” the Doors, from the 1967 album Strange Days.

“As You Said,” Cream, from the 1968 album Wheels of Fire.

“Ballad of a Thin Man,” Bob Dylan, from the 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited.

“I’m Gonna Crawl,” Led Zeppelin, from the 1979 album In Through the Out Door.

Robert Parente
Listening Room columnist

Today, January 28, English musician Robert Wyatt turns 65. A founding member and drummer of the 1960’s British rock/jazz experimental band, Soft Machine, he has maintained a low profile in the music industry but has been very influential on other artists.

The Tears for Fears song “I Believe” from the 1985 Album Songs from the Big Chair  was dedicated to him.

The Soft Machine was the support act /opening act in America & Europe for the Jimi Hendrix Experience from 1967 to 1968. (As an aside, Soft Machine opened for the Jimi Hendrix Experience when they played at the Westchester County Center in White Plains in April 1968).

After leaving Soft Machine in 1971, Wyatt formed the short lived Matching Mole.

On the recording of their third album in 1973,Wyatt fell from a third floor window which resulted  in his being paralyzed from the waist down.

Now in a wheel-chair with his rock drumming days behind him, Wyatt embarked on a solar career with the help of such musical friends as guitarist Mike Oldfield, drummer Nick Mason from Pink Floyd, and Brian Eno, who would later go on to produce U2.

In 1974, Wyatt put out a cover of Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer” ( a big hit for the Monkees in the 1960s), which became a top 30 hit in Britain.  His first solo album, Rock Bottom, ( also released in 1974) was critically acclaimed and made many critics’ “best of” lists at the end of the year, including those in America. Rock Bottom is a work of personal conviction and deals with his unfortunate accident.

The songs are uplifting and painful all at once. His second LP, 1975’s Ruth is Stanger than Richard, had free jazz influences with his beautiful, frail
passionate voice in the background. A great work and more accessible than Rock Bottom. A great LP for musicians to listen and learn.

In the 1980’s Wyatt became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and to this day, a good portion of his his music has been  political;  haunting but beautiful at the same time . His 1983 interpretation of Elvis Costello’s Falkland’s anti-war song “Shipbuilding” became a top 40 hit in Britain.

His 1984 cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Biko,” about apartheid in South Africa, was a underground classic on many radio stations around the world at the time. Many folks considered Wyatt’s version of “Biko” the definitive version.

In recent years, Wyatt continues to record and occasionally performed. In 2006, he was a guest on David Gilmour’s On An Island LP.  In 2008, the Domino record label reissued a number of Wyatt’s albums including Rock Bottom (1974) Nothing Can Stop Us (1982), Old Rottenhat (1985) and Shleep (1997) on both CD and vinyl. In 2009, Wyatt appeared on the LP Around Robert Wyatt by the French Orchestra National De Jazz.

Over the past 40 years, Wyatt has recorded some stunning music, full of hope and emotion that has remained undiscovered by many. He shows no interests in the “show business” of music. Wyatt plans to record a new LP by the end of this year.

Tyson Kindell was a prodigy, picking up piano, accordion, violin, clarinet, saxophone and a host of other instruments from the time he was barely 4 years old.

What his mother wouldn’t tolerate was guitar lessons — as the son of Big Band musician Tommy Kindell, Tyson’s mom just didn’t think the guitar was a legitimate instrument.

Fortunately, his dad knew better, and taught the youngster himself. Good move.

Years later, Tyson was in love with the instrument and playing in a rockabilly band in Europe when someone jokingly called him him Billy Zoom.
The name stuck, and when he formed the legendary L.A. punk band X in the late 1970s, so did his place in modern music history.

(photo courtesy of billyzoom.com)

Zoom seemed an unlikely candidate to spearhead one of the most prominent punk bands of the era. Raised on jazz, he delved into rockabilly after discovering Elvis Presley. It was only after catching The Ramones on stage in late 1976 that he saw the potential to expand his repertoire. Heck, he reinvented it.

“I saw the Ramones at that show, and it just kinda changed everything,” Zoom told Citizen Magazine. “It was sort of what I had been looking for but couldn’t put my finger on. So I watched the Ramones and I watched the audience too, and I was obviously one of the few people there that hadn’t been following them.”

What Zoom saw was a chance to do something new, something like “Eddie Cochran and the Ramones put together.”

Led by Zoom, bassist John Doe and singer Exene Cervenka, X became one of the premier bands of the first wave of American punk, right alongside the Ramones. Zoom, easily the most versatile guitarist of the genre, became a focal point — his glistening smile and engaging gaze became trademarks.

The band released over a dozen albums over time, disbanding the regrouping along the way. But Zoom has hardly been boxed in, having also played with legendary acts like The Blasters, Etta James, Gene Vincent and Big Joe Turner.

Listed as one of Guitar Player magazine’s greatest guitarists of all time, Zoom is also an electronics wiz known for doing his own upgrades, alterations and improvements to his guitars. In 2008, Gretsch guitars even honored him with his own model.

Not bad for a kid whose mom refused him guitar lessons.

(NOTE: This is part of my ongoing series of reports on guitar players who fly under the mainstream radar. Keep checking The Listening Room for future installments of guitar players you should know – JF)

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The Hope for Haiti telethon that aired Friday showed the power of music, having raised a reported $61 million so far. Musically, the show was better than I expected. Highlights were Dave Matthews and Neil Young peforming Hank Williams’ “Alone and Forsaken” and Jennifer Hudson’s cover of “Let it Be.” All the songs are big sellers on iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody with profits going to Haiti relief efforts.

Other artists are also contributing to the cause. Radiohead held a benefit concert Saturday in Los Angeles for a small, lucky crowd who could fork over thousands on an online ticket auction. Proceeds went to Oxfam America’s Haiti Earthquake Response Fund. Also, an Eddie Vedder cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “My City Of Ruins” is selling on iTunes and the Ten Club website for 99 cents. Proceeds will benefit Artists for Peace and Justice Haiti Relief.

Listening Room contributor Jared Zeide offers his thoughts about the music of the past decade.

Every decade brings us wonderful new music and new artists.  However, not every decade lends itself to a potent mix of creativity (i.e. 60/70’s vs. 80’s).  As we begin this nameless decade, I’m left wondering “what the hell was that?” What I mean is, it doesn’t appear to me that the last ten years of music had much of an identity like the ones before it.

The 50’s saw the genesis of modern rock and roll, which was continued into the 60’s by the two greatest forces music has ever seen in the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.  The 70’s was perhaps the most potent decade in all of rock history as many 60’s bands matured and lead the way for heavy metal, punk and arena rock.  The 80’s cheesed out a little with some one-hit wonders but there was still a lot of great stuff to be heard as heavy metal came into its own and alternative music planted its roots.  Then the 90’s saw yet another revolution where a resurgence of the 70’s styles of metal and punk emerged in the form of grunge, and the proliferation of new forms of media changed the way we listen, view, and think about music.

The resurgence of raw rock allowed for the return of many legendary bands including Pink Floyd, the Eagles, the Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, Black Sabbath, and even the Beatles via digital mixing.

Then came the 2000’s (or whatever they’re called).  No longer could you watch Alternative Nation on MTV or listen to local radio to find the newest bands.  Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were not jumping into your lap to change your life.  Instead of spending countless hours making mix tapes off of CDs, you pressed a few buttons on your iPod to put together a playlist; rather than flipping through radio stations during commercials to find a song you haven’t heard three times that day, you listened to satellite or Internet radio with dozens of music channels that don’t have any commercials; and your mountain of CDs fit into your six pound laptop computer.  Many used Napster and Limewire among other sites to simply take whatever music they wanted for free.  The Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead even gave an album away for free.  Record companies saw their sales dip continuously.

The music itself (at least to me at this time), doesn’t have any particular “sound” to distinguish it from other decades.  Perhaps the mainstream popularity of “emo” and shying away from the ballsy power chords of the 90’s will make it recognizable? Or maybe the reinfusion of a “poppier” sound? Time will tell.

So what will this new decade bring? Accessing your computer’s MP3 files through your phone? The return of disco music in a new form? Real music made by Guitar Hero instruments? As I said before, every decade brings forth some musical magic, so I do not worry too much.  And as Tom Petty has said “Rock and roll will never die – its formula is flawless.” Music lovers will be safe for a long time…wherever the trends take us.

This band really has a lot more life than most fans realize.

Formed in the late ‘60s, the Scorpions put out 21 albums since 1972 — and the German-based metal stalwarts are due to release their 22nd album in March. That’s a lot of time on the road and a lot of music over four decades.

Now comes word that it’s over: The band tells fans on their website that they’re calling it quits after this one.

The Scorpions rose to international fame in the 1980s, when power ballads like “Still Loving You” and metal hits like “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “No One Like You” made them MTV video favorites — and a big-money success.

But they had been around for a while by then, and had already produced two metal guitar legends.

Formed by guitarist Rudolf Schenker and singer Klaus Meine, the Scorpions established themselves in Germany and parts of Europe early on. The band included Rudolf’s kid brother, Michael Schenker, who went on to put British rockers UFO on the metal map and later formed his own band, the Michael Schenker Group.

Michael Schenker’s replacement was German mystical-metal rocker Uli Jon Roth who, likewise, continues to tour and play to a loyal following in Europe and Asia.

But it was Roth’s own replacement, Mathias Jabs, that propelled the band to spandex-wearing stardom. And they continued to do it, even after fans in America lost interest and lost track of the band.

Personally, I found the Scorpions a much more interesting band during the Roth years, and in the late ‘70s when they first brought Jabs into the mix. The power-ballad and pop-metal material wore on me after a while, and the albums seemed much less interesting as time went on.

But then one of those hit songs come on the radio and I find myself turning it up and tapping on the wheel. Those tunes are like “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest or Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” — you realize you missed them when you hear them.

So it’s now, at the end, that you have to pay homage to the Scorpions. Rudolf Schenker and Meine are each 61, so it might be time. Still, you get the feeling that once they’re gone you’ll kinda miss them.

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Here’s a quick rundown of recommended upcoming shows here in the Big Apple’s northern ‘burbs.

The list starts tonight with singer-songwriter Willie Nile, who is scheduled to play the Towne Crier in Pawling. Sorry for the short notice, but Nile is worth the haul if you have the night free.

The Buffalo-born Nile took a decade off from touring and recording in the 1980s, but came back strong in the 1990s. He released his sixth studio album, House of a Thousand Guitars, last year. The album includes the hit song, “Doomsday Dance.”

Nile’s hardly the only noteworthy act coming our way. Here’s a few others:

The Towne Crier will also host blues guitar legend Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson on Feb. 6. Johnson is the real deal. And let’s be honest, the great blues guitarists won’t be around forever. There’s few great ones left and Johnson’s one of them.

The Tarrytown Music Hall is also going for the blues thing – in a big way. Talking about blues greats, the historic theater has John Mayall on tap for Feb. 12. Mayall has played with just about everyone in the blues business since founding the Bluesbreakers. And this is a good show for blues fans in general, because Mayall’s guest for the  night is traditional acoustic bluesman John Hammond.

Father back, on March 7, the Tarrytown venue has John Hiatt scheduled. Hiatt’s got quite the following, so you might want to plan ahead for this one.

Moving north a bit, Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill has Paquito D’Rivera penciled in for Feb. 14. The Cuban-born saxophone and clarinet player is one of the premier Latin jazz players of all time. He comes highly recommended if you’re into jazz.

Finally, on Feb. 14, the Turning Point Cafe in Piermont will host rockabilly crooner Robert Gordon. Gordon’s a regular at the Rockland County hotspot, but always puts on a good show and hasn’t lost his famous voice.

Anyway, there’s something for everyone in there. No, we’re not getting a cut of the gate receipts. But we love good music.

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