6 cool things in music this week include Travis Scott, Vijay Iyer and Barbra Streisand’s memoir

A half-dozen cool things in music, from two points of view:

Mary Busch of New Prague:

1 Rocc-O’Clock on MyTalk 107.1 FM. Mondays at 11:30 a.m. on the Donna & Steve Show, production director Rocco Bonello plays short edited clips of songs and challenges the hosts to name the artists who are singing. It’s a competitive 10-minute segment with a simple, entertaining, yet sometimes frustrating concept.

2 Mick Sterling’s Billy Joel tribute show, Chart House. This was an enjoyable night with Mick and his fantastic 13-piece band. Peter Guertin on the piano — using no charts the entire night — was a delight to watch. There were tight renditions of deep cuts and well-known songs. The showstopper, “Goodnight Saigon,” complete with helicopter sound effects, mesmerized the crowd.

3 “My Name Is Barbra” by Barbra Streisand. After 48 hours spread over 11 days of listening to her very detailed audiobook memoir, I couldn’t help but seek out concert footage and other short videos on YouTube. To be able to watch some of the events described in the book — especially the concert from 1967 “A Happening at Central Park” — filled my Barbra quotient. I still plan a movie marathon, starting with 1968′s “Funny Girl.”

Jon Bream, Star Tribune critic:

1 Vijay Iyer Trio, the Dakota. This inventive and celebrated jazz pianist mixed the melodic with the rhythmic and impressionistic, seemingly locked in with sensational 30-year-old drummer Jeremy Dutton (what a left hand). It was a terrific, enthralling 110 minutes of modern jazz that elicited a genuine (not an obligatory) standing ovation. Only three weeks into the year, Iyer, who had performed at Walker Art Center before, set a high standard for best jazz concert of 2024 in his Dakota debut.

2 Travis Scott’s staging, Xcel Energy Center. It was one of the most imaginative in-the-round stagings I’ve witnessed. The narrow “stage” stretched the entire length of the arena, with a giant boulder theme that suggested something between “Fraggle Rock” and “Land of the Lost,” with the requisite smoke and fire. Not only did the hyper-energetic Scott work the entire stage (which had a series of video screens ringing it overhead) but he brought several fans onstage to give them a ride on a giant rock head that looked a bit like Charlie Brown. Scott called this his Circus Maximus Tour, but Everybody Must Get Stoned Tour would have been more appropriate.

3 Shelby Lynne, the Dakota. Honoring the club owner’s request to do a Dusty Springfield show, the Grammy-winning Alabama singer/songwriter dusted off her 2008 Springfield album “Just a Little Lovin’,” blending the sad and the sultry into a torchy minimalism of Southern soul, topped with her own melancholy “Black Light Blue,” a dark and beautiful stunner from 1999′s “I Am Shelby Lynne.”

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