Paul Simon performs at Hard Rock Live on Tuesday. (Andrew Nathanson / GatorProduction.com)

If you’re like me and you haven’t really listened to a Paul Simon album since, let’s say, The Rhythm of the Saints, you’ll be pleased to discover that his new material sounds strikingly similar to his earlier work.

Simon was at the Hard Rock in Hollywood on Tuesday, showing off both old favorites from his solo career and his new songs from So Beautiful or So What.

And unlike other legends already at 70 (or approaching) who have reinvented themselves with a new sound — think Bob Dylan and his cowboy rockabilly persona and rougher-than-ever voice (I like it, others don’t) or Neil Young and his one-man grunge fest — Simon’s keeping with has worked for decades: folk, melodic songs with horns that make you feel good.

Photos: Paul Simon at Hard Rock Live

The sold-out Hard Rock crowd was certainly smiling on Tuesday as Simon busted out his most of his biggest solo successes, including “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, “Mother and Child Reunion” and “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes”. He played just under two hours with no intermission and two encores, including a finale of “Graceland”, “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “You Can Call Me Al”, one of the only songs where he really switched up the arrangement.
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Our writer's personal preference for top rock era is between the years 1967 and 1972, which featured artists like The Beatles, The Roling Stones and The Doors all putting out great songs. (Beatles photo courtesy Apple Corps Ltd.; Stones, Doors pictures courtesy AP)

More: Is Spotify music’s next evolutionary step?

There’s plenty to love about being a new Spotify user. Besides listening to all the new albums the week they’re released, I’ve been having a blast checking out artists I’ve long forgotten.

As a kid in the 1980s, I used to check out Billboard’s year-end cassette tapes from the library, featuring the top 10 songs from any particular year. The Billboard pop chart is what it is — the most popular, radio-friendly songs that in no way represents the best tunes out there.

Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Hank Williams Sr. and The Grateful Dead never made it to Billboard’s Hot 100 year-end list (although covers of Marley and Williams songs made the list). Dylan charted just three times, with other artists having more chart success with Dylan songs.

But music moves society, and the Billboard year-end charts, dating back to 1946, give us a glimpse of what society felt like each year.

So I set out to make the ultimate playlist – a single list of every Billboard Hot 100 song available on Spotify from 1946 (when the chart debuted at 30 songs) to 2010. That’s one list with more than 5,000 hit songs, and I’ll continue to update it each year.

To access this playlist, start by downloading Spotify . When you have the program open, check out my playlist on sharemyplaylists.com. It’s an outstanding web site that allows users to post their playlists, giving you access to many lists outside your circle of friends.

Once the page loads (it will take a minute the first time), click “play.” When the playlist is imported into Spotify, click “subscribe” and you’ll have it forever.
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Image via CrunchBase

More: Spotify playlist highlights best, worst time periods of Billboard era

Every so often, a revolutionary idea transforms the music industry. Mass-produced records in the 1930s brought music to living rooms. Blank cassette tapes in the 1980s turned music fans into producers.

Napster, and its illegal brothers and sisters like Kazaa, gave us a glimpse in the 2000s at how the Internet would change music forever. But it nearly derailed the industry. Why buy an album for $15 a pop when you can steal it with minimal to no risk?

Apple, Amazon and others have attempted to legitimize the Internet music industry, allowing consumers to buy songs for under a dollar and full albums for less than $10. But in a recession with no end in sight, paying for music isn’t a priority for many fans when they can still illegally download a full album for free in less than five minutes.

Enter Spotify, the first company to understand that the future of music isn’t in buying songs or albums. Spotify, a downloadable program, puts music past and present at your fingertips. A vast majority of the record companies’ catalogs are available by doing a simple search, and it could save the music industry.
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More: Frank Cerabino: West Palm Beach’s cattle drive was no Pamplona | Photos: Cattle drive on Clematis

It’s not exactly the vision tourists have of South Florida, but at high noon today, a cattle drive will make its way down Clematis Street to the waterfront.

A dozen cowboys on horseback will lead dozens of cattle down Clematis Street from Sapodilla Avenue to Flagler Drive, to promote Cowboys on the Waterfront month in West Palm Beach.

“It’s actually to bring attention to a very important exhibit that we have at the lake pavilion, which is called Florida Cowboys, Keepers of the Last Frontier,” waterfront manager Joan Goldberg said. “I’m just beginning to learn a huge amount of the cattle and ranching industry are in the state of Florida.”

Goldberg said that few people realize six of the top 10 producing ranches in the United States are in Florida.

Also for cowboys month, the city will show the 1991 comedy film City Slickers, starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance, on a large outdoor screen at the waterfront at 8 p.m. Friday.

Other cowboy-themed events are planned for later in January.

While the city is expecting a large turnout today to watch the cattle herd, not everyone is excited.

West Palm Beach resident Gloria Sajnaj denounced the cattle-herding plan at Monday’s city commission meeting, accusing city officials of being “monetary prostitutes.”

“They say it’s to promote conservation, but I don’t know what they’re conserving,” Sajnaj said. “A civilized society should not feel the need to exploit defenseless animals.”

Aquaphonics' Alan Martinki and Perpetual Groove's Brock Butler jam together. (Andrew Abramson for pbpulse.com)

No matter how much population growth occurs in South Florida, the region will never be mistaken for a true cultural hotspot.

That’s always been evident in the area’s long-time struggling jam band scene. Smaller venues rarely remain open more than a year or two, and the quality shows that do make it down here don’t sell out.

So give Matt Beck and Destiny Spang of Brotherly Love Productions credit for trying to establish a music community in South Florida that’s now centered around the Funky Buddha Longue in Boca Raton.

On Thursday, Beck’s three-year dream of hosting Perpetual Groove’s Brock Butler and Adam Perry as a duo finally came to fruition, giving both Brotherly Love and the Funky Buddha continuing credence in the jam-band community.
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Levon Helm performs with his band at Pompano Beach Amphitheater. (Veda Jo Jenkins / sflimages.com)

Photos: Levon Helm/Ray LaMontagne at Pompano

It’s tough to tell who’s having a better time these days — Levon Helm or the crowd wanting to experience The Band with one if its founding fathers?

Helm seemingly lives to perform, refusing a laryngectomy when he was diagnosed with throat cancer a decade ago, instead undergoing rounds of radiation to he could continue sharing his gift with others.

He spent the 2000s inviting the public to the Midnight Ramble, intimate gatherings at his home and studio in Woodstock, N.Y., where he jams with friends and guests like it’s the Basement Tapes recordings all over again.

On Thursday, Helm made a stop at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater on the second date of an eight-show tour through the south, where he’s splitting the bill with singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne.
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Bob Dylan at the 2009 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Michael Douglas. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images file photo)

When 23-year-old Bob Dylan penned the lyrics “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now,” he unknowingly glimpsed into the future to describe his 69-year-old self.

The fact that Dylan’s first South Florida show in five years — in a 4,500-seat auditorium in Davie — didn’t quite sell out on Wednesday speaks volumes about Dylan’s recent reputation as a performer.

He disappointed many fans in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was a fading star then, seemingly just not there, and fans grumbled about how Dylan lost it.

Then he reemerged, releasing four outstanding albums since 1997 and regaining not just his unmatched creativity, but a youthful burst of energy that makes him so much younger on stage than he was 20 years ago, his rugged old-man cowboy voice notwithstanding.
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Neil Young performs solo at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. (Veda Jo Jenkins / sflimages.com)

Photos: Neil Young at Hard Rock Live | Young shares his ‘green’ machine

Every so often there’s a concert your gut tells you not to miss, but you almost skip because it’s an hour’s drive away on a work night. A friend talks you into going (or you snag a credential), and you leave wondering how you nearly missed out on a master doing something special.

Until Thursday, I had never seen Neil Young. Although he tours semi-frequently, he hadn’t swung through Florida since 2003 when he played Cruzan Amphitheatre with Crazy Horse. Even my parents (much closer in age to Neil than to me), who saw many of the great acts stop by the Miami Jai Alai, Hollywood Sportatorium and Dinner Key Auditorium, were seeing their first Neil Young show.

This concert, at Hard Rock in Hollywood, billed solo Neil Young, and I envisioned a two-hour acoustic set of Neil young and old — an impressive feat in itself considering Young has one of the most distinct falsetto voices that would seem prone to burning out at 64.
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Rome Ramirez, Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson play the Sunset Cove Amphitheater as Sublime with Rome. (Christina Mendenhall / rhythmscene.com)

Photos: Sublime with Rome and Matisyahu at Sunset Cove Amphitheater

You can’t mention a Sublime with Rome concert without a confused friend asking two questions: 1. Isn’t Sublime without Bradley Nowell called the Long Beach Dub All-Stars and 2. Who or what the hell is Rome?

Word leaked out across South Florida this weekend that Sublime with Rome, the legally-allowable name for Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson to play Sublime songs with a new lead singer, is giving fans the opportunity few received: the chance to hear classic Sublime songs live.

It was a modest return to the big stage on Sunday, with Sublime and their new 22-year-old lead singer Rome Ramirez sharing the spotlight with the reggae/rapper Hassidic Jewish superstar Matisyahu at the 3,000 seat capacity Sunset Cove Amphitheater in suburban Boca Raton.

Matisyahu, always expanding his musical horizon, gave the best performance of the night. But all eyes were on Sublime, with fans curious to see if Bud and Eric had anything left in the tank and if Rome could come anywhere close to channeling the late Bradley Nowell.
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John Fogerty at a concert in January in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

The best kept secret about a John Fogerty shows these days is that it’s Creedence Clearwater Revival all the way.

After years of acrimony between Fogerty and the rest of the legendary band from decades ago, Fogerty doesn’t play with his former band mates, and he doesn’t use their name.

But he’s playing their songs again, and he’s doing it with the energy and passion of, let’s say, a 40-year-old and not a 64-year-old.
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