Last week on St. Patrick's Day I was playing soul 45s on the Blackbird patio when a sad text from my sister came across the wire. She said her friend Laura's husband Alex had suddenly died and that everyone in New Orleans was shattered. I told her I was sorry and to give Laura my condolences, then got back to playing records. It wasn't until the next day that I realized what Alex she was talking about: Alex Chilton—guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, king of cult power-pop.

As they stood in the wings at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in early February, about to perform The Baghdad/Seattle Suite publicly for the first time, Iraqi oud player Rahim AlHaj and Americans guitarist Bill Frisell and violist Eyvind Kang heard their cue to go onstage.

Since its formation in the fall of 2005, Left Brain's style has gone through various stages of development, from jam band to emotive heavy metal. With the release of its third album, Solipsism, the three-piece moved on to completely instrumental progressive metal compositions with strange time signatures.

Levi Eleven pop art, presented in an encompassing salmon tone, denotes performances by Albuquerque’s Shoulder Voices and The Grave of Nobody’s Darling, along with Brazilian pop-punk band Canja Rave. The show happens on Saturday, March 27, at Burt’s Tiki Lounge (313 Gold SW) at 10 p.m., and it’s free.

Aaron Hendren is a local filmmaker, responsible for such twisted tales as The Faithful and the Foul and Flicker. Lately he’s been staying up all night composing and recording 99 percent of the music for his upcoming Psycho Bettys From Planet Pussycat. Here are five random little gems that have been inspiring him.