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Joe Pernice of the Pernice Brothers and Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub wrapped up a month-long Friday “residency” the other night at Toronto's Dakota Tavern. The Dakota is so small that it was almost as if they were performing in someone's living room. Guests included Andrew Scott of Sloan, members of Jale and Bob Pernice. They performed a mix of PB and TFC tunes, a few numbers by Pernice and Blake’s band the New Mendicants and covers like Big Star's Ballad of El Goodo and the Bee Gees' Massachusetts. They ended with "The Kids Are Alright" and encored with "The Concept." Man, they sounded great.

Congratulations to Andy Murray, whose victory at Wimbledon has brought glory to Scotland, regardless of what a headline writer at the New York Times thinks...

Just stumbled across this video on YouTube. Always loved this song but never saw this particular clip. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell just radiate charisma.

I'll never forget the very first time I popped Bobby Bland's album "Two Steps from the Blues" into my CD player. I was completely blown away. The whole thing was so staggeringly beautiful -- the songs, the arrangements and, most of all, Bland's aching, contemplative, dignified voice. It was as if the man existed on some sort of elevated emotional plane that the rest of us weren't privy to. I know that sounds corny, but that's how I really felt. Still do. Rest in peace, sir.

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When I was a little kid, I always figured that actors were just being exaggerated versions of themselves in front of the camera. Like, say, Jean Stapleton on "All in the Family" -- she might not have actually been from Queens herself, but that was basically who she was in real life, I thought to myself. Then I saw a TV interview with the person I'd only known as Edith Bunker and got the shock of my life. R.I.P. Ms. Stapleton and thank you.

But the tone of the story annoys me to no end. It makes Butler out to be a figure of towering integrity and even quotes someone describing him as "an American hero" and "a rugged individualist." For doing his job? Don't we expect that of people anymore? To paraphrase Chris Rock, you're not supposed to be corrupt, you low-expectation-having motherf*cker.

Stumbled across this interview with Michael Penn at Comic Con. The kid conducting the interview sounds terrified but Penn gives him one thoughtful answer after another. I've always been a big fan of his music. Seems like he's a nice guy too.

Sure, this was probably staged. But hell, it's still funny.

Neil Finn has made brilliant music throughout his entire career -- with Split Enz, Crowded House, the Finn Brothers and Pajama Club. But I always felt that his 2001 solo album "One Nil" (reconfigured and released in the U.S. as "One All") was the best work he's ever done. This video shows Neil, Wendy & Lisa and the rest of his band performing "Don't Ask Why" around the time of the recording sessions. And there's more to come: he's working on his next solo album.

Johnny Marr was on Fallon the other night. For a web exclusive, they got him to perform the Smiths' "How Soon Is Now." Words fail.

I've long thought that George Jones did his best singing on all those records he made with producer Billy Sherrill. Always loved this song. Rest in peace, sir.

Poor guy.

Amazing: the first "Star Wars" movie in 60 seconds.

I've been awestruck by the Boston Marathon bombing coverage in the Boston Globe and New York Times, just as I was by the Times' coverage of Sandy and the Denver Post's coverage of Aurora. But I can't help but wonder: how much longer will the rest of us -- and by "us" I mean readers, the broadcast media, the commentariat and the blogosphere -- be able to count on people with poor pay and severe job insecurity to keep us informed in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster? Wire services are important too, but they lack the staffing to match what even a depleted newspaper can do with a local story. Newspapers in their current form will cease to exist in the not-too-distant future. Then what?