Staff Notes- With a friend in town last night I found myself watching "American Idol" for the first time in years. The most enjoyable part of the show has to be the cutaways to Idol judge Steven Tyler anytime an attractive young girl is performing. You can tell he's enjoying it for all the wrong reasons. This season there is a country rube (don't ask me his name) who can really do the talk-sing-country-twang like it's nobody's business. Last night he sang a song made famous by country great Garth Brooks. At least Randy Jackson (my dog) called Brooks great. Apparently not everyone on the country scene feels that way about Garth. Famous country music artist Waylon Jennings once said "Garth Brooks did for country music what pantyhose did for finger f*cking." I don't know (or care) enough about country music to weigh in but I do know that I can't get enough of Chris Gaines. Anyone know if he's working on any new material?

1. Represent- NaS

• "Straight up sh#t is real and any day could be your last in the jungle, get murdered on the humble, guns'll bust, n*ggas tumble. Could use a gun son, but f*ck being a wanted man, but if I hit rock bottom then I'm'a be the son of Sam." Well then. I suppose to understand NaS one would have to take a look where he came from. Or as rapper B-Real (who could just kill a man) once put it, "how do you know where I'm at when you haven't been where I've been, understand where I'm coming from?" In this case we're talking about Queensbridge, the largest housing project in America. "Tragedy: The Story of Queensbridge" is a documentary that follows lesser known MC (and original Juice Crew member) Tragedy and dives into the Queensbridge culture. People in the film allege that NaS hasn't done a fraction of what we hear in his lyrics. Now that I've cast aspersions on NaS's street cred I want to say that "Illmatic" (the album that gave us "Represent") is a classic. My only issue is that while NaS does indeed represent "Q.B."- where does that get us? As Chuck D said "I never did represent doing dumb sh*t, some gangsta lying- I'd rather diss Presidents." Oh snap.

2. Melissa- Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs

• "Freight train, each car looks the same, all the same, and no one knows the Gypsy's name. In all his deepest dreams the Gypsy flies with sweet Melissa, mmmm." Power pop notable Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (the woman who lit an eternal flame in my heart) teamed up in 2006 to record an album of 1960s covers. The results were smashing; there are a number of great songs and the cover of Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" is phenomenal. In 2009 the duo (who affectionately call themselves Sid and Susie) teamed up again to tackle the 1970s. This time the results are mixed. "I've Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People" and "Everything I Own" are brilliant while "I Wanna Be Sedated" is cringe-worthy. "Melissa" is somewhere in between. Of course we are talking about the classic Allman Brothers tune from the famed "Eat a Peach" album. This version won't cause Duane Allman to turn over in his grave but it's also not going to make you forget about the original any time soon. This observer is curious if the duo has any plans to tackle the 80s and if that effort would include any Bangles songs.

3. The Flag- BareNaked Ladies

• "The phone rings it's early, it's 7 o'clock, he said I'm sorry I woke you but I just had to talk, you know last night, remember when I tried to choke you? I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, it was only a joke." Have you ever enjoyed an album so much that you decided to listen to it in reverse order (start with the last song and work your way to the first)? Of course not, that would be absurd. If you did, "The Flag" would be the third song you'd hear on "Gordon". Have I mentioned that this album is on my desert island top 5? I enjoy it to the point where I've learned 9 out of it's 15 songs on guitar including "The Flag". On the whole "Gordon" is upbeat, light hearted and comical. However, such is not the case with songs like "Wrap Your Arms Around Me", "What A Good Boy" and "The Flag". Things couldn't be more serious than the tale of domestic abuse heard on "The Flag". The production is intentionally sparse, allowing the song's content to carry it forward. The first recording of "The Flag" appears on an unreleased 1990 demo cassette known as "Barenaked Recess". This demo cassette, sandwiched between the "Pink" and "Yellow" tapes in the release chronology, first surfaced in a digital format last year. Listening to "Barenaked Recess" at a time when former BNL lead singer Steven Page has gone solo and the rest of the band has carried on without him is strange. How do bands (one that started out recording demos in their parent's basement as teenagers in this case) that overcome all the odds to find success not find a way to work it out?