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

Tommy Woodward of Sartell, Minn.:

1 Boz Scaggs, State Theatre. With Steve Earle, the Broadway musical "Jagged Little Pill" and Zach Bryan spanning generations on Hennepin Avenue recently, Scaggs fit right in. The 79-year-old packed the place, his voice strong and steady. A highlight: Eric Crystal on horns and keyboards, whom Scaggs recognized as Minneapolis' own.

2 Emeli Sandé, "Brighter Days." The British singer fronts Brit legend Jools Holland and the GeO Gospel Choir on a brilliant new dance version of "Brighter Days" on YouTube. The lyrics shout out hope, and Sandé means every word of it. You could feel Aretha's presence.

3 Happy 50th to hip-hop, born Aug. 11, 1973. Rock 'n' roll has no definitive birthday, but Dick Clark once reportedly pegged it at 1952 with Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy." Then along came Elvis, the British Invasion and Woodstock for the teenagers in subsequent years. I wonder how many of us septuagenarians would have embraced hip-hop if we were still kids in the 1970s.

Jon Bream, Star Tribune critic:

1 RIP, Clarence Avant. The 2019 documentary about longtime music-biz executive Avant was titled "Black Godfather." He was, indeed. He gave influential boosts and blessings to the careers of Jimmy Smith, Lal Schifrin, Bill Withers, Whitney Houston, Jimmy Iovine, Snoop Dogg, Babyface and countless others, including Minneapolis' own Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Avant's impact wasn't just felt in the music business but also in politics (he was a key adviser to Andrew Young, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) and sports (he counseled Jim Brown and Hank Aaron).

2 Pat Benatar, Target Field. Opening for Pink, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer donned a Twins jersey (for one tune) and proved that she still has powerful pipes, 40-some years on, belting "You Better Run," "Heartbreaker" and "Love Is a Battlefield." Props to her guitarist/husband Neil Giraldo for his tasty licks. Too bad Pink didn't invite Benatar to join her later in the night when she offered her own version of "Heartbreaker."

3 "High Strung," New Yorker. In her profile of Sudan Archives, Doreen St. Felix takes readers behind the scenes of the singer, rapper, producer, arranger, lyricist and violinist who fashions a self-described "fiddle-punk sound." Sudan is alternative in many ways, but this story shines a light on the challenges and struggles of being an original artist in the music industry.

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