Jim Koloc of Eagan:

1 Grace Potter, Minnesota Zoo. After the barefoot belter selected a stage outfit at her own merchandise table, she told the audience: "I'm so happy to be back at the zoo, where I belong." The hardest working woman in the music biz knocked it out of the park.

2 The Mavericks, Minnesota Zoo. Shifting gears from Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" into "Us and Them" from Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" — not what you'd expect from the masters of swing-a-billy. The gold medal goes to Max Abrams for his stellar sax solos on both numbers.

3 Francis "Rocco" Prestia, Minnesota Zoo. The legendary bass player for Tower of Power totally carried "What Is Hip" to a world-class level with his trademark five-minute burst of 16th notes. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Jon Bream of the Star Tribune:

1 Jeff Jampol on Prince's estate. The manager of the estates of the Doors, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and the Ramones told Billboard "questions have to be guided with art and soul at the forefront, and money, deals and negotiations have to be secondary."

2 St. Paul and the Broken Bones, "Sea of Noise." On their impressive second album, this Otis Redding-inspired soul band moves on to more fully arranged soul that owes to Curtis Mayfield, Sly Stone and other sanctified greats. Out Sept. 9.

3 Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stone interview. Pithy Paul talks at length at times. When asked about the decisionmaking of the Beatles now, does it have to be unanimous — you, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison? "Yeah. That's the secret of the Beatles — can't do three to one. During the breakup was when it got screwed up — we did three against one. But now it has to be unanimous. The two girls are Beatles."

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