Editor's note: 57 years ago this month, Pablo Casals, at the age of 77, gave a remarkable performance from Bach's legendary "Cello Suites" in an ancient abbey in France. The recital was filmed, resulting in a rare document of the maestro.

It is seriously difficult to rank or rate the songs of Stereolab. I know I am wrong all ready. It isn't possible to have a constant favorite 10 Stereolab songs. These turf-greedy songs demand and require, slutty and intimate, jealously polyamorous relationships with your unconscious.

This was the first show of an unusual Midwestern tour, in which the musicians had not met previously and had only practiced together for two days prior to the show, rehearsing on this very stage.

As the years pass and our resiliency and zest for living may diminish, we need a means to gauge the extent of the damage. Christmas music is just this instrument and rebellious polka stalwarts Brave Combo hereby prove themselves the scientists to wield it.

Those looking to have their hearts torn out in this beautiful, unfair, and sometimes dark world will find no shortage of opportunities. The right soundtrack is far more elusive, but the Black Heart Procession seems to be composing it -- one brooding song at a time.

At the dawn of the new millennium, just when rock chord progressions had grown tired, creaking and groaning, Blonde Redhead's instant underground Touch and Go classic, Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, arrived to rescue us all.