Below that, he's posted photos from his recent field trip to Jazzfest in New Orleans. Out of sheer jealously I'd call it a junket, except that he went on his own dime just to enjoy himself and snap a few pictures.

I ask because Radiohead played without what you could call Lawn TV - the venue's twin-video screens, which are mounted at the back edge of the pavilion roof in order to extend the show visually to the big, unreserved seating on the grassy hill.

Even without screens, you would of course still be able see the stage and hear the music. But for me, on a brief trek across the lawn about eight songs into Radiohead's set, the band felt farther away than bands playing Cruzan usually do. I attributed that sensation to the missing video.

From the second song on it was mostly blues, with a few of the hits along the way. Clapton gave second guitarist Doyle Bramhall II room to play both regular and slide guitar, and keyboardist Chris Stainton had a few solo spots as well. Clapton sounded good, but seemed to be going through the motions at times. Bramhall didn't really get it going, either, during his solos. But Stainton was energetic, and I got the impression he was trying to move things along.

Clapton's voice was in fine form throughout, and the vocals of Bramhall and the two background singers were spot-on. A solo acoustic interlude where Clapton played Driftin' and Driftin' was one of the high points of the night.

The full band returned and stayed mostly acoustic for Wonderful Tonight. Of course, Bramhall and Clapton traded back and forth on Layla, switching parts at times, with Bramhall playing slide. Everyone in the crowd was up on their feet at the first notes of Cocaine, and they stayed up for the encore: pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph sitting in for a version of Got My Mojo Working.

The band was never introduced. (Doyle Bramhall II, guitar, vocals; Chris Stainton, keyboards; Pino Palladino, bass; Ian Thomas, drums; Sharon White, backing vocals; Michelle John, backing vocals). They were tight for the most part and, like Stainton, drummer Thomas was doing his part to raise the energy level. Clapton looked tired, though, and with a two- or three-day beard he looked older than I expected.

But I enjoyed the concert. Even when not hitting on all gears, Clapton still sounds great. The production was classy and not overdone; simple lighting and backdrops were pretty much it. I am glad I got to see him one more time before he possibly retires.

Review posted here. Also, note the remarks about poor sound in the comments section. These follow scathing criticism of the mix when Van Halen played the same building in February. But then, sound was an issue at several stops on the Van Halen tour, whereas I can't remember ever hearing a complaint before now about audio at a Springsteen show.

BankAtlantic Center, like all its arena brethren (Staples Center, AmericanAirlines Arena, etc.), poses a challenge to any visiting sound crew. It's difficult at best to wire up a large, mix-used facility whose primary tenant is a sports team. But I've generally found the acoustics there to be acceptable. Maybe there were bad pockets in last night's mix? For what it's worth, I was sitting in section 120, a few rows off the floor, closest to Clarence Clemons and Nils Lofgren, and from there the sound was pretty true.

Blood Brothers
The Promised Land
I Wanna Be With You
Radio Nowhere
Out in the Street
This Hard Land
Gypsy Biker
Growing Up
Candy's Room
Prove It All Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
Mary's Place
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Devils Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

encores

Thunder Road
Born to Run
Rosalita
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
American Land

Update II 5/5: And here's the handwritten original, which barely survived all the in-show revisions:

This is not - repeat not - to say that Clapton, or anyone, is going to sit in with The Boss and the E Street Band at BankAtlantic Center. I don't know one way or the other. It's just that Bruce is known for bringing out musicians he admires, and, heck, with Clapton in town ahead of his Monday night show at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, well, who knows ... I'm not lobbying here, just talking ... really.

The Associated Press notes the massive, inflatable oinker had spent part of Sunday floating above a gig. Ex-Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters was playing closing night at Coachella, a rock festival in Indio, California, when the pig that's been part of the P-Floyd stable since the 1970s broke free of its moorings and sailed off.

Its minders posted a $10,000 reward, which will go to two couples living a few miles from the concert site. Each found separate pieces of the downed, deflated swine on their property.

As Reuters pointed out, this wasn't the pig's first escape attempt:

"Back in 1977, it floated away on the second day of a photo shoot at the Battersea Power Station in London and was later recovered and used for an album cover."

South Floridians might recall the pig's 2007 cameo at Cruzan (formerly Sound Advice) Amphitheatre in western Palm.

Finally, for a recap of Coachella, flying pigs and all, pay a visit here.

There was an acute formalism to the songs Spoon played at Revolution (packed to the ductwork that Wednesday night with an undetermined ratio of paid to comped), and you could call that musical tailoring a fashion sense. One element of style is reference — letting the tune tell the listener who the songwriters admire and whose labels they would gladly wear. Spoon did its referencing in careful, calibrated doses — enough to own up to certain influences without being accused of excess tribute or outright theft.

Springsteen did it again last week in Orlando: He called Roger McGuinn of the Byrds on to the stage, as reported by Orlando Sentinel music critic Jim Abbott, who later interviewed McGuinn.

Again, I don't know that Springsteen will spring anybody on Friday night at BankAtlantic Center. Of the four times I've seen him in South Florida, he's done it twice, so that's a 50/50 chance at best. But I'm just sayin' ...

Here's an AP story about Florida's conflicted relationship with the official state song: Stephen Foster's slave-era pastoral, Swanee River (1851), which Gov. Charlie Crist declined to have played at his inauguration.

After spending more than a year trying to come up with a new song to replace the Stephen Foster classic Swanee River — with lyrics some found racist — Florida politicians are expected to keep the song but update its lyrics. That is, if they do anything at all.

The song, also known as Old Folks at Home, would remain the state's official song. As a compromise, a song chosen in a statewide contest, Florida — Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky, would be added as the state's anthem.

"I'd be thrilled and honored," said Jan Hinton, the Pompano Beach music teacher who wrote the winning song.

All told, Lavigne sounds wistful for the typical teen-aged high-school experience she never had complete. She went after a music career starting in her early teens, so she had, as they say, other priorities. She became a label pro at 16. But string together songs like Innocence, Girlfriend The Best Damn Thing, Sk8er Boi and others, and Lavigne has constructed her very own high school musical.

She's not the first entertainer to make grades 9-12 her muse. Leslie Gore, the Beach Boys and the Ramones - to name a few - drew great inspiration from that stage of life. There's even a band, The Go! Team, whose whole concept is an arch celebration/examination of school spirit and teendom. But there's an unusual, un-ironic persistence to Lavigne's identification with it that's lasted three albums, numerous videos and assorted tours. It's as if she's using her career to imagine a life without the job she's got.

Radio-Active has "only grown," said Ramirez, in its six years at the Gateway Plaza on East Sunrise Blvd., where it used to go by the name of CD Collector. The place has expanded on all fronts -- floor space, inventory and general offerings. And that progress makes Radio-Active something of an anomaly in the difficult world of brick-and-mortar record retailing.

Like any of us confronted with such a contextual oddity - aging rock god in housewares superstore - he couldn't process the vision right away. But then it fell together: "He wore a loose-fitting shirt that covered up all of his tats, but the smirk was unmistakable."

Lee will be back around for the July 1 kickoff at West Palm's Cruzan Amphitheatre of the inaugural Crue Fest, a hard rock tourney to be headlined by Lee's band, Motley Crue. In announcing the Fest this week, Lee struck a philosophical, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose sort of note, as quoted by the AP:

The second we hit the stage, everything is exactly the same. But when the house lights go up these days, everybody leaves and goes back to their hotel room or bus or airplane or whatever. It's different now. People have families and kids.

And shopping.

Bruce Springsteen's Friday night concert at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise has been postponed because of the death of a longtime Springsteen bandmate, a spokesman for concert promoter LiveNation said on Thursday.

Keyboard player Danny Federici, 58, died on Thursday in New York after a three-year battle with melanoma, a form of cancer, Springsteen's official Web site announced.

Federici was not touring but had made a surprise appearance at a March 20 Springsteen concert in Indianapolis.

LiveNation spokesman Woody Graber said a Springsteen show this weekend in Orlando would also be rescheduled, but a Monday concert in Tampa would go forward as planned. Graber said no makeup dates for the Sunrise or Orlando shows have been announced, and he had no information on refunds for ticketholders.

I'd stick with The Rising if I were advising her. It's still better than You and I, the soaring-insipidly Air Canada jingle sung by Celine Dion that camp Clinton actually chose as a theme. If she keeps airing Springsteen at her rallies, she's basically saying his music matters more than his politics. Plus, nobody tells Hillary "No Surrender" Clinton when to quit doing anything, as we know from weeks of delegate-counting.

Springsteen's open letter is here and his song database is here should you want to pick the mighty mighty Boss tunes that you think best fit Clinton, Obama and John McCain.

Nevertheless, indie stores of the type celebrated in High Fidelity persist, and many thrive in the vaccuum opened up by Internet traffic and the closure of major record chains. Browsing the racks and hanging around, with or without money and a plan, is still one of life's great pleasures.