6 cool things in music this week include Deadhead Bill Walton ...

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

Toni Sauber of Rochester:

1 Shady Cove, "Shady Cove." Great summer easy listening, and next up is "Shady Cove II," available for pre-order. The Portland, Ore., band's First Avenue performance back in November wowed me.

2 Marinero. The Los Angeles singer/songwriter has a new album coming out titled "La La La" in 2025. Really excited about this. His "Hella Love" album is about saying goodbye to love. Just relax and sway to the music.

3 Madeleine Peyroux. Looking forward to the jazz chanteuse playing at the Dakota on Oct. 24-25. I enjoy her "Secular Hymns" on vinyl.

Jon Bream, Star Tribune critic:

1 Bill Walton saluted. The basketball Hall of Famer-turned-sportscaster, who died May 27, was the biggest Grateful Dead fan, figuratively and literally. He attended more than 850 Dead concerts and cited them on his many broadcast appearances. Dead & Company honored Walton with special graphics at their May 30 performance at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and San Diego Union-Tribune critic George Varga recounted his many musical encounters with Walton in his hometown. In a 1992 interview with Varga, Walton explained his love of the Dead: "I loved the speed, the dancing, the rhythm, the creativity. It's just like being on a basketball team. Basketball, like good, creative, rock music, is never the same."

2 "Tales From the Northside: Stories of Flyt Tyme," Capri Theater. What a treat to hear the history of the Minneapolis band Flyt Tyme (later Flyte Time, which evolved into the Time), with Jellybean Johnson, cut-up David Eiland, the splendid vocalist/saxophonist Cynthia Johnson and others. Mayor Jacob Frey spoke eloquently about the Minneapolis Sound, and a second panel discussed educating youth about music. And there were performances, by Twin Cities young people as well as Zay Starr, Dalé and Ty Prophecy and, of course, Jellybean and friends.

3 Joyann Parker, St. Paul yard concert. What a trouper to play outdoors at the end of a rainy Sunday. Not only did the superb St. Croix Falls, Wis., singer/songwriter introduce some new material (loved "Starting Line," a country gospel number about someone who strayed and is getting back to religion) but her guitarist Mark Lemoine gave a heroic — and formidable — performance, wearing a turtle-shell back brace and neck stabilizer after breaking his back days earlier in a vehicle accident.

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