Paul Westerberg Plays "The Craft"

Two pieces of really cool news over at Billboard today.

First up is news that Paul Westerberg is making music again. You may remember that Paul did some serious damage to his hand last winter. Although early reports were that he wouldn't be able to play guitar for a year, Paul made an appearance at Minneapolis' First Avenue night club for a taping of "The Craft" (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's version of "Songwriters", apparently). Paul played songs from his Replacements days, his solo discs, and even a new song called "Everyone's Stupid". He also talked about his career between songs with host Warren Zanes, and had a few nuggets of pretty cool information. (See the article for more.)

The second piece of news, for me at least, is the existence of "The Craft". I've never heard of it before, but apparently they've been doing it for a while. You can find video of three earlier sessions, featuring Elvis Costello, Jim James and Patty Griffin here. Not sure if Paul's will be posted online or not. They've also done sessions with Aretha Franklin, Ray Davies, Little Richard, Roger McGuinn, Bootsy Collins, Robbie Robertson, Chuck D, Wilson Pickett and Mick Jones, and I'd love to see some of those too (except they're not posted yet).