​SEATTLE TACOMA: Mark your calendars--Queen B's hitting the PNW on June 29, headlining the Tacoma Dome in support of her fantastic new album, Femme Fatale.

Originally, Enrique Iglesias was going to open; now, thank God, he's not. We'll keep you updated on ticket prices and openers as more details arrive!

For now, in honor of the news, here's the best and most adventurous track off Femme Fatale, "How I Roll," penned and produced by the guys who wrote "Toxic"--Bloodshy & Avant, also known as, for the more indie-minded of us, Miike Snow.

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Because it's not getting any easier to tell the two apart.

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​OK, I'll bite, although I gotta say I think my iTunes' algorithm for tabulating most-played songs is a little screwy. Basically, here you've got:

--The two most melancholy pop songs from Gorillaz's latest, Plastic Beach.

--A whole bunch of epically moping joints from new goth wavers Cold Cave's last album (their forthcoming one, Cherish the Light Years, is on another level entirely).

--A couple songs off the Juan Maclean's outstanding last album, although I'm 100% certain I've listened to "Happy House" like 100 times more than I've listened to "A New Bot."

--One song each from L.A. skuzz punks No Age and Brooklyn screech rockers Les Savy Fav. "Glitter" is definitely my favorite number from No Age's last one, a jangly downtrodden anthem, but "Pluto" is kind of a random deep cut from the old LSF collection. Weird.

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I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

​I had a very interesting/enjoyable/insightful chat with local musician Charles Leo Gebhardt IV yesterday. The impetus for our conversation was to go over his new GGNZLA record, Begin Again, which drops on Tuesday, and which he's celebrating with a show at Cairo on Saturday night. But, we got a bit distracted. I'm going to pull a few posts out of our chat, and here's the first.

What are the 10 most played songs on your iTunes? I agreed to send mine to Leo, and he sent me his (after the jump). You can reach for all kinds of meaning from the results of such revelations. I can't say I'm too surprised by my list. I make no secret of my affinity for KOL, Cave Singers, or Oakley Hall (that's the Brian J. Barr rubbing off on me).

Feel free to contribute your own lists.

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Duff McKagan's column runs every Thursday on Reverb. His ESPN.com column runs on Wednesdays.

​James was born into the famine. The blight on the potato crop--while affecting all of Europe in an economic fashion--laid waste to Ireland and its inhabitants.

James' dad left his mother to fend for herself and the five hungry children, none older than 12 years. As her physical health started to fade, her mental stability began to slip. Slowly at first, and somehow in check. When she started to put glue in the children's nose to "keep out the devil," the orphanage came. James' mother leapt from the cliffs above Belfast soon after.

The children were spread out all across Ireland, and instantly lost all contact. James' soul ached and his heart was broken into a seemingly unmendable state. He couldn't keep down any food. Well, what food there was anyway. The orphanage he was sent to--while probably doing their best--could only manage a thin soup and stale bread twice a day. It was all that charity could afford. So many broken homes. So much hunger. So much death. Despair, to the breaking point.

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Dylan Priest

​Americana is raging like a rampant wildfire throughout Seattle. No one is safe. Not even the most tried-and-true rock-and-rollers: Ryan Devlin, who daylights as the bassist of Hounds of the Wild Hunt, has a new folksy side project.

Talk about a turnaround. It's called Smokey Brights, and features Devlin, the primary songwriter, playing guitar and singing lead vocals. The band is rounded out by members of Armed With Legs and What What Now--James Weston Vermillion on bass, Michael Kalnoky on lead guitar, and Nicholas Krivchenia on the drums. The band's Facebook page describes their sound as "a rare blend of country, soul, rock, and Graceland-era Paul Simon."

Check it out for yourself. Here's the upbeat "Everyday," which has a vague Tom Petty feel to it:

Everyday by Smokey Brights

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​That's right--despite the high-profile releases of Snoop Dogg's The Doggumentary (shout to Seattle's own Jake One for his contributions) and Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers (which in all fairness wasn't as disappointing as Cabin Fever, though it was certainly no Kush & OJ), the credit for this week's best hip-hop release goes to a free download from Mississippi's contribution to the 2011 freshman squad.

In his breakdown of the 2011 XXL Freshman list, Cocaine Blunts' Noz deemed Big K.R.I.T. "way ahead of the curve in terms of song concepts and execution but yet to break out of his influences in terms of delivery." And while K.R.I.T.'s skills as a rapper might be overshadowed by his predecessors, particularly Pimp C, his talent as a songwriter and producer is evident on Return Of 4Eva, the half-mixtape, half-album follow-up to last May's similarly impressive K.R.I.T. Wuz Here.

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I'm a little obsessed with this song right now. (You can ignore the video, unless coffee grounds fascinate you.) Yellow Ostrich is a kid from the Midwest, Alex Schaaf; he's currently located in New York (and now has Michael Tapper, formerly of We Are Scientists, playing drums for him and Jon Natchez, formerly of Beirut, playing bass and horns for him). It's still a raw, lo-fi affair, but the songs, as heard on the current release, The Mistress, are still amazingly sweet, heartfelt, and youthfully imaginative. "Whale" is the album's most memorable song; on it, Schaaf longingly sings, "Whale, swim with me whale/We will go far into the sea/You will take me onto your back/Never look back, never look back."

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Paul, your mustache is making the entire city jealous.

​True story: Two days after Paul Simon plays WaMu Theater, he's going to wield his axe at the 1,000-capacity Showbox at the Market on First Avenue for $50. I will be the first person "in line" to buy tickets during the presale, which starts Thursday morning at 10 a.m. (code word: "showbox"). Though I wish I hadn't told you.

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​Featured in this week's "Tuesday Night Music Club" cover story, Fly Moon Royalty--a hip-hop-influenced soul duo comprising Adraboo and DJ Action Jackson--was described as blending "soulful, J. Dilla-inspired beats with MGMT-style electronica" and a vocal hybrid "of Bette Davis and Erykah Badu, shifting between raw howls and smooth R&B tones." And the group's latest single (and first since inking a deal with Sportn' Life Records earlier this month) "Lemonade," out today, exemplifies that ingenuity beautifully.

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