HubArts.com

And speaking of phenoms...

Rounder Records has signed 15-year-old New Orleans fiddler and singer Amanda Shaw, who'll play Jazz Fest next Saturday - that would be 1 p.m. at the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do Do Stage, if you're so lucky as to be there. Shaw will record her Rounder debut this summer with the label's Scott Billington on the board. She's also featured - alongside Tab Benoit, Allen Toussaint and Chubby Carrier - in "Hurricane on the Bayou," an Imax movie following the four musicians' Katrina experiences, to be released in June. Her previous album, on a small Louisiana label, is called "I'm Not A Bubble Gum Pop Princess." Maybe she and Esperanza can jam.

Hope for a good night

Exciting news for local jazz fans. Tuesday night at 10, the bassist, singer and Berklee phenom  Esperanza Spalding will begin a weekly residency at Bob's Southern Bistro, 646 Columbus Ave. The Esperanza Neo-Jazz "Trio" - quotation marks hers - will also include drummer Lynden Rochelle and a weekly guest. This week, that's pianist Victor Gould. It's I-saw-her-when time.

Will the blog ring be unbroken

The daisy chain of links goes on, by and by. The Globe's Geoff Edgers, who just started the Exhibitionist blog on Boston.com, reports he was in a session at the Association of American Museums convention on the future of cultural reporting, at which Dan Kennedy, whose blog is here, said nice things about HubArts. Thanks, guys. Geoff's latest print story about the convention is here. And here's news about BSO conductor emeritus Bernard Haitink that I learned about from Geoff's blog this morning.

Bruuuuuuuuuce

Bruce Springsteen and his Seeger Sessions Band hit the TD Banknorth Garden on May 27. Tix are $55-$85 and go on sale May 12 at 10 a.m. at the box office, Ticketmaster and www.livenation.com.

Barry & Bill, together again

Unrelated fact: long ago when I mostly hitched back and forth from Exeter to UNH, I once piled into the same car in Newmarket with  Bill Morrissey, who also had his thumb out. On May 5-6 Morrissey and his old cohort Barry Crimmins will provide an evening of folksong and satire at Jimmy Tingle's Off-Broadway in Somerville. As the press release puts it, they've graduated "from being struggling young artists to being mildly annoyed successful artists." Tix start at $22. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.jtoffbroadway.com.

Read all about it

I've got the cover story on Globe North today about the Newburyport Literary Festival, which starts tomorrow. But reading it online you won't get the full magnificence of the layout and giant picture.

Speaking of sharks...

I've got a sea of work today, so if you sent me your news in the last 24, it'll be sometime this afternoon before it's posted.

I'm just sayin'

Which singer would you most like to see eaten, slowly, by sharks - Daniel Powter ("Bad Day") or James Blunt ("You're Beautiful")? The correct answer: Both.

Gardening at the Gardner

Can't say I cared one way or the other that Laura Bush dropped by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum yesterday and it appears no one else in the local media did either. But I did like this story on reshaping the gardens there, from the Monitor.

Four dead in, uh, Baghdad

The papers and wires and blogs have had all the pieces, but let's put this together. Neil Young has a hastily recorded new album coming out called "Living with War," which attacks George W. Bush and his Iraq war but not the soldiers therein. And now he'll be touring with his old pals Crosby, Stills & Nash for the first time in four years on a jaunt called the Freedom of Speech '06 tour. From the official press release for the tour: All four members of CSNY, who have a long history of politically charged music including the Kent State-themed anthem "Ohio," believe that in light of the current environment, it's time for them to be out on the road fighting for America, and for people's rights to stand and be counted. During an interview with CNN last week, Young said, "There's a conscience in the country, and I don't think it's being spoken. Everyone deserves a chance to be heard... We don't have to believe what our president believes to be patriotic." The Boston date is Aug. 16 at the Tweeter Center. "Gotta get down to it..."