We began the week by recording one of the world's hottest young bands, The Black Kids, and one that should definitely be watched in the next year - Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears. The Austin band will be back touring through the Midwest in October with Okkervil River and Crooked Fingers, and early indications from them are that there might be a hole in their schedule that would allow the tour to come through the Quad Cities.

Jim the Mule started recording its second studio album, Last Solid Ground, in March 2007, and a rough mix was finished in August.

And then the Quad Cities quartet had to do a big chunk of it again.

The Ani DiFranco appearing at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday might not be the same Ani DiFranco who became something of a legend over the past two decades.

The old Ani averaged a record a year from 1989 through 2006, toured incessantly, and was a punkish-folk, feminist, do-it-yourself, and bisexual icon.

The new Ani has a nearly-18-month-old child and a "baby daddy" (her words, referring to producer Mike Napolitano), and will be releasing her first studio album in two whole years in September: Red Letter Year.

Natalia Zukerman might as well have been born on the road. She is the child of two classical musicians who traveled a lot. (Her father is violinist, violist, and conductor Pinchas Zukerman.) She said last week that she got on a plane for the first time when she was six weeks old, and "I've learned to pack and unpack since I was a little kid.

"Having a regular, stay-at-home home life, that's the challenge for me and my family," she continued. "I love that it's something that is definitely in my blood. My grandfather was a klezmer musician and a gypsy of sorts. Traveling troubadour is part of my DNA."

She's carrying on the tradition.