by Albert Rodriguez - SGN A&E Writer

Esperanza Spalding, who shocked Grammy viewers and angered Justin Bieber fans on the same night when she won last year's coveted Best New Artist award, will be featured here in The Music Lounge on April 20. A native of Portland, Oregon, the classical-jazz-soul artist released a new album this week, Radio Music Society, a wonderful bouillabaisse of sounds much like those on her 2008 breakthrough record, Chamber Music Society. Spalding embarks on a three-month tour next month, which brings her to the Paramount Theatre on April 24. Look for an interview with this gifted singer-songwriter in the Seattle Gay News the weekend before she comes to town.

Jazz-pop standout Norah Jones returns to the Seattle area this summer, slated to perform at Marymoor Park (Redmond) on August 18. The acclaimed singer-musician has a new album coming out, Little Broken Hearts, on May 1. The New York-based performer has yet to match the commercial success of her multi-million selling CD Come Away With Me, a record that still sounds as fresh and glorious as it did back in 2002. It produced two hit singles: 'Don't Know Why' and the title track. At press time, ticket information wasn't immediately available for Jones' upcoming show. The entire Marymoor Park and Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery summer concert series - the latter already has The Beach Boys, Steve Miller Band, John Fogerty, and Crosby, Stills and Nash on the books - will be announced very soon.

For those who missed it, and sadly I'm one of those, Lana Del Rey's in-store appearance at Easy Street Records (Queen Anne) two weekends ago drew a capacity crowd of 750 inside the store, plus a cluster of onlookers peering through the windows outside. This was the heavily buzzed artist's first showing in Seattle, and unlikely to be her last by the looks of it. Del Rey performed five songs, then signed CD and vinyl copies of Born to Die for over three hours. The up-and-coming torch singer has scheduled three-date residencies for Los Angeles and New York City in June, yet no plans for a full tour have been revealed. Fingers crossed.

You snooze, you lose. The following concerts are sold out: Of Monsters and Men on March 26 (The Showbox SoDo), The Lumineers on March 31 (Neumos), TYGA on April 7 (The Showbox SoDo), Gotye on April 10 (The Showbox SoDo), and Madonna on October 2 (Key Arena). Some tickets remain for Madonna's second show on October 3.

Finally, for all the bad boys and mamas out there, put this concert on your calendar: KISS and Motley Crue at White River Amphitheatre, August 18. The only time you'll ever see more grown men in makeup this side of a drag show.

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