Drake can't sing, yet he's one of my favorite singers. Does that make him punk rock? Only in the sense that he didn't let his limitations stop him from pioneering a hybrid of rap and R&B that has become deeply entrenched in hip-hop, but really that's more Short North boutique than south campus DIY. He is a man of glitz and glamour, a consummate schmoozer, and on Saturday night he romanced the Schottenstein Center.

In the studio, Drake's limitations as a singer are tidily swept under technology's rug. Plus he's working in a pop landscape in which natural talent is no longer a prerequisite for singing; next to guys like mentor Lil Wayne and major influence Kanye West, he sounds damn near angelic. On stage it's different. He can easily adjust his trademark slink between rapping and singing, conveniently converting any unattainable melodic peaks into top-of-his-lungs spoken word. But when it comes time to coo smoothly or belt it out, he's screwed. He can't nail ballads, so he simply avoided them for the most part. "The Real Her" and "Doing It Wrong," two highlights from last year's "Take Care," were omitted from Saturday's set. "Marvins Room" was mercifully shortened.

Instead he concentrated on what he does best -- entertaining. That meant leaning heavily on his increasingly impressive rap skills and burning through hits at a rapid clip like a DJ bent on stimulating his generation's shrinking attention spans. His setlist was broken into mini-medleys of a sort; he'd bang out a single verse and chorus then burst into the next track, rarely leaving us a chance to catch our breath. (For instance, he opened with tightly segued snippets of "Lord Knows," "Underground Kings," "I'm On One" and "Over"). The effect was thrilling, like a basketball team dominating the NCAA tournament by masking its weaknesses with brilliant strategy.

When things finally did slow down, he concentrated on rap-centric ballads like "Look What You've Done" and "Cameras." Much to my disappointment, early hits "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful" weren't performed, nor was anything else from his breakout "So Far Gone" mixtape save for the Buckeye-repping"Uptown." Speaking of Buckeye-repping, Drake insisted that Ohio was his favorite place to perform, a claim that left me wondering if it was a nightly pickup line. Seemingly less scripted was the 10-plus minute segment near the end of the show in which Drake shouted out individuals in the crowd with lines like "I see you sexy in the all denim!" and "Shout out to this girl for coming to the show with a broken foot!"

By the time the concert wrapped up with a triumphant video-infused rendition of "Headlines," he had cemented his status as a master of aesthetics, a bravura entertainer and an immensely personable rapper. Yet the canned singing on the chorus left a nagging "What if?" in the back of my mind. If the guy worked with a vocal coach to make singing a central part of his live show, he would be unstoppable. One of the great thrills of listening to a Drake record is hearing him glide effortlessly across the rap-sing spectrum, switching gears at will, a master of his domain. For all its positives, Drake's Club Paradise Tour could not recreate that experience. Achilles heels might make for good theater, but they still hinder great concerts.

Columbus apparel brand Homage will open its second storefront at Easton Town Center this spring.

"What Homage has been able to do, starting as an idea in Columbus and becoming a world-wide brand, has been remarkable. The Easton store will be only their second brick and mortar location and we're excited to see the response of our customers to their unique offerings," said Beau Arnason, executive vice president of Steiner + Associates, in a press release.

Homage's Easton location will share the same personality as its sister Short North store and will be roughly twice the size.

Today Saintseneca becomes the latest Columbus act featured on Daytrotter, joining the ranks of The Black Swans, Dolfish, The Floorwalkers and Lydia Loveless. The Columbus nouveau folkies stopped by Daytrotter's Rock Island, Illinois studios to play songs from "Last," one of the best albums of 2011. Those who register or sign up for a free trial can check out fresh readings of "Acid Rain," "On Or No," "Missing Dogs" and "Beasts."

Check out Saintseneca's Daytrotter session here, and read my feature about "Last" here.

The band, which plays Skully's March 10 with Loyal Divide and Way Yes, also played "Missing Dogs" in a Pink Couch Session for DIY punk site IfYouMakeIt.com. Watch that below.

One of the most thrilling, innovative bands I saw last year was tUnE-yArDs, Merrill Garbus' loop-tastic frenzy of percussive twists and shouts. The band's sophomore album "w h o k i l l" cracked my top 10 list and climbed all the way to the top of Pazz & Jop, The Village Voice's annual poll of music critics. Now Garbus and company will bring their defiant sound spasms to the Wexner Center, a venue imagined for exactly this sort of band, on June 11. Info on tickets and tourmates is coming soon.

I won't lie. The rampant speculation that Rick Nash may be traded from the Blue Jackets makes me kinda sick to my stomach.

Perhaps this Hall & Oates cover will make us feel better. Or perhaps not.

O, Captain, my Captain ...

(Hat tip to the Puck Daddy blog for sharing.)

Warning: You really don't have to watch this video.

So here's the deal: The S--t People Say meme's expiration date was well over a month ago. Unfortunately, nobody explained that to the group who put this so-unfunny-it's-painful video together. (Heck, even Columbus, Georgia had a S--t People Say  video weeks ago.) Maybe it wasn't entirely the Oxiem group's fault that this video is so lame. I'm not convinced that Columbus has enough Columbus-isms to warrant an entire video -- though I wish it did.

Sure, most of the people who would click on this live in Columbus. But when you're putting together a project for public consumption that is supposed to represent a city as cool as ours, you need to represent the city well. Otherwise, you're no better than the people who sell cow-tipping-themed merchandise at the Columbus airport.

This is clearly not Liv Tyler's first music video. It is, though, the first one that Liv has attempted to sing in. Recorded for Givenchy -- she's been a spokeswoman for the designer for almost 10 years now -- the song is pretty terrible. But of course, she looks gorgeous, which is the whole point.

Apologies for the lack of jams while I was honeymooning. Prepare to resume jamming... now.

Kendrick Lamar featuring Gunplay - "Cartoon and Cereal"

My dude! K-Dot's twisty genius (coming to an arena near you this weekend) gets a suitably strange showcase from producer THC here, with Maybach Music thug Gunplay providing a fine foil. Don't sleep on it, and be on the lookout for "Good Kid in a Mad City" later this year.

Usher - "Climax"

Usher produced by Diplo is crazy (and sublime), but not as crazy (and sublime) as T.I. on an El-P beat. Speaking of which...

Killer Mike featuring Bun B, T.I. and Trouble - "Big Beast"

You know it's a good week for hip-hop when a song this awesome gets relegated to third. Outkast associate Killer Mike knows how to throw down, and on this incredible posse cut, he doesn't mess around. Nor does producer El-P, who laid the tracks for Mike's upcoming album "R.A.P. Music." I doubt we'll hear another hip-hop song this hard for the rest of the winter.

Tennis - "Origins"

Tennis - Origins (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from RichsLaw on Vimeo.

 If the unseasonably warm winter doesn't have you feeling like sunshine, this song will. Tennis' new album "Young and Old," produced by The Black Keys' Pat Carney, is out this week on Fat Possum and streamable in full here.

Torche - "Kicking"

More melodic brutality from down south. Torche's new album "Harmonicraft" is due April 24 on Volcom.

Doe Paoro - "Born Whole"

Holy D'Angelo, Batman! This Brooklyn lass is both freaky and, like, spooky. Check out the whole album here.

Screaming Females - "It All Means Nothing"

It All Means Nothing by WeGetPress

OK, I find the vocals on this song highly obnoxious. But I continue to appreciate the ongoing revival of 90s alt-rock guitar. Screaming Females' "Ugly" is coming this April.

Quakers featuring Guilty Simpson and M.E.D. - "Fitta Happier"

Quakers is a new hip-hop project headed up by Portishead's Geoff Barrow. Any Radiohead fan will be drawn to a rap song called "Fitta Happier," if only because of morbid curiosity. But it turns out this goes mighty hard, with two talented emcees running game over a sample of some marching band playing Radiohead's "The National Anthem." It's chaotic and fun, and that's more than I expected from a member of Portishead.

Mouse on Mars - "Polaroyced"

Mouse on Mars "Polaroyced" by Modeselektor

A decade ago, these guys were on the cutting edge of weirdo electronic music. Now, as they prepare to release their first album in six years? Not quite cutting edge, but still very of-the-moment and absolutely contagious in any era. Their new album, "Parastrophics," is coming Feb. 24 on Monkeytown Records.

Shearwater - "Breaking the Yearlings"

Shearwater - Breaking The Yearlings [OFFICIAL VIDEO] from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

Yesterday, Shearwater released "Animal Joy" on Sub Pop and opened for Sharon Van Etten at the Wexner Center. Today, they released this slightly creepy video, possibly the most aggressive music I've heard from the Austn combo. Enjoy!

"Happy Valentine's Day," Sharon Van Etten intoned moments after stepping on stage at the Wexner Center performance space. After a long pause, she added: "I wore black for you."

Then she grinned and giggled, as she often did between the gusts of dreary folk-rock that comprised the evening's entertainment. All night she was giddily playful, acting like an undergrad who binged on "special" brownies before meandering up to open mic night at the campus coffeehouse. She looked the part: hair pulled back haphazardly, wearing a striped black thrift store sweater and a smile always on the verge of bursting into laughter.

Her music took on a far more serious tone. It quickly became clear that Van Etten is the kind of person who laughs her way through life to cope with the kinds of feelings she can only channel into song -- empowerment, lust, despair and the like. As she sang at one point last night, "It hurts too much to laugh about it," so she sings. A compatriot of The National and The Antlers, she moves in similarly dusky moods, inhabiting a sonic space not unlike Lucinda Williams. The acoustic-oriented tunes ranged from chin-stroke-worthy to excruciatingly boring; she was at her best when she and her capable bandmates cranked up the volume and rocked 1994 style. Velocity Girl's pop chops and Hole's lingering dismay were in the mix. So was the guitar part from Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm."

Van Etten and company also fared well when upending expectations. "Magic Chords," a swinging mid-tempo rock tune that typically would have demanded guitar, instead benefited from a woozy mix of Autoharp, keyboard and accordion. Closing number "I'm Wrong" used bowed guitar and other means to build a bed of harmonic noise; it was one of those songs that builds tension and drifts away without ever fully climaxing, like an offensive line surging forward with pillows.

Though the music verged on revelatory at times, Van Etten is not a brilliant musician so much as a relatable songwriter. Her writing is crisp and compact, and on a day dedicated to some fabricated ideal of romance, lyrics like "Tell me I'm right/ Tell me I'm funny/ Even when I'm not" rang true.

Just in time for the city's 200th birthday today, 200Columbus released the finalists for the Celebrate Columbus in Song contest today. A public vote will determine which 10-12 songs qualify for a $500 prize, free studio time and inclusion on a compilation album.

I was part of the committee that helped narrow more than 100 submissions down to the top 29 that are now up for public vote, and I'm pretty proud of the diverse spectrum represented here. Have a listen to all 29 songs and cast your vote here. Each email address can vote for up to 10 songs; voting is open until March 23.

While you're listening, why not check out Alive's recent feature on 200 arts and cultural moments that shaped Columbus? It's a must-read!

Manchester, Tennessee's hippie farm fest just keeps getting bigger. This year's Bonnaroo lineup is topped by Radiohead, though any of the names atop the docket -- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, a Brian Wilson-powered Beach Boys -- would be enough to attract the disposable-income-dispensing masses. Other highlights: newly crowned "Best New Artist" Bon Iver, festival-rocking wunderkind DJ Skrillex, Pazz & Jop winner Tune-Yards and a reunited Ben Folds Five. See the full lineup at Bonnaroo's site. Tickets for the June 7-10 festival are on sale now.

With Tim Burton signed on as a producer for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," you know the movie's going to do the popular mashup book that inspired it justice. The movie is set to come out in June. The only question is, who's better at staking vamps, Abe or Buffy? My money's on the blonde.