Pat Metheny returned to his home state of Missouri for two stops on the Orchestrion tour this weekend. "Metheny's Orchestrion is nothing short of spectacular," raves the Kansas City Star,  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, "The music spoke for itself, and eloquently." The tour continues tonight in Chicago. "Simply put," explains Time Out Chicago of Orchestrion, "the famed jazz guitarist has raised the bar for inventiveness, which says a lot for a career stretching over three decades."

k.d. lang's performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Logie Awards, Australia's television awards, last week "held the room spellbound," says the Sydney Morning Herald. Now comes word that the lang's latest Nonesuch release, Recollection, has shot to No. 1 on Australia's album chart, a position the album first reached upon its release in February.

Today was election day in the Philippines, with Benigno Aquino in the lead for President. Imelda Marcos, the country's former First Lady, is up for congress and spoke with BBC News in an interview the BBC set to songs from the David Byrne / Fatboy Slim song cycle on her life, Here Lies Love. The album also features Aquino's father, whom Imelda once dated and who was imprisoned for his opposition to the Marcos regime.

Strange Powers, the new documentary film on Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, makes its New York debut tonight with a sold-out screening at The Bell House in Brooklyn. The screening will be preceded by a monologue from band member Claudia Gonson and followed by a Q&A with the film's directors, Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara. The film will be shown at the Seattle International Film Festival in June and begins its theatrical run in NYC this fall.

Kronos Quartet, Alim Qasimov Ensemble perform from Floodplain in Paris ... Laurie Anderson brings Delusion to Berkeley ... Carolina Chocolate Drops stop at Oberlin's Spring Folkfest ...   Shawn Colvin plays the Birchmere ... Bill Frisell continues Village Vanguard residency ... Richard Goode begins Europe tour, as do Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau; Randy Newman continues his, while Rokia Traoré closes hers ... Pat Metheny hits his hometown ... and more ...

Laurie Anderson brings her latest piece, Delusion, to Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium tonight and Saturday. It follows a performance at Stanford to which the San Francisco Chronicle gives its highest rating, describing Delusion as "one story, quip or rumination after another, to comic, provocative and deeply touching effect ... As much as Anderson's beguiling presence and creative mastery, it's the tension between its playful and somber sides that gives Delusion its poignant weight."

Rokia Traoré concludes her UK tour in Coventry tonight. The tour began ten days ago at Koko in London, a performance to which The Guardian, The Independent, and the Evening Standard all give four stars. The Guardian calls it "an exhilarating performance." The Independent says Traoré was "a captivating performer" throughout. The Evening Standard says, "when she rocked, she really rocked."

The Low Anthem is up for two awards open to fan votes. Those in the UK can make the most of today's election momentum and vote in the Mojo Honours List, where The Low Anthem is nominated for Breakthrough Act of the Year. The band has also been nominated in The Phoenix Best Music Poll for Local Superstars and National Roots/Americana, up against Wilco in the latter; Bill Frisell is up for Best Jazz and Stephen Merritt for Best Singer/Songwriter.

Following their US tour, Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau have brought their duo set to Europe for the coming week, with performances in Norway, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, France, and Switzerland. Mehldau was featured on BBC Radio 3's Radio 3 Requests, which played the Mehldau Trio's take on Oasis' "Wonderwall" from Live and spoke with Mehldau about his Guest Request Choice for the week.

Laurie Anderson is in the Bay Area this week, performing her latest piece, Delusion, at Stanford tonight and Berkeley this weekend. Anderson spoke with San Francisco Chronicle about Delusion and her forthcoming album, Homeland. She heads to Lublin, Poland, next week for the CODES festival and to Sydney, Australia, at the end of the month, where she is curating the Vivid Live Festival with Lou Reed.

Dawn Upshaw has been named Music Director for the 2011 Ojai Music Festival. Next year's gathering, June 9–12, 2011, will mark the soprano's fourth appearance at the festival. Among those already signed on to participate are Richard Tognetti, Maria Schneider, and Peter Sellars. Upshaw makes her debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra later this month, performing works written for her by Osvaldo Golijov.

Sara Watkins's late-summer plans are already in order, with the month-long Summer Love Tour with Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion starting in August. There's more music to come in the first half of the summer too, as Watkins starts the season at Joe's Pub in New York City on June 21, then heads on tour for two weeks with Dar Williams.