Also this issue: Nevermore Again Lou Reed remasters the master. -A.D. Amorosi Making Contact Mary Fahl’s on the rise with a brand-new project. -Nicole Pensiero Dan Fogelberg -Nicole Pensiero Brother Ali -Kurt Ciliberto Elliott -Brian Howard The Fleshtones -M.J. Fine Prefuse 73/Four Tet -Chris Nosal HearHere -Patrick Rapa

May 29-June 4, 2003

musicpicks

Suzanne Vega

Songs belong to their audience, and there's no better example than Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner," an overlooked a cappella track on Solitude Standing until it was given a house remix by a British duo named DNA. Wisely stepping in front of her record company, who wanted to quash the bootleg track, Vega had it issued as a single (with her getting songwriting royalties, of course), and the result was a crossover hit and underground sensation: enough uncommissioned remixes to fill an album. Though Vega's version holds off on the "doo doo doos" till the very end, she's given the song to her audience, letting them fill in the remixed refrain after every verse until joining the chorus herself for the last go-round, and to complete the circle, it's the DNA version which appears on the newly issued Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega (Interscope). The act of generosity typifies Vega as a performer; rather than a fussy folkie, she gives back as good as she gets.

Sat., May 31, 9 p.m., $25, TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011.

—Sam Adams