The NFL season is ¼ over and some interesting stories are evolving: • The only undefeated teams after Week 4 are both in the NFC North division – the Packers (which is no surprise), and the Detroit Lions (which has to be). Not only are the Lions playing inspired football, they have been down by […]

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For years, the Greta Garbo of rock music was Sly Stone. Always erratic in the 1960s with Sly and the Family Stone (including a famous riot in Chicago’s Grant Park when he cancelled a performance), Stone’s appearances over the past few decades have been few, and when he did appear, Stone appeared drugged out. Lots […]

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A lot of coming of age stories, rock stars, and films about hockey comprise my 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. No film knocked my socks off this year, but, unfortunately, there were some clunkers of the 13 films I watched this year. As always, I will discuss them chronologically and also, this is a SPOILER […]

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I should have seen it coming, but earlier this week, R.E.M. announced that it was breaking up. Going out with a whimper, not a bang, if you will. I know (and have already read) some people would be asking jokingly “didn’t they break up long ago?” No, they didn’t and while their best music was […]

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The Toronto Film Festival is over and I’m back with you. This year’s film festival recap is progressing; I hope to have it by the end of this week. In the interim, a few thoughts…. • Isn’t it hypocritical for the hyper-conservative Chicago Tribune to sensor last week’s Doonesbury cartoons? I went online and saw […]

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If it’s September, it’s time for the Toronto International Film Festival, which means it’s time for me to travel. I’ll be at the festival this weekend, my 10th, and as always, I’ll be putting together my thoughts on the movies, sights and sounds of this year’s festival shortly. Have a good weekend, everyone!

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Unlike previous years when there were band or bands that I wanted to see, this year’s Lallapalooza had little of note. I’m not a rap fan, so I didn’t want to see Emenem; Muse is big in Europe, almost unknown on this side of the pond. They featured the most boring huge “rock band” in […]

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