• S&P downgraded the United States debt rating over the weekend, and just downgraded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is important, but aren’t these the same guys who gave AAA ratings to mortgage paper just four years ago that turned out to be worthless? Their credibility isn’t exactly the highest. • There has been […]

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Some of you may have seen the one song that I played with the Elvis Costello Ensemble back in March of this year. Let’s go back a minute; I am a mediocre guitar player with a lovefor Mr. Costello’s music and I have been taking classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music in […]

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As I left the UIC Pavillion Saturday night, all I could think about was the song by the satiric band “Spinal Tap” – “Heavy! Duty! Rock and Roll.” No, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean weren’t playing – I went to see a band that I had always wanted to see – Soundgarden. I got on […]

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That is, 75,000 close friends. I went to see U2 at Soldier Field Tuesday night. I didn’t go in 2009, but bought tickets for the second round of the tour. Unfortunately, no one expected the wait to be 364 days due to Bono’s back surgery. I have seen them numerous times before, but I was […]

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Unlike “The Dark Knight” or “The Fugitive,” I was irked when we Chicagoans had to make room for the filming of the third “Transformers” movie. Now that the film is out, it is getting the usual bad reviews, but I didn’t have to read the paper or go online to know that. Why? Because the […]

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I recently burned out my second iPod. The battery was dying, and I use my iPod daily at work to keep me sane. I can’t work in a quiet environment, especially if I have something important to get done. I need noise. For years, I drug CD players and discs to work so that I […]

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While I was away, the e-Street Band’s saxophonist and Bruce Springsteen’s main foil for decades, Clarence Clemons died after having suffered a stroke the week before. When a friend and I saw Springsteen almost 2 years ago, we discussed the possibility of it being the last time. Danny Federici was gone, and everyone knew that […]

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