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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• 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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