Nancy Drew had it all. A car, a boyfriend, two loyal best friends, a housekeeper who made excellent baked goods and a father who allowed his little girl to pursue dangerous criminals. Oh, and modesty,...

WE hide in dark crevices, waiting for the chance to strike. WE do not go after the enemy, but rather, entice the enemy to come to US, come to OUR turf. WE know that here, WE control the rules and no matter...

>"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different than you and me" - F. Scott Fitzgerald The Twin Cities have neither the old money of the East nor the new glitz of the West, but St. Paul did...

Each year the Sound Unseen film festival offers a look into music beyond just the sounds. Whether the films focus on a single artist or explore an entire genre and movement, they unveil hidden stories...

Our politically correct times have rid fairs and carnivals of one of their most defining traditions - freak shows. The sideshows satisfied the exploitative and voyeuristic compulsions in American culture...

VH1 Classics cares more about the birth of MTV 25 years ago than MTV does. In fact, it seems everyone else and their mother cares more about MTV's historic beginnings than the cable channel. While VH1...

Throughout CSS' debut album, the group, especially lead singer Lovefoxxx, keeps a cool, jaded disposition. The Brazilian band whose initials stand for "cansei de ser sexy," (Portuguese for "tired of being...

Punk rock never has sounded more radiant or catchy than when in the hands of The Buzzcocks. The band - which formed in 1975 in Manchester, England - was one of the most influential outfits in punk's beginnings....

If we don't absorb every drop of sunshine now, all of us in Minnesota will have serious vitamin D deficiencies in the winter. Before the snowflakes begin to fall again (all too soon, always all too soon)...

Perhaps all our parents' and teachers' encouragements of "do what you love" has a consequence. While some college students pick careers based on projected income, there is a cultural attitude that we should...

When Desdamona takes the stage and rocks the mic, she's not always accepted as a true artist. "There's the assumption that I'm somebody's girlfriend," said the local rapper. "Even as a performer you get...

Our memories are defined by photographs. When we think back to childhood, what we looked like, what are parents and friends looked like, usually we see images from photos. With cameras now digitized and...

For a Jackson Pollock painting, the visual impact has much to do with the physical process of the painting. Pollock did not daintily paint from an easel; rather, he danced around his work splayed on the...

Robert Altman films typically focus on theme over plot. He allows scenes to linger and characters to stumble and overlap, which might not advance the plot, but it lets viewers get to know a place and its...

Last summer Chris Pennington was issued a cease and desist letter for his first Ten-Second Film Festival. Pennington, a volunteer for the Soap Factory art gallery, collected videos shot on digital cameras...

Rapper Boots Riley and partner DJ Pam "The Funkstress" have made The Coup one of rap's most politically charged groups. Taking their cues from the Black Panthers, Marx and hip hoppers Public Enemy, The...

Augusten Burroughs' memoirs manage to be both hilarious and horrifying. His accounts of growing up with his mentally ill mother under the roof of her therapist and his dependency on alcohol are haunting...

Maybe it's her brightly dyed hair combined with a loud, rebellious attitude that makes Pink seem smarter and more acceptable to listen to than her pop princess contemporaries. But really, Pink is not smarter....

If you're a post-college graduate who temps, hooks up and rents, then consider yourself a delayed adult and a twixter. These terms - meant to insult - describe a now Census-acknowledged group of 20- to...

Aric McKeown subjects himself to torture on a nightly basis. He watches television. Although most people watch TV, they usually admit it reluctantly and disguise it as a guilty pleasure. TV is the lowest...

Local hip-hop group Heiruspecs performed with Atmosphere and toured the country with the likes of Lyrics Born, Ja Rule and Cake. So why would bassist Sean McPherson want to give up the life of a rap star...

Instead of an army of giant pink robots, The Flaming Lips have focused their neo-flower-power forces onto something those of us not dropping acid can fear as well. On the group's last record, "Yoshimi...

Brokeback Mountain" should have won the Best Picture Oscar. This is not a testament to the film's cinematic quality or storyline or director or actors, etc. And "Crash" might be a really good film - I...

A person can tolerate only so much noise and only so much pop. When taken in doses too large, both styles become mind-numbing. Although Sonic Youth gets credit for pioneering the artsy, post-punk avant-garde...

Unless you're 10, you probably didn't recognize the top three selling records on Billboard in the first week of March. "High School Musical," "Kidz Bop 9" and "Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious...

She is twee, he is grunge. She used to play in Belle & Sebastian, he used to play in Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age. She has a fairy charm with blond hair and big eyes, he looks rather...

Prince invites us all to a party at 3121 - his rented Los Angeles mansion decked out in a Playboy-approved decor of plush, suede couches, scented candles and hot tubs strewn with rose petals. If 2004's...

W#include td {font-size:85%; border-TOP:1px solid; border-left:1px solid;} henever Americans are worried over the state of rock, or generally just bored with ourselves, we look toward the British for salvation....

Vodka shots, cue balls and beats - every Saturday night the Dinkytowner guarantees drunkenness, pool and best of all, hip-hop. This Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of the weekly hip-hop show The...

Fighting for a cause often seems frivolous these days. Those who protest the war, fur or Angelina stealing Brad only recall the temporary idealism of 1960s hippies. It's hard not to envision youthful,...

Throughout Beth Orton's solo career, she has seemed to be stuck in a paradox. Her work with acid-tinged electronica artists Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers has given her underground cred, and she...

College has the reputation of being a phase. We go to school, learn some trade and party hard. And then comes the time when we outgrow the shenanigans and graduate. The security blanket of higher education...

In the 1980 film "Fame," Bruno Martelli stands apart from his fellow musician classmates. The others play traditional orchestral instruments such as violins, cellos, trumpets, clarinets and pianos. But...

Dem Franchize Boyz use very little to make a big sound. A hollowed bass and finger snaps are the backbone of all their songs. They occasionally throw in a couple of catchy synthesizer loops and some horns....

Scene 1: Set in the Brady girlsí bedroom. Marcia and Cindy sit on their beds listening to Marciaís Davy Jones record. Suddenly, Jan runs into the room. JAN: Sisters, you have to hear this record I just...

It seemed improbable from the beginning. Would Minnesota girls really go wild? Sure, Joe Francis is able to coax drunken college girls at Mardi Gras, Daytona and Cancún to lift their shirts...

Mary J. Blige has been the reigning soul and hip-hop queen for more than a decade. Despite her throne, part of what makes Blige fascinating are the times she's almost fallen from it. Every album since...

I wore Elvis' ring," Wanda Jackson declares on her newest record, "I Remember Elvis." It's a claim not many can make, to have dated the King of Rock 'n' Roll. "My husband had this idea to do a tribute...

From Nico to Liz Phair to PJ Harvey, indie rock has a long-running love affair with the femme fatale frontwoman. She is not only beautiful, but also tragic and untamable; she boldly sings of her Aphrodite...

Thomas Glave wonders, What if Monica Lewinsky had been black? And what if instead of a woman, Lewinsky was a man? In his collection of essays, mostly written after 2000, Glave questions what it means to...

.The Plastic Constellations' new album, "Crusades," is closer to the myth and fantasy of "Lord of the Rings" than to CNN, but the album's artwork and lyrics capture the sense that we're in the midst of...

The most common criticism of the new Ashlee Simpson album, "I Am Me," is that Jessica's lil' sis' ain't keepin' it real. Ashlee is phony, unconvincing, artificial, polished and sipping on some major Fakerade,...

She's stuck off in this little room / With nothing left to hold on to / Her life is in a little box / She's wondering will it ever stop / The life of a stripper" " Ying Yang Twins, "Live Again" Fake tans,...

It's Jamaican dancehall at Trinidad Soca speeds underneath hip-hop from the United States. It is reggaeton and it will soon, if it hasn't already, take over your dance floor. With reggaeton hyped as the...

The holiday season is always full of cheer " maybe because everyone gets blitzed. Whether you need alcohol to put the "happy" in "holidays" or simply to survive your family, you might as well drink in...

They sing of secret crushes, school dances, breakups and anything else involving boys. They wear matching dresses or sweaters and flip their hair. They have names like The Butterflys, The Honey Bees, The...

With dark eyes, black hair slicked back like James Dean's and arms covered with sleeves of tattoos, he looks like a bad-boy punk rocker. But with an acoustic guitar and lyrics such as "This is where I...

Walk the Line" is as much about Johnny Cash's marriage as it is about his music. But the film gives June Carter Cash more credit for being Cash's savior than being a musician in her own right. And she's...

Jacqueline Kennedy smiles sweetly in a prim jacket and looks like the all-American girl. Marilyn Monroe lowers her gaze, parts her lips and looks utterly desirable. "They shared a man and now they share...

The love story between Johnny Cash and June Carter could not have been written any better if it were fiction. Theirs is not a straightforward boy-meets-girl, boy-saves-girl story; instead, their love is...

Teens with dyed black hair, dark eyeliner and spike-studded belts are not at a My Chemical Romance show. No, they are pumping their fists and bobbing their heads to hip-hop. And not the Jay-Z, Linkin Park...

We all know Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is tough. We recognize the image of shirtless-50 with basketball-size muscles. But more than that, we can practically recount the story of 50 being shot nine(!) times. While...

A centimeter-thick layer of foundation covers the actress' skin, lipstick makes her lips a shiny red and a padded bra enhances her curves. She reads a script in Spanish that copies plotlines from American...

Certain actors, no matter how many different roles they play, cannot overcome themselves. It is not entirely their fault; our culture puts such an emphasis on celebrities that even when an actor is dressed...

As the number of its band members increases, Broken Social Scene's intensity decreases. For the Canadian band's third album, the group adds six members, bringing the total to 17. Brendan Canning of Broken...

The premise is a good one. Take unused Wu-Tang Clan beats and pair them with some of the best rappers in underground hip-hop. That's what Wu-Tang collaborator and A&R-man Dreddy Kruger did. He resurrected...

The hype man might be the most overlooked musician. That's because he is not even considered a musician, simply a sidekick designed to get the crowd pumped. The one exception would be Puff Daddy and only...

Every Bruce Springsteen fan believes the Boss is still relevant. "He's the everyman," said a man nicknamed Dr. Rock. "He remained true to his audience even as it's changed. Grandkids could come and still...

A 17-year-old girl orders a coffee from my friend David working behind the counter at a St. Paul coffee shop. Actually, she doesn't order a coffee; she orders a double espresso cappuccino with skim milk,...

On an overwhelming animal like an elephant, no one notices the small details. No one notices the eyelashes. No one except Yoni Wolf. Wolf, also a part of the experimental rap group cLOUDDED, is the brainchild...

Disney goes beyond producing pop culture. It is pop culture. So it seems odd that the Walker will screen "Fantasia" and several Disney shorts. Isn't Disney so pop that it escapes any qualification as art? Artist-in-residence...

Sound Unseen isn't going to show "Tommy." Sorry. The festival that features films about music, now on its sixth year, focuses on rare films and rare subjects. "Unlike a lot of other (music) film festivals...

Roller skates have made a comeback. Roller skaters star in commercials (notably one for iPod). Roller derbies have sprung up in every city. And now the roller disco film "Roll Bounce" is released. But...

Gwen Stefani, always ahead of the fashion curve, has given up on glitzy cell phone ringtones, catwalks and outrageous clothing for a style more, well, revolutionary. She has replaced the Harajuku girls...

No more songs about pandas, ducks, dogs or any other cute animals. Deerhoof's new album "The Runners Four" is not as adorable. No more 30-second quirky outbursts or pop songs buried in a web of noise and...

In every way, Jamie Stewart's music is unsettling. Xiu Xiu - Stewart's project with help from a cast of musicians - explores a world where characters live in extremely desperate situations. And Xiu Xiu's...

College enrollment is up. And because more kids want to go, the competition is greater. This is common knowledge to anyone who has applied to college in the past five years or so. But this is the opposite...

The last students to register get the boring classes, the mean professors, the leftovers. And in music, the sophomore album is not far from the deferred college sophomore. Often on a first album, the songs...

It's horrible to think the street corners where jazz was conceived have been washed away. While known for being the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans has been an integral part of defining and reshaping all...

As the mainstream, - or at least "The O.C.," - begins to embrace indie rock bands like Death Cab for Cutie, the brooding style is waning in college radio. This year's hottest releases, from the likes of...

On the cover of their latest album "Jesus Chryst," The Peppermints re-enact the last supper. The noise-punk group with messy dyed hair looks silly juxtaposed in robes surrounded by oil-painted apostles....

Fame's a funny thing, no matter the age you live in. Imagine this scenario: You are wearing a Strawberry Shortcake T-shirt you bought at Urban Outfitters, and you pass by a bus stop where Paris Hilton...

A ghetto pushed to the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Favela is a place you don't want to mess with. It's also home to immense poverty and an all-out war between drug lords and police. Let's put it this...

Director Gus Van Sant makes a big assumption in his latest film, "Last Days." He assumes viewers know the story of Nirvana - the seemingly flukish rise to fame that put grunge into society's mainstream...

Lonnie Lynn, better known by his MC name Common, has not only returned home but returned to the planet. Since the early 1990s, Common has taken a laid-back approach to his rhymes. The rapper explored spirituality...

In the summertime, the University is a much different place. Yes, there are still some students and professors wandering about, but it's no longer the swarming sea of people to be found during the school...

The United States has an obsession with competition. Whether in sports, the space race or global domination, to us, there's a winner and loser to be found in anything. Perhaps this accounts for why lists...

Jennifer Crutcher and her daughter, Amber Dudley, drove 12 hours to reach the University last week, but their minds were not on school, and they were not interested in a campus tour. Instead, they were...

Summer can be a deceiving season. The long, lazy afternoons of warm sunshine cast a spell of happiness and freedom. It's why there's such a concept as a summer romance. Love that blossoms in the summer...

Perhaps John Doe has always had an old soul. Though his former band X is credited as being the quintessential L.A. punk band in the late 1970s and early 1980s, X was never strictly punk. Billy Zoom, X's...

Doomtree is turning into a Minneapolis version of Wu-Tang Clan. The Clan used the large hip-hop collective to make each MC and producer a household name, such as RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man...

Minneapolis might not be Los Angeles, but just as actors want their name on the stars of Hollywood Boulevard, musicians want their own star outside First Avenue. After reuniting to perform at First Avenue,...

Paul Green thinks his after-school music lessons will save rock 'n' roll. This means, of course, that he believes rock needs saving - quite a common stance for '60s and '70s-era adolescents. In 2007, Green...

Just as Henry David Thoreau once did, Sleater-Kinney had to retreat to nature to gain perspective. Instead of Walden Pond, though, the woods Sleater-Kinney uses for inspiration on their new album are synthetic....

The major problem with musical trends that aim to revamp music from a specific period is that, more often than not, the new bands can't compete with the old. Take, for example, oh, say, Interpol. Sure,...

Rapper Big Daddy Kane sits on a throne surrounded by women who fan him, feed him and attend to his every need. These women wear short, toga-like white dresses and are unquestionably portrayed as sex objects. Yet,...

To be born again means to erase your past. Accept Jesus as your savior and, regardless of former sins, you certainly won't be "left behind." Craig Finn, perhaps sensing a rising fundamentalist trend, has...

Trying to decipher Maggie Morrison's lyrics can be as confusing as a game of telephone, with words and meanings quickly becoming garbled and misunderstood. For example, when Morrison sings, "just a storm...

NCorrection: The Daily incorrectly listed the cost of tickets for The Murder by Death show. Prices are $5 for University students and $10 for the general public. obody goes to jail voluntarily. It usually...

Every May, for 31 years, the Phillips neighborhood has been transformed into an earthy Mardi Gras. Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre's annual May Day Parade and Festival fills Bloomington Avenue...

M83's album takes place during the time when the night sky shows its first sign of relenting. When the black of the sky slowly dulls into a gray. Sun rays have yet to appear, but at any moment, the horizon...

Ornette Coleman has been pissing off jazz listeners since the 1960s. Nowadays, it usually takes provocative lyrics or artwork for an artist to stir controversy, but Coleman did it simply by not following...

Silver paper, crumpled then smoothed, drapes over a square box. On closer inspection, the material is like fishnet stockings made of metal wire, designed to capture sunbeams like butterflies. The new addition...

Beck is praised for being a postmodern joker. He skips from cut-out bins to house parties and rocks the lost post baby boomer generations with just "two turntables and a microphone." As he steals from...

Sex is everywhere. Whether on the cover of magazines, in popular song lyrics, in the back pages of alternative weeklies, in porn shops and strip clubs or in e-mail spam, it's unavoidable. Despite the dominance...

An onion can make you cry, but that doesn't mean it's sad. Likewise, "Boogeyman" can make you jump, but that doesn't mean it's scary. The movie "Boogeyman" follows Tim (Barry Watson), who, as a child,...

Ralph Waldo Emerson, back in 1875, foresaw the future of the DJ. At least, that's how DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid sees it. Emerson theorized no work is truly original. Artists can't help but steal from...

.It used to be clear that Low was a lamb - soft and gentle. Gradually over the years, though, Low has morphed into a lion. A lion with too big a heart to eat its prey, but a lion nonetheless. From the...

.Though music from Jamaica, Africa, the Caribbean, India and the Middle East differs greatly, it's all lumped together under the ambiguous "world music" genre. For consumers, "world" is meant to imply...

Lhasa's voice is distant. Her vocals carry a cool airiness like a smooth, cigarette-smoking jazz-club singer. It makes her seem somehow detached and far away. The alterna-folk artist's voice never becomes...