Every two weeks, Sweeps will take a look back at NIU decade by decade. This is in no way a ripoff of that VH1 series we’ve never seen and certainly never bought the DVDs of. The 1970s at NIU mirrored the rest of the United States, which means there...

"That’s just my cowgirl alter-ego," hums Ani DiFranco on the title track of "Knuckle Down." The singer/songwriter and guitarist is back with more of her hippie attitude and dynamic talent. Her attitude shows the confidence present in her music. "Knuckle...

... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead tries very hard to be edgy. Unfortunately, the group sounds less like a band expanding its horizons and more often like 20-somethings kicking and screaming, "Pay attention to our attitude!" The group’s fourth...

It's great to be Jim Cameron. His new film, "Aliens of the Deep," is less about any aliens of any deep, and more about himself and how much his marine biologist pals love their jobs. "Aliens" tries to celebrate these scientists and the strange creatures...

Straight out of Philly (but originally Ohio and more recently New York), John Stephens - aka John Legend - hits us with his highly anticipated album "Get Lifted." Stephens isn’t exactly new to the business. He’s had his hands on numerous other projects...

Remember the saying, "If a tree falls in the woods and there is no living creature to hear it, does it make a sound?" That is the most perplexing question in history. This week I went into the firing squad of mind-boggling questions when I joined NIU’s...

The first official solo release from Lou Barlow shows this earnest veteran of indie rock has an uncanny knack for writing consistent and heartfelt songs about love, life and everything in between. Dabbling in a number of projects and mini-projects such...

The "sell-out": that moment when an artist of some merit decides to take large sums of money for his or her work and continues to produce it for said money. What is it about "selling out" in this manner that saddens all of us fans of an artist? Especially...

Scary movies pump up the adrenaline and transport audiences into a realm of fear and paranoia. I swear that while I was watching the thriller "Hide and Seek," I had a flash of déjà vu. The film stars Robert DeNiro as David Callaway, a widowed father...

College students and video games - what an unlikely pair? Dig Marketing, a private consumer research firm, is looking for a group of six to eight people to conduct a focus group on video games. The focus group will be conducted on Feb. 10 and is part...

Epitaph Records is injecting some high-energy rock ‘n’ roll straight into the heart of DeKalb by bringing the Epitaph Tour to the Holmes Student Center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom at 7 p.m. today. Along with Matchbook Romance, The Matches, From First...

In the movie "The Relic", based on a novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, the filmmakers replaced the SWAT team of the book’s climax with a couple of armed men running around in khakis. For years, this decision perplexed me as a weird choice...