Oh, you don’t want to rock? Ted Leo doesn’t care. On “Shake the Sheets,” Leo grabs you in a headlock and rarely lets up in the album’s 40 minutes. More stripped-down than his previous releases, Leo gets back to the raw basics with less complex...

Seeing World War II through posters is an educational time line about history. John Wright, owner of Wright’s Jewelry, 124 E. Lincoln Highway, decided to put together a gallery of his WWII posters at the Nehring Center Gallery in DeKalb. “It’s a...

Hip-hop hooray, it’s time for playback, yo. This week’s edition comes from senior kinesiology major Matt Kuhnen. The Monee native dressed up as Simba from “The Lion King” for Halloween last year and plans on doing the same this year. If Kuhnen...

From MTV to NIU, Cribs is in the hizzouse ... well, residence hall. Throughout the semester, Sweeps will delve into the sickest structures inhabited by NIU students. The first thing you notice when you enter this savvy Stevenson pad is the door covered...

Cancer, a disease taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans each year, might have finally met its match: plain, yellow bracelets. Six-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong’s foundation began selling “live strong”...

Every week before NIU football games, Sweeps will bring you the real matchups that matter, like which team mascot would win in a street fight. NIU will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., this weekend to face off against Western Michigan University looking to...

Stan Doty has come a long way since his days studying industrial engineering at the University of Colorado. “In 1977, I got a job as a stagehand working for the Grateful Dead through a friend,” Doty said. “After that, I was hooked. Being behind...

Before you walk into “Team America: World Police,” make sure you’re familiar with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. These are the guys who make “South Park,” a television cartoon that once had an episode featuring Christopher Reeve eating aborted...

Some bands find success and then kind of stop. They have their sound and they’re sticking to it. Cake is one such band. With its fifth album, “Pressure Chief,” the group affirms, once again, its resistance to an overload of change. Full of easy...

Some people will always remember their first high school dance, or the day they met that special someone. For me, it was the day I did my first break-dance move called the “coffee grinder.” For my first time as the Jack of All Trades, I infiltrated...

Scrap Arts Music brings its blend of musical diversity to DeKalb tonight. The group features unique homemade instruments ranging from the Scorpion Drum to the Plankphone. Based out of Vancouver, Canada and led by founder Gregory Kozak, who doubles as...

“You want it. You got it ... for a limited time.” The enigmatic ad first appeared on this very page Sept. 27. It trumpeted “FREE FOOD,” such as a medium cheese pizza from Domino’s or a pepe sandwich from Jimmy John’s. All you had to do was...