Mitchell Gaddis’ passion is jazz, “hands down.” He began playing trumpet his junior year of high school and hasn’t stopped since. He started a jazz program at NIU that informs students about the history of jazz and how it relates to American history....

Warning: This is one of those ludicrously socially irresponsible columns you are probably better off not reading; much like the column I wrote advocating smoking because of the revenue it brings and how it stems overpopulation. Or that column I wrote...

Michael Stipe sang,”It’s the end of the world as we know it” in 1987. It wasn’t, but the 1992 masterpiece “Automatic For The People” should have been called “It’s the end of R.E.M. as we know it.” What happened to the favorite sons of...

Recently, I had a discussion with one of my favorite Chicago-area film critics. He was telling me how he had just arrived from the Toronto Film Festival and about all the fantastic films he saw there. He was able to sit and talk with filmmakers like “Sideways”...

“Friday Night Lights” may seem like another dramatic football movie made all too often, but in actuality, it was adapted from a true story written in 1988. The story of “Lights” is anything but a “Varsity Blues”-style romp, which frames the...

You never know what to expect with the new Q and Not U album. Its first album, “No Kill No Beep Beep,” successfully utilized Fugazi-influenced guitar antics. Their second album, “Different Damage,” reflected the loss of its bass player by incorporating...

For my first - and most likely only - jacking of a trade, I felt humanitarian and hit up the Committee for the Preservation of Wildlife. What better way for a guy who avoids the outdoors at all costs and used to sleep in the car during family camping...

Welcome back to another fresh edition of Playback, yo! This week’s compilation comes from Sumiko Keay, receptionist for University Programming and Activities. DeKalb resident Keay’s most recent concert experience was Saturday at The Lord of the Rings...

From MTV to NIU, Cribs is in the house ... well, residence hall. Throughout the semester, Sweeps will delve into the dopest domiciles NIU students inhabit. This week, we visit the pretty in pink ... and purple pad of NIU students Amanda Johnson and Allison...

You are out on a date. You have had a wonderful evening. You really like this person. You would like to go out again. And then it happens. WHAM! You are now face-to-face with a little white slip of paper that says it’s time for you to fork over a dead...

Florida was just hit with more bad news: A new hurricane has formed and is scheduled to arrive at 5 p.m. Saturday. Its name is NIU. The University of Central Florida Golden Knights will play host to the NIU football team in Orlando, Florida. The hopping-mad...

Editor’s note: First person is a recurring feature that finds Northern Star reporters relaying their first-hand observations of happenings around campus. In this edition, Sweeps Editor Greg Feltes shares the story of the most important election of our...