This past weekend I got to see my friend crucified on stage. It... was... awesome. It also made me think, my friend is going to school for theater, which is wonderful. I have so much respect for people who are pursuing careers they will actually enjoy,...

Grade: B+ | The title of the Klaxons' debut LP, "Myths of the Near Future," might as well refer to the band's revival of U.K. rave culture. The London-based trio has been credited (blamed?) since its 2005 conception as being the saviors of the long-dormant...

Despite everything people keep telling me, Silverchair still exists. The post-grunge Australian rock group is all but dead. "Young Modern," the band's fifth number one album (in Australia) was released on March 31. The problem is: I am too old and sentimental...

Grade: B+ | Liam Gallagher is finally right about something regarding Blur. The outspoken Oasis frontman has spent years bashing his Brit-pop counterparts, and recently taken to insulting his country's newest crop of rock by calling the acts ... gasp...

Grade: B+ | At last, a 1997 that doesn't involve Third Eye Blind or "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" Chicago's 1997 is a young, intriguing group featuring a pair of lead vocalists (one male, the other female), agile instrumentation and a batch of killer...

Grade: D+ | In the life and career of Trent Reznor, he has seen it all. He has released a record that can arguably be considered one of the hundred greatest albums of all time ("Pretty Hate Machine"), along with a slew of other chart-topping releases,...

"Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey" by Chuck Palahniuk Grade: A- | "Like most people, I didn't meet Rant Casey until after he was dead. That's how it works for most celebrities: After they croak, their circle of close friends just explodes." Such...

DeKALB | What do you get when you add together two Chicago mainstays, a group of up-and-coming youngsters and one of the Windy City's many unsigned buzz bands? Well, chances are, you'd get something a little like Friday night's show at The House Cafe,...

DeKALB | The House Cafe - 263 E. Lincoln Highway - will host one of the last big indie-rock events of the school-year today. The event will feature Chicago natives Spitalfield, Inept, Dr. Manhattan and Last Fast Action. Each band has a little something...

Christopher Schimmel Every year my friends and I celebrate 4/20 in the most hardcore way. We save up money all year long and then buy our tickets to Amsterdam. When we get there we go on a week-long binge of wordy goodness at the Amsterdam Annual Spelling...

Grade: D | If "Perfect Stranger" had centered itself around the danger and guilt of voyeurism, it might have offered a coherent story or message. However, because it was more interested in making sweet love to the image of Halle Berry and following bad...

Grade: A- | After assaulting his Spanish teacher, Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is sentenced to three months' house arrest. At first, he accepts his fate and takes to pigging out on junk food and daytime television, but his mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) quickly puts...