With all the redundancy of pop music, it can be hard to find something fresh. On the Great Plains Gypsies' latest release, "Ride the Blinds," the music is not only fresh, but also inventive. The album is a collection of 12 stripped-down tracks that range...

This is Benjamin, and he's a little worried about his future. A young man set to graduate is trying to find his way in a chaotic and obtuse world. For answers, he sleeps with family friend Mrs. Robinson and her daughter Elaine. Now that sounds like a...

Soul Asylum showed Otto's Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, its usual song and dance Saturday night. Audience members eagerly cheered the band onto stage at 11:15 p.m., but the excitement subsided as the band launched into its first song. Most people...

A concert is actually sold out in DeKalb. Multi-platinum rapper Snoop Dogg will perform Wednesday night at Otto's Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway. Not only will Snoop, also known as Calvin Brodus, be the most popular rapper to strut a stage in DeKalb,...

In honor of the appearance of Snoop Dogg at Otto's Niteclub on April 10, the M.O.O.S.E. wanted to highlight one of the Dogg's mentors and boyhood idols, Slick Rick. "Lodi Dodi," off of the platinum-selling "Doggystyle" album, was a cover of Slick Rick's....

Jodie Foster is my hero. Playing the character Meg Altman in the current box-office giant, "Panic Room"(Columbia, R), this reclusive actress stops everyone who's ever sneered at the phrase "single mother" dead in their tracks with her powerful performance....

"Shuffleplay and the Mutations," the first release from the local band of the same name spawned from the area, is a cornucopia of different sounds and genres. The independently produced six-song EP (plus an intro) combines the loungey tones of the Coctails,...

Anyone who can sing a thoughtful song about pissing in a river is OK by me. Rock poet Patti Smith sings about that, and over 31 other equally meaningful subjects, on her new double-disc album, "Land (1975-2002)." Spanning four decades of music that some...

It might be time to put down that Keystone Light and start drinking with a little class. But finding a good, affordable wine is nothing like finding a good, affordable beer. "A good wine is one that is finished in a style that is true to it's varietal,...

It all began in 1995. That was when Disney released the box office gold mine "Toy Story." With that release and its ensuing success, which has spawned a sequel, the film genre of computer animation has produced one hit after another. The surprising aspect...

Have you ever sniffed a pony's butt? In 1982, kids throughout the country had their noses pressed up against the vinyl tush of My Little Pony. The sweetly scented buttocks of My Little Pony gave off the fragrances of peaches and berries. It was the pony...

Art enthusiasts from the community and NIU gathered at the Art Building March 21 for a proposal presentation given by Karen McCoy, an NIU alumna and head of sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute. Her piece, "The DeKalb County Farmland Project," will...