Why I Oughta...

Dig Arrested Development? Go read this whole deal . TVSquad got burned it seems, but the show is headed to Showtime, so that's nice, right?

USC's Daily Trojan knew Bob Dylan, and admits Conor Oberst is no Bob Dylan.: What would the scruffy old veteran say to the up-and-coming musician? Would words of advice be imparted? Would stories be shared? Would compliments be made?  I don't even think they'd get to words. Let's be serious. Before Oberst could mutter his hellos to the best songwriter in American history, Dylan would smack him in the back of the head like an owner shooing away an obnoxious pet that came to look for food at the dinner table. There would be no conversation.

Now that we got that State of the State nonsense out of the way, we can talk about the big things. Remember this ? If Dring can get on the stick, we'll launch in the coming weeks. I think we're near 40. Any submissions? Send them in, please...

I'm crawling into a long winter's blog nap til Monday. We're heading out of town for a party. Wish I could be with you all standing in moldy lines waiting for drinks, etc. Seriously. I wish I could. Instead, we'll be, um...doing a lot of nothing. Nice. Happy New Year. Don't drive, if you don't have to. Please?!? Smell ya later!

Doing an entire 'Year in Review' would be daunting, as I can't quite remember what happened 6 weeks ago, let a lone 6 months ago, but what I can do is tell all you--my loyal readers--what I think was/is the biggest story of 2005 in and around Chicago. ....Drum roll please........... The Biggest story in 2005 was the City of Chicago's 'about-face' on live, outdoor music in the City's parks. What? Live music as the biggest story of the year?!? WTF, Parrillo?!? What about the 'Drought of '05', or the White Sox, or Hired Truck, or Marshall Field's closing? Well...those are all good stories. They're all qualified for 'Biggest Story of the Year', but they don't have the same impact to me as the City's Leaders embracing live music. I wrote about it back in July when both Lollapaloza and Intonation were put on to rave reviews, despite the repressive heat. Dunno if you realize what is happening here. We just went from th

  As the calendar turns, we here at RhodesSchool and at The Club Coca are focusing our efforts on 2006. Club Coca has a full schedule of events including our annual 'Film Festival'   during the late summer and, more importantly, our annual Ski Trip during January/February. Due to other scheduling conflicts, we're proposing to have the ski trip the last weekend in January. January 27, 28, 29th.   Accomodations will be hosted by the Club Coca Remote Lounge in Coloma Michigan on the snowy shores of Paw Paw Lake. Skiing will   go down at Bittersweet Ski Resort .   Plan now. Let us know if you're interested in heading up there.

Each year the Library of Congress preserves films and footage for, I guess 'posterity's sake'. They've been doing it since 1989 and to date have 'saved' 425 films. This years list includes 'Toy Story' and 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High  among others. It's an interesting mix: "Baby Face" (1933) "The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man" (1975) "The Cameraman" (1928) Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort, S.C., May 1940 (1940) "Cool Hand Luke" (1967) "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) "The French Connection" (1971) "Giant" (1956) "H2O" (1929) "Hands Up!" (1926) "Hoop Dreams" (1994) "House of Usher" (1960) "Imitation of Life" (1934) Jeffries-Johnson world championship fight (1910) "The Making of an American" (1920) "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) "Mom and Dad" (1945) "The Music