The Chicago punk rock band Rise Against makes no apologies for its politically and socially charged lyrics. But it doesn't want to be known for "force feeding" its lyrics to listeners.

"The political side of this band is just that -- it's a side," said bassist Joe Principe during a recent phone interview from New York City. "There are political lyrics. There are social awareness and there are lyrics about the environment. I think if people take the time to read the lyrics, they'll know we're not strictly force feeding you our politics. We don't like to force feed anything. That doesn't get the job done. We just like to present our views and ask that people listen and make up their own minds. That's what's great about living here. You can make up your own mind."

Continue reading "Rise Against continues its 'Appeal to Reason' through live show" »

Earlier this week, I exchanged Tweets on my Twitter page with Nick Wasmiller, of Seyferth & Associates Inc. He was talking about the refurbished Santa sleigh, and I said: "Hey, I would love to see it!"

On Tuesday, he was kind enough to show me Santa's local sleigh, which has been in use since the 1930s as part of the Grand Rapids Santa Parade, sponsored by the Grand Rapids Jaycees.

Continue reading "Ready for Grand Rapids' Santa Parade?" »

Jon Foreman from Switchfoot drops by to talk about his 4 seasonally titled acoustic EPs released earlier this year, and play some of those songs and some unreleased material too. In the year ahead, expect new projects from both Switchfoot and another side project, Fiction Family, done along with Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins.

Subscribe to the Acoustic Cafe podcast: iTunes | RSS

Continue reading "Jon Foreman" »

It was well past twilight - closer to midnight, actually - as hundreds of moviegoers, mostly young girls, stood in line at Goodrich Quality 16 theaters to see the latest heartthrob coming to the big screen.

They were waiting to see "Twilight," based on the first of a four-part series of vampire novels by Stephanie Meyer that hit the shelves in 2005 and has sold over 25 million copies. The books are written from the perspective of a young, timid girl named Bella, who falls in love with Edward, a brooding, smoldering vampire who's in her biology class.

Continue reading "Ann Arbor teens and tweens rave over "Twilight" vampire movie" »

Download this week's movie podcast, subscribe via iTunes or listen here:

BOLT

Pixar and Disney are in top form as they join forces to produce "Bolt," about a dog who stars in a TV show and believes that the powers he possess in the show are real, leading him to a journey across the country to save his co-star from a threat which he also believes to be real. Voices are provided by John Travolta (Bolt), Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton. Tip: Spend the extra few bucks to see it in 3-D, you won't be sorry.

REVIEWS

• James Sanford: Disney's endearing 'Bolt' is hilarious and beautifully made

• John Serba: Power pup: Doggy derring-do drives Disney's 'Bolt'

---

TWILIGHT

Based on the best-selling book series by Stephenie Meyer, "Twilight" tells the tale of a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. It stars Kristen Stewart (Into The Wild, Jumper) and Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).

REVIEWS

• James Sanford: Dear diary: My guardian angel is a vampire! 'Twilight' offers teen romance with a twist

• John Serba: Stylish 'Twilight' film a guilty pleasure

NEW ON DVD

• Wall-E - The beautifully done, animated robot love story is not only the best animated films of the year, but according to John Serba, is one of the best overall films of the year.

• Tropic Thunder - While poking fun at the film industry, many call "Tropic Thunder" one of the funniest movies of the year, with a great cast (Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Director Ben Stiller) that bravely tackle subjects that most movies wouldn't go anywhere near.

LONDON (AP) -- Madonna and Guy Ritchie were granted a preliminary decree of divorce Friday.

Neither appeared at the brief court session in which "Ciccone M L v Ritchie G S" was one of 17 cases given a preliminary decree. After six weeks and a day, the divorce can become final.

The decree said the divorce was granted on the basis of Ritchie's "unreasonable behavior," but did not elaborate.

Continue reading "Madonna, Ritchie granted preliminary divorce" »

True confessions: I'm a literature snob, and maybe that's why I can't swoon over the pedestrian prose in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling vampire romance series.

Before the legions of obsessed tween female fans -- and their mothers -- throw rotten tomatoes, let me defend myself by saying that I'm not just another bloodthirsty critic.
Meyer's novels stretch the boundaries of the vampire romance genre a smidge, simply by lowering the age of the lovers and keeping things chaste. Or so I'm told by avid readers of the genre.

But the film adaptation of "Twilight," the first book in Meyer's four-book series, takes the trite story up a notch with its engaging leads -- Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, the beautiful but brooding gentleman vampire, and Kristen Stewart as the pretty but sullen new girl in town -- an alternately haunting and adrenaline-pumping score and sweeping cinematography.

Continue reading ""Twilight" improves on trite vampire novel a bit" »

No one wants the people of Detroit and surrounding areas to get their entertainment dollars' worth more than Carlos Mencia. At a time where the other shoe is continuously dropping -- latest in the form of General Motors' increasing flirtation with bankruptcy -- the veteran comedian knows laughter is in short supply.

"The thing about Detroit, I feel an even bigger responsibility to make people laugh there because they need something fun since everyone is going through such a tough time right now, with the sad prospects for the car companies," Mencia, who performs Saturday at the Fillmore Detroit, said by phone recently.

Continue reading "Carlos Mencia promises lots of yuks for the bucks" »

There's a site, followcost.com, that measures how annoying it is to track specific users of Twitter, the thought-a-second social network. You enter in somebody's Twitter user name, and it calculates how frustrating following this person would be, based on number of posts each day and how many of those posts mention politics.

The idea of measuring Twitter nuisance strikes me as unproductive, since if you don't want to be annoyed you could just as easily not use the site. But I digress, because my Followcost rating has nearly doubled in the past couple of days, based on a recent spike in my milliscoble rating, which is the made-up unit of measurement Followcost employs. Confused? Don't worry. Suffice it to say I'm more annoying than I was earlier this week, and as with many problems in my life, I choose to blame this on Nickelback.

The other day a package came in the mail from Roadrunner Records containing "Dark Horse," the sixth(!) album from Canadian rock band Nickelback, who in this decade have probably soundtracked more rural teenage base-roundings than any other artist. I listened to "Dark Horse" and Twittered it (see the feed in the upper left-hand corner), to hopefully spare others the misfortune. I'm a hero like that.

Continue reading "Album review: 'Dark Horse' by Nickelback" »

For a series that started nearly 25 years ago with a low-budget first installment, THE TERMINATOR has turned into a phenomenally popular franchise, spinning off sequels on the big screen (T2: JUDGMENT DAY and T3: RISE OF THE MACHINES) and the small (TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES). And the story continues next spring with TERMINATOR: SALVATION, starring Christian Bale as John Connor. Continue reading ""Terminator" will be back -- in theaters and in video game consoles" »

So is TWILIGHT director Catherine Hardwicke the only one who is skeptical about whether there will be sequels to the teen vampire romance? Hardwicke (LORDS OF DOGTOWN) recently told Entertainment Weekly that TWILIGHT would have to gross $150 million in order for Summit Entertainment to give any additional films in the series the green light. I've got a message for Hardwicke: You may be filming NEW MOON, the second book in Meyer's series, before you know it. Continue reading ""Twilight" dawns, viewers speak" »

TODAY

Anthony David -- Hip-hop/R&B/neo-soul, 9 p.m., Mug Shots Coffee House, Britton/Hadley Hall, Western Michigan University campus. Free. 387-2112.

Continue reading "ON THE WEEKEND: ENTERTAINMENT LISTINGS" »

Paris Hilton and her boyfriend of nine months, Benji Madden, have broken up.

Hilton publicist Alanna McCarthy said Wednesday that the two "remain very good friends." She wouldn't say more.

Hilton and Madden have been photographed wearing rings with each other's initials. The 27-year-old socialite also joined her boyfriend when he toured with his rock band, Good Charlotte.

Continue reading "Paris Hilton and Benji Madden split" »

A quartet of musicians will imitate the Fab Four, and the Palace of Auburn Hills will likely resemble Shea Stadium circa 1965, when Get Back! Cast of Beatlemania hits town this weekend.

Continue reading "The Palace gets Shea Stadium makeover for Beatles concert Friday" »

Young turk Cody Linley was finally banished from the grown-up table on "Dancing with the Stars."

The 18-year-old star of "Hannah Montana" finished a respectable fourth in the dancing contest, although he failed to make next week's finale.

As the youngest ever contestant on the show, Linley brought a puckish energy to his performances as he matured week by week under the tutelage of his partner, Julianne Hough. After Hough had to leave the show for two weeks to have surgery, Linley floundered a bit with sub partner Edyta Sliwinska, but his fans -- and Hough's -- voted to keep him on at least until she was back in dancing condition.

Next week: Football great Warren Sapp, model Brooke Burke, and former *NSYNC band member Lance Bass all vie for the right to hoist the Mirror Ball trophy.

E-mail the author of this story: jgonzalez@grpress.com