follow that qar!

A K warehouse-clearing deal put a big stack of CDs in the mailbox for less than the cost of one at retail. The friendly mail order department "miscounted," so I had 14 new discs to spin. First time through, I picked blind. Second time through, I better knew what was coming, but still had things to learn and opinions to form. As a result, I've made a keep-or-pass list that looks like this (rated against each other, not all of musicdom): Sylvain Sylvain & The Criminal$: Bowery Butterflies (2000) Munster vogue ***** Not-too-raucous rock'n'roll straddling the boppin' '50s and punk '80s. Various Artists: Shipwreck Day (2002) Knw*Yr*Own web ***** That original What-the-Heck-Fest musta been some kind of fun. the Weeds: The Faraway Flying of Broken Beating (2004) independent? web (arc divers) **** Emily Ana Zeitlyn leads. Some genre hopping. Most works. Landing: Oceanless (2001) Strange Attractors Audio House web **** Dark sonic ecosystem wi...

First-place Maine (Atlantic) took on fourth-place Grand Rapids (Central) two days after crushing them 132-107. Jordan Mickey led the Claws with 28, followed by Corey Walden with 22 and Malcolm Miller with 20. The Drive got their spark from Kelsey Barlow, who put up 32, with help from Henry Sims (28), Devin Ebanks (25), and Lorenzo Brown (24). Maine was down by 10 at the half, but came back to take the game 129-123. The win clinched a playoff spot for the Red Claws.