Rock Band

Leonard Skinner, 77, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday at the St. Catherine Laboure Manor in Jacksonville, Fla., his daughter Susie Moore said. He had Alzheimer's disease. Mr. Skinner was working at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal's office because their hair was too long. Those students later formed a band, using a variation of Skinner's name for their own. During a 2009 interview, Mr. Skinner said he was always bothered by the way the legend grew to say he was particularly tough on the band members or that he had kicked them out of school, according to the Florida Times-Union, which first reported his death.

This is so cool, I had to put it first. For us old heads, Tron will forever be one of the greatest movie/video combinations ever. When Tron: Legacy hits theaters around the winter holidays, it will be a great time for Tron geeks to take their kids to see what the hype is/was all about. Suppose money is no object with regard to your Tron mania. Suppose you want to be the alpha dog when it comes to Tron culture. I may have just the thing for you. Forget all of the new toys, video games, and other Tron items hitting store shelves ahead of the film because nestled in Melbourne, Fla., is a custom cycle shop named Parker Brothers Choppers that claims to be able to make street-legal . . . Tron Light Cycles?

What a send-off our intrepid castaways got in "The End. " During Sunday night's Hurley-sized Lost finale, the salt-kissed crew was treated to a concert by Charlie's rock band, Drive Shaft. Then they were off on an all-expenses-paid trip to heaven. Or whatever the next stage of their spiritual journey is. Sure, we got the epic showdown between good (Jack) and evil (the fake Locke) at the island's golden grotto. But that took a back seat to the final rapture as the characters in the church, bathed in radiant light, looked up in mute wonder at what awaited them.

A young Philadelphia woman who sang regularly at the Vatican and a Nazareth, Pa., band member who broke both wrists falling from a tree were among those given golden tickets to Hollywood on the season premiere of American Idol Tuesday night. The two hours of Boston auditions, though, showed only snippets of Claire Fuller singing "To Be With You" by rock band Mr. Big, then celebrating making the next round. But the 2004 Germantown Friends grad has already had an interesting singing career.

A young Philadelphia woman who sang regularly at the Vatican and a Nazareth, Pa. band member who broke both wrists falling from a tree were among the those given golden tickets to Hollywood on the season premiere of American Idol last night. The two hours of Boston auditions, though, showed only snippets of Claire Fuller singing "To Be With You" by rock band Mr. Big, then celebrating making the next round. But the 2004 Germantown Friends grad has already had an interesting singing career.

If there's a Philadelphia band whose subtle aesthetic shifts and international acclaim made it a point of local pride, it is Espers. Since the 21st century's dawn, guitarists/singers Greg Weeks and Meg Baird, multi-instrumentalist Brooke Sietinsons, cellist Helena Espvall, and assorted rhythmatists have gone beyond all preconceived notions of modern neo-folk and psychedelic ambience (the awful "freak-folk" tag) to create something blissfully, darkly original. On Thursday, while celebrating its heady new CD III at the stuffed-tight Johnny Brenda's, Espers certainly created its own soft cellular universe of Pentangle-like tones and yawning highway ballads.

Every Phoenix album has offered at least one, and usually two, perfect pop confections, starting with "If I Ever Feel Better" and "Too Young" from 2000's United. But America had not paid much attention until a Saturday Night Live appearance in the spring kick-started Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the French quartet's fourth album. Now they're playing sold-out theaters across the States. "Before this record we still felt like we were a secret society or something," says vocalist Thomas Mars from a tour bus somewhere between Salt Lake City and Omaha.

The Dave Matthews Band, for all its success and exposure (on The Tonight Show and Ellen last week), may still be an elusive quantity for many - even after 18 years and 15-million-plus tickets sold, making it the highest-grossing American act ever, and five albums that debuted at No. 1. Centerpiece Dave Matthews, the good-natured 42-year-old who sings the songs he writes and bops about strumming acoustic rhythm guitar, presents a short-haired regular-guy...

It's the season for football, falling leaves, and new video-game releases. And though all of us are feeling the pockets pinch a bit, there is no doubt we will dig deep for at least a couple of titles to keep us company through winter. Publishers are fully aware of our unquenchable thirst for gaming, and there are some recent price cuts for gaming consoles that, combined, could boost game sales that have sagged this year. While a couple of big titles won't meet their original release dates this year (Bioshock 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Ghost Recon 4, Starcraft 2)

I never thought I'd know what it felt like to be John Lennon, standing in front of 55,000 screaming teenagers at Shea Stadium in 1965, singing "Eight Days a Week. " Truth be told, I still don't. But I do know what it's like to pretend to be John Lennon - and Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr - at Shea in '65, now that I've played The Beatles: Rock Band. The much-hyped video game puts the Fab Four's music literally in your hands. So what's it like? Kind of hokey, and not nearly as dazzling as one might have hoped, though the candy-colored "dreamscapes" are amusingly trippy.