Now that Britain’s High Court has ruled that Dan Brown did not steal the idea for The Da Vinci Code from an earlier book, you can listen to this top-notch thriller without remorse. The movie version opens May 19th and there’s so much going on in this story that listening ahead will help not hurt your movie-going experience. Besides, that way you can walk out of the theatre saying, “it simply doesn’t live up to the book!”

Long before C.S. Lewis introduced us to Aslan, he created Screwtape, a veteran demon in the service of “Our Father Below.” Hoping to instruct his demon-in-training nephew, Wormwood, on the finer points of leading Christians astray, he writes The Screwtape Letters. Lewis satirizes human nature deftly but humanely, the religions humans build to express their beliefs, and the plight of those that would undermine both.

"Willow, titwillow, titwillow" You may be hearing this outside your window as Spring is most definitely here. You can also hear it on April 6-9 at the Michigan League when The University of Michigan Gilbert & Sullivan Society presents one of Gilbert & Sullivan's most beloved operas "The Mikado." With an outstanding cast of old favorites and some new faces, one of UMGASS's most elaborate sets ever, and the most gorgeous silk costumes imaginable, it is sure to be an event you won't want to miss.

Hard to believe but Eric Clapton turns 61 on March 30. Known for his time with Cream and his virtuoso guitar playing, Clapton's latest cd is titled Back Home. Featuring five original songs co-written with Simon Climie, the cd also includes songs by George Harrison, The Spinners and Vince Gill. Special guests appearing on Back Home are Steve Winwood on synthesizer and John Mayer on guitar. [http:/

What country star had a hit record that was later done by the Beatles? Buck Owens. What country star had more than 20 number one hits in the 1960s and 70s? Buck Owens. What rebellious country star played a mean red, white and blue guitar and helped popularize the famous rock 'n roll-tinged, anti-Nashville Bakersfield sound?

You got it.

And you thought he was just that goofy-looking guy who co-hosted "Hee Haw" for twenty years. Check out The Buck Owens Collection or the Buck Owens article on wikipedia.

The 2006 Stratford Festival of Canada season is fast approaching. This year’s Festival selections from the Bard include Coriolanus, King Henry IV Part One, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night.

Need a little brush-up on the Bard? Shakespeare—the Word and the Action, a lecture series from the Teaching Company, will let you expound with the best of them during intermissions in the garden. Dazzle them at the pre-play lectures after listening to The Age of Shakespeare and Will in the World.

Several years ago The Play Ground was privileged to see Ewa Podles when she stepped in for Cecilia Bartoli who was ill. She was marvelous and since then, her reputation has soared. The University Musical Society is lucky to have her back, this time performing in Rossini's Tancredi with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, March 25 at Hill Auditorium. This opera, based on a play by Voltaire, tells the story of a banished 11th C knight who secretly returns to his homeland only to discover that his king is now allied with his archenemy.

March is National Caffeine Awareness Month and National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month. So put away the coffee pot, put on the headphones and learn to create and channel healthy energy. Judy Orloff offers a program to transform stress into strength in Positive Energy. Daniel Amen’s Making a Good Brain Great teaches you how to “exercise” your brain for better mental health.

Want to meditate on your options first? Try Reginald Ray’s Meditating With the Body or Spontaneous Awakening by Adyashanti. Listen to them all and you’ll be ready to celebrate National Fly a Kite month in April.

Tony’s back but this season of The Sopranos is definitely the curtain call for Jersey’s most-watched mob family. Time to branch out and get a few other takes on the world of organized crime. Start close to home with Donald Westlake’s Watch Your Back. Burglar Dortmunder and his hapless crew of ex-cons take on the mob to save their beloved O.J. Bar & Grill in Manhattan.

Take a step back in time with two other books on cd and see how Tony got that way --and why he’s in therapy. Mark Winegardner picks up the story of the Corleone family in The Godfather Returns as the 1955 ceasefire between mob families nears the breaking point. The mob’s influence in Cuba provides backdrop and trouble for Earl Swagger in Havana by Stephen Hunter.

Jerry Lewis has just been awarded the French Legion of Honor. The 80-year-old wore slippers to the ceremony and, when he spoke, apologized for not speaking French, but said that "'even if the French people cannot hear my language, they have always heard my heart..'"

Lewis joins many other distinguished recipients of the Legion of Honor, including jazz great Jon Hendricks, who once told me that "a woman's first child is her husband."

Everybody's a comedian! ;-)