by Norah Wilson
(the Wilson in Wilson Doherty)

I've always loved music, and frankly, I thought I'd collected enough favorite artists to do me a lifetime. Then my kids turned into teenagers and exposed me to a whole new world. I can't say I love it all, but what I do love, I'd put right up there with my favorite artists.

Okay, here goes:

1. Elliott Smith
OMG, if you’ve never listened to Elliott Smith, do it now. Musical genius. In fact, I’ll make it easy. Here’s a YouTube video of him singing “Twilight”. That song kills me every time. I have a hunch this guy has helped a million kids through depressive episodes, just by the mere fact that they know they’re not alone when they listen to him. Unfortunately, Elliott succumbed to his own depression. RIP, Elliott.

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“Hey, hot stuff, come here often? Tell me all about yourself and that really great hockey card collection; I'm really interested,” I said, trying to bat my eyelashes.

Er, no that's not what I mean by charming. (Okay, in retrospect,  that was in no way ... under any circumstances ... charming, but well, I'm just that rusty.)

Let me tell you a TRUE tale. When I was nineteen, I had three warts on my left hand. Two on my little finger, one on my ring finger.  And I tried everything to get rid of them – over the counter products, freezing treatments at the doctor's office. Nothing worked. Well, almost nothing. I was talking to my boss at the time,  and he was telling me that his daughter had had warts on her hands but they were gone now.

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For our first book review, I picked BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, by Kami Garcia and Maragret Stohl. And yeah, one of the reasons I picked it was because it was written by a writing team.

From the inside flap: Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

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Oh, man, what a great idea! This guy -- Rap Master Maurice -- is making a living from what is evidently a big demand for passive aggressive messages to be delivered via telephone. Specifically, rap messages. Isn’t that too cool? Imagine the scenarios….

• Your boyfriend forgot your anniversary and your birthday, and when reminded, produced a CD that he’d been wanting himself or a bath set someone obviously gave his 80-year-old grandmother who must have saved it for re-gifting.

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Do you know The Wicker Man? You don’t? Well … good for you. I’m not talking about the 1973 original (which I've never seen), I’m talking about the 2006 remake. I’ve seen it three times now. Okay, for those of you who have seen the movie yourselves and are now shaking your heads, rolling your eyes skyward and mumbling, "Why, why, why?", let me explain.

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