Rainn Wilson, 42, star of the new movie "The Rocker" (and one of the stars on "The Office") is all boyish charm with a sweet open face that bears no resemblance to the usually scowling Dwight.

Trent Tomlinson opens for Trace Adkins Sunday night at the Illinois State Fair Grandstand.

The guitar-playing, gruff-singing, harmonica-blowing Watermelon Slim and his crack band, the Workers – drummer Michael Newberry, guitarist Ronnie McMullen Jr. and bassist Cliff Belcher –   have an impressive body of work in contemporary blues music.

Three family deaths, a band member’s death and being diagnosed with hepatitis C haven’t kept Louisiana bluesman Kenny Neal down.

Few know the name of Dalton Trumbo, but  almost everyone has heard of his movies.

"Transsiberian" is a gripping excursion that thrusts Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer down a twisty track pocked with lies, deceit and murder.

Even when his musical backing wasn't the best, you could always count on the GZA to bring intelligence and heat on the mic. With "Pro Tools," the Wu-Tang Clan's best lyricist employs production from the RZA, a few Wu juniors and Black Milk  to create his best solo disc since "Liquid Swords."

Classic Ice Cube records mined the sounds of P-Funk and Roger & Zapp, and his work with Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad was a fascinating, frenetic look at disillusioned urban angst. Raw Footage just kind of sounds like throwaway G-Unit beats and a grown man trying to recapture his former gangsta glory between movie shoots (and without a gun).

Mixtrap.com and DJ Semi release a mixtape purported to be the Notorious B.I.G.'s "true" vision for his landmark 1994 classic, "Ready to D.I.E." But even with a few different verses, uncleared samples and alternate beats, it's not as good as the original.

If you didn’t get a chance to catch the Stone Temple Pilots back when you wore flannel, it’s a safe bet they sounded just as good on Wednesday. Maybe better.

Personally, I’m on the fence with Miley Cyrus. I don’t really love or hate her, I just don’t know what to think about her yet.

The comedy in "Tropic Thunder" is as sophisticated as a whoopie cushion. And that's good thing.

As the protegés of the Clipse, the Re-Up Gang has detailed street-game rhyming down. But the spare, spooky synths and bouncy beats that worked so well on their previous mixtapes are few and far between on their official debut album.

It's not wise to mess with a hip-hop classic, which Madvillain's Madvillainy definitely is... but if you're half of the duo that made the album in the first place - and really, it's just a mixtape you made for yourself to listen to on a flight to Tokyo - you can make an exception. And even when he's just goofing around in the studio, Madlib is on point, recasting his collaboration with MF Doom using snatches of soul and rough beats.

Anyone younger than 30, myself included, only knows Randy Newman as a punchline from an old episode of “Family Guy.” But the man is one of America’s greatest songwriters, even if most of his biggest hits have been sung by other people. His newest album, "Harps and Angels," is an excellent set of songs full of sharp observation and wry political humor.