A minivan rolls through the streets of St. Petersburg. In it, your scribe and Violet, his 3-year-old daughter, listen to the "Madagascar 2" soundtrack without incident until Track 11, "More Than a Feeling," by Boston. ...more

November 6, 2008

The last time I had seen Checkpoint Charlie, the best known border crossing between what was then East and West Berlin, was in 1972. ...more

October 22, 2008

"Old Records Never Die: The Mott the Hoople/Ian Hunter Anthology," recently released by Shout! Factory, isn't the final word on either Mott or its frontman's solo career. The two-CD set devotes a 16-track disc each to Mott and Hunter, far too little for either. ...more

September 19, 2008

SEBRING — Even though he has maintained straight A's in school, Austin North jokingly says his favorite subject is "lunch." Austin, 14, is your typical run-of-the-mill seventh-grader. He likes video games, talking about cars and ice cream, and has a "great wit," as his mother, Candace North, of Lorida, will attest. But Austin is a little bit different compared to his schoolmates at Hill-Gustat Middle School. Austin was diagnosed with duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMS) when he was 3 years old. The disease, which affects Austin's muscles and his breathing, has left him unable to walk and in a wheelchair. ...more

February 11, 2008

If you own a trolling motor, you own a propeller originally designed by Doug Hannon of Odessa. Some two decades ago, Hannon shaped the first weedless prop out of scrap metal in his garage and tested it in the weeds of Lake Keystone, behind his home. A short time later, he sold it to Motor Guide. Millions of the props have been sold. ...more

December 14, 2007

I can only imagine how puffed up my husband must have been the night a sportswriter sitting next to him at a pro fight leaned over and asked if he was a former boxer. "Why, yes," Rick replied, sitting a little straighter in his chair. "How did you know?" He figured his fellow scribe had seen him in action back in the '70s, when he was a pretty good junior welterweight fighting out of Minneapolis. ...more

September 27, 2007