Rest your vocals chords, because you'll need them to sing along with former Bad Company lead singer Brian Howe when he comes to Kennewick at the Clover Island Inn on July 11.

I have had a week of non-stop Ghostbusters action. I watched the 1984 classic, the slightly less classic 1989 sequel and topped it off with the fantastic new game from developers Terminal Reality.

For centuries, drums have been used to recharge the spirit and soothe the soul.

The nine-page press release for the When Legends Collide Tour: The Jim Rose Circus vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts event begs two questions:

From blues to classic rock to ballads, Sugarbush has a little bit of everything.

All sorts of revelry will explode around the Mid-Columbia this Fourth of July weekend from fireworks to music to just plain fun.

I subscribed to my first comic book series when I was 15. That comic: X-Men. I grew up on the Fox Kids animated series but felt that Wolverine, carefully designed to be the coolest character in the world, had been nerfed for Saturday morning audiences. The guy has knives that shoot out of his fist! How is he not chopping people like Omega Red in half? Fist knives!

Procrastination no longer has a grip on this Pasco band. Hiz Haven is using a positive message in their alternative rock/hip-hop sound to help people get off their feet.

If zombies tried to pull an outbreak on us these days, those things would be screwed. We're exposed to so many zombie movies these days your 5-year-old knows where to shoot them. People in the movies have to pretend like they live in a world that's never heard of zombies or else the moment they saw a pale guy demanding brains everyone would bust out the katanas and chainmail scarves and your flick would be over right there.

The self-described psychos of the Northwest are dropping a full-length album The Day The Earth Stood Stupid.

Michael Bay has now done two self-indulgent, effects- crammed movies about toys that toymaker Hasbro is credited with inventing. For those who missed it, Transformers was a popular cartoon that children of the 1980s used to rush home to watch after school.

If a pirate's life is what you seek, then come walk the plank at Howard Amon Park in Richland.

The Cool Desert Nights open city car cruise leaves from the TRAC facility in Pasco on June 26 at 5 p.m.

One artist from the Valley is striving to put the 509 side of Washington on the map.

Cool Desert Nights kicks off with an open city cruise of cool cars starting at 5 p.m. June 25.

The Wings of Freedom Tour flies into the Tri-Cities for a three-day layover June 22-24 at Bergstrom Aircraft near the Tri-Cities Airport.

Richard Morton loved cars as much as he loved flying fighters in the Air Force.

Martial Arts Month has been a fun one for me. Last week I got to unleash my whip-fast sat sao technique on the Black Needle Gang, who was upset I'd revealed the secret of their Ten Form Fist. Tragically, my life went rapidly downhill and hasn't yet recovered when I had to watch 1989's Robot Ninja, the subject of this month's Big Awful Friday and capper to a feature I'll have to visit again as soon as I regrow the eyes I lost in that fight.

The Proposal trods through territory gone over in hundreds -- and maybe even thousands -- of better love stories. Cookie-cutter characters inhabit a paper-thin plot while being helplessly propelled to a cliche climax.

PROSSER -- If St. Patrick's Day offers the chance for anyone to be Irish for a day, The Scottish Fest in Prosser on June 20 should give Mid-Columbia residents a chance to be a Scot for at least part of one.

Tony Jackson admits he's a born entertainer. Put the former Pasco man on a magnificent white Lipizzaner stallion and he'll prove it.

When the rebellion rolls around, you'd better sign on board for the big win, because if movies have taught us anything it's that the renegades always win. Why? Point to their energy and idealism, sure, but the real reason the rebellion always triumphs is that they've got all the hot chicks.

An industry out of ideas does another remake. Dipping back to 1974, director Tony Scott (Déjà vu, Man on Fire) repackages the so-so story of The Taking of Pelham 123 with two aging but still popular stars and tweaks the plot with a modern spin.

Life for the guys in Brasstronaut is a bunch of happy coincidences to this point.

Grab the kids, a cooler of refreshment and a blanket this weekend because it's time for the annual Bluegrass Festival and Dutch Oven Rendezvous at Sacajawea State Park in Pasco.

YAKIMA -- Though the kids might have preferred Miley Cyrus as a guest musician at this year's Central Washington State Fair, it'll be her dad Billy Ray who'll share headline billing for the main stage entertainment.

Art can be found anywhere. And it doesn't have to be created with paint on canvas, sculpted from clay, or chiseled in stone.

Granted, my psychological profile might scare off some potential employers. It says I'm an excitable, charismatic, brave daredevil ... and, oh yeah, I'm insane.

As a man of extreme national influence, I like to take a look at the tough issues.

Regular readers know I am not a Will Ferrell fan.

TOPPENISH -- Head to Toppenish this weekend to watch the paint dry. It's time for the annual Mural-A-Day festival downtown, starting June 5.

Members of The Dara Quinn Project don't do stand-up, but when it comes to their improvisation skills, they've got it down.

The annual Live at 5 concert series will feature the music of The Keep on June 4 in Richland.

It's hard to say what inspires the soul of an artist.  Is it a place or a color? A face that touches the heart? Or perhaps a lifelong appreciation for fine art.

Abisha Uhl is living anything but a bittersweet life.

Allow me to take you back to the '90s and to a time before American Idol and 5MB download speeds.

"Boo hoo hoo," I could hear you all crying this last weekend, "so this Martial Arts Month is the greatest idea ever conceived by mortal man, but in the meantime, where are we going to hear about ridiculous zombie movies? Surely nothing has ever combined shambling, clumsy undead with the machine-like precision of ultimate fighting skills."

Webster's online dictionary gives the noun "genius" five definitions. They should add one more: Pixar. Twenty-two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and three Grammys qualify the studio.

A collection of art created by students of Columbia Basin College will be on exhibit through June 11 in the Fred Esvelt Gallery on the Pasco campus.

If you're staying in the Tri-Cities on May 29-30 and the weather keeps heating up, head to the water to take in the annual Columbia River Paddle Fest.

The Kennewick alternative rock group In Shining Armor is not your typical rock band. They don't demand the limelight but the three members do ask that their pizzas be cut into nine pieces.

I think it was Gandhi who once said "If we weren't meant to whale the hell out of each other, we would never have been given fists." Even better than pounding the tar out of somebody is watching some other jerk do it instead: It's all the joy of bloodlust with none of the risk of actually bleeding.

You might say Clover Island Hotel in Kennewick is stuck in the past when it comes to entertainment. More specifically, classic music.

Didn't George Lucas' Star Wars prequels prove that complex sci-fi plots don't need to be completed?

Musician Vicci Martinez says on her website that she became a musician after her parents purchased violin lessons for her older sister.

Funny how a family pet can be a blessing to some and a rival to others.

Last year James Otto burst onto the country music scene, but fans back in his hometown of Benton City have been lovin' him since his humble beginnings.

Today I’d like to talk about Pokemon Platinum. Just two reviews in and already I seem like the least manly gamer in the world, but that’s all right with me. Pokemon is fun and has been since I was in middle school. For the uninitiated (and I don’t know how that’s possible) Pokemon is an adventure/strategy game where you collect small monsters and creatures so that you may fight other small monsters and creatures in your journey to fight and catch even bigger monsters and creatures. In Japan Pokemon are known as “pocket monsters” which is, let’s be honest here, pretty adorable.

Arr, me hearties, get ready to plunder. The tall ships be a comin' to town.

I've said it before, but one of the biggest keys to success is in something as simple as your name. If tomorrow you wake up, have a kid, and name that kid Darth Vader, I personally guarantee that baby will grow up to rule at least a county auditor's seat.