AP - In a show defined by throbbing dance music, tight choreography, spectacular stage sets and stunning visuals, perhaps the most stirring moment during the kickoff concert to Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour came when the Material Girl stood onstage with just her guitar and a few musicians for an acoustic set.

AP - "Lucia" lovers are in luck at the Metropolitan Opera these days.

Reuters - NEW YORK (Billboard) - Before 1997's "Time Out of Mind," Bob Dylan had by his own admission been musically adrift for more than a decade.

Reuters - Thanks to her Southern twang and onstage cowboy hat, Lucinda Williams has long been recognized as a country artist. But her most recent Grammy Award win, in 2001, was for best female rock vocal performance, and on her new album, Williams lets her rocker gal loose with authority.

AP - After "The Devil Wears Prada" detailed an up-and-comer at Vogue magazine, "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" attempts to do the same with Vanity Fair. Cross your fingers that Hollywood eventually gets to Field & Stream.

AP - As you sample the half-dozen new series arriving in the next week, you might find that no matter how widely they vary otherwise, they share a common link: All of them are playing with time.

Reuters - As a comedy routine about the absurdity of religious fundamentalism, Bill Maher's "Religulous" is very, very funny. As a serious discussion of religion and spirituality, the film is, well, very, very funny.

AP - Give us your tired, your poor, your clowns who work with balloon animals, yearning to breathe free.

AP - Guy talk. Not easy to credibly capture on stage.

AP - Ever been to one of those weddings that just will not end?

Reuters - You can't keep a good Jedi down, or so it would seem from the latest incarnation of "Star Wars," a weekly half-hour series whose animation gets as close to 3-D as you can without wearing those dorky glasses.