Since his big-screen debut in 1981's Ragtime, and particularly since his 1983 breakthrough in Terms of Endearment, Jeff Daniels has been one of America's most familiar and sought-after character actors, with memorable roles in such films as The Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild, Arachnophobia, Speed, Dumb & Dumber, Pleasantville, The Hours, The Squid & the Whale, and Good Night, and Good Luck.

REO Speedwagon lead singer and primary songwriter Kevin Cronin said the band spent more than three years making Find Your Own Way Home, which came out last year. "There was no pressure to release it sooner," he said last week. "There was no record company, no contract, none of that bullshit. It was strictly a labor of love on our part."

When the two performers in the cello-guitar duo Montana Skies - Jennifer and Jonathan Adams - began playing together in 1997, the impetus was "curiosity," Jennifer said in an interview last week.

The classical repertoire for guitar and cello is small, and they therefore didn't have much in the way of an example. So over the past decade they've developed a catalog of original compositions and covers of popular songs - everything from the Beatles to Pink Floyd. They're as adept at energetic flamenco as they are patient, spare melodies.

The Envy Corps hail from Iowa, but the plan is to try to make a splash in Great Britain before the United States.