ALONG CAME A SPIDER (Paramount Home Entertainment), released theatrically earlier this year, is a tale of a deceptive kidnapping, with at least one expert plot twist. Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter and Michael Wincott star under Lee Tamahori’s direction. Aspect ratio is widescreen, enhanced for 16x9 TVs; sound formats are English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and French Dolby Surround, with English subtitles and closed-captioning. Extras include a making-of featurette and the theatrical trailer. MPAA rating is R (violence and language).

Here is an audio alert for true Mark Levinson enthusiasts. Madrigal, the parent company of the Mark Levinson brand of high end audio components, has released a beautiful book all about the line, its products and the processes that go into making the components. The cost for the book is $12 and they are available through authorized dealers.

Legendary classic rockers including STYX, REO Speedwagon, Bad Company, Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Eddie Money, Survivor, John Waite, Edgar Winter, Grand Funk Railroad's Mark Farner and many more to be announced will perform at two "Volunteers For America" benefit concerts. The concerts are scheduled for Saturday, Oct 20th at the HiFiBuys Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta, GA and Sunday, October 21st at the Smirnoff Music Center in Dallas, TX. "I just couldn't stand by without doing something to help all of the people whose lives have been destroyed by the terrible tragedies of September 11th," said organizer and lead singer of Styx, Tommy Shaw. "I just starting calling up all of my friends to see what we could do. The response has been amazing and we expect to add many more artists to the line up."

Fantastic seating is frequently overlooked as an essential component in a successful AV system. Suspending disbelief with music and film demands that you also suspend the gravity we are slaves to during the day. At CEDIA 2001, we found a few unique seating solutions that were of special note. The first was the Sensation Chair from Clark Synthesis ($2,495), which is a modern-looking reclining chair that adds a Clark Tactile transducer directly to the internal design of the chair. Integrating the Clark transducer overcomes many AV enthusiasts' objections about physically installing the Clark Transducer into their existing furniture, while bringing full-range dynamics directly to your seat.

Radio stations, reportedly in 3 major groups, have voluntarily removed potentially offensive songs from their playlists at stations nationwide. Initially thought to be an act of sensitivity to the victims of September 11th’s and a nation currently in mourning, continuing to censor songs more than over a week after the tragedies seems more like an attack on our freedom of speech much like the terrorists would have wished for. A list of songs allegedly censored by Clear Channel Communications, owner of over 1200 US radio properties, includes: "Stairway To Heaven," "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Rocket Man." More obscure songs have been supposedly dropped from US rotations at other radio groups like Citadel and Bonneville including The Beatles’ "A Day In The Life" and "It’s The End Of The World As We Know It" by R.E.M.