A High Note

A few musical suggestions:
First of all, if you haven't heard of a lady named Nicole Atkins, then do yourself a favour and look her up. She has put an album out that defies musical trends, looking back to how music used to be made and how people used to sing songs many years ago. It's a very well produced album full of great lyrics and fantastic flourishes and vocals, that is probably my album of the year. I usually listen to rock music in all it's forms, but I am open to anything that is good basically, and I love her album.
Also, the new datsuns album is the same, yet different. The datsuns are a new zealand garage band, who kind of faded with the garage movement of a few years back. But they have come up with an album that despite the fact probably no-one will hear it, is a great progression of their sound and songwriting. It has much better production than before, and they haven't been afraid to push the boundaries of their sound, still sounding like they always have but with a maturity that they never had before. I think it's a shame so few people will hear it, because it is a really good album.
I suggest you look up signal room too. They are an Australian band that counts among it's members 2 former farscape actors, Anthony Simcoe and Wayne Pygram, on vocals and drums respectively. It's not groundbreaking stuff, but it's pretty good for a band with actors in it, certainly considering how badly some other actors have fared.