LATEST ADDITIONS

Bluetooth speakers are like cheap econobox cars: Even in normal daily use, you're likely to push them to their limits. Most of the compact Bluetooth speakers I test put out 81 to 87 dB at 1 meter, loud enough for casual listening but not loud enough to get your foot tapping and your head bobbing.

A Good Day to Die Hard

The latest chapter of the popular, 25-year-old franchise is a Die Hard film with subtitles. But, fear not, ardent fans, it's just for a scene or two at the start and that's as arty as it gets. The rest of the film is standard slam-bam, big-boom, non-stop adrenaline-filled, Yippie-Kai-Yay thrill seeking.

Various Artists: Ghost Brothers of Darkland County

New release (Hear Music/Concord; tour dates)
Photo of Burnett, Mellencamp, and King by Kevin Mazur

Indiana cabin, mid-1900s: Two brothers argue over a girl. One brother accidentally kills the other, and then the fleeing brother and the girl accidentally drive into a lake and drown.

True story. John Mellencamp learned it after buying the cabin in the early 1990s.

Soon after, Mellencamp got the idea for a musical based on that story. By 2000, he had begun work on the score (both music and lyrics), and he asked Stephen King to write the book.