This is a year of celebration of the man who issued history’s most famous confession of error, Galileo. Four hundred years ago, he made his first observations with a telescope, ultimately leading him to assert that the Earth orbits the sun, not, as Catholic doctrine had it, the other way around. In 1633, Galileo faced the Inquisition and recanted. As an unofficial part of the worldwide festivities saluting Galileo and other great astronomers, I’d like to do some recanting of my own.

In a fall season that promises to be drama heavy, and in particular, medical dramas, ABC is taking a different tack, at least on Wednesday nights. The network is introducing a block of comedies, and not the broadcast TV version of the sort of R-rated fare that’s big on the big screen.

Although the truism often got lost in the postmodernist, high-concept faddishness of the late 20th century, art should be first and foremost about the eye.

This week, Aspen Filmfest (Sept. 30 to Oct. 4) began unveiling its slate. And the sneak peek is fittingly robust and tantalizing for an event marking its 31st year.

With “Designing Women of Postwar Britain,” the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center broke from is typical offerings and took an unusual and fascinating look at three top textile designers from the latter half of the 20th century.

Adam and Beth meet awkwardly in the basement of their New York apartment house. She’s a vivacious schoolteacher new to the building. He’s an electrical engineer who appears, at times, new to any manner of social interaction.

The life of a band. It’s a fascinating evolution. Some bands barely get out of the basement. Others make it big and stick around for decades.
They’re born. They grow and evolve. They learn and make mistakes, and they change.

Just when you thought Heidi Montag’s 15 minutes of fame had expired, had melted away like a Salvador Dali clock, here she comes again on the cover of Playboy, on stands today.

NEW YORK—Les Paul, the guitar virtuoso and inventor who revolutionized music and created rock ‘n’ roll as surely as Elvis Presley and the Beatles by developing the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording, died Thursday at age 94.