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Embracing old-school blues and backwoods country rock, Cold War Kids formed in 2004. Nathan Willett (lead vocals, piano, guitar), Matt Maust (bass), Jonnie Russell (guitar, vocals, percussion) and Matt Aveiro (drums) recorded some demos in the Los Angeles area and rode a series of EPs to Internet fame.

This past January, Cold War Kids reclaimed the spotlight with the release of Mine is Yours, an 11-track collection that's poppier than anything in the group's discography.

As President Obama visited Ground Zero Thursday, accompanied by former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, the ceremony offered some reminders of the feelings of unity that swept the nation after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, nearly 10 years ago.

The feelings then were so strong that it became an instant cliche — the notion that "9/11 changed everything." It has been expounded by countless pundits and politicians, as well as forming the basis of everything from the title of academic papers to jokes on the raunchy cartoon show "Family Guy."

As President Obama tries to refocus on domestic issues, he confronts yet another enemy that's been difficult to eliminate: the laggard economy.

On Friday, he's expected to receive bad news with the Labor Department's release of the April employment report, which analysts forecast will show a decline in job growth after months of incremental gains and an unemployment rate holding steady at 8.8 percent.

No one knows exactly how klezmer music began. Like many aspects of Jewish culture, it's the subject of some debate. Early klezmer musicians were often itinerant, and when they left Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought their instruments and songbooks with them. Bandleader Jacob Hoffman left the Ukraine and settled in West Philadelphia. That's where his daughter Elaine was born, and where she first learned how to play the drums.

We shouldn't neglect to mention the reports that along with the 78 or so humans who took part in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound this week, there was a highly trained canine on the team.