In this instalment of "10 things" we talk with Johan Hultqvist, frontman of Toronto's Mr. Something Something, about bicycles, alternative energy, African rhythms, and green living.

In this installment of "10 things" we talk with Jennifer Castle, otherwise known as Castlemusic about Lansdowne and Bloor, water towers, Toronto Island, patience and impulse shopping:

Oh, how the mighty fall! It seems Steven Page, squeaky clean front man for the squeaky clean Scarborough band Barenaked Ladies, ran afoul of the authorities in upstate New York and has been charged with possession of cocaine.

As luck and irony would have it, the arrest comes as BNL celebrate the release of their first full-length album for children, Snack Time. There's no word yet from Disney whether this will affect BNL's participation in the Disney Music Block Party / PLAYSKOOL Play Aid Benefit Concert on Long Island later this summer.

In this column we talk to musicians; sometimes about the music they make, sometimes about whatever tangent they happen to go off on. And once in a while we may talk to non-musicians as well, just to keep you on your toes.

In this installment, we talk to local DJ/producer Eric Downer about life, beats, camping and soul destruction (among other things).

The other day, the short list for the Polaris Music Prize was announced, and even though there's been some heated controversy over who got snubbed when the long list was announced (Sunset Rubdown, for instance), it's nice to see that one Toronto band made the cut. Holy Fuck go on to the next round of judging, where the 178 member jury will pick one deserving artist to win the grand prize: $20,000 to put towards recording another album.

The local electronic outfit's album, LP, will be competing against Vancouver's Black Mountain's In The Future, Montréal's Plants and Animals' Parc Avenue and Stars' In Our Bedroom After The War, London's Basia Bulat's Oh, My Darling and Shad's The Old Prince, Dundas' Caribou's Andorra, Ottawa's Kathleen Edwards' Asking For Flowers, Charlottetown's Two Hours Traffic's Little Jabs and Winnipeg's The Weakerthans' Reunion Tour.

It was my daughter's eighth birthday on Tuesday, so we decided to spend the day at the zoo. All told, it was me, my wife, our daughter and three year old son, my father-in-law Larry, an ark-load of biodiversity and some rather extreme weather.

Once in the gate, we hopped on the infamous Zoomobile for a quick jaunt out to the African Savannah, as good a starting place as any. Along the way we got up close and personal with the elephants, a pleasant surprise that got us motivated for what would eventually turn out to be a fair bit of legwork.