Item-World: Lagos jump

The Twin Cities lost one of its most colorful drummers with the Oct. 19 passing of Paul Lagos. Best known for driving modern jazz, Lagos also impressed in blues, rock, fusion and swing, working locally with Natural Life, the Blackburn-Beach Blues Band, Irv Williams and even Le Cirque Rouge burlesque troupe. His national credits included 100 or so recordings. In the heady days when jazz, rock and blues were mixed and matched with impunity, Lagos was in the thick of things, working with the likes of Sugarcane Harris, John Mayall, Johnny & Shuggie Otis, Harvey Mandel, David Lindley and Leo Kottke. Lagos' life will be celebrated with music and stories at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Artists' Quarter in St. Paul -- no cover charge, just bring memories.

TOM SUROWICZ

Little did Brian Setzer know that Kiss drummer Eric Singer had been waiting all tour for the leader of the Brian Setzer Orchestra to show up backstage. Turns out that Singer's dad, who passed away this year, was a big-band drummer. And Singer had a suitcase full of big-band arrangements that he wanted to pass on to Setzer. Setzer, who's known Kiss frontman Paul Stanley for years, showed up at Kiss' Target Center show to find Singer waiting for him backstage. "He had hundreds of charts for a full big band," said Setzer, who moved to Minneapolis about five years ago. "He wanted me to have them. Isn't that cool?"

JON BREAM

It was a mission Peter Graves couldn't turn down. The 83-year-old veteran of "Mission: Impossible," "Stalag 17," "Airplane!" and A&E's "Biography" got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Oct. 30, right in front of the legendary Musso & Frank Grill steakhouse. "A venerable place for a venerable actor," Graves joked.

Last Saturday, the Minneapolis-born actor was also honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Ojai Film Festival.

"It's awfully nice to have something like these events where you can meet the people and look 'em in the eye and shake their hand," he said. Graves, who continues to do commercials and voiceovers, is coming up on an even bigger event. Next year will mark his 60th in show business.

NEAL JUSTIN

"This is not an HBO special; this is country music," Wynonna Judd told the Mystic Lake Casino crowd as she launched into a speech about loving "you crazies." As if on cue, some crazy dude started honking like a loon. "What is that, the Minnesota mating call or something?" asked Judd, who was laughing so hard she had to turn her back to the audience. "Listen, this is a tender song," she implored. "Stop it! Help me." He did -- with one more loon call.

JON BREAM

If you've seen any of Felt's faux TV newscasts on Rhymesayers.com or YouTube, you can already guess that the album "Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez" -- which comes out Tuesday -- is as bizarre, mysterious and semi-disturbing as the previous whenever-lightning-and/or-weed-strikes collaborations between Slug of Atmosphere and his Los Angeles cohort Murs. After full-length tributes to Christina Ricci and Lisa Bonet, the third set pairs the duo with a different producer, Def Jux guru Aesop Rock. Identifying tie-ins to the actress remains a tricky proposition, but this one has the most memorable tracks, including the wigged-out funk grinder "Like You" and the near-metallic "Protagonists." Murs and Aesop will join Slug on Tuesday for a CD signing and Santa Claus-style photo-ops at Fifth Element (6 p.m., 2411 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.; free, but Toys for Tots new-toy donations requested).

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Minneapolis comic-book artist Sam Hiti got on the national radar in 2004 with his monster-mayhem graphic novel "Tiempos Finales" ("End Times"). Since then he's flirted with a Hollywood adaptation and worked tirelessly on a followup. Now he's ready to unveil "Death Day," which follows a group of soldiers marooned on an alien planet, where they battle grotesque monsters. It will hit stores as a four-part series starting early next year, but he's giving fans a free sneak peek via episodes posted at SamHiti.com. Ever the perfectionist, Hiti said he scrapped three versions of the book before settling on this one. "I have a huge 4-foot-high stack of pages that probably won't ever see the light of day," he said.

TOM HORGEN