This + that: A Chipmunk sing-along

Chipmunks sing-along Former teen idol Jesse McCartney -- remember the WB's "Summerland" and his 2004 pop hit "Beautiful Soul"? -- will hit the silver screen Friday in "Alvin and the Chipmunks" as the voice of Theodore. McCartney will be at Mall of America at 1 p.m. today to lead what organizers hope will be the world's largest sing-along of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)." It's perhaps a chance to land in the Guinness Book of World Records -- or at least get McCartney's autograph. JON BREAM

Digging deep After Patrick Dewane's grandfather died, the family made a startling discovery: a typed manuscript in a basement box about the World War II heroics of the man known only as a mushroom picker in Wisconsin. The Czech-American colonel fought at Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge. Dewane explores his grandfather's story in "The Mushroom Picker," at, appropriately, a Czech cultural center. (7 p.m. Thu. $15. CSPS Hall, 605 7th St. W., St. Paul. 952-925-3989.)

ROHAN PRESTON