Linda East Brady

What do you love?

Not, mind you, whom do you love -- although that isn't to say we don't think it's important to love other people (at least some of them).

We're talking items, stuff, like things you eat or use or listen to or watch or wear ...

We, the members of the Life section, are confessing to some of the things we love, in hopes of encouraging readers to share some of their discoveries and passions as well.

The Hive Winery tasting room, 1220 W. Jack D Drive, Unit #2, Layton, is open 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The Hive features a rotating menu of wines to taste and for sale (limited to five types per tasting) for those age 21 and older, with a valid ID. Prices vary, with most full-sized bottles ranging from $18 to $35.

Vocal Point, Brigham Young University's nine-man a cappella ensemble, finished its run Monday night on the third season of the NBC vocal competition "The Sing-Off." The group made it to the final five, concluding with "Every Little Step," by Bobby Brown, and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," by The Temptations."

The ensemble includes sophomore business major Jake Hunsaker, who was born in Ogden and raised in West Weber. The other current members of the 20-year-old collegiate group are Keith Evans, of Orem; Tanner Nilsson and McKay Crockett, both from Sandy; Ben Murphy, of Sydney, Australia; Michael Christensen, of Eagle River, Alaska; Robert Seely, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Ross Welch, of Cody, Wyo.; and Tyler Sterling, of Renton, Wash.

Magic, or illusion as those in the trade call it, is an ancient art form.

At one time, magic was used to manage life, much like technology is today. Take the burial of cave bears by European tribes 50,000 years ago. This was likely tribal spell work -- bury the bear and he can't bury you.

Today, people are far more pragmatic. Thanks to special effects and modern technology, we know the magicians we watch on television and in concert are not actually rending the laws of space and time. They are, rather, illusionists.

OGDEN — The Nashville band Lonestar and “American Idol” runner-up Bo Bice canceled their appearance at Lindquist Field at the Hometown Country Showcase benefit concert earlier this week.

The singer/songwriter Hugo Chakrabongse, who goes professionally by his first name only, grew up a child of both East and West. He was born in the city of London, but while still a toddler, moved to the jungles of Thailand with his mother.

Once school age, Hugo returned to England for school, but in summers and on holidays, he was back in Thailand's lush countryside, following his mother, a publisher of archaeology books, into the wild.

There, in his late teens, he started his career in show business, as an exotic heartthrob TV star and country rocker who could speak and sing in Thai like a native.

When Fernando Valenzuela, the screwball-throwing left-handed pitcher, took the home-field mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was to the organist playing ABBA's romantic "Fernando." Most of the people there would sing along. They knew the words.

ABBA's music is much like the national pastime -- just a part of the fabric of things. Hits like "Fernando," "Dancing Queen," "Take a Chance on Me" and "Waterloo" are stuck in the heads of millions still, long after the band's heyday as the most commercially successful band of the 1970s.

"When they came out, they had a unique sound -- especially their recording techniques," said Christian Fast, of Stockholm, Sweden. Fast performs as part of a tribute act called "ABBA -- the Music," which performs the band's music with the Utah Symphony on Thursday in Ogden and the following weekend in Salt Lake City.