I don't see how that could ever be determined as everyone has their own opinion as to what an artists' "best" is.

From Billboard "I really enjoy what I do. And every so often I just get sort of inspired." -- Paul McCartney Gary Graff, Detroit As far as Sir Paul McCartney is concerned, words like "take it easy" are reserved for the Eagles. During the past three years alone the ex-Beatle has released a pair of pop albums -- the Grammy-nominated "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" in 2005 and this year's "Memory Almost Full" -- as well as the 2006 classical piece "Ecce Cor Meum." He also collaborated on albums by Tony Bennett, George Benson and Al Jarreau, and George Michael. This fall, McCartney released an expanded edition of "Memory Almost Full," adding three bonus tracks and a second disc of videos and live footage, along with a three-DVD retrospective of his solo career, "The McCartney Years," that's loaded with rare and unreleased material. And he had a piece in the DVD rollout of the Beatles' "Help." There are musicians a third his age (65) who aren't working at nearly the same level, and we can rest assured that the days of "doing the garden, digging the weeds" are still a long way off for this knighted former mop top. What accounts for the creative spurt you seem to be on the past few years? It's simple: I really enjoy what I do. And every so often I just get sort of inspired. I never know why or how, but I think one of the great things is that music is a great healer and it's a great sort of therapy. Often if you're going through something difficult -- as you can imagine without me laying too much of a point on it, this last year's been pretty difficult -- to get into your music is a great thing. So I think the last couple years I've been very glad to have my music and I've been putting stuff into it that seems to have added up to something. Do you feel like you're getting inspiration as well as healing from these hard times? I think that's true. You look at the lives of the great composers and they were not a lot of fun, some of them. Great painters, too; I was looking at a fantastic painting by Rembrandt the other day in a museum, and I was reminded by the blurb next to it that he died penniless and had a terribly bloody time, but he was one hell of a painter. So that's why I say therapy; you're feeling bad, you skulk off to a corner with your guitar and you write something, and somehow you seem to take yourself through it and you work through it with your music. I thank heaven for that. I feel very, very blessed. People always used to call it a gift, the gift of music, and I think that's very much, more and more, how I see it. That being said, "Memory Almost Full" isn't exactly "Blood on the Tracks," is it? That's funny, isn't it? I still seem to come out positive and optimistic. I think that's my character. But [the divorce from Heather Mills] is something I don't want to talk about, and really for one reason. I have a baby daughter ... a four-year-old, and I do not want to excite the envelope in any direction whatsoever. I'm just sort of keeping the dignified silence. So, how did "The McCartney Years" come about? For a long time people have been saying to me, "When can we get ahold of that video?" or "Is that video available? Is that released?" And I just sort of thought, "No..." I was always a little bit like, "One day, yeah, I'll do it. Don't worry." But then a couple of guys got in touch with me and said "Look, we think it's time. We want to work on it. Let us put forward a proposal of what we would do for you to look at." It took a long time to put together. They started cleaning it all up, and then they cleaned the sound mixes up and then they started showing me and that was like, "Jeez, I've never heard it like this. I've never seen it like this." So I started to get excited and I fell for the whole idea. I just said, "Go to it boys, let's do it." How involved did you stay while it was going on? I mostly sort of approved and smiled and admired what they were doing. I kind of went in every month and did an overview of what they were doing, and I just got fascinated with everything. Then they wanted me to do some commentaries, which is another option on the DVDs where you get my memories. So I was only too happy to do that. They just played them for me and I had headphones and a mic in front of me and I just said, "I remember this. Wow, this is amazing" and whatever memory it brought back to me. I enjoyed that. And I didn't like the artwork originally, so we got a guy called Andie Airfix, who I've done quite a bit of work with. I asked him to try and come up with a concept, and he took this mad idea of using one of my eyes. I'm sort of amazed with the way people could tell it was me. What did you encounter in doing the project that really blew you away? I think the short answer is, "everything." Obviously, everything with Linda in it was particularly heartwarming, realizing her major contribution to everything once you see it all en masse. I hadn't seen "Tug of War" in awhile, which was lovely. It was good to see things like "Say Say Say" with Michael Jackson, and of course Linda and our daughter Heather make an appearance in that, so that was really cool. One of the menus is just this little thing I did in the back yard of Abbey Road ... me singing old rock'n'roll favorites of mine, a Buddy Holly number and things like that. I'm sure I could remember about 20 to 50 other moments, but I think I'll leave that to whoever gets it to check out. You used Ringo pretty liberally as a guest star in your videos. Yeah, that was very good. "Take It Away" and "Beautiful Night," he kindly agreed to be the drummer in those, especially as he'd [played on] "Take It Away." It was just fabulous. [beatles producer] George Martin even appears in one of them. Are there any of the songs you felt were underexposed that may have a revived life from being in the package? I think "Take It Away" kind of stands out. There's one called "Come On People," which is not very well known, looks sort of reborn here. It's nice to just see them in today's light, they seem to stand up quite well. In truth, that's what I was dreading about the project and one of the reasons I put it off; "Oh no, God, there's not enough good stuff yet." But looking at it, I think some of the stuff I was a bit scared of I didn't need to be scared of. I remember being particularly scared of "My Love," which was a sort of zany thing, but it's alright now. There were a couple where I thought, "Oh my God, they've over-made me up. I wanted to look natural and I look like someone out of vaudeville." But even that stuff looks alright. It's got a sort of vintage quality to it that seems to work. It's like an old snapshot album; you're looking at yourself from many years ago. I think it has quite a warm quality in the end. A lot of the stuff stands up. You must have had an interesting perspective on videos in the '80s and beyond because it was no stranger to you. You did videos -- you even did movies -- with the Beatles, so it wasn't quite as revolutionary of a concept as it was in the U.S. The difference was you suddenly had to be a short filmmaker as well and not all of us liked it. The process was quite wearing. You'd sort of farm it out to three or four directors who you thought were hot and [one] would come back with -- it was a bit like a comedy sketch -- "I see you on a mountain top in Tibet wearing nothing but a loincloth. The Sun God shines down..." and you're going "Oh no..." Then the next one was, "I see you in a scene from the Keystone Cops. You're hanging off the back of a wagon, it's all shot in fast-motion black-and-white." Or it was, "I see you as a scene from 'Casablanca' ... I see you as The Terminator." You're just desperate to get something where you can go, "This looks alright." Occasionally there would be a good idea... and the rest of the time there was an element of embarrassment 'cause you thought of yourself as a singer, not a film star. Was it different when you were doing it in the '60s? Yeah, it wasn't quite so important, so we would say, "Oh, look, just get a camera and we'll get girls with grass skirts and we'll just stand there in our Sgt. Pepper's costumes and sing 'Hello Goodbye.'" There wasn't that much thought that went into it, which made it a little bit more innocent and less precious. Of the live material on "The McCartney Years," it's kind of brave to include your Live Aid performance in the set. McCartney: Oh my God, the Live Aid was just one of those things I'd sooner forget. I came in from the country and sort of drove in and every window in Britain was open with televisions on and Live Aid blaring out. It was a national event and I knew I was gonna be on it, but I didn't take anyone with me. I didn't have a roadie. I didn't even have anyone to make sure my mic or speakers were working. And Bob Geldof just said, "Well, your piano's behind that curtain. You're on." There I was in front of the world ... and I heard in my monitor very ominous sounds of roadies talking, "Is this the plug?" I figured, "I'll just keep plugging on" but I couldn't hear myself. I couldn't hear anything. And then it suddenly became clear my mic wasn't on, but the dear old audience helped me out, God bless 'em. They all sang it. So I escaped by the skin of my teeth. It was sort of a nightmare. If you asked me for three nervous moments, I think that'd be top. On top of "The McCartney Years" you also have the deluxe edition of "Memory Almost Full." How did that come about? That's really cool. A lot of people have heard and liked the album, which is very pleasing for me. But there's a lot of people who don't have it, so the idea was "Let's just sort of put together a deluxe package," seeing how the holiday season's coming up, and we put on some live stuff that I've been doing recently as a sort of bonus, and the two videos and some extra tracks, so it is a completely new album. And, for people who don't have the other one they get the regular album as well. I like the videos (for the singles "Dance Tonight" and "Ever Present Past") so they'll get a little more attention. How did "Ever Present Past," your new single, come about? It was really me just sort of writing a pop song. I was just trying to keep it real simple and do something very basic, and when I got to the sort of "Every Present Past" idea it kind of took on a little more significance than I intended because I guess I do have an ever-present past. So it started to be about that and things I did when I was a kid and stuff. Then I got into a video, which I enjoyed doing very much; me dancing around with these girls who learned all my movies. It was very fun, actually. Is there any news about the Beatles' catalog going online? I think it's all happening soon. There are contractual things, and you'll find that someone in the loop maybe doesn't want to give what they should give, so it's negotiating. But I think we're kinda set. I think that Apple is set to do their bit. The whole thing is primed, ready to go. There's just maybe sort of one little sticking point left, and I think that's being cleared up as we speak, so it shouldn't be too long. But, you know, you've got to get these things right. You don't want to do something that's as cool as that and in three years time you think, "Oh God, why did we do that?" So it's down to the fine-tuning, but I'm pretty sure it'll be happening next year, 2008. What's next for you, musically? I'm actually doing some recording with my son [James]. We're just looking at the idea of him making an album. He's doing it all. He's writing it all, laying it all. It's sensational. But there's nothing set yet. We don't know if it'll work. The plan is for me to just do some recording with him, and it's really exciting. I'm really loving it.

From Billboard The Black Crowes Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. The Black Crowes have wrapped "Warpaint," their first studio album since 2001, and will release it March 4 internationally via their own Silver Arrow imprint, with distribution by Megaforce/Red. The 11-track set was recorded at Allaire Studios in Woodstock, N.Y., and procued by Paul Stacey. It features the recording debut of new guitarist Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars and keyboardist Adam MacDougall. They join original members Chris and Rich Robinson and drummer Steve Gorman, as well as bassist Sven Pipien. All of the tracks are Robinson brothers originals, except "God's Got It," which was penned by the Reverend Charlie Jackson. The Crowes will perform "Warpaint" in its entirety during a spring U.S. run that will begin March 4, with dates to be announced. A world tour will follow, which kicks off March 24 at Australia's Byron Bay Festival. Here is the track list for "Warpaint": "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution" "Walk Believer Walk" "O, Josephine" "Evergreen" "We Who See The Deep" "Locust Street" "Movin' on Down the Line" "Wounded Bird" "God's Got It" "There's Gold in Them Hills" "Whoa Mule"

From Paste Magazine 1. The National - Boxer 2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic 4. The White Stripes - Icky Thump 5. Feist - The Reminder 6. M.I.A. - Kala 7. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky 8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank 9. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin 10. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog 11. Radiohead - In Rainbows 12. Avett Brothers - Emotionalism 13. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 14. Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir 15. Kanye West - Graduation 16. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger 17. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter 18. Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 19. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living with the Living 20. Blonde Redhead - 23 21. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala 22. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver 23. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil 24. Patty Griffin - Children Running Through 25. Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child 26. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 27. Derek Webb - The Ringing Bell 28. Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark 29. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 30. Björk - Volta 31. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? 32. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha 33. PJ Harvey - White Chalk 34. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga 35. Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block 36. Joe Henry - Civilians 37. Eleni Mandell - The Miracle Of Five 38. Olof Arnalds - Vid Og Vid 39. The Perishers - Victorious 40. Damien Dempsey - To Hell Or Barbados 41. Brandi Carlile - The Story 42. Lifesavas - Gutterfly 43. The Everybodyfields - Nothing Is Okay 44. Norah Jones - Not Too Late 45. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights 46. Justice - † 47. Linda Thompson - Versatile Heart 48. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour 49. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Dona Got A Ramblin’ Mind 50. Battles - Mirrored 51. The Frames - The Cost 52. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy 53. Fionn Regan - The End Of History 54. Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew - Spirit If... 55. Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover 56. Kate Nash - Made of Bricks 57. The Clientele - God Save The Clientele 58. Romantica - America 59. Imperial Teen - The Hair The TV The Baby & The Band 60. The Broken West - I Can't Go On I'll Go On 61. Prince - Planet Earth 62. Joseph Arthur - Let's Just Be 63. Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone 64. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam 65. Caribou - Andorra 66. Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder 67. St. Vincent - Marry Me 68. Office - A Night At The Ritz 69. Bat For Lashes - Fur & Gold 70. Ween - La Cucaracha 71. Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House 72. Bettye Lavette - Scene Of The Crime 73. Warm In The Wake - American Prehistoric 74. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup 75. Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara 76. Okkervil River - The Stage Names 77. Jeremy Fisher - Goodbye Blue Monday 78. The New Pornographers - Challengers 79. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity 80. Akron/Family - Love Is Simple 81. Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated 82. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings 83. Deerhunter - Cryptograms 84. Liars - Liars 85. Menomena - Friend and Foe 86. Ruthie Foster - The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster 87. White Rabbits – Fort Nightly 88. Do Make Say Think - You, You're A History In Rust 89. Anat Cohen - Noir 90. Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon 91. The Fratellis - Costello Music 92. Jesse Sykes – Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul 93. Lori McKenna - Unglamorous 94. Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime 95. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen 96. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare 97. Marissa Nadler - Song III: Bird on the Water 98. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond 99. The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City 100. Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War

From Billboard Extreme Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. Boston-based rock outfit Extreme is reuniting for its first studio album in 13 years and world tour in 2008, Billboard has learned. The group, best known for the 1991 No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit "More Than Words," disbanded in 1996 but reformed briefly in 2004 and 2006. Details are pending on the album, which is being produced by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, and the tour dates. Extreme now includes original members Bettencourt, frontman Gary Cherone and bassist Pat Badger, along with new drummer Kevin Figueiredo. Of late, the band has reached a new audience thanks to the inclusion of its song "Play With Me" in the video game "Guitar Hero." "We realized, not only are the people starved for rock'and'roll, so are we," Bettencourt says. "Let's eat." Extreme will perform Saturday (Dec. 1) at the Boston Music Awards.

From Billboard Ray Davies Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. New West/Ammal has secured Ray Davies' second solo album, "Working Man's Cafe," for U.S. release, Billboard has learned. The album, which has been out since last month internationally, will arrive Stateside on Feb. 19. Davies recorded the project in Nashville with co-producer Ray Kennedy. The material was inspired by the changes the Kinks frontman has seen in the U.S. since first visiting the country in the 1960s, including one song, "Morphine Song," about his near-fatal mugging in New Orleans in 2004. "Working Man's Cafe" was given away as a covermount with the U.K.'s Sunday Times newspaper on Oct. 21, a day before it was released in stores by V2. It's the follow-up to last year's "Other People's Lives," Davies' first solo release. For the New West/Ammal release, the new album will be available in standard form as well as a deluxe CD/DVD with live performances and a video interview. A vinyl edition is also in the works. Look for Davies to tour North America in the spring. Here is the track list for "Working Man's Cafe": "Vietnam Cowboys" "You're Asking Me" "Working Man's Cafe" "Morphine Song" "In a Moment" "Peace in Our Time" "No One Listen" "Imaginary Man" "One More Time" "The Voodoo Walk" "Hymn for a New Age" "The Real World"

Odd to hear this news just now as I was recently enjoying the unintentional humor of Metal Mania on VH1 Classic over Thanksgiving weekend in which Quiet Riot was featured doing their other Slade cover, Mama We're All Crazee Now.

To clarify, Reagan never used the song as part of his campaign but cited it in a speech.

I refer to them as "inconvenience" charges. Use to, when you stood in line for tix there were no extra charges. For whatever reason, even if you buy your tix directly from the box office these days there's still "convenience" charges. Why? Because Ticketmaster is legal robbery. Afterall, there is a reason why Pearl Jam and several other artists unsuccessfully took them on in recent years. A few years ago a show was canceled, Ticketbastard offered full refunds but you had to pay an extra fee in order to have your money refunded. I don't care who you are, that's fucked up. The most I've ever paid for a concert was around $200 for Woodstock '94 but that was actually quite reasonable considering the number of bands playing. Otherwise it would have to be $90 per ticket to see The Police recently, before service charges. I'm glad I finally got to see The Police but the cost of tix wasn't worth it, especially considering our seats were in the nosebleed section.

For their most well known song (aka "signature" song) I'd have go with either Pride or With Or Without You.

I've heard others but they've never received the amount of airplay All Right Now has.

I'd say it's definitely a "defining" song but not their "signature" song.

Because most people think it's Bad Company. I'd also say Free almost fall into the one hit wonder category. Yes, they had other songs that got airplay but none to the extent of All Right Now.

I'm not sure what you're asking. If you're suggesting it's their signature song, I'd have to disagree as that would definitely have to go to Free Bird. I also wouldn't classify 3 Steps as a deep album cut as it's garnered plenty of airplay in it's time.

I'd say Hard To Handle, She Talks To Angels and Remedy are much more likely candidates for the Crowes' "signature" song than Wiser Time. Great song and definitely one of my very favorites of theirs but I don't think it approaches the status of the others when speaking of signature songs.

Actually I'd say that's only true of casual Skynyrd fans, as diehard Skynyrd fans definitely know more than those two songs. As a fan since the early 70s I have to say I still haven't tired of those tunes but classic rock radio has certainly played them to death. In that regard, I steer clear of them for the most part and only listen to them on occasion. I do agree about there being so much more to their catalog though, there's lots of songs that deserve attention such as Poison Whiskey, I Never Dreamed, All I Can Do Is Write About It, Four Walls of Raiford, Every Mother's Son and lots of other deep album tracks.

If I'm not mistaken, Elvis took over the top slot again this year. Anyway, my main point being, Nirvana never really had time to make the impact they could have over a longer period of time but in the short time they were around, I'd have to say the impact they did have was pretty huge.

From Durham, NC's Independent Weekly Tift Merritt Live from Austin TX DVD (New West Records) BY RICK CORNELL One question keeps bubbling up during the first half of Tift Merritt's Austin City Limits performance, which first aired in January 2006 as part of a split episode with fellow Triangle expatriate Ryan Adams: Was the crowd given a mid-grade animal tranquilizer before she started playing? Not that you'd expect the communal cabaret of an Arcade Fire taping or the kind of sloppy lovefest that surrounded Guided By Voices from a Merritt/Adams crowd, but the audience assembled for this appearance could barely fog a mirror. There's a bias there, of course: You want to see the local hero—a woman I'd seen sing from a couple feet away in the Pine Hill Farm living room and a radio control room, and who played to 75 people in a Raleigh record store last week—be a smash on this hallowed soundstage. Factor in the presence of Brad Rice, one of the most entertaining guitarists on the planet (bassist Jay Brown, keyboardist Danny Eisenberg and drummer Zeke Hutchins round out the band), and I find myself yelling at the screen, "Hey, guy in the Spoon shirt, move something!" But, in fairness, the first half of Merritt's performance is slow, apparently designed for those who have long counted on Merritt to be their next Emmylou. While a fine showcase for Merritt's songwriting and her versatility as she moves from electric to acoustic guitar and then to Wurlitzer, the first five songs aren't going to quicken many pulses, especially the soft country-rock of "Virginia, No One Can Warn You." But the mood finally shifts with "Good Hearted Man" and "Neighborhood," the former displaying the soul-spark glow of the Muscle Shoals born and the latter worthy of an early Lone Justice throwdown. After a slow start, Merritt—who occasionally seemed to hide behind her guitar in the Humble Pie early days—is suddenly all over the stage for "I Am Your Tambourine" and "Shadow in the Way." By sheer force of will, she shakes the crowd sort of loose, some of them clapping and dancing, even if some audience members look like they're being held at gunpoint instead of tambourinepoint. The DVD's 10-song set doubles on the original broadcast, though that's the only extra if you've already got this stored away on videotape. Sure, voiceover commentary ("That Ronnie-Keith lean-in maneuver? Something Brad and I came up with on the flight.") is too much to ask, but even a couple minutes of talking head stuff on the Austin City Limits experience would have been welcome. At least the DVD, like the broadcast, ends with "When I Cross Over," a gorgeous roots-gospel song that was timeless on arrival. It's more than enough to stir anyone, from longtime supporters back home to professional concertgoers in Texas.

I'm a pretty big fan that came onboard around the time their first live album, All The World's A Stage was released. To this day it not only rank's as one of Rush's best live albums but one of the best live albums, period. I've remained a fan throughout the years with a few periods of disinterest, the first when they started to delve more into synths in the 80s. I also lost interest a few other times over the years but always came back to them. Recent highlights have included the very excellent Different Stages disc as well as the R30 CD/DVD that show Rush to still be one of the very best live bands out there. Unfortunately, what I've heard of their last couple of studio albums (which admittedly isn't much) hasn't compelled me to seek them out.

I was never a huge fan of punk rock or New Wave (at least the variety that got the most attention on MTV in the early 80s) but I am a big fan of postpunk/postmodern or whatever you want to call it, the music that followed punk in the late 70s and early 80s. R.E.M. U2 The Cure 10,000 Maniacs The Replacements Let's Active The db's The Connells The Blasters Guadalcanal Diary The Alarm World Party The Church Innocence Mission Indigo Girls Drivin' n' Cryin' Pylon Lone Justice Beat Farmers Cruzados Long Ryders Jason & the Scorchers

Black Sabbath is not only one of the very first bands I ever heard back in the early to mid-70s but they are also among the first artists I ever owned an album by. In this case, it was Paranoid. To this day they are still one of my favorite bands and I still listen to their music just as frequently as I always have. They are definitely one of the cornerstones of rock n' roll and will continue to influence other artists for eons to come.

Bleach went largely unnoticed by the general public and In Utereo was pretty much geared not to get airplay but still, it yielded a hit single in All Apologies. Unplugged was much more successful and got lots of airplay but it was mostly live versions of previously released material so no signature songs there. In all fairness I think Nirvana never really had a chance to create a list of hits due to the obvious. To this day there's still a demand for their music as can be evidenced by the release of posthumous material. In the case of R.E.M., each one of their albums produced a hit (or three) up until New Adventures In Hi-Fi when the band themselves decided to release E-Bow the Letter as a single. Great song but not good for mainstream radio airplay. Intentional or not, they shot themselves in the foot with that one. Since then Bill Berry left and the climate of American radio has changed drastically, no longer making a place for artists like R.E.M. In that regard their last three albums have recieved little to no airplay in the U.S. but they have managed to remain successful overseas.

ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) — It was an unlucky day for two squirrels and hundreds of Midwestern power customers. Brian Elwood, a spokesman for Xcel Energy, said a squirrel came in contact with an overhead transformer and knocked out service to 177 customers Monday. Power was fully restored in just under an hour, and repair crews found the remains of the "unfortunate squirrel," he said. By coincidence, another squirrel got into a substation 40 miles away in Ironwood, Mich., Monday morning and caused a temporary outage that affected about 1,400 customers in Ironwood and two nearby communities, Elwood said. The utility takes many preventive steps to keep the curious animals away from lines, he said, but they are one of the leading causes of outages, trailing only severe weather. "We kind of liken it to anyone who's had a bird feeder and tried to keep the squirrels out," he said. "They find a way." Rodney Johnson was stuck on an elevator at the city's Enterprise Center, where he works, when the power went out. "For a couple of minutes there, I wasn't sure if I'd make it to Thanksgiving," said Johnson, who said he is somewhat claustrophobic. "They kept talking to me while they were trying to open it up, though, so that helped." Once a firefighter opened the door, Johnson wasted no time in getting out. "I'm surprised I didn't knock him down," he said.