The hummers are coming back and a reader views the Stones

According to the migration map on the Web site www.humming birds.net, hummers were sighted in the Chicago area for the first time this year Wednesday and Thursday.

That probably doesn't matter to most of you, but for those who religiously put out feeders each spring in the hopes of having these little feathered friends come to visit, it's good news indeed.

Well, if they don't freeze their tiny tail feathers off it is. As I write this on Friday, the forecast calls for more rain with near-freezing temperatures at night for a few days this week.

Being the Chicago area that could, of course, change at any moment and one would hope it would change for the better. Best to remember, though, that snow in April is not all that uncommon.

My wife put out our two hummingbird feeders last weekend, though so far we haven't seen any hummers at them.

In the few years we've had them out, though, we've been getting more and more hummers each year.

One memorable appearance last year featured two hummers mating in the air.

It was sort of like watch the X-rated version of a National Geographic special.

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A long-time resident e-mailed me his impression of "Shine a Light," the Martin Scorsese Rolling Stones concert film: "It was wonderful. When the opening shots were in black and white and in 'normal' screen mode, I just KNEW when they hit the concert in color and big screen it would blow me away. It did."

He went on to write, "It must have been a bit like the 'Wizard of Oz' movie in the '40s changing from B&W to color as they strolled down the yellow brick road. Well I strolled down a road Sunday, a road of nostalgia and recollections of times gone but remembered. A time when I listened to the music in a different context, with less appreciation for the artistry and talent before me.

"For that all too brief two hours, I was thankful for the opportunity to again taste true greatness, hopeful that these guys in their sixties (like me) keep cookin' and continue to enjoy their work and a bit sad that the current music scene seems so bleak by comparison.

"My son calls the Stones the second best rock group of all time (behind the Beatles).

"Sunday as we sat there transfixed the notion that they are second was a hard sell."

Yes, I have to agree the IMAX treatment for that film was truly spectacular.

As for that decades-old argument about who is better, The Beatles or the Stones, I've got to go with the Stones. The Beatles, in my opinion, were more polished both in songwriting and in studio performance, but the Stones just express rock 'n' roll and its roots in the blues more clearly than anyone before or since.

Here's a quick quiz, on the honor system, which means don't go look up the answer.

Martin Scorsese's first rock documentary was the great film about The Band called "The Last Waltz."

Who performs in "The Last Waltz" who also does so in "Shine a Light"?

There is no prize, because I'm a tightwad, but if you know who it is e-mail me.

Contact Tim West at west@scn1.com or 630-416-5290.