Upbeat

If punk rock — in all its various styles and sub-genres — is about being contrarian, Paramore might be the most punk band on the planet. The Tennessee-rooted outfit has been nominated for Grammys, sold millions of albums and plays a sort of teen-friendly pop-punk that's hooky, vivacious and surprisingly wholesome. (The band makes no bones about its Christian faith, but its music isn't overtly religious.) At the center of all the attention — albeit reluctantly — is Hayley Williams, a sprightly front woman well-known for her shock of dyed hair and powerhouse vocals.

The reality of the Ravens' salary cap situation and post Super Bowl XLVII world hit coach John Harbaugh early last week. With the Ravens failing to convince wide receiver Anquan Boldin to take a pay cut and not willing to carry his $6 million salary cap hit, Harbaugh knew exactly who to call. “Heck yes,” his brother, Jim, the coach of San Francisco 49ers, said when asked if he was interested in acquiring Boldin, a player that they struggled to stop a month earlier in the Super Bowl.

The most upbeat message of recent books on health and medicine is contained in "Heart Illness and Intimacy: How Caring Relationships Aid Recovery," by Wayne M. Sotile (Johns Hopkins University Press, hardcover $19.95).For most heart patients, according to Sotile, a psychologist at Wake Forest University Cardiac Rehabilitation Services, sex is no more dangerous than gardening. He also maintains that fear, anger and guilt can be turned into positive emotions and that coping with heart illness can bring families closer together.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- If Brian Roberts has an extra bounce in his step, it's for good reason. He's back feeling good and ready to compete for the starting second base job, but there's something going on in his life that's even more important than playing baseball. Brian and his wife Diana are expecting their first child. “It's awesome," Roberts said. “It's been a huge blessing. Most people know of my passion and affinity for kids. Being able to add that to our life…to be able to have that is really great timing for us after all that has gone on. I think it has provided us with an extra boost.” It's been a long three years for Roberts, who has suffered a variety of injuries that have severely limited his playing time.

Under gray, stormy clouds, William Donald Schaefer was sworn in yesterday for a second term as Maryland governor. It was a fitting portrait: In the face of bad economic news and war in the Persian Gulf, Mr. Schaefer's public mood was upbeat. Realistically upbeat. He intends to remain an activist chief executive.His immediate objectives are four-fold: comprehensive tax reform; statewide growth controls; crime prevention, and unifying Maryland. These he promised to accomplish while giving voters what they seemed to demand in November's elections -- better-run, lower-cost government with leaders willing to make tough decisions.

Steven M. Pickett has just minted Maryland's economic motto for the year."Conservatively upbeat," the Chubb Group vice president said, is the outlook not only for his own insurance business but for his customers and perhaps the entire Maryland economy."

FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- Seizing on the decline in civilian and U.S. military deaths in Iraq, President Bush delivered an upbeat assessment of the war's progress yesterday, citing both the drop in violence and greater Iraqi control of restive provinces. But he conceded that corruption remains a problem, unemployment is high and economic improvement is spotty at best. "Slowly but surely, the people of Iraq are reclaiming a normal society," he told a cheering crowd of 1,300 soldiers who had just completed the Army's nine-week basic combat training course.

Blast forward Tim Wittman isn't exactly thrilled today, despite picking up an award for being the team's Player of the Quarter.Monday, he'll undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, which is to keep the All-Star sidelined from one to six weeks."

Watching Steve Irwin's last excellent adventure is, to be honest, more than a little creepy. And no, that doesn't mean this well-produced special on dangerous ocean critters contains any ominous footage. It doesn't even mention the fact that Irwin was killed in September by a relatively benign fish, a stingray. On the contrary, the show goes out of its way to stress how skilled the "Crocodile Hunter" was at his chosen work, and how responsibly he approached it. Phillippe Cousteau, narrator of Ocean's Deadliest, watches Irwin swim up to a sea snake and marvels, "I've never seen such rapport between a sea creature and a human."

Charlie Weatherbie, the Naval Academy's new football boss, says he was born to coach."It's just in my blood," said Weatherbie, who will begin spring practice in Annapolis tomorrow. He is faced with the task of rebuilding a football program that went 14-41 in five seasons under George Chaump, who was fired last December after a third straight loss to Army.The Midshipmen will spend the next month getting acquainted with Weatherbie, who will combine the triple-option philosophy he employed at Utah State with the freewheeling ideas of new offensive coordinator Paul Johnson, from Hawaii.

A favorite holiday tradition has come to Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia for the first time in a musical production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol. " Toby's has chosen the version by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, known for his work in Disney films, with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens of "Ragtime" fame. The show ran for a decade of holiday seasons at New York's Madison Square Garden, where it consistently played to capacity audiences. Menken's music brings an upbeat quality to Dickens' familiar tale of stingy, nasty Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by several ghosts on Christmas Eve to bring about his transformation by Christmas Day. More relevant to contemporary tastes, this fast-paced version is suitable for all, from grandparents to children.

Walking into Yama Sushi in Ellicott City, the first thing we noticed were the polka dots. Posted behind a long bar, two busy-looking sushi chefs sliced fish and rolled rice with seaweed. Instead of the severe white coats usually favored by their brethren, both wore black jackets with big white polka dots. At Yama Sushi, the food is serious - it's made with precision and presented with care - but the atmosphere is lighthearted. Those cheeky jackets fit right in with the space, which is decorated to the hilt with Asian-inspired tchotchkes.

With 12 career return touchdowns, Ed Reed has earned a reputation for being a tough man to get a grasp on. And this offseason, far from a football field, the Ravens safety has been equally as elusive when it comes to his playing status. Reed wiggled away again Wednesday night. Appearing on Baltimore radio station 105.7 The Fan, Reed, whose cryptic comments on Twitter over the weekend have been scrutinized by national media and curious fans, was noncommittal about his status for the upcoming season.

Some classical music artists, it seems, are available for a limited number of cancellations each year. That's a rap that, for awhile, seemed applicable to Yuri Temirkanov, the inspired Russian conductor who served as Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director from 2000 to 2006. He canceled several weeks with the BSO during his final season and several more, as music director emeritus, in 2007 and 2009. He likewise canceled engagements with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and others during those years.

If punk rock — in all its various styles and sub-genres — is about being contrarian, Paramore might be the most punk band on the planet. The Tennessee-rooted outfit has been nominated for Grammys, sold millions of albums and plays a sort of teen-friendly pop-punk that's hooky, vivacious and surprisingly wholesome. (The band makes no bones about its Christian faith, but its music isn't overtly religious.) At the center of all the attention — albeit reluctantly — is Hayley Williams, a sprightly front woman well-known for her shock of dyed hair and powerhouse vocals.

Back in the early days of compact discs, some classical music shoppers were known to be wary of the unfamiliar record labels that started popping up in the bins, especially the ones with rock-bottom prices. One budget label, in particular, stood out for its straightforward look, abundance of titles and largely unknown performers: Naxos. What became clear very quickly after that company's launch in 1987 was that the music-making could be taken very seriously. And the product just kept growing and improving.

NEGATIVITY must be in the eyes of the beholder.When the boys who used to run the city kicked off the Baltimore News three months ago, the honorary chairman and investor, William Donald Schaefer, pledged to be positive."

It's annual meeting season, and yesterday's affair by MNC Financial Inc. had it all: a rosy assessment of the company's future; easy passage of the corporate compensation plan; praise from shareholders who were pleased with the stock price; and an almost constant harangue from a well-known corporate gadfly.But MNC Chairman Alfred Lerner and Chief Executive Frank P.Bramble Sr., who led the meeting at the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel, didn't let shareholder rights advocate Evelyn Y. Davis get in the way of a well-orchestrated meeting: They didn't let her have a microphone.