Ok, front row only played one song that i was having a problem with successfully. The others did crash iTunes but with front row up it was hidden.
Here is another tidbit for anyone else having the problem. It appears so far that the problem goes away if my iPod is either not connected or if it was I ejected it (not necessarily unplugging it)
Ill post more info if I get it. Meanwhile, my iBook has gone back to 6.0.5 and is much happier.
Thinking about doing the same on my iMac. front row will work with 6.0.5 right?