Around The Arts

17-piece big band \nperforms at The Opera House\nA concert, titled Swingin' With The Big Bands, will feature the music of Glenn Miller, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Terry Gibbs, Barry Manilow, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and more. Featured performers will be vocalists Robert Stright and Sarah Flint. The Stardusters Jazz Orchestra is Central Indiana's premier big band recreating the original sounds of the bands of the "Big Band Era". Stardusters Jazz Orchestra will be performing in concert at the Opera House in Mitchell, Indiana, at 8 p.m., Saturday. Admission is $7. The Opera House is located at 7th and Brook Streets. Call (812) 849-2337 for more information.\nWFIU offers special programming for Black History Month\nThe Creole Romantics explore the story of composers whose stories begin in 19th Century New Orleans. For blacks in post-Civil War America, any serious involvement in classical music was problematic. Lambert Sr. and Dede emerged as world-class artists who inspired others, such as Ernesto Nazareth, Heitor Villa-Lobos and possibly Darius Milhaud. A program featuring them airs at 8 p.m. Sunday. 'I'll Be Free to Travel Home' tells the story of the Africans who founded the New York African Burial Ground. In 1991, construction workers came upon a burial ground containing the mass graves of hundreds of African-American slaves from the colonial period. \nThe discovery raised public awareness that the colony of New York had more enslaved Africans than any other port north of the Caribbean except Charleston, South Carolina. Thurston Briscoe III., program director at WBGO-FM will host a program at 9 p.m. Sunday. \nThe programs will air on WFIU at 103.7 FM, 95.1 FM, 106.1 FM and 100.7 FM. For more information call 855--2088.\n John Waldron Arts Center presents 'Elusive Dragon' \nSharon L. Skylar was in China for 18 days and during her visit took nearly 1,000 photographic images to record the people, places and activities that made up her journey. The exhibition presenting images of life in a culture very different from Indiana and capturing the spirit of changing society in China will open Friday at the John Waldron Arts Center located at 122 S. Walnut St. The reception will open from 5 to 6:30 p.m. For more information call 334-3100 ext. 111.\nBritney Spears a 'Bond' girl?\nBritney Spears looks good in skimpy clothes. But can she match wits and brawn with Pierce Brosnan's 007? The television show "Extra" reports Spears recently met in London with producers of the James Bond movies.\n"Extra" says it was Spears who requested the meeting.\nIf Spears were to play a Bond girl, she'd be in good company. Other celebrities who have appeared in the franchise include Ursula Andress, Jane Seymour, Denise Richards and Halle Berry.\nSpears' official Web site says she has signed on to produce and star in an adaptation of author Tobi Tobin's "Door to Door," in which she will play a teenager trying to catch her big break in Hollywood.