Around The Arts

SoFA invites public to 'Lounge' Friday\nThe School of Fine Arts Gallery is transforming itself into a lounge environment tonight for its interactive multimedia exhibit. At 8 p.m. Friday, for one night only, the gallery will show "Lounge," an exhibit featuring video art, music and interactive environments. The event is free and open to the public and will allow viewers to see art from a comfortable vantage point. For more information, visit sofa.fa.indiana.edu .\nHowie Day comes to IU Auditorium\nThe looped guitar riffs and soulful lyrics of Howie Day will fill the IU Auditorium Sunday night when he plays a Union Board-sponsored concert with Nickel Creek. Day, who exploded onto the charts with his single "She Says," is promoting his recently released album "Stop All the World Now." Nickel Creek was originally created as a bluegrass band, but their music is influenced by Beatles-flavored psychedelia. The trio, made up of fiddle player Sara Watkins, guitarist Sean Watkins and mandolin player Chris Thile, has been together for 13 years and won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Tickets are still available for the concert at 7:30 Sunday night on www.ticketmaster.com at $20 for students and $25 for non-students.\nCultural dances performed at Marriott\nThe Indian Student Association will play host to Garba/Raas and Bhangra Night at 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Courtyard by the Mariott, 310 S. College Ave. Raas is a lively form of dance born in the Indian state of Gujurat and was created to celebrate the Hindu festival of Navratri. Women dance in a circle singing chants, or "garbas," and later dance while playing wooden sticks. Recently performances of the dance have extended beyond the yearly festival and have been done at an increasing number of events. The event is free with a student ID with a suggested donation of $5.\nHoward Stern signs with Sirius radio\nTop-ranked shock jock Howard Stern said Wednesday that he will abandon his syndicated morning radio show to join Sirius satellite radio in 15 months, freeing him from government regulators and allowing him to "bring my fans my show my way."\nStern, who battled for years with the FCC and conservative critics over his salacious show's content, will move to the national distributor of commercial-free music and sport programming when his contract with Infinity Broadcasting expires in 15 months. The deal will allow him to reach every market in the country. \n"I'm tired of the censorship," said Stern, whose show was dropped by media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications in April after the Federal Communications Commission proposed a $495,000 fine against it for comments made by Stern. \nClear Channel reached a record $1.75 million settlement with the FCC in June to settle complaints against Stern and other radio personalities. Like cable television, satellite radio is not subject to federal indecency scrutiny because it is available only to paid subscribers. Stern's show, full of sexually explicit remarks and off-color humor, corners the radio market among males 18 to 49 years of age and ranks No. 1 in many of the 46 major markets where his show is broadcast.