A&E

Indigo Girls to play Buskirk-Chumley

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 12,2004 11:44 p.m.

All 600 seats of the Buskirk-Chumley Theater will be full tonight when Amy Ray and Emily Sailers, otherwise known as the Indigo Girls, take the stage. The indie duo will embrace its Bloomington fans with an acoustic show. Over the past two decades, the Indigo Girls have produced eight studio albums and played thousands of shows. The duo has operated within the music industry without the use of marketing gurus or corporate tie-ins.

Oktoberfest, the German way

By Stephanie Fedor · Tuesday, Oct. 12,2004 11:44 p.m.

Beer, bratwurst, candied peanuts and enormous pretzels were staples in my diet last weekend at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. Imagine thousands of people swarming around rides, food booths and beer tents. My roommate Carla and I journeyed from Dublin to the Bavarian countryside Oct. 1. Carla, being a German and having experienced the joys of Oktoberfest before, showed me quite the time.

Hubbard Street Dance Company takes IU stage

By Rose Mary Forte · Tuesday, Oct. 12,2004 11:39 p.m.

Tonight the Hubbard Street Dance Company of Chicago will transform the stage of the IU Auditorium with its diverse contemporary dance styles. The company incorporates varied influences and blends many styles together, including modern dance, theatrical jazz and classical ballet.

Indian Student Association celebrates Navratri festival

By Olivia Morales · Tuesday, Oct. 12,2004 12:23 a.m.

Senior Meghna Mirchandani watched as her fellow Indian classmates exuberantly danced in celebration of the yearly Navratri festival. Mirchandani, the president of the Indian Student Association, said a lot of planning goes into making the Navratri a celebrated occasion on the IU campus. The event was held Friday at the Marriott hotel.

Italian club shows free films on Tuesdays

By Derek Smith · Tuesday, Oct. 12,2004 12:21 a.m.

A movie screen and a projector transform Woodburn Hall 002 from a classroom into a cinema every other Tuesday night. As the lights dim in preparation for the night's feature, a diverse but intimate group of viewers take their seats. The work of great Italian filmmakers like Federico Fellini and Bernardo Bertolucci grace the projection screen as part of Circolo Italiano's bi-weekly film screening.

'Superman' star dies at age 52

By Alyson Brodsy and Jim Fitzgerald · Tuesday, Oct. 12,2004 12:20 a.m.

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. -- "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve, who turned personal tragedy into a public crusade and from his wheelchair became the nation's most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research, has died. He was 52.

Designer presents hyper-sensual show

By Alyson Brodsy and Jamey Keaten · Monday, Oct. 11,2004 12:11 a.m.

PARIS -- John Galliano is reaching out to flower children; especially those with a platinum credit card. The zany designer, working for his eponymous fashion house, interspersed denim into fluffy cotton dresses and decked out his models in clunky, fur-lined hiking boots, some with stiletto heels, at his spring-summer 2005 ready-to-wear show Saturday. As usual it was sensory overload. There were pillbox hats, multicolored bikinis, pleated skirts with newspaper print designs and basket-like or inflatable hats.

Blood-sucking classic hits stage

By Tony Sams · Friday, Oct. 8,2004 1:04 a.m.

The thirst for blood and the quest for immortality have found their way to IU as Bram Stoker's chillingly timeless horror "Dracula" opens the theater department's season at 8 p.m. tonight in the Lee Norville Theatre and Drama Center. English Professor Joss Marsh, who specializes in Victorian literature and culture, will talk about Stoker's novel before play at 3 p.m. today in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre.

Spoken-word show relocated to Loving Heart

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Oct. 8,2004 12:44 a.m.

IU alumna Amy Fortoul's one-woman show "This is My Body" was supposed to be performed at the 600-seat Buskirk-Chumley Theater Saturday. Instead she will perform at a much smaller venue, The Loving Heart Healing and Counciling Center, with limited space. "It was my decision to cancel," Fortoul said. I was trying to do all of the marketing for this performance myself." Fortoul explained she felt that she could handle the necessary marketing for a show at the Buskirk-Chumley but found the task to be too daunting. Fortunately, a Bloomington resident who wishes to remain anonymous has come forward and volunteered to act as a sponsor, and the Buskirk-Chumley performance has been rescheduled for mid-January.

Award-winning play opens at BPP

By Brandon S Morley · Friday, Oct. 8,2004 12:39 a.m.

Each year, the Bloomington Playwrights Project holds a national competition for playwrights designed to honor new plays. The Reva Shiner Playwrighting Competition awards its winner a cash prize and the opportunity to have BPP produce the winning play. This year's winner, Jason Grote's "The New Jersey Book of the Dead," opened last night at the BPP, 312 S. Washington St..

Around The Arts

Thursday, Oct. 7,2004 2:04 a.m.

The 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 http://sofa.fa.indiana.edu.

Kelly, Jay-Z unite for concert

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Oct. 7,2004 2 a.m.

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The handwritten script appeared slowly at first, unspooling across the wide-screen video monitors inside the Allstate Arena as if scrawled by some giant, invisible hand. "Dear Fans, Thank you," it began, as the 23,000 people inside the suburban Chicago stadium cheered each word. "So many times I started to quit and walk away ..." another line read. False friends were excoriated, loyal fans praised. "For those of you wondering how I'm doing ... I'M ALL RIGHT," the note added. It was signed: R. Kelly. As Kelly and Jay-Z kicked off their long-awaited Best of Both Worlds Tour, this was the first and only time the R&B icon acknowledged that, in his world, things could be better. Kelly is facing felony child pornography charges stemming from allegations that he videotaped sex acts with a girl believed to be as young as 14 years old. He has also been accused of maintaining a pattern of sex with underage girls. His next court date is Nov. 4. Thursday night, much of the Chicago audience seemed unconcerned with the hometown star's legal troubles. For three-plus hours, they sweated and swayed to the string of hits unleashed by Kelly and Jay-Z, the purportedly "retired" hip-hop capo. After waiting more than two hours past the scheduled starting time, most fans seemed elated that the show -- slated to visit 40 cities over the next few months to promote Kelly and Jay-Z's second collaboration, "Best of Both Worlds: Unfinished Business" -- was finally underway.

IU Alumna starts own online jewelry company

By Jessica Dalsing · Thursday, Oct. 7,2004 1:56 a.m.

Beth Stevning had big dreams when she graduated from IU in 2002. Two years later, she made her dreams a reality by starting her own online business. She sells her personal creations off of her Web site,www.b-jewels.com. For Beth Stevning, making jewelry started out as a hobby. She had always made friendship bracelets with her sisters and bead bracelets at swim meets, but as she got older, her creativity matured and her skill at the craft blossomed. When she started making jewelry as gifts for her friends, people started asking about her wearable works of art.

Rodney Dangerfield dies at 82

By Alyson Brodsy and David Germain · Thursday, Oct. 7,2004 1:34 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Rodney Dangerfield, the bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating one-liners brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies and made his lament "I don't get no respect" a catchphrase, died Tuesday. He was 82. Dangerfield, who fell into a coma after undergoing heart surgery, died at 1:20 p.m., said publicist Kevin Sasaki. Dangerfield had a heart valve replaced Aug. 25 at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center.

Art all around

By Claire Bl and Claire Bletz · Thursday, Oct. 7,2004 1:33 a.m.

IU is a treasure chest of great artwork. Art adorns the campus on almost every corner, greeting students as they enter academic buildings in the form of sculptures. Though the sculptures are unique to IU, many of them go unnoticed and unappreciated.

Dancing 'Through a Looking Glass'

By Melissa Harrold · Wednesday, Oct. 6,2004 12:30 a.m.

Members of the IU Ballet Theatre have been working hard this week to prepare for their performances of the Fall Ballet, "Through a Looking Glass," at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Ballet professor and former prima ballerina Violette Verdy said the performance is one that is "incredible in variety." "Through a Looking Glass" consists of three sections, each containing a different ballet style and music by different composers. Music by Antonio Vivaldi will be featured in "Viva Vivaldi," Maurice Ravel in "Sonatine" and Philip Glass in "Glassworks."

'Psycho's' Janet Leigh dead at 77

By Alyson Brodsy and David Germain · Wednesday, Oct. 6,2004 12:13 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Janet Leigh's most famous scene was so terrifying it put her off showers for the rest of her life. Leigh, who died Sunday, insisted she always took baths after seeing the finished cut of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," in which her character was slashed to death in a motel shower in what may be the silver screen's most memorable murder. "I know she used to get very scared about that scene," said the director's daughter, Pat Hitchcock, who had a small part in "Psycho" as a co-worker of Leigh's.

Hillel teaches ethnic cooking

By -Jenny Kobiela · Wednesday, Oct. 6,2004 12:11 a.m.

Sweet aromas of food, just like your Bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) used to make, will waft through the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center tonight. Hillel will host "In Our Bubbes' Kitchen: Sephardic Cooking" at 7 p.m. in the Hillel Center, 730 E. Third St. The class is the second in a series focusing on different styles of Jewish cooking. This week's class focuses on the food of Sephardic Jews, who are Jews that originated from Spain and were exiled in 1492. Since evacuating Spain, Sephardic Jews have spread all over the world.

Antique Mall offers latest fashion trends

By Mallory Zalkin · Wednesday, Oct. 6,2004 12:09 a.m.

Though some fashion trends might be short-lived, you can always count on the new stuff becoming old and old stuff becoming new again. Old fads from each decade have been brought back, and are often worn in a way that looks even more stylish than the original appearance. Because of fashion's cyclical manner, purchasing new apparel that simply imitates historical looks can be frivolous. Thanks to vintage and antique stores, shoppers can buy the latest styles at a bargain price.

Cuba's thriving hip-hop scene seeing changes

By Alyson Brodsy and Vanessa Arrington · Tuesday, Oct. 5,2004 12:59 a.m.

HABANA DEL ESTE, Cuba -- On broiling summer days more than a decade ago, teenagers here spent hours watching breakdancing on "Soul Train" and listening to American rap floating across the radio waves from Florida. Then they gathered on street corners, surrounded by rows of apartment buildings with chipped paint and laundry hanging out the windows, and copied what they'd seen and heard.