A&E

Love and politics in 'The Translator'

By Jane Charney · Sunday, Nov. 3,2002 11:53 p.m.

Is she translating his poetry, or is he translating her soul? The main heroine of John Crowley's latest novel "The Translator" ponders the question in the course of the book. Chrysta "Kit" Malone's life has been full of changes -her father works on the 1960s version of computer security and moves a lot to accommodate her job. In 1961, Kit Malone, a contributor to a national anthology of young people's poetry, shakes hands with John F. Kennedy at a ceremony honoring the book's publication; the promise in her life seems even fresher than his own.

Cult horror classic shows creative gore

By Roman Bailey · Sunday, Nov. 3,2002 11:51 p.m.

Yes, there are Italian horror films. There are even good ones. On Halloween, the biweekly Italian Cinema series continued with "Suspiria," a cult classic which somehow combines creative gore with genuine art film qualities. The film series plays every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in Ballantine Hall, room 330. Jessica Harper stars as Susy Banyon, a young American ballerina who enrolls in a famous dance academy in Germany. Almost as soon as she steps off the plane she becomes tangled in a conspiracy of bizarre murders and disappearances.

Polaris Project blasts off

By Adam Sedia · Sunday, Nov. 3,2002 11:50 p.m.

Saturday at Auer Hall saw the commencement of a program dedicated to presenting an exciting new way of looking at music. It is called the Polaris Project. Its goal is to combine music with other forms of artistic expression to create opportunities for interaction between media. Even in concerts that do not employ media other than music (like this Saturday's), a relation between the pieces is presented. And the very first program consisted of two very different pieces put together in a very unique manner.

'Potpourri' a rousing success

By Brett Martel and Jonathon Sanders · Sunday, Nov. 3,2002 11:49 p.m.

Friday night started out with a taste of soul and r&b. Then I was treated to a great interpretive dance performance in the African tradition. To top everything off, I was then taken to church, as I heard some great choral and southern gospel music. I got to hear all of this in two and a half hours, as the African American Arts Institute put on their annual Potpourri of Arts Friday night at the Buskirk Chumley Theatre. The evening got off to a great start, as the IU Soul Revue took the stage to thundering applause.

Jam Master Jay dies in NY shooting

By Amy Westfeldt · Friday, Nov. 1,2002 12:09 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Jam Master Jay, a founding member of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC, was shot and killed at his recording studio near the New York neighborhood where he grew up, police said.

New play opens in Bloomington

By Liv Cole · Friday, Nov. 1,2002 12:08 a.m.

"It's different this time." This is the message of the Bloomington Playwrights Project's new play opening tonight, "Kate Crackernuts," by New York playwright Sheila Callaghan. The play is innovative theater at its best and is filled with poetic prose and a magical pulse.

Minelli show canceled

Wednesday, Oct. 30,2002 11:57 p.m.

NEW YORK -- Liza Minnelli won't become another Ozzy Osbourne. VH1 has pulled the plug on the singer's planned reality TV show, complaining that her husband, David Gest, was impossible to work with.

Around The Arts

Wednesday, Oct. 30,2002 11:52 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Tennis sensation Serena Williams has gone Hollywood with a guest spot Wednesday night as a kindergarten teacher on ABC's "My Wife and Kids."

Elusive hero or victim of excess?

Wednesday, Oct. 30,2002 11:49 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Eight years later, we're still talking about Kurt Cobain. "I'm going to be a superstar musician, kill myself and go out in a flame of glory," he announced as a 14-year-old, and he was right. And because he was right, because he went out in a flame of glory, we just can't get enough of him. Next month will see the long-awaited publication of Cobain's journals, an 800-page epic that tracks his life, in his own words, from the pre-Nirvana days straight to the time leading up to his suicide-by-shotgun on April 5, 1994.

Breast Cancer gets a voice in 'Sing for the Cure'

By Elizabeth Bahra · Wednesday, Oct. 30,2002 11:48 p.m.

"We will keep on singing 'till we're heard," reads the closing piece, "One Voice." And they will be heard. At 7 p.m. on Sunday evening at the IU Auditorium Singing Hoosiers -- under the direction of Michael Schwartzkopf, Bloomington Instrumentalists and Singers, and IU alumnus and two time Grammy award winner Sylvia McNair -- will hit the stage for the highly anticipated Sing for the Cure event to raise awareness about and funding for breast cancer research.

Unveiled artwork inspired by changes after Sept. 11

By Brett Martel and Michael Wessenstein · Tuesday, Oct. 29,2002 10:58 p.m.

NEW YORK -- The sounds of boat engines recorded beneath the Hudson River echo through a World Financial Center walkway. In another, photos of landfill containing the twin towers' debris cover windows overlooking the World Trade Center site. Nine works focusing on changes Sept. 11 wrought on lower Manhattan were unveiled Tuesday in the public spaces of the battered World Financial Center, in what organizers call a vital part of its revitalization.

Guest conductor leads orchestra

By Adam Sedia · Tuesday, Oct. 29,2002 10:55 p.m.

Those who were looking for entertainment last Sunday afternoon certainly found it. The University orchestra performed its second concert this year under the baton of the world-famous guest conductor Uri Mayer. As is typical of IU's musical ensembles, the orchestra gave a masterful performance of a wonderful program. And perhaps the best thing about the concert was that it was completely devoid of the dissonant monstrosities that slightly dampened most other performances.

No need for thrillers, real life is enough

By Brett Martel and Frazier Moore · Tuesday, Oct. 29,2002 10:54 p.m.

NEW YORK -- NBC is promoting a night of Halloween-themed series as "Must Scream Thursday." The WB is pitching "Haunted Thursday." We can meet "Ghost Detectives" on Discovery Channel, cackle at Mel Brooks' masterpiece "Young Frankenstein" on Comedy Central, or, on VH1, get creeped out by a circa-"Thriller" Michael Jackson. Then we can throw the jack-o'-lantern out and clean the eggs off our car. But Halloween TV won't be over until Monday when, fashionably late, Stephen King's high-school horror "Carrie" premieres on NBC, starring Angela Bettis in the title role that launched Sissy Spacek a quarter-century ago.

Students unite to celebrate Oktoberfest

By Adam B. Steer and Adam Steer · Monday, Oct. 28,2002 11:26 p.m.

More than 30 students gathered in Foster Shea's ground floor lounge last Thursday night to celebrate the German tradition of Oktoberfest. This event, which was run by the German House, embraced the spirit of Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest, which began in 1810 as a celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig I's wedding, has become one of Bavaria's proudest moments and one of the world's largest public spectacles.

Famous soprano Beverly Sills recounts life, lessons she learned

By Brandon Morley and Brett Martel · Monday, Oct. 28,2002 12:13 a.m.

Beverly Sills, 73, the noted operatic soprano who has appeared on stage in more than 70 roles spoke at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Auer Hall. The IU Foundation sponsored her visit. Sills will also attend the third annual presentation of the Herman B Wells Visionaries Awards, given at a dinner later Friday evening. Gwyn Richards, dean of the IU School of Music, introduced Sills to a crowd of roughly 250 people by calling her "a cultural icon and national treasure." He then spoke for a few minutes repeating what he told the IDS earlier last week when he said he felt it was ironic that Sills would speak at IU on the same day "Julius Caesar" would open at the IU Opera, a work important to Sills' career. So important that following her opening night of "Julius Caesar" in 1967 with the New York City Opera, Sills received invitations to then appear at many of the world's most well-regarded opera venues, including La Scala and Covent Garden.

Collaborative art project engages community

By L. R. Rarick · Sunday, Oct. 27,2002 11:12 p.m.

On the weekends in Bloomington, an angel comes out to play at the John Waldron Arts Center. Bloomington sculptor Joe LaMantia is one of four artists currently commissioned to create angel sculptures that will be exhibited at the West Baden Springs National Historic Landmark between Thanksgiving and Twelfth Night, which is Jan. 5, 2003. LaMantia's angel is being worked on Fridays and Saturdays at the Waldron as a public and collaborative art project available for viewing to people who walk by or who come to work on it. "The purpose of the project is to demystify the notion of art as being something untouchable; it is touchable," LaMantia said.

'Misbegotten' performance brilliant

By Brandon Morley and Brett Martel · Sunday, Oct. 27,2002 11:11 p.m.

Brilliant. Excellent. Powerful. These arethe words that describe the Saturday night performance of Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten." The show opened Friday at the Wells-Metz Theatre on Jordan Ave. "Moon" is set in a beat-up farm house in 1923 Connecticut, with drinking pals James Tyrone, Jr. (Ira Amyx) and tenant farmer Phil Hogan (Chris Nelson) amusing themselves while in a drunken stupor. In a casual joke, Tyrone says he'll sell his farm and evict Hogan. Hogan, now afraid for his home and way of life, schemes to manipulate the affections between Tyrone and his daughter Josie, played by Sheila Regan.

Plath comes alive for fans

By Jane Charney · Sunday, Oct. 27,2002 11:09 p.m.

On her 70th birthday, Sylvia Plath's intense voice greeted a small but devoted audience. The event held at Auer Hall Sunday was not a seance but a commemoration concert. Of course, Plath wasn't really there -- her recorded radio interview with the BBC was projected for all to hear. Not only did she talk about her poetry and her personal life's influence on her art, but she also recited her poem "Fever 103 ." This introduction prepared the audience for what they were about to hear -- an intense exploration of Plath's effect on music and musicians.

Nobel-winning playwright's work opens tonight

By Brandon Morley and Adrian Sainz · Friday, Oct. 25,2002 3:04 p.m.

Eugene O'Neill was the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize, and the last work written before his death "A Moon for the Misbegotten" will run for 10 performances beginning tonight (Friday) at the Wells-Metz Theatre.

Handel's 'Julius Caesar' premieres tonight

By Adam Sedia · Friday, Oct. 25,2002 12:47 a.m.

Tonight the IU Opera will perform George Friderick Handel's "Julius Caesar," an opera that tells the story of Caesar's affair with Cleopatra that resulted in her being made queen of Egypt. Dr. George Calder, head of IU's opera department, said the opera (first produced in 1724 in London) is the most popular of Handel's 35 operas. The story, which is based on actual events, is a tale of political intrigue and a woman's use of her charms to gain power. It may be historical, but "The plot is eternal. It could take place as much today as 2000 years ago," Calder said.