A&E

Folk Festival

In a world of boy bands, teen pop stars, and manufactured rock groups, it's easy to see how mainstream music has become commercialized. Instead of the plaintive voice of Joan Baez calling for peace and equality, we have Britney Spears calling to "party, party!" If you've grown tired of the MTV scene, head out to the World Folk Festival this Saturday in Bryan Park to experience something completely different.

Jazz Fables celebrates Coltrane's 75th

Just a few weeks ago, the Jazz Fables celebrated its 12th anniversary. This week, its celebrating another birthday. Tonight, the weekly jazz series at Bear's Place, 1316 E. Third St., will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the birth of jazz legend John Coltrane. The saxophonist, who was born Sept. 23, 1926, and died when he was 40, will be remembered in a special concert featuring assistant music professor Tom Walsh on saxophone, associated music professor Pat Harbison on trumpet and visiting assistant music professor Luke Gillespie on piano. "Coltrane's music is some of the most powerful and most popular jazz from small groups of the 1950s," said David Miller, trumpet player and founder of Jazz Fables. "It continues to be a part of the idiom that all jazz players must come to grips with."

Gala highlights culture

While traditional Middle Eastern music is still fairly obscure in this country, there are a few dedicated musicians striving to introduce the United States to a musical tradition that goes back several centuries. The Bloomington-based Middle Eastern music group Salaam consists of such musicians, who have educated and entertained the area for the past eight years.

Fall Ballet mixes old, new styles

A symphonic world premiere, as well as new traditional and modern choreography, was brought to the Musical Arts Center Friday and Saturday during performances of the Fall Ballet. The evening showcased several IU performers, including associate music professor Emile Naoumoff, the IU Wind Ensemble and the String Academy Chamber Orchestra.

Straight No Chaser alumni team up with RCA Records

In September 1996, Daniel Ponce worked with a few other students to assemble a group of guys with one mission in mind: to form a men's singing ensemble that would put the Hoosiers on the a cappella map. "I looked around at other universities and saw many a cappella groups," Ponce said. "Then when I came to IU, I noticed that they did not have any a cappella groups, and I wanted to do something about that."

Exhibit features historic fliers

Students see fliers on kiosks around campus or in store windows, and may never think anything of them. But to many people, promotional fliers for local rock bands are a fine art. Eric Weddle, a local aficionado of Bloomington's musical history, has collected some of those fliers for a gallery exhibit at the John Waldron Arts Center. He's calling it "Post No Bills," and through it he said he hopes to share his enthusiasm for the music of Bloomington's past and present. "There's so much history here," said Weddle of the fliers he's collected for the show.

Phil and Friends and the Allmans

The Allman Brothers Band and Phil Lesh and Friends combined summer tours Saturday at Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville, Ind. for a nostalgic blend of classic Southern Rock and Grateful Dead jams. While these two bands split the bill, tickets should have read "A Day of Warren Haynes" as he shared his musical gifts between both groups and the show's opener, his own band, Government Mule.

Hollywood invades Romanian village

POTIGRAFU, Romania -- The mayor of this drought-stricken village has never seen a movie with Nicole Kidman, but he'd like to make her an honorary citizen. Mayor Gheorghe Voicu calls it "a hand from heaven for the locals" that "Cold Mountain," a big-budget movie starring Kidman and Jude Law and adapted from Charles Frazier's Civil War novel, is being filmed in the village of 1,300 people.

Satisfying their sweet tooth

A little boy in an oversized football jersey eyes the tables full of scrumptious-looking, award-winning desserts. Being teased too long with the displays, he decides to make a break for one of the chocolate-dipped biscottis, only to have his mom reign him back in to wait his turn for the real chocolate samples up ahead.

Around The Arts

IU Opera Theater: "Little Women" -- Based on Louisa May Alcott's novel about the March sisters. Composed by Mark Adamo, directed by Vincent Liotta, set design by Robert O'Hearn. Playing at the Musical Arts Center, 8 p.m., $18-$28 regular price, $9-$14 student price. Call 855-1103 for more information.

Novel examines life after slavery

As diplomats from around the world meet in Durban, South Africa, at the United Nations' World Conference Against Racism to discuss, among other things, reparations for descendants of slaves and debt cancellation for African countries, it would behoove them to read David Anthony Durham's new novel. "Gabriel's Story" is a page-turner about a black family's search for a new life -- and a livelihood -- after the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery on Independence Day, 1865.

Berry, Washington, Poitier mark historic Oscar night for black actors

LOS ANGELES -- On a night when Sidney Poitier described how different Hollywood was 53 years ago, the Academy Awards showcased how different as Halle Berry and Denzel Washington joined Poitier as the only black actors to win Oscars for lead roles. Berry won Sunday for her part as a death-row widow in "Monster's Ball," and Washington won for "Training Day," in which he dropped his nice-guy persona to play a flamboyantly corrupt cop.

'One for the Pot'

The Brown County Playhouse's most recent production hits the stage today, continuing every weekend through the rest of August. "One for the Pot," written by British playwrights Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton, is a "riotous farce" set in 1950s England. Jonathan Hardcastle (played by George R. Bookwalter) decides to give £10,000 to the son of his late business partner, provided he's the only living relative. With so much money on the line, a colorful cast of characters show up to try to get their hands in the pot. Director Bruce Burgun said in a press release that farce is difficult to pull off on stage because of "the chaos in which (it) thrives." "Chaos per se is not funny," he said. "It must be highly organized chaos to be effective."

Theater season marks transitive year ahead

Theater at IU tends to be high quality in production, but it usually remains an untapped source by students on campus. The work is an avenue for education and entertainment, but the theater also provides its practitioners -- here, fellow students -- with the opportunity to voice important (or not so important) issues. This year in particular, IU Theatre has chosen a season that will both entertain and educate. The question is, what do these shows have to say to the here and now? For the Department of Theatre & Drama, the season marks the end of the University Theatre and T300 Studio Theatre, as they will soon move into the Neal-Marshall Center on 7th Street and Jordan Avenue.

Music festival kicks off

The recital halls will resonate with the stylings of Handel, Bach, and the great masters of classical music. Lilting soprano melodies and the harmonies of barbershop quartets will reverberate in the University's great performance venues.

Film explores relationships

A dorm room, a camera and two naked college students. If this seems like your typical Saturday night, that's because it's supposed to. Student filmmakers and seniors Scott Schirmer and Dan Dixon use the art of film to explore human sexuality and gender relations in "Three Animals, One Stuffed." The 32-minute film, which will be shown at 7 p.m today in Ballantine Hall Room 228, follows a one-night-stand gone away. "I hope that it (will) make (the audience) think about gender roles and ask themselves whether these differences come from biology or whether it's intrinsic or if it's because of sociology," Schirmer said. Schirmer, who wrote and directed the film, is a homosexual: He said it was his amazement at heterosexual relationships that inspired him to write this film. "Being gay, I look at heterosexual people and I am always marveled at the fact that they can ever get along," he said.

Tridelphia avoids Phishy sound of jam bands

To hear guitarist Dave Miller say that his band's big mainstream influence is Phish might cause many to roll their eyes. Being a "Phish-influenced" band conjures up connotations of a typical college rock band. But to make that assumption would be selling Tridelphia short. The influence of Phish is not subtle, but neither is it primary to the sound of the band. Where other college jam-bands try mightily to sound as much like Phish as they can, Tridelphia uses the name as a reference point for those who have not heard their focused take on jazz and rock and roll.

Henna tattoos catching on

Alma Molina works quickly, squeezing the brown henna paste onto the hand of the young woman sitting across from her like an artist painting on a canvas. About 13 people are watching with awe, pining for their turn as she expertly crafts a freehand dragonfly design on freshman Stacee Griffith's hand and wrist. Once the paste is dry, it will leave a red stained design that will last between three and 15 days.

This Weekend's Calendar events

'Spider-Man' breaks records

LOS ANGELES -- "Spider-Man" has leaped from comic book to record book, becoming the first movie to hit $100 million in its first weekend.