A&E

Student activists demonstrate diversity on canvas, posters

By Lindsey Landis · Thursday, April 5,2007 12 a.m.

The bulletin boards of libraries and various campus offices. The walls of the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery. The streets of downtown Bloomington. These are all highly visible areas in the community, and this summer they will all be lined with works of art and posters promoting diversity. The initiative is intended to target participants in an upcoming Boy Scouts of America conference.

Lt. B. F. Pinkerton, U.S.N., played by Adam Diegel and Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly) played by Jing Zhang, perform during the dress rehearsal for Madama Butterfly Tuesday evening at the MAC.

A Tragedy takes Flight

By Eric Anderson · Thursday, April 5,2007 12 a.m.

Operas are not spontaneously created. They do not appear out of thin air. They require time and effort from many dozens, if not hundreds, of people. Then, like a butterfly breaking from its cocoon, the final theatrical product bursts onto the stage, wings spread and ready for flight. Not least among the innumerable individuals involved in bringing a piece of opera to fruition is the director, the one responsible for the dramatic vision that carries the work from overture to final curtain. For this season’s production of “Madama Butterfly,” the beloved opera by Giacomo Puccini, the IU Jacobs School of Music invited guest artist Nick Muni to play the important role of director. Recently appointed to the faculty of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Muni has been rehearsing with the cast of “Butterfly” since March.

Buskirk-Chumley Theater features ‘Amadeus’

Thursday, April 5,2007 12 a.m.

The Cardinal Stage Company, which brought “A Year With Frog and Toad” to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater last year, presents the Tony- and Academy Award-winning “Amadeus,” running this week.

Hoagy fans create new programs

By Shannon Dahmer · Thursday, April 5,2007 12 a.m.

If Justin Timberlake had a 1920s counterpart at IU, Hoagy Carmichael would be it. “It’s like if Justin Timberlake was among you and he was one of the students and was going to your classes and eating in the cafeteria,” said Daniel Reed, director of the The IU Archives of Traditional Music and an assistant professor of ethnomusicology. The Archives of Traditional Music, as part of a monthly lecture series, is holding a rock ‘n’ roll storytelling of Hoagy Carmichael’s life this Friday. It will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in the Hoagy Carmichael Room, Morrison Hall 006, which holds memorabilia from his life and career.

8 galleries team up for group exhibit

By Whitney Biber · Thursday, April 5,2007 12 a.m.

The Downtown Gallery Walk will display exhibits from eight local galleries Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. The free Gallery Walk, open to IU students and the public, celebrates the beauty and diversity of visual arts in Bloomington. Those attending can walk through the new exhibits while meeting the featured artists. All the galleries are within walking distance of one another in downtown Bloomington.

Latest celebrity to expand into furniture business: Donald Trump

By Ieva M. Augstums · Thursday, April 5,2007 12 a.m.

THOMASVILLE, N.C. – With the theme song from his reality television show blaring in the background, Donald Trump strode into a showroom at the world’s biggest furniture trade show and started to brag about, of all things, his couch.

Jacobs professor recognized as ‘Living Jazz Legend’ for decades of devotion

By Michael Reschke · Wednesday, April 4,2007 12 a.m.

David Baker began teaching at IU in 1966 when Wilfred Bain, then the dean of the Jacobs School of Music, was starting a jazz studies program. “I was not the first one offered the job,” Baker said, “but I was the first to accept.”

Graduate students ‘administer’ talents

By Jessica Andrews · Wednesday, April 4,2007 12 a.m.

Students showed off a variety of talents at an exhibition Sunday afternoon at the John Waldron Arts Center. The second annual Arts Administration event gave insight into one of IU’s most unique academic programs, providing a cross-section of the arts, according to a news release from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Art student’s depiction of Barack Obama as Jesus causing a stir in Chicago

By Natalie Hernandez · Wednesday, April 4,2007 12 a.m.

CHICAGO – He wears Jesus’ robes and a neon blue halo, looks like Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and is causing a stir at a Chicago art school.

Field Museum’s totem pole weds tradition, contemporary art

By Tara Burghart · Wednesday, April 4,2007 12 a.m.

CHICAGO – A new 15-foot totem pole that marries traditional carving styles with contemporary techniques was erected Monday at The Field Museum, replacing a pole that was returned to an Alaskan tribe.

Yoko Ono dedicates D.C. ‘wish’ tree to encourage public participation in art

By Ann Sanner · Wednesday, April 4,2007 12 a.m.

WASHINGTON – Artist Yoko Ono hung a wish for love and peace in the world from a tree she dedicated Monday at the Hirshhorn Museum’s Sculpture Garden.

Ragazzi offers arts, food in intimate atmosphere

By Amanda Dorman · Tuesday, April 3,2007 12 a.m.

Some people say the art on a person’s wall tells a lot about the character of that person. If this is true, then restaurant owner Tamyra d’Ippolito is eclectic, creative and unique. When d’Ippolito came to Bloomington from New York, she and her husband opened the quaint Italian restaurant Ragazzi Arte Cafe, 212 S. Rogers St., in November 2005. For d’Ippolito, Ragazzi has become not only a place to serve her favorite foods, including an iced lemon and chocolate cake, but a place to display and sell her favorite art. Nearly every inch of the restaurant’s walls are covered with the works of local artists, students and d’Ippolito’s friends.

Singing Hoosiers hold spring concert

By Eric Anderson · Tuesday, April 3,2007 12 a.m.

Saturday night was an unexpected step-touch down memory lane, as the IU Singing Hoosiers, under the direction of Michael Schwartzkopf, presented their 57th annual Spring Concert. From the first notes of “Another Openin’, Another Show,” belted in classic Broadway-style by sophomore Jami Leonard, to the final chord of “Lazy River,” the concert was a celebration of American popular song by the University’s most traveled musical ensemble.

Art is nothing but meaningless crap!

By Ryan Brown · Tuesday, April 3,2007 12 a.m.

As this week begins, I am hoping you will all be regaling each other with great stories of your April Fools’ Day pranks. With that in mind, I have my own to tell you. This past Sunday afternoon, I wrote a false Facebook message to my friend Whitney, in which I confessed my romantic feelings for her. I received a standard rejection reply of, “Well, there’s just a lot on my mind lately, so I can’t really devote much time to dating right now. But it isn’t anything wrong with you, it’s me.”

Relay for Life ‘rocks’ despite storms

By Casey Baksa · Monday, April 2,2007 12 a.m.

As rain beat down on the track, drum beats and guitar solos kept spirits high at this year’s Relay for Life “Rock Out Cancer” awareness concert.

Let magazines live

By Teri Rosenbaum · Monday, April 2,2007 12 a.m.

Remember when we were little? When that weird, chubby neighborhood girl would call you during your midafternoon dose of “Doogie Howser, M.D”. and ask, “Wanna play?” “Um, no. Wanna watch the latest episode of ‘Sister, Sister’?”

Theater department promises ‘something for everyone’ in 2007-08 season

By Kelsey Nash · Monday, April 2,2007 12 a.m.

Department of Theatre and Drama faculty announced the 2007-2008 season last Friday at a Theatre Circle-hosted dinner for donors and friends. Upcoming productions run the gamut from a Shakespearean comedy to an IU student’s original screenplay. There will be eight performances split between the Ruth N. Halls Theatre and the smaller, more versatile Wells-Metz Theatre.

Student playwright works to bring young audiences to theater

By Ashley Wilson · Friday, March 30,2007 12 a.m.

It’s safe to say that Paul Shoulberg knows a thing or two about writing for the stage. Since joining the Master of Fine Arts in playwriting program three years ago, the 30-year-old Kansas native has written seven full-length plays, a handful of 10-minute pieces and two one-acts – the majority of which have been features as either full-length productions or staged readings. Not bad for a guy who didn’t start writing until he was 23 years old and who, as a high-school student, never once attended a play.

This Weekend in the Jacobs School of Music

By Eric Anderson · Friday, March 30,2007 12 a.m.

Billed by IU’s Jacobs School of Music as “America’s premiere collegiate concert show choir,” the Singing Hoosiers will present its 57th annual Spring Concert on Saturday night at the IU Auditorium.

The reality of reality television

By Lindsey Landis · Friday, March 30,2007 12 a.m.

We’re another two episodes into the eighth cycle of “America’s Next Top Model” and the competition is intensifying. Felicia, better known as “baby Tyra,” and Diana, one of the two plus-sized models, have been eliminated. I interviewed both and they told me the misconceptions the judges construed and where they are now.