A&E

IU's Straight No Chaser celebrates 10 years of being All-a-chord

For the past 10 years, IU's only men's a cappella singing group has been gracing venues across the nation with its harmonized sound. The student-run group was founded in 1996 by Dan Ponce. Since then, Straight No Chaser has molded itself into IU's premier men's singing group, said junior Tyler Trepp, Straight No Chaser member and music director. The current group consists of nine members, who have formed a steady fan base by performing twice a week at various fraternities, sororities and other groups on campus, in addition to performing at other universities and off-campus events. Straight No Chaser will perform its spring concert celebrating its ten-year anniversary 8 p.m. Saturday at the IU Auditorium.

TINY DANCERS

Friends make the fashion happen

Everybody's art

Actresses' press makes pregnancy glamourous for all

NEW YORK - Like any expectant mother, Kai Walter, six months pregnant, has lots to get done before the big day. One of her most important errands: an upcoming trip to the West Coast, where she has an appointment to take off her clothes and be photographed. Not for some magazine cover, a la Demi Moore, but for her own personal collection of pregnancy memories. The idea is to artistically capture her blossoming belly in all its glory, something more and more women are doing these days. Or they might be making a plaster "belly cast" of their changing form. Or even consulting a "pregnancy stylist" to map out a cool, midriff-baring maternity wardrobe.

Union Board's 'Porn Week' aims to explore lucrative industry

Looking for something interesting to engage your attention the week before finals? Porn Week, which is being presented by the Union Board, runs April 27, 28 and 29 in the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union. The event includes the screening of one pornography-themed movie each night at 7 p.m. The three movies include two documentaries -- "Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy" and "Inside Deep Throat" -- and "Orgazmo," a comedy. The screenings are free with a student ID and $2 for non-students.

Student composers and dancers collaborate for performance

Three days before their biggest performance of the semester, student dancers were just as excited about rehearsing as performing. Dance major and sophomore Maureen Maryanski said Monday night at her practice in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building that she loves coming to class everyday. "I genuinely love to dance," she said. "I'd be just as happy dancing in a room all by myself, just me." Dancers rehearsed with student choreographers who have worked all semester for the culminating concert 7 p.m. tonight at the John Waldron Arts Center. The concert, titled "Hammer and Nail" is free and open to the public, with a short reception following the performance.

Musicians prepare for emotional Jazz Fest in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS -- There will be one less stage, one less day of music and 100 fewer performers, but one thing this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will not lack is emotion. The annual fete, started in 1970, will mark the return of hundreds of the city's musicians for the first time since Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29, laying waste to much of the Big Easy. And with a Louisiana-heavy lineup accented with a landmark collection of giants including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Fats Domino, performers and organizers alike say they expect raw sentimentality from everyone involved.

'Transformations' juxtaposes fairy tales, opera

Friday night promises to be bittersweet and poignant for singers and audiences of the IU Department of Opera Studies, as it stages a production of Conrad Susa's "Transformations," a thoughtful and reflective opera composed of a collection of fairy tales adapted from author Anne Sexton's poems. Transformations is at 8 p.m. Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Admission is free and open to all. Throughout her life, Anne Sexton battled a number of psychological and emotional issues, including depression, conflicting feelings concerning her own sexuality and pressures to live out the American dream, according to an e-mail from Scott Voyles, the production's conductor. As she fought her personal demons, Sexton found refuge in writing, and from her literary endeavors emerged "Transformations," a collection of fairy-tale poems in which she strove to come to terms with the events of her life and to reach a state of mental peace and contentment with the lifetime memories that haunted her, he said.

Sidewalk Runway

The dead art lives again

More than 20 skinned human beings are arranged around the room in various poses. One is kicking a soccer ball. Another one is in the "Thinker" position, kneeling with its chin on its fist. Yet another has one hand on its hip and his other hand in the "thumbs-up" position. Their muscles and bones are all completely visible. They stare eerily at museum patrons. Shocked? Good. This must have been the aim of Gunther von Hagens, the man who invented "plastination," a revolutionary new method of preserving the human body. He has created a traveling exhibit of cadavers, called "BODIES...The Exhibition," to display his techniques and to educate the public about the art of the human body. The exhibit has been to the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Tampa Bay, Fla., the Atlanta Civic Center, the South Street Seaport in New York and is currently in London. Each show has brought record crowds -- and controversy.

IU's Straight No Chaser celebrates 10 years of being All-a-chord

For the past 10 years, IU's only men's a cappella singing group has been gracing venues across the nation with its harmonized sound. The student-run group was founded in 1996 by Dan Ponce. Since then, Straight No Chaser has molded itself into IU's premier men's singing group, said junior Tyler Trepp, Straight No Chaser member and music director. The current group consists of nine members, who have formed a steady fan base by performing twice a week at various fraternities, sororities and other groups on campus, in addition to performing at other universities and off-campus events. Straight No Chaser will perform its spring concert celebrating its ten-year anniversary 8 p.m. Saturday at the IU Auditorium.

Harvard student unforgiven for cheating 'accident'

NEW YORK - Teenage author Kaavya Viswanathan has acknowledged taking material from fellow novelist Megan McCafferty but says the borrowing was an accident. McCafferty's publisher doesn't believe her.

TRASHY

TRASHY- One Thousand so-called "Trash People" by the German artist HA Schult are installed in front of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany Friday. The art installation has been exhibited in Egypt, China and Russia and can be seen in Cologne for the first time.

Young Cuban girls embrace Spanish heritage with dance

HAVANA -- Little Cuban girls fantasize about being flamenco dancers -- strong, beautiful women in ruffled skirts and swept up hairdos who evoke wondrous, thunderous magic by stomping their black strapped shoes.

Sound advice

Not a day goes by that I don't see someone listening to an iPod and think to myself, "Man, what crappy headphones." OK, I'm slowly deafening myself listening to Fantomas on my mammoth studio headset, which has a cord long enough to play jump rope with in-between classes. Still, though I admire the iPod's guts and glory approach to music, sacrificing sound for style is a tough decision for any audiophile, and out-of-the-box earbuds just don't cut it.

Looking back on a semester in Ireland

I have been in Ireland. I have sat on stone seats once occupied by first-century Celtic kings on the Aran Islands. I have touched fifth-century Celtic crosses at Clonmacnoise. I have stood on the Cliffs of Moher. I walked out into the sea on the Giant's Causeway, a natural wonder of the world. I felt the energy of Europe's fastest-growing city in Galway. I was speechless looking out at the incredible rolling mountains and crystal clear lakes in the green Ring of Kerry. I have watched lines of people kiss the Blarney Stone in Cork.

Brad Pitt hosts competition for hurricane relief

NEW YORK -- Brad Pitt announced he's sponsoring an environmentally-friendly design competition to rebuild parts of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

ROCKIN'

Dancers Anna DeLong, Andrea Olges Shamblin and Shirin Ansari pause during "Iron Man," a piece in Windfall's Roots of Rock Spring Concert that was performed Saturday evening at the John Waldron Arts Center. The dancers used music that spanned the decades from musicians like Thomas Dorsey, Little Richard and Nirvana. The show ended with performance choreographed to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Fine Arts students' work explores gender, grief

The SoFA Gallery played host to the first group of graduating bachelor of fine arts students from the School of Fine Arts Friday night.