A&E

Small crowd for Mardi Gras parades

NEW ORLEANS -- The first of the major Mardi Gras parades with marching bands, brightly decorated floats and flying plastic beads rolled down New Orleans' streets Saturday, greeted by small but celebratory crowds. Despite the widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina, officials decided to allow a scaled-back Mardi Gras celebration this year. New Orleans parades, put on by private groups, were restricted to one corridor to help cut the cost of police protection and trash pickup.

ARTICULATE

Bloomington Community Band seeks percussionist

The Bloomington Community Band, an all-adult volunteer band, has an opening for a percussionist. The band, which has about 50 members, plays about 20 concerts a year at civic events and public gatherings in Monroe County and surrounding areas. The band always welcomes new members, but it particularly needs a percussionist who can read music.

Six months later, Michael Jackon's Katrina song said to be ready soon

LOS ANGELES -- Eight days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Michael Jackson announced he would release an all-star charity single within two weeks. Nearly six months later, after questions about exactly who would be participating, the prince who has been hosting Jackson during his self-imposed exile in Bahrain says the song will come out by the end of this month. In a telephone interview from Dubai last week, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the son of Bahrain's king, told The Associated Press, "The record is coming along great. We've been taking our time to perfect it and mix it."

Hold on to your passion and don't let go

Passion stirs in all of us. It might be the one, single thing that makes you get out of bed in the morning. It could be the only reason you're pursuing a college degree.

The Exit will rock IU as O.A.R.'s opener Sunday

To be the opener for the headlining band is no easy feat. There's a lot of pressure to get the crowd excited, and many times the fans see the opening band as little more than a time filler. "It's just waiting time," freshman Kristi Hewitt said. "They entertain us while we wait. It's entertaining, but it's not usually that good." On Sunday, O.A.R. will perform at the IU Auditorium. Before the quintet steps into the spotlight, its opening band, The Exit, has the not-so-easy task of energizing the crowd.

'Emperor's Daughters,' 'Sleeping Beauty' on stage at John Waldron Saturday

The Bloomington Area Arts Council and Monroe County Civic Theater will present "Sleeping Beauty" at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Feb. 25 and 26 at the John Waldron Arts Center Auditorium, 122. S. Walnut St. Catherine Wilkerson's version of this well-known fairy tale is part of the 2005-06 Performance Series at the John Waldron Arts Center.

WIUX debuts creative writing talk show

With the recent shift from AM radio to FM, WIUX 100.3 is also debuting new programming. The student-run station now features a creative writing talk show Wednesdays at 10 p.m. WIUX news committee member Nicholas Peters said the show will feature on-air readings by local poets and writers and recordings of readings from local artists. "As a member of the news committee, I was looking for a new way to discuss the cultural aspect of the news," Peters said. "I think a lot of creative writing automatically discusses culture in its own unique way."

Musician to come alive at Buskirk

Ever since he was 14 years old, local folk-rock musician Ron Vanzo has played the guitar. While he never truly considered himself a professional musician until recently, having worked odd jobs for much of his life to pay the bills, Vanzo always wanted his music to be heard. "I've pretty much been a full-time musician in the past year or so," said Vanzo. "I'm gradually going in that direction."

Sequel to 'The Notebook' maintains romance

The movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel "The Notebook" has brought a lot of recent attention to his writing and the story's main characters, Allie and Noah. In "The Wedding," Sparks reintroduces the romance of the two by making Noah a secondary character. The story takes place years after Allie's death, when Noah has begun to show his age and has suffered more strokes and other related injuries.

Game for a grade

On Tuesday afternoon,graduate students Dan Wolfe and Cesar Kobashikawa hovered over a computer to work out details on their upcoming video game. Kobashikawa clutched his notebook that held the detailed profiles of the game's characters. These students can legitimately claim they are doing their homework. Wolfe and Kobashikawa are students in the Masters of Immersive Media Environments program. Wolfe is working on his thesis about online game development communities, a combination of online groups, forums, blogs, wikis, tutorials and Web sites where programmers, artists and designers can come together to talk about games.

WINE TIME

Lecture offers insight about 'The Da Vinci Code'

An archeologist who excavates castles built during the Crusades will offer his commentary on Dan Brown's best-selling and controversial book "The Da Vinci Code." Michael Fuller, professor of archaeology at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, is scheduled to discuss his perspective at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures in a free lecture titled "'The Da Vinci Code,' Templars and Archaeology." The event is sponsored by the Central Indiana Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.

Therapeutic appeal of outsider art

Ever buy a painting from a wild-eyed bum in a Chicago alleyway? If you have, then chances are you've purchased a piece of outsider art. In its truest sense, the term "outsider art" is reserved for art produced by mental patients, social deviants and gorillas. The artistic expression of a troubled mind, such as that of Alexandre Lobanov, can be simultaneously striking and beautiful.

Sudoku puzzles go from geek to chic

Senior Anna Grimm awoke Christmas morning to find a book of Sudoku puzzles nestled in her stocking.

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

ARTIFACTS

What: Danzante (1947) by Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957) Where to find it: IU Art Museum, Post-1800 Western Collection

Resonating the Renaissance

Strength, power and beauty could be heard at the top of the Music Addition. Resonance filled room 454 as 26 voices beautifully blended harmonies over a small orchestra. At the center of the two ensembles is one man. He captivates the attention of every person in the room. His long fingers were like the paintbrush that guides a masterpiece across a canvas, and his animated body and expressions dictate the music heard.

IU music students to perform in D.C.

Eight Jacobs School of Music students will perform for the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage Conservatory Project tonight at 6 p.m.. The event will be held in the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C. Pianist Ayako Toba, baritone Christopher Bolduc, soprano Jing Zhang, violinist Frederieke Saeijs and the Kuttner quartet, which includes violinists Sarah Kim and Robin Scott, violist Yoo-jin Cho and cellist Ana Kim, will showcase their skills. The event is an initiative of the Performing Arts for Everyone project that schedules 365 free performances, one for every day of the year, for the Millennium Stage. The Conservatory Project gives college students a chance to perform in front of a large audience. The audience mostly comprises middle- and high school-aged students who are interested in pursuing music in college.