Collage Concert to showcase KU talents

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008

The sights and sounds of the Kansas School of Fine Arts will fill the Lied Center Friday night for the school’s ninth annual Collage Concert.

Cross-country ‘art-cycling’ stops Saturday in Lawrence

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Want to see the art in this gallery? You’d better be ready to move.

Native tongue

Lost language comes to life on screen in new movie

Saturday, May 31, 2008

When Jimm Goodtracks speaks to his grandson at home, it’s usually in Baxoje, a language that is nearly extinct. Goodtracks has written two books on the language and is working on an unabridged dictionary on it. He sees the 3-year-old boy as another way to help keep it alive. “Younger people don’t know this stuff,” Goodtracks says. “They’re getting away from things.”

Wacky wheels will claim streets Saturday for Art Tougeau

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fresco Fords, classy Chevys and tacky Toyotas will roll down the street Saturday as part of the annual Art Tougeau Parade.

Artist’s filming of Flint Hills fires captures prairie cycles

Monday, March 10, 2008

Louis Copt watches the TV screen, which shows a roaring, crackling fire rushing through brown grass in the Flint Hills. All that’s missing is the smell of smoke and the terror of actually being there.

Musician returns home, brings ensemble

Sunday, March 9, 2008

In some ways, the Aspen Ensemble is a mix-and-match musical montage. There are five members in the group — a violinist, a violist, a cellist, a flutist and a pianist — but the members never are all on stage at the same time.

Winning writers discover voices later in life

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008

Sometimes, writing is an escape, a way to get away from the things that pay the bills. That’s the case for this year’s winners of the Langston Hughes Literary Awards: John Mark Connolly in fiction writing and Stephen Bunch in poetry.

Break a leg

Show goes on despite cast member being stuck in cast

Friday, Jan. 18, 2008

Catie Provost has heard all the jokes. She’s an actress. She broke her leg. No, she didn’t take the age-old stage advice literally, at least not on purpose. It happened Dec. 19. Provost heard a neighbor in the apartment below her screaming for help. She called the police and ran down the stairs, horrified. She tripped, and the outside bone on her left foot snapped in two.

Beat poets honored with songs

Friday, Sept. 7, 2007

Robert Baker doesn’t perform works by the Beat Generation poets. But that doesn’t mean their influence is ever far from his mind. “It’s more beat-oriented,” Baker says. “Some of my older stuff has been called hipster poetry.”

'Pierogi empire'

KU alumni tapping local market for savory ethnic dumplings

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007

Growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, Frank Gazella ate a lot of pierogies. “These are a No. 1 food,” he says. But when he came to Kansas University for college, the ethnic dumplings were virtually nonexistent. “Nobody knew what it was,” Gazella says. “That sparked the idea.”

Ride of their lives

Kansas team makes finals in Disney design competition

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007

When she was a little girl, Hannah Fiechtner never thought about where the rides at Disney’s theme parks came from. “You think they automatically show up there,” she says. “Poof — like magic. When you’re little, you think they have magicians on staff and never give it a second thought.” After the past year, Fiechtner now realizes those rides are the result of a lot of hard work.

The higher power of Addiction

KU professor takes aim at ‘religious right’ and liberals who enable them in new book

Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007

More than anything, Robert Minor views his new book as cultural commentary. But he hopes it serves another role. “It’s sort of like an intervention,” he says. The Kansas University professor’s eighth book, “When Religion is an Addiction,” may become his most controversial.

Christian music superstar headed to Overbrook

Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007

Sean Donnelly was as surprised as anyone when someone representing Christian recording artist Rebecca St. James called his small-town church, asking if she could sing there. “Rebecca St. James is one of the biggest stars in Christian music,” Donnelly says. “We didn’t expect it. It was out of the blue.”

Sowing seeds

Fresh Produce Art Collective bands together to promote work, create more artistic outlets

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Members of the Fresh Produce Art Collective admit they’re pretty relaxed when they meet Tuesday nights. “We keep some minutes,” member Yuri Zupancic jokes, “but they come out as surreal contour drawings.” They might be a laid-back group, but they have some pretty big goals when it comes to the arts in Lawrence.

Gems amid the plains

Couple collect works by Kansas artists

Sunday, July 8, 2007

It’s a fairly innocuous woodcut print. A woman sits in a front-porch rocking chair, her laundry hanging on the line.

Italian infusion

Chef brings know-how cultivated on coast to new downtown restaurant

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Armando Paniagua realizes he’s going against the grain. He’s been working at restaurants in California for 17 years, most recently as chef at a Rose Pistola in San Francisco — a much-lauded restaurant in a city known for its cuisine.

Born in a barn

Lakeside farm building reconceived as bluegrass music venue

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The crowd can’t contain their hollering as the band onstage sings about mommas, daddies, trains, mountains, Jesus and young love.

Revisiting ‘Grandma’

Show focuses on Elizabeth Layton’s art legacy

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton realized her dark history of depression, and the fact she started drawing at age 67, would draw people to her art. But she never wanted her story to be the focus of attention.

A is for artist

‘Abstract Alphabet’ spells new direction for Lawrence creator

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Artist Stephen Johnson has done a lot of alliterative brainstorming lately. Take, for instance, what he came up with for the letter “I.” “Indoors, in an industrial interior, is an installation of individually illuminated, isolated, immobilized immersed and inverted identical insoluble imitation ice cream cones.”

Dental arts

KU art students spruce up dental clinic for the poor, uninsured

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Don’t expect to see the typical motivational posters you might find in other dental offices — the type that might show a kitty hanging from a branch with the caption “Hang in there!” This is interactive, multidimensional, educational art designed specifically for this location.

Lively ‘Guys and Dolls’ a gamble-free theater experience

Thursday, May 3, 2007

If — heaven forbid — the entire University Theatre cast of “Guys and Dolls” got laryngitis, and the orchestra didn’t show up, the show would still be worth watching. The production, which opened last weekend and continues with shows tonight, Friday and Saturday at Kansas University’s Crafton-Preyer Theatre, is in many ways a spectacle.

Gangsters of love

‘Guys and Dolls’ celebrates legacy of bootleggers and gambling in song

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Lawrence Henderson isn’t worried about young people losing interest in the bootlegging and illegal gambling of the 1930s. And that, in part, is what keeps interest alive in “Guys and Dolls,” which Henderson stars in starting Friday at University Theatre.

Banjo bashin'

Book rounds up jokes aimed at instrument and its players

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Leo Posch has his teeth, is smart enough to carry on a conversation and doesn’t drool. You’d never know he’s a banjo player. Posch, who lives near McLouth, plays with the Lawrence-based Midday Ramblers.

Higher stakes

Though mostly absent from public debate, churches say adding casinos raises risk of addiction, family strife

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Randy Beeman has little problem with gamblers who set their limits and stick to them — especially if those limits are low. But he’s seen the floodgates open, watched the way a quick trip to a casino can turn into a gambling addiction and all the troubles that go along with it.

Speaker’s parents helped Jewish arts survive in Nazi Germany

Saturday, April 14, 2007

It might be one of the most compelling stories of Nazi Germany, but Martin Goldsmith says many people have never heard of the Jüdische Kulturbund. “It’s virtually unknown,” he says.

‘On Golden Pond’ cast avoids re-creating beloved film roles

Friday, April 13, 2007

Betty Laird isn’t Katharine Hepburn. She doesn’t even want to be. So forgive her if she shows a little frustration when you compare her role of Ethel Thayer in “On Golden Pond” to that played by Hepburn in the well-known film by the same title.

Day on the Hill gains momentum after hiatus

Friday, April 13, 2007

Frankly, Colin Haliburton was too young to have many memories of watching Pearl Jam in 1992 at Day on the Hill. But he still brags about seeing the band — even if he went with his baby-sitter.

Fresh perspective

Photo group offers men new ways of seeing world

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Jerry Adams had never imagined himself as a photographer. But after several months of shooting familiar Lawrence locales with a disposable, point-and-shoot camera, he’s starting to change his mind.

World harmonies

KU choir members sing international music while learning about cultures around the globe

Monday, March 26, 2007

The music of the Balkans is starting to grow on Alberto Avezuela. He grew up in Puerto Rico, and now he’s a graduate student at Kansas University. He sings in the university’s World Music Choir, a group devoted to learning about music and cultures from a variety of countries.

Orchestra in tune with Kansas

Musicians to work with Lawrence students

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Holly Hamilton performs dozens of times each year at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., one of the premier concert halls in the country.

Girls with guitars

Industry amped up over more female strummers

Friday, March 23, 2007

When Amy Trompeter started listening to Pink Floyd, she knew she had to play like guitarist David Gilmour. She decided to take lessons. Two years and three guitars later, she still gets strange looks when people learn she plays.

Celebrating Patrick

Life of storied saint just as interesting as widely held myths

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Today, while drinking your green beer and eating your corned beef, be sure to take a moment to remember the man behind the green holiday. You know, the REAL St. Patrick — the one who drove the snakes out of Ireland, who fought the Druids and who used a shamrock to teach about the holy trinity.

Long shot

Even with basketball knowledge, chances of bracket-betting perfection remain slim

Monday, March 12, 2007

Here’s a number you probably don’t want to think about today as you’re filling out your NCAA tournament bracket for your office pool. According to Kansas University math professor Ben Cobb, the probability of picking all 32 first-round winners randomly is 1 in 4.3 billion.

Local musicians won’t back down from Petty effort

Friday, March 9, 2007

Not long ago, Lawrence singer/songwriter Julia Peterson heard a concert by Tom Petty tribute band American Girls in Kansas City.

Laces wild

Shoes dangling from power lines in Lawrence probably represent harmless college pranks

Monday, March 5, 2007

The white Adio tennis shoes, size 9 1/2, stood no chance of making it to a Dumpster. One night, when Alex Busche decided the shoes were finally worn out, he tied their laces together, walked to the sidewalk outside his apartment at 14th and Tennessee and heaved them skyward. On the first try, the shoelaces settled on top of the power line. Score.

Film fest focuses on females

Saturday, March 3, 2007

There’s something unusual about the featured short movies in the LunaFest film festival, which comes Sunday to Lawrence.

Lens on the world

Artist follows in father’s steps, telling cultural stories in photos

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007

At a dinner party in China a few years ago, the conversation turned to how best to use acquired knowledge. Pok Chi Lau pulled out a fortune cookie slip he kept in his wallet: “Many receive advice, but only the wise profit by it.”

Baroque by Candlelight provides sweet pre-Valentine’s treat

Monday, Feb. 12, 2007

The encore to Saturday’s Baroque by Candlelight concert by the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra was a lush dessert bar, but the concert may have been even sweeter.

Fragments of the past

Dead Sea Scrolls offer insight into religion, ancient history

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007

The fragments are small, measuring only a few inches wide at their largest portions. The text is difficult to see, in the dimly lit display cases meant to preserve the nearly 2,000-year-old documents. Even if you can make it out, it’s in Hebrew.

Moved by the spirit

KU vocalist follows famous footsteps on musical journey

Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007

Lynda Canaday hadn’t even let out her first baby bawl when world-class singer Mahalia Jackson blessed her voice.

Intimacy guides atypical ‘Sensualist’

Friday, Feb. 2, 2007

There are many things that keep “The Sensualist” from being your average play put on by college students. First, it was written by a student, and it’s being performed for the first time.

Solid faith

KU scientist balances her career as a chemist with her career serving God

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007

When Dinah Dutta was 14, her father — a Christian pastor — gave her a choice. She needed to decide if she would be Christian or Hindu.

Event to explore teen relationships

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007

In its fourth year, the Straight Up Beautiful conference at Morning Star Church is entering uncharted territory.

In honor of the fallen

City’s newest public artwork pays homage to firefighters killed in duty

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007

The figure is a firefighter, larger than life at 7 feet 8 inches tall. He’s peering forward valiantly, as if toward a burning building he’s about to enter. To artist Benjamin Victor, the sculpture represents the bravery of an entire profession.

No more Excuses

New year presents opportunity to try something you’ve always wanted to do

Monday, Jan. 8, 2007

Let’s face it: The beginning of the new year is as much about breaking resolutions as making them, as much about excuses as goals. So, this year, why not pick one way to better yourself and stick to it? Heck, it might even be something fun.

Hybrid hymns

Doctoral student fuses gospel and classical music into seamless melodies

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007

Most advanced piano players don’t go to college to learn how to play gospel music. Then again, not all of them think like James Cockman. Cockman, a doctoral student at Kansas University, can play the works of the classical masters. And he can play the old standby hymns that are standard at churches.

Biblical body sculpting

Diet, exercise, faith combine to help parishioners shed extra pounds

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006

When the Rev. James Taylor recently received a photo from a wedding he performed over the summer, he barely recognized the man in the picture. “I had jelly rolls,” he says. “It was embarrassing.”

March of the Santas

Carvings of Ol’ St. Nick adorn Lawrence artisan’s garage

Monday, Dec. 18, 2006

Dick Smith opens the cabinet, and dozens of white-bearded, portly wood carvings peer out.

Cultural spin

Traditional holiday game has roots in study of faith

Saturday, Dec. 16, 2006

Noah Kenn hopes to spin his way to a sugar high this week. He’ll be playing dreidel — a traditional Jewish game played during Hanukkah — and trying to win gelt, which are chocolate coins.

Jazz Nativity takes new swing at holiday favorites

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006

Sometimes, adding a few tight harmonies is all it takes to give an audience a new perspective on the Christmas story.