Baton Rouge Temperature: 76°
Saturday, August 30, 2008

FUN & CALENDARS

 
There are some things you can count on. Radio station formats are not among them. Sure, some stations establish a niche and stick with it. But others, fighting to survive in the Darwinian world of airwave ratings, are apt to change programming the way Nick Saban changes team loyalties. (It’s Friday: He’s still at Alabama, right?)

Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 2008

Upcoming meetings, cruises, shows and special events

Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 2008

Your fans are waiting, so hurry up and send us your information for the Fun section’s annual Band Directory, which will be published on Sept. 19.

Kick up your heels. Eat a few dozen shrimp. Rub shoulders with locals. The fun never stops at the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival today through Monday in Morgan City’s Lawrence Park.

Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 2008

Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 2008

Beyonce Knowles’ gifted younger sister, Solange, steps out with a second CD that’s both an adventurous return to and fresh take on old-school soul, rhythm-and-blues and pop. Tapping into the classics, Solange avoids the formula and clichés heard in so much contemporary rhythm-and-blues and hip-hop.

Matthew Sweet, music maker and music lover, found renown in the 1990s with his modern-rock hit, “Girlfriend,” plus a trio of acclaimed, popular albums, Girlfriend, Altered Beast and 100% Fun.

Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 2008

For three hours, we were treated like royalty and actually felt as though we were on vacation in some little European village.

The fourth CD from northeastern Florida’s JJ Grey and Mofro continues the group’s one-band funk and soul revival. Orange Blossoms brings to mind the Memphis soul of Al Green and Stax Records, West Coast funk of Sly and the Family Stone and country-funk storytelling of north Louisiana’s Tony Joe White. But the artist Grey considers to be the greatest living soul singer isn’t usually dubbed a soul man. That singer is Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, leader of Jamaica’s pioneering reggae group, Toots and the Maytals.

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) -- Comedian and actor Andy Dick will be spending lots of time in Lafayette soon. He'll be in the city for the filming of Division III, a sports comedy with a $2 million budget that will be filmed entirely in Lafayette.

VENICE, Italy (AP) _ The Venice Film Festival opened Wednesday night with the premiere of the Coen brothers' dark comedy "Burn After Reading," giving a flash of Hollywood glamour to a festival lineup with a definite art house feel.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dr. Dre's 20-year-old son has died, the rapper's publicist said Tuesday. "Dr. Dre is mourning the loss of his son Andre Young Jr.," publicist Lori Earl said in a statement.

There’s never been a fundraiser quite like this one. Come hear Hawaii’s No. 1 band, HAPA, and join in the fun.

The Metropolitan Opera’s series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to movie theaters around the world expands in its third season and will include Baton Rouge’s Cinemark Perkins Rowe and United Artists Citiplace 11 theaters.

America’s reigning teen idols, the Jonas Brothers, fill concert venues, give the Disney Channel huge ratings and sell millions of records. And unlike those so-called boy bands of the ’90s, brothers Nick, Kevin and Joe Jonas really are a band, they actually play musical instruments.

Jane Patterson was looking through some photos of her garden when she came across the image of a bird she didn’t recognize. Out of curiosity, she walked into the house and picked up her husband’s field guide, only to discover that she had come across a very rare specimen.

Along with Lawyer’s Row, the parish courthouse, built in 1840, is part of a National Historic Landmark. Walk along the streets here, and it seems as if gentlemen lawyers, at any minute, will step out on the sidewalk and tip a stovepipe hat at you.

Fort Worth’s Toadies made big waves in the ’90s via such era-defining hits as “Possum Kingdom,” “Tyler” and “Away.” But following the band’s major label debut, 1994’s Rubberneck, and those hit singles, the Toadies struck a record-company roadblock.

It’s time to send us your information for the Fun section’s annual Band Directory, which will be published on Sept. 19.

There are a lot of terms that are typically used to describe an Italian restaurant’s atmosphere. Smart-alecky is not one of them. But we’ll make an exception for Barattini’s Bistreaux.

Electronic Arts Inc., one of the world’s leading video game companies with $4 billion in annual sales, will bring a global test center and 220 employees to LSU’s South Campus in Baton Rouge, Gov. Bobby Jindal and state economic development officials announced this morning.

You don’t turn 60 every day. In the case of Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, that calls for a party. “Air It Up!” will be a daylong celebration on Saturday, Aug. 16.

Drive to Goldonna Saturday, Aug. 30, for the Goldonna Drake Salt Works Festival.

St. Francisville Main Street Merchants have teamed up to present White Linen Night on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 6 p.m. featuring its unique shops, sensational food and lively music throughout downtown St. Francisville.

With roots in Los Angeles and New Orleans, Randy Newman — singer-songwriter, Oscar-winning film composer and incisive observer of humankind — knows this place called Louisiana.

Blind Melon, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Black Crowes, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath — all bands from various decades whose songs transcend the era in which they were created. Barisal Guns, a Louisiana rock band based in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, aspires to the timelessness they hear in the above bands.

Your fans are waiting, so hurry up and send us your information for the Fun section’s annual Band Directory, which will be published on Sept. 19.

Larry Garner, one of Baton Rouge’s internationally loved blues artists, bases his wry, observant songs on real life. “All the time,” the singer-guitarist said this week. “But I have to change it around sometimes.

The aroma of cooking meat wafted across the parking lot as we arrived at Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q, giving us a preview of what was to come from the outdoor pit behind the eatery.

Hauntworld.com, a trade publication and haunted house Web site, has named Baton Rouge’s 13th Gate as the top professional haunted attraction in the country.

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