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FUN & CALENDARS

This year’s new batch of music box sets contains many gems. In hopes of luring buyers back to traditional record stores and spurring online sales of physical product, record companies have filled the sets with audio upgrades and extras.

The BR Area calendar is a listing of events taking place in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas from Nov. 20-26, 2009. It covers plays, shows, parties, family-oriented entertainment and everything in between.

Next week’s FUN Section will list Christmas events in and around Baton Rouge.

Cameras, lights, props … even movie stars are becoming a common sight in and around Baton Rouge. That’s because, thanks to the motion picture investor tax credit, Hollywood films are making a beeline for Louisiana to film their pictures.

A unique Baton Rouge dance organization wants you on board! Of Moving Colors is looking for community members – both dancers and non-dancers – ages 4 and over, to participate in a performance camp that culminates in a brand new production, Kick it Out.

DREAMS COME TRUE: ART OF THE CLASSIC FAIRY TALES FROM THE WALT DISNEY STUDIO: continues through March, 2010.

Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors, presented by Ascension Community Theatre, will take place this weekend at the theatre, 823 Felicity St. in Gonzales.

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE LAFAYETTE: (337) 261-1002 or send e-mail to info@aflafayette.org.

BATON ROUGE SOCIETY OF MINIATURE GAMING: 7 p.m. Fridays, Little Wars Game Shop, 7517 Jefferson Hwy.

Songfest Foundation, Inc., a New Orleans-based charitable organization founded to benefit Louisiana and Gulf Coast music and musicians, recently announces its second annual New Orleans Songwriters Festival.

NEW ORLEANS MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL: presented by the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, New Orleans.

The Shows to Watch calendar is a listing of events taking place in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas from Nov. 20-26, 2009. It covers rock, reggae, jazz, country and everything in between.

Singer-pianist Norah Jones collaborates with a new producer and new group of musicians for the new sound of The Fall. Her voice tastefully blurred by reverb, Jones sings with warm, relaxed presence.

Drummer Stanton Moore tours the globe with New Orleans funk outfit Galactic. Propelled by Galactic’s genre-melding, funk-meets-hip-hop 2007 album, From The Corner To The Block, the band spent the past two years playing places it had never played before.

We’re not sure you have to be a dining snob to question a restaurant choice based on its exterior. First impressions and all that.

NEW YORK (AP) — Get lost, Hugh Jackman. This year's "Sexiest Man Alive" is once again Johnny Depp. Depp nudged aside Jackman to get the coveted endorsement from People magazine Wednesday. It's the 46-year-old actor's second time as "Sexiest Man Alive." He also won in 2003.

About Town for Nov. 19, 2009

TORONTO (AP) — Nicolas Cage figures he owes no apologies when critics gripe about all the Hollywood action flicks he's done. An Academy Award winner for "Leaving Las Vegas," Cage says those commercial movies provide the freedom to do smaller, smarter films such as his offbeat cop tale "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans."

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Model Joanna Krupa is leaving "Dancing With the Stars." The Poland-born beauty was eliminated from the hit ABC show Tuesday. She and professional partner Derek Hough consistently earned high scores on the hit ABC show. They collected an impressive 81 out of 90 points for their performances on Monday's episode, landing them in second place during the semifinals. But fans failed to keep the couple afloat with their votes.

CULVER CITY, California (AP) — Courteney Cox isn't done running from masked serial killers. The 45-year-old "Cougar Town" and "Friends" star says she's excited about returning to the horror genre in "Scream 4," the upcoming slasher sequel being written by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the first two films in the popular horror trilogy.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fifteen-year-old Chloe Bates is in love. A 10th-grader at an all-girls Catholic school, she lights up when she talks about her handsome 17-year-old honey. Chloe doesn't know too many boys, so she still gets a nervous, buzzy feeling whenever she thinks about HIM. Her friends know all about this guy — he's a regular text and telephone topic between school, homework and dance practice.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With hurricane season ending, film and TV production in south Louisiana is picking up, and New Orleans is on track to break last year's filming record.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE: 2 p.m., Baton Rouge Little Theater, 7155 Florida Blvd. $22. (225) 924-6496 or http://www.brlt.org.

Acadiana Entertainment

This year’s new slate of Christmas and seasonal CDs and music DVDs includes newly recorded discs by pop-opera star Andrea Bocelli, Sting, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan and former American Idol contestant David Archuleta.

CAIRO (AP) — Actress Lucy Liu, who has produced a film about children sold into the sex trade in Cambodia, says the fight against human trafficking will be long. Liu praised several projects funded by the U.N. children's agency in Egypt, where she was promoting the film "Red Light" at the Cairo International Film Festival.

In Glee, the hit TV series set at fictional McKinley High School, a glee club led by Mr. Schuester sings a repertoire that runs from classic rock to Broadway to hip-hop. Despite forces that conspire against the glee club, Schuester believes the group can be great.

Bill Gaither is bringing a special edition of the Gaither Vocal Band to Baton Rouge next week. Famous for his harmony-filled Gaither Vocal Band concerts and recordings and his marathon Homecoming concerts, the 73-year-old group leader recruited popular former members of the Gaither Vocal Band.

Monsters, the second CD from Baton Rouge band Cohen and the Ghost, contains doomy but playful songs, inventive melodies and shifting tempos. The baritone voice out front belongs to 20-year-old singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cohen Hartman.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — First-day sales of Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" broke records, raking in an estimated $310 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone. The video game went on sale all over the world on Tuesday, but Activision provided figures Thursday only for North America and Britain.

If she were a bit older, she’d be called a hostess. But for now, the pretty little girl with the round face, dark hair and dark eyes can only be called La Reyna’s unofficial welcoming party.

NEW YORK (AP) — TV network ABC's cancellation of the comedy "Hank" makes it two failures in three years for star Kelsey Grammer. Grammer, the multiple Emmy winner as the star of "Frasier," also saw his Fox series "Back to You" given the boot in 2008.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sony Pictures says "Michael Jackson's This Is It" has passed the $200 million mark at the box office worldwide. The film has pulled in $61 million domestically and more than $140 million overseas. That includes $27.2 million in Japan, $14.3 million in Great Britain and $12.1 million in Germany.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's the end of the world as we know it, and Hollywood feels fine. Global warming, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing terrorist threats and the economic meltdown have people in a gloomy, even end-of-days frame of mind. Filmmakers are tapping into worries about humanity's future with sagas such as "2012" and "The Book of Eli."

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A record 20 films have been submitted for best animated feature at the Academy Awards. As long as at least 16 films qualify, there will be five nominees in the feature-length animation category. The category has had only three nominees most years, but 2009 has been a prolific year for animation. The only previous year when there were five nominees came in 2002, when 17 animated films were submitted.

Events during the week of Nov. 9.

Week Ahead for the week of Nov. 8, 2009.

Christmas Day is seven weeks away, but the 2009 holiday movie season starts today with the opening of the Jim Carrey-starring Disney’s A Christmas Carol. The holiday season being a busy time for children at the movies, animated films following A Christmas Carol to theaters include another film adaptation of a Roald Dahl story, Fantastic Mr. Fox; Planet 51; the Alvin and the Chipmunks “squeakquel”; and Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.

Always good for an exploding chorus, Rivers Cuomo and Weezer are more out of their shell than ever for Raditude. Driven by frenzied drums and acoustic guitar, sunny opening song “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” throws the door open to this frequently loud, hard-kicking collection.

Singer, songwriter and master guitarist Richard Thompson co-founded British folk-rock group Fairport Convention in the 1960s, formed an acclaimed duo with his then wife, Linda, in the ’70s, and carried on through ensuing decades with a solo career that brought him more accolades.

There’s something rejuvenating about a college campus. So we were already in a good mood when we strolled into The Faculty Club at LSU. We were in an even better mood when we walked out.

Upcoming meetings, cruises, shows and special events.

NEW YORK (AP) — Big Bird is leaving Sesame Street! That's what he decides on the "Sesame Street" season opener. A rapping real-estate agent pitches him on migrating to a new habitat ("habitat," the episode's "Word on the Street"). After sizing up a beach and a swamp for his new habitat, Big Bird chooses a rain forest.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — No Doubt is suing video game maker Activision for putting words in band members' mouths. The band brought suit Wednesday against Activision Publishing Inc. over a feature in the new "Band Hero" game that allows players to control virtual band members and have them sing other artists' songs.

If you can't stand documentaries that point fingers, David E. Simpson agrees with you. Simpson is an award-winning creator of documentaries on complex topics such as Vietnam, stem cells and autism, but does not like films presenting one viewpoint as right or wrong.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Technology finally has caught up with Charles Dickens' imagination. Jim Carrey and Robert Zemeckis' new take on "A Christmas Carol" brings to life the fantasy about miser Ebenezer Scrooge's holiday redemption in a way old Hollywood never could have dreamed.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood loves money. So does Ebenezer Scrooge. So what better way to launch the holiday season than putting the old money-grubber at the head of the line to separate movie-goers from their cash? The latest version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" features Jim Carrey as Scrooge. Coming on Ebenezer's coattails will be everything from vampire romance and end-of-the-world stories to epic science fiction and a new incarnation of the world's greatest detective.

Nov. 1-7, 2009

The 11th annual Voodoo Experience returns to New Orleans’ City Park today, Oct. 30, through Sunday, Nov. 1. The event features eclectic music on eight stages, more than 25 Louisiana food booths and 40 local craft vendors. The 2009 lineup includes national acts Eminem, Kiss, Jane’s Addiction, Wolfmother, Lenny Kravitz, Widespread Panic, the Flaming Lips, Meat Puppets, the Pogues, Ween, George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic and many more.

Spawned from the early ’80s pre-alternative music scene in Phoenix, Ariz., the Meat Puppets were the ultimate musicians’ musicians. Featuring brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood and drummer Derrick Bostrom, the maverick trio and its country-punk-rock.

From Eminem to Kiss to Lenny Kravitz, big music names are visiting New Orleans this weekend for the 11th annual Voodoo Experience.

Halloween has a way of bringing ghosts and spirits right out into the open … of filling the air with spooky stories and tales of the unexplained.

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Libraries Special Collections Williams Center for Oral History has launched its podcast series, What Endures, found online at http://oralhistory.blogs.lib.lsu.edu.

With soaring choruses, four singers who share lead vocals and perform precision harmonies, new country group Gloriana follows the tradition of such great vocal groups as the Beatles, Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

A visit to Coyote Blues gives one distinct impression: This place seeks to become to Mexican restaurants what P.F. Chang’s is to Chinese food.

Safety is always a concern during Halloween, which is Saturday. Some areas are holding trick-or-treating earlier in the week. Trick-or-treaters should carry flashlights, stay on sidewalks, not cut across yards, carry only flexible props, and wear reflective tape. Parents should accompany young children and inspect all treats.

This information is from (225) 342-FILM, the official hotline of the Louisiana Entertainment. Here’s what’s happening in mid-October 2009.

Autumn means a lot of things in Louisiana: leaves that turn brown instead of colorful and then just fall off the trees, the smell of melted Halloween candy in your kid’s pocket and the wild screams of people trying to outlast a gyrating carnival ride. The screams are happening now at the Greater Baton Rouge State Fair, which will continue through Sunday, Nov. 1, at BREC’s Airline Highway Park/Fairgrounds.

Vampires, Goths and assorted lovers of the dark side will be roaming the streets (and cemeteries) of New Orleans this weekend to quench their blood lust ... or rather, their lust for horror-type entertainment.

Members of Baton Rouge’s Neal family have been playing the blues together on stages all over the world for decades. Kenny Neal tours internationally with his band of talented brothers. Whenever possible, he invites other Neals, including his daughter, Syreeta, to the stage, too.

Vampire folklore has captured the imagination of fans of the supernatural for centuries. From the classic literature of Bram Stoker to HBO’s television series, “True Blood,” to the “Twilight” phenomenon, these tales of myth and mystery have intrigued the fantasy lover in all of us.

Punk-rock-dance trio Gossip got a college-radio hit with the primal, alluring “Standing In The Way Of Control,” title track for the group’s 2005 CD.

As much as a traveling musician can, Ryan Bingham, a 28-year-old new addition to the Texas singer-songwriter tradition, has a home. His permanent address in Topanga Canyon, Calif., is the first place he’s settled since his mid-teens.

Passing by the plain brick building you’d think it was just another country restaurant. But with the parking lot packed on a rainy Wednesday night, maybe there was something to all the talk we’d been hearing about Charlie’s.

GENEVA (AP) — American prosecutors closely monitored Roman Polanski in Austria and considered seeking his arrest there days before the director's apprehension in Switzerland, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

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