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The revelation would come later, when Al Lavergne was about to leave Southern University for his new home in Kalamazoo, Mich. The city is home to Western Michigan University, where it’s really cold during the winter, but a place offering a promise.

The Port of New Orleans has a new Carnival ship, the 2,758-passenger Triumph. The ship arrived Nov. 11 and replaces the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy, which will now sail from Mobile, Ala.

Tickets are on sale for Baton Rouge Little Theater’s production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, set for Thursdays through Sundays, Dec. 11-20, on the theater’s Main Stage, 7155 Florida Blvd.

David Madden is packing up and driving off into retirement. The LSU English professor emeritus is heading to the hills – North Carolina.

StoryCorps, the most ambitious oral history project ever undertaken, has announced the second annual National Day of Listening, to take place on Friday, Nov. 27.

Short story collections are appearing with more regularity now. Maybe a tight economy has inspired a renewed appreciation for economy with words. That is the essence of the short story: to tell the tale with as few words as possible but as many words as necessary.

“Unnnbelievable Cherry Sisters,” Lizzie proclaims, her words muffled by milk chocolate. The promoter gave her the candy. He said she should gain at least 30 to 40 more pounds. He said she and all of her sisters — yes, the Cherry Sisters — should consider weight gain.

CULTURE SHOCK: 1-5 p.m., West Baton Rouge Museum, 845 N. Jefferson Ave., Port Allen. A festival of international food, crafts, body art and dance, which also includes a talent show.

During November, Fontainebleau State Park, 67825 U.S. 190, Mandeville, will host 16 en plein air — in the open air — painters, who will be painting scenes of the park’s woodlands, marshes and beachfront.

The contemporary dance-theater company Of Moving Colors is looking for community members — both dancers and non-dancers, ages 4 and older — to participate in a performance camp that culminates in a brand new production, Kick it Out.

The George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts is calling for entries to its 2010 Art Contest.

The Awesome Art in Autumn Gardens competition for 2009, presented by River Region Art Association, took place in October during the Arts & Cultural Festival at Houmas House Plantation.

NEW ORLEANS — Since opening nine years ago, the National World War II Museum has been a magnet for anyone interested in the 20th century’s defining conflict. Now, it gives people even more reasons to go — or go back.

DETROIT, Mich. — If you’re thinking of taking a cruise with young children, you’ll want to be sure the ship has age-appropriate programs and child-care facilities.

ROATAN, Honduras — “The president’s been arrested already this morning,” hotel owner Jeff Kuken told me and my wife one Sunday morning in late June.

Doug Varone and Dancers are winners of 11 New York Dance and Performance Awards, and they’re coming to the Claude L. Shaver Theatre in the LSU Music & Dramatic Arts Building as a part of the 2009-2010 Performance Arts Series.

They’ll leave a light on for you. And if you choose to investigate the warm illumination cast by the Mid City Merchant Association’s White Light Night, you’ll find plenty of art, music, food and good conversation.

This is the story of The Story, which makes its Southern University premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Aileen Hendricks learned of The Story from a friend, who told her it was, well, a good story. Hendricks is a theater professor in Southern’s Visual and Performing Arts Department.

Welcome back, Andy. Last time you occupied this prized spot in the LSU Museum of Art, you showed up in the guise of Marilyn. Yes, it was the crème de la crème of your Marilyn Monroe silkscreens, her hair golden against a hot pink background.

Several events are planned this week in the LSU School of Music: The LSU Schola will perform a concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, in University United Methodist Church, 3350 Dalrymple Drive. Brian Kittridge is the conductor.

The Louisiana Military Hall of Fame & Museum in Abbeville will official open its doors today, Nov. 15, with free festivities running 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the museum located at Chris Crusta Airport.

Nationally recognized expert on educating urban African-American students and author Lisa Delpit will speak at Southern University at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the Royal Cotillion Ballroom of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union on the university’s campus.

The reclusive Pynchon, author of V., Gravity’s Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49, Mason & Dixon, Vineland and others, is practically a cult figure. Whenever he publishes a book, and he does so every few years, his legion of fans make it an instant best-seller.

She pauses for a moment, contemplates. “What part of the show do you think is everyone’s favorite?” she asks. But shouldn’t she already know?

Most of the time, Southeastern Louisiana University professor Samuel C. Hyde Jr. is busy teaching, writing or conducting research. Lately, he’s been busy collecting awards.

The fit is natural. The subject here isn’t lyrics but those poems written without music in mind. Or is that possible? Because there’s something musical about poetry. Then again, there’s something poetic about music.

The Cangelosi Dance Project will present its fifth annual Christmas performance at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, in the Manship Theatre in the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St.

CHICAGO — From Greektown to Chinatown, from the Polish Triangle to Pakistani restaurants on Devon Street, Chicago has a wealth of diverse ethnic neighborhoods to explore.

NORLINA, N.C. — That old adage “No rest for the weary” could have been coined with Mark and Barbara Van Art in mind. Driving from their home in Glendora, N.J., to North Carolina, the Van Arts wanted to stop at a rest area on Interstate 85 in Virginia, but it was closed because of state budget cuts.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Don’t expect soy lattes or Internet access for your laptop, but your next visit to Colonial Williamsburg could include a stop in a coffeehouse.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to decide where to begin. Does he start out talking about the play? Or does the newly renovated Burke Hawthorne Hall Theatre take precedence?

Award-winning architects credit the Internet and the advent of “sustainable” buildings with making it easier for architects to do work that combines outstanding form with function.

A frog derby, frog jumping contest, fried frog legs. You name it, it’s on the schedule for the 37th annual Rayne Frog Festival Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 12-14.

LSU Readers & Writers and the LSU School of Art will present “Invisible Populations!” with poet C.D. Wright and the ALL CITY All Star Slam Team at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15. The event is free and open to the public and will take place at the Old State Capitol, 100 North Blvd.

The Southeastern Conference is home to the last three national champions of major college football, and the league is almost universally recognized as the cream of the crop in terms of success, tradition and fan loyalty.

The sixth and final concert of the fall 2009 Sunday in the Park free concert series will feature Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue from noon to 3 p.m. today, Nov. 8, at Lafayette Park across from the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St.

Your money is no good here. Opera Louisiane won’t even accept gingerbread for its tickets, though there will be plenty when Hansel and Gretel discovers the witch’s house. Hey, without gingerbread, there would be no story.

Talk to Anna Christian after the concert, and she doesn’t seem like the conductor type. She’s quiet, she’s a little bit shy and she’s only 8 years old. But she didn’t let any of this stop her from taking the podium when Linda R. Moorhouse asked for volunteers.

The LSU Department of Theatre will perform Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Talley’s Folly, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, Nov. 10-13, and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, in the Reilly Theatre on Tower Drive on the LSU campus.

If Marcial Romos still lived in Cuba, he would probably be in jail. Think about it. Jail at 16 just for being an artist. Just for believing in freedom of expression. “I feel that is most important for an artist to have freedom of expression,” Romos said. That’s not to be found in Cuba. Not for an artist. Not for Romos. But Sohale Mehrmanesh has a different concern.

The third annual UncommonThread Wearable Art Show will accept entries until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13. Entry forms can be found by visiting http://www.culturecandy.org.

The Louisiana Youth Orchestra’s first performance for the 2009-2010 season will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, in the Magnolia Performing Arts Pavilion at Baton Rouge Community College. The concert is free.

People didn’t talk about things like this in 1939. Well, that’s not entirely fair. As long as there are people, there will be gossip, and you can bet people talked about this kind of stuff. Just not openly. Not in a play.

Nov. 1-7, 2009

The Baton Rouge Arts Market will celebrate its 11th anniversary 8 a.m.-noon Saturday, Nov. 7, at Fifth and Main streets.

The name has changed, but the event is still the same. In the past, Baton Rouge Center for Contemporary Art’s annual live and silent auctions took on a theme.

Dava Sobel, author of the award-winning best-seller, Galileo’s Daughter, will speak at 2 p.m. today, Nov. 1, in the Adalié Brent Auditorium at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum.

Emotions are sometimes so intense that cast members are exhausted at the end of rehearsal. You wouldn’t think that would be the case. They are actors, after all, stepping into someone else’s story. Someone else’s life. Leaving it behind should be easy, right?

The LSU School of Art is collaborating with the Capital Area United Way, LSU’s Readers and Writers series and the LSU Student Union Art Gallery Committee in a series of exhibition events dealing with Invisible Populations Friday, Nov. 6-Dec. 4.

Maybe she was too busy putting the show together to stop and think about it. Drum Dances isn’t premiering only in Baton Rouge. No, the Saturday, Nov. 7, opening of this show will mark its world premiere.

You’ve heard Frank Sinatra sing it. You’ve heard Judy Collins sing it. Even Kenny Rogers has made a recording of it. But now you’ll get a chance to hear Stephen Sondheim’s showstopper “Send in the Clowns” in its original setting.

Somebody’s going to ask the question, so may as well get it out of the way. Haven’t they done this already? You know, Macbeth. Didn’t Baton Rouge Community College perform William Shakespeare’s classic last fall?

The Cangelosi Dance Project Company, led by artistic director Kris Cangelosi, will present a 40-minute choreographic work Glass Ceiling at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, on Baton Rouge Little Theatre’s Second Stage, 7155 Florida Blvd.

Tickets are on sale for Chinese Culture Night, set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at Independence Park Theatre, 7800 Independence Blvd.

The National World War II Museum in New Orleans will open doors Friday, Nov. 6, on a new complex made of The Victory Theater, Stage Door Canteen and The American Sector restaurant. The new $60 million addition is part of an ongoing $300 million expansion at the museum, 945 Magazine St.

They call her … well, they don’t really call her anything. She’s just a child, the perfect child. Menacing, in fact, in her perfection. “Well, she’s not evil from my point of view,” Colleen King said.

The story is his, but she’s keeper of the memory. Her grandfather’s memory, which he mapped out on a cassette tape before he died. That was on Dec. 28, 1981, just three months after the LSU Tiger Band spelled out his name mid field during halftime.

When someone says “Bourbon Street,” most people think of the nightspots. But for others, the raucous corridor in the French Quarter leads to home. Five such private and historic homes and their courtyards will open to the public 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, for the annual Treasures of Bourbon Street house tour sponsored by the non-profit Historic Bourbon Street Foundation.

Tickets are on sale for Ascension Community Theatre’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, set for Thursdays through Sundays, Nov. 5-8 and Nov. 12-14, at the Pasqua Theatre, 823 Felicity St., Gonzales. The play will be directed by Heidi Alford Frederic. Thursday through Saturday shows are at 7 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library will celebrate its 32nd annual Author/Illustrator Program Thursday-Friday, Oct. 29-30.

Dracula, the fictional vampire, refused to die. He lived on in an un-dead state, subsisting on human blood that he sucked from his victims’ necks after inflicting a bite to the carotid. Dracula, the cultural phenomenon, has proven equally resilient.

Antonio Salieri’s meeting with W.A. Mozart will be the theme of the Louisiana Sinfonietta’s second concert of the 2009-2010 season.

You’d think that the prospect of dancing in Louisiana wouldn’t seem so exciting after performing on the Great Wall of China. Or even in the Kremlin in Moscow. “We had to have our green cards with us at all times in the Kremlin,” Marty Dowds said.

A dramatic display of bird art, Mostly Birds, at Caffery Gallery grabs and holds the attention of fascinated viewers.

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