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Features

FEATURES

Exhibit showcases unique garments

Admirers of artistic expression who happen to meander into Kresge Art Museum anytime within the next couple of months may find themselves surrounded by the extraordinary thrust into the bizarre or engulfed in the eccentric.

FEATURES

'Tilly' release sticks to familiar sound

It's not a stretch to see the Omaha, Neb. music scene in terms of a high school. Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst is its mopey, yet overachieving class president, Tim Kasher (Cursive, The Good Life) is the equally-busy but less-recognized vice president.

FEATURES

MTV, BET fall short of potential

I hate MTV. I hate MTV because it's fresh. The art and graphic design, the editing, the visual imagery, the promotion, the press, the news updates, the wardrobe, the voice-overs, the cuts, the commercials, the intricate marketing, the liberal-based advocacy stuff, the guitar-chord feel, the obviously intelligible top-dollar, on- and off-screen talent.

FEATURES

Trio brings chamber music to Wharton

World-renowned chamber musicians The Verdehr Trio will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Wharton Center. The Verdehr Trio is composed of MSU School of Music faculty members Walter Verdehr and Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr on violin and clarinet, respectively, and Western Michigan University professor Silvia Roederer on piano.

FEATURES

Music, sun bring out large crowd

It may be too early to tell, but festival coordinator Sharon Radtke estimated that 75,000 to 80,000 people attended the 43rd East Lansing Art Festival. While the festival's official estimate — made with the aid of aerial photography — was not available at press time, Radtke said "(on Saturday) the area was filled from noon to close." Radtke did have a way of measuring how many people visited the festival's children's area on Saturday, as 1,000 balloons were given away throughout the day.

FEATURES

Exciting acting missing in 'Da Vinci Code'

The novel was better than the film. But what's new? Because Dan Brown's fictional tale "The Da Vinci Code" had to be stripped down to the bare bones to fit into an acceptable length of time, the level of suspense in the film was considerably less than the novel's. The action wasn't able to build upon itself because the scenes quickly flicked between the most important aspects of the plot.

FEATURES

Weekend happenings

MUSIC: Friday, May 19: • Starfarm and Uptown DJs Rick's American Cafe 224 Abbot Road (517)351-2285 Doors open at 4 p.m. • The Dirtbombs, The Ghettobillies, Dead Stream Corners, and Dr. Xeron and the Moogulaters The Temple Club 500 E.

FEATURES

'Joseph' impresses with music, story line weak

The celebrated Broadway musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" exploded on the Wharton Center stage this week with a dazzling array of wonder, excitement and enough sugarcoated, whimsical pizzazz to inflict a breakout of instant diabetes. The story is a classic and simple biblical tale of mercy and compassion set with a backdrop of ancient Egypt.

FEATURES

(SCENE) opening urban art exhibit on Friday

(SCENE) Metrospace, an East Lansing gallery devoted to the unconventional, will open The Urban Show on Friday as a freshly devised creative medium, stressing the importance of diversifying artistic legitimacy. "The mission is to expose the community to things you're not going to find in sales-oriented galleries around town," said Director and Curator Peter Richards about the local gallery.

FEATURES

Paul Simon's newest album rich with activist tone

Rhymin' Simon has still got it. The vocal delivery is still sharp as ever, and the lyrics are cleverly constructed on Paul Simon's latest album — "Surprise." For the duration of the album, which was released on May 9, there's an overall sense of calm and almost passiveness floating through all 11 new tunes.

FEATURES

Local band gets fresh outlook

If your band went through 20 members in five years, you'd want to change your name too. The Lansing band that was once Porno Jazz didn't want to rush into fresh nomenclature, so it'll be playing under the name The Artists Formerly Known As Porno Jazz at 8 p.m.

FEATURES

White, Benson shine with Raconteurs

In rock 'n' roll, the collaborative spirit can be an inconstant muse. When established artists get together to create new material, there's much to contend with — rock star egos, for instance. The path to a successful collaboration is a balance beam.

FEATURES

Newest Chili Peppers album refreshing

The Red Hot Chili Peppers is the last universal band. Your mother likes them, your brother likes them, and the hermit you shared your freshman dorm room with owns several of the group's albums. The band can excite the better part of a generation by simply returning.

FEATURES

'Art School Confidential' portrays bloody, comedic picture for viewers

Picture some colorful art students in the midst of a murder mystery, and voilá, the canvas is set for John Malkovich's latest flick — "Art School Confidential." The movie isn't quite a masterpiece, but it does have plenty of laughs and a plot that's about as lively as a Jackson Pollock drip painting. At times, the film seems very disjointed between scenes and kind of random.