Articles

Cultural Trail Peace Walk first look

Ground will be broken today for another leg of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. Also being touted: A $2 million memorial to great humanitarians (including Susan B. Anthony, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Albert Einsten).

Take a look at renderings of the…

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Jazz Kitchen goes smoke-free

As of tomorrow, June 26, the city’s top jazz club, The Jazz Kitchen, will adapt an all smoke-free/all the time policy. 

You can still puff on the patio, but the club itself–which hosts top national and local musicians–with stress clean air…

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Ticketing Tut

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is hoping to make a big splash with its about-to-open King Tut exhibition. (For details, click here.)

But are artifacts from the boy king a big enough draw to get you to part with $25…

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Some “bests” better than others?

A number of arts organizations are making the push now for your votes in The Indy Channel’s A-List competition. Soon we’ll be seeing Nuvo’s Best of picks and the latest superlatives from Indianapolis Monthly.

Question: What is the value of such…

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You-review-it Monday

For me, the weekend (starting with Thursday, of course), included a belated trip to “Octopus” at the Phoenix Theatre and a mellow opening night for Symphony on the Prairie, featuring the music of the Grateful Dead. In and around those…

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DINING: Game on at food-and-play spot

When you play Skee-ball and aim for the
100-point hole, you miss most of the time. However, if you aim for the 30, you have a much better chance
of scoring. You might not get a high score, but you’ll win enough
tickets to want to play again. How does that translate into my dining
experience at the new Dave & Buster’s?

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The tweet smell of success

Yes, I waited a while to embrace this particular communication tool, but I’m now official a part of the Twitter world. Want to follow? Just click on the site and add IBJarts to you list.

You can also add IBJdining, which…

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Comic apologies: a brief history

All the dialogue in the previous post about David Letterman’s apology to Sarah Palin sent me searching for previous comedian apologies. Here are some I found:

Jamie Fox to Miley Cyrus.

Bill Maher to Pope Benedict

Al Franken to John…

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Letterman apologizes to Palin

(Lou Harry is now twittering the arts at IBJarts. Follow along…)

After a few days of back-and-forthing, David Letterman has offered an on-air apology to Sarah Palin for a joke he made referencing her daughter. In case you missed it, here’s…

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Film fest titles announced

(Hey Twitter-ers:  Follow Lou Harry’s A&E at    IBJARTS)  

The Indianapolis International Film Festival has announced its lineup for its shifted-to-summer 11-day July event. You can find the full schedule here.

As previously noted, the festival has not only shifted time, but location as…

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Arts backer Efroymson returns to contemporary museum he helped start

Jeremy Efroymson recently agreed to return to the financially flailing Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art as its executive
director and work for free. Efroymson, one of the museum’s early leaders, has a strategy for seeing IMOCA through a financial
rough spot, but what remains unclear is how the museum will wean itself off his support.

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DINING: No waffling, Maxine’s delivers

It felt weird to pull into a gas station parking lot in search of lunch. But we forgot we were in a former auto repair shop
as soon as we walked into Maxine’s
Chicken & Waffles, attached to the Citgo station at Ohio and East streets.

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You-review-it Monday

This week, for me, included Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s “India Ever After” and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s tribute to Irving Berlin. More on both in the upcoming IBJ print edition.

I also enjoyed strolling through White River State Park for the…

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Emptying the arts notebook

Some quick notes:

-If you had mixed feelings about the Tony Awards coverage on Sunday (and have a bit of a mean streak in you), then check out this hilariously rude recap from the knuckleheads at Broadway Abridged. And if…

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Bottoms Up at TOTS

Hot on the heals of its successful run of “Does This Show Make My Butt Look Big,” Theatre on the Square will soon announce a July opening for a new below-the-belt show, “America’s Next Top Bottom.”

The “inter-active, reality late-nite series,” a staple at…

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Top 200 artists since 1900

Yesterday, the London Times published a list of the top 200 artists since 1900. The rankings were based on over 1.4 million votes.

Before you click over and take a look, let’s have some fun:

1. See how many of the top…

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You-review-it Monday

So what did you do this weekend?

From “Janis Rocks” at Birdy’s to the Indianapolis Symphony’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” to “Wicked” at the Murat, there was a lot to do. 

I caught “Wicked” on Thursday (review coming up next week in the print…

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DINING: Binkley’s Kitchen & Bar reclaims former drug store site

Binkley’s Drug Store occupied the corner of Kessler and College from 1928 to the early
1970s. Its namesake now occupying the same spot, Binkley’s Kitchen & Bar, seems equally built
to last—a friendly neighborhood joint that glances back without wallowing in nostalgia and stays progressive without
being
trendy.

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White River park passes on balloon

Conner Prairie has $2.2 million riding on a ballooning exhibit that opened June 6. One thing that won’t stand in the way of
its success is a competing ride–at least not at White River State Park.

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NYC4: “Toxic Avenger” etc.

Fourth in a series of blogs from my recent NYC trip.

As mentioned previously, this trek to New York included visits to the Broadway productions of “Hair,” “Reasons to Be Pretty,” and “9 to 5,” all of which are up for…

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