A new spin on dance
By LYNN ISRAEL of the Tribune’s staff
Mary Verdi-Fletcher might get around in a wheelchair, but on the stage she’s a dancer in body, heart, mind and spirit. And the company she created more than 25 years ago continues to smash through walls of what some people think the disabled can and can’t do.

Spielberg gives to gay marriage  

Wagner reveals Stanwyck affair

Baldwin rails against courts

Gumbohead ready to stir up tasty sounds after pub crawl
By CHRIS BOECKMANN Special to the Tribune
In July 2004, after Gumbohead finished opening for New Orleans funk masters the Neville Brothers, saxophonist Charles Neville approached the band and gave it what might have been the best compliment it’s ever received.

Eagles to open Missouri State’s new arena
SPRINGFIELD - The classic rock band the Eagles will headline the first event at Missouri State University’s new JQH Arena.

LIVE MUSIC

BEHIND THE SCENES
Lyceum celebrates successes while unveiling new ’09 season
By LYNN ISRAEL of the Tribune’s staff
Arrow Rock Lyceum Artistic Director Quin Gresham is ushering out his last play of the 2008 season today - "The Mousetrap" - but he barely has a second to catch his breath.

Cruise praises Holmes’ Broadway performance
By ERIN CARLSON of The Associated Press
NEW YORK - Katie Holmes made her Broadway debut in "All My Sons," and her husband, Tom Cruise, thought it was a knockout.

ON STAGE

Orr Street Gallery hosts reception for Robert Friedman
The 16 pieces by Robert Friedman now hanging at Orr Street Gallery reflect important influences in his life from both his travels and experiences with former teachers.

Artists let imaginations run wild
Josie Sullivan and Lisa Bartlett celebrate the different and the unusual in a new show titled "Two Alternative Views" opening Wednesday at Tellers Bar and Gallery, Ninth and Broadway. 

Asian artists draw crowds
By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer
SHANGHAI, China - A Himalayan boulder in pink, a buxom pig sculpture strutting on silver hoofs in a green dress and pearls, waist-high white porcelain penguins - these and more were recently offered as three major art fairs converged on China’s commercial capital.

EXHIBITS

LITERARY LINKS
Benjamin Franklin wrote: "In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes." Since Franklin’s time, another certainty has been added to his list, to the delight of the publishing industry - every four years, just before the presidential election, the number of books about politics swells to hurricane proportions, and the amount of information and passion that these books contain is mind-boggling.

BEST SELLERS