Artifacts 12/21

Haupt, Ladybugs at Grace Cafe

Don Haupt Jr. will play Delta blues tonight at 8 at Grace Cafe, Themis and Spanish streets. Haupt will be preceded on stage at 7:30 p.m. by the Ladybugs.

Meet me in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- The Titanic, Sesame Street, African-American quilts and John Singer Sargent are some of the attractions in St. Louis currently and upcoming.

A display of recovered artifacts and recreated rooms from the doomed luxury liner the Titanic is at the St. Louis Science Center through April 14.

Phone (800) 456-SLSC or visit the Web site www.slsc.org for more information.

The Missouri History Museum is hosting a 2,500-square-foot exhibition that allows visitors to step into Sesame Street where they can sit in Big Bird's nest and appear on-camera with the Muppets. Phone (314) 454-3150 or visit www.mohistory.org for information.

"African-American Quilts" is a traveling exhibition of 20 contemporary quilts created by 10 women from the South.

The exhibition has been called "the visual equivalent of jazz." The quilts are different from the more familiar European style because they combine African textile ideas and symbols with American traditions.

The exhibition opens Jan. 12 and continues through April 16 at the Center of Contemporary Arts in St. Louis.

For more information, phone (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

Opening Feb. 9 at the St. Louis Art Museum is "John Singer Sargent Beyond the Portrait Studio: Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

Though Sargent is known for his portraits, the exhibition examines his talent with a wide range of subjects in a variety of media.

The show continues through May 12.

For information, phone (314) 721-0072 or visit www.slam.org.

'Fully Committed' now at The Rep

ST. LOUIS -- "Fully Committed," a comedy about deliciously bad behavior in a tony New York restaurant, is playing through Jan. 13 at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis Studio Theatre.

Actor Jay Russell plays all 39 characters in the comedy. The action revolves around Sam, a struggling actor from the Midwest who is working as a reservation clerk for an ultra-chic four-star restaurant. Sam must contend with dozens of diners desperate for a reservation along with a pretentious restaurant staff.

The theater is located at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, Mo.

Phone (314) 968-4925 for information.

Vendors sought for garden, hobby show

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Applications for vendors are being accepted by the Southern Garden & Hobby Marketplace to be presented Feb. 15-17 at the Carbondale Civic Center.

For information, phone Roxanne Conley at the Carbondale Convention & Tourism Bureau, (618) 529-4451.

'T-Rex' Imax movie at Pink Palace Museum

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- "T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous" continues through March 1 at the Imax Theater at the Memphis Pink Palace Museum.

The movie follows the mystical journey of 16-year-old Ally Hayden (Liz Stauber), the daughter of world-famous paleontologist Donald Hayden (Peter Horton of "Thirtysomething"). She sees her father discover a fossilized T-rex egg and is inspired to wander the corridors of the natural history museum where he works, beginning a dreamlike adventure through prehistory.

Her journey ends with a frightening and wondrous encounter with a 25-foot-tall, 25-ton Tyrannosaurus rex.

For information about show times, phone (910) 763-IMAX.

Rapture to sing

gospel at Shryock

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Rapture, an eight-member contemporary gospel group from Carbondale, will perform Jan. 26 at Shryock Auditorium.

Also appearing will be the Paducah, Ky., group Vocal.

Rapture recently released its third album, "N-Your Love," and is seen in a new gospel video on the Black Entertainment Television network.

The group also has performed at the Bobby Jones Gospel Explosion, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau and at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas.

They have performed in India and on PBS. They received the Best Group Award at the Illinois State Choir Convention and won first place at the Sound and Music Ministry National Talent Search.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.

For information, phone (618) 453-ARTS.

-- From staff reports