Arts & Entertainment

My favorite part of the year is about to come to a close. When a lot of people are getting excited and geared up for Christmas in November and December, I am actively celebrating the start of Oscar season. Oscar season is when most of the films that will eventually be nominated are released, as well as all of the seemingly hundreds of awards shows that precede the Oscars.

The Spirit of Uganda brought Luther College a taste of Ugandan culture through song and dance on Feb. 21. The show was presented by the Performing Arts Committee and sponsored by the Luther College Diversity Council.

Eric Hutchinson brought Luther students to their feet, with songs mainly from his album “Sounds Like This.” Some popular favorites included his piano pounding “OK, It’s Alright With Me," "Oh!,” “Outside Villanova” and his top rated on iTunes “Rock & Roll” for an encore.

Ethiopian painter Salah Mubarek is bringing a splash of color to the CFL and the Black History Conference Feb. 15-16.

Mubarek’s exhibition in the CFL balcony, “Pursuit of the Spiritual,” consists of 24 watercolor paintings.

On Friday Feb. 17, Marty’s will swing to the tune of Six Appeal, a visiting all-male a capella group from Minneapolis.

Six Appeal, established in 2006, boasts a wide variety of songs, remixes and on-stage antics that, according to their website, “excite audiences of all ages and musical tastes.” Taking inspiration from the top of the charts, classic favorites and upbeat jazz pieces, Six Appeal hopes to appeal to all listeners.

Zeus, Thor, Jupiter, trolls, dragons, giants. Douglas “Dag” Rossman, local Decorah storyteller and author, says that it’s our imagination that makes these mythical creatures real.

“Mythology is a living system,” Rossman said. “You are not confined to the old stories of a thousand years ago, but myth speaks to us today. You can use the old characters in new ways that we understand today. It’s a trip into the imagination.”

It’s been an interesting few years for the Doomtree crew. Since the release of their first studio album, a self-titled effort which came out in 2008, all seven members of the Minneapolis-based hip-hop collective have put out albums consisting of either solo or collaborative material.