Department of Ethnomusicology Chair Tim Rice began his two-year term this past Saturday as the newly elected president of the Society for Ethnomusicology. The SEM is a U.S.-based organization with an international membership of over 2,000 from six continents and a mission statement to promote the research, study and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts. Read more...

UCLA’s Hammer Museum stands inconspicuously on the corner of Wilshire and Westwood Boulevards. Students are unaware that the once-little museum now ranks with such art powerhouses as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Read more...

Toward the end of “Homebody/Kabul,” Tony Kushner’s sensational new play at the Mark Taper Forum, Milton Ceiling (Reed Birney) tries to explain binary duals to an Afghan woman he’s considering taking back to London. Read more...

As Lee Bontecou stepped up to the microphone in front of admiring guests at her art exhibit in the Hammer Museum, she realized her lowly position relative to the sound piece. Read more...

A slew of recent Buddhist art exhibits in the Los Angeles area are proving there’s a lot more to the religion than Zen wisdom and Shaolin warriors. Read more...

It’s a guilty pleasure for young bands to head to their local record stores on the day of their albums’ release dates for the sheer novelty of seeing their own music on the stands. Read more...

Oscar-winning editor Anne V. Coates remembers being excited but also intimidated when she found out that David Lean wanted her to edit “Lawrence of Arabia.” Coates was a young editor then, and “Lawrence of Arabia” not only gave her a big break into the editing business, but her work eventually won her an Academy Award. Read more...