You know a director is having fun with his latest production when he breaks into song while on his cell phone.
“It’s time to put on makeup, it’s time to light the lights,” Mike Swymeler, director of “Nunsense 2: The Second Coming,” sings, referencing “The Muppet Show” theme. “Nunsense 2” opens tonight at Robidoux Landing Playhouse.
No doubt, Kermit and the Muppets would approve.
But the veteran director’s songbite isn’t meant to honor a beloved old show. It’s a nod to the Little Sisters of Hoboken, who stole audiences’ hearts by ticking their funnybones in the original “Nunsense.” And now, those rollicking, righteous ladies of the habit are back for another song-filled frolic.

Nathan Martinez is headed for the House of Mouse. That would be Mickey Mouse.
“I got a job with the Disney Design Group as a creative assistant,” he says.
But before the Missouri Western State University senior and Elwood, Kan., resident says so long, he’ll showcase his creativity in a senior art show in Potter Hall Gallery 206.

A Sunday gospel brunch at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club served up more than a tasty meal for Allen Bailey.
It served up inspiration.
Clips of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were being shown during the event, and one segment made a lasting impression.
Bailey says the quote from Dr. King — “We can all be great because we can all serve” — inspired him to found the Harlem Gospel Choir in 1986.

When Wade Williamson takes the stage at Cafe Acoustic Saturday, he’ll get by with a little help from his friends.
The singer/songwriter will be joined on stage by former Crash of ‘29 bandmate Corey Riley. Oh, and any other friends who drop in.
“Friends come and go when they can,” Williamson says.
That laid-back, go-with-the-flow attitude means that audiences most likely will be treated to something different every time they see Williamson perform.

One day, Jason Crabb bought a banjo. He figured if he purchased the instrument, he’d have to commit to learning how to actually play it.
“I just wanted to try something different,” he says.
Todd Ward took almost the same path as Crabb. About four years ago, he decided to learn how to play the guitar.
Now the guitarist and the banjo man are strumming in a band called Steel Wool Mill.

Have you heard the one about the comedian who got his nickname from a toilet bowl commercial?
It’s no joke.
When he takes the stage at Club 59 tonight, Tyrone Dillard will be introduced to audiences as Tidy Dillard.
The “Tidy” part comes from the old Tidy Bowl TV commercials.
“People used to call me the little toilet bowl guy,” he says. It was because he was the smallest one on the team when he played sports.
The nickname stuck.

Photographer Nick Vedros turned his friend into a gnome.
He gave him a beard and had a costume made, complete with pointy hat. Then, he photographed his gnome in humorous situations.
You can see some of those photographs at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building gallery on the Northwest Missouri State University campus in Maryville, Mo. Vedros’ art, part of the visiting Artists Series, will be on exhibit through Feb. 29.
“I was always seeing his work in famous magazines,” says Craig Warner, assistant professor of art at Northwest.
Warner says the exhibit consists of approximately 25 to 30 pieces of Vedros’ work. Those humorous gnome shots are intermixed in with other serious pieces.

Love gone sour and a woman scorned.
Oops, make that a man scorned and you have the ingredients for the ballet “Carmen.”
A young Spanish soldier falls in love with the fiery gypsy Carmen. Deserting his post, he joins a band of smugglers. But, Carmen soon falls for the bullfighter Escamillo.
Then, love turns fatal when Don Jose confronts Carmen at the bullring.
That’s the soap-opera-style tale audiences will become a part of when the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre of Russia presents the national touring production of “Carmen” Wednesday, Jan. 30, in the Northwest Missouri State University Performing Arts Center.

You’ve got to love a band that describes its music on its MySpace page as “An extra fluffy down feather pillow that weighs a hundred tons.”
Ouch.
That’s Fortitude for you.
If the above description doesn’t get your attention, perhaps this will: That fluffy, weighty sound is coming from a three-piece band.

The acts that Fast Johnny Ricker has played with or opened for read like a list of rock and blues royalty.
There’s the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Leon Russell, Bo Diddley, George Thorogood, Nick Lowe, The Byrds...
The list goes on and on.
And the blues/rock guitarist with the flying fingers is returning to St. Joseph tonight. Ricker and his band will be playing from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Magoon’s (Cover is $6. A Customer Appreciation Night will be held from 7 to 9 p.m.).
“He just has a rapport with the audience,” says Barry Woodhull, Magoon’s owner. “Everybody’s up on their feet the whole time.”
Not bad for a musician who started out on what he calls “the hotel circuit” when he was 5 years old.