Elgin Community College notes

Spring semester activities:ŒA variety of activities will welcome new and returning students to Elgin Community College's spring semester. All of the following events are free and open to the public and will take place on the main campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

• Today-Thursday: Free popcorn, refreshments and keepsakes will be given to students from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the SRC hallway and the Instruction Center Lounge.

• Today: "Game Show Mania" will feature an action-packed, fast-paced, popular trivia game at noon in the SRC Hub Lounge.

• Wednesday: Balloon artist Holly Nagel returns to ECC to create various wild and not-so-wild animals, fish, lizards, flowers, bugs and costumes from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the SRC hallway.

• Wednesday: Kelly Dahl, a sixth-degree black belt in lsshinryu karate and licensed clinical social worker, will lead an interactive self-defense training session that focuses on personal safety through awareness, prevention, risk reduction, avoidance and basic techniques from noon to 1 p.m.

• Thursday: Cotton candy will be given to passers-by from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the SRC hallways.

• Monday-Feb. 1: Information and giveaways about heart disease in women will be available as part of the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Week in the SRC hallways. People also are encouraged to wear red on Feb. 1 to show support for the national Go Red for Women day.

• Jan. 30: Learn more about ECC's clubs and organizations during "Clubs in the HUB" from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the SRC HUB Lounge. This event also features the annual ChiliRama and will challenge students to ride BadaBing, the mechanical bull.

• Jan. 31: Cotton candy will be given to passers-by from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the SRC hallways. The day's events will conclude with basketball spirit night in the Spartan Events Center. The women will play Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, at 5:15 p.m. and the men will play Waubonsee at 7:15 p.m. Refreshments will be served and there will be several giveaways.

• Feb. 6: African acrobats will give a performance of fast-paced events and lots of body flexibility at noon in the SRC Jobe Lounge. The event is co-sponsored by the Black Student Association and African-American Heritage Month Committee.

ECC's welcome activities are sponsored by the Office of Student Life, College Programming Board, Student Government and Student Services. For information, call the Office of Student Life at (847) 214-7370 or www.elgin.edu/studentlife.

Nursing pre-admission exams:ŒThe Elgin Community College professional nursing program has scheduled opportunities in January to take the pre-admission exam for entry into the spring or fall 2009 classes.

Remaining available exams will be held at 9 a.m. or noon Jan. 31 in the Testing Center located in Room 108 of the Student Resource Center. The registration deadline is Sunday, and all seats are on a first-come/first-served basis. The building is located on the ECC main campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

The exam, sponsored by the National League for Nursing, is required prior to entering the nursing program. The nonrefundable fee for the test is $85, payable by cash, check or charge. Students must register and pay at nlnonlinetesting.org/pax.

Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express are accepted.

For information about the exam, call (847) 214-7219. For information about the nursing program, call (847) 214-7350 or visit the Web site at www.elgin.edu/nursing.

American Grands XIII:ŒElgin Community College presents American Grands XIII in three concerts, featuring 440 pianists from 48 communities performing on 12 grand pianos.

Musicians will take the stage at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. Feb. 2 in ECC's Visual and Performing Arts Center Blizzard Theater, in a showcase of players from all levels of talent -- amateur to pro, ages 6 to 80.

Previously a mainstay of the former St. Charles Music Festival, this ECC production is sponsored by Cordogan's Pianoland, Geneva, the event sponsor since its inception. Cordogan's provides and maintains all pianos for this huge undertaking each and every year. All 12 pianos will be in use for every piece in the concert, with anywhere from one to three musicians at each piano, accompanied by percussion.

Music Director Larry Dieffenbach performed with American Grands in 12 of the past concerts. He is on the music faculty at ECC, teaches privately in Geneva, is on the faculty of Kindermusik of St. Charles and is the organist/music director at the Little Home Church by the Wayside in Wayne. He also is founder/director of the St. Charles International Piano Competition. Dieffenbach made his orchestral debut under the baton of New York conductor Broch Macelherin.

Colin Holman will return as conductor, a role he has held for 12 of the 13 American Grands concerts. He maintains an active career as conductor and musicologist in the Chicago area as music director of the Fox Valley Concert Band, Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Brass Band and the St. Louis Brass Band. He also teaches undergraduate and graduate music history at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.

Jon Mortensen has returned as leader of the initial rehearsal, and will perform as percussionist with a full percussion section. He has been with American Grands since the first year, serving as percussionist, percussion arranger and assistant conductor. Mortensen, a music educator for the past 24 years, has a broad theater background, and has been principal timpanist for the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and the Woodstock Mozart Festival Orchestra since 1986.

Holman will lead the musicians in arrangements for multiple pianos that will highlight both classical works and popular music such as Rogers and Hammerstein's "Edelweiss" and "The Sound of Music," Beethoven's Symphony V in C minor, Amanda McBroom's "The Rose," M.C. Freedman and J. DeKnight's "Rock Around the Clock," and the Beatles' "Yesterday."

Tickets to American Grands XIII are $20 for adults and $15 for children age 12 and younger. Tickets for all performances in ECC's Arts Center are now available online at elgin.edu/arts or at the ECC box office in the Arts Center.

Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. To purchase tickets by phone, call (847) 622-0300. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express are accepted.

For more information about the ECC Arts Center's season, visit online at elgin.edu/arts.

Hear "Sound Opinions":ŒJim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, two Chicago-area newspaper rock critics and hosts of Chicago Public Radio's "Sound Opinions," will speak about the future of music on Feb. 6 at Elgin Community College.

The presentation will be held from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center Auditorium on ECC's main campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. The event is free and open to the public.

DeRogatis, a music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Kot, a music critic for the Chicago Tribune, will address an assortment of topics as they discuss the future of music.

Questions that will be asked are: what great music is flying under the radar, what music would be on the playlist in hell, and is the future of radio dead?

The duo also host "Sound Opinions," billed as the "world's only rock 'n' roll talk show" broadcast to more than 30 stations nationwide. The hour-long weekly show, based in Chicago and broadcast on WBEZ 91.5 FM, has the hosts mix a dose of the latest music news, personal commentary, and exclusive interviews and performances.

Every week, the show fires up smart and spirited discussions about a wide range of popular music, from cutting-edge underground rock and hip-hop, to classic rock, R&B, electronica, worldbeat, or just about any other genre you can name.

Their visit is sponsored by ECC's liberal, visual and performing arts division. For information, call (847) 214-7421.