Recently hired University of Iowa women's rowing coach Steve Pritzker has had approximately four months to see the passion behind the Hawkeye fan base. Pritzker is hoping that the support toward anything Black and Gold carries over to his first home event this weekend: the Head of the Iowa.

The top bands of the University of Iowa School of Music will take center stage with the annual Band Extravaganza at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Band Extravaganza is a popular showcase for the Johnson County Landmark jazz band, the Symphony Band, and the Hawkeye Marching Band.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a free organ recital by guest artist Kevin Bowyer at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.

Iowa Percussion, a program in the University of Iowa School of Music, will present “Percussion from Outer Space,” a free performance set for 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.

Dance Gala 2012, the University of Iowa Department of Dance’s major annual event, kicks off tonight in Space Place Theater. Iowa Now provides this peek at dress rehearsal.

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Jason Lewis will read from his first novel, "The Fourteenth Colony," and play music as part of a free event at 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8, in the Times Club Café of Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Nick Twemlow and Joel Craig will read from their poetry at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

The University of Iowa Old Capitol Museum and Museum of Natural History—in collaboration with the UI Department of Geoscience—will host the eighth annual Creepy Campus Crawl this Friday, Oct. 26. This night of spooky fun is free and open to the public from 6:30–8:30 p.m.

The second production of the University Theatre Mainstage 2012-13 season, "Spring Awakening, A Rock Musical," will open at 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 9, in E.C. Mabie Theatre of the University of Iowa Theatre Building.

Party for art at the next University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) First Friday reception from 5-7 p.m. on Nov. 2, at hotelVetro! For $5, indulge in light hors d’oeuvres and drink specials from Formosa, and celebrate the “Spirit of Drawing” with local fashion illustrator Julie Johnson.

For many Americans, the Qur'an is difficult to read, its organization obscure, its messages cryptic or even threatening. Professor Carl W. Ernst will discuss strategies for making sense of the Qur'an's complex text during a series of events Nov. 1-2.

The University of Iowa Center for New Music (CNM) will present a free concert featuring guest artist Michael Norsworthy on clarinet and CNM director David Gompper on piano at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, in the Senate Chamber of Old Capitol on the UI campus.