Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992 TAG: 9201160143
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis-Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
JFK DEATH TOPIC OF TECH PRESENTATION BUREAU.
I was in Mrs. Wilson's fifth-grade classroom when the news broke.I remember Mrs. Wilson quietly saying, "The president has been shot."
I remember feeling embarrassed and confused when a few of the children in that classroom cheered after hearing the announcement.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was not politically popular with all Americans. I suppose I came to that realization on Nov. 22, 1963, even though I didn't understand it at the time.
Confusion over the assassination of President Kennedy lingers. Books and songs and movies try to make sense out of senselessness.
Political humorist Bob Harris has spent years trying to figure it out. In his research, he has followed a paper trail that includes thousands of newspaper and magazine articles and more than 500 books about the assassination.
"I have studied the available sources," Harris says, "in addition to conducting a number of interviews and examining much of the evidence myself in Washington, D.C."
Harris, like many others, has his theories.
"Who Shot JFK?" is a multimedia show produced by Harris and billed as "the comedy you won't want to believe."
Harris says the humor comes from the absurdity of official claims about the assassination.
He maintains that President Kennedy was not murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald but by two gunmen as part of CIA efforts to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba and increase American involvement in Vietnam.
Finally, Harris says he created "Who Shot JFK?" with the hope of preventing history from repeating itself.
Harris will visit Virginia Tech Wednesday as part of the Virginia Tech Union's Speaker Series.
His presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Squires Student Center Colonial Hall.
Admission is free, but those who have seen the show say the emotional toll is costly.
\ CHAMBER MUSIC: The Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia, organized by Virginia Tech music professor James Glazebrook, will perform Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. in the university's Squires Recital Salon.
The 25-member professional orchestra features musicians from the Roanoke and Charleston, W.Va., symphonies, as well as members of the university's music faculty. The concert will include works by Haydn, Respighi, Copland and Ibert.
Glazebrook, who will conduct the orchestra, noted that each piece on the program features the 13-member string section with varying combinations of wind, keyboard and percussion instruments.
Haydn's Symphony No. 51 is for pairs of oboes and horns, bassoon and strings. It also has an outstanding horn part, said to be the highest ever written.
The works by Respighi, Copland and Ibert were all written between 1925 and 1930. They represent a variety of styles, ranging from the serious to the irreverent.
Tickets are $5 for adults or $3 for students and senior citizens.
To make reservations for either performance, call the Squires Student Center box office at 231-5615.
\ FIDDLIN' AROUND: The newly formed New River Valley Banjo, Fiddle and Dance Club will be swinging to the sounds of three bluegrass and old-time bands Saturday at Dublin's New River Valley Fairgrounds. You're invited to join in from 7 to 10 p.m. at the gymnasium.
The Highlanders, the Iron Mountain String Band and Branching Out will perform.
A flatfooting contest is set to begin around 9:15. The best dancer (or the one who holds out the longest) will receive a $50 savings bond.
New River Community College is sponsoring the club. It will meet regularly to offer folks in the community a chance to socialize . . . and sashay to good ol' mountain music.
Admission Saturday is free but donations are appreciated to help pay traveling expenses for the bands.
\ HOLY HAIRSPRAY! The New York Knockouts, eight buxom boxers with the biggest hair you've ever seen, will square off Saturday, beginning at 8 p.m., at Sackett's Nightclub and Restaurant in Radford.
"Foxy Boxing" is what you'll see, according to promoters of this show.
The Knockouts have appeared in clubs around the country, as well as on such TV shows as "Current Affair" and "Geraldo."
A limited number of advance tickets are on sale now. General admission is $8 and reserved ringside chairs are $12. To charge by phone, call 731-0647 or 731-0131.
\ JAZZ IT UP: Pianist Peter Lederer of Seattle, Wash., will join Virginia Tech's Joe Kennedy Jr. on violin for a jazz concert Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the Squires Haymarket Theatre.
Lederer has conducted symphony, opera and operetta in Germany and Czechoslovakia.
He also had his own radio program in Prague and Istanbul where he played with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. For several years, Lederer was pianist for jazz violinist Joe Venuti.
Local musicians Bill Ray, drums, and Clarence Seay, bass, will perform with Lederer and Kennedy in Tuesday's concert.
Tickets are $3 and will be available at the ticket office in Squires Student Center one hour before the performance.
For more information, call Virginia Tech's Division of Performing Arts at 231-5200.
\ COME FLY WITH ME: Everyone who ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut will want to be in Virginia Tech's Colonial Hall at Squires Student Center Thursday.
At 4 p.m., Nancy Jane Sherlock, one of NASA's astronaut candidates, will speak about her work and her training in a public lecture sponsored by students of Virginia Tech's Human Factors Society.
Sherlock was selected for NASA's astronaut training and evaluation program last January and began training in July. Completion of the program will qualify her for a future assignment as a mission specialist for Space Shuttle flights.
Admission to Thursday's lecture is free.
Donna Alvis-Banks is an editorial assistant in the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley