Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990 TAG: 9004140165
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Whether appearing with the Goodfriend Kandinsky Trio or as a solo recitalist, he typically has a few amiable remarks for the audience. It's his way of de-formalizing the occasion, of breaching the imaginary wall between performer and audience. It's also an occasional forum for Goodfriend's well-developed sense of humor, as those attending his recital last Sunday can attest.
As an introduction to Sarasate's "Caprice Basque," he told a vivid tale of romance and derring-do in the Spanish Pyrenees. Only when he delivered the final line, about a young woman who became known as "the Basque of the Houndervilles," did the audience realize it had been skillfully and elaborately set up.
There was a moment of startled silence. It takes a second to get used to the idea of a joke at a violin recital and to decide whether it's all right to acknowledge it. Then everyone laughed heartily.
The occasion was a recital given by Goodfriend to raise money for a scholarship fund. Sponsored jointly by the violinist (who donated his services) and the Thursday Morning Music Club, the event raised an estimated $1,000. It will help a deserving Roanoke Valley student - to be chosen by competition in May - study music in college.
Besides being musically exciting, amusing and pleasantly situated (in Greene Memorial United Methodist Church at the end of a a fine spring day), the event was commendable in spirit. Perhaps other performers will follow generous Goodfriend's example - with or without the joke.
More works by Cage
Composer-artist John Cage, who made a series of striking watercolors during a 1988 workshop at Virginia Tech's Miles C. Horton Center for Arts and Sciences, was back at the center this week.
The original series was called "New River Watercolors" and consisted of tracings around stones taken from the New River. Cage used the I Ching, or Chinese Book of Changes, to choose the stones, situate them on paper and select his colors and brushes.
The method is called chance operation. Cage, who is best known as a composer, has long used the method in creating music.
In his latest trip to the Horton Center, Cage blended smoke and fire into chance operation to make new designs. He also used exceptionally large brushes, including a Brobdingnagian monster of 84 inches that was made for him by architecture students at Tech.
It is not known at this point whether the new works will be exhibited. It's the nature of the workshops to see what happens before making decisions like that, according to workshop founder and Tech art professor Ray Kass.
Kudos to:
Roanoke sculptor Betty Branch, who will be the only American exhibitor this spring in the first Salon International de la Sculpture Contemporaine in Paris.
She will have two pieces from her Maternita series in the exhibit, which opens May 14 at the Galerie Maurice Ravel.
About 30 sculptors will exhibit in the show. It runs through June 17.
Blacksburg mystery writer Sharyn McCrumb, who has won an Agatha Award from Malice Domestic for best mystery short story of 1989. Her winning entry, "A Wee Doch and Doris," was published by Mysterious Press in "Mistletoe Mysteries."
Malice Domestic is an organization of mystery writers and fans of the form. The Agatha Awards are named for the late Agatha Christie, the prolific British mystery writer.
Marshall planned
Dance junkies in the Roanoke Valley usually have to go elsewhere for a fix. It's a glaring redoubt of anemia in the valley's otherwise robust arts environment.
Relief is on the way in the form of Susan Marshall & Company, a New York-based group that will perform in Mill Mountain Theatre the night of April 23. In experimental dance circles, the Marshall company is known for programs of exceptional originality, craftsmanship and physicality.
Marshall and her dancers are being brought in by The Arts Council of Roanoke Valley, which has no peer at spotting a void and filling it, in cooperation with Mill Mountain Theatre and the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts. It's part of their funky One Night Stands series.
Unfortunately, the Marshall company will be to the dance void what a shower is to a drought: welcome but temporary relief. It's a grand opportunity for the valley's dance buffs, however, for it stands to reason that the sponsors will bring in other attractive dance programs if attendance is strong on April 23.
Pizzazz for the Prez
Puppets by Pizzazz will be among the performers at Monday's Easter egg roll on the White House lawn.
They will do four performances of "Dolley Madison's 4th of July Puppet Show," according to Jim Tucker, who is partners with Mimi Butler in the Roanoke-based children's entertainment enterprise.
Asked how Puppets by Pizzazz came to be selected for the egg roll, Tucker said it was simple. They sent a brochure to the White House, which called and asked them to perform.
by CNB