Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302180145
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis-Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
GUITARISTS' ROOTS DEEP IN RURAL LIVING
Call it the "music of hunger."Those who play the blues hunger for the pleasures, as well as the necessities, of life.
Those who sing gospel hunger for spiritual renewal.
Those who carry on the folk traditions are sustained by their roots.
For some, those roots are in rural Virginia.
The Virginia Piedmont Guitarists Tour, a group of blues, folk and gospel guitarists from around the state, will present a concert and media show Tuesday at New River Community College in Dublin. It starts at 7 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium.
Produced by the Virginia Folklife Program, a service of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the program combines live performances with short video documentaries about the Piedmont guitar tradition.
The Piedmont guitar style is characterized by its finger-picking technique. The guitarist makes one guitar do the work of several instruments by using his thumb for the bass line while picking out a melody with his fingers.
Years ago, the technique was popular among black banjo players and is thought to be derived from the music of West African lutes. Later, it was used by some great blues musicians, including Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt.
Five guitarists and one harmonica player will perform in Tuesday's concert. Two of the guitarists, John Jackson of Fairfax and John Cephas of Bowling Green, have each received the Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In addition, Cephas and his partner Phil Wiggins, harmonica, have received W.C. Handy awards for "Blues Album of the Year."
Others in the tour are John Jackson, a Rappahannock County native whose repertoire features rags, blues and country breakdowns, and 84-year-old Daniel Womack of Roanoke who performs the spirituals and gospel songs he learned as a youngster in Pittsylvania County.
Patrick County's Turner and Lynn Foddrel, a father-and-son duo, are also performing. They recently played their version of the Piedmont blues at Carnegie Hall.
Admission to Tuesday's show is $5 for the public and free for NRCC students. Tickets will be available at the door.
\ SPEAKING OF GUITARS: Stanley Lorton of Floyd has been making them for nearly 15 years.
He's been making violins, dulcimers and mandolins, too.
The 73-year-old craftsman says instrument making is a hobby for him - an exacting hobby.
"I don't use any wood that's not aged at least six years," he said. "The older the wood, the better the instrument."
Lorton makes his instruments from maple, spruce, willow, chestnut, cherry and other woods, some aged as long as 50 years.
He and other skilled instrument makers will demonstrate their talents Saturday at Cockram's General Store in downtown Floyd. The artisans will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to repair broken instruments, sell handmade instruments and take special orders.
For more information, call Roger Dickerson at 745-4868 or Cockram's General Store at 745-4563.
\ HOW TO FIGHT SATURDAY BOREDOM: You could get a temporary tatoo, have your palm read or engage in Velcro wall-jumping.
Velcro wall-jumping?
Yep. That's just one of many diversions at Squires Student Center Saturday. The Virginia Tech Union is sponsoring its first "Winterfest" celebration, an all-day event organizers are hoping will become an annual attraction.
The fun starts at noon and continues until after midnight. In addition to the circus-type amusements, the festival features some excellent entertainment. Presentations by Virginia Tech artists, dancers, musicians and actors, as well as shows featuring guest artists, are planned throughout the day.
Admission to most events is free. The game room in Squires Student Center will offer discounts, too.
For details, check today's Arts & Entertainment calendar.
\ COFFEE, TEA AND FIDDLEDEEDEE: Award-winning fiddler Tim Donely and his Part-Time Pickers will play tonight at Gabriel's Psaltery in Blacksburg's Christ Episcopal Church.
The coffeehouse concert is a benefit for the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley.
Opening the show is SweetBrier, a Celtic band performing music from the British Isles.
A $3.50 cover charge gets you in. While you're there, you may buy sweet pastries, coffee and tea.
The church is at Church and Jackson streets.
\ WHO'S THE FUNNY MAN? If you're a night owl, you've probably seen funny man A.J. Jamal on "The Arsenio Hall Show."
The comedian also has appeared on cable TV's Showtime and HBO networks and has opened for stars such as Cher, Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin.
Jamal will be the master of ceremonies for the annual "Block Show" sponsored by Radford University's Black Greek Council and Black Awareness Programming Board. It starts at 8 p.m. Saturday in Preston Auditorium.
The show is becoming a popular tradition at Radford University. It showcases the talents of five of the best Greek stepping teams on campus.
Travis Williamson, chairman of the Black Student Affairs Council, is "stepping" for Alpha Phi Alpha in Saturday's show.
"Stepping is a type of rhythmic dancing that was born in Africa," he noted. "Beats and rhythm are put together. Some steppers use canes, some use sticks and they do a lot of hamboning."
Admission to the show is $5 with proceeds benefiting the Thomas Hamlet Memorial Scholarship, an academic scholarship for minority students at Radford University.
The event is part of the Black History Month celebration.
\ FOR SQUARES ONLY: The Blacksburg Old Time Music and Dance Group will have its monthly square dance Saturday at 8 p.m. in Gilbert Linkous Elementary School.
The traditional mountain dances are open to beginners and experts alike. Caller Ron Buchanan will teach all the steps.
If you are a little rusty, be at the school by 7:30 for the square dance workshop.
Musicians for Saturday's dance are fiddler Shay Garriock and the Brush Mountain Sand Sifters of Blacksburg.
There's a $4 admission charge at the door. The school is on Toms Creek Road in Blacksburg.
\ A COUNTING WE WILL GO: The acclaimed Count Basie Orchestra will visit Virginia Tech Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. concert in Burruss Auditorium. Frank Foster is the leader of the band.
Foster joined the orchestra right out of the Army and was its principal sax player from 1953 to 1964. He is the third jazzman to follow the legendary Count Basie as conductor. Basie founded the orchestra in 1935.
The orchestra has received 15 Grammy Awards for recordings, including the 1992 Grammy Hall of Fame Award for "Every Day I Sing the Blues."
Under Foster's direction, the 19-member band has performed with Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz greats. The orchestra played for two presidential inaugurations for Ronald Reagan, as well as a royal command performance for Queen Elizabeth.
Thursday's appearance is part of the Virginia Tech Union's Entertainment Series. Tickets are on sale at the box office in Squires Student Center.
Ticket prices are $14 for adults, $7 for children under 12, $11 for Virginia Tech faculty and staff or $4 for Tech students. For information, call the box office at 231-5615.