Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 5, 1993 TAG: 9311040177
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis-Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Let's face it. Diplomatically speaking, we're depraved.
We love those jokes about Bill Clinton (How does he play the saxophone without inhaling?) . . . we can't resist the vision of Marilyn Quayle singing "I Want a Man With a Slow Mind" . . . we're itching to see Al Gore play the title role in "Secret Ozone Man."
That's why we're shelling out six bucks to see the Steps.
Capitol Steps, the musical group that specializes in political lampoonery, will be at Radford University Saturday for one performance at 8 p.m. in Preston Auditorium. Most of the members are former (understandably!) congressional staffers. Some of them still have jobs in Congress.
The musicians have been performing together since 1981. They've recorded 11 albums, including "76 Bad Loans," "We Arm the World," "Stand by Your Dan" and "Fools on the Hill." You may have seen them on public TV or network shows such as "Good Morning, America," "Entertainment Tonight" or "Nightline."
Tickets for Saturday's show are $6 for the public or $4 for Radford University students and staff. To get them, call the Heth Hall information desk at 831-5420.
\ PARTY FOR ANIMALS: The New River Wildlife Center, a local agency helping rehabilitate and return injured and orphaned animals to the wild, is having a benefit concert Sunday at Blacksburg's South Main Cafe. Some of the best bands in this neck of the woods will play.
The crowd pullers include Jon Benfield, The Kind, Zookeeper, About Time, The Convergence Jazz Quartet, The El Caminos and Supermax.
The bands will start playing at 4 p.m. Sunday. The cover charge is only $3, and proceeds benefit the wildlife center.
South Main Cafe is at 117 S. Main St.
\ SYMPHONIC SATURDAY: The New River Valley Symphony will present its fall concert Saturday at 8 p.m. in Virginia Tech's Burruss Auditorium. David Widder, clarinet, is the featured soloist.
Widder, a music professor at Tech and director of the University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, also directs Tech's summer band and choir camp for middle school students. He takes the spotlight Saturday in Rossini's Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra. It follows Mozart's "Don Giovanni" Overture, the concert opener.
The program also features Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie and Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2. Conductor Jim Glazebrook says the musicians are particularly excited about the Hanson work.
"It was written in the 1930s and has enjoyed an unbroken popularity since then," he noted.
Tickets for the concert are $5 for adults or $3 for students and senior citizens. For reservations, call 231-5615.
\ YES! JAZZ! The New River Arts Council, with help from Blacksburg Cable and Bravo, is putting on a jazz festival Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. in the Lyric Theatre building on Blacksburg's College Avenue. Members of the council will be there to tell you about plans for the new Creative Arts Center.
Several local jazz groups will perform throughout the afternoon. Here's the schedule:
\ Noon The Virginia Tech Orchestra Combo with Joe Kennedy Jr.
\ 12:30 p.m. The Virginia Tech Jazz Orchestra
\ 1 p.m. The New Virginians
\ 2 p.m. Jazz jam session
\ 3 p.m. Dixieland jazz by the Riverboat Ramblers
\ 4 p.m. The Dave Figg Quartet
\ 5 p.m. The Convergence Jazz Quartet
Admission is free. If you play a musical instrument, you're invited to join the fun at the 2 p.m. jam session.
\ CALLING ALL FOLKS: The annual Appalachian Folk Arts Festival gets under way at 9 a.m. Saturday in Radford University's Heth Ballroom. The event, sponsored by the Appalachian Events Committee, will go on until 4 p.m.
Real live Appalachian artists will demonstrate skills such as basket weaving, instrument making, candlewicking, quilting, loom weaving and beekeeping. Exhibitions also include pencil art, cornhusk dolls and feedsack animals.
Expect some lively entertainment by local musicians and storytellers Tom Barn, Jon Benfield, Les Dotson, The McKenzies and Crossties.
Admission is free. There will be an auction at 10 a.m. to raise money for the Robert Glen Toney Scholarship Fund.
\ BLUES IN THE COUNTRY: Walter Hyatt plays an unusual mix of Southern blues, Western swing, country, honky tonk and music you might hear in a jazz lounge. The result is delightful.
Hyatt, who made a name for himself in the '70s with the acoustic cult group Uncle Walt's Band, released his first solo album, "King Tears," in 1990. Produced by Lyle Lovett on the MCA Master Series label, it received great reviews. His second solo album, "Music Town," was released on Sugar Hill Records earlier this year.
Hyatt is performing Tuesday and Wednesday in the lounge at Maxwell's, 1204 N. Main St., in Blacksburg. The music begins at 9 both nights.
by CNB