Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 4, 1994 TAG: 9403040239
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They're tools of the trade . . . if you're a juggler.
The art of juggling goes back to ancient times. Pictures of jugglers adorned the walls of Egyptian tombs nearly 4,000 years ago.
In Elizabethan England, jugglers entertained the lords and ladies of the court, as well as the street folk.
This weekend, the jugglers are coming to Virginia Tech. The third annual Leap Day Juggling Festival is happening Saturday and Sunday. Most events are at 125 War Memorial Gym.
Saturday's activities run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. In addition to open juggling, several workshops and competitions will be held.
We're in store for a treat Saturday evening when the Virginia Technical Jugglers and other local and regional juggling acts steal the spotlight. A public show starts at 7 in 100 McBryde Hall.
The festival continues Sunday with open juggling from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission to the open juggling events, as well as Saturday's show, is free.
Blacksburg's juggling supply company, Reflection Company, is sponsoring the festival, along with Brian Dube Inc. and the International Juggling Association.
For more information, call Chris Long or Tom Kuhr at 552-6073.
THE OTHER BROTHER: Mike Seeger carries on the traditions of one of the most esteemed musical families in America. His father was an ethnomusicologist who taught at New York's Juilliard School. His mother, a violinist and composer, also taught at Juilliard.
It was his brother Pete, however, who captured the hearts of a generation with his ability to put across a song. He became the "Johnny Appleseed" of folk music, hitchhiking and riding empty freight cars across the country to entertain captive audiences wherever he found them.
Mike Seeger, like his brother, has been singing since he could talk. He also learned to play every instrument he could get his hands on.
In 1958, Seeger helped establish a new group, the New Lost City Ramblers. When the group celebrated its 20th anniversary on the stage at Carnegie Hall, a revival of folk music was underway.
Seeger has done as much as anyone to preserve rural American music. He headed up the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Company and the American Old Time Music Festival supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. He produced the first video documentary of southern step dancing, "Talking Feet," and received a Grammy nomination for his album, "Solo Old-Time Country Music."
This past week Seeger visited several schools in the New River Valley to teach youngsters about their musical roots. DiscoveryWorks ... a children's museum sponsored the visit. On Saturday, Seeger will give a public performance at the Pearisburg Recreation Center. It starts at 7 p.m.
Seeger will sing and demonstrate his talents on banjo, guitar, fiddle, autoharp, dulcimer, mandolin, jaw harp, pan pipes and harmonica.
The concert is a benefit to help DiscoveryWorks' Performing Arts in the Schools Program. Advance discount tickets, $5, are on sale now at Dairy Queen in Pearisburg, Anna's Restaurant in Narrows, Leed's Music in Blacksburg and DiscoveryWorks in Radford. Tickets at the door Saturday evening are $7.
For more information, call DiscoveryWorks at 633-2233.
LET'S LAUGH: Playmakers & Company community theater is staging "Alone Together," a comedy by Lawrence Roman, for its 58th production. Tonya Hall Bowyer is directing this latest show.
Meet George and Helene Butler, a middle-aged couple whose three grown sons dash back home after experiencing some hard knocks in the real world. The play deals with the Butlers' comic coping mechanisms.
Michael Hite and Elsie McCombs play the leading roles. The cast includes Eddie Armbrister, Andrew Bowyer, Lanny Dietz and Robin Campbell. Mary Mainous is the stage director.
The show opens tonight for 10 performances through March 20 at Playmakers' Playhouse in Blacksburg's University Mall. Shows this weekend are tonight and Saturday at 7:30. The second run starts Thursday.
Advance tickets are available at the Weight Club in University Mall. Tickets also will be sold at the door. They are $5 for adults or $3 for students and senior citizens.
For more information, call the Playmakers & Company information line at 382-0154.
BOREDOM FIGHTER: Straight Street is having a party for kids in grades 7 through 12 this Saturday. The Christian youth center at 300 N. Franklin St. in Christiansburg promises free food, live music and lots of fun.
It runs from 7 p.m. to midnight. The center will have giveaways throughout the evening. Local businesses are helping out.
Admission is free. Call 381-1006 for details.
by CNB