Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Clyde Edgerton plays banjo with the Tarwater Band. The group, specializing in bluegrass, folk and original music, has recorded two albums.
Betcha didn't know this, either:
Clyde Edgerton didn't always dream of becoming a novelist. In his younger days, he wanted to fly. After he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1966, he joined the Air Force and served as a reconnaissance pilot in Vietnam.
Edgerton, the author of notable novels such as "Raney," "Walking Across Egypt," "The Floatplane Notebooks," "Killer Diller" and "In Memory of Junior," is one of the stronger voices in literature today. He writes mostly about what he knows best - the people, values and experiences he pondered while growing up in a small Southern town.
A North Carolina native, Edgerton was part of a large family. In his youth, he was entertained by the stories his aunts and uncles told and says that those family stories inspired his own works.
"It's a kind of ancestor worship," he once said. "You get a picture of these people, and they're part of you and you're very proud."
"Walking Across Egypt" grew out of a story Edgerton's mother told about the time she got stuck in a chair. The comical caper prompted him to write a short story which he later expanded into the novel.
In addition to writing, Edgerton has taught at both the high school and college levels. He and his family now live in Durham.
Edgerton will speak Monday at Radford University for the celebration of the dedication of a new addition to McConnell Library. The program is free and starts at 7 p.m. in Muse Hall Banquet Room.
University spokesman Rob Tucker said the evening promises to be entertaining, as well as informative. Edgerton is known for spicing his talks with dramatic readings, jokes and music.
"He's been compared to Garrison Keillor," Tucker said. "It's supposed to be a good show, not your standard reading."
Sound good?
You betcha!
FLEA BITES:The Pulaski County Flea Market is happening Saturday and Sunday at the New River Valley Fairgrounds in Dublin. The event marks the 20th year the Dublin Lions Club has put on the big bargain bonanza.
Over 600 exhibitors are expected to show and sell their wares since 150 new spaces were added this year. Antiques, arts, crafts and collectibles of every description will be on display.
The market opens early with breakfast at 6 a.m. Food and drinks will be sold by the Lions Club both days. Proceeds from the sales benefit sight conservation and other community projects.
The fairgrounds are on Virginia 100 two miles north of Dublin. Admission is $1. Kids under 6 get in free.
For more information, call Sherman Cain at 674-6157.
H & C: It stands for harpsichord and cello.
Mary Louise Hallauer will play the harpsichord and Clyde Shaw will play the cello this Sunday in a concert featuring three sonatas by Bach. It starts at 3 p.m. in the recital salon at Virginia Tech's Squires Student Center.
Hallauer, who recently gave two recitals in Italy, is a frequent guest of the Audubon Quartet.
Shaw is a founding member of the Audubon Quartet which has gained international acclaim since it was formed in 1974.
In Sunday's concert, Hallauer will play a new custom-made replica of an 18th century Franco-Flemish double manual harpsichord made by Richard Kingston of Asheville, N.C. Shaw plays a cello made by Degani in 1887.
In addition to the three Bach sonatas, Nancy McDuffie, soprano, will sing two Bach arias. McDuffie is a member of the music faculty at Virginia Tech.
Tickets are $3 and will be available at the box office in Squires Student Center Sunday afternoon.
LEADER OF THE BAND: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington started out in the '20s at Harlem's Cotton Club. By the '70s, he was one of the most popular draws at Carnegie Hall and other symphony halls around the world.
To Ellington's peers, he was the leader of the band.
Other composers, orchestra leaders and musicians respected and admired him.
Today, his music still moves people. His compositions, unlike most in popular music, are considered masterpieces.
The Rod Rodgers Dance Company of New York is keeping the music alive with a touring production called "Echoes of Ellington," a dance theater tribute to the composer. It's coming to Virginia Tech Wednesday for an 8 p.m. performance in Haymarket Theatre.
The show features choreography and staging by Rod Rodgers. The dance troupe calls its mission "a celebration of the creative struggles of black heroes."
The New York Times described this particular show as "an engaging suite of dramatic and humorous vignettes based on everybody's favorite Ellington tunes."
The appearance at Virginia Tech is sponsored by the Black Student Alliance. Tickets for the show will go on sale at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Squires Student Center. Admission is $3 for Tech students and $5 for the public.
MASQUERADE: The current exhibit at Virginia Tech's Black Cultural Center, "Wilcox Morris: Masques," features acrylic paintings of masks inspired by the painter's Caribbean homeland of Tobago. His paintings also speak of Africa.
Morris, who studied art at Howard University and privately with artist Lois Mailon Jones, was the founder and past director of the Art Committee of Tabago and was the first director of the National Fine Arts Center in Trinidad.
The paintings will be on display at Virginia Tech through Oct. 8, but Morris will be here to give a presentation this week. His talk is scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Black Cultural Center in Squires Student Center.
The program includes the storytelling and music of a griot. In Western Africa, this is a member of a hereditary caste whose function is to keep an oral history of the village and to entertain with stories, dances and songs.
A reception for Morris will be held after the presentation.
Regular gallery hours at the center are Monday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m., and Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
For more information, call Carol Crawford Smith, center coordinator, at 231-5355.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***