Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 8, 1994 TAG: 9408080021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Center in the Square is tidying up, at a cost of $150,000 to $200,000, in preparation for the reopening of Hotel Roanoke next spring.
The center, which houses several museums and Mill Mountain Theatre, is putting on a new face in part to attract visitors staying at the renovated hotel, said the center's president and general manager, James Sears.
The spruce-up will include installing a new marquee, remodeling the entrance on Campbell Avenue, cleaning brick, replacing worn-out carpeting and redesigning color schemes.
There also are plans to install banners on an adjacent parking garage pointing to the center's entrance and a vertical sign at the other end of the center to catch the eyes of motorists on Interstate 581.
Replacing the building's ground-level windows with clearer glass is another prospective project.
``Now people can walk by, and they don't know what's in here,'' Sears said. ``It could be a train station.''
He hopes to have the work done by January.
\ Butterflies aren't quite free
Drive down the interstate today, and the only butterflies you're likely to see are the unhappy ones plastered to the grilles of speeding semis.
But if the Butterfly Society of Virginia has its way, the winged critters soon will be landing gently - gently - on state license plates.
The society is sponsoring a specialty plate featuring the tiger swallowtail butterfly, Virginia's state insect, unsquashed and in majestic full color.
``It's going to make people who see them on the road think about butterflies, and that's good,'' said Julia Bristow of Norfolk, the society's president. ``Butterflies need help.''
The destruction wrought by countless windshields and car grilles - in addition to this year's unfavorable weather conditions and the steady spread of civilization into butterfly habitats - significantly reduced the butterfly count this summer, she said.
The society must sell 150 of the $10 plates in advance before the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin production. Bristow didn't know how many orders had been taken but said ``they're coming in.''
For more information about ordering the tiger swallowtail plates, call Bristow at (804) 423-1682.
The Kennedy legacy
East Bay Ray is several years beyond his days of playing guitar with the seminal California punk band, the Dead Kennedys, but he's found that the band's railing against the establishment is paying off.
``The Dead Kennedys were very good to me,'' he said last week when asked what he's doing for a living, now that the band no longer plays together. The band started its own record label to release its music, he said, so they all still get paid twice for everything. ``We're like an entertainment conglomerate,'' he joked.
Ray, who would not reveal his real last name, was in town Tuesday attending the poetry slam at the Iroquois Club. His longtime friend from the San Francisco punk scene, Siobhan Lowe-Matuk, was performing at the slam.
Ray reclined in a plastic chair surrounded by young devotees eager to talk with the lanky, leather-jacketed former computer-system designer. He chatted politely with everyone who approached him, raising his voice above the recorded sounds of his former band cranking out ``California Uber Alles'' and ``Stealing People's Mail.''
At one point, a teen-age girl asked him to autograph a poster of the band.
``I've been here five days, and it's the first one [I've signed],'' he insisted.
Why hasn't he taken up spoken word performances like Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra?
``I'm just a guitar player,'' he said, ``and too much of a pragmatist.''
by CNB