Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
1. Step on a crack.
2. Wear your clothes inside out.
3. Leave home through a window.
Things TO DO today:
1. Shag.
2. Lindy.
3. Jitterbug.
Friday the 13th is your lucky day if you're eager to do that swing thing.
The Southwest Virginia Swing Dance Society begins its fall season tonight with a dance at the Blacksburg Community Center on Patrick Henry Drive.
The evening starts with a beginning swing class at 7. The dance follows at 8 with a variety of recorded music, including Big Band, rock 'n' roll and R&B tunes.
The class and dance will set you back $4 (a bargain) and that includes refreshments.
If you don't have a partner, come anyway. If you have kids, come anyway. Supervised children are welcome at all the dances.
For more information on tonight's dance or the Southwest Virginia Swing Dance Society, call Charlie or Lisa Cottingham at 381-5028.
FALL-ING IN LOVE AGAIN: We all love Newbern's Fall Festival of Arts and Crafts. The fun, the festivity, the FOOD!
Homemade apple butter, cakes, pies, spicy barbecue and Polish sausage, chili dogs, cornbread and pinto beans - you'll find it all in the little Pulaski County village this weekend.
Come early Saturday and chow down on a country breakfast at the Church of God or gobble a ham sandwich at the Newbern Fire Department. The Wilderness Inn will offer a breakfast buffet, too. Vendors all over town will start serving lunch at 11 a.m.
You won't have any problem working up an appetite, either.
The streets will be filled with arts and crafts for your shopping pleasure. You may also join the open house tours of historic buildings, stop by the petting zoo at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum and listen to some fine gospel music.
Hot air balloons lift off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and again at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. The balloon rides will be offered at PJ's Park.
Festival events resume Sunday at noon and run until 6 p.m. A silent auction at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum ends at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, so don't miss your chance to bid on the country ham, collectibles, decorator items and more. You don't have to be present to win.
To get to Newbern from Interstate 81, take exit 98 and follow the brown signs. Newbern is the only entire village in Virginia on the National Register of Historic Places.
FIDDLE-DEE-DEE: Benton Flippen, three-time champion at Galax's Old Fiddlers' Convention, is one old fiddler you don't want to miss. He'll be performing with the Smokey Valley Boys at a square dance Saturday in Blacksburg's Northside Presbyterian Church.
Flippen, who's a legend at local bluegrass music festivals, has a Rounder release titled "Old Times, New Times." It spans his career as an old-time fiddler and banjo picker.
Flippen's local appearance Saturday is sponsored by the Old-Time Music and Dance Group of Blacksburg. The square dance runs from 8 to 11 p.m. at the church on North Progress Street.
Caller Bill Richardson of Blacksburg says everyone (including everyone with two left feet) is invited to Saturday's shindig. Trust him. He'll teach all the dances.
Admission at the door is $5. All proceeds are used to cover expenses and pay the performers.
RHYME TIME: Hip-hop rap artists Mobb Deep perform in concert tonight at Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall. Mokenstef, an all-female trio, will join them.
The rappers go by their first names. Mo, Kenya and Stefanie make up Mokenstef. Performing together since 1990, the group recently released its debut album, "Azz Izz."
Mo, lead singer, says the album is an effort to "speak the real about what women are thinking."
Mobb Deep has released several albums for various record labels, including Island Records and Loud/RCA. The two men, known as Havoc and Prodigy, write their own material based on true-life experiences on the streets of New York.
Tonight's concert starts at 8. Tickets, on sale at the box office in Squires Student Center, are $12 for the public or $8 for Virginia Tech students.
AN EARFUL: The Radford University Wind Ensemble has put together a program of works by contemporary composers for its upcoming fall concert. Highlighting the performance is the world premiere of "Introduction, Theme and Various Developments" by David Brandon Phillips, a professor in the university's music department.
Phillips wrote the piece especially for conductor Mark Camphouse and his young musicians.
All of the music you'll hear at this concert was composed after 1945. One of the works, "Canticle," was written in 1985 by Jack Stamp and based on an anonymous poem, "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep." Radford University music professor George Parish will narrate the selection.
The concert starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Preston Auditorium. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for kids and free for Radford University students and staff.
AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN: When their parents built a wall to keep them apart, the girl and the boy next door contrived to meet and fall in love.
Meanwhile, their parents are patting themselves on the back. They erected the wall and staged a feud in order to push their disobedient children to the altar.
So goes "The Fantasticks," that romantic fantasy that's been delighting theater audiences for the past 35 years.
In fact, "The Fantasticks" is the longest running musical in theater history. If you've seen it before, no doubt you'll want to see it again.
The Virginia Tech Union will bring the play to Burruss Hall for one show Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. It's part of this year's Entertainment Series.
Tickets are $14 for adults, $7 for kids under 12, $11 for Virginia Tech faculty and staff and $4 for Tech students. You can get them at the box office in Squires Student Center. Call 231-5615.
SLAMMA-JAMMA: Virginia Tech's homecoming isn't just for football lovers anymore!
Yep, there's the big game with Akron in Lane Stadium Saturday afternoon, but you'll also want to catch the late-breaking basketball action Saturday night.
You'll find the "Midnight Madness" in Cassell Coliseum where the 1995 NIT champs from Tech's men's basketball team will be putting on a show. The round ball players will have a three-point shoot-out and a slam dunk spectacle.
The event also includes fan participation games and a halftime competition where you could win a big screen TV. All you have to do is drop the basketball in the net...from half-court.
The High Techs will perform and Thrine Harpring and Tom Frank will serve as hosts for the games.
Doors open at 11 p.m. First ones there get free T-shirts. Admission is free for all.
by CNB