ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260053
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Out & About
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
We all know what the BIG event is this weekend, but what will we do while we're waiting for it?
We've gotta get through Fruitless Friday and Sluggish Saturday before Super Sunday's here.
If you're in the mood for music and dancing, head for one of the local nightspots or check out the "swing swap" tonight at the Body Shop in Blacksburg.
Sponsored by the Southwest Virginia Swing Dance Society, the event gets underway at 7:30. You'll learn how to do the shag, jitterbug and other swing dance styles. Admission is $2 per person.
The Visible Shivers - a favorite with local rock lovers - will have the amplifiers buzzing at the Cellar in downtown Blacksburg Saturday. The group will play original tunes from its first CD, "Four Things," as well as some new stuff.
Kurt Adam, David Simpkins, Jason Todd and Lee Worley are the musicians. They promise a "live, no-overdubs, gimmick-free, electric rockin' good show." It starts at 10:30 and admission is $2.
Tim Reynolds and TR3 play tonight and Saturday, starting at 9, at the Cafe at Champs. Reynolds is a member of the Dave Matthews Band, that hot group of jazzy rockers from Charlottesville.
Champs is at 111 N. Main St. in Blacksburg. The cover charge tonight and Saturday is $5.
In Radford, you'll hear Restless Planet tonight at the Highlander Brewery and Pub. On Saturday, Dixie Dirt brings its brand of driving country music. The music starts at 9:30 tonight and admission is $2 if you're over 21 or $3 if you're under 21. Saturday's show starts at 9 and admission is $5.
For information on other bands playing at your nearest watering hole this weekend, check out the "Nightlife" listings in today's calendar.
GIMME A 'C': It stands for cultural...and classical...and chamber concerts!
The Audubon Quartet, Virginia Tech's quartet-in-residence, brings the big C home this weekend. The musicians will perform Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. in Squires Recital Salon.
Violinists David Ehrlich and David Salness, violist Doris Lederer and cellist Clyde Shaw began performing together in 1974 and came to Tech in 1981. They have received standing ovations at the White House and in concert halls all over the world.
This weekend the musicians will perform some of the selections they'll record soon for Centaur Records. Two works by Hungarian composers Zoltan Kodaly and Ernst Dohnanyi are on the program.
Guest artist Michel Le Thiec will join the quartet for Weber's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings. Le Thiec teaches clarinet and chamber music at the Paris Conservatory.
Tickets for the concerts are on sale now at the box office in Squires Student Center. They are $7 for adults or $5 for students and senior citizens. To reserve them, call 231-5615.
JAZZ IT UP: The U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command's jazz band visits the New River Valley this week for two free concerts.
The group from Langley Air Force Base recently performed a series of Christmas concerts in the Virginia Beach area. Lisanne Lyons, who teaches jazz singing at Virginia Tech, joined the musicians for the series.
The band will perform Monday at 8 p.m. in 243 Squires Student Center on campus. On Tuesday, the musicians will head for Christiansburg High School where they'll give a 7:30 p.m. concert.
Conducted by Joe Ott, lead tenor sax player, the band plays jazz styles ranging from the best of the Big Band era to contemporary mainstream jazz fusion. You'll hear arrangements by Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson and others.
Since it was formed in 1953, the band has performed with such mega stars as Sarah Vaughn, Bob Hope, Roger Williams, Chet Atkins and the Beach Boys.
Admission is free, but you may call ahead for tickets. At Tech, call the Division of Performing Art's information line at 231-5200. For the concert at Christiansburg High School, call the school at 382-5178.
FIVE ALIVE! Some say Louis Jordan is the man responsible for the development of rhythm and blues. The alto saxophonist holds the all-time record for Top 10 R&B hits - 55! He also had 18 songs reach the number one spot on the R&B charts.
Jordan performed in the 1940s, playing a style called "jump blues." Over the years, his music has been interpreted by Bill Haley & The Comets, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, B.B. King and other artists.
Although Jordan died in 1975 at the age of 66, his music lives on. You can relive the past or hear his music for the first time when "Five Guys Named Moe" hits the stage in Burruss Auditorium Wednesday. The musical, one of the Virginia Tech Union's Broadway Series shows, starts at 7:30 p.m.
The song list for this high-spirited song-and-dance celebration includes "Let the Good Times Roll," "Messy Bessy" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." It's a Big League Theatricals production.
Tickets, on sale now at the box office in Squires Student Center, are $16 for adults, $8 for kids under 12, $14 for Tech faculty and staff and $5 for Tech students. Call 231-5615 for information.
KIDS IN SPACE: Cyber space, that is.
The art students at Blacksburg High School have undertaken an interesting project.
They've created drawings, paintings, sculptures and collage based on their interpretations of what it means to be the first generation to grow up in the age of the World Wide Web.
The art exhibit is up now at NRV NET. The area's newest WWW site is in the Blacksburg Square Shopping Center on South Main Street.
You can see the exhibit weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call Jesi Pace-Berkeley at 951-5706, ext. 217.
LENGTH: Long : 104 linesby CNB