ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: out & about
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS BANKS
What's more fun than a barbecue?
A barbecue followed by a country-and-western dance!
Zesty food and zesty entertainment - that's the ticket Saturday at Custom Catering in Blacksburg. The Virginia Tech Faculty Women's Club is putting on the dinner and dance for everyone in the community.
The evening starts with a casual barbecue at 6:30. Afterward, you can clog away the calories with country DJ Lou Mairui and the Appalachian Country Cloggers from Glasgow, W.Va. The group will lead beginners, as well as experienced dancers, in a variety of line and round dances. There'll be some freestyle frolicking, too.
The cost for the evening is $19 per person. To make a reservation or find out more, call Priscilla Koelling at 951-1017 or Claudia Wicks at 951-1991.
DAD WAS A DENTIST: Doc Severinsen says that's how he got his stage name. Nicknamed "Little Doc" after his father, the tag got shorter as Severinsen got taller.
Severinsen's father also was a talented amateur violinist who wanted his son to learn to play the stringed instrument. The young Severinsen insisted on trombone but had to settle for the only horn he could find in his small Oregonian community - a trumpet.
Thank goodness for small towns, eh?
Severinsen went on to become a Grammy Award-winning musician, recording more than 30 albums and directing the "Tonight Show" band for 25 years. He's been voted "Top Brass Player" more than 10 times in Playboy's annual music poll and even has his own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame!
The trumpeter will bring his band to Radford University tonight to kick off his "Doc in Dixie" Southern tour. The show starts at 8 p.m. in Preston Auditorium. For ticket information, call 831-5420.
MASS BRASS: You'll find not one, not two, not three but four fine brass groups at Sunday's "Brass Blowout '96" in Virginia Tech's Squires Student Center. The musical extravaganza starts at 8 p.m. in the recital salon.
The lineup includes Brass Dominion LITE, featuring Virginia Tech faculty musicians William Crone, Wallace Easter and Allen Bachelder. The three are well-known local performers and are planning to record a CD of original brass trio works soon.
Quantum Brass, Tech's first student professional quintet, will perform, along with True Harmony, another group made up entirely of student musicians.
Last (not least) you'll hear Brass 5, a professional quintet from Roanoke. The players will render some brass favorites, as well as a new work by Roanoke composer Joseph Blaha.
Blaha, who teaches at Roanoke College, composed "Psalm Twenty-Seven" from a personal reaction to last year's bombing in Oklahoma City. Based on his musical interpretation of the Biblical song, Blaha's piece expresses themes of doubt, conflict and resolution.
Sunday's program covers a spectrum from classical to jazz to pop and concludes with a combined performance by all the groups. Mark Camphouse of Radford University will conduct.
Tickets, $3, will be sold at the door. Come early for a good seat.
HOME SWEET HOME: No TVs or VCRs in this home.
In the 19th century, guests were entertained with beautiful music.
Robert and Pamela Trent want you to experience classical music as it was originally intended. That's why they're inviting you to their "Duo Firenze" concert Thursday at 8 p.m. in Radford University's Preston Auditorium.
The two will play works by Beethoven, Molino and Giuliani on authentic 19th-century guitar and fortepiano.
"This music was written for husbands and wives to play at home and that's what we are, so we want the audience to feel as though they're in our home," noted guitarist Robert Trent. To set the mood, the Trents will seat the audience up on the stage and close the curtains.
Pamela Trent will play a fortepiano modeled after Mozart's own instrument. Made of black walnut, the fortepiano weighs less that 200 pounds and has a shorter keyboard than a grand.
The Trents said the fortepiano was built especially for Duo Firenze.
"We're really excited about having this instrument," said Robert Trent. "It's one of only a few in the world and to see another one like it, you would have to travel to the Smithsonian."
This will be the couple's first performance following their recent appearance at the International Schubert Festival. Admission Thursday is $3 for adults, $1 for children and free for Radford University students and staff.
THERE'S NO BUSINESS... like BIG business!
"Status Quo Portfolio," the latest original workshop production at Virginia Tech, takes a farcical look at what really goes on in the modern workplace.
Written by Whit MacLaughlin, a graduate student at Tech, the play deals with human relationships within a fictitious company, Trendix International. The enterprise "manufactures and recycles megatrends."
When the "Big Boss" arrives and announces the dreaded downsizing, expect theatrical topsy-turviness. The play delves into the dynamics behind status, title and gender in big business.
The production by Virginia Tech Theatre Arts-University Theatre runs Monday through Wednesday with performances at 8 each evening in room 204 of the Performing Arts Building.
Admission is free, but get there early. Seating is limited.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 linesby CNB