ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Out & About
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS
Contributing writers for today's Out & About column include Stephanie J. Johnson, Rick Muirragui, Terry Padalino and Laura Rosback. All are Virginia Tech students enrolled in professor Kenneth Rystrom's advanced reporting class.
Attention all you coal miners' daughters!
Those who liked the Sissy Spacek movie or think they're living a part of it will want to head to McCoy on Saturday.
The Coal Mining Heritage Association of Montgomery County will act as host for "Life in a Coal Mining Community," the third annual celebration of the local coal mining industry.
The celebration honoring miners and their families includes history exhibits, mountain music, crafts, refreshments and demonstrations. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, will speak at a memorial service commemorating the 50th anniversary of the explosion of a McCoy coal mine.
The Great Valley mine exploded in 1946 at McCoy, killing 12 miners. The tragedy is regarded by some as the worst in Montgomery County history.
Saturday's events start at 10 a.m. at the ballfield behind the Longshop-McCoy Fire Department on Virginia 652 six miles west of Blacksburg. If it rains, the celebration will move ahead a week to April 27 - same time, same place.
SONG-DANCE-TAP EXTRAVAGANZA, BROADWAY STYLE: When talented ingenue Peggy Sawyer gets a part in the chorus for the latest Broadway production, "Pretty Lady," she can't believe her luck! The small-town girl from Allentown, Pa., has her sights set on the Great White Way.
Peggy gets more of a shot than she bargains for when the leading lady cannot make the opening night performance. It's Peggy who has to depend on her fabulous footwork to step in and save the show.
That's "42nd Street," the Broadway musical-within-a-musical that won the 1981 Tony Award. It's been called the "definitive backstage musical," featuring such songs as "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me," "We're in the Money" and "Shuffle Off to Buffalo."
"42nd Street" hits the stage in Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets - $16 for adults, $8 for children under 12, $14 for Tech faculty and staff or $5 for Tech students - are on sale at the box office in Squires Student Center. Call 231-5615.
HIT PARADE: Ever wonder what songs would have made Billboard's Top 100 list during the Renaissance?
Well, Virginia Tech's music department will present some likely nominees Saturday when the University Meistersingers fill up Squires Recital Salon. The group's spring concert features music from the Renaissance to the present.
The tunes will begin at 8 p.m. with Octavos, a popular a cappella song form of the 16th century. Selections by Hugo Distler, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Gretchninov will follow.
Arthur Honegger's "King David" and Earl George's "Songs of Innocence" are featured in this program which also includes several folk songs representing Cameroon, Israel, Samoa and the United States.
The cost for the concert is $2. Tickets will be available at the door.
ENDANGERED PEOPLES: Art Davidson, who made history with the first winter ascent of Alaska's Mount McKinley in 1967, will present a lecture and slide show Monday at Virginia Tech. The 8 p.m. talk in 300 Whittemore Hall is free and open to the public.
Davidson has worked for the past 25 years helping native Alaskans preserve their traditions and values in a changing world. His upcoming lecture is titled "Endangered Peoples" after his most recent book. He's also the author of "Light on the Land," "In the Wake of the Exxon Valdez: The Devastating Impact of the Alaska Oil Spill" and "Minus 148 Degrees."
In "Endangered Peoples," Davidson looks at tribal people and the troubles they suffer, both socially and politically. His lecture will focus on the current challenge to the world's cultural diversity.
OPERA! OPERA! Powerful singing and boisterous comedy await you at Radford University.
Students in the Opera Workshop, directed by assistant professor Clarity James, will present scenes from a variety of light operatic works at 2 p.m. Sunday and again at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Preston Auditorium.
The program includes five excerpts from Mozart's well-known "Cosi Fan Tutte" and two scenes from Strauss' "Die Fledermaus."
Highlighting the program is a production of Mark Bucci's one-act opera, "Sweet Betsy from Pike." It's a contemporary work (the composer calls it a "horse opera") that will have you rolling in the aisles.
"It's just a delightful opera," James noted. "It's really, really lots of fun."
The cast for this upcoming show includes Will Barrow, Marci Clontz, Susan Creasey, Wade Fortin, Leslie Fox, Cynthia Hood, Darius Liptrap, Alice Reeve, Sharon Welborn and Jennifer Worthen. Louise Billaud is the pianist.
Admission at both shows is $3 for adults, $1 for children and free with Radford University identification.
NAME THAT ACRONYM! Today's acronym is SPEBSQSA. It stands for Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America.
Quite a mouthful, eh?
You can support barbershop quartet singing Thursday when the Wilderness Road Chorus of Sweet Adelines and guest artists present "Talk of the Town," a program to benefit the Lyric Theatre. It starts at 8 p.m. at the historic theater on College Avenue in Blacksburg.
The concert features the Virginia Gentlemen, a 30-member group singing barbershop harmony (four-part harmony with no musical accompaniment), from Roanoke. The chorus, directed by Kent Jenkins, has been active since 1970.
In addition to singing by the Wilderness Road Chorus, the all- female local chapter of Sweet Adelines, you'll hear two barbershop quartets. Terra Nova is a group of local women who sing four-part harmony. It includes tenor Mary Munford Harder and baritone Sherry Hirt of Blacksburg, lead Victoria Robinson of Pulaski County and bass Peggy Moore, director of the Wilderness Road Chorus.
Time Was, an all-male quartet from Roanoke, features tenor Mike Ridenhour, lead Joe St. Clair, baritone Kent Jenkins and bass Gene Swartz. All are members of SPEBSQSA.
Tickets for Thursday's show, $10, are on sale at the Lyric. Call 951-0604.
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Darius Liptrap plays Ike and Leslie Fox plays Betsyby CNBin "Sweet Betsy from Pike," a one-act opera by Mark Bucci. Radford
University students will present this contemporary opera and scenes
from classic operas Sunday at 2 p.m. and Tuesday at 8 p.m. in
Preston Auditorium.