
DATE: Friday, June 20, 1997                 TAG: 9706180151

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   98 lines

ZENTZ TO ``INFOTAIN'' ON CHESAPEAKE BAY AT CITY'S LIBRARIES

``This ol' Bay has seen a lot of livin'

This ol' Bay, the stories she could tell. . . .''

- Bob Zentz, 1991

AFTER THE END of one of Bob Zentz's upcoming library performances, the folk singer/songwriter/musicologist/ multi-instrumentalist hopes to hear audience members walk away saying, ``hey, that's infotainment.''

Zentz will present his popular program, ``Songs of the Chesapeake,'' about work and life along the Chesapeake Bay, at various Chesapeake public libraries on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He said his program will feature ballads, work songs, chants, blues and dance tunes sung by the watermen and dock workers of the Bay. He'll also perform chanteys of the deepwater sailors and include such traditional and contemporary songs as ``Ol' Jim River,'' ``Friends and Neighbors,'' his own ``This Ol' Bay,'' ``Shenandoah,'' ``The Last Skipjack'' and ``Johnson Gals.''

A few months ago, Zentz presented another one of his well received infotainment programs on trains and train lore at several Chesapeake libraries.

He said this program was designed to give a historical perspective of the Chesapeake Bay, promote regional pride and raise environmental awareness. His programs appeal to a wide audience and inform and entertain using the three H's: history, humanity and humor. It's this combination of fun and fact, delivered to audiences through his own energy, musical professionalism, deep catalog of songs and gentle humor, that he likes to call ``infotainment.''

``It's hard to sing songs about this area and the bay without telling a story, offering a little background or little history,'' Zentz said. ``I like to think that these programs I perform at the Chesapeake library as well as at area museums, schools, camps, festivals and concert halls, are part entertainment and part information served up in a painless, fun way. That's why I call these programs infotainment or informances.''

Zentz said he uses the more than 2,000 songs he has in his repertoire to fashion a variety of infotainment programs including themes about poetry set to music, marine life, sea chanteys, story songs, the Civil War, songwriting, colonial music, railroads, exploration, Virginia tunes, Celtic music, world instruments, environmental songs, folk songs, space and time and 19th century music, to name just a few.

``Then I like to customize my programs depending of the makeup of my audience,'' he said. ``If there's lots of children in the audience, I know they have limited attention spans, so I include a lot of activity-oriented songs sing-alongs, audience participation and fun songs, for example.''

But whatever the make-up of the audience Zentz is a firm believer in getting everybody to sing along.

``It seems the only other place we sing with other human beings is in church,'' he said. ``But there's this very real and uplifting thing that happens when we do sing together.

It's something magical and communal.''

Zentz, who is skilled in at least 35 instruments, plans to bring about a half dozen to the library programs, including guitar, autoharp, harmonica, banjo, concertina, melodeon and Jew's harp.

``I like to bring along the various portable and pocket instruments sailors took with them on their voyages,'' he said. ``I may even bring along a hurdy-gurdy.''

For years, Zentz ran the celebrated music, instrument and folk-record store Ramblin' Conrads, and he and his wife Kathleen host and produce ``In the Folk Tradition,'' a weekly folk radio program that airs Sundays from 8 until 9 p.m. on WHRV-89.5 FM. He has been a main stage performer, workshop leader, master of ceremonies, organizer, artistic director and producer of various music festivals.

Just last week he participated as artistic director for the Chincoteague Homestyle Music and Shrimp Festival, held June 13-15 on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

``My ambition is to put on tiny festivals at places where I want to go,'' he said with a laugh. MEMO: For more information on Bob Zentz and the many themed musical

infotainment programs he performs, contact him at 622-8919, write to him

at 715 Virginia Ave., Norfolk, 23508 or e-mail him at

zentzfolk(AT)aol.com ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Bob Zentz

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

Who: Virginia minstrel and troubadour Bob Zentz in concert.

What: ``Songs of the Chesapeake,'' a musical program to give

historical perspective, promote regional pride and raise

environmental awareness of the Chesapeake Bay in a highly

informative and entertaining manner.

When and where: Zentz will appear 7 p.m., Tuesday at the Central